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Chapter Text

Do not fall.

That had been the warning the entity inside the Staff of Creation gave Team RWBY when they created their magical network of portals. Emerald Sustrai hadn't been there when the request was made - she'd been too busy helping Team JNOR pull a fast one over General Ironwood - but if she had been there, she would have asked what that meant. And what happened to people who did fall. Maybe she would have asked for some guardrails and parachutes to be created alongside the mystical floating platforms, just to be safe.

But sadly, such things had gone unasked, and what should have been a smooth evacuation of Atlas and Mantle was going wrong in every possible way.

Which brought her to her current situation - standing in triangle formation with a newly-human Penny Polendina and a trembling Weiss Schnee, both of them clearly shaken by the sight of the rest of Team RWBY falling into the nebulous void below their floating platforms. Jaune, Oscar, Nora, and Ren had all gone ahead into the central portal that led to Vacuo, along with the rest of the refugees fleeing the doomed kingdom of Atlas. And Cinder Fall was hovering over the three girls menacingly on jets of flame, seething with rage and vengeance while clearly unconcerned with the fact that Neopolitan had fallen out of the realm alongside Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long.

Emerald's hands gripped tightly to the twin handles of Thief's Respite, feeling the cold metal of her signature dual weapons press into her darkened skin. She had been by Cinder's side for many battles, but this was her first time where she stood opposite the fiery Maiden. It was not a comforting feeling - despite already possessing both the Lamp of Knowledge and the Staff of Creation, the power-hungry woman still craved the spirit of the Winter Maiden, which was currently tied to the Aura of the orange-haired girl with no shoes hovering between Emerald and Weiss. She knew from experience that Cinder was relentless in getting what she wanted…and anything that stood between her and her prize usually ended up as collateral damage.

"Last chance, dear Emerald," purred the Fall Maiden dangerously. "Help me break the puppet, and I'll overlook your little…transgression."

In another life, the mint-haired thief might have rejoined her former mistress and turned against Penny without a second thought. But in this lifetime, where she'd personally witnessed Cinder kick a woman into the abyss for doing nothing but threaten her, Emerald knew that the promise was meaningless and the reward was hollow. She'd followed Cinder for years without question, but just a few hours with Ruby and her friends had exposed her to a warmth she never knew she wanted, a warmth that she now knew Cinder was incapable of feeling.

The sickle blades of Thief's Respite sprang out from under the revolver barrels, and Emerald narrowed her eyes as she glared daggers at her former idol.

"You'll have to overlook a lot more than just one," she growled defiantly. "And her name is Penny."

The pale freckled Maiden on her right looked at her with a bright smile and beaming eyes, while the former Heiress gave a satisfied smirk as she readied both Myrtenaster and the remaining half of Gambol Shroud.

"…that's a shame." Cinder hummed, the illusion of love and affection evaporating from her voice. "You'll be a hard one to replace."

No regret. No sadness. Just annoyance at having to find some new person to manipulate.

How had she been so blind to what Cinder was really like for so long?

Emerald's thoughts were cut off by the wave of flames that came her way, which she instinctively leapt to avoid. A blade of molten glass spun across the arena and flew at her face, but Penny quickly intercepted it with a floating array of stone swords. Nodding in thanks, Emerald took the Winter Maiden's hand and allowed her new friend to fling her at the fire-spewing woman currently dueling with Weiss, letting her join the Auraless Huntress that fought with her own weapon as well as the sword of her fallen friend.

The thief and the heiress fought in sync as they slashed and parried with dual weapons against Cinder's relentless onslaught, narrowly avoiding flash-forged swords and gouts of flame. Penny flew nearby and blasted magic from her palms, sending ice and lightning into the melee while staying out of reach of Cinder's clawed Grimm arm. Emerald felt her Aura flag with each hit that slipped past her defenses, but she could take it. It was Weiss that suffered far more with each new burning wound - without that protective soul armor to shield her body and power her Glyphs, she felt blood dribble through every cut, burn, and gash yet still fought tirelessly.

Cinder toyed with her prey for a moment longer before slamming her heel against the ground in a flaming kick, creating a sphere of fire that pushed Emerald and Weiss back. No longer locked into melee, the Fall Maiden blasted off to target Penny once again, swinging her swords to penetrate the barrage of blades that protected the vulnerable young girl. Thinking quickly, Emerald released the chains inside one of her weapons and sent the hooked blade sailing into the sky, looping it around Cinder's throat and pulling back with enough force to yank the mad woman away from her prey.

"Ice queen!" Emerald yelled as she stowed one sickle to better grip the other with both hands. "Give me an anchor!"

Weiss complied with a nod, plunging Myrtenaster into the ground and bracing herself for the added weight. The mint-haired thief looped her chains around the blade and dove off the edge of the platform, pulling the struggling Maiden down with her. When Cinder's back hit the "ground" the line suddenly went taut, and the momentum of her leap gave Emerald enough speed to swing back around to the opposite edge. She landed expertly and pulled on the chain as hard as she could, tightening the suffocating loop she'd made under the platform and doing her best to ignore Cinder's feral grunts and growls as she fought for air and freedom.

Bursts of flame erupted from the Fall Maiden's hands and feet, but stone swords fell from the dark sky and stabbed into her limbs. Penny spared a second to make sure her magical blades were wedged firmly enough to hold Cinder down, then flew over to Emerald and helped her pull on the line. Despite no longer being a robot, the freckled girl was still surprisingly strong - strong enough to tighten the chain wound around the platform and the fiery woman's throat, to the point where it nearly crushed her windpipe.

Cinder's eyes went wide and darted around wildly, trying to escape her predicament and take a much-needed breath. Weiss was there to make sure she wouldn't get the chance, leaving Myrtenaster stuck blade-first in the platform and wielding Gambol Shroud as she walked over to the suffocating Maiden. The woman who'd brought so much pain to others struggled vainly to escape her fate, to escape the dark blade of justice that was going to go straight for her throat and end her quest for power.

"This one's for you, Pyrrha," whispered the heiress as she raised Blake's sword to plunge down…

And then Cinder's Grimm arm flared to life.

Emerald almost lost her grip on her weapon as the limb of dark matter writhed and convulsed, nearly shattering the stone sword that kept it pinned down. It didn't seem like a conscious action on Cinder's part - if the look of pain on her face was any indication, it felt just as unpleasant as it looked. A moment later a terrifying grin spread across the woman's face, choking out two words that made everyone freeze.

"She's back."

Part of the thief knew that she had to keep pulling on the chain, that she had to keep choking out Cinder. The rest of her was paralyzed in fear of Salem, imaging the woman with freshly-reformed ashen skin and dark piercing eyes rushing through one of the portals to avenge her fallen Maiden. It was a powerful mental image, and even though she wanted desperately to stop thinking such things, she couldn't stop her mind from picturing the immortal witch arriving with magic in her hands and murder in her gaze, tearing everyone apart with Grimm hands that sprouted from the ground…

Her blood froze as she seized up and stopped pulling, the chain going limp in her grasp.

And that instant of sudden slack was all it took for everything to fall apart once again.

One shallow breath gave enough fuel for a blast of searing flame that shot from Cinder's mouth, showering Weiss in heat and pain and pushing her off. The Grimm arm tugged at the sword that had been weakened by its seizure, eventually shattering it and breaking the other bonds with a forceful swipe. Thief's Respite was torn from its master's weakened grasp and flung into the void as Cinder yanked it free while leaping to her feet, fire surging into her palms as she aimed her next barrage of magic at a still-paralyzed Emerald.

"No!"

She was barely aware of Penny throwing her out of the way of the burning laser, but she was keenly aware of the pained scream that rang out a second later. The Winter Maiden's Aura shattered into a shower of green sparks under the assault of heat and flame, and her bare feet tried and failed to grip the edge of the platform before she was pushed over the side. The beam of power only lasted a few seconds, but that was all it took for Penny to teeter vulnerably between life and death, between solid ground and the abyss below.

"Penny!" wailed Emerald, already scrambling back to her feet in a vain attempt to catch her…

But that damn Grimm claw was faster.

Emerald watched in horror as the freckled girl's breathing grew shallow and bright green eyes went wide in shock, as five dagger-like talons sunk into her unprotected chest and held her aloft over the edge of the world. Blood dripped and dribbled into the void as it ran in rivers down her body, leaving crimson streaks that stained her clothes and tarnished her bare legs. Green light shone from within the twisted abomination of shadowy flesh, and she didn't need to follow the trail of magic to know that Cinder was siphoning the Winter Maiden power through the arm like a straw.

Penny was dying, and all that bitch cared about was getting that magic.

The thief roared in agony and grabbed Penny's limp wrist with one hand, using the other to form-shift and fire her revolver at the monster who just added one more to her kill count. Cinder smirked and used her free hand to pool Aura into her palm, blocking the wild shots with ease and confidence. Her smoldering glare ended up being a double-edge sword, however, as the Fall Maiden was unaware of Weiss lunging in from behind until Myrtenaster was already hilt-deep in her shoulder. With the pull of a trigger, the dust erupted and ignited the Grimm arm; with a slash from Gambol Shroud, the offending limb was sliced off completely.

The good news was that the power transfer had been cut short as the claw dissolved into mist.

The bad news was that said claw was the only thing keeping Penny from falling.

Emerald yelled in shock - a noise that almost went unheard against Cinder's unholy shrieks of agony and rage. She tightened her grip and dug her own heels into the platform in a last ditch effort to hold onto both the ground and the dying Maiden, but she ended up tumbling over the edge right alongside Penny. The revolver in her hand shifted back into a hooked blade on a chain, allowing her to reflexively grab the ledge of a lower platform and clumsily swing to safety. Her landing was anything but graceful as she hugged Penny's body with her own, twisting herself so that her Aura ate the landing shock instead of an already dying girl. She snapped the chain back into her gun with a flick of her wrist, then holstered it to free her hands so she could better hold onto the freckled girl.

"Penny…" she groaned as she sat upright, rolling the body of her new friend until her face was in sight. Blood was flowing from the wounds as though it were water, and she could feel her own arms grow sticky as it poured over her skin. Green eyes, once so bright and full of life, now looked dull and unfocused as breathing became a chore for the young girl.

"Em…erald?" Penny rasped. "Why…do I feel so…cold?"

Tears sprang from Emerald's red eyes. "Oh, Penny…" she sobbed, "this…this is all my fault. If I hadn't been so blindly loyal…if I'd just let you kill Cinder back on Amity, then none of this would have - !"

A soft hand, one as warm and alive as a fading ember, cupped her cheek and wiped her tears with a thumb.

"It is…okay…" breathed Penny shakily, "please…do not cry…I will be…alright…"

The thief choked. Penny's labored words were meant to comfort her, but both girls knew it was a lie. Cinder may not have gotten the Winter Maiden power, but the damage was already done - five deep stab wounds in the heart and lungs, with no Aura to heal any of them. Even if Emerald had a Semblance capable of mending flesh, the staggering loss of blood would be fatal enough on its own…if the brand-new heart kept beating long enough for that to even be an issue.

"I wish there was something I could do to help…" moaned Emerald.

"There is."

She was vaguely aware of Penny's limp hand reaching for the hilt of Thief's Respite, fingers brushing against the jungle-green steel. Emerald pushed her hand away instinctively.

"No."

"Please…there is no time."

"I can't."

"Yes you can…I can make sure that the Winter Maiden powers go to you, instead of - "

"I can't be responsible for your death again, Penny!" snapped Emerald. Then, in a choked whimper she added, "I can't…not again…"

The hand on her cheek pressed as firmly as its dying owner would allow.

"I…understand…" said Penny between ragged, labored breaths. "But…she cannot get the powers and the Staff…please…let me choose this one thing…"

Emerald shook her head. "That's not a choice, Penny. That's suicide. And I can't…I can't help you with that."

"Please…" pleaded Penny, "I…I do not want it to go to her…I cannot let it go to her…"

She empathized with Penny. She really did. She'd been at the bottom before, where a swift death seemed the most tempting and merciful option. But that mindset was a poison all of its own, one that Penny didn't seem to realize - grief over losing friends was blinding the poor girl, as was the crushing realization of her own sudden mortality. Emerald could not make that kind of choice for her. She would not.

Besides…at the rate she was bleeding out, death would come soon regardless.

But in the meantime, maybe there was another kind of choice Penny could make. One that Emerald could help with.

"…who do you want to get the power?"

"Hm?" Penny rasped weakly.

"That's how it works, right?" Emerald reached up and clasped the hand that weakly touched her cheek. "You think of someone in your last moments, and they get the power? That's how the Maidens pass on their magic?"

Penny took a shallow breath and nodded. The thief sighed in relief - maybe her plan would work after all.

"Then tell me who you want to think of," said Emerald softly. "Anyone at all…and I'll make sure you see the person you want. The person you choose."

The freckled girl was quiet for a long moment, and Emerald was suddenly afraid that it was too late. But soon enough a name escaped the Maiden's lips, one that made the corners of her blood-encrusted mouth curl up into a smile.

"…Winter. Winter Schnee."

Biting back a snarky comment about how "on the nose" the choice was, Emerald cupped Penny's cheek and exhaled slowly, triggering her Semblance and creating an illusion that only the dying girl could see. The power unique to her soul was nothing spectacular - certainly not as flashy as hair erupting into flames or turning into a burst of rose petals - but it did serve her well as a discrete method of subterfuge, turning the opponent's mind against them. Yet now she was doing it with the intent to help, not harm - if she could look through Penny's eyes in that moment, she wouldn't have seen a puffy-faced green-haired thief holding her, but instead the elder Schnee that she had befriended.

Penny's eyes briefly brightened in recognition, and then a second later she was gone.

Emerald sobbed and buried her face into the fallen Maiden's shoulder, a fresh wave of hot tears spilling out and mingling with the now-cold blood. She was only vaguely aware of the battle raging around her, of the blasts of magic as the new Winter Maiden joined the fray, of Weiss joining her side and pulling her and Penny's body towards the Vacuo portal. None of it mattered to her. She'd been responsible for the death of the girl in her arms once before, but a miracle had given Penny a second chance at life. Real life. And now that chance was cruelly ripped away, that spark of hope snuffed out by the same monster that had now brought two kingdoms to their knees.

She always knew the world was unfair.

But why couldn't it ever be unfair in her favor?

A sound underfoot similar to high-pitched screaming snapped Emerald out of her daze. She knew that sound all too well - and knew what was coming next yet she was powerless to stop it.

BOOM.

The three girls - one alive, one dead, one somewhere in-between - went sailing over the edge as Cinder's volcanic landmine went off under their feet, shattering the platform and sending them plummeting into the void. Emerald caught a brief glimpse of Winter flying down in an attempt to catch them, magic and tears spilling from her eyes, but she knew their savior wasn't fast enough.

The abyss was waiting for them.

And after everything that had just happened, falling into nothingness wasn't the worst thing Emerald could imagine.

The skies of Mata Nui were somewhere between night and morning by the time he finally climbed up the mountain overlooking the Eastern sea, just a few kios north of the Tren Krom Break and his home village of Ta-Koro. Well, former home - he'd been banished from the one remaining village that was willing to tolerate him and his antics, which happened to include not wanting to work, refusing to stay in the village walls, and daring to go on island-spanning adventures that might save everyone. But his new state of exile was the furthest thing from his mind as he clambered over to the telescope that sat on a pedestal, aiming it at the fading stars and peering through the lens as light filtered through the green crystal on the other end of the mechanical arm.

With a thoughtful hum he swept the telescope across the horizon, looking for any change in the stars and the fading lights they contained. He wasn't sure exactly what he was looking for, but something had to be different in the wake of his most recent adventure.

Nothing.

He let out a loud, long sigh. Typical. This was just typical. In the last year alone he'd defied the wishes of Turaga Vakama and gotten himself in hot water over some glowing red rock with a Hau carved into it, one that the elder leader of Ta-Koro had guarded fiercely. He'd nearly come to blows with Jaller, captain of the Ta-Koro guard, over how everyone has a Duty and how he needed to find one that didn't involve mortal peril. He'd snuck into the other villages and swiped five similar stones from their own tribal chieftains without them ever knowing he was there, trekked through kios of jungle and wasteland while dodging monstrous Rahi, and braved Kini-Nui to arrange all six stones in the sand just like the legends said. If he'd done all that and the Toa still didn't come to save everyone from the shadowy Makuta, then he swore he would give up his adventurous ways and finally get a real job like everyone told him he should do.

Maybe he'd become a lava farmer. Then he'd be within jumping distance of a volcano if the work ever got too tedious.

Telling himself to check the sky one final time before he surrendered to a life of monotonous chores, he peered through the lens and gave the horizon one more sweep. His heart sank as he noticed that, just like before, the stars were static and unchanged -

Wait.

He double-checked the telescope to make sure he wasn't just imagining things, and sure enough his eyes weren't lying to him. There were definitely six objects rocketing towards the planet's atmosphere, shining brighter than the Red Star and growing hotter with each passing second. As they came closer, he could see that they were roughly canister-shaped, spinning rapidly like they were being shot out of a grooved cannon. He let out a delighted laugh. It worked! It actually worked! He'd actually summoned something!

Hope swelled in his chest as he abandoned the telescope and scurried to the edge of the mountain, looking at the sky with his own eyes. Even in the growing light as the sun rose over the horizon, as the stars winked out of existence, the glow from those falling objects streaked across the blanket of blue and black, burning so bright as they entered the planet's atmosphere they could be seen by the naked Matoran eye. He grinned beneath his mask. He was feeling over a thousand emotions right now, from relief to joy to maybe a little bit of smug self-satisfaction. He couldn't wait to tell the Turaga about this!

Although…the legends said that only six Toa would be coming to save the Matoran and awaken the Great Spirit.

So why was he seeing thirteen falling stars?

The mystery would go unsolved for the moment as something else fell out of the sky and slammed into him - something big and heavy and very very sharp. His precarious balance thrown into disarray, he flailed his arms as he wobbled back and forth while teetering over the edge, trying and failing to suddenly become the world's first flying Matoran. He twisted around to try to get a look at what hit him, which ended up being his undoing - he caught a brief glimpse of a red scythe twice as long as he was tall buried into the mountainside before he lost his balance and toppled off his perch.

As he screamed and fell to the sandy beach far, far down below, he concluded that this was a much less dignified way to die.

At least the lava would have been faster.

SPLASH.

The world around Yang Xiao Long suddenly turned blue and dark and very very cold, snapping her out of her daze as she reflexively clamped her hands over her mouth. Bubbles floated and rose around her, some of them escaping through her lips and nose; she followed them as she scrambled to the surface with near-empty lungs, blowing out whatever air she managed to keep and grunting to keep cold seawater from sliding down her throat. Her legs kicked and fluttered to propel her through the water as her chest threatened to implode, and when the surface was finally in reach she threw back her head to breach the waves with a loud gasp and several violent coughs.

"Ugh…pfffftha…that's one way to wake up…" she burbled to herself as she started instinctively treading water. Once she was sure that she wasn't about to pass out, she pulled soaked blond curls out of her face and released another salty sputter to clear her throat. Her lilac eyes darted around for some kind of land to swim to, and found a large island not too far from where she splashed down. So big was the island, in fact, that Yang couldn't even see all of it - all she could see was a beach that led into a forest of blackened trees.

Deciding that the unfamiliar shore was better than drowning, Yang took a deep breath and ducked back under the waves to start swimming towards the beach.

Hopefully she would find either answers or a way back.

In a perfect world, she would find both.

Chapter Text

A twenty-minute swim wasn't the worst obstacle Yang had faced, but in her tired state it was certainly up there.

By the time she finally emerged out of the churning sea and clung to a shore of ashen gray sand, she was thoroughly drenched and waterlogged. Sweat and seawater clung to her clothes and skin, turning her wild mass of untamed golden hair into a sopping wet blanket of dull yellow seaweed. Every part of her body ached from exertion, and her nose still burned from when the waves crashed over her face as she came up for a breath.

None of that mattered. She just had to get out of the water.

With an inhuman groan she dragged herself across the sandbar with no regard for how rough it felt against her bare arm, her usual bomber jacket shed and discarded during the long swim. Part of her mind hated leaving such a good piece of clothing behind in the sea, but the rest of her accepted the loss - better to let it sink into the waves than let it drag the rest of her down. All her ammo was in the pockets of her khaki cargo pants with matching overalls, so she wasn't worried about losing supplies or appearing immodest. (Not that the latter was ever a concern for her.)

At least she still had her orange scarf around her neck, so she didn't have to mourn the complete loss of fashion. But that was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. She had to find somewhere safe, warm, and dry, even if it meant passing out in the middle of the beach. So she kept crawling, willing her limbs to pull her along.

When she finally felt the tips of her brown boots leave the crashing waves, she collapsed on her side with a loud, long sigh of pain and relief.

Yang curled up into a ball on instinct, coughing up flecks of seawater and doing her best to keep her drenched clothes warm in the face of cold winds blowing in from the ocean. Her lilac eyes scanned the vertical horizon, doing a quick sweep to make sure there was nothing dangerous waiting for her. When she was certain she was safe, at least for the moment, her eyelids dropped and the tension in her shoulders faded. She knew she needed to keep moving, to find food and water and shelter, but right now she was too tired to even cry at being alone. So she shuffled a bit with her metallic arm to dig out a shallow little burrow, hugged herself with her other one, and let sleep claim her.

Maybe when she woke up, this terrible dream would be over, and she'd be back in reality. Back with Ruby, back with Weiss…back with Blake.

Wouldn't that just be wonderful?

"Ruby! Ruby!"

Blake Belladonna gripped tightly to the unconscious red-cloaked girl in her arms, trying to shield her from the wind whipping past them as they both fell out of the sky. Far below them she could see an island rushing closer - a massive chunk of verdant land with a huge volcano in the middle and smaller islets trailing along both the northern and southern peninsulas. Much of the landscape below was covered in green growth, save for a stretch of tan desert across the northern third and a patch of icy tundra that covered the midwest section. A long gash of burnt brown stretching east and a great bay flowing into the northeast corner gave the island a mismatched appearance, but Blake wasn't interested in solving the mystery of how a single landmass could support six different biomes and climates. Right now she was solely focused on making sure the wind didn't rip Ruby Rose out of her arms as they plummeted towards the ocean.

A feat which would be a lot easier if the silver-eyed leader was awake.

"Ruby come on, you have to wake up!" she yelled, though she knew it was a futile effort. She could barely hear herself above the rushing gale, even with the extra set of ears on top of her head. Her Faunus trait was nearly flush against her short black hair, and the remains of her ribbon fluttered behind them like the tail of a kite. No matter how much she shook her friend or how loudly she shouted, Ruby refused to awaken. A small part of her wondered if she was holding onto a corpse, but the rest of her dismissed the notion almost immediately.

Why is she unconscious while I'm still awake? Blake wondered. Is it because she came into this world with her Aura broken? Is that why she's not waking up?

It was an interesting theory, but she didn't have any way of testing her idea. She'd need to see another person come into the world, with or without Aura, to prove it.

Unfortunately, said proof came in the form of a heel driving into the back of her head.

"Ow! What - you!"

The multicolored eyes and hair of Neopolitan spun into view, the former seething with rage while the latter billowed around her. Blake tumbled out of control with no way to anchor herself for a moment, before she regained control and faced the silent stalker. Neo didn't have her usual parasol, but that didn't stop her from launching an assault on the feline Faunus, who shielded Ruby the best she could against the relentless barrage of punches and kicks. A singular strike slipped past her defenses and collided with her jaw, knocking her senseless and weakening her grip on Ruby just enough for the rushing wind to rip her away.

Pink and brown orbs of malice lit up with delight at the sight of the red-caped girl drifting away from Blake, and she immediately moved to pursue.

No you don't!

Blake grit her teeth and summoned a shadowy copy of herself to use as a stepping stone, drawing the cleaver-like sheath of Gambol Shroud off her back as she propelled herself towards Neo. The wordless assassin was just about to grab Ruby's throat when Blake latched onto her ankle, swinging her around and throwing her back away from her friend. Realizing she couldn't go for the target of her vengeance with Blake still drawing breath, Neo scowled and aimed to correct that, launching herself off an illusion and spinning in mid-air to once more engage the falling Faunus.

The pair fought furiously for a few seconds, unconcerned with the ocean rushing to meet them and focusing only on blocking, kicking, dodging, and slashing. Blades of semi-tangible glass formed and lunged to strike, only to shatter with a swing of the cleaver. Another pulse of Blake's Semblance caught Neo off-guard with a trapping feint, keeping her distracted just long enough for the feline Faunus to dart behind her and bring the full weight of her weapon down on the assassin's neck with all her might. Neo's Aura dulled the strike and kept her head on her shoulders, but the force of the hit still knocked her out, giving Blake a chance to kick her away unceremoniously as she whirled to find Ruby -

Too far away to save.

The few seconds it had taken her to incapacitate Neo was long enough for the wind to separate them further. Tears pooled in her eyes as she vainly reached out to the speck of red in the rushing sky, unable to reach her even if she had unlimited Aura for her Semblance and an infinitely-long ribbon for Gambol Shroud. All she could do was watch her friend spiral further and further away, as the island and the endless ocean it rested in came closer and closer with each passing second. Blake squeezed her eyes shut and took in as deep of a breath as she could manage, straightening herself out as she prepared to plunge into the icy water.

Gotta pool my Aura around my legs as I dive in, she thought as she locked her lungs and limbs in place. Otherwise the impact just might knock me out too. Or worse.

Less than ten seconds later she felt the impact of landing, and nearly blacked out from the pain.

The cold surface of the ocean split open as she dove down, and she nearly disappeared into the depths before her momentum finally cut out. Her coat and hair floated around her, bubbles leaking out of her nose and mouth as she fought to keep her breath. Rather than immediately scramble back up for air, Blake allowed herself to drift in the water's dark embrace for a silent, sorrowful moment before she kicked back up to the surface. The shifting pressure and the strain on her lungs battered her from within and without, but her mind was far from those aches and pains. Her thoughts went to the smiling, happy faces of her friends, the people she had failed, and that drive to find a way back gave her the strength to keep swimming.

When she finally surfaced and took a shrill breath, not all the water that clung to her face belonged to the sea.

The next time Yang opened her eyes, she was disappointed to find that the beach hadn't faded away like a bad dream.

The blue sky and ash-gray shore still loomed ahead of her, sapphire waves crashing against the beach and splashing foam across the shoals. Birds chirped and cawed as they flew across the tilted horizon, casting winged shadows against the clear sky. Yang wasn't sure how long she'd slept for, but clearly this place wasn't as dangerous as Remnant - if she'd tried sleeping out in the open on the shore of Patch, she'd likely have woken up in the belly of a Scylla or a Sea Feilong at this point.

Instead, the only creature that seemed to pay her any mind was a small crab that cautiously approached her face.

The crab - or at least, she was pretty sure it was a crab - was squatting in the sand just in front of her nose. Long black eyestalks swayed back and forth as bulbous colorless eyes examined her, clicking its gunmetal gray claws together as it tried to determine who or what the blonde Huntress was. And maybe it was just her sleep-starved brain playing tricks on her, but she could have sworn the crab had mechanical components under its carapace, from pulleys across its back to little gearboxes in its belly.

"Well hello there little guy," she said with a soft laugh. "Are you a magical talking animal here to guide me through this unfamiliar new world?"

She extended her own mechanical arm to pet the little creature, moving slowly so as not to startle her potential new friend. Her effort was fruitless, though, as just the motion alone was enough to send the crab scurrying off in a hurry, leaving tiny little claw prints across the beach.

The blonde brawler sighed. "No…of course not. Silly Yang, that only happens in fairy tales."

With a groan and a sigh she crawled to her feet, doing a quick check of her supplies and possessions. Huntresses were always expected to carry enough ammo and elementally empowered Dust for three day's worth of heavy fighting, so she didn't have to worry about running out of either if she rationed them carefully. The cannon built into her mechanical arm still popped out without so much as a jammed gear, and Ember Celica on her left wrist still folded and unfolded into its shotgun-gauntlet form without issue. Finally, her Scroll - a small electronic rectangle that expanded to reveal a hard light screen - still worked perfectly, although the big red "NO SIGNAL" warning that flashed across the top screen reminded her that she was alone in a strange, unfamiliar world.

As if she even needed a reminder.

Yang fought off the encroaching loneliness for a moment longer as she swiped on the Scroll to view her status screen, which displayed her Aura level as well as that of her team members (if they were in communications range, of course). Strangely, it seemed like her nap had been more effective than she thought it would be - the soul-powered force field that shielded and empowered her had already jumped back up to twenty percent of its total amount, with the number slowly climbing even as she watched it closely. Yang knew her Aura regenerated faster when she rested, but it had never come back this quickly before. Maybe it was a side effect of this world? Or maybe her body was rewarding her for actually sleeping for the first time in…

In…

How long had Atlas been under siege by Salem? Two days? Three? Yang wasn't sure, but if she had to guess, she'd say it felt like an eternity. Maybe even two.

At least I still have all my gear, she thought to herself. Minus that sick coat…wonder if it'd be worth diving to get it?

She cast a look back at the churning sea and immediately quelled the idea. Fashion wasn't worth drowning.

No coat, then. Well, at least it's warm here.

That was something that had gone unnoticed until just now, which was just how warm it was. The sun didn't shine any brighter and the air didn't feel any heavier, so it wasn't "humid like a summer day" warm. It wasn't the dry heat of a desert either - it almost felt like it came in waves from a single source, like it pulsed through the ground itself and spilled into the air.

There must be a volcano somewhere further in, reasoned Yang. I wonder if that's why all the trees are burnt?

Her thoughts referred to the massive forest of coal-black tree husks that lay ahead of her, with branches bare of leaves and trunks scorched by past fires. She walked over to one and ran her good hand over the bark, pulling back and examining the soot that stained her fingers. The black dust clung loosely to her skin, easily rolling into a loose ball as she rubbed her thumb and forefingers together before flicking it away. The way the tree practically disintegrated at her touch reminded her of spent charcoal - only instead of lingering in the fireplace long after the blaze died out, there was an entire forest of the stuff stretching for miles in front of her.

She stood there for far longer than she cared to admit, which surprised her. She'd faced down the Creatures of Grimm - monstrous beings of pure darkness who hungered only for humanity's destruction - and leapt into the fray with fists flying. She'd challenged some of the craziest, most powerful Huntsmen and Huntresses from all four Kingdoms, and while some encounters cost her greatly, she always found a way to rise back up for round two. And even in the last few days when cornered by Salem, the immortal queen of the Grimm, she'd wasted no time in calling her out on her cowardice and hypocrisy - and even getting a few good hits in on the witch to boot.

Yang Xiao Long thought she was fearless.

So why was she so hesitant to enter this burnt forest?

Maybe it's cause on Remnant, I knew what I was getting myself into, she thought to herself. Here…I have no idea what's out there waiting for me. Plus I had friends back home, friends I knew could bail me out if I ever got in over my head…best I can do now is tread water or drown.

She shook her head to clear it, willing back the loneliness and despair once again.

No. Come on, Yang. You got this. You're a big girl. If you wanna find a way home - or at least find answers about where you are - you're gonna have to go into the big scary forest. You can do it. You have to do it.

Taking the mother of all deep breaths to steel her nerves, Yang stepped into the woods.

The sunlight seemed to vanish as she ventured into the blackened forest, blocked by both the spiky ebon-black branches and a perpetual smog of dark gray. Yang tread softly through a thin layer of ash that gathered on the ground, which crunched under her boots like it was freshly fallen snow. Occasionally her footing found a loose branch or exposed root, both of which crumbled into dust at the slightest touch. There were no calling birds, no chittering insects, no cute little woodland animals scurrying around. The entire forest was as silent as death, and Yang soon wondered if she was the only thing here that was still alive.

At least, she wondered that until she heard footsteps in the distance.

She felt the muscles in her left wrist tighten in preparation to deploy Ember Celica as she slowly moved towards the source of the sound, already mentally forming a plan to deal with whatever she might face. The Huntress prepared to live up to her title as she closed in on her prey, her ears wide open for more noises with each passing second. The footsteps were definitely getting louder the closer she came, following a rhythmic sort of pattern, and it was soon accompanied by the sound of slow, measured breathing. Whoever she was tracking clearly didn't care about staying quiet, which made her wonder if her quarry was some dangerous predator that ruled these woods - one that others feared too much to approach.

When she finally stumbled into a clearing and found the source of the noise, she was both disappointed and perplexed at the same time.

Yang stared in disbelief as she took in the sight of a small red figure - one about half her height - pacing slowly and deliberately across the open patch of ashen soil. The figure had two ribbed arms that were as long as its wide rectangular torso, along with a pair of big triangular legs that connected to even bigger wedge-shaped feet. A mask in the shape of a four-sided diamond sat on a gray head, one that was bigger than the torso it was connected to, and angled eye slots in the mask revealed yellow lights glowing intensely. Another amber orb shone from its chest and pulsed softly with each slow and deliberate movement, like a tiny little heartbeat dictating the pace of its actions.

What caught her attention was that like the crab on the beach, this being was at least partly mechanical. Servos and hidden gears whirred and whined with each step, and much of its scarlet-red body seemed metallic at a glance. Each movement was mechanical and repetitive, though Yang couldn't tell if that was a deliberate choice or not. What she could tell was that this creature was very methodical in its pacing - twenty steps in one direction, turn around, twenty steps in the other direction, repeat, all done as slowly as a sloth on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

She watched the figure for a moment. Then another. Then one more, just to be safe. After bracing herself for an attack she was certain would never come, she let out a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding, sitting down on a fallen log and tracking the strange little creature. Her former prey barely even reacted to her presence, which made Yang wonder if it was even aware of her at all.

Until it spoke.

"Hello."

Yang almost fell out of her seat. A modulated male voice echoed across the clearing, one as slow and careful as the rest of the creature's actions. The fact that it talked wasn't what surprised her - what did surprise her was that she could understand what it said. She swallowed the lump in her throat to keep her heart from leaping out of her chest, giving a small timid wave in response.

The little red figure gave a nod of understanding. "I am Kapura," it continued even as it paced. "Are you the Makuta?"

She blinked slowly. This figure sees something as strange and unusual as the blonde brawler interrupting it while pacing, and that's the first thing it asks? She pondered the meaning of the strange things it had said - the first was clearly a name, but the second…she couldn't explain why, but just the word alone made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Erm…no." She finally managed to push words through dry, cracked lips. "My name's Yang. Yang Xiao Long. I'm, uh…not from around here, in case you couldn't tell." Yang laughed softly, then paused to gather her thoughts. "What's a Makuta?"

Kapura, as she supposed its - his - name was, gave a sidelong glance as he slowly paced. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she had a feeling his face was scrunched up behind the mask, as if he was trying to solve some inscrutable puzzle. All the while he kept his repetitive, slow walking routine, never deviating even as his mind tried to solve the mystery.

"…if you do not know what the Makuta is, then I guess you are not it," he finally said with a shrug. "That is good. Jaller says I have to be careful of the Makuta when I am in the forest. He says the Makuta is everywhere."

Yang tilted her head. "Um…"

"He means Rahi," Kapura continued. "Monsters. Things you can see. But I know the Makuta is here now, in these burnt trees, and in the dead soil. All of these things were destroyed by the Makuta, but he never left them. That is how he becomes strong. That is what the Makuta does. He destroys things."

The Huntress bit her lips, understanding now why the name alone filled her with dread. Great…this place has its own Salem, too. Hopefully he at least has the sense to leave us alone.

"I think the forest looks very beautiful this way," finished Kapura after a pause. "And when it burned, you could see all the fires performing their Great Takara all the way to the sea, and it was very beautiful."

"Right…" said Yang with a slow nod, despite not completely understanding what was being said. "What are you doing? Why are you moving so slowly?"

"I am practicing," he said simply. "Vakama says that even though I am slow, I may be faster than all the other Matoran, and travel very far. He says I must practice. Jaller says I am being silly. I practice often."

Vakama…Jaller…Matoran…a lot of new words were being thrown at Yang in very quick succession, and she wasn't sure what any of them meant. Why couldn't Kapura just tell her what was going on, using words she actually understood? A flare of frustration and anger built up, but she quelled it. No need to lose her temper.

Not yet, anyways.

"So, um…" she said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. "What is this place? Where am I?"

"You are where you are," Kapura said. "If I practice, I can be where I am not. The more I practice, the clearer my destination becomes. It is hot here where I am, but where I am not is cold, and I think I can feel it. I must practice more."

Yang frowned. "That doesn't really answer my -"

"This island has many places to visit. I want to see all of them. But the others do not like to travel. Mata Nui is very big."

She let out a sigh. Well…at least she knew what to call the island now. Not that it helped - in her nineteen years of living on Remnant, she'd never heard of a "Mata Nui," not even from Ozpin. Was this entire place just a construct of the Brother Gods? The equivalent of a cosmic junk drawer, where they stored their old creations? Or had she really fallen out of Remnant into a new world entirely, one far away from everyone she knew and loved?

As if he could sense her confusion and rising panic, Kapura spoke up again.

"Vakama knows more. You should ask him. He lives in Ta-Koro. Follow the scratches in the trees. They mark the path I always take when I come here to practice. They will take you to my village."

The tightness and anxiety in her chest faded at the promise of answers. She nodded as she stood up again. "Good to know…um, thanks, Kapura. Keep practicing, I guess."

"Goodbye, Yang."

Casting one more glance back at the slowly-pacing little figure, Yang took a steadying breath and ventured into the charred woods once more.

I sure hope the others are having a better time than me. They've gotta be over in Vacuo by now.

Weiss's breath exploded from her lungs in a great deluge of bubbles as she kicked one final time, breaking the surface with a shrill gasp and grabbing onto a passing ice floe to keep herself afloat. She gripped the cold surface and coughed up seawater, the chill in her arms a stark contrast to the burning in her throat. When she finally managed to empty her lungs of any irritating fluid, she pulled herself up and curled into a ball, huddling for warmth as she suddenly felt very, very cold. Her snow white hair flopped around her in a blanket of wet filth, intricately-woven braids and ponytail done apart by the sea and flowing loosely around her.

Still, it didn't matter too much to the former Heiress that her hair was a complete mess.

If she was lucky, she would live long enough to complain about it later.

Thank goodness Klein had the forethought to give me survival swimming lessons when I was younger, she thought as she puffed hot air into her hands in an attempt to warm them up. Falling into icy lakes is a near death-sentence in Solitas, and he didn't want me to fall victim to it.

The thought of her family back on Remnant threatened to draw forth the tears, but the last thing she needed was more water clinging to her face and giving the freezing winds a new surface to bite her. She needed to get dry, and she needed to get warm. Fortunately she could already feel her Aura pooling back into her limbs, helping her with both; her dark blue overcoat and gloves already felt as dry as fresh linens, and her sky-colored dress and boots weren't too far behind.

Mother always said that Papa Nick's Aura always came back unnaturally fast, even after breaking, remembered Weiss. Guess that ended up getting passed down to me, too…though I think I would have preferred it coming back before I fell here. Wherever "here" is.

Another memory of a family she'd likely never see again passed her mind. Her heart ached despite her chest no longer starving for air, and the cold wasn't the only cause behind her trembling lips. She knew she had to steel herself, had to hold back the misery until she was warm and well-fed, but she couldn't stop a single sorrowful sob from escaping her lips.

Despite her team leader being nowhere nearby, she could imagine her next thought in Ruby's optimistic, confident voice.

It's gonna be okay, Weiss! We came into this world somehow, so there has to be a way back! We'll all see our families again, I know we will!

She blushed slightly. How could her partner be so inspirational and so cute all at the same time?… No. No, there'd be time to unpack that can of worms later. Right now, she needed to move, and the words of her friend in her mind gave her comfort enough to act.

Weiss blinked to clear the tears from her eyes, then sat up with a groan. Looking over herself to make sure all her gear was intact and still there - Myrtenaster, her spare Dust vials, a Scroll, and the borrowed Gambol Shroud, all accounted for - she scanned the horizon with her hand shielding her eyes. Her little ice floe wouldn't last forever, and she wasn't too keen on being dropped back into the freezing ocean when it melted. She had to find solid ground before that.

There. A massive island not too far from her position, one with frosty shores that skirted the edges of a very tall mountain. A tundra of ice and snow separated the low and high extremes of the land, and as much as Weiss loathed the cold at the moment, it was better than being stranded in the sea. So she drew her silvery rapier, spun the main cylinder until a vial of blue powder was locked in place, and pulsed her Semblance behind her. A glyph of sapphire energy appeared in the sea before bursting into water like an overfilled balloon; she plunged Myrtenaster into the ice floe to anchor herself as the resulting wave carried her across the surface, the momentum being just enough to bring her within glyph-stepping distance of the mainland.

A few short hops across summoned platforms later, Weiss Schnee tumbled unceremoniously into a snowbank.

Oh, very classy and graceful. You must be so proud of yourself.

That thought came through in Blake's voice, smug and self-assured yet teasing and good-natured. Weiss groaned inwardly, already feeling some of her weakened Aura fade at the exertion. Part of her knew it would be best to sit and wait for the protective soul armor to finish replenishing, but the rest of her didn't want to stay in one place for too long. Besides, there was another feature on the island she was curious about, something that had gone unnoticed when she was still out at sea.

A massive silver canister on the beach.

Once Weiss crawled out of her snowbank she moved closer to inspect the strange object, running her hands over smooth, cold steel. The canister was massive compared to her; she guessed it could easily hold an entire Ursa Major and still have room to fit a few Beowolves. It's polished metal exterior faintly reflected the light of the sun above, while the inside was cool and dark and slightly damp. It stuck fast to the beach, wedged between the sand and the sea, and a look at the interior revealed a complex array of wires and switches. Finally, a large hollow dome lay face down about a dozen feet away, and it was just the right size to presume that it was once the lid for this strange machine.

This thing was obviously carrying something, she deduced. But what? And why couldn't I have come to the island in something like this?

She filed her complaint about transit options between worlds for later as she looked down and saw a set of large rectangular footprints leading away from the canister, ones that went further inland towards the mountain. Nothing else lingered on the chilly little beach, aside from some strange metal crabs and birds that stayed along the coast. If she wanted to find out what came from the canister, there was only one way to do so.

What's that thing Jaune always says? Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet? She mentally scowled. Well let's just hope for both our sakes that he's right, cause if this gets me killed I'm coming back to haunt that blonde dunce.

Taking a breath to prepare herself for whatever she might find, Weiss kept a hand on Myrtenaster as she followed the footprints into deeper snow.

Not long after she splashed down, Blake Belladonna pulled herself out of the ocean with practiced ease, quickly scaling one of the small rocky cliffs and scrambling to the top. She didn't pause for a breath until she was on dry land, shaking her head to dry out the fur on her Faunus traits and to clear the water that had flowed into both sets of ears during her swim. Once that was done she rose to her feet, taking in her surroundings and warily scanning the horizon with alert amber eyes.

The section of land she'd splashed down near was rough and patchy, little more than a series of bluffs and cliffs that were continually battered by the tide. A sandbar about twenty feet away from her current islet marked the only non-rocky surface that met the ocean, and it was currently occupied by a massive silver canister. Birds chirped and chattered as they swooped and soared overhead, one such creature coming to roost on the strange pod and pecking the lid with its beak. There was a hiss of steam from the sides of the vessel, frightening the bird away before the top exploded off and ejected a collection of black and gunmetal gray objects onto the sand.

Well now that was interesting.

Blake hopped from one rocky outcropping to another to get closer, her catlike agility allowing her to move with ease. As she approached she studied the strange collection of parts, which seemed to shimmer slightly as light reflected off their metallic surface. There were gears and rods and other mechanical pieces, along with jointed segments that seemed to resemble robotic limbs and feet. The realization dawned on her as she caught sight of a huge black torso with an angular head and face and only one arm; this wasn't just a loose assortment of spare bits and bobs, this was a person.

And when the massive claw on the attached arm sprang to life, she froze.

The feline Faunus stayed low to her current perch and watched as the figure's sole limb began to move on its own, filling the air with the whining and whirring of servos waking up after a long period of being inert. The claw served as a great tool for grabbing loose parts out of the sand, assembling a few of them into a second arm and attaching the new limb to its other shoulder. Magnets and catches locked into place with heavy mechanical clunks, and soon the other arm came alive to mirror and aid the first. Blake could only stare in amazement as the biomechanical figure literally pulled itself back together, rising slowly on newly-built legs and slowly testing the weight of its body. Finally, it picked up a diamond-shaped mask that was as black as obsidian, letting sand fall through the cracks in the side before slamming it over the face.

A surge of energy flowed through the figure, and a moment later glowing green eyes shone out through rounded holes in the mask. The resulting being towered over Blake yet still seemed hunched over and squat, possibly owing to the broad shoulders and stocky limbs that made it - him? - seem smaller than he actually was. His three-fingered claws, which were as long and sharp as the cleaver-sheath for Gambol Shroud, hung forward in front of him as he looked from side to side, scanning the horizon cautiously just as she herself had done moments ago. When he sensed no threat in his immediate surroundings he took off at a slow walk, leaving massive footprints in the sand with each deliberate step.

Intrigued by the being of steel and sinew, Blake was compelled to follow silently. If this stranger was a new ally, then learning about him from a distance was the safest approach. And if he wasn't…

The shadowy Huntress gripped the only part of her weapon she still had, already forming a plan to deal with the figure if it came to that.

Which she desperately hoped it wouldn't.

It didn't take Weiss long to remember just how rapidly the temperature could drop in the tundra, and it became clearer still the further she ventured inland. While the winds weren't nearly as bitterly freezing as her homeland of Solitas, it still stuck fast like a thorn in her side with each step, chilling her through her layers of clothing and protective Aura. The field of soul energy was doing its best to warm her up at its low levels, but there was only so much it could do against the cold. She'd need to find shelter soon, especially if the winds didn't stop picking up.

Find whatever left that huge canister, she reminded herself. Focus on that. Then you can treat yourself to a nice roaring fire…and some melted snow. Maybe even some cave moss as dessert.

Her stomach grumbled in protest.

…better skip the cave moss. Too fattening.

Weiss shook her head to clear it, mustering up the will to keep on her current course through the tundra. After ten minutes of following the footsteps, she began to question whether this chase was worth it. After twenty, she considered giving up and finding a cave. Thirty minutes later she was ready to lay down in the snow and let the elements claim her if it meant she wouldn't have to keep walking. But despite her fatigue and frustration, she pressed on. She kept moving forward, determined to find whatever had emerged from the vessel she saw on the beach.

Because she suspected that whatever came out of that canister could lead her to her friends, who were undoubtedly somewhere else on the island.

And maybe, just maybe, it could even lead her home.

She took a few more steps and rounded a corner marked by a glacier when she finally spotted what was leaving the footprints, the sight of which left her (almost literally) frozen in place.

There, standing about twenty paces ahead of her, was a massive humanoid figure clad in silver and white armor. It looked to be about ten feet tall at least, with features such as a rotating gearbox in its shoulders and pistons along its waist and thighs that revealed a semi-robotic nature. When it, or he - Weiss couldn't help but label the figure a he - turned his head to the left, he revealed a single icy-blue eye glowing through a slit in a circular mask; when his head turned to the right, Weiss caught sight of three telescopic lenses that whirred and clicked into place. A large round shield was mounted to his left forearm, and a long notched blade hung across his back with a handle easily reachable across his right shoulder. His appearance reminded Weiss of an Arma Gigas crossed with an Atlesian Knight - except unlike either of those things, this being was alive.

The white-haired Huntress just stood there, unsure what to think of the sight in front of her. For a moment, she wasn't even sure if she was still breathing. When the stranger resumed his walk, it took every bit of willpower she had to leave her glacial cover, doing her best to not make a sound at all as she followed.

Unfortunately for Weiss, her best wasn't enough.

After a few minutes of following the stranger suddenly paused, head turning a fraction of a degree to look over his shoulder. Then there was a sound like whirring machinery as the figure spun on the spot and drew his sword in one swift motion, aiming it in less than a second - directly at her. Weiss barely had time to yelp in surprise before a blast of intense cold launched itself at her, and it was only instinct that allowed her to leap to the side and avoid the attack. The armored figure barely even shifted his stance as he corrected his aim, firing more waves of frost and ice at the evasive Huntress.

Weiss kept dodging for as long as she could, but she eventually made the choice to fight back and draw her sword. Bronze light shone from Myrtenaster as her supply of Earth Dust locked into place; a stab into the ground conjured a massive barrier of stone and rubble to block the assault. Icicles began to form on the bulwark, which only grew as more and more blasts connected and threatened to split her wall apart. With a slash and a yell the earthen barrier shattered under her own power, its pieces raining down on the frosty figure like a localized avalanche.

The figure actually seemed startled for a moment, but quickly clamped down on the confusion, raising his shield to brace himself against the falling debris. It wasn't enough to save him - massive chunks of stone sent tremors across the ground when they landed around and on top of him, and the battle was over just as soon as it began.

Cold air crackled into her lungs as the adrenaline rush of combat wore off, and she looked down at her vial of orange-colored powder with sudden panic. Based on just how powerful the summoned effect had been, she was afraid she'd used her entire supply of the mystical mineral in one single attack. Fear turned to confusion when she noticed that the chamber was barely even emptied - what would have caused a few pebbles to form on Remnant had created an avalanche of stone here.

What is this place? she wondered in awe, I did all that with just a little bit of Dust? On the one hand, this should make rationing easier since I need to use less Dust per attack, but on the other hand…

She looked up at the white armored figure, buried under a landslide that had appeared out of thin air, and dread gripped her heart.

Oh gods.

"Hey! Hey, come on! You better not be dead!"

Weiss took off at a sprint and moved to check on the fallen figure, whose dark eyes and unmoving frame made her fear the worst. Thankfully, the lights flickered on a moment later, and by the time she scaled the small pile of rubble to look the stranger in the eyes, he was already shaking his head and shifting beneath the boulders pinning him down. A sigh of relief escaped her chest, and the pressure holding her stomach like a vice grip finally eased up. She made a mental note to keep her power in check, lest she accidentally freeze the entire island with one ill-timed attack.

First person you meet in this new world and you nearly kill them, she thought to herself in Yang's smarmy, sarcastic (yet somehow endearing) voice as she stared down at her former attacker. Way to make a good first impression, ice queen.

"Sorry about that," she said aloud, mentally shutting off her inner critic for the moment. "I didn't mean to hurt you - I misjudged my own power. Are you okay?"

The figure glared at her with cold blue eyes, the array of lenses on his mask swiveling and clicking in irritation. "I would be…" he said icily, "…if you weren't standing on me."

The heiress looked down at her feet to see that yes, her combat heels were digging through the stone into ivory-silver body armor. She stepped off while lifting her skirt to keep the hem from catching on the stony debris, then looked back at the figure with a raised eyebrow. Her former opponent didn't even bother to thank her, instead lifting his notched blade above the rubble and holding it over the rocks with a thin armored glove.

"Hold on, let me get you out of there," said Weiss as she raised Myrtenaster once again.

"I don't need help."

The air around her suddenly felt about fifty degrees colder, rippling and humming with an unfamiliar sound. Weiss shivered as she saw the sword begin to glow with pale blue light, watching curiously as the stranger brought the sword closer to the rocks. Without even making contact with the blade, the stony debris started to freeze over with a thick coat of frost, which eventually grew into ice so dense it could have held up solid steel.

How is he doing that? she wondered with a tilt of her head. Is it Dust? His Semblance? Or…something else?

Despite her fascination, her pride kept her from watching quietly.

"Just let me do it," she insisted. "It'll be faster."

The figure shot another glare at her. "I said…"

CRASH!

Rocks and rubble exploded in a shower of shrapnel as the stranger brought his sword down on the frozen stone, filling the air with glasslike shards and reducing most of the debris into sharp snowflakes that flew out from the point of impact. Weiss yelped as she instinctively raised her arms in front of her to brace her Aura, calling on what little of her soul armor remained to stop the storm of blades from giving her even more cuts and gashes. Her protective barrier flickered in and out of existence as her muscles screamed for rest, but it did an admirable job of keeping most of the shrapnel away from her face and chest. Her arms and legs weren't quite so lucky, though, and while none of them cut deep enough to draw blood, they did make new holes in her outfit for the chill to pour through.

Once the dust settled, the figure stood up on his now-freed legs, unconcerned with the new scratches on his armor or the fact that he almost turned the heiress into pink puree.

"…I can do it myself," he finished with a cold scowl beneath his mask.

Indignant that she hadn't even gotten an apology for nearly killing her - even after she had the decency to do the same! - Weiss turned Myrtenaster towards the last chunk of rock that had somehow survived the icy implosion.

"Yes, well…you missed one."

Gravity Dust locked into place, and soon an ebon-black glyph launched the boulder and sent it careening into the sky. It sailed across the horizon for a few seconds, before crashing with a distant thud into a faraway canyon. The figure stared at the flying rock for a moment, as if he was wondering whether or not to be impressed.

"Now, if we can talk with words instead of force, then we might actually get somewhere productive," snapped Weiss as she sheathed her sword, extending a hand courteously. "My name is Weiss Schnee, former Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and second-in-command of Team RWBY. And you are…?"

The icy figure said nothing. He didn't even move to reciprocate her handshake.

"…not going to tell me your name," she realized with a tight frown. "Alright, fine. If you won't tell me who you are, then would you at least be willing to tell me what you are? Or even where we are, right now?"

The blue stare of the stranger was far from warm or encouraging. He shook his head and turned to leave.

"I'm wondering the same thing myself," he intoned simply. "If you don't have answers, then there's no reason to keep talking to you."

And with that, he walked away.

The heiress just dropped her jaw in shock and watched the white-armored figure march through the snow in the opposite direction, the knee-high banks of powder barely even slowing him down.

"H-hey! Get back here!" With a scoff she moved to follow once again, digging through the waist-high snow that pushed against her with each step. Unsurprisingly, the stranger did not heed her command. If anything, he seemed to move faster.

"Wait!" Weiss said, picking up her pace to try and keep up with the mystery giant's large strides. "If you don't know either, then wouldn't it make more sense to find out together? We'd have a better chance of figuring out the answers - or finding people that do know - if we helped each other."

The stranger didn't seem too enthused. "I work alone."

She huffed. "By choice? Or just because no one can stand you and your attitude?"

Gods, please tell me I wasn't this obnoxious.

The figure once again stopped in his tracks, and for a moment she wondered if her words had struck a nerve. Then she realized why he stopped: his lenses were scanning the horizon in response to a distant howl, one that didn't belong to any Grimm she recognized. Her heart skipped a beat as she suddenly remembered that she was a stranger in a strange land, with unknown dangers and terrors that were far worse than just making a fool of herself. If she wanted to find her friends - if they were even still alive - she needed his help more than he needed hers.

He seemed to come to the same conclusion, albeit far more reluctantly. His blue eyes looked back to her, and he let out a long sigh.

"…fine. Follow, if you want. After all, I might need a mountain moved…or the island lifted."

You'd probably want Yang for that, she thought to herself as she moved closer. She tried to ignore the piercing gaze and the whirring of the lenses, but knew they were watching her move through the snow with none of the grace or agility she prided herself in. When she finally crawled out of the waist-high prison of white powder, the stranger interrupted her panting with one word.

"Kopaka."

Weiss looked up and tilted her head. "Huh?"

He narrowed his eyes. "My name."

The Huntress nodded breathlessly. "Right. Kopaka. Can you spell that for me?"

"No."

Kopaka turned away again and began moving, clearing away the snow banks with small waves of his icy sword. Weiss bit back her next insult and followed her unusual ally, hugging her chest to warm herself as she trailed behind him.

I hope the others are alright, she thought to herself as Kopaka led them deeper into the tundra. And that whoever they've met is friendlier than this.

There was no use denying the facts in front of her face.

Yang was lost.

After her talk with Kapura, she'd spent an hour looking for the scratches on the trees like he suggested, only to end up even more lost than before. No matter how closely she paid attention to the marks in the trunks, or how hard she tried to remember which ones she'd passed and which ones were new, she still found herself wandering right back around to the same clearing. Or maybe all the clearings were exactly the same. It was hard to say.

In any case, frustration rose inside her just as well as the fatigue, and she swore to herself if she saw the same clearing one more time she was gonna tear down the whole damn forest until -

A sudden noise on her left made her snap to attention, the sound of branches striking each other followed by shouting voices. She couldn't understand what was being said at this distance, but the calls and cries drew her closer like a siren song. Yang took off running at full tilt through the trees, the foolishness of such a move barely registering against the desire to find somebody - anybody - who could get her out of these stupid woods.

In this case, her impulsiveness paid off.

As another clearing came into view, she suddenly skidded to a halt and darted behind one of the blackened trees along the edge of the open field. She was rewarded with the sight of more strange figures that resembled Kapura, though these had different masks and some of them had yellow or black parts to accent their red torsos and arms. Directly across from them was a giant bipedal figure, one twice as tall as Yang, with gleaming red armor, a sword in hand, and a withering crimson glare under his own mask. The taller figure was trapped in some kind of cage made of branches - a trap clearly set by the smaller figures, given the way they mobilized and pointed two-pronged spears at their prize.

"Agni, Keahi, take the left flanks!" said a yellow-masked little person. "Kalama, on the right with me! I don't know what kind of Rahi this is, but I intend to find out after we deal with it!"

"On it Captain!"

Yang almost felt sorry for the figure in the cage…or at least, she did, before the trapped being's eyes suddenly flashed a dangerous red. The sword in his hand came alive in a roaring blaze, casting a strong orange light that threw everything else into shadow. With one swipe he easily cut through the charred wood that restrained him, freeing himself and scattering burning cinders in the wind.

The smaller beings paused for a fraction of a second at their trap being foiled, before they fearlessly raised their spears in unison once again.

While Yang may not have known who or what the larger stranger was, she recognized the intent in his eyes all the same. He wasn't just satisfied with freedom. He wanted payback, especially against whatever had tried to trap him in the first place. And considering how the little guys didn't seem likely to back down, it would be all too easy for that fiery blade to snuff them out.

It would be a slaughter.

Her hand balled up into a fist.

Recently she had tried to avoid picking fights she didn't know she could win. She had made great strides to avoid rushing headlong into dangerous situations, to think with her head instead of her gauntlets. But Yang Xiao Long had been wandering around the same dozen or so blackened trees for what felt like years. She was tired, thirsty, sweaty, and pissed.

She really needed to beat something up, just to feel a little better.

And right now, the red-armored giant that was waving a flaming sword menacingly at the group of Munchkins was a very tempting and deserving target.

Ember Celica unfolded with a click, and she fired backwards to launch herself into the fray!

Chapter Text

Tahu was not having a good day.

In the last few hours he'd woken up on a beach in pieces, with no memory of who or where he was save for his name and the fact that he had power over heat and flame. Then he'd wandered across flows of lava and into a blackened forest, glaring daggers at any sudden sounds as he got himself hopelessly lost. To add insult to injury, his wandering had gotten him trapped in a primitive wooden cage woven out of branches, one created by the smaller beings that carried spears and wore masks like his. While one slash of his fiery sword had freed him, the indignity of being trapped by such tiny creatures still weighed heavily on him, stoking the rage that built up inside him like a mighty blaze.

And right now, to top it all off, another figure half his height was leaping at him with a raging yell.

A fist of metal and unfamiliar energy crashed against his mask, nearly knocking it off his face and sending him stumbling back. With a roar of his own he swung his sword in retaliation, only to hit empty air as his new opponent suddenly dropped to the ground. Tahu followed up with numerous flaming slashes that left arcs of fire in their wake, but the figure was evasive and kept their arms close to an oddly-shaped chest as they easily dodged the heated blade. Strange sounds he couldn't quite describe rang out whenever his opponent delivered punches to his legs and lower torso, assaulting his frame with some kind of exploding shower of steel. While the blows barely penetrated his armor, the constant barrage that slipped through his defenses stoked his anger until it felt like a raging inferno about to erupt.

After a moment of the yellow figure darting around him in a circle, he growled and swung his sword straight down to create a burning ring of fire. His opponent at least had enough common sense to leap back to avoid the flames, retreating from combat for a brief moment to catch their breath. The defensive move gave him a reprieve he didn't realize he'd needed as well - had the stranger really worn him down so easily? Who were they? What were they?

Then they spoke in a confident female voice.

"What's the matter, big guy? Afraid to pick on someone your own size?" She - at least, Tahu assumed they were a she - wiped her brow. "I doubt the little folks over there would give you much of a challenge. So why not give someone who can actually fight back a try?"

Tahu's piercing crimson eyes glared at the small figure who dared - dared! - to attack him, taking in her appearance and trying to gauge the danger she presented. Not that she looked all that threatening; her only metallic parts appeared to be an armored gauntlet over the left fist and a mechanical right arm, with the rest of her soft sand-colored body covered only in loose-fitting orange and brown fabrics. Unlike him and everything else on the island, his opponent didn't wear a mask - instead he could fully see red eyes that burned in anger, with a cloak of what looked like yellow flames extending from the back of her head. Smoke rose from barrels on her wrists, which Tahu quickly realized were weapons mounted directly to her body.

So it seems this strange attacker wields the power of fire as I do, mused Tahu as he narrowed his own eyes. Perhaps it would do well to remind her that she is merely an ember…and that I am the inferno.

The intensity of his burning sword flared up as he dismissed his defenses with a wave of his hand, his weapon glowing with fury as he pointed the tip at the stranger. By his will alone a spiral of cinders sparked along the length of the blade, which erupted into a massive ball of heat and flame that surged towards the figure. Her eyes widened for a moment before she ducked to avoid the blast, tucking and rolling out of the way and letting the attack incinerate a small group of blackened trees near the edge of the clearing.

With a growl, Tahu shifted his footing and fired another blast of his power, frustration building as each failed hit widened the battlefield by removing more charred trunks. The fire-headed figure seemed to openly enjoy dodging his attacks, if the confident smirk on her strange maskless face was anything to gauge by. After four missed shots in a row, he roared and split his focus into twin beams of pure flame on either side of his opponent, pushing the streams together and pinning her between two encroaching walls of fire. His opponent looked left, then right, then back again before she finally braced herself, crossing her gauntlets to take the blast head on. When they actually made contact she let out a yell but held her ground, glowing like a star as the flames scattered and flowed around her.

It should have been enough to burn away anything that moved.

Yet even when he finally cut the attack before he himself blacked out from the strain, she was still standing there.

"Heh…not bad, Red," she said in a harsh pant as the flames faded and spiraled away. "I'm almost impressed. But you're not the first fire-spewing maniac I've had to fight today. Hell, you're not even the hottest."

He raised an eyebrow under his mask. This stranger…first she dared to attack him, and now she was taunting him openly? Was there no end to her arrogance?

"The name is Tahu," he growled. "You would do well to remember it, loud one - it will be the last name you take with you to the void."

His opponent just laughed again. "Tahu, huh? Nice name - I'll make sure they spell it right on your tombstone. Now are you gonna be a gentleman and invite me to dance? Or do I have to be all un-ladylike and make the first move?"

She put up her fists in an aggressive stance, beckoning him to come forward even as she bounced on her feet. Tahu narrowed his eyes and surged forward with his sword roaring in flame, opening up with sweeping slashes that left arcs of fire in their wake.

"How kind of you! And they say chivalry is dead."

His attacker openly smirked as she rushed to meet him, sidestepping his vertical slashes and ducking under his lateral strikes. Tahu kept his blade in motion and leaned with each movement, focusing on overwhelming the stranger and keeping her on the defensive with the sheer number of attacks. He got a few grazing hits in, which the stranger deflected with her gauntlets and some rippling yellow field of energy that flowed over her body. If the burning blaze bothered her, she made a good show of hiding it.

She must have some kind of shielding power, much like the one afforded me by my mask, he pondered as the being blocked a downward slash with both gauntlets. Though I doubt hers is as strong as mine.

In the seconds between the stranger pinning down his sword and leaping up to strike his blind spot, Tahu mentally triggered the power of his mask. Immediately a violet field of pure energy formed around him, an invulnerable barrier that easily ate the force of the attacker's blow. He smirked under his mask as the opponent's eyes widened, momentarily taken aback as she landed back on her feet. She followed up with two more punches to the same result, then narrowed her gaze as she let loose a flurry of ineffectual blows against the barrier before leaping back.

Yes, loud one, he mentally boasted as he dispelled the shield to prepare a blast of flame. Cower in fear of me, for I am invincible -

A sudden rapid beeping caught his attention, and he looked down to see a half-dozen flashing red objects laying at his feet.

What madness - ?!

BOOM!

Tahu yelled in pain as the little devices suddenly exploded, knocking him backwards across the clearing. While the flames didn't hurt, the burst of pressure certainly did, and it knocked the wind out of him as he collapsed to the ground. His opponent was quick to capitalize on the opening, launching herself back into the fray and aiming to bring her fists down in a two-handed blow.

He growled and rolled to the side to dodge the attack, then scrambled to his feet. His grip on the flaming sword shifted, and he raised it high above his head -

"Enough!"

A voice, one loud and clear and dripping with wisdom and authority, got the attention of both Tahu and his opponent. They turned their heads and caught sight of another figure, this one slightly taller than the beings that had tried to trap him, with orange and black robes flowing from his hunched-over torso and amber eyes glowing with reverence. He had a mask on like the others, this one with a narrow base and an oval-shaped top, and he held a long staff that faintly glowed with embers on the tip of it. Whoever this new arrival was, he was clearly respected among the others, as they moved out of his way to allow him to approach the clearing.

"Turaga Vakama!" shouted one of the smaller creatures, snapping a salute. "What are you doing all the way out here? It's dangerous."

The newcomer - the one evidently named "Vakama" - chuckled lightly. "Everywhere is dangerous now, Captain Jaller. Even the walls of Ta-Koro are not as safe as you hope them to be. But I believe that is why he has come…to change that." He gestured at Tahu, who narrowed his gaze in annoyance.

Jaller nodded, though he didn't seem convinced enough to lower his weapon. "And what about the other one? It attacked him without provocation and they started fighting, like feral Rahi fighting over territory. Seems like it's just as dangerous."

"Not to mention how hideous it is!" said one of the other guards.

"Yeah, I mean look at it! It doesn't even wear a mask!" exclaimed another.

Tahu's opponent scoffed and rolled her red eyes. "First off, I'm not an 'it,' I'm a 'she.' Second off, you little guys don't have a lot of room to judge, considering you're all wearing masks that look like they came out of a novelty gift shop. And finally, that's a really funny way of saying 'Oh wow Yang, thanks for saving us from the ten-foot-tall giant with a huge flaming sword and anger management issues! How can we ever repay you?'"

Several of the smaller beings spoke up in protest, but Vakama silenced them with a wave of his hand. He slowly approached both Tahu and this "Yang" person, regarding them both with wise gazes.

"…you fought to protect my Matoran?" said the Turaga with a tilt of his head.

Yang stiffened, her eyes shifting from red to a shade of lilac. "Y-yeah…I mean, yes. Yes I did."

Vakama nodded slowly. "I see. May I ask why?"

"Because I'm a Huntress," she said, puffing her chest. "Protecting helpless people from monsters is what I do."

"I am no monster," growled Tahu.

"And we're not helpless!" protested Jaller.

Another wave of Vakama's hand silenced the latter, and the way he bowed before them placated the former.

"Then Ta-Wahi is honored to welcome two heroes to her fiery hills this day, instead of just one," intoned the Turaga. "You are unfamiliar to us, Yang, but anyone who fights to protect my people has a place in my village. And as for the other…you show all the signs of being the one we have anticipated, one of six prophesied to bring deliverance to our island home. Long have we waited for your coming, hoping you would arrive to save us in our darkest hour. And so it pleases me to finally witness your arrival…Toa Tahu, our spirit of Fire."

The smaller creatures - the Matoran - all looked at each other before raising their spears not to attack, but in solidarity. Tahu just stared at them, pondering the meaning of Vakama's words. Toa? What was a Toa? The word sounded vaguely familiar, like a memory that clung to his mind after a long sleep, but the meaning slipped through his grasp as though it were a fleeting dream. And how did Vakama know his name? For that matter, how did he know more about him than he did about himself?

As though he sensed the questions building in his mind, Vakama rose back to his feet, leaning on his staff for support. Though he too wore a mask, Tahu could sense a smile underneath that radiated warmth and comfort, setting his nerves at ease and filling him with peace.

"Come, all of you. Let us leave this twisted scar of land behind, and take shelter in the warm lights of Ta-Koro. No doubt you have many questions about this place, and your destinies within. I will do what I can to answer such things."

Yang let out a chuckle and retracted her weapons back into her arms. "Mister Vakama sir, that's the best idea I've heard all day. Lead the way."

Tahu still wasn't sure about the figure that had picked a fight with him, but he would tolerate her presence if it meant answers.

Maybe.

The cold wind of the mountain bit into the joints of Kopaka's armor as he trundled to the top of a craggy pass, though to him it felt as mild as a cool autumn breeze. He wasn't sure why he felt drawn to the tundra and its snowy slopes; perhaps it had something to do with his ability to spontaneously generate and control ice and frost, or maybe it was something far more instinctual. Whatever the reason, one thing was for certain - the cold had no power over him, and he felt at home here.

Behind him, his strange organic "ally" huffed and grunted as she trailed behind him. He didn't bother checking over his shoulder to see if Weiss was still following - the sound of her breathing and panting was loud enough for him to know she was there. He let out a small sigh, wondering why he'd even agreed to this arrangement. This Weiss was stubborn and made way too much noise, but she also seemed quick-witted and determined. And she was certainly strong. Anyone who chose to follow him into such icy terrain for so long had to be, to say nothing of how she was able to summon several large boulders' worth of stone with one wave of her strange sword.

She's either extremely brave or extremely foolish to willingly seek out my company, he mused. Probably both.

He reached a large stony clearing along the mountain path, one that was decorated in a light blanket of snow and a collection of blue-leaved bushes that thrived in the cold. His human follower was still a fair dozen or so paces behind him, so he took a quick chance to turn around and trigger the power of his mask, turning its penetrating gaze onto Weiss. The world around him flickered green, black, gray, and pure white before he finally settled on purple to pick out sources of elemental energy against the inert backdrop of the island - just one of the many vision options afforded him by activating his mask power.

The lenses of Kopaka's mask whirred and clicked as they spun in place, focusing on the so-called heiress that lagged behind him. He could see a heart beating inside her chest with so much energy it picked up on his elemental scans, but he didn't concern himself with trying to puzzle out organic biology. No, he was far more focused on the weapon that hung from her side - specifically, the six vials of powder inside that glowed like stars and seemed to grow brighter just by looking at them. Red fire, yellow lightning, white ice, blue water, brown stone, and purple gravity radiated from within the chambers of the sword's revolving core, and when he tracked his gaze to the belt that hugged her waist, he saw other elements that ranged from simple ones like green wind to more complex energies he didn't have names for. None of it seemed to come from the girl herself; it all flowed out of the strange substance she carried.

This mineral…I have not seen any like it on the island thus far, he observed. It feels as though it contains the very essence of the elements themselves. But why? Did she come expecting trouble?

It was only now that he noticed that Weiss had stopped walking, breathing heavily and bending forward to rest her hands on her knees. That odd curtain of white fibers hung in front of her face as she panted for a short moment, before she brushed it out of her face with her hand and shot a glare at Kopaka that he could see even before he deactivated his mask power.

"I know my hair doesn't look great right now," she said with a breathless pout, "but it's still rude to stare."

He tilted his head. "Hair?"

"Yes, hair." Weiss pointed to the bundle of white fibers. "That's what this is. Have you ever even seen a human before?"

No. And if they're all as annoying as you, then I do not wish to.

He chose to leave his real thought unspoken, merely opting for shaking his head.

"Well then I'll let you in on a little secret," huffed Weiss. "Humans - people like me - don't do well with cold. Or high elevations, where the air is thinner. Or walking for hours at a time without food or water. Those things might not bother you, but they're all pretty dangerous to me. So maybe now might be a good time to ask if you have a destination in mind, and how long it would take to get there. Unless, of course, you're just wandering aimlessly with no idea where to go."

Kopaka narrowed his gaze. Of course he knew where he was going! He was going…he was heading for…

Huh.

Where was he going?

The thought was interrupted by the sound of something rustling in the bushes, clearly trying to stay quiet. Instinctively, he spun on the spot and drew his sword, cold energy channeling into the sword and preparing to unleash it in an icy blast. Just before he was about to release the energy stored within, Weiss grabbed his arm and pushed it up and away, letting the bolt of ice and snow sail harmlessly over the foliage. A loud yelp gave away the stalker's position - a quick glance with his lenses spotted what looked like a tiny version of himself lying prone in the bush.

He glared at the human who'd ruined his shot. "What are you doing?" he snapped.

"What are you doing?!" Weiss snapped back. "Seriously, is it your first instinct to shoot ice at anyone you've just met?!"

"I don't know," Kopaka retorted icily. "Do you always greet potential allies by dropping a mountain on them?"

Weiss opened her mouth to counter, but evidently decided it wasn't worth it as she grumbled under her breath. She let go of Kopaka's sword arm.

"Just…let me handle this," she said with a sigh. "If it was gonna attack, it would have done so when your back was turned. So I don't think this is a wild animal or something dangerous - maybe I can talk to it."

Kopaka raised an eyebrow under his mask, but nevertheless stashed his sword. No use wasting energy arguing, anyways. He gave a sigh that roughly translated to "do whatever you want." Weiss seemed to take that as an endorsement, because she shifted her gaze from him to the small figure that was still lying low in the bramble, one that was staring cautiously and staying as still and quiet as death.

"You can come out now," she said in a soft voice. "Promise we won't hurt you. Or at least, I promise not to hurt you." She shot a pointed glare at Kopaka with that last phrase.

The smaller figure carefully emerged from the bush, walking over on stubby little legs in an almost comical fashion. It didn't escape Kopaka's notice that it wore a mask that mirrored his own, complete with an array of telescoping lenses along the one side - though the version worn by the newcomer was a deep, steely shade of blue that matched its legs. When it was about five paces away from Kopaka, it rested one of its pearl-white fists in the snow and bowed its head in reverence, servos whirring as muscle and metal moved in sync.

"Apologies for startling you, Toa Kopaka," said the biomechanical being in an awed voice. "I am Matoro, a Ko-Matoran Trapper and right hand of Turaga Nuju. I saw your canister wash ashore while I was coming out of the Drifts and…well, I wished to confirm your arrival for myself, and to see if the legends were true. I have no doubt now - you are the one we have been waiting for."

Matoro lifted his mask slightly to focus the lenses on the white-haired human that trailed behind. "Although…the legends said nothing about how the Toa would arrive with organic allies. But I guess not even the Seeking would be able to predict everything."

Organic allies? More like organic annoyances, Kopaka thought to himself as he studied his smaller counterpart. Out loud, he voiced more pressing questions.

"What is a Toa? And what legend?"

The so-called Ko-Matoran hummed and tilted his head. "…ah. You don't remember. The Wall of Prophecies warned that this may be the case. You must have been sleeping a long time - spending that long in dreams tends to have that effect. Nuju may be able to answer your questions, Toa Kopaka, if you and your companion were to grace our village with a visit."

Weiss huffed out a cloud of cold air and stepped forward. "A village? That sounds lovely. Can you take us there?"

"It would be my honor, friend of the Toa," said Matoro as he rose back up to his full height (which wasn't much taller than his deep bow) and moved back to the bushes to retrieve a large canvas backpack. "It's not very far, and I know this area of Mount Ihu like the back of my own mask. Follow me."

Kopaka had a number of reservations about this plan - and about how Weiss could trust someone so easily - but the burning desire for knowledge for once outweighed his caution. He followed the Ko-Matoran along the mountain paths, watching as Matoro gave some kind of black-skinned fruit to Weiss. The heiress stared at the gift for a moment before she shrugged and bit into it, making disgusting moaning noises as she devoured the offered fruit.

This is twice in the last hour that I've been forced into the company of others, he thought to himself with a frown. Let's just hope that it won't keep happening.

Dig, pull, scrape, push. Dig, pull, scrape, push.

The hardened stone and dirt crumbled before his mighty claws, allowing them to easily be raked aside and cleared out of the way. This felt right to Onua, being underground - for reasons he couldn't completely explain why. He knew that the ebony-black mask he wore granted him massive strength, that his glowing green eyes could see every detail of the dark tunnels without a source of light, and he knew that the earth itself seemed to beckon him deeper as he tunneled. Everything else seemed to float just out of reach.

Was he missing memories of his time before darkness and silence? Or had they simply never existed at all, and his life had truly begun with blinding sunlight? Onua wasn't sure, but one thing he was sure about was that he felt at home here, in the comfortable rhythm of digging out a new tunnel. So he chose to do just that, and let the unknown worry about itself.

The only other thing he knew was that he was not alone.

"I know you are back there," he finally said in a low, gravely voice as he paused his tunneling. "There is little use trying to hide from me, nor is there any need. So long as you have no intent to harm, neither do I. Come out, so that we may speak freely."

He felt, rather than heard, the sound of soft footsteps tentatively coming closer. Onua turned to face the stranger that had been tailing him ever since he assembled himself - a purely organic being that was roughly half his height, dressed in black and white fabrics to cover her soft, tanned skin. Her hands brushed against the mass of short-cropped organic fibers that fell around her maskless face, amber eyes regarding him warily as she approached. Those very eyes didn't squint or strain to see him in the low light, which likely meant that she could see in the dark just like him - and judging by the odd triangles on her head and the way they twitched and turned with every sound, he guessed that her hearing was just as potent as his own.

"And here I thought I was being quiet," she said with a small pout. "How'd you know I was there?"

"Your footsteps," answered Onua truthfully, "Every time you make contact with the ground, you send vibrations through the earth itself no matter how lightly you tread. To most others, such vibrations may have gone unnoticed…but I suspect we are not like most others, are we?"

The stranger folded her arms over her oddly-shaped chest, leaning against the wall of the newly-carved tunnel. "In more ways than one, probably. So what are you, exactly?"

He sighed, bursts of steam hissing through the side vents of his mask. "That, I cannot say for certain. I awoke not long ago with little knowledge and few memories, learning only of my power and abilities as I began digging. Beyond that, all I know is my name - Onua."

She nodded tightly. "Blake. You can probably guess, but I'm not exactly from around here."

Onua gave a nod of his own. "I believe that applies to both of us, Blake. Do you at least remember what brought you to the island?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Blake sighed as she pushed off the wall. "My friends and I were fighting in some kind of void outside our world, trying to save people…but it all went wrong. We ended up falling into a magical abyss, and the next thing we knew we were here. Separated, but alive. Hopefully."

He tilted his head as he watched the otherworldly warrior begin pacing relentlessly, green eyes tracking every anxious step she tried to hide. In truth, he already assumed that Blake heralded from a world beyond this one - the soil and soot that clung to her clothes felt different than the rubble that lay around him on the floor. Yet he could also sense that there was something deeper to her story, something she struggled with internally that she wasn't quite ready to share, and he did not wish to uncover it against her will.

Onua hummed thoughtfully as he put a massive claw against the wall, feeling the pulse of the land as though the island itself had a beating heart. "Word travels quickly through stone and earth," he mused. "It carries secrets of the island within its walls, and so long as something touches the ground, it will know of it. I believe I can use this to help you find your friends, Blake - if you would be willing to help me find my purpose."

The young stranger's eyes brightened, the fuzzy triangles on her head perking up. She thought for all of five seconds before she put up an emotional mask of her own, muting her enthusiasm with a wry smirk.

"I think I can get behind that," answered Blake. "Though I'll warn you, I'm not much of a digger."

A hearty chuckle escaped Onua's metallic lips. "I believe I can dig for both of us, traveler. Though I would not oppose having a second pair of eyes to keep watch behind me while I continue tunneling. I can better focus my attention on what lies ahead, if I know that our back is guarded well."

Blake nodded and drew the coal-black blade off its resting place, standing back-to-back with him and peering into the darkness of the tunnel behind them. She barely came up to his hips, and yet her stance showed that she was ready to leap into action at a moment's notice.

"Then I'll be sure to keep a lookout," she said with resolve in her voice. "Ready when you are."

Onua nodded and returned to the repetitive rhythm of digging, though he took care not to throw rubble into the backside of his new ally. Not that it got much of a reaction out of Blake whenever she was showered in soil every now and then - her gaze was focused on what was behind them, just as she promised it would be. He could see without even looking at her that she had the stance and air of a warrior about her - her footing was wide and light, her entire body snapped into new directions to face threatening noises, and her heartbeat showed that she was alert and ready to fight at a moment's notice.

I wonder what kind of world she hails from, where she would feel the need to be on guard at all times, he wondered idly.

His thoughts were interrupted when his three-fingered claw tore through the back of the tunnel's stone, only to cut through still and empty air.

Curious, he thought with a small hum. There must be an opening on the other side.

With a slow focused sigh he pulled the remains of the wall apart, letting it crumble into rubble that scattered at his feet as he stepped into the new area. He found himself at the bottom of an underground ravine, one where the walls stretched so high he couldn't even see the ceiling if he squinted. Not that it was completely dark - he took note of a number of glimmering stones an arm's length above his head, along with markers and circular symbols that he somehow knew how to read.

So there are others underground, he thought to himself. Perhaps they will hold the answers I seek.

Blake stepped into the ravine just behind him, watching as he ran a claw over the smooth stone walls. "What is it?" she asked. "What is this place?"

"I do not know," rumbled Onua, humming in thought. "What I do know is that this cavern is not natural - not entirely, at least. The ravine was here before, but the space around it, here at the bottom…this was carved away, not formed. With a tool of some sorts."

The young woman looked around. "So you think something dug this place out?"

"Or someone." He stepped forward and heard a crunch underfoot. Lifting one coal-black foot slowly, he saw what looked like a pickaxe of some kind snapped in half, though the tool itself was already dulled to the point of uselessness.

Blake retrieved one of the broken halves and examined it. "This was a mining tunnel," she realized. "Whoever dug it was looking for something…and when they didn't find it, they moved on."

"But what were they searching for?" Onua wondered aloud. "And why was it not found here?"

As if on cue, he felt a vibration in the floor beneath him. He crouched low, resting his claws on the earth and focusing. He could feel something moving in a hurry, something…small yet heavy on their feet…something…behind him?

The source of the footsteps came to a screeching halt as they emerged from a side tunnel - a tiny little figure with a mask like his own, albeit theirs was purple to better match the color of their legs. Their gaze darted back and forth, clutching a towering armload of minerals, ores, and tools tightly to their coal-black chest.

"Excuse me, little one," called Onua. "Do you have a moment to speak?"

Blake immediately readied her weapon, but a claw that lowered in front of her bade her to stay her hand. The newcomer took one look at him, froze, dropped everything they were carrying, and blinked their glowing green eyes several times in that order.

"Oh. Oh! Oh oh!"

He frowned. Perhaps this being didn't speak the same language as him and Blake. He cleared his throat and tried a different approach. "Hel-lo," he said slowly, pointing to himself. "Me - Onua. Who - you?" Now to the figure. "Do - you - understand - me?"

"Yes! Yes, I understand you very well!" The small newcomer cleared his own throat, bending over to scoop up his fallen materials. "Apologies. You merely startled me, is all. Usually it takes far more than that to rattle Onepu, captain of the Ussalry - that's me, by the way - but…well, let's just say that the Onu-Matoran have all been rather on edge as of late. But your arrival should help soothe their nerves!"

"You know each other?" asked Blake. Onua shook his head.

"No, but I imagine we soon will!" said Onepu with a laugh as he gathered his things. "As I imagine we will, um…you…er…"

"Blake."

"Blake! Pleased to make your acquaintance, fair Blake. You must be a hero of equal renown, if you travel with the Toa of Earth himself."

Onua tilted his head. "Toa…of Earth?"

"Ah, you've forgotten things in the darkness of dreams," Onepu gave another laugh as he tried and failed to stack a few large chunks of ore in his arms. "Fret not, great one! Turaga Whenua shall answer any questions you may have - assuming that Zemya can stop bothering him about the Trade Guild for all of five minutes. Now please, come with me. I must deliver these supplies to the runners for the Le-Koro Highway team, and then I'll take you straight to the village myself!"

And with that, Onepu took a few shaky steps forward, only to collapse under the weight of his gathered things. Blake and Onua gave each other a look, then nodded before stepping forward to aid the fallen Onu-Matoran.

"Here," said the amber-eyed woman as she grabbed a bundle of pickaxes. "Why don't we help you with those?"

Onepu looked up at Blake with incredulity. "Oh, no, it's quite alright. I couldn't ask heroes of such renown to carry a few ores and tools. It's not why you came here."

"On the contrary," said Onua as he gathered up the treasures of the earth in his claws. "I believe that helping those in need is exactly why I am here."

Despite Onepu's smile being hidden behind his mask, it was nearly bright enough to light up the entire cavern, and Onua felt like he was one step closer to finding his purpose.

Emerald decided very quickly that she hated the jungle.

It was hot, it was muggy, it was sticky, and it was full of bugs. If it was up to her, she would have been content with just splashing around in the shallow waters of the beach she'd touched down in, chilling in the cold sea until she got found by the others. But her growling stomach and dry cracked lips had other plans, forcing her into the thick tangle of massive trees and vines in search of clean water and some kind of food.

She used the sickle form of Thief's Respite to slice through vines and branches as she ventured deeper, trying to curb at least a little bit of the foliage to make her life a little easier. Her black and white checkered coat was wrapped around her waist in the face of the humidity, leaving her mint green crop top and darkened skin visible for the world to see. Hundreds of biomechanical creatures watched her from the treetops and the undergrowth with glowing eyes, but she did her best to ignore them and push them out of her mind. None of them seemed eager to approach her, so she figured if she paid no attention to them, they would return the favor and let her be. Nevertheless, she kept her head on a swivel, watching for movement just in case one of those creatures decided to turn her into a Huntress-flavored snack.

How she wished she had both her weapons. Too bad Cinder had thrown the other copy of the revolver-sickle into the void during their final fight for Atlas. And given how spread out she, Weiss, and Penny had been upon arrival, who knew where it was now? For all she knew, it could have fallen into the ocean, far out of reach and collecting rust as it sat at the bottom of the sea.

Don't miss what's gone. Focus on what you have, and what you need.

She grit her teeth and hacked at a stubborn vine. Right. Keep moving forward, keep looking for food and water. How bitterly ironic that the words floating into her mind came from the very bitch who had put them all here. Cause right now she really needed that plaguing her conscience.

Existential misgivings aside, it was a thoroughly miserable trek. The heels of her black ankle boots kept catching on foliage that tripped her more than once, eventually forcing her to ditch them in favor of the brown flat shoes she kept for emergencies. While her older choice of footwear kept her from stumbling as she navigated, it didn't protect her from the thorns and exposed roots that poked through the soles - a trade-off she painfully accepted in favor of being able to actually walk. She abandoned the leather chaps that hung over her legs and rolled up the cuffs of her white skinny jeans to help with the heat, but that just gave the branches and bramble more surfaces to scratch as she passed by. Her Aura did its best to mend the gashes before they could dig too deep, but there was only so much it could do when every new step brought at least two new sources of pain.

And the bugs…oh gods the bugs.

That filled her with more rage and frustration than everything else on her journey. It felt like every single flying little nuisance on the island was drawn to her like flies to honey, buzzing loudly in her ear and plunging stingers into her skin to get just a little sip of her blood - and getting flattened or swatted away for their greed. If Emerald wasn't so focused on basic survival at the moment, she would have declared a one-woman war against all insect species right there on the spot. Even the cute ones. There would be no survivors.

Still, she pressed on. She didn't have a choice, she needed to find food and water.

An eternity and several hundred curse words later, she found both.

Emerald stumbled out of a forest of reeds into the muddy shore of a small watering hole, one with several fruit-bearing vines dangling generously overhead. A flock of metallic gray and red ducks floated in the water and regarded the new arrival with a cautious eye, but once it became clear she wasn't a threat they went back to pecking at the soil and roots growing along the shore. The thieving teenager collapsed to her knees with a gasp and practically dunked her face into the dark brown water, gurgling and groaning and greedily gulping down the stuff even as it burned her throat and splashed into her nose. Once her thirst was quenched she drew back and panted, water and sweat dripping from her mint-green hair and relief flooding into her muscles.

Okay, completed step one - don't die of thirst, she thought to herself with a heavy cough. Now for step two - don't starve.

She wiped mud off her face and looked up at the dangling fruits overhead, examining them with squinting eyes. The food was as strange and metallic as everything else on the island, resembling massive deformed limes that hung like pears off a lush verdant vine. Emerald watched as a robotic duck flew up and started digging into one of the fruits with its beak; when it didn't immediately keel over and die, she concluded it wasn't poisonous and unhooked the chain of Thief's Respite. With one expertly-aimed whip of the blade she cut through two of the stems, dropping the pair of melons into the watering hole and watching them float to the surface.

Satisfied, she retrieved her prize and studied the strange food for a moment, debating the best way to eat it before throwing caution to the wind and biting deep into the soft, thin surface. The flesh of the fruit was bitter and tangy, reminding her of the texture and taste of dried apricots. Juice practically oozed out of the fruit despite its firmness, dribbling down her chin and staining her lips. She paid no mind to manners as she hungrily devoured the first half of her meal, her teeth only stopping when they made contact with the metallic core and compacted seeds.

Oh come on! Even the food is metal at the center? Her brow furrowed. Do I wanna know what this is gonna do to my insides later on?

Her stomach continued to growl, and Emerald made a snap decision that ignorance was bliss when it came to what she was eating. She tossed the newly-cored fruit into the trees, and was just about to bite down on her second fruit when a small chitter rang out beside her.

Emerald looked down, teeth hovering mid-bite in annoyance at the tiny brown-and-black creature that crawled shyly up next to her, with big beady black eyes and tiny little forepaws. It reminded her of a cross between a mole and a hedgehog, with the hunched frame of the former and the spikes along the spine of the latter. The little critter had metal plates around its skin, giving it a muddy muted appearance as it tilted its head and repeated its cry while eyeing up the fruit in her hands.

"No," she hissed. "Go away. This is my food."

"Kriiiiii." The little creature did not budge. If anything, it only seemed to beg harder.

"I mean it, I'm not giving you anything."

"Kriiiiii." Now it was pawing at the air, like a cat who wanted attention.

"Don't look at me like that," she groaned. "This is the jungle, isn't it? The place where you either eat or get eaten? Acting cute isn't gonna save you."

Believe me, I should know.

That thought rose to the front of her mind, unbidden, and for a moment she saw herself reflected in the eyes of the tiny little creature. A dirty, downtrodden little street urchin with no shoes, begging the throngs of people passing by for something, anything to make the pain in her stomach stop for just a little bit. At best, she was ignored. At worst, she was pushed or shoved aside. At the very worst, she was picked up by the police and thrown into the nearest water canal. It was a prelude to a lesson that had defined her whole life: those who had everything would never willingly give to those who had nothing. If she wanted to survive, she would have to take what she needed, whatever it might be.

It was part of why, when Cinder promised her she'd never go hungry again, she had been so eager to believe it. After an entire lifetime of being told she didn't matter, the fact that someone pretended to care about her - even a random stranger with a menacing aura - felt world-changing.

Yet…how different would her life have been if just one person before then had shown her kindness?

Would she still be where she was right now?

With a loud sigh Emerald drew Thief's Respite once again, slicing the fruit in half and setting the smaller part down in front of the tiny mole-like creature. It chittered in thanks and eagerly dove into its meal, bringing a small smile to her lips as she sheathed her weapon and bit into what was left of her own fruit.

Ugh…look at what being around that little silver-eyed kid for one evening has done to me, she thought bitterly as she ate. I'm already turning into a goddamn cartoon princess. Next I'll be talking to the birds and stashing squirrels in my pants all while singing about how nice and pretty and happy I am.

Still…the little critter did look pretty cute as it gnawed on its half of the melon.

Maybe that was enough for now.

Her moment of personal growth - or at least something resembling it - was rudely interrupted when something stirred in the underbrush. The little creature yelped and ran away, leaving its half-eaten fruit behind as the ducks all flapped their wings to take flight and flee. A moment after the rest of the creatures scattered, the new arrival emerged from the shadows of the trees - a massive black and purple scorpion, easily thirty feet long from head to stinger, with a huge piston-powered tail and yellow eyes that seemed to glow with murderous intent.

Emerald slowly chewed the bit of fruit already in her mouth, carefully swallowing before extending the rest of her meal to the dangerous-looking creature. "…let me guess. You want a bite of this too, right?"

The scorpion's razor-sharp mandibles clicked together for a moment, before it let loose an unholy shriek and plunged its tail into where she had been sitting a moment earlier.

"Could've just said 'no, I want a bite of you instead,'" huffed Emerald as she slid to a stop. "Asshole."

Thief's Respite flew into her hand once again as she prepared to fight. The monster staring her down would have intimidated most people, but she was a former street urchin with an Aura and Huntress training. She could handle a Deathstalker - she was pretty sure she could handle whatever this thing was.

Emerald took off in a sprint and moved in a serpentine pattern across the watering hole, anticipating where the stinger would strike next and making sure she wasn't there. The tail plunged into the soft earth over and over again, scattering soil and water with each missed strike. After the third such whiffed attack, Emerald hooked her blade into the base of the stinger itself, letting the scorpion's limb pull her up as it drew its main weapon back. A pulse of her Semblance cast an illusion of herself in the mind of the creature, a mirror image of the Huntress once again dodging and weaving right in front of its face - too close for it to attack with its stinger.

That should keep it busy for a few seconds, she thought as she unhooked the chain of her weapon once more. This thing's fast, but it's not too bright. If I can lash its tail to one of those tree trunks, I might be able to -

But her planning was cut short as the scorpion let out another screech that sounded like the screams of the damned, whipping its tail back and forth and trying to shake off the Huntress. Emerald's eyes widened as she tried to maintain her grip, but the force of each snapping swing was enough to rip her free, leaving her open for the stinger to drive itself into her gut while she was still in mid-air. The impact sent her flying across the clearing and crashing into a tree, hitting the bark hard as she painfully slid down to the ground with a groan. Her Aura held firm, if only just - one more hit like that, and her story of redemption would end here.

That wasn't what Emerald was worried about, though. There was something far more concerning on her mind.

It…saw right through my illusion? She gasped and clutched her side with her unarmed hand, her other hand fumbling to turn Thief's Respite into a revolver. How? Not even the Grimm can do that…what makes this thing so special?

Unfortunately, it seemed like it would be a mystery that would go unsolved, as the scorpion shrieked and closed in…

CRAAAAAAAACK… CRUNCH!

She wasn't even sure when she'd closed her eyes, but when Emerald opened them she was shocked to find the beast that was menacing her buried under a pile of chopped logs. Her crimson eyes scanned the area, looking for whatever felled so many trees in such a short amount of time. Eventually, she spotted a massive figure in sparkling green armor emerge from the undergrowth and perch on top of one of the fallen trunks, giving the squirming scorpion underneath a few kicks to the back of the head before finally bringing his axe down executioner-style. The beast stopped struggling a moment later.

With a satisfied grunt, the figure pulled his emerald weapon back and studied the blade with glowing lime-green eyes, presumably checking for beastly blood. Finding none, he slung it back over his shoulders, kicking the corpse one more time before turning to stare at her with a slight tilt of his head. The Huntress stared back for a long moment, unsure how to act. When it was clear that this new arrival wouldn't attack her, she pulled herself back to her feet with a small scowl and watched as the figure hopped down off the log pile and lumbered over to her.

The figure had clearly saved her, but despite his face being covered by a mask that matched his armor, she could tell just how smug he was being about it. His posture, his gaze, his seeming inability to stand still for more than five seconds…it reminded the thieving teenager a little too much of Mercury, and if he was anything like the silver-haired smartass back home she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of admitting the need for help. She'd seen enough obnoxious self-assured goofballs back on Remnant - the type of person she got along with the least - and unfortunately she could immediately tell she was looking at another one right now.

"I had it handled, you know," grumbled Emerald as she snapped the chain back into her weapon. "I didn't need your help."

"Oh, I could see-guess that," said the green armored figure with a chuckle, further confirming her suspicions about his personality. "Just thought I would assist-help anyway, in case you did need it. The jungle can be a dangerous place when you travel alone, sprout-leaf."

Emerald's annoyance gave way to confusion. "…sprout-leaf? What's that mean?"

"Seed-root," clarified the figure unhelpfully. "Vine-blossom. Branch-twig." Seeing how the girl still stared in confusion, he brought a massive hand to the top of his green, bird-like mask.

"Tree-leaf," he said with a clear grin. Then he brought his hand down to Emerald's head. "Sprout-leaf."

Her annoyance came right back like the flip of a switch as she pushed his hand away. "Are you calling me short?!" she protested.

"No offense-harm meant," said the figure with a shrug. "Only pointing out the fact-truths. The tree-roots of the jungle go deep, and many ugly-dark things lurk in their shade. Small beings like you have the advantage of run-hiding, though sometimes hunt-fighting is necessary to stay alive. Saw you being generous with food-gift earlier, merely thought I would return the favor-act. Good deed-choices should be rewarded, after all."

Emerald's frustration with the stranger's fast, odd way of speech finally reached a boiling point as she grimaced. "…why do you keep talking like that?!"

He tilted his head in confusion. "Talk like what? What's wrong with my speech-talk?"

"That!" Emerald snapped. "That…that thing you keep doing! Where you say two words instead of one! Why are you doing that?!"

Her savior was silent for a moment, then he shrugged. "I…don't actually remember-know."

"Then do you think you could maybe stop doing it?"

He hummed thoughtfully. "…does it annoy you?"

"Yes!"

Despite wearing a mask, Emerald could feel the figure giving a cheeky smirk as he looked down at her with glowing green eyes.

"Then no, I don't think-guess I will."

Oh my gods he really is just a big green Mercury.

"That's it, I'm outta here."

The green-haired thief spun on her heels and marched deeper into the trees, ignoring the figure calling out behind her. She just had to keep walking. Just had to keep moving. The stranger would get bored eventually, and then she'd finally have a moment of peace without his constant shouting.

"Sprout-leaf, wait!" He called out, oblivious to the dirty looks she was shooting at him. "Don't take that way-path! It leads straight into the sinking -!"

SQUISH.

"…bog-marsh."

Emerald sighed as she looked down at the patch of quicksand already sticking fast to her leg, like a sentient ooze that hungered for flesh. Her weight wasted no time in pulling her down, and she now realized that in her frustrated state of mind she'd wandered right into the middle of the sinking swamp. Concluding that there was no way out on her own, she looked over at the stranger with an annoyed glance, watching him perch on a nearby fallen log. He already had a vine in his hand ready to throw to her, though at least this time he looked at her as though he was waiting for permission to help first.

Maybe following him around wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

It seemed only a marginally better fate than suffocating to death.

"Yes, fine, okay, you can save me," she relented as she rolled her eyes. He nodded and tossed the lifeline into the swamp, a small gust of wind spilling from his hand to make the vine sail farther. The lifeline landed at her feet with a wet squelch, and before she could even sink to her waist, she was already out of the marsh and back on solid ground.

"Thanks," she finally admitted through grit teeth as she wiped herself down. Then she gave a long sigh as she looked up at the much-taller figure. "I guess I could use a guide through the jungle, Mister…?"

The figure blinked. "Oh! Introductions! Please forgive my rude-fault!"

He hopped off his branch and stood to his full height, then gave a grand bow. "I am Lewa, mystery-king of know-nothingness and soaring wind-flyer of the highest trees. I may have forgotten most of my story-past…but I remember-know that much, at least."

The mint-haired thief gave a small curtsy. "Emerald Sustrai. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but I'm trying to cut down on how many lies I tell a day."

Lewa laughed. "Guts and wit! I think we're going to get along quite well, sprout-leaf!"

"Don't threaten me."

Her glare seemed to bounce off Lewa's impenetrable good mood as he grabbed her arm and flung her onto his back, coiling his legs underneath him. "Now then! Foot-walking far too slow and boring! Air-flying much faster and more exciting. Hold tight, sprout-leaf - and pay attention!"

She let out a yelp of protest. "Hey! Wait! What do you think you're doiiiiiiiiiiingggg?!"

The screams of a terrified Huntress rang throughout the whole jungle as Emerald and Lewa disappeared into the treetops, the former of whom was regretting every choice she'd ever made in her entire life.

Wherever the other girls were on the island, Emerald hoped they were having a less harrowing time than her.

Ruby Rose was not a strong swimmer.

This was a fact she was suddenly and keenly reminded of as she splashed into the sea, sinking far deeper than she would have liked into the endless blue abyss. Being unconscious for the trip between Remnant and this place - wherever it was - meant that she hadn't taken a very deep breath before crashing below the surface, and the water threatened to steal away what little air remained in her lungs. With a muffled grunt and shriek she clasped her hands over her mouth, pinching her nose and pursing her lips to vainly try and stop the deluge of seawater.

Not good, she managed to think in her hazy mind. No air. Can't breathe. No Aura. Can't use my Semblance. Can't stay here. Have to go up. Which way is up?

Quelling the panic that rose in her chest - which would only waste more air - she kicked feebly around and searched the dark ocean only to find more darkness and more ocean. Silver eyes darted back and forth wildly, trying to find the shimmering light of the surface in the shadowy sea. A spasm in her throat released a burst of bubbles through her cupped hands, which hovered slowly in front of her face for a moment before finally ascending.

Bubbles go up, she remembered. Up means air. Air means not dying. So follow the bubbles…

Now that she had a rough idea of where to go, she started kicking with as much strength as her seventeen-year-old legs could muster. Slowly but surely her momentum shifted, carrying her through the endless blue as her red cloak fluttered and flowed behind her. Ruby knew it would be faster if she used her hands to help her swim, but they were currently occupied with making sure her face holes stayed unflooded. Her eyes struggled to focus as the lack of air took its toll, but she kept swimming. One kick after another, then another, then another…

A shadow darted through the waters.

Ruby let out another muted yelp and stopped moving, freezing up until she was completely still. Silvery eyes once again darted back and forth, watching for the blurry silhouette of the potential threat and trying to track it. She didn't know what was in the water with her, but she had a feeling it wasn't friendly. Whether it was a shark, a Grimm, or something even worse, the primal part of her mind told her to be still and wait for the potential predator to swim away. No matter how much her chest hurt.

Go away please… she thought desperately, I wanna breathe, please leave me alone…

Much to her dismay, the dark shape did not leave her alone.

In fact, it came closer.

A bubbly moan of despair escaped her lips. This was it, wasn't it? This was the unceremonious, unfulfilling ending to the story of Ruby Rose, the stupid little kid from Patch who thought she could save Remnant. She'd failed Atlas. She'd failed her friends. She'd failed her family. She'd failed her legacy. And now she was either going to be eaten by some otherworldly predator, or she was going to drown trying to escape. Neither option seemed particularly appealing, but if she had to choose, she'd take the monster. She'd almost drowned once before - when she was six years old and when Yang had pushed her into a lake for "swimming lessons" - and she wasn't looking to repeat the experience.

The creature approached with incredible speed, seemingly gliding through the water as though it was part of it. As it came closer Ruby caught sight of streamlined blue armor that nearly blended into the surrounding sea, distinguished only by the lighter shade of aqua that covered its arms and legs. Whatever it was, it was big - at least twice as tall as the half-drowning Huntress - yet its size barely slowed it down as its body arced and trailed through the open ocean.

It came ever closer until its face - or at least what Ruby thought was its face - hovered inches away from her own.

The pair simply floated alongside each other for a long moment, each examining the other in fascination and curiosity. Ruby's fear turned to wonder as she noticed that the stranger had mechanical parts interwoven with the armor, along with strange gears in its shoulders clicking and whirring softly and mysteriously. She also noticed that its "face" was actually a translucent blue mask, one with a prominent triangular visor and sweeping curves that reminded her of a giant waterfall. Piercing yellow eyes shone through the mask even as it glowed with faint azure light, examining the Huntress even as it was examined in turn.

Ruby didn't know what kind of creature she was looking at, but it seemed to carry a sort of ephemeral, existential peace with it, one she could have basked in forever.

And then her lungs finally gave out.

Her hands abandoned their futile attempt to seal her mouth and nose - those had already been breached by the flood of water rushing to fill the void left by the deluge of bubbles. She instead clutched her throat and tried to stop the cold, salty seawater from sliding down, but that too was a failed effort. Ruby moaned pitifully as her chest ached, kicking frantically and uselessly and going nowhere. No matter how much she fought, her body needed to breathe - and at this point, it didn't matter what was being inhaled.

The figure reeled back as soon as she started coughing mouthfuls of stale air and water, looking down at her in concern. Her silver eyes started to dull, and it took all her energy to move her arms even just a tiny bit.

"…help…" she gurgled weakly, limply pointing to the surface.

Maybe it was her imagination, but the stranger nodded.

Did…did it understand me?

It was a mystery her air-starved brain would have to solve later, because at the moment she was jolted back into awareness by the figure grabbing her wrist, the feeling of cold steel digging into her sleeve. Then it took off with speed that rivaled even Ruby Rose with the full power of her Semblance, surging through the water with a powerful thrust of its legs. If she wasn't already drowning, she would have noticed that the speed at which they were traveling would have broken her neck by the sheer force of rushing water, yet no such injury occurred. It was almost like the sea itself parted to grant them passage to the surface, which shone brighter with each passing second even as her own vision faltered more and more.

Finally, the waves were breached, and the figure flung itself and Ruby into the clear sky.

The silver-eyed Huntress gasped and coughed up an alarming amount of water, wheezing and panting as fresh air filled her lungs at long last. She groaned and watched as the surface rushed back up to meet them, but her mysterious savior twisted and flipped in the air to catch her in strong metallic arms as they fell together. Ruby took a deep breath in anticipation for the sea to swallow them back up…only to take an even deeper one as she tried to process the fact that the figure was currently standing on the water, as though the ocean was nothing more than an endless pane of blue glass.

"Are you all right, little one?" asked the stranger in a wise, deeply feminine voice.

Ruby could only nod speechlessly for a moment, partly due to the need to keep breathing and partly due to amazement. The stranger kept looking down at her with its - her, Ruby realized - gentle gaze, concern radiating through the transparent visor instead of the expected hunger of a predator. And the way she stood on the sea, as if the very forces of nature obeyed her command…a part of Ruby's mind told her she should fear such a being, yet the rest of her simply couldn't.

Once she was sure her burning throat was completely clear, she finally found her voice.

"Th-thanks…" rasped Ruby, wheezing and clutching her chest with a wince of pain. "Who…who are you? What are you?" She pointed down at the ocean. "And how are you doing…that?"

Her savior looked down, giving a small embarrassed laugh. "Those are all fair questions, little one. In truth…I do not know, myself. I simply arrived here as you did, rising from a slumber with memories that are…incomplete." She let out a sigh. "I wish I could give you actual answers."

"Maybe I can help with that, Toa Gali."

The figure's gaze suddenly snapped to the side at the sound of another voice, this one also female yet lighter and filled with timidness instead of wisdom. Ruby craned her head back to catch a glimpse of a figure whose colors and mask matched the one carrying her, though the new one was far smaller and stood in a large flat green boat. Gali, as she supposed the stranger's name was, tilted her head in curiosity, though it didn't escape Ruby's notice that her new friend shifted her grip ever so slightly to better shield her in case the new arrival was hostile.

"You know my name?" Gali intoned. "I fear you have me at a disadvantage."

The smaller figure bowed. "Forgive my breach in formality, great one. My name is Hahli, and I'm a simple fisherwoman from Ga-Koro. I know your name because it's been prophesied for so long that you, our Toa of Water, would come and save us, to restore peace and prosperity to the island of Mata Nui. Please, follow me - my village is not far, and my Turaga can answer any questions you have. She is very wise like that."

Gali looked at Hahli, then at Ruby, who nodded.

"Just put me in the back of her boat," she said with one more cough. "I'll be fine by the time we get there. If that's alright with you, um…Hahli, right?"

Hahli gave a nod of her own, which prompted Gali to take graceful steps across the waves and towards the boat. Silver eyes widened as she watched her savior - her "Toa" - practically glide along the surface of the sea, never once wavering in her purpose. Finally, she gently laid the little rose in the floating transport, prompting her to curl up into a ball almost on instinct.

"…I'm Ruby, by the way," she said, looking at both the unlikely new allies. "Ruby Rose. I'm…not from around here."

"I figured as much," said Hahli with a soft laugh. "Alright…hold on back there."

Once Ruby did what she could to make herself comfortable, the boat roared back to life and kicked up a spray of seafoam as it accelerated across the open water. The wind whipped through her drenched hair and clothes as they sailed, her cloak splaying out behind her in a curtain of red. She snuck a glance behind her to find that her new friend was keeping pace with the boat just by swimming, barely even looking fatigued even as Hahli put more and more power into the engines.

A perfect blend of the mechanical and the living, thought Ruby as she studied both figures with a wide smile. Penny would have loved it here.

Her smile faded as she remembered one of her dearest friends back in Remnant.

A friend she wasn't sure if she'd ever see again.

A beach.

He was sitting on a beach, shaking sand out of his mask and trying to ignore the harsh light and pounding waves that worsened his headache. He tried to think back to where he last was, tried to remember how he got here, tried to remember who he was, but all that came up in his mind was a big cloud of nothing. So either his memories were gone, or he had sprung to life on this beach. Both ideas were equally terrifying.

Alright, come on…you, he told himself, no need to panic. Get up, look around, and maybe you'll find some kind of answers.

With a grumble and a groan he pulled himself up, ignoring the servos in his joints whirring in protest. He took a few unsteady steps across the sand, using his arms to balance himself as he put one wedge-shaped foot in front of the other. After he was sure he could walk without mask-planting back to the ground, he began to explore his unfamiliar surroundings.

He soon realized that the beach was bordered not just by the shimmering sea on his left, but by a wall of black obsidian on his right. The stone was polished and smooth to the touch, with no notable features save for an ivory face in the center with a very large hole for a mouth. He nearly let out a cry of shock when he thought he saw a figure walking by him along the wall - another quick glance told him that he was being startled by his own reflection.

"Ah, jeez," he said, mostly to himself. "What happened to you? What happened to me? Who am I?"

Whoever he was, he was clearly a Matoran - not that he could explain how he knew that. He just knew that like most Matoran he was short and stocky, with long flexible arms, big chunky legs, and a small rectangular torso that connected all those parts to his head. His body and arms were a rich red color, while his legs were a golden-yellow that looked dulled and faded by time. A diamond-shaped mask sat on his face, one that was the color of a clear blue sky, and glowing yellow eyes peered through that mask and burned with questions that had no answers.

"Well, whoever I am, I'm clearly not the most handsome Matoran," he noted as he stared at worn-down mechanical parts integrated into his frame. "I look like I've taken a nasty tumble…or several."

That was when he noticed that there was a strap of blue cloth running across his chest, which upon further examination was connected to a little rucksack of the same color. After a brief tussle with the bag (which he nearly lost) he wrestled it off his back and peered at the contents, only to find it completely empty. With a disappointed huff, he nearly chucked it when he noticed something written at the bottom in golden thread, something that had clearly been stitched into the material by hand. It was a string of circles with lines marked inside, and though he wasn't sure how, he understood what it said perfectly.

PROPERTY OF TAKUA

"Takua…" he repeated, frowning behind his mask. "Sounds like a name. Is it my name? I sure hope it is, cause otherwise I have a lot of explaining to do…probably."

The name felt right, so Takua decided that it was indeed his name. He slung the rucksack back over his shoulder and was just about to keep walking when a loud splash in the ocean made him freeze up.

He spun on his feet and scrambled to hide behind a rock, waiting for whatever made the noise to pass. Every servo in his biomechanical body tensed up with anticipation, and every organic muscle trembled in terror. It suddenly occurred to him just how small and vulnerable he was - unless he had some kind of special power locked deep within his stocky frame, he had a feeling that hiding and watching the shore for danger was the wisest course of action. So that's exactly what he did, keeping only the top half of his mask visible as he stayed vigilant.

The little Matoran's survival instinct paid off moments later when a churning wave unceremoniously dropped a still, unmoving creature onto the sand.

Takua took slow careful steps towards the strange entity, observing it even as he watched for sudden movements. The figure seemed to have two arms and legs like him, but it was taller than he was - much taller - and it didn't have a single mechanical part in sight. Its legs were long and pallid and ended in disgusting shapes of ivory flesh, while its body and arms were covered in some kind of green, white, and black fabric. Curiously, it didn't have a mask of any kind, leaving its smooth face bare to the world with dull green eyes and some strange protrusion just above the open mouth. Other odd features included splotches of dark red staining the cloth around the torso, little spots all over its face and limbs, and a large collection of burnt-orange fibers growing from the back of its skull adorned by a pink weave.

It was unlike anything Takua had ever seen.

It was also very much dead.

Safe in the knowledge that this thing wouldn't suddenly rise and attack him, he allowed himself to get close enough to touch. Just as he expected from distant observation, there were no parts of the figure that were hard metal like his - everything, from its legs to its body, was rough and coarse and very very cold. He ran his hands over the strange surface, tested the range of motion on the limbs, and even examined the tears in its body. Takua may not have known much about organic creatures, but he was reasonably certain that the wounds in its torso were the cause of this figure's death.

The entity was repulsive, hideous, and smelled awful.

But there was an odd beauty about it that Takua couldn't quite describe.

"What are you?" he asked aloud, tilting its head to face him. "Or, I guess the better question is…what were you? I may not be able to remember much…but I think I'd be able to remember seeing something like you around here…"

A surge of electric energy suddenly leapt from his fingertips, arcing from warm metal to cold flesh. He tried to pull his hands away, but somehow they stayed rooted to the creature's face, as though they were held in place by very strong magnets. The energy traced across the face and gathered in the mouth, glowing through the skin as it traveled down the throat, flowed through its chest, and gathered into a spark of emerald flame that reminded Takua of his own heartlight.

Then there was a final flash of green and gold light, and the figure gasped loudly.

Takua yelled and leapt backwards away from the not-actually-dead creature, bracing himself for the former corpse to attack him for daring to touch it. But the expected attack never came, as the entity instead rolled over and rested on its palms to cough up sand, water, and some red sticky substance he couldn't identify. He watched as the figure slowly curled up into a ball, bringing its long unprotected legs and tiny hideous feet underneath its torso for a moment before standing up completely. Green light began to spread across its body like a shimmering blanket, flickering and growing in strength before finally vanishing.

Then…it spoke.

"I…am alive? How…what…"

It felt the places where red stained its cloth torso, humming in curiosity. Then it looked down at Takua, tilting its head to one side as it took a step forward. He took a step back and nearly tripped over his own heel.

"Ah! No! Please don't hurt me!" wailed Takua, shielding himself behind his rucksack. "I-I don't know what you are, but I'm pretty sure I can take a monster like you down anyways! I think!"

That was a lie, of course. He had no idea how to fight. But hopefully the entity wouldn't see through his bluff.

The entity raised one of those odd bushy lines above its eye, the corners of its unmasked mouth pulling downwards into a frown he could clearly see. He assumed it was a gesture of aggression, and wailed louder.

"Please calm down! I do not wish to hurt you." It protested. "And I am not a monster. I am a girl."

Takua slowly lowered his arms. The creature…understood him? And he understood it? This was strange, but not as strange as what it called itself.

"…what's a girl?" he asked cautiously.

The figure's expression changed to one of presumed puzzlement. "Oh, a girl is a young human female. Like me. And like my friends. Have you seen them?"

Female. He understood that word at least. But what was the other thing it - she - said? And what was that about her friends?

One mystery at a time.

"Okay…and what's a Hyu-Mahn?" asked Takua with a confused stare. "Is it some new kind of Rahi?"

Now the stranger was confused, tilting her head as she looked down at him. "…what is a Rahi? And for that matter, what are you?"

Takua blinked twice. He wasn't entirely sure what a Rahi was either, aside from a vague sense of danger and dread.

"I'm a Matoran," he said finally. "At least…I think I am. There's a lot I don't remember…and I can't remember why. How did you get here? What happened? Why were you dead just a moment ago? And how are you, you know…not dead anymore?"

The figure paused, then looked down at her hands with an expression Takua couldn't read. "I…my friends and I…we were fighting, and then…I…oh gods…Ruby…"

Water suddenly sprung from the soft, damp eyes of the girl as she dropped to her knees and buried her maskless face in her hands. Whatever words she said next were lost in some kind of strange heaving motion, one that seemed to make it difficult for her to speak.

The Matoran may not have understood everything the figure was talking about, but he could at least recognize the emotion she was feeling.

Sorrow.

No longer feeling threatened, Takua took a tentative step forward. If this was some kind of sympathy-garnering self-defense mechanism, it was a very effective one.

"Um…hey," he said softly. "It's okay. You…you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. And if you don't remember either, then that's fine too. We can find answers together…if you want, that is."

He gently laid a hand on the soft fabric that clung to the figure's arms, feeling her seize up at his touch. Takua blinked twice and looked down, suddenly afraid that he'd just breached some unspoken physical boundary. His fear was quickly dispelled when the girl slowly pulled her arms away from her face, staring at the little Matoran for a moment before grasping his hand in both of hers. The flesh was warm and soft as it clasped his mechanical plates, a stark contrast to how her skin had felt moments before - and despite the fact that her puffy eyes were still leaking clear fluid, they seemed to brighten as the corners of her mouth turned upwards.

It took Takua a moment to realize that this stranger, this otherworldly creature, was smiling at him.

"…thank you," she said with one more choked sob. She continued to hold Takua's hands for a quiet moment before she finally withdrew her own, wiped her eyes and stood back up. The girl still towered over him, but somehow her height wasn't as intimidating as it had been before.

Takua cleared his throat. "So, um…is there anything else I can do to help? You mentioned friends earlier - are there others like you?"

The girl nodded slowly. "…yes. And if I fell here, then they may be here as well. I would like to find them soon, Mister…"

Her words trailed off, and she suddenly looked down at him with a sharp gasp. "…oh my. This is embarrassing - I do not know your name!"

He chuckled and smiled back. "Well, that I know how to fix. I'm Takua. Or at least, I think that's my name - if it isn't, then someone else is gonna be very upset with me."

The girl giggled as her smile brightened again. "Salutations, Mister Takua! My name is Penny Polendina. It is a pleasure to meet you!"

Penny extended one of her arms down in front of Takua's face. He looked at it in confusion.

"…this is the part where you shake my hand," said Penny after a moment of awkward silence.

The memory-impaired Matoran tilted his head. "Why?"

"I…" Penny hummed. "I do not know, actually. Papa just told me that this is what people do when they become friends."

Takua didn't know what a "Papa" was, but he knew what a friend was at least. He gingerly took the offered hand and lightly rocked it from side to side, getting another giggle out of Penny when they kept swinging their arms together.

"So does this mean we're friends now?" he asked after he finally withdrew his hand.

"I believe it does, yes!" Penny grinned as she bobbed her head in what Takua could only assume was a joyful gesture. "Now…where should we begin our search?"

That was a very good question, and he wasn't sure he had an answer. He took a moment to scan the horizon, looking for something that seemed promising. On his left he found a large mountain with a seemingly-endless flight of stone stairs carved into the side, while on his right he could see a smaller mountain of black rock spewing smoke from the middle. The latter seemed to stir something within him, feelings of warmth and comfort, for reasons that he couldn't quite explain.

"Let's try that way," Takua finally said as he took Penny's hand and pointed with the other. "If we're lucky, we might find others like me…and maybe even people who look like you."

Penny's smile brightened once more as she happily followed Takua. "Then lead on, Mister Takua!"

"…you can just call me 'Takua,' you know."

"Will do, Mister Takua!"

Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, he and his new unlikely friend walked hand-in-hand towards the smoking mountain, leaving two distinct sets of footprints in the sand behind them.

Chapter Text

The boat ride out of the open sea into the bay was exceptionally smooth, and Ruby spent every minute of the voyage bombarding the fisherwoman piloting their craft with questions. Hahli tried to answer as much as she could, and while not all of it was perfectly understandable, it at least gave the silver-eyed Huntress an idea of what to expect going forward. Gali was still in the water, far more enamored with the joy and beauty of the ocean, sometimes leaping out of the water and doing mid-air flips before splashing back down. Between her swim earlier and the splashing of waves, Ruby was thoroughly drenched, yet in the warm tropical air she felt comfortable and content.

Besides, she was far more intrigued by the whole new world she'd fallen into.

She learned that the island was populated by a race of biomechanical workers called Matoran, all of whom hailed from six different villages depending on which element they were attuned to. Hahli herself came from the coastal settlement of Ga-Koro - thus, she was called a "Ga-Matoran" by herself and others. Each village was led by a local elder called a Turaga, a chieftain of sorts that kept the local legends and guided their Matoran in their day-to-day affairs. Hahli's village was under the watchful eye of Turaga Nokama, whose wisdom and gentleness navigated a path for her all-female people through raging rain and savage storms.

Most other forms of life on the island of Mata Nui struck a similar balance of both organic and mechanical, some being mostly flesh and blood while others were almost entirely machine-like. While this place didn't have the Grimm or Salem to worry about, it still had its dangers - namely, in the form of an all-encompassing evil that turned the peaceful Rahi creatures against the Matoran. While they fought the beasts as best they could, the people of the island all patiently waited for saviors to come from the sky to deliver them. It was Hahli's hope that one of those saviors was the blue figure that had saved Ruby from drowning; the one who was currently swimming with the pair alongside the boat even as it raced at top speed.

Eventually, the distant landmass on the horizon suddenly jumped so much closer, and the village of Ga-Koro came into view. It was then that Ruby realized she'd misunderstood something very important.

The village wasn't by the sea.

It was on the sea.

Ruby gasped as she saw massive green lily pads dot the surface of the still water, keeping the domed huts of dried seaweed afloat on the bay. Curved pathways formed roads and walkways between the various floating platforms, and sturdy rods of bamboo served as poles and tresses that supported multi-tiered scaffolding. At least two dozen long-armed, short-statured Ga-Matoran were hard at work, with some hanging metallic fish to dry in the sun while others fed long grass into a loom and pulled out thin white string. Still others were combing over one of several new huts under construction, spreading some kind of tar over blankets of seaweed as the leafy greens were laid over wooden frames.

"That's how we waterproof our huts. See?" Hahli pointed to one such structure as they passed by. "We combine flax with mud and sand from the East Garden, and coat the insides of the seaweed with the resulting salve as we set it down. Once the sun dries it out, it makes a seal that's light and porous enough to let air through, but still sturdy enough to keep the waves and rain out. The seal is so strong that the huts can even go underwater for short periods of time - and the smaller ones are buoyant enough to pop right back up!"

"Whoa…that's incredible!" Ruby grinned as she spotted one of the Ga-Matoran waving at Hahli, who shyly returned it as they sailed past. "And what about the boats? How do they work?"

"You'll have to pick Marka's brain about that," said Hahli with a laugh. "She's our ship maker, and she knows them inside and out. But I'm sure you'll get a chance to ask her soon enough…hang on to something, we're gonna dock now."

Ruby wasn't sure why Hahli had given her a warning - but she found out a few seconds later when a strong magnet hidden under a floating wooden pier locked into the side of the hull. She nearly toppled over the edge and fell into the sea again, but she caught herself just in time. With a soft embarrassed chuckle she climbed out and took a careful step on the lily pad, making nervous noises as she felt the platform shift slightly under her weight.

Hahli stepped out a moment later, and turned to address the half-circle of Ga-Matoran who were slowly coming over. Some of them tilted their heads in fascination, while others gasped in shock at the sight of Ruby. All of the villagers eventually turned to look at their fellow sister expectantly, while she seemed to shrivel up like a flower thrown in the trash.

Don't tell me she's afraid of public speaking, Ruby mentally groaned.

Unfortunately for the little rose, it seemed like Hahli was indeed paralyzed with fear at the prospect of addressing a crowd. She sighed and stepped forward, clearing her throat and toying with the edge of her cape.

"Um, hi. I'm Ruby Rose. I'm a Huntress, the leader of Team RWBY, and slayer of giant monsters. Yep, that's me. Ruby Rose. Ruuuuuby Rose."

She rocked awkwardly on the balls of her feet, waiting for a response. None came, except one of the Ga-Matoran towards the back coughed loudly.

"So anyways," said the little Huntress as she tried to push through the awkwardness, "I was wondering if you've seen anyone else like me? Well, not exactly like me - one of my friends has big long yellow hair, and the other one has like these cute little kitty ears on top of her head? But uh…you know. If you see any other humans, just um…let me know? Thanks!"

The gathered Ga-Matoran all looked at her as though she came from the dark side of the moon.

Well, I guess I can add "flubbed first contact with an all-new species" to my list of failures.

One of the villagers cleared her throat. "Hahli, I've seen many a strange fish in my lifetime, but this is by far the strangest. What kinda bait did ya use out there, and where can I get some?"

Ruby felt her face grow red. "I'm not a fish! I'm a person! And besides, I'm not even the most interesting thing she found out there! Wait till you see - !"

FWOOSH.

The gathered villagers all collectively gasped as their Toa of Water leapt out of the bay, flipping in mid-air and spraying seafoam everywhere before gently touching down in front of Ruby and Hahli. Her wise yellow eyes glowed from beneath her visor, scanning the assembled Matoran and watching as they murmured softly among each other.

"…her," Ruby finished with a smirk. "Nice entrance, Gali."

"Thank you, little one." Gali smiled gently beneath her mask, kneeling to meet the Matoran at approximately eye level. "I was told that you were waiting for me. Well…here I am."

"Indeed you are, Toa Gali."

The sea of Ga-Matoran parted to allow a figure with an oval-shaped mask and calm, gentle eyes to step forward, her embroidered sapphire gown hanging from a frail-looking frame. Judging by the wisdom in her voice and the trident she used as a walking aid, Ruby knew that this had to be Turaga Nokama. She stepped forward and reached up to Gali, who respectfully bowed her head and allowed the elder to lay a hand on her mask.

"I apologize if I kept you waiting for far too long," intoned the Toa of Water. "I hope you did not suffer in my absence."

Nokama shook her head. "We always knew the ocean would deliver you to our shores one day. We are simply glad that you have finally arrived. Tell me, Gali. What do you remember?"

Gali hesitated, then sighed. "Only bits and pieces. My name, my power…but little else."

"I feared as much," intoned the Turaga. "Many things can be lost in the deep sleep, purpose and duty often among the first. I will tell you all that I can, and answer your questions to the best of my abilities. We have long hoped this day would come - to see it with my own eyes is a blessing in and of itself."

Ruby cleared her throat as she awkwardly rocked on the balls of her feet once more. "Yeah, she probably would have gotten here sooner, if she didn't…you know…have to go out of her way to save me from…drowning. N-not that I'm ungrateful! Just, um…sorry I distracted her, I guess…"

Another way you've failed, she mentally berated herself. Can't even swim to save your own life.

Nokama looked at the silver-eyed Huntress no differently than she had at the Toa of Water. She walked over to her next. "Ruby Rose, you said?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Y-yeah. That's me."

The Turaga leaned in to examine her, scanning as if she were looking for defects. Ruby winced and did her best not to crumble into a nervous little pile of rose petals, and was rewarded with the clear sight of Nokama smiling under her mask.

"This world is not your own," she finally said, "but you are welcome to seek respite in it all the same. Come. I will tell you both a tale, one that aims to shine a light into the past…and one that may hopefully illuminate your futures."

Doing her best to quell the growing unease in her heart, Ruby followed Nokama with Gali by her side as the sun began to drift towards the horizon. The waters around Ga-Koro may have been calm, but a storm of regret and anguish was building inside the little rose, and Ruby wasn't sure if she was strong enough to survive those waves.

"Do…a gal…a favor…and never do that again…"

Emerald sucked down deep breaths of hot, sticky jungle air as she tried to calm herself down from her latest heart attack, this one borne of a triple-midair-flip that had almost knocked her loose and sent her flying to the forest floor five hundred feet below. Lewa perched himself on a sturdy tree branch that overlooked the jungle canopy, giving him and his new human "friend" a view for miles around. He didn't have much reaction to her near-death experience other than amusement and smug self-satisfaction, clearly grinning under his mask at her plight. She dug her hands into the green armor of the biomechanical being, shifting to avoid the large gear on his back and keeping her fingers clear of the intricate mechanisms of his shoulder joints.

"What's wrong, sprout-leaf?" chided Lewa, "You're not afraid of being so far uptree, are you?"

She shook her head. "No, no. Heights, I can handle. Hell, even falling isn't the worst thing in the world. But you know what they say, it's not the fall that kills you - it's the sudden stop at the end. That's what I can't handle."

Lewa laughed. "Well, you'd best quick-learn to catch yourself, sprout-leaf! The winds may answer my heed-call, but there's little they can do for one as heavy-dense as you."

Emerald scoffed. "Oh, gee thanks. And here I thought all the years of living in perpetual poverty would help me shed my winter weight."

The green-armored being shrugged, casting glowing lime-green eyes over the miles and miles of treetops that stretched out before them. "No offense-harm meant, of course. Besides…I think a view-sight like this is worth a few terror-scares, wouldn't you agree?"

It was only now that Emerald felt comfortable enough to truly examine the expanse of trees, watching as they swayed and danced with the winds above and the creatures below. Birds of all shapes, sizes, and colors seemed to spring from the distant leafy blankets, darting across the clear blue sky in streaks of red and purple and gold. And the constant cries and howls and chirps of the jungle, which sounded like meaningless noise on the ground floor, seemed to blend together into a symphony of sound here on high.

"I guess it is a nice view," she eventually admitted, after taking a moment to drink it all in. Then she hummed as a new sound reached her ears, one that was rhythmic and deep. "Do you hear that, though?"

Lewa raised an eyebrow beneath his mask. "Hear what? I don't hear any strange noise-sound."

"Give it a minute," said Emerald, cupping her ear. "You sure you don't hear that constant thumping sound? The one that goes, 'da dum dum dum, da dum dum dum, da dum dum dum?'"

Now the stranger was tilting his head. "Yes…I believe I do hear something odd, sprout-leaf. But what is it?"

"I don't know…" she murmured. "It almost sounds like…drums."

Lewa's eyes lit up, even more so than usual. "Drums, you say?!"

Emerald nodded tentatively. "Sure sounds like it. Why? You know what drums are?"

"Of course-sure I do!" said the green-armored giant. "Drum-sound means song-music! Song-music means people-kin! And people-kin mean answer-truths! We should follow the drum-sounds, sprout-leaf! Let's go!"

She sucked in a breath as she felt him shift underneath her. "W-wait! Lewa! Don't you dare just jump off without warni - ohgodsnotagaaaaaaaiiiin!"

The rest of Emerald's complaint was lost in a long, loud scream as Lewa tipped forward with her in tow, plummeting off the tree branch and into the jungle canopy. His hand found a vine and snagged it as they fell, the momentum of the dive translating into a swing that carried the pair over a bubbling bog far below. Lewa released the vine at the apex of its arc, bidding a gust of wind to carry the two of them as he pulsed his mask power. Emerald held on even tighter when she felt the field of levitating energy circle around them, which combined with the updraft gave the green-armored giant a massive boost in height as he reached for another vine.

Despite the sheer terror that was pounding in her heart, she had to admit that Lewa moved with incredible speed, agility, and natural reflexes. Anytime he could kick off the trunk of a sturdy tree to keep his momentum going, he did it. Any chance he could slide across a mossy branch to cross vineless patches of jungle, he took it. At one point he even hooked the underside of his ax onto a sturdy branch and spun around it one, two, three times before launching himself across the sky, the winds billowing from behind and propelling him forward across a stretch of treeless land. Emerald may have spent the entire time focusing on not letting go (and on not losing her lunch), but she could still respect the near-artful way that her new "friend" navigated the jungle. It reminded her of those old movies where a man was raised by apes in the jungles of Mistral - except instead of a handsome-looking actor with a chiseled jaw doing stunts against a greenscreen, here it was a massive ten-foot-tall half-robot swinging and sliding and soaring like he was born in the trees.

Tartan the Ape-Man couldn't hold a candle compared to this guy was one of the few concrete thoughts she had that weren't laced with panicked profanity.

The drums she'd heard from a distance quickly grew louder, perfectly audible even over her continued screaming and Lewa's triumphant cackling. After just a few minutes of near-flying across the jungle, she caught sight of a very large, absurdly thick tree that towered above all others, one that had many branches stretching upwards and numerous roots plunging down into a still, shallow lake. The closer they got, the more Emerald could see platforms carved into the wood of the massive branches, all connected to a huge central pillar that sat as part of the great tree's trunk. Domed huts made of bark, plank, and moss dotted the tops of some platforms or hung from branches, while the tree's main body had doors and windows leading to little hollows that were dug into the side like squirrel's nests. And on the central pillar she could see at least two dozen tiny little figures in various shades of green, all of them pounding in unison on wood-carved drums that circled the edges.

Lewa was right, this isn't just a bunch of people beating drums up a tree, she realized. This is a village!

She could feel Lewa smiling under his mask, and braced herself for the final leg of the journey. The green-armored giant leapt off the vine he was swinging on, descending nearly thirty feet in total freefall towards the tree village. Emerald shut her eyes and clung tightly to Lewa, trying to fight the forces that wanted to pull them apart. Lewa, by contrast, was as calm as the breeze even as it buffeted the sweeping curves of his frame, and only when he was a few feet away from the main platform did he finally activate his mask power and let the wind carry him upwards. The result was a nearly angelic glide to the center of the crowd with arms outstretched, landing softly with a bow just as the drumming concluded.

A moment of pure silence washed over Lewa, Emerald, and the villagers.

"Hello, little sprout-leaves!" said the green-armored giant in an effort to break the tension. "I am Lewa, mystery-king of know-nothingness and spirit of air! Sorry to quick-drop like this, but I heard your drum-song from a distant tree-perch, and could not help but to wind-fly my way here!"

No response.

"Way to go in raw, big guy," grunted Emerald. "I'm sure they'll appreciate someone as intimidating as you dropping right into their band practice." With one more quelling of her uneasy stomach, she climbed over Lewa's shoulder to get a better look at their new audience.

The first thing that Emerald noticed about the villagers was just how tiny they all were. True, they looked smaller since she was still perched on a ten-foot-tall giant's back, but even if she was standing on her own she figured they'd barely come up to her waist, and she wasn't exactly the tallest person she knew. The second thing she noticed was just how intricate and detailed their masks were - some of them looked identical to Lewa's (albeit in different colors), while others were square and angular, or curved and soft. Lastly, their long arms and stocky legs were every shade of green imaginable, from cool turquoise to the color of lush leaves to the electric yellow-green of a lemon-lime popsicle. All of them stared up at Lewa, and at her, with piercing yellow eyes, tilting their heads in wonder and murmuring to themselves softly.

Their stunned silence lasted for all of ten seconds before the entire village erupting into a wild, howling cheer.

"It's Toa Lewa, the air-spirit! He said so himself!"

"Oh, happy days! Oh great-glory! Oh wonderful day-bright!"

"Mata Nui be praised! Our Toa-Hero has finally arrived!"

"Strike up the band-chorus! Bring out the Takara-dancers! We must celebrate today in Le-Koro!"

Emerald's brow furrowed as annoyance flared up. Oh…good. They all talk like Lewa. I swear, this better just be some kind of regional dialect, cause I don't know what I'd do if everyone talked like that across the whole island.

Before she or Lewa could even make a move, the people of Le-Koro (as she assumed it was called) were quickly scrambling around, pulling out wood-carved instruments of all shapes and sizes - none of which the mint-haired thief recognized. The villagers pressed their masks into twisted flutes and long tuba-like devices, blowing into them and filling the air with sweet, lively music. Another line of figures emerged with what looked to be grass skirts, hopping and dancing in place in a way that Emerald couldn't decide was silly, sincere, or something else. All the while peals of laughter rang out from the people, some of them dancing together while others came to inspect the duo as they stood and watched.

"Hah…seems they're rather like-fond of me!" said Lewa to a very-green-looking Emerald on his back, watching as some of the figures stared so far up their heads were nearly parallel to the platform floor.

"Yeah…or they're preparing to strip you for parts and boil what's left alive," groaned the nauseous thief. "You can never tell with these native types. Watch, I'll bet any moment they'll turn on us and - eep!"

Any more of Emerald's words were lost in yet another scream, as a pair of villagers yanked her off Lewa's back and onto an upper platform. She felt a vine wrap itself around her ankle and leave her suspended upside-down, while the two villagers landed on opposite sides of her on a nearby branch, regarding her with odd curiosity.

"What a strange Rahi-beast," mused the first, stroking the corners of his mask with one hand as his other held the vine taut. "Such long arms and legs, yet so little metal-skin…perhaps this is some new kind of Brakas-monkey?"

"No, no, Makani," said the other in a female voice. "Look at the color of its skin, like bark shimmering with dew in the early light-dawn. This is obviously a walking tree."

Makani scoffed. "Radka, we've been over this a thousand tell-times before. The trees do not walk-step! They do not even think-talk!"

"But they do!" Radka protested, clearly pouting behind her somewhat clear teal mask. "I heard them think-talk the other day, when I was wandering the root-floor!"

"…that was Tamaru, paralyzed by fear-fright at being so far uptree," deadpanned Makani.

"Aww…"

Emerald gulped, feeling blood rush to her head and face as she swayed back and forth slightly. "You know…I hate to break up this enlightening conversation, but do you think you could maybe - oh I dunno - put me the hell down?!"

"But we haven't even out-found what you are yet!" protested Makani, poking a metallic finger into her exposed belly. "What strange material…what sort of armor-coat is this?"

"Whatever it is, it's very silk-soft," said Radka as she ran her hands over Emerald's pouting cheeks, sending shivers down the Huntress's spine. "Delicate, yet firm…like the skin-peel of a Bula berry."

The mint-haired thief swallowed hard and blushed. Dammit, Em, stop being a useless lesbian for once in your life! It doesn't matter how cute her voice is, it's not worth the humiliation! …wait, did I just call her voice 'cute?' Oh no.

"Sprout-leaf? Are you alright up there?" Lewa said, looking up. "Do you need an assist-help again?"

Emerald shuddered as she felt Radka's hands trail up to her neck and over her bare shoulders while Makani poked and prodded at her lower torso. "No no, I think I got this one under - hehe, please, no, I'm ticklish there - under control! Don't you worry about - hands above the waist you creep!"

She lashed out with a kick to Makani's face - or mask, as it were - sending him toppling out of the tree. Unfortunately, since he was the one holding the other end of the vine that kept her suspended, she ended up dropping right back down to the main platform. Makani was lucky enough to catch himself on a nearby branch on the way down. Emerald was not.

"OOF!"

The mint-haired thief landed with a solid thud right in front of a villager with a teal body and green legs, looking up at his egg-shaped mask as she rolled back onto her side. The villager stood paralyzed for one solid second, before he ran away screaming his poor mask off.

Ah. That must be Tamaru.

Emerald just laughed softly and sat back up, peering over at Lewa as he entertained the masses. Some villagers clung to his lime-green arm as he flexed dramatically, giggling as they were hoisted into the air by his strength. Others climbed over him to sit on his shoulders, with one particularly lucky dancer getting a chance to try and balance on top of his head. She had to admit, the green-armored giant was certainly as energetic as the villagers that fawned over him, and when he did a double-backflip that ended with a handstand and a gust of air, even she couldn't help but smile a little at the way the crowd went "ooh" and "ahh."

Of course, like all the best parties, a noise complaint was inevitable.

"Hey! What's with all the racket-noise at this day-hour?! Are you trying to attract the Rama-swarm?! What could possibly be going on that you would - oh."

Her eyes snapped over to see another figure emerging from a large wooden hut in the back, one that was taller than the villagers but still only would have come up to her chest were she standing up. He had ornate green thread woven into the robes that dangled from his hunched frame, and he hobbled over with a dark green staff that was capped off with a wicked-looking buzzsaw. His mask was the color of an unripe melon, almost human-like in its appearance but with creases and wrinkles that resembled circuit board channels crisscrossing his face. The voice was gruff and loud, like someone feeding oak scraps into a woodchipper, but his glowing lime-green eyes still held a sort of mirth and merriness to them, one that Emerald couldn't quite place.

The band instantly stopped as they saw the newcomer enter the plaza, to the point where there may as well have been a record needle scratching. The dancers froze mid-step, and the villagers Lewa was entertaining immediately snapped their gazes over in his direction as he took large strides. One of them, who wore a teal copy of Lewa's own mask, ran to the front and bowed before the figure. Based on the new arrival's appearance and the way everyone seemed to hang off his every word, Emerald could only guess that this was the village elder.

Her theory was confirmed a moment later. "Turaga Matau," said the teal-masked villager, "please forgive the rude-waking. We did not wish to end your sleep-nap so early, but you see - "

"I do see now, Kongu," intoned Matau, far more gently than he had been a moment earlier. Then he raised his frail-looking arms, cheer spreading into his voice. "I see that Lewa, our great Toa-Hero, has finally arrived on the shores of Mata Nui! The Le-Matoran are certainly well within their right to celebrate such a joyous day-bright - who am I to storm-rain on such a parade? Am I known as Turaga Matau, ruiner of party-cheer? Or am I known as Turaga Matau…bringer of party-cheer?!"

The Le-Matoran all cheered and whooped and hollered at their elders' words, and though he wore a mask like everyone else, Emerald could tell he was smiling as well.

"I thought-knew as much! Continue the play-song!"

The band didn't need telling twice, continuing where they left off as the dancers resumed their merry jig. Emerald got to her feet and rejoined Lewa's side as Matau approached, looking up at the "Toa-Hero" who had confusion written all over his mask.

"You say that I am many things, and break into song-cheer and dance-step with my arrival alone," said Lewa with disbelief in his voice. "Yet…I do not know why."

The Turaga chuckled and put a hand on Lewa's massive gauntlet.

"You will," he said with an audible smile. "Your memory-thoughts are lost, scattered, clouded in dark-shadows. But I will guide you, Toa Lewa - soon, you will know what your Duty-job is…and why we have spent so long wait-hoping for you."

Lewa nodded in understanding, then laid his other hand on Emerald, who fought the urge to pull away. "I hope you do not mind if my sprout-leaf joins the celebration," he said. "I would not have found this lovely-good village without her aid-help."

The thieving huntress almost balked at the Toa for assuming she wanted any part in the party.

Almost.

Matau smiled under his mask. "Any friend of a Toa-Hero is welcome in sing-song Le-Koro," he said happily. "I will share-tell all I know, but for now…let us celebrate."

With one more pat on Lewa's glove, the village elder turned and walked away, his last words an ominous whisper that were almost lost in the music and merriment.

"After all…you will soon know why we sing so little in this dark-time."

"So what do you call all that stuff coming out the back of your head?

Penny smiled in response to Takua's question as the pair sat on the side of an ash-gray plain, taking a break from their uphill hike. The sun started to hang low in the distance, tinting the edge of the sky red and setting fire to the horizon. Not that the vista needed the sun to help paint it - smoke rising from the distant volcano did the job well enough, light and heat smoldering and shimmering even this far away from the source.

"That is my hair," she finally said as she ran a hand through burnt-orange locks. "It protects my neck from the sun and rain, and keeps me warm when it gets cold. It also looks very pretty!"

"Right, okay." Takua hummed. "And what do you call that big lump at the front of your face?"

She chuckled as she pointed. "Oh, that is my nose. It helps me smell."

"Alright. And what about all the spots on your face?"

"My freckles? They…" Penny paused mid-sentence. "I do not actually know what they do. But Ruby says that they are very cute!"

"Sure, sure. What about those gross, uh…things on the front of your feet? What's that all about?"

The freckled girl giggled as she lifted her legs and wiggled her feet. "Those are my toes! And they are not gross! See?"

Takua gagged and flinched and covered his eyes, shaking his head as if he had just seen something horrifying he was trying to forget. "Ack! No! No nononono! Get them away from me! Good grief, those things are disgusting! How can you even live with them just…being there?!"

Penny laughed at her new friend's reaction as she lowered her legs again. "I think they are neat! Besides, why are you so repulsed by my toes? You have them on your feet too!"

"Yeah, but mine are mechanical. See?" The Matoran lifted up one of his dull-yellow legs, showing the underside of his two-toed foot. Sure enough, the entire wedge-shaped structure was plated in alloyed metal, with a pair of servos connecting the digits and a larger one in the back to adjust the heel. Penny recognized a lot of the inner workings almost instantly - her old robot body had feet that operated under a similar principle, though obviously smaller and more detailed than what she saw now.

"Ooh," she cooed. "That is also very neat!"

"Aren't they?" Takua grinned under his mask. "It feels like they're ruggedized and weather-proof, made for scaling difficult terrain without slowing me down." The pride vanished as disgust rose back into his voice. "Yours, on the other hand, are tiny and organic and writhing and…eugh! It's like an entire nest of worms living on the tip of your body! Can't you cover them up or something?"

She hummed thoughtfully, then shook her head. "I am sorry they make you uncomfortable, but no, I will not. I have spent many years being unable to feel the ground beneath my feet. I wish to feel everything now."

Takua tilted his head as he put his foot back down. "…what do you mean you weren't able to feel anything? Is that normal for humans?"

The former Maiden frowned. "Oh. Um…it is complicated. You see, I used to be - "

"Penny? Penny!"

A distant yet familiar voice rang out in the silence, one that made Penny's heart skip a beat. She knew that voice. She loved that voice. That voice belonged to a friend!

Bright green eyes grew even brighter. "Yang? Yang!"

She stood up and whirled around on the spot, nearly knocking Takua off his seat with the business end of her hair as it whipped behind her. Sure enough, she saw a blonde brawler in the distance, up on a tall cliff decorated by blackened trees. Her friend was distant and far away, and a canyon that flowed into a rocky crag separated them, but she was there. She could tell it was Yang Xiao Long even without the hyperscanning capabilities of her old robot body.

Although…it looked like she had lost the very nice coat Papa bought her.

"Yang!" she called out, waving eagerly. The yellow shape waved back, then took off at a sprint down the hill, running to the right while pursued by red shapes that clearly could not keep up with her. She disappeared behind the terrain between them, but the freckled girl did not worry. Penny bounced happily and excitedly, nearly vibrating in place.

"Yang?" echoed Takua as he regained his balance. "What's a Yang?"

"A friend!" Penny cheered excitedly. "My friend! I must go meet her!"

Takua's eyes widened in understanding, then he nodded. "Okay, then let's go meet her together and -"

She did not even wait for him to finish talking before she took off running.

"W-wait! Penny, hey, wait up! My legs are shorter than yours, remember? I can't run as fast!"

The words of her new Matoran friend grew more distant as Penny sprinted at full tilt, her feet soaring over the ash-gray sand with each step as she followed broken stony walls and the slope of the hill. For a moment, she almost wished she still had the magic of the Winter Maiden - it would be far more trivial if she could just fly. But without the power she was just an ordinary human girl with an Aura, and yet even being that felt wonderful. Tears of joy pooled into her eyes, laugher escaped her lips, her heart pounded in her chest as she ran -

And then her heart stopped completely.

Penny's eyes widened as she suddenly collapsed, her arms and legs and feet suddenly feeling very numb and very stiff. Her lungs seemed to deflate the second she hit the ground, and no matter how much she willed herself to breathe again, her chest refused to rise. Panic set into her mind. No. No. No…no this could not be happening. It was not fair. She was alive just a second ago. Why was she dying again?

"Penny! Penny!"

Takua's words sounded distant and muted, like they were being said underwater. Darkness grew at the corner of her vision, her bright green eyes returned to a duller shade, and her hand weakly grasped at her throat -

She felt Takua lay a hand on her, and she was finally able to take a deep, violent breath.

Penny immediately rolled over and began coughing on her own spit, feeling tears stream down her face as she curled up into a ball. Takua kept his hand on her side, not leaving or saying anything until her breathing (and his) returned to normal. Only then did he finally speak, confusion and worry in his voice.

"Are you okay?"

She coughed again. "I…I do not know…Takua, that…that was scary…I felt like I was dying again. But…I was not wounded that time. I was not hurt, I was not bleeding. I was…fine. Until…I suddenly was not fine…"

Penny buried her face into her hands with an anguished cry. "What is wrong with me?"

A pair of metal hands cradled one of hers, rubbing gently. "I don't know," said Takua softly. "But I promise you we're going to find out. Until then, I think we should stay by each other's side. No more running off without me, okay?"

The freckled girl wiped her face on her sleeve, then nodded stiffly.

"Good," said Takua, rising to his feet. "Then why don't we go and say hi to your friend together?"

Despite her most recent brush with death, it did not take long for Penny's smile to come back as she took off in an eager sprint once again. She gripped Takua's hand tightly in her own as she ran, barely even slowing down as she pulled him right off the ground. He let out a yell as he trailed behind her in mid-air, tiny little legs kicking uselessly as he dangled and flopped around like a lead kite. Penny paid it no mind - she just kept running to meet her friend with a brand new one in tow, the joy from before surging back into her chest.

"Penny? Penny!" wailed the unfortunate Matoran who was taking an unscheduled flight on the Polendina Airlines, "Penny, this isn't quite what I had in miiiiiiiiiind!"

"This way, please…mind your heads…apologies for the roundabout paths, these tunnels were dug in better days…and here we are."

Blake followed Onepu through the small gap in the wall and found herself standing in a massive underground chamber, easily large enough to house the Beacon courtyard. Glowing stones lined the walls and ceiling, providing enough light to see while still keeping a dark ambiance over the area like a comfortable blanket of shadow. Domed huts sculpted out of clay and stone dotted the area and emitted light through square doorways, a subterranean river ran through the center and forked into two babbling brooks, and Matoran clad in earth-toned armor hurried along paths lined with soft gravel.

Everyone was working or doing something. Some of the Matoran were working on expanding the walls, their pickaxes clanging against the stone and filling the air with a rhythmic chorus. Others were transporting carts of minerals and gems, while still others rode on what Blake could only describe as armored half-mechanical crabs. Then there were other Matoran of every color imaginable standing behind wooden stalls, with various wares laid out in front of them.

It wasn't just a settlement - it was a home.

"Whoa…" she breathed. "It's…beautiful…"

Onua, who practically had to crawl through the opening, joined her in admiring the area in stunned silence before nodding slowly.

Onepu grinned beneath his mask. "Isn't it? Welcome to the village of Onu-Koro - named in your honor, oh mighty Toa."

The ebony-armored figure seemed puzzled. "My honor? But…I have not done anything to deserve such praise yet."

"Perhaps not in your eyes," said the purple-masked Matoran with a small laugh. "But the mere promise of your arrival is enough for us to christen our village in your name. Now then…allow me to guide you through our humble domain. As I said, Turaga Whenua will be delighted to see you."

Blake nodded in unison with her new friend, then stayed close to Onua as they followed their shorter guide. With each hut they passed, Matoran peered out their doorways, often pausing in their work to stare slack-jawed at the new arrivals. Ordinarily, she would feel self-conscious and threatened with so many eyes on her, but she suspected that few earth-dwelling villagers were looking at her. No, their attention was clearly on the Toa she walked alongside, watching as Onua looked around with wide-eyed wonder.

"Looks like your reputation precedes you," she said with a faint smile as a trio of miners bowed when they passed by.

"So it would seem…" mused Onua, returning the gesture in kind. "Though I would very much like to remember what that reputation is."

The Faunus nodded in understanding. "Well, I suppose we'll find out sooner or later. At the very least, it looks like you have a positive one."

Onua simply nodded, then went back to admiring the scenery as they followed Onepu through the village. The back half of Onu-Koro was home to a wider variety of Matoran selling their wares, with armor colors ranging from red to blue to brown and sandy gray. While they too wore masks in different colors, Blake noticed that many of the patterns repeated even across the other figures. Based on the goods they were hawking to anyone who would listen, she had to assume that they weren't native to Onu-Koro - they must have come from their own villages for bartering, though she wasn't quite sure what they were trading for.

"Statuettes! Souvenirs! Excellent Po-Matoran craftsmanship!" called a brown and tan Matoran, gesturing to the collection of stone carvings behind him.

"Fresh fish! Imported from Ga-Koro!" cried another merchant, her blue frame struggling under the weight of what could only be described as a large steel tuna. "Get your fresh fish here!"

A third Matoran, this one red from mask to toe, waved a burning sconce high above his head. "Torches! Don't be left in the dark! Ta-Koronan made!"

I wonder if I should pick up something for Ruby and Yang to give when I find them, mused Blake idly. Although… I don't think the merchants here accept Lien.

Onua seemed far more fascinated by the shape of the cavern than the people using it for trade. "An entire village, underground…" he said softly. "This must have taken decades to carve."

"The Onu-Matoran have always found comfort in the earth's embrace," explained Onepu proudly. "While many others choose to build above the surface of Mata Nui, we elected instead to burrow under it. The darkness of tunnels and untapped ravines do not daunt us, and by studying the vibrations and rumbles of the stone itself, we gain awareness of all the stories on the island as they unfold."

He looked back at Onua with a grin beneath his mask. "I would not be surprised if the other Toa were already here."

"Others?" The Toa of Earth tilted his head. "There are more?"

"According to legend, yes. But I believe that's Whenua's tale to tell, not mine."

Onepu stopped the group at the entrance to the largest hut tucked away in the corner of the Market District. Blake could see Onua's eyes widen once again as he saw a clay replica of his own mask hanging above the doorway, with a pair of drills crossed beneath it. She didn't know if it was possible for Toa or Matoran to cry, but she suspected that if it was, her taller friend was coming close to doing so.

"And this is where I take my leave of you, friends," said Onepu as he bowed reverently. "The Ussalry shall need guidance in the coming days, especially if the Kofo-Jaga make another advance. Turaga Whenua awaits you, Onua and Blake. Welcome to our island."

The feline Faunus gave a quick bow of her own, one that Onua mirrored. Then once the purple-masked Matoran scrambled away, the pair entered the hut with hope in their minds.

Stepping inside Turaga Whenua's domain was like setting foot inside of a treasure chest. The walls were lined with precious gems and refined metals, all cut and polished until they shone like mirrors. Flickering torches of red and gold lined a shrine at the back of the hut, their pale light scattering off every reflective surface and filling the room with a dazzling display. And much to Onua's shock, an even larger version of his mask sat as a cornerstone of the shrine, though this one seemed shaped out of a dark steel that had more torches behind its eyes.

And there, standing only slightly taller than a Matoran with robes as gray as dust, was the one Blake could only assume was the village elder himself.

Whenua turned to face the duo with a warm smile beneath his mask, which was small and square with big angled slots for green eyes to shine through. A trio of other coal-black Matoran were in attendance, but with a wave of the elder's hand they were dismissed. His other hand held tightly to a rod capped with a drill, which he used like a cane as he moved towards Blake and Onua even as they themselves approached.

"Toa Onua," he said slowly in a voice so low and soft it could have been mistaken for cavern echoes. "The earth itself sings of your arrival on our shores, and it is a song that is greatly needed in these dark times. Were the island less dangerous, we would have ventured into the sunlight to greet you ourselves…though we are glad you found your way here regardless."

"The earth called to me," said Onua simply with a reverent nod. "As, I suspect, it does for you. I apologize, but I do not remember very much."

"That is quite alright," said Whenua. The Turaga turned to Blake, gazing over her with eyes like glowing emeralds. "I suspect that you would both appreciate some answers to help guide you."

The feline Faunus nodded as she gave a grateful laugh. "That's an understatement."

Whenua smiled once more under his mask. "Then let me tell you both a tale from the time before time, one of the island, the darkness that befell it…and the hope that the six Toa bring to its shores…"

If there was one word Weiss could use to describe Ko-Koro, it was bright.

That really was the first thing that leapt out at her about the village of snow. It sat within a valley formed by two glacial walls, constructed entirely out of the frozen white powder that coated the mountain. The sun shone down and reflected off the pearl blanket of frost, which was nearly blinding until the Huntress's eyes finally adjusted. Kopaka behind her and Matoro ahead of her seemed to have no issue with the sudden brightness as their group headed through an ivory gate made of snow bricks, greeted by a pair of Matoran with slate-gray masks and frozen spears. Beyond the circular entrance in a wall that spanned for miles, more snow-sculpted buildings awaited them, from domed huts and simple watchtowers to massive bridges and fortresses. And at the center of everything was a huge snow mound with regal-looking stairs cut into the side, which led to what could only be described as a castle of ice.

"Whoa," she gasped, her breath appearing as icy mist in front of her face. It was still cold in the village itself, but the natural barriers made by the glacial walls kept the wind from biting into her clothes, keeping the worst of the bitter chill away. The Matoran that were wandering around didn't seem to mind too much - some were tending to blue-leaved berry bushes and snow-covered evergreens, while others were sitting with fishing rods over holes cut into an icy pond. They all gazed at Weiss and Kopaka as Matoro led them through the village, but said nothing. No cheering, no awed whispering, nothing.

Weiss frowned and leaned down to whisper to their guide. "Is it just me, or do they not seem very happy to see us?"

Matoro shook his head with a soft laugh. "Don't take it personally. Silence has always been the way of the Ko-Matoran, both in times of good and ill. Many often go for days without speaking; some have not said a word in years."

The heiress tilted her head. "Then…how do you understand each other? How do you communicate?"

"Body language, hand gestures, subtle facial cues behind the masks…we have our ways of saying much with very little." Matoro sighed. "It works for us, but it causes friction with Matoran from the other villages, especially those who can talk for hours and still say nothing."

"I knew a few folks like that back home," groaned Weiss, thinking back to her father's "press conferences" for SDC with a shiver. Then she looked at Kopaka. "A whole village where nobody talks… it must be a dream come true for you, isn't it?"

Kopaka gave a noncommittal grunt, which only proved Weiss's point.

The trio moved to the castle that looked down on the rest of the village, climbing sturdy snow stairs that felt a lot firmer than their material would suggest. Entering the castle itself revealed that it was quite hollow and spacious on the inside, with entire walls of blue frost that had rows and rows of circular letters carved into the glossy material. Every footstep exploded into echoes that reverberated throughout the entire building, joined by the humming of Ko-Matoran who sat with their bulky legs crossed and their glowing eyes closed. It reminded Weiss of old Atlas tales where elderly Huntsmen would meditate on the mountaintops of Solitas - except instead of old warriors with overflowing beards, it was a collection of white and gray robot people that barely came up to her waist in height.

One of the meditating Ko-Matoran opened a glowing blue eye. "Matoro. There you are."

The sharp female voice felt as cold and piercing as falling icicles, and Weiss could swear that Matoro suppressed a shiver - one that she doubted came from the chill of the mountain. Her guide shuffled his feet nervously as the gray-masked Matoran rose to her own, marching over with barely-contained frustration in every step. She seemed to cool off by the time she finally stood in front of Matoro, at which point the pair clasped hands together and leaned their heads forward to rest the brows of their masks against the other. They held this position for a few moments before drawing back, the anger seemingly fading altogether.

"Hello, Sonya," said Matoro with a quiet sigh. "I'm sorry that I had to go hunting again, we were running low on Muaka teeth and I found tracks that suggested smaller specimens were nearby. I never meant to be gone for quite that long."

"I understand," groaned Sonya. "That being said, please make sure that nothing important is slated to happen on the Wall of Prophecies before you go out in the Drifts. Turaga Nuju has been whistling at us all morning, and no one knows what he actually wants. Plus, you know that I can't feel you when you're so far from the village. It scares me."

Matoro took one hand in both of his. "Apologies for worrying you, but…considering who I found out there, perhaps I was meant to be out there."

"So I see…" Sonya looked up at Weiss, then craned her neck to stare at Kopaka. "And you believe this is the one?"

"He must be. He nearly froze me himself."

Sonya sighed. "Do you enjoy putting yourself in danger on a regular basis, Matoro? I swear, your recklessness is going to lead to your death some day."

"When it does, I want only the finest ice statue of myself," retorted Matoro wryly. "Then you can pair-bond with that, and it'll be like you never lost me at all."

The female Ko-Matoran huffed in displeasure, rolling her eyes as she looked at Weiss. "And what about this one? Why is it here?"

"That's what I'd like to know, too," said Weiss after she cleared her throat. "Your Turaga Nuju - may we see him?"

The answer came not from either of the Matoran in front of her, but from a loud shrill clicking sound at the back.

"Kleek leeck woock. Clack click zweet zwoot."

Everyone turned to see a figure in white robes standing in a doorway of pure ice, seemingly towering over the Matoran despite only being about a head taller. He held an ivory-white icepick with a very long handle in one hand, and he wore a wide angular mask that was the same shade of gray as a clouded sky in winter. Piercing blue eyes stared across the room, the gaze plunging everyone into silence; Weiss could tell that this was Turaga Nuju speaking. Only…he wasn't exactly speaking, he was whistling and chirping and slashing at the air with his fist. If he was talking to them, it wasn't a language she could understand.

Matoro evidently understood, as he stepped forward and bowed.

"Forgive my absence, Turaga," he said with a raised voice, his words echoing off the icy walls. "But I assure you, my delayed return was not without reason. The Toa of Ice has arrived, at long last…and he brings what appears to be a visitor from among the stars."

Nuju stared at Kopaka, then at Weiss, then examined them both a second time. The Huntress shuffled and looked down at her feet, while the supposed Toa of Ice gave no reaction. After a long uncomfortable silence, the Turaga finally gave a few more clicks, then gestured beyond the doorway, disappearing out of sight as he turned and walked back.

The blue-masked Matoran let out a long sigh. "Well…that could have gone worse, I suppose. Come. Nuju will speak with you now."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Is he actually gonna talk to us? Or is he just gonna whistle and chirp until our ears bleed?"

Matoro gave a wry smile under his mask as they walked. "A fair question. Nuju has spent hundreds of years speaking only in the Language of the Flyers - the sounds and calls of birds and ice bats and other such creatures. No one truly understands why, and he is not very keen on sharing. But don't worry, I will translate the Turaga's words for you. Rest assured, you will leave the Sanctum with more answers than you had before setting foot here."

Kopaka didn't seem all that reassured, glaring at Matoro. "You understand him?" he said coldly - the first words he'd spoken since setting foot in Ko-Koro.

"He's the only one who does," confirmed Sonya as she kept pace with the group. "He serves as Turaga Nuju's translator - which makes his ventures into the mountains especially frustrating."

"The moment Ko-Koro finds a Rahi Trapper who is just as good as me - if not better - I will gladly retire from that duty." Matoro sounded tired, as if he and Sonya had held this discussion a thousand times before. "But until then, I will do whatever I can for our village, just as the rest of us do."

"I know you will," admitted Sonya. "I just…worry about you, is all. I see your name so often on the Wall of Prophecies, and it fills me with dread every time I have to read what comes before or after."

"Such is the way of Destiny," said Matoro, though this time his voice was far more kind. "And whether or not I know what is ahead of me, I will face it all the same."

Weiss had to envy the little Matoran's confidence as she and the group entered the inner part of the Sanctum.

If the story of the Schnees ended here on this island, would she be able to say the same?

Penny had always loved hugs, but it was only recently that she was able to feel how warm they made her inside.

And as she and Yang lunged at each other with shimmering smiles and open arms, as she felt the blonde brawler scoop her off the ash-covered ground and spin her around with a delighted squeal, she had to conclude that she was feeling very warm indeed.

She nuzzled the tangled mass of golden hair affectionately, humming happily. "Salutations, Yang! It is so good to see you again! I am so glad that you are okay!"

"Heh, right back 'atcha, Penny!" laughed Yang as she slowly set her barefoot friend down. She raised an eyebrow as she looked up and down, scanning her over as if making sure she was real. "Don't get me wrong, it's great to see you, but…what are you doing here? This isn't exactly Remnant."

"Oh, I…"

Penny stopped herself. Yang was smiling and happy just a moment ago, blissfully greeting her as old, good friends should. She did not want to ruin that by sharing what really happened. Not quite yet, at least.

She just wanted to see Yang glow like the sun for a little while longer. That was not bad, was it?

"…I fell," she said simply. "We managed to drive Cinder off, but the platforms vanished not long after we won. We tried to get back through the portal to Vacuo before it closed, but we were unable to make the jump in time. Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Emerald…they fell alongside me, and the next thing I knew I was here."

Hic.

She put a pair of hands to her lips in embarrassment. Oh no. It looked like Ambrosius had not removed the bug where she hiccupped every time she lied. Hopefully Yang would not notice.

Fortunately, the blonde brawler seemed far more distressed at the news that the rest of her team (and Emerald) were also on the island. Penny could see the struggle in Yang's eyes: on the one hand, she was grateful that her friends were here, but on the other hand, she was scared that they were trapped on the island just like them. That was to say nothing of the fact that Neopolitan, the silent assassin who had sworn vengeance on Ruby, also fell alongside the target of her revenge - which could be a problem if the two ever crossed paths.

Yang took a deep breath to mask the turmoil of emotions in her face, forced a smile, then slowly withdrew from Penny. "Well, don't worry. If the others are here, then I'm sure we'll run into them sooner or later. Then we can all go back home together!"

The freckled girl snapped a salute and grinned. "Yes! I would love to return to Remnant!"

Hic.

That was…odd. Penny did not think she was lying about that. Why did she hiccup just now?

Her friend raised an eyebrow. "You alright there, Penny?"

She nodded a little too frantically. "I am fine! Just a minor - hic! - hiccup! It just happens randomly sometimes!"

Hic. Hic. Hic.

Yang laughed softly and rested her good hand on top of Penny's head, gently ruffling the mass of burnt-orange hair. "You're adorable, you know that?"

Penny giggled as she leaned into the headpats. "Oh, I am well aware! I am quite adorable!"

Thankfully, there was no hiccup that time.

After laughing at her friend's antics for a moment longer, Yang finally noticed that Penny had not come to meet her alone. She took a sudden interest in the little red, blue, and yellow figure that sat on the ground nearby, whose glowing eyes spun in their sockets as their owner wavered and groaned.

"So what's his story?" she asked with a teasing smirk. "Don't tell me you made a new friend already?"

Grateful for the distraction, Penny grinned as she easily picked up the little Matoran, showing him to Yang like he was a teddy bear she had just won at a carnival.

"I certainly did!" she beamed proudly. "This is Takua! I found him on the beach when I arrived, and he has been very helpful since then! He does not remember much, but he is very funny!"

"Ugh…no more running or lifting or throwing me, please," groaned Takua as his head rolled from side to side. "I don't think I could handle it. And could someone straighten out my mask? I'd do it myself, but my arms really don't wanna work right now…"

Yang chuckled as she grabbed the blue wedge-shaped object on the Matoran's face with both hands, twisting and turning the askew facial feature until it was securely back in place. His eyes snapped back into focus with a yelp, and he immediately squirmed in Penny's grasp until he was back on the ground. He looked back and forth between the two girls, arms raised, before he let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," he said as he swiveled his shoulder. "You must be Yang, I presume?"

"Sure am! Nice to meet ya!" Yang reached down and patted Takua on the head twice with her own mechanical arm, much to the latter's displeasure. "Aw, you're a little cutie aren't ya? Hanging around with Penny like a lost little puppy dog."

"Please don't patronize me," groaned Takua. "And what's a puppy dog?"

Yang didn't answer, instead looking up at Penny with a grin. "Aren't these Matoran guys a riot? They're all so different from what we've seen back home, but they're still alive all the same. I saw one earlier in the forest moving suuuuuper slow, like Marrow was telling him to stay. Then I saw a bunch of them put this huge red guy with fire powers in a wooden cage, and even when he broke out, it looked like they were gonna try and fight him! I stepped in to protect them, of course - wasn't a hard fight, especially not for me."

"Really? Because I seem to remember it differently, loud one."

Penny gasped as she saw a crowd of orange, yellow, and red figures appear on the ridge of the hill behind Yang. Some of them looked similar to Takua, except with different colors and masks. One of them looked only slightly taller, with a mask that was orange like her freckles and hair. And a very tall figure - so tall he towered over everything else - dropped off the ledge and stood over the two girls, armor shimmering with ambient heat and fire radiating from glowing crimson eyes.

"Oh, is that right?" asked the blonde brawler with a wry smirk. "And what do you think happened back there, big guy?"

The newcomer narrowed his eyes. "As I recall, you were mere moments away from being burned to ashes, and it was only the arrival of Turaga Vakama that saved you from scattering in the wind."

Yang snorted, stepping next to Penny and putting an arm around her. "Sure, sure, keep telling yourself that, Big Red. Who knows? Maybe our next match will be a little closer."

"Unlikely," he growled. Then he looked at the freckled girl with a fiery gaze. "This is your friend? The one you spotted from the Charred Forest's edge, and insisted we take a detour to meet?"

Penny could not place it exactly, but there was an anger in the being's eyes that reminded her a little too much of Cinder. The golden-haired Huntress seemed to sense that, because she squeezed her waist just a little bit tighter.

"She sure is!" she said cheerfully, though there was an undercurrent of promised violence in her voice. "Tahu, meet Penny. Penny, Tahu."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Penny extended a hand. "Salutations, Tahu! It is a pleasure to meet you! Any friend of Yang is a friend of mine!"

Tahu stared at her hand for all of four seconds, before he narrowed his eyes and glared at Yang. "Amazing. She is somehow even more unsightly than you are."

"Hey, Remnant girls don't get much better-looking than us!" laughed Yang, giving Tahu a gesture that Penny believed was colloquially called "finger guns." The red-armored giant seemed unamused, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by another shout.

"You!"

Takua let out a yelp as one of the yellow-masked figures suddenly leapt off the ridge, tackling him and pinning him to the ground. Penny's eyes went wide as the other Matoran drew a sharpened disk off his back, holding it menacingly over his head.

"Takua!" she cried, trying to run and aid him even as Yang pulled her back.

"Augh!" cried her friend. "Me? Me what?"

"You've got a lot of nerve to show up here after what you did!" The Matoran narrowed his eyes. "Don't even try to play dumb!"

"I'm not playing dumb!" protested Takua. "Honest!"

"So you admit that you're just stupid, then?"

"Yes!" After realizing what he had just said, Takua shook his head fervently. "Wait, no! I'm not dumb! Well, I mean - I don't - who are you people?!"

"Nice try, but you're not getting off the hook that easily," growled the Matoran. "If you don't remember, then let me give you a reminder of why you were banished from - "

The taller figure with the orange mask cleared his throat as he hobbled down the hill. "Captain of the Guard? Let him go."

Takua's attacker turned back with widened eyes. "Seriously? But Vakama, you remember too! He's the one who - "

"Release him now, Jaller! Your Turaga demands it!"

Everyone seemed to shrink in the face of Vakama raising his voice; even Tahu's annoyed glare seemed to wither slightly. With a sigh, Jaller stowed his disk and climbed off Takua, stepping back as the elderly figure approached. Penny took her chances and darted to her friend's side, helping him out of the dirt and standing him back up. After he nodded to show that he was okay, she still stood between him and the approaching figure, rising up to her full height as the Turaga raised an eyebrow.

"I do not know what Takua did, but I promise you he does not remember it!" she said protectively. "His memory is…missing, broken, incomplete. But he is still a good person. Please, you must believe me!"

Vakama tilted his head, staring at Takua for a long moment even as the little Matoran looked right back at him. Eventually, he nodded.

"…I believe you, Penny," he said slowly. "While I see the same pair of curious eyes that have stared at me for many centuries, I do not see any recognition of myself or the others within them. Even so, I find it telling that despite having no memory of who you were or what you have done, you still found your way back here after all. Perhaps the decision to banish you from Ta-Koro was one done in haste…though I suppose that matters little now."

Penny watched as Takua blinked and slowly emerged from behind her legs. "I was…banished? But why? What did I do?"

"That is not for me to say," said the Turaga with a shake of his head. "If Mata Nui set you upon this quest, then knowing how it began may deter you from continuing it. However, that does not mean you should remain uninformed about Mata Nui, nor will I let you blindly wander into the dangers that await. I will share with you the same knowledge of our island and history that I will impart to Tahu and our otherworldly visitors, and nothing more. Everything else, you must discover for yourself. Will that suffice?"

The memory-impaired Matoran hummed for a moment, then nodded.

"Very well then," said Vakama. "You will find temporary shelter in Ta-Koro with us if you wish, but be careful. As Jaller has demonstrated, there are still some who remember you, and the temper of the Ta-Matoran boils as swiftly as the great Mangai in whose shadow we live." He smiled under his mask. "But in this, our first hour of hope, you may find the villagers' patience to be greater than usual. We have the mighty Toa to thank for that."

Tahu let out a derisive snort while Yang rolled her eyes, but neither of them denied the Turaga's statement. Jaller took the front of the group and led the various figures across the plains of ash-gray sand, heading deeper into the volcano.

As they walked, Penny stayed close to Takua. "Are you alright?" she asked her friend quietly.

Takua hesitated, then nodded, then shook his head, then shrugged. "I don't know," he finally admitted with a frustrated sigh.

The freckled girl bit her lower lip, then reached down and held his hand as they walked.

"I know that this is frustrating," said Penny with a soft smile. "But you will figure it out eventually. And I will be there to help you. We will find the truth together."

Though he wore a mask, Penny could tell that Takua was smiling right back.

Yang looked back at the pair with a smirk. "So when we find Ruby, should I tell her about her new competition for the 'best friend' role now?"

For reasons Penny did not completely understand, her face grew quite hot.

Chapter Text

In Yang's opinion, Ta-Koro was less of a village and more of a fortress.

The entire settlement sat on the cliff of an island in the middle of a lava lake, with a massive wall formed out of crimson cobblestone bricks. A system of winches and gears was connected to a boulder bridge that literally rose out of the magma to give entry to the village itself, which could quickly be lowered again to deny an enemy access to the fortified gates…or even to drop them right into the fiery inferno! Yang was almost sorry for a moment that Ironwood hadn't fallen into Mata Nui with them - the general of Atlas would have loved to see the defenses of Ta-Koro for himself. And then he'd have started pointing out possible ways to improve said defenses.

Inside the walls of volcanic stone, however, was a different story. While a good number of Ta-Matoran patrolled the walls and moved through barracks in orderly formation, most others lived their normal lives inside the main courtyard that pulled double duty as the village square. Domed huts made out of fired clay and stone sat in organized rows along the inner walls, much like how tents were arranged by traveling armies. A regiment of Matoran were posted along a massive tunnel entrance along the back, greeting those who were emerging out of the darkness and wishing those who disappeared into the shadows a safe journey. Red-armored villagers were doing everything from hauling buckets of lava across the courtyard to fashioning disks out of glass-like obsidian, with one poor soul tasked with polishing some kind of shrine that was under constant fire from ash and soot.

Most of the little buildings didn't seem very ornate or well-decorated, boasting very utilitarian interiors and only marked by fading letters Yang couldn't read. Vakama's hut was the exception: the Turaga's personal dwellings boasted a massive bonfire in the center of the room, masks mounted along the wall in various states of disrepair, and a row of clay pots along the back that were meticulously painted with various scenes and vignettes. Ta-Koro may have reminded her of Atlas, but Vakama's home reminded the blonde brawler quite a bit of Ozpin's private office back at Beacon.

It was here, in that homey little hut, that she now found herself alongside new, old, and ambiguous friends.

Yang took a seat in front of the roaring inferno, watching the village elder make his way between the two with a pouch that sagged under the weight of volcanic stones. She felt Penny's hand squeeze hers while the Turaga uncovered a small pool of lava in the middle of the floor, filling the room with even more heat and light as the golden-red magma burned and sloshed within its chamber. While she and her newly-human friend were sweating their pants off (and not burning alive, thanks to Aura), the small-statured Takua and the towering Tahu showed no signs of discomfort; either they were more tolerant of the blazing flames, or they were just better at hiding it. Whatever the case, she could already feel beads of sweat trail down her skin, wiping her orange scarf on her forehead just to cool off a bit.

Still, she wasn't about to complain about the lack of air-conditioning in Ta-Koro.

Not when she was finally about to get some answers on what was going on.

Vakama turned toward the fire for a long moment as he collected himself, basking in the glow of both the roaring flames and the bubbling lava. Then he took a deep breath and slowly faced his guests, a smile shaping his words as he spoke in a dramatic voice.

"Gathered friends…" he intoned, fiery passion in his eyes, "…listen again to our legend of the Bionicle."

Despite the staggering heat around her, Yang still felt a shiver run down her spine, for reasons she couldn't quite articulate. Penny gave a small "ooh" as she nuzzled closer to her friends, while Takua leaned forward slightly with childlike wonder in his eyes. Tahu, on the other hand, curled up one eyebrow as the village elder pulled out a stone as smooth and white as ivory, one with a face crudely carved into the surface near the top.

Vakama set the piece carefully into the pool of magma without so much as flinching, only pulling back his hand when he was certain that the stone floated gently on its own in the lava. The surface tension of the molten rock sagged slightly, but the piece was porous enough to stay afloat even as the base of the figure began to glow a dull orange - which made its eyes light up in a dramatic display as heat piped through the stone.

"In the time before time," continued the Turaga, "the Great Spirit descended from the heavens…"

"…carrying we - the ones called the Matoran - to this paradise."

Ruby watched with rapt attention as Nokama gently placed a large egg-shaped stone on a small leaf, carefully setting it out on the basin of water that lay in front of her. Next to her, Gali's yellow eyes focused beneath her visor, hands resting on her ankles as she crossed her legs. The other Ga-Matoran were all sitting in a circle around the village leader as she told her tale, watching with eyes like hawks despite likely being told the story a thousand times already.

The elderly Turaga began piling smaller pebbles onto more floating leaves, setting them in circles around the first as she continued her tale. "We were separate and without purpose, so the Great Spirit illuminated us with the Three Virtues: Unity…Duty…and Destiny."

"Unity, Duty, Destiny," echoed the Ga-Matoran in attendance, like they were finishing a sacred prayer.

Nokama nodded in response. "We embraced these gifts, and in gratitude we named our island home Mata Nui…"

"…after the Great Spirit himself."

Emerald sat on her haunches lazily as Matau placed a set of small wooden figures around a large painted branch, watching as the simple objects cast massive shadows along the wooden wall. Lewa seemed far more entertained by the little puppet show than her, which didn't surprise the thieving teenager - she suspected that a rogue butterfly could capture the energetic green titan's attention for hours. Le-Matoran hung from trees, sat in vine hammocks, or just lay on the platforms as the tale unfolded, some watching the pieces behind the firepit while others chose to watch the magnified shadow play. The Turaga, to his credit, did a good job at making both equally engaging.

Not that Emerald would admit that she was enjoying the show, of course.

"Alas, our happy-joy was not to last," said Matau ominously as he laid down another figure, this one painted black as coal. "For Mata Nui's Spirit-brother, the Makuta, was jealous of these honors and betrayed him. He cast a dark spell over our beloved Great Spirit, who fell into an endless slumber-sleep."

The green-haired thief had to bite back a snort as she watched Matau flick the "Makuta" piece with enough force to knock over the Mata Nui branch, like he was an overly aggressive chess player capturing an opponent's queen. She could tell it was meant to be serious, however, judging by the sharp gasps from the gathered audience - including Lewa.

The air was filled only with the sound of crackling embers, and when Matau spoke again it was in a harsh, grave whisper. "The Makuta was free to unleash his shadow-monsters…"

"…and unleash them, he did."

Blake felt her ears fold back against her head as Whenua's deep voice flooded the hut, gazing in dread at the Mata Nui piece laying motionless in the pile of silt. In contrast to the smooth, polished round stones that represented the Great Spirit and the Matoran in the Turaga's tale, the ones that stood for the ominous Makuta and his fierce Rahi were jet-black and covered in rough edges. Without even seeing his influence herself, she could feel that the shadowy usurper's name carried fear and weight behind it, to the point that not even the storyteller himself could suppress a shudder.

Onua, by contrast, was as calm as the cavern floor itself, staring down patiently with glowing green eyes as he waited for the village elder to collect himself. After a moment's pause, Whenua reached into his robe and pulled out a half-dozen new figures, which turned out to be an assortment of glittering gems and rare metals. Blake's eyes widened as she caught sight of a ruby sitting with a matching sapphire and emerald, along with a pitch-black onyx, a chunk of silver, and a piece of polished copper. All of them were carved, cut, and polished to perfection, and seemed to shine with their own inner light as the elder revealed them.

"Yet even in the darkness, not all was lost," spoke the Turaga after a pause. He began to set down the new pieces around Makuta as hope rose in his voice. "Legends foretell that salvation will one day come in the form of six mighty Toa…"

"…wielding the elements as they confront Makuta in his deepest shadows," translated Matoro as Nuju laid down fragments of colored quartz around a thick piece of charcoal standing upright in the snow. Weiss knelt and watched the whistling elder's spirits rise as the tale neared its end, sparing a glance at Kopaka's impassive face before returning her attention.

Matoro's audible smile as he translated suggested that this was his favorite part of the legend. "With their wisdom and valor they will illuminate the darkness…"

"…liberate the Rahi-beasts," chanted Matau as he planted six beautifully painted sticks around the Makuta, "set them free from his evil influence…"

"…and awaken the Great Spirit Mata Nui," finished Nokama as the leaf that held up Makuta's dark stone sank under the additional weight of six dyed shells, "so that we may flourish under his watchful gaze once more…"

"…we pray, always, that this day fast approaches."

The flames crackled and the lava hissed as the dark stone representing Makuta fell forward dramatically into the magma, under the unyielding stare of six floating candles that burned in different colors. Yang watched carefully as the Turaga dipped a pair of tongs into the pool, retrieving the pieces and shaking them dry before returning them to the bag. He then blew on the candles and snuffed them out, filling the air with a sweet smoky scent that lingered even after the flames died down.

"So…" said Yang slowly, breaking the silence that flooded into the hut, "I'm guessing that Big Red here is one of those - what'd you call them? Toa?"

"He must be," said Vakama with a sage nod as he resealed the lava pool. "And if he has come, then surely the others are here as well."

Tahu stared into the fire, his mind swimming with silent questions. The blonde brawler saw an opportunity for a joke to diffuse the tension, and took it with a smirk.

"Alright," she said glibly, "So what happens if the Toa fail to defeat this Makuta guy? Do the guys upstairs have to send down the Foota and the Legga next?"

Silence. Human, Toa, Matoran, and Turaga alike all looked at her without so much as a smile.

"…okay, so that's the tone we're going with, alright." Yang sighed. "In all seriousness, it's a nice story, and I really appreciated the visual aid. It definitely helped with explaining what this place is, how you got here, and what the Toa are supposed to do when they arrive. But that still doesn't answer the question of what we're doing here." She pointed to herself and Penny. "Or how we can get back. Do you have a legend that explains any of that?"

Vakama's gaze softened as he looked down and shook his head. "Sadly, I do not. The prophecies and the stars spoke only of the arrival of the Toa; they said nothing of the coming of you and your friends."

Great. Just great. So the Turaga, the guy who was supposed to be one of the wisest people on the island, had nothing for them. How extremely encouraging. The blonde brawler could already feel her annoyance and frustration begin to simmer like a great big pot of angry soup. Penny gave her hand another comforting squeeze, then looked back at the Turaga.

"When we used the Staff of Creation to create a network of portals out of Atlas, the being within gave us a warning,'' she recalled. "He told us not to fall, but he never clarified what would happen if we did. Maybe he knew it would lead to this world?"

"You would know more about that than I," Vakama intoned. "Perhaps you found one of the paths between worlds the Great Beings used in the time before time. Or it was the will of Mata Nui himself that brought you here when you faced erasure in your home realm. I cannot say."

Penny gave a disappointed hum, which prompted Takua to lay a hand on her leg. Another flare of frustration sprang up within Yang, which the Turaga seemed to notice as he shifted tactics.

"Regardless of how it happened, the fact remains that you are here now," he continued. "You arrived at the same time as the Toa, and you found Tahu shortly after appearing on our shores. I have seen enough of Mata Nui's plans at work to know that these cannot be mere coincidences. I suspect that your other friends have already found the other Toa, and it would not surprise me if they have already formed alliances."

"Knowing Ruby and how friendly she and her team members are, I find that very likely as well," agreed Penny. Then she frowned. "Although Weiss can be quite grumpy sometimes."

That almost got a smile out of Yang. Almost.

"I do not doubt you, Penny," said Vakama with a nod. "It is this Unity that only further solidifies my belief that your Duties and Destinies are similar as well. Yang, I believe that your journey is now intertwined with Tahu's, just as his is now intertwined with yours. If fortune smiles on you and your friends, the way back to your world may lie in the completion of his sacred task."

Yang cast a wary glance towards the Toa in the room, her uncertainty about the fiery being adding fuel to her own anger. Tahu seemed to think the same thing, given the way the brow of his mask furrowed.

"And just what is my task, Turaga?" he asked in an impatient growl.

The elder gestured to the rack of masks on the back, pointing at the different shapes on display. "Before you and the other Toa are ready to face Makuta, you each must first collect a full set of Great Kanohi masks of power," explained Vakama. "You already wear the Kanohi Hau, the Great Mask of Shielding - there are five more for you to find that shall grant you additional abilities. With these masks, you shall become stronger and faster than any living thing, able to float on the air and breathe in the water, and peer into the very depths of the world around you. Unfortunately, Makuta also knows this, and so he has commanded his Rahi to seize the masks and scatter them across the island…meaning you must seek them out and brave the dangers to retrieve them yourself."

That…sounded long, hard, and complicated. If there were six Toa, with five masks to find apiece, then that would mean that the only way Yang and her friends might be able to go home was if the Toa collectively found thirty masks. And that was just finding the masks - if they really were guarded by monsters, that would make things even longer and harder. Not to mention whatever defeating Makuta entailed - if this shadowy demon was anything like Salem, it wasn't gonna be as easy as running up and punching him in the face. (Or mask, as the case might be.)

The frustration rose a few degrees higher, and not even Penny's hand on hers was enough to keep it from bubbling over anymore.

Tahu's eyes narrowed again, but he didn't seem deterred. "If that is my duty, I shall see it done. So long as the loud one stays out of my way." He shot a glare at Yang as he finished.

That was enough to make her blow her top.

"Hey, I didn't exactly ask to team up with you, shorty!" snapped Yang, who glared first at Tahu then at Vakama. "So lemme get this straight. We get booted out of our world only to fall into this one, where no one's ever seen a human before and everyone's all tiny and weird and helpless. All our friends back home are left wondering if we're dead when we didn't pop into Vacuo with them. And you're telling me the only advice you have is that me and a hot-headed robot with a hair-trigger temper should do a glorified scavenger hunt to defeat some nebulous evil, which might give us a way back home?"

Vakama lowered his head in shame. "I wish I could do more for you, truly," he intoned gently.

Yang scoffed and stood up. "Yeah. I wish you could do more, too. Thanks for nothing, I guess. Come on Penny - we're leaving."

The ginger-haired girl let out a yelp as her hand was dragged away with the rest of her. "W-wait! Yang!"

"I know you wanna help them out, but we've got people waiting for us back home," Yang said without looking back as she marched out of Vakama's hut. "We can't just waste time that they don't have running errands for the local village people. It's not our problem."

"But…I…I…"

"Don't worry about it." Violet eyes began to fade to red. "If we can spend our whole lives under Salem's thumb, they can spend a little longer fighting this 'Makuta'. And if they can't help us, then we'll find Ruby and the others ourselves, and get back home before you can even say - "

"PENNY!"

Yang looked back at the Matoran standing in the doorway of Vakama's hut, staring at them from across the courtyard of Ta-Koro. Gods, why wouldn't these things just leave her alone? She flashed her hair in warning, which made Takua stop in his tracks about twenty feet away.

"Don't come any closer," growled the blonde brawler, "and don't follow us. We don't need you to get home, and you don't need our…"

It was only at that moment Yang noticed that Penny was having trouble breathing.

In fact, it looked like she wasn't breathing at all.

"…help…" rasped the freckled girl, before sinking to her knees with a deafening thud.

Chapter Text

"Penny!"

Takua's heartlight pounded as he watched the red-haired girl sink to her knees from a distance, green eyes wide with terror and mouth hanging open uselessly. She clutched one hand to her throat, trying to will her body to breathe despite the lack of movement in her chest. Yang's eyes went wide in alarm as her friend went limp in her grasp, putting herself between him and Penny while cupping her quickly-paling face in both hands.

"Penny?" She said with growing concern in her voice. "Penny, come on, this isn't funny! Snap out of it!"

Despite the overwhelming aura of anger that came from the yellow-haired human, Takua took his chances and charged forward, racing at top speed across the plaza of Ta-Koro. As he came close he ducked under the fist that flew towards him, sidestepped the following kick, and grabbed one of Penny's hands in both of his. That same spark he felt on the beach jumped from his armored palms to her soft flesh, coupled with that same flash of green and gold. Immediately the color returned to Penny's freckled face, light returning to her eyes as she gasped so hard she nearly doubled over.

"Takua…" she whispered with a cough, looking at him pleadingly. "Please…do not leave me again…"

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm right here," he said gently. "I'm right here…"

While Penny's mouth curled upwards and her eyebrows raised into an expression of joy, Yang's did the exact opposite.

"What did you do to her?!" she demanded angrily, grabbing the edge of Takua's mask and hoisting him into the air. She got back to her feet and shook him violently, leaving his tiny little legs to dangle uselessly over the ground. "What did you do to my friend?!"

The Matoran would have gladly explained everything, as soon as she stopped yanking on the one thing he needed to keep functioning. Fortunately, Penny had gotten her breath back to speak in Takua's stead, cupping Yang's mechanical arm in two organic ones.

"He did not do anything!" She looked up at Yang with pleading eyes. "Please stop hurting him! He saved me! I…"

Something inside Takua broke as he watched the girl's lower lip tremble and her eyes well up with tears.

"…I died, Yang."

The rage left the young woman like a fire being doused in the rain. "What…what do you mean you died? You said you fell, you said you managed to win…"

"I lied," panted Penny. "I did not want to hurt you when we reunited, so I lied about what happened. Cinder blasted Ruby and Blake into the void, and then…she tried to steal the Winter Maiden powers. I was hurt…and I did not have Aura to protect me…I bled out in Emerald's arms. I am so sorry…"

A thousand emotions all seemed to swirl in Yang's eyes all at once as the story sank in. The brawler let go of Takua's mask, numb with shock and oblivious to his rough landing. The pain of landing on his back almost didn't register - he was too absorbed in the sheer look of despair that overtook the blonde brawler's face, red eyes fading back to lilac as her hair ceased to glow.

"No…" Yang choked, tears running down her face as she shook her head. "No. No no no…that wasn't supposed to happen…no, you…we made you human…you should have gotten a chance to live…"

Penny finally pulled herself off the ground and used both of her arms to pull her sobbing friend against her own torso, nuzzling Yang's face into her shoulder and reaching up on weird misshapen feet. The curious Matoran tilted his head as he watched the strange ritual, observing Penny running thin fingers through Yang's hair and whispering things softly into her ear.

By this point, Vakama and Tahu had caught up to the pair of humans. Takua turned to face them, watching as the Turaga hobbled over using his firestaff as a mobility aid, while the glare of the fiery Toa kept the onlookers from getting too close.

"What happened?" asked the Turaga. "Is everyone alright?"

It didn't take Takua very long to recap Penny's newest encounter with death, and how it was staved off by his mere touch. Vakama furrowed his brow and stroked the long base of his mask, blinking several times as he pondered. After a few moments of pensive humming, he finally stepped past the multicolored Matoran and came closer to the pair of humans, gazing up at them with a tilt of his head.

"Hold still, child," said Vakama gently, raising a hand that glowed with pale orange light over Penny. The red-haired girl nodded tightly and stiffened slightly, but she still held to Yang as she continued crying. Eventually, he pulled his hand away, energy pooling between his fingers. "Interesting…"

Penny tilted her head. "What is it, Turaga?"

Vakama gazed at his hand, as if he was reading the green flame that flickered softly in his palm. "Your friend told me that your kind has an ability called Aura, which acts as an extension of their soul. It serves as both your armor and your reserve of energy, protecting your body and giving fuel for your Semblance. Is this correct?"

"It is," replied Penny. "And if that Aura is broken, the body is far more vulnerable and likely to be fatally wounded. That is what happened to me."

"I see…" The Turaga hummed thoughtfully as he waved his hand over Yang next. The shuddering human also seized up, though far less than Penny had. A second flame joined the first in Vakama's palm, larger than the first; he peered into the depths of both tongues of fire as they danced around each other in soft glows of green and gold. With a thoughtful hum he brought his hand closer to Takua, watching as the emerald flame grew to the same size as its yellow twin. When he pulled his hand away from Takua, it shrank back down to a flickering ember, and when he drew it even further away, the green flame fizzled out entirely.

"…ah. Most fascinating," Vakama finally said as he willed away the other flame, though he seemed far more fatigued than he'd been a moment ago.

Takua immediately went to help the elder remain standing. "You figured it out? What did you do?"

"And how did you do that?" asked Tahu, his brow furrowing.

"We Turaga possess small traces of elemental power," answered the village elder as nodded appreciatively to Takua. "Not as much as that of a Toa, but more than a Matoran, though our reserve of power is obviously limited. I simply siphoned a small portion of Penny and Yang's Aura and used the energy to fuel my own flames, so that I could compare the two. I wished to see if there was a difference between their Auras - and indeed, there is."

Vakama looked directly at the small Matoran. "It is only a theory, but…I believe that Penny's Aura is now tied to your presence, Takua."

Yang pulled her face out of Penny's shoulder and wiped her eyes. "And what does that mean?"

"It means that if Penny was missing her soul upon arrival, it was granted to her again by Takua's touch." Vakama leaned against his firestaff for support as he spoke. "Thus, it stands to reason that his further presence is required to sustain it. This must be a side effect of Mata Nui's gift to her, for the breath of life is rarely returned to those who have already passed on…if Takua were to leave her side, it can all too easily be taken back."

Penny's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh! You mean that Takua is like an external battery for my soul!"

"…I do not know what that is," admitted Vakama. "But if it helps you understand, then I suppose you can think of it that way. The connection the two of you share may grow stronger the more time you spend together, allowing you to be further apart…but I cannot say for certain."

The blonde's eyes, on the other hand, softened and teared up once more. "So you mean…she'll just die again if she's not right next to half-pint here?"

"That appears to be the case, yes," intoned the Turaga.

Yang blinked, then looked sadly at Penny. "So even if we find a way back…you wouldn't be able to come with us, would you?"

The green-eyed girl stiffened, her gaze falling to her feet. "I…I had not considered that…" she finally admitted quietly.

Another fresh wave of tears erupted as Yang squeezed Penny tighter. "…dammit. Dammit, why? It's not fair…it's just not fair."

"Fate rarely is," said Vakama morosely. "For what it is worth, I sympathize."

He tried to reach out to put a hand on Yang's shoulder, but she jerked away before the Turaga could make contact. Vakama nodded in understanding, stepping back to give the pair space. Takua watched as Yang seemed to rub her face into the cloth on Penny's shoulder, leaving behind dark stains that likely came from the fluid dripping from her eyes. Tahu narrowed his gaze at the display, though whether it was out of impatience or disgust was unknown even to the Toa of Fire himself.

After a few more minutes of holding onto the freckled girl as tightly as she could, Yang finally drew away and wiped her eyes. She took a shuddering breath, and turned back to the gate.

Vakama raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

"Out," answered the brawler. "Need some time to clear my head, and get away from…well, all this. I'll be back later to help Big Red find his stupid masks. Maybe."

The Turaga's eyes widened behind his mask. "But, night is when the Rahi are most likely to strike. The bridges leading out of the village will be lowered soon. Ta-Wahi is dangerous - "

"So am I," snarled Yang, glaring back at the elder. "I'll be fine. Don't bother keeping the doors open on my account."

Before anyone else could say anything, Yang was already storming off. The inferno in her eyes wasn't as intense as it was before, but it still smoldered as she left the gate and disappeared into the hazy red glow of the lava moat. Tahu narrowed his eyes before stomping off as well, and Takua noticed that he was picking a very different exit than the one the human Huntress had just taken. Penny just sank to her knees again, burying her face into her sleeves and going motionless and still, clearly distraught at the bitter truth she'd just told her friend.

So much for Unity, Duty, and Destiny, Takua thought to himself with a shake of his head. How far are either of them gonna get if they ignore the first two entirely?

Vakama let out a deep sigh, caressing the forehead of his mask. "I hope that this visit was illuminating for you, Takua, and that you will forgive me if I take my leave. I am anticipating the arrival of another…I am not certain, but the stars have revealed a new prophecy, one which I still struggle to understand."

Takua looked at Penny, who nodded tightly, before he turned to do the same. "I think we've annoyed you enough, Turaga. Thank you for everything so far."

The Turaga let out a small chuckle. "I never expected to hear those words coming from you…no matter. Be well. You are free to stay in Ta-Koro for the night, but I do not recommend lingering for much longer beyond the morning. You may not remember what you have done…but the others do. Tread carefully."

And with that, Vakama bowed his head and stepped away. Takua looked around and watched as the other Matoran already went back to their tasks, all of them doing their best to avoid eye contact with him.

Well…all but one.

A Ta-Matoran with a triangular mask and yellow legs marched over, annoyance and judgement in his crimson gaze. He looked at Takua for a moment, pulled a blue metal square off his back, and shoved it roughly into the confused Matoran's arms.

"Here," he said with a low growl. "Take it. And don't ask me for any more favors."

Takua examined the strange object. "Why not? And what is it?"

The stranger scoffed. "It's your lavaboard, Koli-head. You know, the thing you told me to hold onto until you got back? And then you got yourself banished like an idiot? Just take it, and go. You shouldn't even be here that long - you know why." With that, the rude Ta-Matoran spun on his heel and left.

Takua held the slab of steel in his hand as he hung his head. "That's the thing, though," he muttered. "I don't."

He felt a pair of soft, warm arms wrap around his face and head, looking back at Penny with confusion as she subjected him to the same ritual she'd done for Yang earlier.

"Um…Penny?" asked Takua cautiously. "What is this? What do you call this?"

"This is called a hug, Takua," said the freckled girl quietly, rubbing her face against his mask. "It is something that friends do to make each other feel better, and when they want to feel warm inside." She paused, wiping away a tear. "Does this make you feel better?"

The memory-impaired Matoran pondered for a moment, before shrugging with a sigh.

"Not really, no. But I appreciate it all the same, Penny. Thanks."

Penny just nodded slowly and leaned against Takua, holding him close as the flames of Ta-Koro flickered around them.

Now this…was curious. Very curious.

The shadows were whispering, listening, observing every word being said on the island and relaying it back to them. All the villages of pathetic, scared little Matoran were abuzz with the news of recent arrivals. Beings who commanded the elements, who towered above the villagers…as well as something new and unfamiliar.

He knew exactly what the former meant.

Toa.

Deep in Mangaia, heard only by his Manas guards, he let out an annoyed huff. Six so-called heroes, united by one destiny…that destiny, of course, being his premature defeat and the awakening of the Great Spirit. Of course, the Toa themselves were no threat to him - if he desired, he could simply leave his lair and strike them all down himself, especially in their weakened state. But it was less the power of the Toa that worried him and more the hope they would bring, hope that would inspire their smaller kin and give them courage to fight back against his darkness. He had spent over a thousand years keeping them isolated, afraid, and complacent. He preferred the Matoran this way; it made them easier to manipulate, easier to rule. Easier to control.

And now that control was being threatened.

Fortunately, he had already included the Toa's arrival in his calculations. He was quite clever like that - he knew that sooner or later, heroes would be drawn to the island of Mata Nui to try and dispel his reign of shadows. It had just happened sooner than he expected…but no matter. All he had to do was move the timeline up. A few more Rahi attacks here, a few natural disasters there, and the Toa would have their hands full being the heroic idols that the Matoran saw them as.

Toa, he knew from experience, were remarkably simple creatures, despite their power. Dangle an innocent soul over the ledge with one hand while offering ultimate power with the other, and they would almost always choose to save the life of another. There were exceptions, of course - no being was perfect, aside from him - but that compulsive need to be noble and good was easy to twist to his advantage. So he was not worried. He was never worried.

But…what about the other arrivals?

The so-called Huntresses, the ones who seemed to slip into this world - his world - without his knowledge? The ones with an unfamiliar energy, an alien biology, and unknown motives? They did not have elemental powers or the stature of the Toa, but they commanded strange abilities all the same. One seemed to draw strength from the energy that struck her, another could bend multiple elements to her will using a new substance, and a third who was dead on arrival now drew breath and walked hand-in-hand with a particularly annoying Matoran.

If there was anything he could be certain of, it was that they seemed…weakened and demoralized from a mighty battle on their own world. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage. Perhaps he could prey on their insecurities and fatigue to keep them out of the island's affairs, giving him ample time to study them and to ensure his plan proceeded smoothly.

They think they are strong enough to stand against the shadows of their world, he thought with a rare smile behind his mask. Let us see how they handle mine.

"So…what now?"

Blake looked up at Onua as he pondered her question, the lights of Onu-Koro fading behind them as they ventured into a side tunnel. The Toa of Earth hummed thoughtfully, tapping a claw to his mask (or his "Kanohi Pakari," as Blake now knew it was properly called) as he weighed his options.

"We could start looking for those masks the Turaga told us about," she added, pulling out her Scroll and bringing up the maps she'd snapped pictures of. Whenua had all but begged for them to take the stone tablets he had in his hut that detailed both the island of Mata Nui and the tunnels of Onu-Wahi, but the Huntress had insisted that just taking photos with her all-purpose communications device would be enough. (One Matoran, Nuparu, seemed quite interested in learning how it worked, but she wasn't sure if she had time to explain the history of photo capture.) "Or did you have something else in mind?"

Onua gave one more pensive hum, then he looked down at Blake with a smile beneath his mask.

"Indeed. I believe I have a promise to keep to a friend."

Blake blinked a few times before she realized what he meant - and who he was talking about.

"…oh. You…" she toyed with her hair nervously. "You don't have to do that right away. It's not the first time we've all been separated, being away for a little bit won't kill me."

"Perhaps not," responded Onua. "But it will weigh you down. I think it would be good for you to at least see them with your own eyes, to know they are well." He looked a little hopeful. "Besides…I am quite curious about these other Toa that Whenua described. I would very much like to meet them."

The Faunus laughed softly as she expanded her map. "In that case, our best bet might be to head to that big temple at the center of the island. What did the Turaga call it again? Bikini-something?"

"Kini-Nui," corrected the Toa with a gentle chuckle. "The Great Temple. If Whenua's legend is true, then the arrival of one Toa on its steps will send out a call to the others, guiding them to the same location. Hopefully my brothers will heed that call…and your Huntress friends come with them."

Blake tilted her head. "What makes you so sure they found some of the other Toa?"

"You found me," said Onua pointedly. "If your friends are half as crafty and resourceful as you, then they have no doubt done the same."

She chuckled softly. "Yeah…fair enough. I just hope that they all found someone agreeable. Ruby's friendly with pretty much anyone, but Yang…well, let's just say that it takes a certain kind of touch with her."

One that I'm quite good at.

Biting back the blush that threatened to rise, she hastily shifted topics as she panned with her screen. "It looks like Kini-Nui's pretty far away. I don't know how big a 'kio' is, but this map says there's a lot of them between here and there. It might be a bit of a journey, not to mention we don't know how long it'll take the other Toa to arrive once they get the call. You sure you wanna put off your hunt for the masks for that long?"

"If it means that I get to meet my brothers and you get to see your friends, it all will have been worth it," declared the Toa of Earth. "You helped me find what I was looking for, Blake - I wish to return the favor."

A smile crept up on Blake's face without her realizing it. This guy really is the real deal, isn't he? she thought to herself. A selfless hero, through and through. Unlike him. Unlike…

That damn crimson sword slashed into her memories once again, and she did her best to suppress it.

"Well, if you're sure…" she said aloud as she switched maps, "then we'll want to take this tunnel here. Supposedly it leads to the forest around the temple, but it's fallen out of use due to the Rahi attacks and structural instability. Between the two of us, though, I think we'll be fine. Should take us about a day or two to get there, if we keep moving."

"Then let us begin," rumbled Onua. "You have the map, Blake - lead the way."

With a nod, Blake took point and started down the labyrinth of tunnels, feeling the footsteps of her very large new friend following her.

This guy is definitely no Adam, she thought. If anything, he's more like Sun…minus the recklessness.

And just like her golden-tailed friend, she had no doubt that Onua would follow her like morning followed night.

The rest of the night after Matau's tale was pretty boring, in Emerald's opinion.

Once the celebration concluded and the darkness of night fell in earnest, most of the Le-Matoran had retired to their huts to sleep off the cheer and festivities. A small skeleton crew of guards patrolled the skies on what could only be described as massive mechanical hawks, but for the most part the village slept. All except her, Lewa, and the Turaga himself, the latter of whom sought to educate the Toa and the thief on the masks they would be seeking, and the enemies they would be fighting.

While there were some interesting tidbits to the lecture - like learning that the big purple scorpion she fought in the jungle was apparently called a Nui-Jaga - it soon became more repetitive and dull than a lecture from Professor Port in Beacon. She struggled to keep her eyes open as the Turaga exhaustively covered the masks, trying and failing to keep all the weird-sound names and powers straight. After Matau stressed for what felt like the fifth time how dangerous the huge mosquito-like Nui-Rama were and how the Le-Matoran lived in fear of the flying monsters, Emerald couldn't help herself. She did the unthinkable.

She dozed off while standing up.

When she awoke what felt like a few minutes later, she found herself on a soft bed of leaves in the Matau's hut, with a blanket of moss over her shoulders. She cracked her eyes open just a little bit to see that Lewa and the Turaga were no longer there, the small fire pit snuffed out and a patch of the roof pulled away to let fresh sunlight shine down. Blinking to adjust to the brightness and focusing through the morning bird calls, her gaze tracked down to see a wooden plate of fruit laid out in front of her, complete with a carved cup of some kind of purple juice.

The sight was nearly enough to make her tear up. When was the last time she'd ever had breakfast? When was the last time someone had made breakfast for her? It wasn't much - just more of that fruit she found in the jungle yesterday - but the gesture spoke volumes about how Lewa and the people of the village saw her.

Is this what being…wanted feels like? She wondered idly. Like, actually wanted? Despite all his goofiness, does this Lewa guy actually…care about me?

She decided to file the thought later, to be unpacked when she wasn't still groggy and emotional. When her belly was full and her thirst was quenched, she exited Matau's hut to find the Turaga talking to the Toa on the edge of the platform. Several Le-Matoran were already hard at work around the platform, cleaning up leaves or fashioning disks out of wood. When Lewa's gaze tracked over to her, she gave a slight smile and walked over to the pair, waving at villagers who called out to her as she passed.

"Good light-dawn, sprout-leaf," said Lewa with cheer in his voice. "I trust you had a pleasant sleep-rest?"

"Mhm," she said with a yawn. "Morning to you too. Sorry for not being able to stay up all night with you guys - guess I was more tired than I realized."

"All beings must sleep-rest," said Matau with a hearty laugh. "Some more than others, it would seem. You must have gone without it for quite a while, for you to succumb so quick-fast."

That's an understatement, thought Emerald, who chose instead to shrug. "So what are you guys talking about?"

"Just plan-making," answered Matau as other Matoran gathered nearby. "I have shared with Lewa all that I think-know. The rest, he must seek-find for himself. What do you remember from last dark-night?"

"Just about Makuta and how he put Mata Nui under some kind of spell," recounted the thief as she rubbed her eyes. "How he controls the island and all its dangerous animals, and how Lewa and the five other Toa are here to put him in his place. That about sum it up?"

"Indeed," said the Turaga with a nod. "Though before then, they must gather-seek the Masks of Power hidden across the island."

"Right, yeah, the, uh…Kanohi? Am I saying that right?" When she saw the elder nod again, she responded in kind. "Cool. So we go through the jungle, find some masks, meet up with the other Toa, and beat up a big bad guy to save the island." She let out a chuckle. "Sounds simple enough. When do we start?"

"Hold your Rahi there, sprout-leaf," chided Lewa. "If we're going on a hunt-quest, I need to make sure you can keep pace with me. I can't always rescue-save you, and I can't just back-carry you the whole time either. You'll need to spend some time learning how to navigate the bog-marsh before you join me on any Toa-hero adventures."

The thief scowled at the implication that she needed training to keep up, but bit back her annoyed comment. There was wisdom in learning to travel through the jungle by herself, even if she didn't want to admit it. "Okay. And where do I learn how to do that?"

"Tamaru and Radka are among the best leaf-runners in the jungle," offered Matau. "They will teach you."

Emerald grinned as she watched the female villager smile behind her trans-green visor. The Matoran with a green egg-shaped mask and a bright turquoise body - the one who ran away screaming at the sight of her during the party - shook his head in shock. "I will?"

"You will," affirmed the Turaga. "Unless you'd rather feed the Gukko-birds for your job-chore this week?"

Tamaru let out a loud gulp - or at least Emerald assumed it was a gulp - and sighed. "…I will teach you, maskless one."

"As will I!" said Radka, audibly pleased. "I am sure you will do great, tree-leaf!"

The thieving teenager rolled her eyes at the display. Cute. But I don't think she's my type.

"Alright, fine," she finally said. "On one condition. If we're doing this, I'm not stripping down to a loincloth."

Lewa tilted his head. "…what is a loin-cloth?"

"Never mind."

The morning sun shone down on Ga-Koro, making the waters of the bay shimmer and sparkle with light. Ruby sat on the edge of one of the massive lily pad platforms, her bare legs dangling in the waves and idly kicking as she stared up at the clear blue sky. Her brown thigh-high boots sat next to her, still drying in the tropical sunlight - along with most of her other clothes and gear, including her beloved crimson cape, the black fingerless gloves with matching bracers, and the many many pocketed belts she always wore. At the moment, the only things that were in a wearable state were the pleated red skirt and the black-and-scarlet corset; the mesh leggings and long-sleeved blouse she used to wear underneath were absolutely ruined by seawater, to the point where they nearly crumbled to dust after they'd dried out.

So she sat there, with bare arms and legs, feeling quite underdressed but unembarrassed. The Ga-Matoran didn't seem to mind her lack of modesty too much - they were more weirded out by the fact that she even had skin in the first place.

I guess it won't be an issue, Ruby thought to herself as she took a deep breath of salty air. It's nice and warm here on the island, so I shouldn't need sleeves or pants. After all that time in Atlas, I could use a little sun. Although I'd appreciate it if Penny's dad gave me a warning ahead of time, like "hey don't go falling into the ocean while wearing this, it's gonna wither away."

She mentally sighed. Of course…if he told us that, we'd probably have gone "Oh don't worry, we won't have that specific thing happen to us, we know what we're doing." And we'd have been wrong about that. Just like we were about everything else.

Ruby pulled one leg out of the water so she could hug her knee to her chest. She knew that those thoughts that clouded her mind weren't the truth - at least, not entirely true. While they had mostly succeeded at getting most of Atlas and Mantle out of the doomed kingdom, that felt like it had been the only real victory during Salem's siege. Everything else, from the fall of yet another nation of Remnant to the fact that Salem most likely had half the Relics at the moment, spelled disaster for her world, and she wasn't even there at the moment to try and help. She couldn't even be sure that Weiss, Penny, and her friends from Team JNOR were okay - the first two had still been fighting for their lives against Cinder in the magical dimension formed by the Staff of Creation when she and Blake fell, and the rest were in Vacuo with a lot of scared, traumatized people.

And despite knowing that it was illogical, Ruby couldn't shake the feeling that everything that happened was her fault.

Every single call she'd made since her team arrived in Atlas had felt like the wrong one. Keeping the info about Salem's immortality and the Lamp of Knowledge secret from Ironwood had just given him an excuse not to trust them when he finally cracked under the weight of the world. Letting the teams split up to work on both short-term and long-term solutions to Salem's siege had just resulted in both of them being derailed from their original goals. Putting all her faith in a sincere message to Remnant for aid had just made it all the more heartbreaking when it seemed to fall on deaf ears, received by a terrified world at best and an uncaring one at worst. And even the solution for getting the citizens halfway across the world had just given Cinder and her allies a new angle of attack, one that had ended in her, Blake, and Yang all falling into an unfamiliar world while her friends and family thought her gone forever.

Was this what Ozpin meant when he once told her that being a team leader was both a badge and a burden? Was she strong enough to carry that weight, even when it wasn't hers to bear?

Had her old Headmaster truly made a mistake in choosing her to lead?

She didn't know. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know. She wasn't even sure what she wanted anymore, except that all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry and escape the world.

Maybe Gali should have just let me drown after all.

Ruby blinked, surprised that her own mind would say such a dark thought. Instinctively, she knew it was wrong…so why did it almost feel right?

"Oh, you're already awake? I thought you'd be sleeping all morning, after that tale you told everyone last night."

Silver eyes snapped out of their thousand-yard stare and looked over at Hahli, who was walking over carrying a basket of long green grass and a sack of seashells. She flashed a smile at her Matoran friend, who returned it behind her mask as she took a seat on the edge. Ruby watched as the Ga-Matoran started pulling out handfuls of the plant and ran it over the rough edges of the shell, rubbing away flakes of green and leaving white fibrous material behind.

She raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were a fisherwoman."

"I am," said Hahli. "I'm also a diver, a materials runner, and an assistant flax-maker. I'm not as good as some of the others are at one particular thing, so I do a little bit of everything well enough to help out."

"So you just do odd jobs around the village, huh…" mused Ruby. "That must take a lot of time."

Hahli nodded. "It's pretty much my whole day."

"Do you do anything besides chores? Anything fun or interesting?"

"I sleep," she answered with a laugh. "Does that count?"

Ruby giggled, a delightful noise that Hahli soon echoed. The silver-eyed Huntress felt the dark cloud over her mind lift, if only for a moment, as the tension in her chest faded slightly. When was the last time she had truly laughed like that? However long it was, it felt far too long.

Eventually, the laughter settled, and Ruby watched as the rest of the village came alive. Ga-Matoran wandered out of their huts carrying metal fish, weaving with looms, or tending to their ships and huts. One particular group of tiny blue beings were shouting and arguing on a distant pier - she couldn't hear what they were saying, but they were all pointing to where a boat should have been yet clearly wasn't.

"Looks like Macku snuck out of the village at night again," said Hahli with a frustrated sigh. "Took one of Marka's best boats this time, too. Oh, Turaga Nokama is not gonna be happy…"

Sensing there was some drama there, Ruby was almost tempted to ask Hahli for more info, but ultimately decided against it. So instead she settled for watching the waves lap against her knee, wiggling her foot to try and shake out some of the numbness that was setting in. A school of tiny little fish swam closer, eyeing the submerged limb with hungry eyes.

"Careful with the Ruki fish," warned Hahli. "They're biters."

Ruby pulled her bare leg out of the water with a small nervous squeak. Hahli chuckled and grabbed some of the wasted plant matter, chucking it into the water and letting the wad dissolve into the water. The fish eagerly started nibbling on the floating green bits like it was feeding time in an aquarium, beady little eyes glowing brightly even through the surface.

"Don't worry, ones this small don't actually eat anything other than plants," she said warmly. "You can actually feed them by hand without worrying about being part of the main course, and Harakeke grass shavings are their favorite treat. It's the bigger ones with orange fins you need to watch out for - they have jaws strong enough to punch through solid protodermis." Hahli scooped another handful of shavings into her palm, then offered a small pile to Ruby. "Here, you wanna try?"

The silver-eyed Huntress hesitated for a moment, then slowly mirrored Hahli's actions and lowered a small mound of grass shavings into the water. Immediately the fish took notice of the new food source, swimming around her hand and chomping down on the bits of green floating in blue. She felt a strange sensation as the Ruki passed over her skin, which she assumed was the body of the creatures themselves - not quite organic, not quite metal, but something in between.

She let out a laugh. "It tickles," she observed.

"That's how you know they like you," said Hahli with a giggle of her own. "There's countless others like them in the infinite ocean around our island, yet these ones always find their way back here. The Ga-Matoran always try to live in harmony with the sea as much as possible - for although it feels cold and empty sometimes, there is always life within its depths."

Ruby nodded slowly. "Yeah…I can see why Gali likes it so much."

"Mm. Speaking of which…there's one thing I don't quite understand."

Her heart sank. She already knew what question Hahli was going to ask. "What?"

"Why didn't you go with Gali when she departed to look for her Kanohi masks?"

There it was. The same question that she'd been asking herself since last night, when she seized up even in the shallow waters that she and Gali waded through while leaving Ga-Koro for the open sea. When her head was a clear foot above the surface, yet she still struggled to breathe. When her legs felt as stiff as lead and her mouth was as dry as a desert dune once the waves lapped against her chin. When in the dead of night she scrambled back to the nearest lily pad of the village, clutching it as she panted and coughed and looked back to see the Toa of Water slip under the surface, never realizing she was now swimming alone.

Ruby hung her head in shame, just as she'd done on the long walk back to Nokama's hut, and let out a long tired sigh.

"I'm…not the strongest swimmer," she said after a moment of thinking. "I almost drowned yesterday, and if you or Gali hadn't been there…we might not even be having this conversation. Of all the horrors I've faced, all the monsters and evil people I fought back on Remnant, it was the sea itself that almost did me in. I guess I'm just…afraid of it. And I didn't want to let that fear slow Gali down. If I tried following her right now…I'd just get in the way."

Not to mention that even if I could swim well, there's not much I can do to help without Crescent Rose.

Another dark thought popped into her mind, one said with her own voice yet clearly not something she would otherwise think. True, her hand-to-hand skills weren't the best, and she still struggled without her signature weapon. But Ruby liked to think that she was at least somewhat capable even when unarmed - she still had her Semblance, as weak as her Aura was at the moment. And she still had her wits, her Scroll, and a bunch of Dust.

Still, she was cognizant enough to realize that her sudden fear of water and losing access to her weapon weren't the real issues.

It was just easier to say those things instead of admit she didn't feel like she deserved to be alive.

To her credit, Hahli seemed to sense there was more under the surface, but she didn't question further. All she did was smile and lay a metallic hand on her shoulder. "Well, don't worry. A few days in Ga-Koro should do you good. From the tale you told us last night, it sounds like you've been through much on your world, and we would be glad to shelter you as you recover from this storm. Maybe we can even build up your confidence in open water, so that when Gali returns, you can go with her to find your friends."

Ruby sighed and put on a smile. She remembered well how, after Nokama had informed her and Gali of the latter's quest to find the Masks of Power, she had recounted everything that happened in Atlas in one long sobbing screed. Her eyes were still sore this morning from how hard she cried last night, and while the Ga-Matoran clearly didn't understand everything she talked about, they were sympathetic all the same. The Toa of Water in particular did everything in her power to comfort the hysterical Huntress, even taking the time to learn how to gently ruffle Ruby's hair without taking her entire head off. It didn't completely disperse the dark cloud that hung in her mind, but knowing that the people of this strange new world cared for her made the nightmares at least a little more tolerable.

"Yeah…that sounds nice," she said with as much warmth and cheer as she could muster. "It's very peaceful here, and I'd love to stay for just a bit longer. Who knows? A little vacation here might convince me that there's no reason to be afraid of water after all!"

KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A shrill, ear-piercing scream came from the distance, one loud enough to echo across the entire village. Soon it was joined by another, then another, and then an entire chorus of similar screeches. Every Ga-Matoran froze in place, and Ruby went still as a statue right along with them.

"On the contrary, friend." Hahli's voice was little more than a harsh whisper. "There are many things in the water to fear. And that…is chief among them."

Chapter Text

Ruby stared with quivering silver eyes at the dozen figures that emerged from the depths of Naho Bay, looming over the furthest edge of Ga-Koro. Each one resembled a cross between an eel and a heavyweight boxing champion, with the long serpentine body and toothy mouths of the former and the broad shoulders and powerful upper arm muscles of the latter. Some had mottled metallic scales that were the same shade of blue as the ocean, while others were teal and turquoise like the rotting seaweed that clung to their biomechanical frames. Glowing red and yellow eyes peered over the village with malice in every gaze, and each monster wore a rusted mask on their snouts that dripped a sickly bluish-green fluid. The underside of their bellies were lined with caterpillar tracks, forming long flexible segments of tank treads perfect for scaling rough terrain. This feature, combined with the pistons in their lower arms and the array of gears behind their jaws, gave the creatures a nightmarish appearance - a twisted amalgamation of flesh and metal, one that made the silver-eyed Huntress sick to her stomach just to look at.

Compared to these creatures, the Grimm almost looked cuddly.

"What…are those things?" she asked in a sharp whisper.

"The Tarakava," breathed Hahli beside her. "They're massive lizards that dwell in rivers and open water. Makuta has gotten most of these Rahi under his thrall, but they were already plenty dangerous before he drove them mad. They usually hunt in pairs, and lie in wait under the surface to ambush their prey. One punch from their forearms is enough to shatter a mask right off a Matoran's face - a second blow can leave them in a daze that lasts for weeks."

She gulped. "And what if you get hit three times?"

Hahli's silence was answer enough.

The Huntress nervously watched as the Tarakava shrieked in unison, half of them diving under the surface while the rest slithered across the waves towards the village. She reached behind her for Crescent Rose - but she found only empty air. Gritting her teeth, she watched as the blue-masked villagers yelled and took up arms, settling into defensive formation with spears and harpoons while others ran and looked for shelter.

Nokama emerged from her hut with widened eyes and began barking orders. At her command some of the Ga-Matoran pulled disks off their back and flung them at the attacking creatures, but the eel-like Rahi merely let the projectiles bounce off their armored hide. The way the Tarakava held their front forearms close to their face reminded Ruby of how Yang often charged with her own fists in a defensive stance - and when one such beast punched with enough force to shatter a flying disk into splinters, she was reminded a little too much of her blonde brawling sister.

Her own hand trembled at her side, before she finally balled it up into a fist.

Ruby, come on! she mentally yelled at herself, You can't just stand there and let these people get hurt! Sure, you don't have much Aura, or Crescent Rose…but you have to do something!

In this one case, she listened to the voice in her head, because for once it was right.

She was a Huntress.

And despite how she felt, she was not helpless.

Ruby scattered into a burst of rose petals, rushing past Hahli and scooping up her remaining gear and still-drying clothes. By the time she reformed she was fully dressed and equipped as best as she could, her crimson cloak billowing behind her as she ran to the rescue. Her silver eyes zeroed in on a Tarakava that latched onto a lily pad and started crawling out of the water to get at a pair of Ga-Matoran that huddled together in fear; Ruby fished a crystal of Lightning Dust out of her pouch and pulsed her Semblance again, infusing the rushing red spiral with an electric current as she zipped towards the Rahi.

BZZZZZZZZAPPPT!

The hyperballistic Huntress crashed right into the lead Tarakava, smashing against its chest and delivering a nasty shock in the process. To her delight the serpentine creature seized up as electricity coursed through its waterlogged body, locking up its muscles and overloading its servos in showers of sparks. Ruby was quick to take advantage of the vulnerable state, reforming in mid-air in front of the monster's face and drop kicking it right in the jaw. The force of both feet slamming against the Rahi made it topple backwards into the water with a splash, releasing its hold on the platform as it eventually recovered and slithered away.

Ruby landed on her feet in front of the pair of Matoran. "You okay?"

The navy-masked villager nodded. "Y-yeah. Thanks, weird fish."

She pouted. "I'm not a - oh, whatever. Do you have anywhere safe you can go?"

"The Tidebreaker!" Nokama called from nearby as she directed Ga-Matoran to one very large green hut at the center of the village. "It is where we always gather in the worst ocean storms. Its walls are thicker and heavier than most of the other huts; when it is sealed, not even the Tarakava will be able to breach it!"

"Then get everyone in there!" said Ruby as the two Ga-Matoran she saved scrambled away. "I'll buy you some time and keep the Tarakava off your back." She looked around. "You wouldn't happen to have a weapon I can borrow, do you?"

The Turaga looked to a Matoran wearing a similar mask as her, but in a shade of blue that matched the Tarakava she was blocking attacks from. "Kotu! Fall back and give Ruby your staff!"

Kotu, as Ruby assumed her name was, leapt away from her opponent and just barely dodged a punch that shattered the lily pad where she once stood. She nodded to Nokama and tossed the sturdy bamboo pole to the Huntress, who nodded in thanks. It wasn't the most complex weapon, with a sharpened spear point on one end and a blunt club on the other, but once she infused her Aura into it Ruby was certain it would serve her well.

"Alright, you overgrown shrimps!" Ruby taunted as she spun the weapon in her hands. "Let me show you how we danced back on Remnant!"

The swarm of Tarakava shrieked as they lunged at her with flying fists, only to strike empty air and rose petals as she darted and dashed around them. Ruby stayed in the air and on the move as much as possible, opting to either evade the mighty punches or deflect them with the staff instead of blocking them head-on. She twirled and leapt as she lanced the sides of the giant lizards, poking and prodding for weak points before moving out of the way to strike from another angle. Her supply of Dust crystals helped turn her Semblance-infused bursts of speed into more effective attacks; a pinch of Ice Dust turned a Tarakava's entire arm into a frozen statue, a piece of Fire Dust left searing flames that ignited the eyes of another, and a little bit of Wind and Gravity Dust was more than enough to lift a third mighty machine into the air and slam it back down into the water.

As she fought, she caught a glimpse of the Ga-Matoran rushing into the so-called Tidebreaker, which was a huge green dome that could easily hold four times the amount of villagers already huddling inside. Three separate layers of dried seaweed reinforced with bamboo formed a sturdy wall, and Ruby could see compacted layers of black tar slathered between the different tiers to add weight and protection from pouring rain and raging waves. Windows like the portholes of a great ship lined the four sides of the hut, with reinforced glass and stamped metal forming a powerful watertight seal. Her engineering mind quickly realized that something that big and heavy couldn't stay floating on its own, which was probably what that teal-blue cord that trailed from the bottom of its platform to a smaller nearby hut was for - it must have connected to some kind of external pump, one that kept the shelter above the waves in a non-obvious way. She wanted to study the design more, but kept her main focus on the Rahi.

She could always find out more later, after everyone was safe.

Despite her mobility and reflexes, Ruby quickly realized she lacked the power to effectively end the fight. Her elementally-charged attacks were better suited for opening up opponents for finishing moves, which she lacked the ability to do here. The spear-staff was a good lightweight weapon for her fighting style, but it just didn't have the penetrating power to pierce the thick armor of the Tarakava. Worse still, she could feel her limited Aura pool - which was already low due to being broken several times during Salem's siege - dwindle even further with each burst of speed she called on, sapping her strength and slowing her movements as fatigue threatened to overtake her.

Even so, she didn't need to finish off the Tarakava. She just needed to keep them occupied.

And when she saw Turaga Nokama usher the last Ga-Matoran into the Tidebreaker, she knew she'd done her job well - even as a sand-green Tarakava leapt out of the water and lunged at her from behind, knocking her off her feet.

"Ruby!" Hahli's eyes widened as she saw her friend trapped.

"Close the hut!" she cried as she rolled over and jammed the length of her staff against the Tarakava's fanged maw, pushing back against the beast that pinned her to the lily pad. "Seal it! Now!"

Hahli almost ran out of the Tidebreaker, and it was only Nokama's hand that kept her back. "No! What about you?"

"I'll be fine!" she shouted back, narrowly avoiding a sucker punch from the lizard on top of her. "I'll find a way to drive them off! Just keep yourselves safe!"

The Ga-Matoran clearly wanted to argue further, but a pair of Tarakava with eyes leering at her from just above the water's surface convinced her otherwise. Nokama and two dozen villagers disappeared behind a thick green door, one that slammed shut just as the predators leapt and threw their fists ineffectually against the reinforced seaweed. The outer coating was left with dents and scuffs but held firm, making the Rahi hiss and swim away to look for other, less-armored targets.

Good, they're safe, thought Ruby with a mental sigh of relief. Her brow furrowed as she stared up at the Tarakava bearing down on her. And now to deal with you!

She triggered her Semblance once again, this time splitting into four separate balls of crimson petals that flowed around the lizard and rejoined overhead into one Ruby Rose. With a mighty yell she slammed her spear into the Tarakava's nostril, rupturing one of the coolant tubes and spraying green-blue liquid under high pressure everywhere. It wasn't a killing blow - far from it - but it still sent the Rahi into an agonized frenzy. The mighty lizard let out a pained screech as it reared back while balancing on its tracked tail, revving back and forth forcefully while shaking violently. She held onto the spear for dear life, her eyes scanning the head and looking for another weak point before finally settling on the triangular piece of corroded metal just above the monster's jaw.

It looks like everything on this island wears a mask of some kind, she realized. I wonder what happens if you pry it off?

Ruby waited until the Tarakava was done trying to buck her off before making her move, grabbing the rusted mask on its snout with both hands and pulling with all her might. It felt like trying to pull the hood off an old automobile, one left to the elements for over twenty years, but she kept yanking all the same. If the mighty lizard hated having its nose suddenly pierced, it liked having its mask pulled off even less; it responded by zooming across the lily pad on its caterpillar tracks, never stopping until it plunged back into the water.

SPLAAAAAAASHHHH!

Bubbles poured in front of the Huntress's face as she and the Tarakava descended into the bay, her eyes and nose burning from the salt and seawater bearing down on her. She'd managed to get half a breath before the monster dove, but she didn't let go or try to break for the surface - she kept pulling and straining against the mask even as air escaped through her grit teeth. The magnetic forces that kept the mask glued in place fought back, as did the Tarakava who thrashed and spun like a crocodile in a death roll. Ruby refused to relent, determined not to let go until one of two things gave out: the bonds holding the mask, or her own lungs.

"Mmmmn!" she groaned into the water with each tug, her face taut with concentration. "Nnnngh! Hrrrrrng…GLUB!"

Unfortunately for her, the latter caved first.

With a burbling grunt of disappointment Ruby abandoned the mask, kicking off the massive lizard and darting for the surface in another burst of rose petals. She soared out of the water with a shrill gasp, filling her chest with a deep breath of fresh air -

WHAM!

- only to have it immediately knocked out of her by a massive fist that slammed into her, sending her flying and crashing into the side of the massive shelter. Her Aura flared up one more time as she made contact with the wall of seaweed, and by the time she slid down to the surrounding platform, it vanished in a shower of scarlet petals.

The world spun around her. It hurt to move, it hurt to stand, it even hurt to breathe. Yet Ruby still kept herself between the Ga-Matoran shelter and the massive blue Tarakava that had broken her Aura, staring it down and pointing the business end of her spear even as it rose out of the water.

"I don't care what you do to me," she coughed out, "I am not letting you touch one mask of these people. You will not have them!"

Her opponent blinked once, then twice, then three times, before lowering its head and gazing at something below the water's surface. At first Ruby thought her attempt to intimidate the Tarakava had actually worked…until she realized exactly what the giant lizard was eyeing up.

The pump cord.

"Don't you dare!"

The Tarakava did not heed her warning, instead choosing to screech and pivot on the spot to wind up a massive punch. In her fatigued, Auraless state, all she could do was lunge forward pitifully as the beast drove its fist into - and through - the connected hut.

CRASHHHHHH.

Ruby's heart felt like it stopped beating entirely as she saw the thin walls of the pumphouse get ripped away, revealing the guts of the machine inside. Gears and pieces were sent scattering in the wake of the rupturing blow, disappearing into the water and sinking out of sight. But the worst part was what happened to the shelter itself - it lurched one way, then another, before finally tilting on its side and sinking under the surface.

And with it went every single villager in Ga-Koro.

"NO!" screamed the Huntress, throwing her spear ineffectually at the Tarakava before plunging into the bay with a deep gasp of air.

The water rushed past her face as she dove faster than she ever did before, kicking and clawing with all her might to pursue the sinking shelter. Rather than drop straight down, the Tidebreaker leveled out somewhat as it descended, swaying back and forth as it fell into minute currents like a crab dropping into the ocean. Without her Aura or her Semblance, Ruby was forced to swim far slower than she wanted - than she needed - but she still somehow managed to quickly dive deep enough to grab the edge of the glass window, letting herself be pulled along by the hut and holding on tightly as she saw the grainy gray floor rush to meet them.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity of slowly falling, the entire structure shuddered as it plowed into the sandy border between the bay and the ocean beyond.

And then it went still.

Grunting a few bubbles to clear her face, Ruby pulled herself up to the window and narrowed her eyes to peer inside. She saw several dozen blue-armored Ga-Matoran sitting in the corners of their heavy hydrophobic shelter, huddling themselves and each other as the hut settled into the bay floor, teetering between the warm waters of the gulf and the cold abyss of the sea. Turaga Nokama had her hands on a nearly-hysterical Hahli, muttering something inaudible to the panicked fisherwoman. Ruby's chest ached, both from the lack of breath and from despair. She tried to think of something, anything, that she could do to help, but nothing came to mind. Nothing useful, at any rate.

The silver-eyed Huntress kept a tight grip on the window's edge, ignoring the burning in her lungs and the sting of saltwater flooding into her nose and mouth as she tried to stay for as long as possible. A quick glance upwards revealed the shadowy forms of the Tarakava swimming away from the village overhead, returning to the darkness of open waters. She would have considered that a victory, but she knew it was anything but.

They had gotten exactly what they wanted.

Rather than waste energy trying to break into the shelter, they chose instead to just break the pump and let the elements claim the villagers. If the Tidebreaker couldn't float back to the top, the Ga-Matoran trapped inside would soon suffocate…and the reinforced construction and high pressure of the surrounding water meant that they couldn't just punch a hole in the wall and swim to the surface. Not without causing an explosive decompression and an instant flood, at least.

The pressure in her chest reached a tipping point, threatening to tear Ruby apart from the inside. She let out a quick burst of air to ease some of the tension - and almost immediately regretted it as she fought the urge to inhale. Nokama must have finally noticed that she was still holding onto the porthole, because the wise Turaga looked over and shook her head sadly, tilting her head up in a clear message.

Go. Return to the surface. There is little you can do to help us from here.

Tears welled up in Ruby's eyes and mingled with the sea as she shook her head fervently. She knew that there really was nothing she could do to save them right now - the hut had settled onto an underwater cliff, straddling the rocky ledge where the bay sharply dropped off into the sea. Unless she had the strength to actually lift the entire building and bring it back to the surface, she was just torturing herself by not leaving. But despite knowing that the Turaga was right she stayed where she was at the window, staring helplessly at the latest in a long line of people she'd failed to save.

No! I can't leave you! I couldn't save Atlas! I couldn't save Mantle! I can't abandon you, too!

But as much as she wanted to stay, the decision was made for her.

A spasm in her chest forced a ripple of bubbles through her lips, and she instinctively covered her mouth and nose with her hands to keep more water from flooding in. She squeezed her eyes shut and regretfully threw her head back, kicking and flailing with her legs to start the grueling swim back to the surface. Ruby didn't want to think about the fact that she'd have to swim at least thirty feet with little air in her lungs, nor did she notice that some of the beasts watched her ascend from the shadows. All she could focus on was that the people of Ga-Koro were trapped in the darkness and depths, and that she was powerless to save them.

Just like she was powerless to save Remnant.

I'm sorry…was all Ruby could think as she fought against the shadows looming in the corners of her vision and encroaching on her mind.

Macku was in trouble for sure this time.

That was all that could run through her mind as she coaxed a moderate speed out of her boat, carefully crossing the sea's surface in a path that she'd taken hundreds of times before. Sure, it wasn't the first time she'd snuck off to Po-Wahi, and it certainly wasn't the first time she'd left without telling anyone. But it was the first time she'd spent so much time on one of her jaunts, and it most certainly was the first time she'd taken her boat out while the legendary Toa of Water was gracing her humble village. So not only would she be in hot water for her usual antics, she'd be in boiling water for leaving during such an important event.

"I'm sorry, Turaga," she mumbled under her breath, working to memorize her plea for mercy for the scolding that was surely waiting for her. "I'm sorry I left without telling anyone, and I'm sorry I took my boat along the cliffs of Leva Bay again. I just…the arrival of Gali made me curious, and I had to see if any of the other Toa had arrived yet. So I went to Po-Koro to see if Pohatu was there…yeah. Yeah, Pohatu. In Po-Koro. That's why I was there. No other reason."

Nope. No other reason whatsoever. It certainly had nothing to do with wanting to spy on Hewkii, the star Koli player of the desert village. In fact, that had never even crossed her mind! She just wanted to see another Toa. Really.

Macku sighed.

"No wonder she never buys my excuses," she grumbled as the seaweed structures came into view over the stern. "If I can't even believe my own lies, how do I expect to fool…her?"

Her non-apology and her excuses were dropped like an anchor as she saw smoke rising from the distant village.

From her village.

"Oh…oh no!"

She revved the engines and pushed as hard as she could on the throttle, making her boat come alive in a roar and a rush of speed. The Ga-Matoran sailor forced herself to ignore the sparks that leapt from the back of her craft, giving the assembly a kick when it stalled for half a second. Ga-Koro came closer at an agonizing snail's pace, and in the minutes it took to finally reach the shore, Macku's mind had already come up with a half-dozen different disasters that could explain the smoke.

All of them paled in comparison to the truth.

She hit the brakes on her boat and covered her mouth as she drifted, scanning the damage. Shattered huts, broken pathways, and fractured platforms littered the surface, floating on the lapping waves like driftwood after a storm. What few buildings were still intact had massive gashes torn into the sides, some of them already starting to slowly sink. And the platforms that still stayed floating had ugly black streaks running along their length - the undeniable tracks of the tank-like Tarakava and their thirst for destruction.

Worst of all, the Tidebreaker - their strongest shelter for the roughest storms - was just gone.

As Macku stood at the edge of her boat in shock, a burst of bubbles to her left suddenly got her attention. She reached for a fishing spear and pointed it at what she thought was an intruder, but she was met only with a pale maskless face, a shrill gasping sound, and silver eyes that snapped back to life as their owner tried and failed to tread water.

It was the human!

"You there! Um…Rudy!" No wait, that name wasn't right. "Ruby? What happened?"

Ruby didn't answer, preoccupied with her vain attempt to keep her head above the surface. After a few failed breaths, the stranger's silver eyes suddenly went dull as they rolled into the back of her head, and her pathetic attempts to swim stopped as she went limp.

"H-hey! Hey, stay with me!" Macku may have been a sailor and not a diver, but she still recognized the signs of a blackout. Even in a species as large and strange as Ruby, it would seem the need for oxygen remained the same. Her hand darted over the side of the boat and grabbed the silver-eyed creature's wrist, pulling her out of the water and into her craft.

The odd newcomer immediately curled up on her side and vomited seawater all over the boat's deck. Macku assumed that was how humans expressed gratitude.

"Th-thanks," panted Ruby, shivering as she sucked down much-needed air. Then her silver eyes stared up at the sailor. "You…you're…um. Malu?"

Close enough.

"What's going on?" asked Macku. "Where's everyone else?"

"At the bottom of…" the Huntress coughed up another mouthful of water. "…at the bottom of the bay."

Macku's eyes widened behind her mask as Ruby quickly told her tale between haggard gasps and shuddering coughs, explaining how the village came under attack the morning after Gali left and how all the Ga-Matoran were in a hut that sank when the Tarakava attacked the pumps. Her mind raced as she ran through all the available options, trying to decide what the best course of action was.

Eventually, she was forced to admit she had no idea what to do. Which left only one option.

"We have to get help," she said with resolve in her voice. "Let's head to Ta-Wahi - Jaller should be able to spare at least someone from his guard to assist. They know mechanisms and machines pretty well, maybe they can help fix the pump."

Ruby just sort of nodded numbly, curling up into a ball and shivering under her drenched clothes. As Macku started the boat again, she let out a sigh and looked down at the human, who was already weeping and burying her face into her arms.

"Hey," she said as gently and warmly as she could manage, "It's not your fault. You did everything you could. That's what matters."

The hurting human didn't even look up at her. "Maybe…" she said with a bitter choke, "…but does it really matter if even my best isn't enough?"

Macku didn't have an answer as the boat sailed back into the sea.

Chapter Text

Yang usually loved seeing a beautiful sunrise.

But as the black sky began to burn red and the glowing orb of gold emerged from Mata Nui's eastern horizon, all that came was cold numbness.

She shuffled a little bit on the mountain trail she'd claimed as her perch, her good hand hooked around her raised knee while she leaned against her mechanical arm for support. Tired lilac eyes stared out across the vast expanse of scorched earth and trees, dotting the landscape with various shades of crimson and gray. Pools of lava became hotbeds of activity as distant creatures emerged from their burrows and nests, ready to begin another day in the tropical island paradise.

It was a gorgeous vista, and Yang knew she should have considered herself lucky for seeing something so amazing. Should have found joy in it.

So why did she feel so miserable?

Because with each sunrise I see here, it's just a reminder that time's running out.

Yang let out a slow sigh and let go of her leg, leaning back on both hands and closing her eyes as she let the sun shine down on her. It was already plenty hot in the so-called "Ta-Wahi," but there was just something about the warmth of the morning rays that invigorated and soothed her. There was something nostalgic about the sensation, even if she could only imagine it. Mornings like this, she decided, were best sprawled out on the lawn, where she could lay in the dew that clung to blades of grass and feel it warm up alongside her. Or they were meant to be experienced from a dormitory rooftop under a cozy blanket, with either a handsome man or a gorgeous girl leaning against her. Unfortunately, neither option was available to her, so she opted to shake the curls out of her golden-blond hair, feeling the flames crackle slightly with the movement.

We shouldn't be here, she thought to herself with a tight frown. Worse…they shouldn't be here.

It was almost funny, in a way. Twenty-four hours ago - or however long a day was on Mata Nui - she would've given up her left arm for a chance to see her friends and family again. But right now, despite knowing that they were here on the island with her, Yang Xiao Long felt lonelier than ever. She wasn't sure why news that should have excited and delighted her brought such an empty feeling. Maybe it was because Penny had died before she fell, and needed to be next to one of those little Matoran to stay alive. Maybe it meant that her sacrifice to take a blow meant for Ruby was suddenly meaningless, since it served as the catalyst for her team's downfall.

Or maybe it meant that everything they'd worked for had been for nothing.

She furrowed her brow and clenched her jaw. Team RWBY had fought tooth and nail for Atlas, and for all their strength and planning, Salem and Cinder had still steamrolled them like the girls were nothing but stubborn little patches of asphalt. Every argument they'd had about what to do. Every little victory they'd eked out. Every friend they'd lost along the way. It had all led to the same damn thing.

Ruin.

Yang had spent the night furious and fuming, sleeping in short fitful bursts and brooding whenever she was awake. Questions spiraled and swirled through her mind, threatening to drown her in what-ifs. Should she have spoken up when Ruby started lying to Ironwood about the lamp out of fear? Should she have warned her teammates that she and Blake were going to try and talk to Robyn, instead of arresting her like the General wanted? When the team split up after Salem's arrival, should she have stood with her sister and focused on getting the message out, instead of being so obsessed about the short term? Would Oscar still have been captured if she hadn't tried to strike out on her own and put him in such a vulnerable and exposed position? Would Penny even have needed to worry about the virus that tried to bend her to Salem's will, if Yang was there to help the main team? A thousand alternate scenarios played out in her mind, all of them with endings that seemed no better than the one she'd just been through.

And those were the easy questions. Other questions her mind asked made her wonder about the futility of their fight, and how meaningless their struggles had turned out to be. What was the point of making Penny human to cure the virus if Cinder was just going to kill her anyways? Why bother saving the people of Atlas at all when they were just going to die in the desert? And where was the sense in fighting, in getting stronger and smarter and more powerful, if the bad guys were just going to pull the rug out from under them and kick them while they were down in the end?

Why did she still choose to be a Huntress when she couldn't save anyone?!

Her mechanical hand gripped the stone with so much force her seat nearly cracked.

"It's a nice view, isn't it?"

Yang almost jumped in shock as she whirled around to face the new voice, reflexively deploying Ember Celica with a flick of her wrist. When she saw who had traveled up the mountain path, she let out a sigh and collapsed her weapons. The Matoran behind her was not an enemy, and he wasn't a threat…at least, not to her. Not even with all the weapons he was carrying, all of which were almost as big as he was. It was almost adorable, if the look in his eyes wasn't so serious.

"Oh, hey, I remember you," she said once her nerves weren't tingling with danger. "It's…Jaller, right? What brings you all the way out here so early?"

"Patrolling and scouting," said the yellow-masked Matoran with a nod. "This is my usual route - it takes me a few kios into the highlands of Ta-Wahi, where I can see possible threats from a distance before they get too close to the village. 'Forewarned is forearmed,' as Vakama always says."

Yang chuckled. "Aren't you like the Captain, though? The guy in charge of the whole thing? You'd think a commanding officer wouldn't be caught dead doing grunt work."

Jaller laughed in turn as he shrugged. "I never thought of it that way. Maybe I just like leading by example. Plus, the view here is great. Gives me a chance to clear my head after a long night of working by torchlight. In my line of work, you find peace and take breaks whenever you can…speaking of which, is it alright if I take a seat?"

She shrugged and patted the rock next to hers, watching as the Ta-Matoran shuffled over under the weight of his weapons. First he set his spear and shield against the boulder, then he pulled the disk off his back and dug it into the worn stone at an upward angle. Finally, he climbed onto the perch and leaned back, using his own disk as a backrest. It didn't escape Yang's notice that even as Jaller seemingly relaxed with a long sigh, one of his mechanical hands was always in reach of the collapsible knife near his ankle.

"Comfy?" Yang finally asked.

"About as comfortable as stone can be," said Jaller with a shrug. "I don't know how the Po-Matoran manage to sit on these for so long." He looked over at her. "So. You spent the whole night out here by yourself? I'm impressed that you're alive at all, never mind that you're sitting there without even a scratch. Most of the village was convinced you were a goner after you stormed off last night."

The blonde brawler scoffed. "Please. I used to go camping with my family in Remnant all the time. A little darkness doesn't scare me." She flashed a grin. "Besides…I don't know if you noticed, but I can handle myself."

"Oh believe me, I noticed." Jaller gave a dry laugh. "Fighting a Toa single-handedly…and if the legends are true, you challenged the fiercest one of them all. Thanks, by the way, for stepping in when you did. It might have gotten ugly if you hadn't - and I've already lost too many good Ta-Matoran guardsmen this year. I don't want to think how many we'd lose against the Toa of Fire himself because of a misunderstanding…but I guess this way we won't have to find out."

Yang blinked slowly as she looked back at her guest in disbelief. "Wait. You're telling me that even if I hadn't been there, you guys still would've taken on Tahu? All by yourselves? Even with all his tallness and his mask powers and his sword of literal flaming death?! No offense, but…why?"

Jaller didn't seem offended. "Why wouldn't we? We've fought bigger and won. The people of Ta-Koro have been standing against the Rahi for centuries, we're not intimidated by size alone. If we were, well…let's just say there'd be less of us than there already are."

"Right…the Rahi." The blonde brawler looked back over the horizon with a somber sigh. "Vakama mentioned them in his tale last night. What are they, anyways?"

"Wild creatures enslaved by the Makuta to serve him," answered the Captain, "Not all of them were dangerous at first, but under his command they've all become horrible beasts, ruthless and fierce. Some can fly, others walk along the ground, and some, I've heard, even tunnel beneath it. We've battled many of them over the years."

Jaller sighed and looked out over the forest wistfully. "In recent times they've become bolder, stronger, and more dangerous than ever. The constant war of attrition and pressure on all sides has pushed us back into the shadow of Mangai. Our village and our territory used to reach all the way to the coast, before the Rahi began to advance more fiercely. The Charred Forest wasn't always like it is now; it used to be a lush place, green and peaceful, but in the fury of our battles it was burnt for the rest of time. And it's not the only permanent reminder of our struggles…we all bear some scars of our own, whether we show it or not."

Yang followed his gaze and fidgeted with her orange scarf as she took in the Captain's words. A dwindling people, trying to keep their friends and their culture alive even in the face of an immortal master of shadows and monsters. Maybe Mata Nui wasn't so different from home after all.

Maybe their battle for survival was just as doomed as the one she tried to win.

"So why keep fighting, then?" she finally asked aloud after a pause. "Back on Remnant, we have Huntsmen and Huntresses like me protecting the common people, so that they wouldn't need to face the Grimm on their own. If these Rahi are so dangerous, why keep pushing against them? Why not just hide in the volcano and wait for them to go away?"

"Because we are Ta-Matoran, and we will not surrender," answered Jaller with firm conviction. "We are born in the flame, shaped and molded and given life by it; if it comes down to it, we will die by the flame as well. We make the monsters pay for every bio into our territory, punish them for every step they take towards our home even if it costs us our own lives. The soil and sand from here to the sea is littered with the bones and masks of Matoran and Rahi alike, casualties of both sides as the gears of war continue to spin. And until the Toa liberate our island from Makuta's evil, we will march in time to their mechanical chorus, patrolling our stockades and trenches day and night with torches burning and disks sharpened. Because that is who we are."

A year ago, Yang would have been behind the rousing words of the Guardsman a thousand percent. But after losing part of herself - literally and figuratively - she learned the hard way that there was a fine line between unrelenting valor and suicidal stupidity. That painful reminder of her own foolhardiness still itched just below her right shoulder, and no matter how hard she tried to keep the crimson blade out of her nightmares, it still showed up in places where it shouldn't have been. What was more, after seeing the dangers of such extreme courage and how it could topple a kingdom from within, she was less inclined to be charitable to the Matoran's fighting spirit no matter how admirable it was.

After a contemplative silence she finally shook her head and let out a long, disappointed sigh. "You're all just gonna get yourselves killed. You know that, right?"

"Maybe," he said with a shrug. "But it's better than living in fear. It's better than letting Makuta just take what he wants. And it's certainly better than what you're doing right now."

That got her attention. She raised her eyebrow as she snapped her gaze down at him. "Excuse me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Tahu wanders the foothills of Tren Krom in search of his masks as we speak." Jaller narrowed his eyes. "Your friend travels with Takua, a misfit who's always wandering into trouble, to find others like you. The Ta-Matoran Guard is always looking for new recruits, especially ones of your stoutness and spirit. And yet…instead of helping any of them, you're out here sitting on a mountaintop feeling sorry for yourself, running away from every single fight while others struggle with their own. It's sickening."

A spark of anger flashed inside the blonde brawler. How dare he assume what was going in her head? "Look, you've got no right to talk to me like that. You have no idea what me and everyone else has just been through - "

"You're right. I don't." Jaller cut her off with a wave of his hand. "And I don't need to. You're hurting, that much is obvious. But do you really expect the enemy to take pity on you just because you're still licking your wounds? Do you honestly think that the fight won't keep going if you sit it out? Loss and failure are universal, Yang, but it's never the end - the world will continue to spin whether or not you're part of it, and if you don't pick yourself up and dust yourself off, it will be more than happy to leave you behind."

Yellow eyes stared at the horizon. "You think you're the only one who's lost friends and allies? You think you're the only warrior whose made mistakes or bad calls, and had to live with the consequences? I've been leading my people against the Rahi for over four hundred years, and I've seen many brave Guardsmen - braver than I, even - lose their lives in this war for survival. Some of them fell to the Rahi. Others cracked under the pressure. Still others saw throwing themselves to the lava as a kinder fate than letting the Makuta take them. I've lost so many friends I stopped counting. And if we stop fighting, if we stop standing up for what we believe in…then all those people died for nothing, Yang, and even more will join them. Is that what you want?"

Her hair smoldered at the implication. She wasn't running! She wasn't like that coward that dared to call herself Yang's mother! She wouldn't abandon the people who needed her!

…except wasn't that exactly what she was doing right now? What she'd been considering all night?

No! No, she was just taking a break! She wasn't doing…that.

Right?

"Like I said, I don't know what you've been through," continued Jaller. "But what I do know is that everyone has a Duty that guides them and gives them purpose, something they have to do even when they're hurting. Whether that Duty is to the Great Spirit, our fellow villagers, or even just to ourselves, we all have an obligation to do what's right - no matter how we feel about it. Because we're the only ones that can do it. Other people count on us to do what we do best. This is why, in the Three Virtues, Duty forms the bridge between Unity and Destiny. In knowing what our Duty is, we can draw forth the strength to protect our Unity and the courage to face our Destiny."

The Captain's glowing yellow eyes met hers. "My Duty is to protect my home. Tahu's Duty is to find the Masks of Power and defeat Makuta. Tell me this, Yang - what is your Duty?"

Yang furrowed her brow. In her rage, she was tempted to answer that right now her "Duty" was to see how far she could dropkick the little Matoran. But deep down she knew better. Deep down, she knew that he was right. The question cut to the very core of the spiraling thoughts she'd grappled with all night, and it was only now when it was voiced out loud that she realized she'd been thinking about this all wrong.

It was all so simple, the answers that had eluded her. Just because she couldn't save everyone didn't mean it was alright to give up on saving anyone. Penny might have been mortally wounded by forces beyond anyone's control, but she was alive now and in the company of someone who deeply cared for her - someone who wanted to see her thrive. And no matter how many times the blonde brawler got knocked down, she knew she had to get back up, dust herself off, and get ready to hit back like she'd always done.

Yes, she'd made mistakes. She'd been impulsive, short-sighted, and acted rashly. But she was alive, and that gave her a chance to learn. A chance to improve, just like after the Battle of Beacon. And while failure wasn't always preventable, she knew that even in the face of loss and pain, she had to keep moving forward for the sake of those that counted on her. That's what Ruby did. That's what Weiss did. That's even what Blake did.

And that's what she was going to do, too.

"My Duty…as a Huntress…" she said, fire rising in her voice, "…is to fight for those who can't fight for themselves."

Jaller nodded slowly, and she could tell he was smiling under his mask. "I can't think of a more noble Duty than that."

Yang stood up as she felt a fire burn in her belly, taking a deep breath of the warm morning air. "And I think I'm gonna start by looking for that Tahu guy and helping him with his mask collection," she said. "Finding him shouldn't be too hard - just gotta follow the yelling."

That got another rare laugh out of the Captain. "Last I heard from my scouts, he was in the ash flats about half a kio east of here, looking for the Kanohi Pakari." He pointed towards a gray-and-black patch of land that to Yang's untrained eye seemed a half-mile away, towards the rising sun. "It's on the very edge of the Tren Krom break, past the river of lava that runs throughout Ta-Wahi. It shouldn't be too hot for you to navigate, but be careful for the geysers of flame and the local wildlife. Both can be dangerous to even the Toa of Fire."

"I'll keep that in mind and start there," she said with a nod. Then she looked down at the yellow-masked Matoran with a smile. "Thanks for the pep talk, Jaller."

Her unlikely friend snapped a salute at the much-taller Huntress, already gathering his weapons as he prepared to set out again. "May the fires of Mangai protect you, traveler. Hopefully we see each other again."

She grinned and returned the gesture. "Count on it."

And with that, the blonde brawler leapt off the side of the mountain and skidded her way down the slope, heart pounding as she got ready to throw herself into the breach once more.

Hang in there, ladies, she thought with a grin. I'll find you all soon enough. Just gotta see a Toa about some masks first.

The cold mountainous air was filled with the sound of whirring servos and steel scraping against stone. Kopaka clung to the side of the cliff with his sword and shield embedded into the wall, leaving footholds for himself and handholds for the Huntress trailing behind. It was a slow process, given how rough the terrain was and how stiff the rocky cliff face was, but the pair was climbing and making progress all the same.

Behind him, Weiss panted and groaned. "You sure this is the best way up the cliff?" she called up. "Cause I'm serious, I could just summon a Giant Nevermore and get us to this 'place of far-seeing' a lot quicker."

The Toa of Ice narrowed his gaze as he looked down, focusing on the white-haired human and not the icy ravine far below them. "This is faster, and less risky. The mountain gives us cover from the east winds, which at this height are strong enough to blow any flying mount of yours off-course. It's safer this way."

Weiss scoffed. "Right…because scaling the face of a sheer vertical cliff with no climbing gear is perfectly safe. Nothing could go wrong whatsoever!"

"If you're that worried, you can climb back down and wait for me at the bottom."

After a moment of silent contemplation, Weiss groaned and reached for the next handhold. "Just promise that you'll carry me for the return trip."

"We'll see."

With that matter settled, Kopaka focused himself on the climb once more, thinking back to the Turaga's instructions (translated from the strange bird calls by Matoro, of course). Before they left at sunrise Nuju had given him and Weiss a number of locations to check for his Kanohi masks, which ranged from the boiling lava lakes of Ta-Wahi to the flooded bogs of Fau swamp. He'd chosen to go after the one in his native region first - partly due to how close it was, and partly to avoid the rest of the island for at least a little while longer. In this case his mask was at the top of what the village elder had called a "place of far-seeing." He'd interpreted this cryptic advice to mean the highest point of the region that still afforded a view of the surrounding land, one that let them see Ko-Wahi without clouds forming to obscure their view.

After what felt like hours of climbing Kopaka finally saw the top of the cliff, the floor of which was covered by a thick layer of snow and ice. A few well-placed holes with his weapons later, he was pulling himself over the ledge with shield raised and sword humming with power. Moments after he confirmed that the surroundings were safe, Weiss hauled her body up and flopped into the snowbank, groaning as she rolled onto her feet and dusted herself off.

The pair soon realized that they were standing in a small snowy alcove, one that had been carved into the side of Mount Ihu by erosion and natural forces. The edges of the circular little landing flowed into the gentle slope of the surrounding mountain, the sides of which were covered in loose white powder that sat undisturbed for years. Faded Matoran writing along the exposed stone wall and a flickering lightstone in a shrine suggested that this was once a place of meditation, one that had been abandoned when the trek became too dangerous. It wasn't hard to guess why, between the whistling winds and the thin air - but the incredible view of surrounding hills and valleys that this place afforded was almost rewarding enough on its own.

Almost.

"Yeah…I'd definitely call this a place of far-seeing," Weiss said in awe as she looked at the distant horizon. "Just hope it's far-seeing enough for Turaga Nuju, and that we're not supposed to go climb a different cliff. I'd rather not do that again anytime soon."

Kopaka didn't answer, instead triggering the power of his mask - the Kanohi Akaku - and peering beneath the blanket of snow with X-Ray vision. The world around him went black and white, turning the expansive vista of icy blues and cold grays into a sharp monochromatic outline. He wasn't interested in the scenery, however - he was far more interested in the grayish-white outline that sat buried deep in a dark snowbank. Turning the mask power off so he wouldn't accidently walk off the invisible edge, he kept his gaze locked on the spot he saw and walked over, brushing away the dense snow with a single swipe of his blade to reveal his prize.

A mask sat there, waiting for him. The Kanohi Hau, the Great Mask of Shielding.

"You found it?" Weiss asked, turning her gaze away from the little device in her hand. He didn't answer.

The Toa of Ice stowed his sword and reached for the new Kanohi laying there in the snow, lifeless and gray and staring at him with an empty gaze. Though it was the same size as his own mask, its shape was different - a helmet-like form with angled eyes and three slashes in each cheek. He brought it closer to his face, stared at it for a moment, then as if guided by instinct he carefully placed it over his own Kanohi Akaku. Immediately a strange feeling overwhelmed him, as if a cushion of strength had settled in around him to protect him from all harm.

"I can feel the power of this mask, even when not directly in use…" he mused to himself.

But what of his other powers? Did this new mask affect them? Kopaka called forth the ability of his original mask, relieved to feel the familiar form of the Akaku reappear over the Hau. Glancing down at the ground he saw the icy snow, then the cold dirt underneath, and below even that he saw layers of rock crosscut with veins of minerals. Beyond that he saw only darkness.

"…yet the powers of the Mask of Vision are still mine to command," he confirmed with a slow nod. He was pleased. Not that he'd say that out loud.

Weiss finally joined him, looking up at the Toa of Ice even as he willed away his power once again. "Not that I'm about to call that climb a walk in the park, but…this feels a little too easy." She shook her head. "Doesn't it?"

Kopaka narrowed his eyes in equal parts annoyance and agreement. As irritating as she is, she's right. Makuta stole and hid these masks for a reason, he wouldn't just leave them -

KROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRR!

… unguarded.

He felt the ice and stone shift and rumble below his feet, and he instinctively extended his arms to balance himself. Weiss let out a yelp and nearly tumbled over the edge, digging her sword into the ground to anchor herself down. Neither of them had much of a chance to question where it was coming from - the source burst out the side of the mountain in a shower of rubble, revealing a monstrously huge frame, massive hooved front legs that hissed with steam, and a pair of horns the color of a burning sky that stood out against the mess of black and gray steel.

"A Kane-Ra," growled Kopaka, remembering the Turaga's tales of mighty stone bulls under Makuta's thrall. He furrowed his brow.

I hate being right.

Weiss was already standing back up and readying her sword in anticipation. "Alright. What's the plan? How do we stop this thing?"

Annoyance rose in the Toa of Ice as he shot a glare at the Huntress. "We do nothing. You wait here and be on guard. I will deal with this."

Her eyes widened in protest as she looked up at him in disbelief. "But - !"

"I won't have you dropping another wall of stone on me in the middle of a fight," he said icily, unsheathing his blade and feeling it hum in his grasp. "Stay out of my way."

And with that, he threw his shield onto the sloped ground and stepped on top of it, kicking off and sliding down the mountain to meet his foe.

Kopaka was certain that this foe would be no trouble at all.

Tahu didn't want to admit it, but he was in trouble.

Finding the Kanohi Pakari wasn't a challenge; much like the locals said, the wedge-shaped Mask of Strength was just sitting in a ruined temple waiting to be claimed. The difficulty came when a dozen bipedal biomechanical lizards suddenly leapt out of the surrounding geysers of flame, snarling and hissing at the Toa who dared enter their territory. Long sinewy tails balanced out hunched frames, their narrow snouts and rows of sharp teeth seemed perfect for tearing apart his armor, and the huge curved claw on each foot looked sharp enough to latch onto anything with focus and precision. Their tiny arms and stubby little wings would have looked comical and out of place…if the rest of their appearance didn't give off the look of a pack-hunting predator.

The Toa of Fire clutched his new mask close to his chest in one hand as the pack circled around him, waving his flaming sword menacingly with the other. "All of you, stay back!"

Sparks began to dance along the blade as he pulsed his elemental power in warning, but the Hikaki did not seem intimidated. One screeched and began running towards him on powerful hind legs, its jaws snapping in preparation to strike.

"I said stay back!" Tahu roared, firing a burst of flame at the offending predator. The force of the blast was enough to stagger the dragon, but nothing more. It shook its head to clear it, then let out another hiss. As if on cue, the others began to move in.

"I'm warning you!" he shouted, launching waves of heat and flame with each swing of his sword. "I am Tahu, the Toa of Fire, and you will! Yield! Before me!"

The Hikaki, much to his dismay, did not in fact yield to his attacks. If anything, judging from how their armor glowed from gray to deep crimson, they seemed empowered by the fire. One came within biting range, and he lashed out with his blade. While the strike was true and cut deep, it didn't seem to actually wound the beast, merely stoking its rage and hunger further.

Growling in frustration, he turned up the temperature of his blasts, his sword becoming a roaring inferno as it slashed ineffectually at the creatures and unleashed more waves of flame. Unfortunately, this only confirmed his fear - the Hikaki were indeed drawing strength from his fire, growing bolder and more aggressive as they moved in with snapping jaws and swiping claws. Tahu backpedaled and did his best to avoid the lunging lizards, but there was only so far he could move when there were so many of them.

A Hikaki leapt and sank its teeth into his sword arm, scrambling with its legs to get a stable foothold on the Toa of Fire. He roared in pain and began swinging and flailing his arm in a desperate attempt to shake the predator loose, but he only succeeded in making it grip his armor even tighter. His arm was only saved when another fire dragon leapt to join its brother; a last-minute wild turn smacked the mid-air beast with the first one, sending them both tumbling away.

Now that his arm was free, he hissed in pain and looked down to assess the damage. The bite wasn't too deep and hadn't done much more than poke the sensitive muscle underneath, but the armor itself was heavily warped and nearly torn open. He grimaced behind his mask -

Wait.

His mask.

Tahu caught sight of a trio of Hikaki closing in and trying to lunge, but a timely activation of his Hau blocked their attacks with a rippling barrier. He focused on the predators as they leapt and scratched, watching as claws and teeth ineffectually pounded against the protective force field. If he kept the shield up long enough, he thought, then the Rahi would surely realize he wasn't worth the trouble, and would move on to easier prey. Or at the very least, he would be protected long enough to come up with a new plan.

But what could he do? His best weapon - fire - was useless here, and not even the sharpened edge of his sword did much besides annoy the flame-fueled beasts. The pack had backed him up against the ruins, so he was practically cornered with no easy way of escape. He supposed he could keep the power of the Hau active as he slowly backpedaled out of their territory, but that would take tremendous effort on his part - he moved slower with his energy shield out, and he wasn't sure if he could handle the strain of keeping the barrier up for however long it would take to escape.

Maybe I can use my element in a way they would not expect, he mused as his mind raced a mio a minute. Perhaps if I turn the earth into lava, or heat the air enough to create an explosion, or perhaps if I…

SKRAAAAAAAA!

A lizard that snuck around Tahu's shield and latched onto his unprotected back proved that not even he was invincible.

The Toa of Fire cried out in pain as he staggered forward, the barrier disappearing as he fell to his knees. No longer blocked by the force field, the other Hikaki charged forward and piled onto him, each one biting down and digging their claws into his armor. He willed mighty flames and blasted them. No effect. He tried to push them away. They only rushed back in. A blanket of claws and teeth enveloped him, setting his nerves on fire and rending his armor and -

BANG! BANG! BANG BANG BANG BANG!

That sound…he knew that sound.

He also recognized the yell that followed it.

Great. As if things were not bad enough…now I must also suffer the indignity of her presence.

One of the Hikaki bearing down on him let out an alarmed shriek as it was suddenly yanked away, giving Tahu a view of the human female as she pulled on its tail and lifted it high over her head. Then she used the dragon like a living battering ram, plowing into the beasts keeping him trapped and knocking them away. When the last Rahi finally withdrew from the Toa's prone form, she drew back her metal fist and plunged it into the Hikaki's back while firing her weapon. The fire lizard went soaring into the smoky sky and vanished behind the clouds.

Yang panted and pumped her arms with a loud click, looking down at Tahu with concern. "Looks like someone's having a rough day. You alright?"

The Toa of Fire stared up at the yellow brawler for a moment, before scowling and rising to his feet with the Mask of Strength still clutched to his chest. "No. No, I am not 'alright.'" Then after examining his sparking joints he sighed. "But…I am alive. For that, at least, I am in your debt."

"Eh, just buy me something pretty and we'll call it even," quipped Yang with a smirk. Then her smile vanished as she turned to face the Rahi, who were circling around the Toa and the Huntress like hungry scavengers. Tahu took a step back and readied his sword, more for protection than anything else. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the loud one move closer to him, raising her fists in anticipation and narrowing her gaze.

"So what are these things anyway?" asked Yang as she stood back-to-back with the flaming Toa. "I didn't exactly get a field guide to Mata Nui's wildlife when I dropped in."

"The locals call them the Hikaki, which translates to 'fire dragon' in their language," growled Tahu as he popped his shoulder back into place. "Pack hunters by nature, their claws and fangs are sharp enough to tear apart even Toa armor. Worse still, they do not fear the flame - they are only emboldened by it."

"Makes sense," said the Huntress with a nod. "Anything that lives out here would have to be at least a little resistant to hot stuff. And let me guess, you tried blasting them with fire and they just shrugged it off?"

Tahu didn't dignify Yang's remark with an answer. Not that she needed one - his silence only proved her right. She stifled a snort.

"Alright, well…we can talk about your flat line of a learning curve later," she said with barely suppressed amusement that shifted into focus. "Right now, we gotta fight our way out of here."

The Toa furrowed his brow. "I told you already, they do not fear my fire - "

"Then don't use fire, you blockhead!" snapped Yang. "You've got fists, right? Start throwing some punches! Here, follow my lead!"

And with that, the brawler leapt at the nearest Hikaki and brought her fists up into a two-handed blow, one that struck the beast right on the jaw and sent its head reeling back. A few more punches to the torso while the Rahi was stunned made it stagger under the blows, and one final strike sent it tumbling away into the nearest crater. It rolled back to its feet, shook its head to clear it, then wandered off with a dissatisfied hiss.

"See what I mean?" Yang said with a smirk. "All bravado, no backbone. Knock 'em around a bit, show 'em you mean business, and they'll know who's really in charge!" Two more Hikaki snarled as they approached her flanks, which didn't seem to worry her. "Hint: it's not them."

Tahu grimaced. Much as he hated to admit, the Huntress made a salient point; these Hikaki seemed to prey on anything smaller or less threatening than themselves, so if he proved that he was more powerful, they would begrudgingly respect that and go off in search of a meal less likely to fight back. But as he watched Yang flow and duck and weave between the two fiery lizards that snapped at her while retaliating with punches to the jaws and neck, he faced another uncomfortable truth - despite having mechanically augmented muscles, he didn't have the might to intimidate the Rahi. Certainly not to the extent that she could.

But perhaps, with the Mask of Strength…

A trio of Hikaki stepped closer with snarling hisses, reminding him of the danger at hand. Tahu slammed the Pakari over his existing mask and mentally triggered its power. Instead of forming a barrier around him like before, he felt an immense power flood through his limbs - one that made him feel strong enough to split the very earth itself with a single slam.

What an incredible feeling…he thought to himself in awe. No wonder the Turaga told us to seek out the masks. A Toa can get used to this kind of power!

The lizard behind him suddenly leapt at him, but this time he was ready. He whirled around and raised the gauntlet on his left hand, driving the fist into its body with all his strength. The result was instantaneous - the force of Tahu's powerful blow sent the Hikaki flying backwards, bouncing off the ground once, twice, three times before finally coming to a halt. It gave a shriek of shock, then limped away, leaving only two of the beasts surrounding him.

"Hell yeah, that's the ticket!" whooped Yang as she dispatched another one of her opponents with a flurry of furious blows. "Now watch what I do, and try to match it! You've got power, but you need form too. Lemme give you a crash course on how to punch!"

Tahu groaned, but watched Yang widen her stance as she faced down her last Hikaki. His own feet shuffled outwards to try and match it, and he stowed his sword on his back as he prepared to follow her lead. Another Rahi moved to face him, prompting the Toa of Fire to raise his fists just like the Huntress across from him.

"Right jab!" A quick opening hit with one arm.

"Left hook!" A sweeping horizontal strike to the unguarded flank with the other fist.

"Uppercut!" An upwards blow with the right fist to strike from underneath.

"And…cross!" A massive straight punch across the body with the left gauntlet, one that was strong enough to launch the Hikaki across the battlefield.

Tahu watched as Yang's opponent crashed into his own, sending both of them tumbling away. With the pack whittled down to about half its strength, Toa and Huntress gave each other a nod of understanding before launching into a barrage of punches. Yang flowed like fresh lava between the fire dragons, striking their flanks and overwhelming them with devastating blows. Tahu's own attacks were less elegant and graceful, but they were no less powerful with the aid of the Mask of Strength. She grabbed the tail of one Hikaki and swung it around herself to clear the area, knocking away its packmates before tossing it towards the horizon. He grabbed a beast that lunged at him in mid-air and slammed it into the ground, kicking it into the hills as it bounced back up.

One by one, the dragons fell before the pair. Those that were thrown aside hissed and limped away, likely slinking off to nurse their wounds and find easier prey. Some were smashed against loose boulders, while others were hurled out of sight. When it finally came down to the last Hikaki standing its ground, Yang and Tahu acted as one and punched together; he ran up and delivered a mighty uppercut with the gauntlet on his left hand, while she did the same with the mechanical fist on her right arm.

WHAAAAAAAM!

The final Rahi's scream grew more and more distant as it disappeared into the sky.

Tahu felt the tension in his shoulders finally relent as he willed away the mask's power, switching to his usual Hau as he panted for air. Next to him he saw Yang rest her hands on her knees, breathing heavily before leaning back and stretching.

"Well, I think that counts for my morning workout," she said with a soft laugh. "Nice work, Big Red. Put 'er there."

She raised her metal fist as if to punch him, which put him on guard before he realized that it never made contact with him. Instead Yang just…held her fist there, knuckles pointed towards him.

The Toa tilted his head. "What…kind of attack is that?"

Yang chuckled. "It's not an attack. It's a fist bump. You know, something you do with a friend whenever you do something incredible together?"

Tahu furrowed his brow, staring down at the Huntress with an annoyed expression. The smile on her face faltered somewhat, and her gaze dropped to the floor. The disappointment in her eyes made his own spirits sink, and he felt something deep inside gnaw at him when he saw her crestfallen expression. Eventually he let out a sigh and mirrored the motion, softly clinking his fist against hers.

Clang.

The gesture felt…oddly familiar, somehow, for reasons he couldn't describe. It wasn't much, and it was already more than he was comfortable doing, but it was enough for the Huntress's smile to return in full force.

Yang lowered her arm and turned around, golden threads trailing behind her as she moved. "So! That's one mask down, four to go, right? Well, technically two masks, considering you came with one…but nobody really counts the freebies. Anyways, I was thinking we should start sparring on our way to the next mask. You know, get you some hand-to-hand lessons so you stand a chance if your fire doesn't cut it. Sure, you might be a slow learner, but you can't be any worse to teach than my sister - I swear that girl has a negative aptitude for punching stuff…"

As the golden-haired brawler walked away while talking, Tahu followed silently.

The loud one is…well, loud. But she is also skilled, and quite strong. Perhaps traveling with her will not be such a burden after all… he mused to himself, though he wasn't ready to admit it out loud.

Not quite yet, at least.

Wind and snow whipped past Kopaka's mask as he slid down the slopes of Mount Ihu, using his shield as a makeshift snowboard that carried him quickly across the powdery terrain. He leaned to one side on his shield to bank right, swerving out of the Kane-Ra's path as it charged past him. His momentum almost sent him careening over the edge of the mountain, but an icy wall that sprang into existence underneath set him back on course. The Toa of Ice tightened his grip on his sword as he raced back towards the bull-like Rahi that skidded to a halt, forming a ramp up ahead that let him soar over the beast and deliver an aerial slash to its unguarded back.

His opponent roared and jerked up to ram him, but he was already gone and gliding across the snow on his shield. Kopaka frowned as he looked back at the Rahi, dismayed to find that all his attack had done was add another scratch to the beast's thick armor. The Kane-Ra was certainly a massive brute with heavy metal plating, but no creature was truly invincible. There had to be a weak point somewhere.

Not that the Rahi seemed keen on giving him a chance to find one. The tank-like treads on its back legs were already revving up as it prepared to charge again, smoke bellowing out its nostrils as it let out another ear-piercing roar.

He switched tactics. Rather than simply dodge out of the way and move in for a quick slash as he'd been doing, he chose to dig his sword into the snow and drag it behind him while channeling his power. A row of sharpened icicles formed in his wake, which grew and fused into a thick wall of ice that followed him. Kopaka raced across the powdery terrain and circled around the Kane-Ra, his icy trail becoming a prison for the beast.

Let's see how strong this creature is when it doesn't have a chance to build up momentum, he thought.

THUD. THUD. THUD!

He was disappointed to find that the beast was still plenty strong even without charging.

The wall of ice began to develop cracks like a spiderweb, which only grew each time the Kane-Ra threw its weight against its prison. Kopaka kept circling the wall at high speeds, channeling his power through his sword and pouring more ice into the failing structure. But no amount of elemental energy could have reinforced the walls forever; the Rahi eventually found a weakened segment near the base, and lunged with its horns just as the Toa of Ice was trying to fix it.

CRAAAAAAAASH!

His world exploded into stars as the wall next to him shattered, sending him flying off his shield and into the air. He looked back just in time to see a dazzling shower of icy shards hang mid-fall, a sight that was soon joined by a very angry-looking bull with steam hissing out its neck. The air was filled with the sound of mechanical whirring and hydraulic thumping, which nearly drowned out the low growl of the Rahi. With a grimace he quickly remembered Matoro's warning, the one about how the Kane-Ra (and its distant cousin the Muaka) could extend its neck at high speeds to deliver a ramming attack strong enough to shatter stone and more than strong enough to shatter him.

Time to see if the so-called Mask of Shielding lives up to its name.

The Toa of Ice barely had time to trigger the power of his mask, calling on the Hau he'd claimed just moments before. His Kanohi switched in a flash of light, and a barrier of blue energy formed around him just before the Kane-Ra's head blasted forward. It met the shield head-on (no pun intended) and sent waves across the force field, nearly making it buckle as Kopaka almost blacked out from the sudden mental strain. A moment after contact was made the laws of physics took over, sending him flying backwards into the side of Mount Ihu.

Fortunately, the shield protected him from the horns and the sheer force of the blow.

Unfortunately, it did not protect him when he slammed back-first against the mountain.

WHAM.

Kopaka's vision grew blurry as he felt the shock of impact ripple through his body, making him drop his sword and fall into the snowbank. He was vaguely aware of the fact that his mask was slightly askew, weakening the flow of power he needed to keep functioning and fighting. Through misaligned eye holes, he could see the Kane-Ra's head retract back towards its torso as it stepped out of the ruined prison, dragging its hoof across the snow as it prepared to charge. He could move, but his arms felt sluggish and slow, and he doubted that his opponent would be sporting enough to give him time to fix his mask.

All he could do was watch as the bull roared and started running…

BZZZZZZZAP!

At first he assumed he was seeing things. It was the way he could explain the sight of a massive lightning bolt striking the beast mid-charge like the judgement of Mata Nui himself. The resulting thunder almost made the Kane-Ra's roar fall on deaf ears as it stopped and bellowed at something at its side, only to catch a salvo of fireballs with its face. Kopaka turned his head just enough to see Weiss brandishing her sword like a magic wand, summoning circles of strange runes that turned into a barrage of flying icicles.

What is she doing?! Kopaka thought groggily as his hands struggled to reach his mask. I told her to stay put!

It took a tremendous amount of effort, but he finally felt the Hau snap back into place with a magnetic clunk. The world came back into focus just in time for him to watch the white-haired Huntress use a series of runes as stepping stones to meet the charging Kane-Ra, leaping just before impact and stabbing and slashing with the thin pointed blade. Unlike when Kopaka had tried to attack the beast directly, her sword was narrow enough to slip directly between the metal plates, drawing oil and blood with each lunge and thrust. She danced around the bull's hooves as they tried to slam down on her or knock her away, and she easily sidestepped the Rahi's attempt to gore her with its horns.

It was almost impressive, just how calmly and gracefully Weiss fought.

But it couldn't last forever.

The Kane-Ra eventually grew tired of its opponent evading all its attacks and chose to fight dirty, bringing both its hooves down against the snow and kicking a cloud of white powder into her face. While Weiss easily dodged the slam, she wasn't prepared for the snow that flew into her eyes, making her wince and look away for a fraction of a second. Unfortunately that was all the time the bull needed to tilt its head and deliver an upward slash aimed right at the Huntress's chest. She managed to twist her torso at the absolute last second to avoid the worst of the horn, but the damage was done even through her so-called Aura; her coat tore right off her back along with the outer layer of skin, and the force of the hit sent her flying backwards towards the fallen Toa.

Much to his surprise, Kopaka watched as Weiss flipped and twisted in mid-air once again, landing on a summoned rune that halted her momentum and left her suspended just over his head. She panted and wheezed as the circle of energy turned black around her, wincing from the pain and the sudden cold. The sleeves of her navy blue coat hung in tatters around her now-bare shoulders, which she tore away with an annoyed scowl. Despite the gash between her shoulders and the fatigue that threatened to set in, her icy blue eyes burned with an inner fire, one that glared back towards the Kane-Ra that growled at the pair.

It was only when he looked closer that the Toa of Ice noticed two things.

First, the wound on her back was already healing as new skin grew to cover the raw flesh.

And second, the white-haired Huntress was now carrying two swords.

"Weiss?" he asked, still recovering from his own shock of landing. "What are you -?"

"When I give the signal, I want you to fire a freezing bolt right at that thing's center of mass," she said with confidence in her voice. "I can handle the rest."

Kopaka raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "Why do you need -?"

"Just trust me!" Weiss snapped. She twirled the new sword in her right hand, the one that was curved and black like charcoal. "I know you need a minute to gather your energies, so I'll give you one! Just be ready!"

Before he could ask any more questions, the black rune turned ice blue, and the Huntress launched herself at the Kane-Ra once more. This time she bounced around the beast on summoned platforms, slashing with dual blades as she stayed in the air. The Kane-Ra couldn't reach high enough with its hooves to swipe at her and it couldn't properly aim its ramming neck attack while she kept moving, so it was limited to quick thrusts with the horns that were easily dodged or parried. After a few seconds of frantic dueling Weiss conjured twin arcs of flame that struck its eyes, blinding the beast and sending it into a roaring frenzy.

She kicked off of a rune and flipped to land outside the blind bull's rampage, flicking her wrist to collapse the black sword into some kind of smaller and more compact form. Her other hand waved the silver sword to summon a trio of red-orange runes that stacked concentrically, which she held level with the strange hand-sized cannon. An unfamiliar sound like barking thunder filled the air as something shot through the burning circles too fast for even Kopaka's eye to follow, erupting into fireballs that tore the Kane-Ra's treaded back legs to shreds. With the beast effectively crippled she stowed the other weapon in a back pocket, wielding her main sword with both hands as the chamber spun to switch the loaded minerals from red to blue. Another wave of Weiss's hand created a half-dozen runes around the Rahi, which pulsed with sapphire light before exploding into a flash flood that threatened to sweep away her opponent.

"Kopaka!" Weiss yelled. "Now!"

The Toa of Ice almost didn't need the signal, as he understood immediately. His hand darted to grab his sword and raise it. After aiming for a fraction of a second, a bolt of cold and frost soared out of the tip and struck the surging wave dead center. As he suspected, the water served as an excellent medium for his power, freezing the fluid in place almost instantly - and the Kane-Ra with it.

Frozen from the neck down, the bull-like Rahi already began thrashing and throwing its weight around. Kopaka knew that the Kane-Ra would break out soon - although not soon enough, judging by how fast Weiss was stepping across more floating runes to close in again. With a final leap and a loud wordless battle cry the Huntress plunged her silver sword directly between the beast's eyes, stabbing deep into its armor to deliver the killing blow.

The Kane-Ra lowed and groaned as it let out one final hiss of steam and smoke, and then it struggled no more.

After a moment of silence settled over the mountain, Weiss finally drew back her sword and flicked it dry, then sheathed it on her hip. With a groan the Toa of Ice picked himself up and rose to his feet, collecting his fallen shield as he approached the Huntress.

"There, see? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Weiss said with a sigh as she rubbed her now-bare shoulders. "Working together, I mean. Certainly easier than you think."

Kopaka narrowed his gaze beneath his mask. "I told you to stay out of my way."

"And I'm sure you noticed a distinct lack of walls falling on you this time around," she shot back. "I can be graceful and precise when I want to be. When I need to be."

It was hard to argue with that, given what he'd just seen. Still, there was something else that plagued his mind, something that confused him.

"Why did you save me?"

Weiss almost balked at the question. "What, you wanted to get trampled into dust?"

"No, I mean…" Kopaka shook his head. "Why did you risk your life for mine? You saw how dangerous the Kane-Ra was, how even I struggled with it. One wrong move against the beast, and you wouldn't even be standing here. You said last night that you had people waiting for you on your world, as well as friends similarly stranded here you wished to find. Why put yourself in so much danger, possibly even dying before reuniting with either group, all for someone you barely even know?"

The heiress looked up at the Toa of Ice, and for the first time Kopaka noticed that there was a long jagged scar under her left eye. A number of smaller cuts from the most recent scuffle still lingered on her smooth ivory skin, already in the process of healing and fading into thin lines. If the sheer amount of similar marks all over her exposed neck and shoulders were any indication, however, those wounds would never truly disappear; they would always linger as a reminder of every hit she took in the heat of battle.

She said she comes from a world of conflict, he thought, but just how many battles has she endured?

"Because that's what you do when you're allies," Weiss finally said in a quiet yet firm voice. "You protect each other. It took me a while to see that…but eventually I did. I hope you realize it too, someday. For your sake."

And with that, the Huntress turned and walked away, moving to the edge of the snowy mountain. Kopaka frowned again, but eventually sighed and followed. When he caught up to her he stowed his sword and threw down his shield, putting one foot on top of it to keep it in place.

"Get on."

She looked up at him with a confused look.

"We'll ride the slope and let the snow carry us down the mountain." He raised a brow under his mask. "Unless you changed your mind and you want to go climbing again?"

Weiss gave a soft, short laugh and a small smile. With a nod of thanks she stepped onto the improvised sled, kneeling at the front and gripping the ribbed edges tightly. The Toa of Ice had plenty of room to stand due to his passenger's small frame - not that the white-haired warrior seemed all that bothered by the intrusion of personal space anyways. He kicked off with his other foot to build up speed, and soon the pair were racing across the drifts of Mount Ihu in a storm of snow and dust.

Kopaka disliked relying on others, and he liked others relying on him even less.

But maybe he could indulge in both for the sake of the human who'd saved his life.

Chapter Text

"Whoa…that is incredible!"

Takua chuckled as he watched Penny gasp with childlike wonder, pulling her head away from the base of the telescope to stare at the blue expanse of sky ahead of her. Then she looked through the lens of the pedestal-mounted machine again, watching as the stars twinkled against a black backdrop. She swung the crystal mounted on the other end of the mechanical arm back and forth, giggling with delight at the million points of light rushing across her field of view. The Matoran had already taken a look before - he knew exactly what she was seeing even though he himself wasn't looking.

"Pretty cool, huh?" he said as he leaned against the stone pedestal. "No idea what it all means, but it's really neat."

"It is so beautiful!" squealed the freckled girl. "Papa and I used to watch the stars back on Remnant during the night. He would point out all his favorite Grimm constellations, like the Nuckelavee and the Sea Feilong. My favorite was the wandering Wyvern - depending on the time of year, it looks like it is eating the North Star!"

Takua raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "You know…you've told me a lot about the Grimm back on Remnant. Makes this place seem like a paradise in comparison. If I ever get a chance to visit your world, I might just not take it and stay right here."

"Oh, it is not all that bad," said Penny as she swung the arm around again. "We have Dust!"

"…which you use to fight the Grimm."

"And Aura!"

"…which you also use to fight the Grimm."

"We also have the Huntsmen Academies!"

"Which are dedicated to teaching people how to fight the Grimm." Takua sighed. "Do you have anything in your world that isn't related to fighting shadow monsters?"

Penny hummed. "We have penguins."

The Matoran shrugged, then fell silent as he let the freckled girl watch the stars in peace. He cast his gaze across the side of the mountainous cliff that the stony telescope rested on, feeling a vague sense of anxiety that he couldn't quite describe. To his left he could see a large sandpit with white and black statues arranged like Mata Nui and Makuta in Vakama's tale, the Great Spirit and his treacherous brother carved out of polished granite and obsidian. To his right was a long and steep set of stairs, which he was dreading going down for the return journey. And behind him sat the telescope, with a main body similar to Toa Tahu's sword arm but ending with a hook that held a green jewel in its grasp. Takua wasn't sure how such a strange machine allowed the user to stare at stars in broad daylight, but he was glad that Penny was enjoying herself at least.

With a sigh he reached into his rucksack and pulled out the parting gift that Vakama had given the pair before they left Ta-Koro: a polished stone about the size of his hand that glowed with its own inner light at his touch. The fiery Turaga had called it a "lightstone," and told the amnesiac Matoran that this one in particular was very special. Whether that was supposed to be a clue about his missing memories or it was just the village elder playing a practical joke, Takua couldn't say. All he knew was that holding the lightstone seemed to be what activated it, allowing it to shine bright enough to illuminate any nearby shadows but not so bright that it hurt to look at.

Why would Vakama give this to me? he thought to himself as he toyed with the lightstone, watching shadows dance in the shifting rays. Why won't he just tell me what I can't remember? I know he said that I'd have to figure it out on my own, but…if it's so important, shouldn't I know about it?

Takua leaned his head back as he closed his eyes, listening to the whistling wind and the distant crashing waves. These were noises that should have brought comfort, but instead they brought its opposite. Each time he cracked an eye open to look at the sandbar far below, a surge of intense anxiety shot through him - again, for reasons he couldn't explain.

There's so much I don't know, he concluded with a sigh. So much that I feel like I should know. Like this place - I can't shake the feeling that there's something important about it. Something that's just out of reach, right on the tip of my mask…but the more I try to focus on it, the farther away it gets. What is wrong with me?

"Wait…is that…?"

His existential musings were interrupted by Penny speaking in an awed whisper, and he looked up to see that she was no longer looking through the telescope. Instead, she was focused on a long red scythe that had buried itself into the mountainside, its blade stuck in a rocky cliff that extended outwards and tapered to a narrow point. Takua had no idea what it was or why it was important, but he felt a sudden sense of severe dread at the sight of it.

And that dread only intensified when Penny started moving towards it.

"Penny, wait!" he called out, trying to follow her but found his feet rooted in place. Nothing might have physically bound him, but his own fear made any restraints unnecessary. He could only watch helplessly as the girl made her way across the stretch of stone, shuffling and stretching her arms out to stay balanced.

"It is alright, Takua," she said with confidence in her voice. "I will be fine. But this…this is important. I cannot believe I did not see this immediately…I must get it now."

The Matoran couldn't take his eyes away from Penny as she carefully reached the scythe, which was precariously perched into the extended clifftop at an awkward angle. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then grabbed the handle with both hands and started pulling. It took a little bit of wiggling and shifting, and it almost seemed like she would slip right over the edge once, but at last the blade of the weapon was pried loose of the stone and dirt. Takua let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding as Penny turned back and smiled at him, shuffling back over to solid ground before running over to him.

"Please don't do that again," he groaned as she approached. Then he tilted his head as he looked at the scythe, which was far more mechanically complex than it looked at a distance. "What is that?"

"It is Crescent Rose!" Penny said breathlessly. "This is Ruby's weapon - a long scythe combined with a customizable high-caliber sniper rifle!"

"A what?"

The girl flipped a lever near the handle, and the entire thing seemed to fold in on itself into a smaller, more compact form. Where once it was a long scythe, it was now a red metal rectangle with a long body in the back and a short barrel at the front.

"…it is also a gun."

"Oh." Takua blinked. "What's a gun?"

"Um…" Penny hummed thoughtfully, biting her lower lips. "Perhaps Ruby can better explain. I hope that we can find her…she will clearly want her weapon back…"

Takua found it strange, the way that Penny was now hugging the so-called "gun", but he didn't say anything. He wanted to reunite the girl with her friends, and judging by how she smiled anytime she talked about Ruby, it made him suspect that their friendship was a very special one to Penny. He couldn't wait to see how bright her smile would get when they met one another again.

I just hope that she's not gonna mask-handle me like Yang did.

"…arrogant…stuck-up…Koli-headed fire-spitters! Pardon my treespeak."

Ruby hugged her knees to her chest as she sat in the drifting boat, curling up in the midday sun and watching as Macku paced angrily from bow to stern. She hadn't been with the Ga-Matoran when she went to meet with Jaller - she was trying and failing to rest and recover her shattered Aura - but from the way that she was stomping the length of the deck, she could only guess it didn't go well.

"So much for the unmatched bravery of the Ta-Koronan Guard," spat Macku. "'Greatest warriors in Mata Nui' my foot. Oh, sure, they look brave and tough, what with how they parade around their big fancy walls with their big fancy sticks, but the minute one of the other villages is in actual danger it's all 'we don't have anyone who knows how to swim' or 'we need to stay on guard in case the Rahi attack.' Unity, Duty, and Destiny, ha! More like 'Selfishness, Fear, and Laziness!'"

The silver-eyed Huntress curled up just a little tighter, not wanting to say anything that might direct Macku's anger onto her. Not that said anger wasn't justified - if everyone Ruby knew and loved were all trapped in a hut at the bottom of the bay, she'd be upset that no one else wanted to help as well. At the same time, every minute that Macku spent throwing a tantrum was a wasted one, and with how little air was in the Tidebreaker, there weren't many minutes to waste.

"So…what happens now?" she finally asked timidly, once it seemed that Macku had gotten it out of her system.

The sailor looked over at Ruby, and her gaze softened as she sighed. "Honestly? At this point, I don't know. The pump system was set up and installed by an Onu-Matoran engineer named Nuparu, who wanted to help us reinforce and fortify our village defenses. He's the one who built it, so he might know how to fix it. But his village is underground, inaccessible by sea, and by the time we finally get there and find him my people could already be unconscious or…"

She shook her head as she forced herself to abandon that line of thinking. "No. I can't give up. I can't…they need me."

They needed me, too. And I failed them. What can you do?

Again the dark thoughts of Ruby's mind cut deep into her mental armor, drawing anguish like blood from an artery. As if the situation wasn't dire enough, the weight of her failure clung fast to her like a stone tied around her neck, and she was afraid that if she fell into the water again she'd just instantly drown. Pair that with a shattered Aura, no weapon, and a lack of confidence in her swimming skills, and Ruby felt just as helpless as the Ga-Matoran that slammed her fist against the side of the boat in frustration.

"Hmm…no. Maybe what they need is a Toa."

Ruby's head tilted up as she watched the gears in Macku's head turn. "You think we should try to find Gali?"

"It's our only real option at this point," said the Ga-Matoran. "If Gali set out last night to start looking for the Kanohi, she couldn't have gotten that far. They'd all be somewhere on the island. Did she say where she wanted to look first before she left?"

"Y-yeah," answered Ruby, furrowing her brow as she tried to remember the conversation between Nokama and Gali. "I think she said something about…Voriki Island? Not sure if I'm pronouncing that right…"

Macku hummed. "I think I know where you mean. It's an islet just a few kios east of here, out at sea. Shouldn't take long to find her, if we hurry."

Ruby knew she should have been excited at the prospect of reuniting with her savior from yesterday, but at the moment all she could feel was exhaustion. The Ga-Matoran seemed to notice that something was off, as she looked at her with a tilt of her head.

"Sorry…just…tired," she groaned. "Aura's broken…not much good without it…might as well be dead weight."

The dark thought slipped out of her mouth this time, and part of her was surprised the mental filter hadn't caught it. Macku gave another hum, then walked across the deck and opened up one of the portside panels, rummaging around a bit before pulling out what Ruby could only describe as a huge blackberry missing half its seeds. She threw it to the Huntress, who caught it with a curious gasp.

"What's this?"

"It's a Vuata Maca berry," said Macku as she slammed the panel shut again. "It's one of the most energy-efficient fruits that can grow on the island. We Matoran scarf them down whenever we're low on power and need a quick charge - I don't know if it'll help you with your Aura, but it can't hurt to try."

With a shrug, Ruby took a tentative bite out of the fruit…and almost immediately regretted it. While the berry had a somewhat sweet, savory taste to it, the flavor was ruined by the sheer amount of juice that erupted into her mouth, which burned her throat like acid. It almost felt like biting into a can of energy drink, complete with the aluminum container itself acting like the "skin" of the berry. Yet despite the assault on her taste buds and the lingering bitterness of metal in her gums, her stomach grumbled and hungered for more, and she didn't stop until one of the big black "seeds" was bitten down to the core.

The results were instantaneous. A surge of power shot right into Ruby, like she was having her Aura unlocked for the first time. She quickly checked her Scroll to confirm that yes, her Aura level was on the rise, and yes, it was climbing back into the green zone within seconds. A soft laugh escaped her lips before she even realized it was there.

"Whoa…" she breathed.

Macku watched as the red sheen rippled across Ruby, who seemed to stand a little straighter. "Well? How do you feel?"

Ruby grinned for the first time in…a while. "Like I could race around the entire island twice and not even feel tired. Thanks, Macku!"

"No problem," she said with a nod. "Might wanna hold on to the rest of that, though. Vuata Maca berries are a rare sight on the island nowadays, especially since Makuta seems to enjoy targeting the trees that grow them…in any case, let's head for the Telescope. It's not far from here, and from there it's a straight shot to Voriki Island. Hang on."

The silver-eyed Huntress nodded and uncurled from her spot, leaning against the edge of the boat as it raced across the water. She stashed the energy-packed fruit into one of her many pockets, making a careful note of which one she picked. Moments later a beach came into view, one that led to a tall cliff with a strange-looking stone machine at the top. She could only guess that this was the "Telescope" that Macku mentioned, though it didn't look anything like the tubes of glass lenses she was familiar with back on Remnant.

But what caught Ruby's attention wasn't the telescope itself. Rather, she was focused on the two figures that stood near the device - one of which had long orange hair and a pink bow that she recognized even from hundreds of feet away.

It can't be.

For a moment, she wondered if she was just seeing things. There was no way that her dear friend - once a robot, now a human - was here on Mata Nui. But when she pulled out her Scroll and used the zoom function on her camera to look closer, there was no denying the facts.

"Penny!"

Macku looked up from the boat controls. "Hmm? What is it? Do you see something?"

"I sure do!" Ruby grinned as she stood up. "Keep the boat steady - I'll be right back!"

Before the Ga-Matoran could even yell out in shock, Ruby had already kicked off and was surging towards the Telescope in a rush of red rose petals.

Things have gone so wrong, so often lately. She smiled to herself. Maybe this is a sign that things will finally go right!

"Penny! Get down!"

The freckled girl did not heed Takua's panicked advice. Instead, she stood taller and opened up her arms, welcoming the high-velocity hug that she knew was coming. Sure enough the mass of crimson reformed into an excited Ruby Rose and tackled her, sending them both sprawling onto the rocky plateau underfoot in a pile of tangled limbs and girlish giggles.

"Salutations!" she cried, hugging the girl that pinned her to the mountaintop and squeezing tightly. "Oh, Ruby…my friend…I am so glad to see you!"

"Me too Penny!" Ruby laughed and nuzzled foreheads with the former gynoid, a sensation that made both girls feel warm inside. "Wow, I…you're here! And you found Crescent Rose! I have so many questions!"

Penny's chest felt suddenly tight, a sensation she knew did not come from the silver-eyed Huntress's arms wrapping around her. Before she could draw breath to voice the uncomfortable truth, Ruby suddenly withdrew and shook her head as she stood up, her signature weapon back in her arms.

"…actually, you know what? You can tell me later. I'm glad I found you - we need your help! Er, well, Ga-Koro needs your help. Come on! I'll Semblance us both back to Macku's boat!"

Her eyes shot wide as Ruby leaned down and took her hand.

"WAIT!"

The hyper-ballistic Huntress deflated somewhat, and she let go of Penny's hand with concern in her eyes. Although it hurt to yell at her friend, she had a good reason - she got to her feet and looked down at the Matoran, who was currently staring at them with a mix of curiosity and apprehension.

"…I request that you bring Takua as well," she said quickly. "He can also help!"

Ruby looked down at the red, blue, and yellow figure. "He can?"

"I can?" echoed Takua.

"He will," stressed Penny. "Ruby, do you think your Semblance can carry a Matoran as well as me?"

"I'm…not sure," admitted Ruby. Then she drew a breath and puffed out her chest. "But we're gonna find out!"

"Wait, find out what? Penny, what are you roping me into this - !?"

But Takua's cry was silenced as both he and Penny were absorbed into a spiral of red rose petals, which were joined by green and blue as Ruby propelled herself and her friends towards the beach. Soon all three of them reformed with a solid THUMP back in the boat, startling the all-blue Matoran standing nearby.

"Whoa! Ruby, what -?"

"Macku! I found help!" Ruby's grin was infectious, and Penny could not help but smile as well. Gods…it felt so nice to be reunited with the first girl who called her "friend" so long ago. Now that she and Ruby were together again, she could not help but feel like everything was going to be just fine.

"Yes, we can help you, Ruby!" Penny paused, then added, "…what are we helping with?"

It did not take long for Ruby and Macku to fill Penny and Takua in on what had happened in Ga-Koro, and the plight of Turaga Nokama and the other Ga-Matoran. The former Maiden was not sure what she could do to lift an entire sunken hut, especially since she no longer had her magic, but she was certain that she could figure out the pump mechanism that had once kept it afloat. She agreed to help without a second's hesitation; Takua, by virtue of needing to be next to her at all times, also agreed to help.

So a plan was formed. Ruby, Penny, and Takua would take the boat back to Ga-Koro, while Macku departed to find Gali herself. The Toa of Water was on a nearby islet, and Ruby was sure that she would drop her quest for the masks to help her village in need. Privately, Penny hoped that Gali was much nicer than Tahu - the way the Toa of Fire had treated Yang was very rude, and Ruby deserved a much better treatment.

The boat ride back to Ga-Koro was long and terse. Penny loved feeling the wind in her hair and the feeling of sea foam splashing onto her skin, but she could tell that the others were not as happy. Ruby seemed anxious about getting to the village as fast as possible, while Takua paced the length of the craft with careful steps. The Huntress busied her hands by field-stripping and cleaning Crescent Rose, while the Matoran ran his fingers over the lightstone's smoothly cut surfaces. Neither of them spoke much, and when the boat finally pulled into the ocean the only sounds were the splashing waves and the humming motor of the craft.

After a few moments of racing across the sea, even the last sound was replaced by something new.

Penny let out a yelp and grabbed the boat as it suddenly jerked and spasmed, filling the air with the sound of sputtering and the smell of burning sulfur. She looked over to the stern of their little craft and saw a thick pillar of smoke rising out of the back, which only grew stronger once Ruby threw open the engine cover to assess the damage. Bitter fumes assaulted the freckled girl's senses, and no matter how much the silver-eyed Huntress fanned the burning mechanism, it only seemed to fuel the fire.

"Oh that's not good," said Takua as the motor heaved a final deathly sigh, their ride drifting to a stop on the bobbing waves. "Um…either of you know how to fix a boat, by any chance?"

Penny slowly shook her head. Ruby did not even answer; she just walked away from the engine, curled up into a ball near the bow, and threw her hood over her face. Both the Matoran and the former Maiden shared a look, and ignored the engine for a moment to approach the wilting young rose.

"Ruby…" she said quietly, reaching out a hand. "It will be okay. It is just a broken motor, I am sure that once we fix it we will - "

"It's not just the motor, Penny," wailed Ruby hopelessly. "It's…everything. Us being here, everything in Atlas, everything leading up to Atlas…everything's broken. What's even the point in trying to fix it anymore?…"

That made the freckled girl frown sharply. Ruby was always the most positive, hopeful person that she knew. She had not seen this side of her very first friend before, and she quickly decided that she did not like it. But she did not know what to say. She did not know what she could say. She looked down at Takua helplessly.

The Matoran nodded, pulling the slab of blue steel out of his backpack and showing it to Ruby. "I've got this thing," he said. "It's called a lavaboard, apparently. Think we could ride this to the village?"

Ruby took one look at the board and shook her head. "Too heavy," she muttered. "It looks like it's made to float on molten stone. Anything less dense than that, and it'll just sink like a rock."

"Okay, what if we use it as a paddle?"

"Same problem."

"…what if we use my mask as a paddle?"

"Too many holes."

"What if we use - "

"A paddle's not gonna work! We're still gonna be too late!"

Takua stepped back. "Hey, don't yell at me, I'm just trying to help! Maybe we could…"

Penny stopped paying attention to the argument between Ruby and Takua, for she had suddenly picked up a new voice. One that seemed to come from…

The engine itself?

She tilted her head in curiosity, walking to the rear of the boat and peering through the open cover. A block of metal and pistons greeted her, and something bid her to put both hands against the sputtering, smoking mechanism. Her fingers began to glow with green and teal light as ephemeral strings spooled out of her palms, and the voice suddenly grew louder when the threads flowed into the motor and disappeared from sight.

Penny blinked slowly as the inner workings of the machine flowed into her mind, allowing her to look at dizzying arrays of gears and pulleys with eyes that were not her own. While the voice was little more than static buzzing in her ear, she understood it intuitively all the same…for reasons even she could not understand. Rather than question the sensation she cast the strange, out-of-body gaze into the interior of the boat to study it carefully; her familiarity with machinery let her spot the problem after just a few seconds of staring.

I see… she mused. There is kelp stuck in the gearbox designed to intake water. Perhaps if we reversed the rotation, it would dislodge the debris?

Instinctively she raised one hand, pulling on a few threads and tugging lightly to one side. As soon as she made the motion the engine buckled under her touch, the camshafts visible under the chassis spinning in the opposite direction. Almost instantly the boat jerked backwards, sending Takua to the floor and nearly pitching Ruby overboard. Had anyone else been paying attention, they would have noticed a long chewed-up mass of rotted green shoot out from underneath the craft, lingering on the waves for a moment before unceremoniously disappearing into the depths.

"Ow! What was…" Ruby held onto the edge of the boat, then turned to look at Penny in awe. "…wait. What did you do? Penny, what did you do?"

The freckled redhead looked down at the emerald strings wound around her fingers and the engine - which purred happily under her touch - then back at her friend.

"I fixed the boat."

"How?" Takua asked as he pulled himself back up. "You just told us you didn't know how to do that. And what's with the wires? How are you doing that? How did you do that?"

Penny chewed her lip as she tried to think of a reasonable explanation, then shrugged and decided to be honest. "I…talked to it?"

"You talked to it?" Ruby blinked in confusion, looking down at the hands that still glowed with a faint teal and green light as they pressed against the side of the motor. "…oh. Oh, I think I get it now. You must have interfaced with it, like you did back when we were infiltrating Atlas Command. You had the software to do that kind of thing back then, right? That's what your strings did?"

The confused redhead nodded slowly. "Yes. That is how I was able to operate Floating Array, as well as how I was able to get us to Amity's activation terminal."

"Right. You must have done something like that, just now." Ruby furrowed her brow as the gears turned in her head. "Except…you're not a robot anymore. You're human now, like me - no zeroes or ones, just flesh and blood and Aura. So you shouldn't be able to just…do that. Unless…"

And just like that, something clicked in the mind of Penny's first friend.

"Ruby?"

Silver eyes suddenly went quite wide as she gasped, her somber frown stretching into a delighted grin. "Penny. Penny! Do you realize what this means?!"

At the sight of Penny slowly shaking her head, Ruby laughed and darted in for a hug.

"It means you're a technopath! That's gotta be your Semblance - you can talk to machines!"

Penny blinked a few times as the news washed over her. "My…Semblance?"

She knew what her friend was talking about, of course. Every Huntsman and Huntress had a Semblance, a special power that was unique only to them and their Aura. There were certain archetypes that manifested in different ways between individuals, such as Semblances that increased the speed or strength of the user, or ones that gave them control over a certain aspect of the world, yet each one was an extension of their user's very soul. But Penny Polendina had, for a long time, believed that she was incapable of developing one for herself, which was why she relied so heavily on her weapons and upgrades - and later, the magic granted by the Winter Maiden powers - to compensate for her lack of one.

Except…now it seemed that would no longer be the case.

"My Semblance!" she finally said with a delighted grin, returning the hug and laughing. "I have a Semblance! I finally have a Semblance!"

"Yeah you do!" giggled Ruby as she rocked back and forth with her friend in her arms. She finally pulled away and started dashing around the boat excitedly, talking very quickly between bursts of rose petals as her own glee took over. Takua just looked more confused than ever, and seemed to accept that he would not get an explanation anytime soon - especially not from the hyperactive Huntress who was currently thinking out loud.

"Wow! Oh man, this is so cool! It explains so much, and yet it raises so many more questions! No wonder you never found your Semblance when you were a robot - you never needed it when you could just use your cool robot stuff! But did Doctor Polendina know you could develop it? Was it his Semblance originally, and you inherited it? Or is it an extension of you and your own soul? Wait, doesn't matter…still, though. This…this is huge! You can control technology! You can manipulate machinery! This island, and all its mechanical bits and doodads and all its stuff…who knows what other kinds of cool things you can do with a power like this? The sky's the limit! The world is your oyster! Augh this is so exciting! Penny! You should be excited!"

Penny tried to keep up with Ruby's mile-a-minute thought process, but she understood very clearly when her first friend reappeared before her and clasped their hands together. "I am very excited!" she answered with a grin.

Ruby screamed in delight. Penny screamed too. Then they both screamed. Takua covered his ears and silently wished for death.

"That's great and all, but do you think we could go now?" He finally said after the girls paused for breath. "And maybe you can, oh I dunno…not bang the dinner drum for every Rahi in the sea?!"

The mirth faded from Ruby's eyes, but she still squeezed Penny one more time before pulling back.

"We are absolutely celebrating this later," promised the red-cloaked Huntress as she slammed down the engine cover and pushed forward on the lever. The boat roared to life once again, and the trio were once again moving across the open sea!

THUD. THUD. THUD.

Nokama looked up from her carving to stare once more through the window, catching another glimpse of the Tarakava pounding relentlessly against the Tidebreaker's walls. The glowing red eyes perfectly stood out against the dark waters, staring right back at the Turaga with anticipation in its twisted gaze. While the punches failed to do more than make the reinforced hut shudder and shake, it was still effective at rattling the two dozen Ga-Matoran huddling in the shelter.

The sound of the Rahi pummeling the walls was the only noise that filled the hut. Nobody spoke, in an effort to make the thinning air last a little longer. Some Ga-Matoran chose to meditate with shallow breaths. Others tinkered with tools they'd brought with them in the wake of the attack. Still others chose to sleep, hoping the nightmare would be over when they woke up.

It wouldn't, of course. But it was still a comforting sentiment.

Unfortunately, Nokama knew full well what the Tarakava were doing. They were not normally intelligent creatures, but the being who corrupted them and twisted them to his will was a compulsive schemer. It didn't matter if they couldn't get into the Tidebreaker. They didn't need to.

They just needed to push it over the edge, and let gravity and oceanic pressure do it for them.

She knew that their shelter sat on the precipice between Lake Naho and the seas around Mata Nui, on the last of the relative shallows before the seafloor dropped off sharply and harshly. Their foundation was one of shifting sand, where only the slightest amount of force was enough to make them teeter on the razor's edge between safety and death. The Tidebreaker was not buoyant enough to float on its own; it needed the support of an external pump in order to do so. By some miracle, the massive cord that kept their hut tethered to the mechanism above was still intact, ignored by the Tarakava and untouched by wandering schools of Ruki. While was a blessing, it was also a hollow one. If the hut sank into the open sea, there would be nothing stopping it from tearing away and disappearing into the darkness, along with nearly every single Ga-Matoran who ever lived on the island of Mata Nui.

So there were two possible fates that awaited them. Either they would suffocate inside the Tidebreaker, or the mounting pressure of the open sea would crush them when they sank further down.

Either way, Makuta would get what he wanted.

For all the damage to Ga-Koro, Ruby was relieved that the pump mechanism itself was still mostly intact.

At least, it looked fine from the outside. The big block of metal that was at least ten feet wide and five feet tall had a few scuff marks and dents from the Tarakava's initial punch, but it certainly looked better than the torn-up half of a hut that once concealed it. The insides, on the other hand, must have been an absolute mess if the expression on Penny's face was any indication - the freckled girl had her eyes squeezed shut and her lips pursed in concentration as she used newly discovered Semblance to assess and repair the damage. Her hands moved like those of an expert weaver, pulling on the threads that connected her to the pump in complex motions.

"…reconnect the linkages…" she murmured softly under her breath, "…untangle the pulleys…oh my, where did that come from?…"

In an attempt to keep themselves busy, Ruby and Takua elected to study the outside of the pump mechanism. The silver-eyed Huntress was startled to find a surprisingly robust array of secondary features, from a lever-operated winch that could retract or unspool the Tidebreaker's cord to four metal support beams that kept the entire structure rooted in place. A quick peek under the surface revealed that what she assumed were just walkways connecting the village's lily pads were actually lined with steel wiring underneath, forming a network of flexible and lightweight yet strong connections between the platforms that acted like a spiderweb - with the machine and its fixed mounting in the bay floor itself. She realized that this seemingly unassuming hut was more than just the external pump control for the Tidebreaker; it was the central anchor for the entire village of Ga-Koro. Without it, the whole settlement might have drifted out to sea long ago.

The technology they have here is so simple, yet so elegant at the same time, Ruby thought as she paced the water's edge. How did they figure all this out?

"Ruby! Takua! Please come here! I have finished the repairs!"

The red-hooded reaper darted back to her friend's side, as did Takua (though he hadn't strayed very far in the first place, for some reason). Penny dusted off her hands and wiped the grease onto her skirt, beaming happily at Ruby as the ephemeral threads of her Technopathy withdrew.

"Well? Would you like to turn it on?"

Ruby blinked, pointing to herself. When Penny nodded, she swallowed the lump in her throat, prayed silently, and slammed her fist against the big red button on the front.

Whir, click.

Nothing happened.

Despair gripped her chest as she hit the button again, to the same effect. Then again. And again. And again and again and again. She'd heard it said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing and expecting different results. By that standard, she might as well have pulled on a straitjacket and committed herself after the machine failed to do anything for a seventh time.

"It's…it's not working…" She finally gave up and slumped to her knees, pounding her fists against the machine as tears formed in her eyes. "Why isn't it working?!"

"Please do not be mad at the pump!" Penny cried. "Let me take another look at it. Perhaps I missed something…"

The freckled girl put her hand against the casing again, though this time the other hand trailed down and rubbed the back of Ruby's neck. It brought some small measure of comfort, but the dark thoughts kept swirling in her mind. After a long uncomfortable moment of navigating the web of ghostly wires, Penny's eyes finally lit up in recognition.

"Oh! This is not an issue! It is only a missing gear!"

She looked up and saw Penny pointing to a gearbox in the upper-left corner of the machine, singling out a row of fine-toothed gears with a rather conspicuous gap. "See? This rod on the left is the primary drive shaft, and it should be turning the gears to activate the pump at the end! One of the pieces must have gotten knocked loose when the Rahi attacked! This should be easy to fix!"

Ruby wiped her eyes. "You mean…we just find that gear, and it'll work again?"

"Exactly!"

"But we didn't see any gears when we looked around," said Takua pointedly. "If the Tarakava punched it out, it would have landed nearby right? So the only other place it could have gone would be if it landed in the…"

Three sets of eyes slowly turned to look at the surface of the bay, which rippled and bobbed softly.

"…you've gotta be kidding me," groaned Ruby.

"'Kidding' implies that we are telling you something that is untrue to make you or ourselves laugh," said Penny with a slight frown. "I do not think this is the case. If you did not see it on the lily pad, then the gear most likely did indeed fall into the water."

"Because of course it did." The silver-eyed Huntress threw her hands into the air with a wail. "Water! Always water! That's all it's ever been since I landed on this stupid island! Why couldn't I have dropped into the desert or something?! At least there I'd be able to do cool stuff like run across sand dunes and make tornadoes and not get held back by the fact that I can barely even swim!"

"Ruby, come on, it's not that big a deal," said Takua as he peered into the depths. "It doesn't even look all that deep here, just about…two bios? Three? Not sure what that is in your human measurements…still, even if you're not a great swimmer you should be able to make that easily. It could be worse."

"Of course it could be worse!" Ruby cried. "It could always be worse! Cinder Fall could come out of the sky and nuke us all where we stand! A huge tidal wave could suddenly rush in and wipe us out! Some kind of giant octopus could reach out with its arms and grab us and drag us into the depths! Things could always get worse - and they always do!"

As if on cue, the pump began to creak, and everyone inside the hut could feel it slowly lurch to one side. Ruby and Takua instantly snapped out of their argument, sensing that this was not normal. Penny hummed and pressed her hands against the machine, closing her eyes for a moment before snapping them open with a sharp gasp.

"Oh no!" exclaimed the freckled girl. "The Tidebreaker is falling!"

Silver eyes went wide as their owner realized what it meant. Takua, on the other hand, just tilted his head.

"It's falling?" He scratched his head. "I thought it was underwater. How can it -?"

"It's on the edge of the bay!" Ruby snapped, panic in her voice. "Right between where the shallows meets the drop-off into the ocean! If it tips over, it'll sink right into the open sea, where there's no telling where it'll go! The Ga-Matoran won't be able to survive that. Nothing could. And since the pump's an anchor for the whole village…"

"…it'll drag Ga-Koro right along with it!" Takua finished, eyes finally widening in alarm.

"We cannot let that happen!" Penny curled her fingers and dragged them down the side of the pump, glowing threads practically shimmering in her hands. "Takua, hurry! Get on the winch lever and pull it back to activate! If we can reel back the Tidebreaker enough, we may be able to keep it from falling for a little while longer!"

"On it!" Takua shouted, quickly scrambling to the winch's lever and yanking back as hard as he could. The gears and pulleys deep within the assembly groaned and strained but complied nonetheless, working against the tension to pull back on the Tidebreaker. He groaned as the lever and the winch fought him, but the little Matoran was stronger than he looked - he dug his heels into the lily pad and locked his arms in place, keeping the winch in "retract" mode and effectively keeping the distant hut stable.

Ruby had to admire his courage, but she also knew it wouldn't matter if they couldn't get the Tidebreaker to float again.

"We've gotta find that gear! Penny, can you help me go down and get it?"

The freckled-girl froze, then shook her head. "I…cannot swim."

"Takua?"

"Little busy here, sorry!" he grunted.

The silver-eyed huntress whimpered. Did she really have to go down into the deep, dark water all by herself again…?

"Ruby. Look at me."

Penny took two trembling hands into her own, staring into silver with eyes of emerald radiance.

"I know you are scared. I know you do not believe in yourself. But I do. I believe in you, Ruby Rose. You can do this!"

Ruby's fingers curled involuntarily around Penny's hands. She didn't want to let go. She didn't want to go down there. She didn't want to drown. She didn't want to face the shadows of her mind by herself. Even so, the joy and faith radiating from her friend helped dispel the darkness, if only a little bit. She took solace in that.

She swallowed the lump in her throat before forcing a smile and nodding. "I know you do, Penny. I'll be right back!"

"We will hold it for as long as we can!" Penny announced with a salute. Then she turned and moved to help Takua with the lever, pulling back with all her might.

Ruby turned to face the water, her chest already aching and her legs already shaking despite not even touching it yet. The darkness and the voices in her mind seemed to roar in her ears now, leaving her paralyzed as she stared at her reflection. How could Penny believe in her when she didn't even think she could do this?

It'll be fine, she told herself, trying to get her breathing under control. Totally fine. Just gotta go for a nice swim - a nice fast swim - find a gear, and bring it back. It's just like those pool games you used to play, where Dad would throw those little ring thingies into the deep end and you and Yang would have to see who got the most on one breath. Except they're not brightly colored. And it's more than five feet deep. And the fate of an entire village is counting on you.

…okay, so maybe it wasn't like those diving games after all. Probably for the best - Yang was always better at those.

She shook her head to clear the thoughts, clenching her fist as she willed her hands to stop trembling. Taking a breath that was long enough to steel her nerves and fill her lungs, Ruby finally shed her cape and dove into the water again.

SPLASHHHHH!

The cold salty sea bit into her face as it rushed past her, punishing her for daring to open her eyes underwater. Not that doing so helped much with seeing - what had looked clear and inviting above the surface was dark and clouded down below. Ruby let out a little bit of air to clear her face before kicking and pushing through the water with both arms, diving deeper into the bay as the world around her went silent.

Just like Takua had guessed, this part of Lake Naho wasn't as deep as she feared it was. Compared to where the Tidebreaker had landed, the waters surrounding Ga-Koro might as well have been a shallow little kiddie pool. But even a short distance like ten feet straight down made everything at the bottom dimmer and murkier, and the pressure pushing down on Ruby forced her to pinch her nose and blow until her ears popped - which wasted even more air and time.

Not that she had much air to begin with. Even with a full set of lungs she could already feel her chest ache and hunger for the surface, and she had to actively concentrate to keep from darting right back up at the first sign of discomfort. She willed herself to stay underwater at the bottom of the bay, sifting through piles of rocks and debris in search of the missing gear. The only comfort was that a fresh breath of air was just a dash with her Semblance away, and she had more than enough Aura to fuel it if she needed it.

The air in my lungs'll have to be enough for now, she thought to herself as her hands searched a large rock formation. I don't know how long they'll be able to hold the hut…I can't afford to just go up for a breath whenever I feel like it. Gotta find the gear. Gotta…save…Ga-Koro…

After checking what felt like the same pile for a third time, she grunted in frustration. She needed air, and she needed light. One of those she had time to get.

Ruby pulled out her Scroll and expanded it, peering at the hard light screen and trying to figure out which of the blurry shapes activated the built-in flashlight. The light from the display might have been bright enough on the surface, but down here it barely even penetrated the shadows around her, and the faint glow barely even shone on her as she swiped and searched uselessly. Bubbles spilled out of her pursed lips as she tried to decipher the device, like an archeologist studying an ancient mural.

Knew I should have asked Penny's dad to put a "water mode" on the new Scrolls, she thought with an annoyed bubbly huff. Ugh…maybe I should go up for a breath, that way I can turn on the flashlight and bring it down for next time…

She was so focused on the Scroll that she never even noticed the strand of kelp that drifted towards her with a mind of its own - and by the time she did, it was far too late.

"Mmmgh!"

Her cry was consumed by the water as the plant suddenly shot forward with the speed and force of a whip, latching onto her wrist and knocking the Scroll out of her grasp. She reached to draw Crescent Rose off its holster, only to find her other hand ensnared as well. Ruby tried to kick back for the surface, but another pair of tendrils bound themselves around her boots and pulled her back down. And when she tried to concentrate on activating her Semblance, a final strand wrapped around her stomach and squeezed with all the force of a vice grip clamping into place. The sudden pressure on her abdomen threatened to crush her like an empty soda can, quickly growing strong enough to break her ribs - and disrupt any attempt to focus on dashing to safety.

I…I can't…get…free! She grit her teeth and strained against her bonds, fighting the urge to exhale just as fiercely as she struggled against the forces holding her down.

Unfortunately, it was clear that she couldn't win either of those battles.

The silver-eyed Huntress struggled and thrashed, trying to worm her way out of the killer seaweed's malicious grip. But no matter which way she jerked, or how hard she tried to keep her mouth closed, the plants won out in the end. The kelp around her waist gave one more squeeze, expelling everything that was in her lungs against her will. A huge deluge of air rushed past her lips, and with it went her fighting spirit. Ruby whimpered pitifully as her head felt lighter and her vision darkened, her limbs growing limp and heavy as the tendrils dragged her further down.

This…isn't normal, her air-starved brain managed to think as she stared wistfully at the surface so far away. This is…it has to be the work of Makuta himself…

Sadly, the revelation alone wasn't enough to save her. Ruby passed out in the depths with one final muffled gurgle.

"Penny! I need you to use that power of yours! Reinforce the winch motors!"

The freckled girl released the lever and did as Takua asked, leaning down and placing her palms against the lily pad platform. She closed her eyes and listened for the whispers of machinery and mechanisms, tuning out the world around her and searching with little threads of power. When she found a source underneath the green leafy floor she tapped into it, finding the straining gears and focusing on them.

"The motors are already overloaded!" she said after a moment of observing the screaming mechanisms. "The strain on them is far too much at the moment - they cannot pull any more! Any more pressure, and the mechanism will tear itself apart!"

"Got it! Don't do that, then. Can you try to turn the pump yourself? Move the main shaft that powers it?"

"I tried that already!" Penny gasped as she withdrew her Semblance. "It nearly drained my Aura just trying to turn it a quarter of a degree! I am not strong enough to operate the central pump - we need that gear!"

Takua grunted in annoyance, shifting his grip on the lever and keeping it drawn back. "Well then we'd better hope your friend finds it soon! What's taking her so long anyways?"

Penny did not know. She looked over to the water, looking for any sign of her friend. The churning surface made it impossible to see what was happening underneath, so she had no idea why Ruby had not come up for air yet. All she knew was that there were a lot of bubbles rising from the depths, disturbing the bay even more as they popped and broke the surface.

And then the bubbles stopped entirely.

Oh no.

Ruby was in trouble. That was the only explanation for why she had not come back up. And even if she was not, she was struggling to find the part, pushing herself too hard for the sake of others.

She does not know where the piece is, realized Penny. It is dark down there, too dark for her to see. But if she had light, then perhaps…

Penny looked back at Takua, staring at the rucksack and the inactive lightstone sitting in its depths. The odd little gift was ordinarily a dull gold in its dimmed state, but when either she or the equally-strange Matoran held it, it would glow with a brilliant yellow. Not only that, but she also knew that there was a lavaboard inside, one that Ruby said was too heavy to float in the water…

A plan formed in her mind.

I cannot wait for Ruby to come up for air again, and the Ga-Matoran do not have time to waste, she thought to herself. Throwing it into the water will be too inefficient of a method of giving it to her. I must get her the lightstone, and I must get her attention. If she is not in trouble, it will help. And if she is…then I must save her.

Her course of action clear, she yanked off her dress and blouse, leaving her only in a pale green tank top and tiny black shorts. Penny shivered as her freckled arms and shoulders were suddenly exposed for the world to see, but she did not care about modesty. Right now all she cared about was Ruby, which was why she ran over to Takua and yanked the bag off his frame with one smooth motion.

"Wha - hey!" protested the suddenly-packless Takua, "Penny! What are you -?"

"I am sorry, Takua!" She pulled the lightstone out of the rucksack just to make absolutely certain that it glowed at her touch. Thankfully, it did. "I must do this! For Ruby, and for the Ga-Matoran!"

"Do what?" He grunted as the lever almost slipped out of his grip again. "What are you doing?"

"This!"

With the bag over her shoulder Penny ran to the water's edge, pinched her nose, and jumped in with a deep breath.

"Penny!"

Takua's cry disappeared in a deafening splash.

She had been underwater before. As the world's first fully artificial Huntress, she had sometimes been assigned missions in flooded Solitas caves where most other Huntsmen needed specialized equipment to fight effectively. Her rocket boots and Floating Array had served her well for moving in such environments, as did the fact that she technically did not need to breathe. It made her special. It made her useful. And she rather did enjoy the sensation of being completely suspended in liquid - there was something oddly comforting about it, even if she could not feel it.

But that was when she was a gynoid. She was a human now, and she did not have rocket boots or wire-controlled swords to help her navigate. She did not have an internal Dust engine that kept her insides from freezing in the cold water. And she most certainly did have to breathe. Her first underwater experience as a human was far from pleasant - she was cold, she was sinking, and she had no idea how long she could hold her breath. But she did not let any of those facts stop her from opening her eyes as she descended, letting the weight of the heavy bag pull her down as her other hand waved the lightstone through the water.

It did not take long to find her friend. And it took even less time to realize her predicament, as tendrils of shadow wrapped around her torso, wrists, and ankles. Ruby's silver eyes were more of a dull shade of gray as they stared straight ahead into nothing, and her mouth hung open slightly as tiny bubbles spilled past her lips. She was not moving.

"Ruby!" she shouted in a big burst of air, almost immediately regretting the action. Salt water flooded her mouth and nose, making her throat and nostrils burn with pain. But the danger of her very first friend drowning was more pressing than her own discomfort - when the bag finally hit the sandy floor of the bay, she dug her bare feet into the ground and trudged along the bottom, grunting and gritting her teeth as she dragged the pack behind her and held out the lightstone to push back against the dark.

It was hard to move through the water. It seemed to push back against her every move, like she was walking through a pool filled with molasses. The weight of Takua's bag kept her anchored to the bottom, and her own natural strength allowed her to pull it along like her own personal ball and chain. Bubbles spilled out of her mouth with each step she took, and each movement made the strain in her lungs and the pressure in her chest grow stronger and more painful to bear. But she did not go up for air. She could not go up for air. Her friend needed her light.

Her friend needed her.

Penny stared hard at the shadowy snares keeping Ruby bound to the bottom as she approached, and her mind raced furiously to come up with a plan to cut or untie them. She never got a chance to use it, however - as soon as lightstone's rays hit the dark tendrils, they seemed to wither away and retreat until they were out of sight. She did not understand why, nor did she grasp the larger implications of this. All she knew was that the silver-eyed Huntress was safe and free, and that was what mattered to her.

Except…she was still not moving.

"Ruby!"

She finally let go of the bag and clumsily kicked her way over to the dull-eyed Huntress, grabbing her bare arms and shaking her desperately. Her own chest ached from the lack of air, and she had to tighten her throat to keep the seawater from spilling into her lungs. Penny did not stop shouting, though, despite how painful it was. She needed to get her friend's attention. She needed her to wake up.

Not to mention that if she does not wake up, then I will drown too, she thought desperately. I cannot get back to the surface without her…

"Ruby! Ruby? Wake up! Please, wake up! Ruby!"

It took screaming away nearly every ounce of air she still had, but at last the silver-eyed huntress jolted awake. Ruby let out a muffled grunt as she clutched her throat, looking around in a wild panic. Fighting her own urge to inhale, Penny grabbed the little rose's face, turning it gently towards hers as she smiled through puffy cheeks. Then another ripple of bubbles burst through her lips, and the freckled girl pointed upwards sheepishly. Her friend nodded and grabbed her wrist before pulsing her Semblance, sending them both back to the surface in a swirl of red and green rose petals.

When they finally broke through to the world above, Penny finally let herself breathe again even though it hurt.

"Ruby!" The redhead sputtered, coughing up a mouthful of water. "Ruby are you -?"

"Penny! What are you doing out here?" Ruby gasped and coughed violently, trying to tread water for the both of them. "You just told me you couldn't swim!"

"I cannot, but I was worried about you!" She nearly sank back under the surface, and it was only Ruby's arm around her waist that kept her head above water. "I-I thought you were struggling to find the piece, so I came to give you the lightstone, but youblblbl -!"

The rest of her words disappeared as Penny's face suddenly dipped underwater. She became acutely aware of just how difficult it was for two people to have a conversation while out at sea, especially when one of them could barely swim and the other could not even float. Ruby seemed to realize it too, because when she pulled her friend back up, she did not question further.

"Alright," rasped the little rose, "Alright…okay. Thank you, Penny. Just…hand it over. I'll get you back to the platform!"

Penny nodded with a cough, reaching over with the lightstone that was still in her hand. Ruby took it with a thankful nod…only to stare in disappointment as it suddenly grew dim.

That is odd, she thought with a frown. She reached to grab it again, putting her hand over Ruby's, and the lightstone came alive once more. Removing her hand just darkened it again.

"…it only glows when Takua or I touch it, apparently," she said quietly. "I am sorry."

The silver-eyed Huntress groaned, then shook her head. "Okay…this is okay. I guess this means we'll just have to find it together. I'll swim, you hold the light. Take a deep breath, Penny - and you let me know the minute you need another one, okay?"

She nodded tightly, drawing as much air into her lungs as her chest would allow. On her side Ruby did the same, and after they shared another nod, the pair slipped under the waves once more with sealed lips and tight throats.

The world descended into cold darkness once again, bubbles rushing past her face as they plunged downwards into the depths. Ruby kicked hard against the water with one arm tucked around Penny's back, pulling her along until the seafloor came into view. Penny pointed to Takua's bag, then at Ruby, who nodded; she slung the rucksack's strap across her bare shoulder and held it close to her chest, letting the weight keep them at the bottom with no risk of suddenly floating back up.

I do hope that Takua will not be mad at me, thought the former Maiden to herself. And that lavaboards do not rust in the sea.

Penny shifted her grip and clung tightly to Ruby's arm as the Huntress pulled her along, guiding her through the water with Semblance-enhanced bursts of speed. Her other hand stretched out to shine the lightstone into the darkness, sweeping the glowing crystal over piles of debris and rocks. Surprisingly, she did not feel her heart stop beating or her life begin to fade despite her lifeline being on the surface above, at a far enough distance that would usually trigger another encounter with death.

It must be because I am holding the lightstone, she realized as they searched the depths. Is that why Turaga Vakama said it was special? Can it…extend our connection, somehow? Or act as a secondary source? I will need to investigate this later…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden spasm of pain in her chest, a ripple of bubbles tearing past her lips as her stomach felt like it was twisting itself into knots. She doubled over and clutched her side, an involuntary action that instantly got Ruby's attention. Silver eyes looked over at her in concern, shimmering in the lightstone's glow; Penny just shook her head and gave a thumbs-up, even giving her best attempt at a reassuring smile through puffed cheeks. Ruby nodded slowly and warily, clearing her nose with another burst of air and turning back to her search. The freckled girl did the same, waving the lightstone over the dark floor like she was a living spotlight.

It was hard to focus from the lack of air. Her head felt dizzy and light, like she was about to faint at any moment. Her skin felt clammy and cold, not helped by the bitter chill that came from the sea itself. Her lungs felt like they were going to explode and her throat trembled and quivered, and even Ruby at her side seemed to struggle with holding her own breath. But Penny ignored the sensations and pushed them out of her mind, letting out a few tiny bubbles every few seconds to ease some of the tension.

She would not go back up for another breath until they found the part.

And one agonizingly long moment later, they did.

It almost went unnoticed, even with the glowing stone. Penny paused as a flash of silver lit up the corner of her eyes, and for a moment she wondered if her air-starved mind was just imagining things. But she double checked and turned back to look straight at the pile of dark stones, focusing the lightstone's gaze and her own onto the scenery. Sure enough, when the rays of gold passed over the clumps of gray, shimmers of reflective metal shone right back to reveal a multi-toothed gear sitting among the rocks - one that was just the right size to fit into the broken pump.

The freckled girl burst into a delighted smile, tugging frantically on her friend's arm. "Ruby!" she burbled excitedly. "Found it! Found the - glub! - the gear!"

Ruby's eyes widened with concern and alarm at her friend shouting away what little air she still had, then she looked where the green-eyed girl was eagerly pointing. Her own face seemed to light up as she realized what Penny had found. Despite her own lungs threatening to cave under the water pressure, she kicked forward with her Semblance and rush over to the pile in a haze of red. The silver-eyed Huntress wasted no time in scooping up her prize, holding it close to her chest with a muted sigh of relief and a triumphant grin.

Penny was so happy for Ruby that she finally let out the breath she had been holding, releasing the last of her air and closing her eyes as she sank.

The burst of bubbles on the surface confirmed Takua's worst fears, but thankfully they didn't last long.

Ruby emerged in a shrieking gasp, hugging the rucksack close to her chest in one arm and pulling an unconscious Penny along with the other. She hacked and coughed up seawater while she struggled to tread water, and it was only by Mata Nui's grace that she was able to launch herself with her Semblance back onto the pump's lily pad. The silver-eyed stranger flopped onto the deck like a Ruki fish out of water, barely taking a moment to wheeze before proudly pulling her prize out of the drenched bag.

"Got the - got the gear!" she panted.

Takua nodded, an action that almost made him lose his balance and his grip on the creaking lever. "Okay, good! Now put it back in the gearbox like Penny said and hit the button! Hurry!"

With a soaked nod, Ruby rushed over to the mechanism in a burst of rose petals, analyzing the complex array of gears and scanning over them. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she quickly yet methodically slotted the missing gear into its proper place, her thin fingers easily maneuvering the tight spaces between the teeth. The piece clicked and locked onto its gear shaft without any tools or other adhesives, which was good. There really wasn't time to screw around with something so small, especially when the Tidebreaker was hanging by a (nearly literal) thread.

"Fixed it!" she declared, taking a breath to steel herself. "Here goes everything!"

The wandering Matoran braced himself as he heard Ruby's palm slam down on the big red button.

Click. Clack. Brrrr.

Thunkathunkathunkathunkathunkathunka…

Takua nearly stumbled back over his own heels as the pressure on the other side of the winch lever suddenly disappeared. The connecting tube, once taut with tension, went slack and rigid as the pump's valves pushed air through the cable and into the Tidebreaker's ballasts far below. He felt the entire leafy platform shake and shudder in sync with the ocean, as something very large - and very fast - shook the waters above it as it moved up. Ruby just about collapsed into a pile of drenched limbs and nervous relief, and Takua nearly did the same. They did it. They actually did it.

After a moment of relief, they both looked at the still body of their mutual friend. Panic immediately set in once more.

"Penny!"

They both dove to the middle of the platform to help the soaked girl, with Takua grabbing both her hands and Ruby kneeling over her. The silver-eyed stranger began doing some strange gesture on Penny, pressing both her palms against her chest firmly and forcefully over and over again. He watched in fascination and confusion as the girl spasmed and shook under the force of Ruby's pushes - what was she hoping to accomplish with this?

"…fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…c'mon, Penny, breathe," muttered Ruby under her breath as she repeated the motion. "Breathe, please…I can't lose you again…twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty. Alright, here goes nothing…"

She took a deep breath and then - to Takua's abject horror - she pressed her lips right over Penny's mouth and exhaled forcefully.

"Agh! Gah! Mata Nui!" he cried, covering his eyes in revulsion as the two fleshy maskless faces touched. "What do you call that?!"

Ruby didn't answer as she drew back with a gasp, but clearly the ordeal of having her personal space violated in such a way was terrible enough to finally wake Penny up. Takua lowered his hands just in time to watch the orange-haired girl roll onto her side with a pained groan, vomiting an alarming amount of seawater onto the platform and over his feet. Somehow, this sensation felt less disgusting than the act he'd just witnessed.

"Hah…" panted the silver-eyed human with a slight cough, "…good thing Dad taught both me and Yang CPR before we went to Beacon. And here I thought he was just being paranoid…"

Takua didn't know what "CPR" was, but he could only guess it was an acronym for "creepy, painful, and repulsive." He decided to ask later, as the freckled girl gasped and rolled onto her back to look up at her friend with a slight smile that radiated gratitude.

"Ugh…Ruby…" Penny coughed, water dribbling past her lips with each breath. "…thank you…"

The other girl almost sobbed in relief. "Penny…" she whispered with a shake of her head. "Why didn't you tell me you needed air? I could have sped back to the surface with you, and then dove down again to get the gear…"

Penny laughed weakly. "There was no time…I needed to…show you where I saw it…so you could save everyone. You are…you are very good at that…"

Ruby nearly wept, but for a different reason. "…you really think so?"

The freckled girl raised her hand weakly to cup her friend's cheek, guiding her down to touch foreheads. "I know so. You are incredible, Ruby Rose…please do not let yourself think otherwise."

That was apparently enough to make the dam break, as water burst from silver eyes. Ruby choked, both on the seawater and on her own emotions. "Th-thank you. And thank you for saving me…Makuta would have drowned me for sure if you hadn't been there."

"Anytime, my friend…" Penny smiled weakly. "Anytime."

The two girls shared a deep, meaningful silence, with the only sounds being the humming of the pump, the crashing of waves, and their own quiet sobs. Takua sighed in relief as he re-secured his rucksack (after pouring the water out of the inside, of course).

"You nearly gave me a heartstone attack, you know," said the Matoran. "I thought for sure that you were water-bones, being that far away from me."

Green eyes widened slightly as Penny wheezed. "Oh. That is the other thing. Takua…I know why Vakama said this lightstone was special…by holding it, I…"

Her words were cut short by a shot of pain in her ribs and a violent cough, making her roll over and clutch her side. Ruby patted her friend on the back and helped her clear her throat, running her fingers through long soaked orange curls. Takua didn't understand why, but just the feeling of having her hair touched seemed to relax Penny; she smiled with her eyes and hummed happily, her chest rising and falling with each much-needed breath.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Takua said as he put a hand on her head. "You can tell me later, alright? Just focus on breathing for now…we'll talk more when you're feeling better."

The orange-haired girl nodded, then sucked in air through her teeth. "Okay…okay. Ow…I have not felt that sensation before…I do not enjoy it."

Ruby let out a choked laugh. "That's called drowning, Penny. Nobody enjoys it."

"I can see why. It is…very painful…"

A loud splash got everyone's attention, and all three pairs of eyes turned to see a massive hut rise out of the water. Sea foam dribbled down and clung to the numerous dents in the wall, a length of stray kelp covered the platform around it, and one of the windows had a hairline fracture in the glass. But that didn't matter to the people inside, who immediately opened the door and began pouring out with loud gasps and long sighs of relief.

Ruby's eyes brightened with delight, then she looked down at Penny with a guilty expression. Her eyes flicked back and forth between her friend and the villagers, both of whom were enjoying the simple act of breathing.

"Go on," said Takua with a nod. "Go and help the other Matoran. I'll keep an eye on her - trust me, I won't leave her side, not even for a second."

The silver-eyed Huntress nodded reluctantly, then after giving Penny's hand one more squeeze, she stood up and ran over to the people who needed her more. Takua let himself sit down as the weight of the world fell off his shoulders, keeping one hand on his tall hero's head and mirroring what he'd seen Ruby do with her hair.

Thanks to their combined efforts, the Tidebreaker had finally risen.

And with it floating proudly on the waves, the Ga-Matoran were finally safe.

The Ga-Matoran were not safe.

They watched the giant hut from beneath the water's surface, glowing red eyes gleaming against the darkness. Each subtle bob and lean of the building sent ripples across the sea, ripples that turned into waves which turned into storms to their heightened senses. Despite the best efforts of their master, the strange maskless figures had managed to fix the machine that let the building float, letting the annoying little Matoran and that stubborn old Turaga breathe easy once more.

This simply would not do.

A cry echoed out from deep beneath the sea, and they heeded it without question as they darted towards the surface. The people of Ga-Koro needed another reminder of the power and danger of the ocean they splashed around in, and they would be the ones to deliver it. Just as they had done for a thousand years, and just as they would do so for a thousand more. This island, this universe…it rightfully belonged to the Makuta, and all that lived here would recognize his rule or perish.

Yet for all their hyper awareness within the water, they never noticed something surging towards the village at high speed.

It was an oversight they would come to regret.

"Ruby! You did it! You saved us! Oh, I knew you could do it!"

The little rose laughed as Hahli practically leapt at her, catching the Ga-Matoran and spinning her around before setting her down with a joyous giggle. Similar congratulations and thanks were given by other villagers as they passed her by, with some even offering gifts or services as rewards. A Matoran in a dark-blue helmeted mask swore to build her a boat of her very own, another in a bird-like mask offered a lifetime discount at her shop, and a third vowed to catch the biggest fish that Ruby had ever seen. She politely declined all the accolades - the warmth in her chest was more than reward enough.

Maybe I'm not as useless as I thought I was.

Eventually, after the last Matoran exited the Tidebreaker, Ruby watched as Nokama finally took a few shaky steps forward. She set Hahli down and darted to the elder's side, taking the Turaga's trembling hand in her own and guiding her out of the hut and into the sunlight.

"Is everyone okay?" asked the Huntress with a worried expression as she walked alongside Nokama. "Did you all make it out alive?"

"It was a close call, but yes," the Turaga intoned between deep wheezing, "My people will be fine, now that they can breathe easy. In every sense of the word."

Ruby let out a sigh of relief, then looked at the ground. "I'm sorry…if I'd paid a little more attention, you wouldn't have even been trapped down there in the first place."

"There is no need for apologies, Ruby Rose." Nokama laid one of her hands over Ruby's, grasping it softly. "We owe you a debt that we cannot possibly repay. Thank you…on behalf of the entire village, thank you. I see now why Gali was drawn to one such as you - truly, you are as brave and noble as the Toa themselves."

The hero of the hour nervously scratched a nonexistent itch on the back of her neck. "Hey, I can't take all the credit here. I wouldn't have been able to get help so fast if Macku hadn't found me. And I couldn't have done it without these guys!" She looked over at Penny and Takua, the former of whom was still coughing up water while the latter waved timidly.

"I can see that," Nokama said with a slow nod and a soft chuckle. "In truth, it is said that Unity can always be found in the most unlikely of places. I suspected that Macku had gotten away when I did not see her among us in the Tidebreaker…how ironic that her wanderlust would lead to our salvation this time."

Then the village elder sighed and shook her head. "Unfortunately, this storm is yet to pass. We have merely sailed into its eye for a moment of solace. But the danger is not over."

Ruby's smile suddenly fell. "What do you mean?"

"Makuta sent the Tarakava to threaten us, but not destroy us," intoned the Turaga. "He wanted us in a vulnerable position, one that he could leverage and use to his advantage. He controls not just the Rahi, but the very elements of the island itself…its waves, its plants, its sand and sky."

The silver-eyed Huntress nodded. "Yeah…while I was looking for the gear to fix the pump, I got attacked by some kind of plant that kept me underwater until I passed out. That must've been his doing, cause uh…I'm pretty sure seaweed can't just do that."

"Then you are familiar with his obsession for control," answered Nokama gravely with a nod of her own. "I suspect that, had you not been able to rescue us, he would have appeared at the last moment to offer salvation himself - with the condition that we serve him in 'gratitude' for his great deeds. Not that we would ever accept, of course…every Ga-Matoran in that hut would sooner suffocate or drown than ever willingly wear an infected mask."

Infected…mask? Ruby thought back to the strange mask worn by the Tarakava she fought, the one she'd tried and failed to pry off. Was that how Makuta controlled the Rahi? Could they have served as relays for his orders?

"But now that we are no longer trapped, he will send his beasts against us once more," finished Nokama. "And I fear that next time they come, they will not be so…merciful."

KREEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Sure enough, a dozen splashes sprayed water and sea foam everywhere as the mechanical eels emerged from the sea, circling around the Tidebreaker and surrounding the newly-freed Ga-Matoran. The villagers, once cheering and enjoying their freedom seconds earlier, groaned and whimpered and backpedaled towards the hut they'd just escaped. Nokama spread her arms to put herself between her people and the monsters, while Takua looked on in horror even as Penny sat up to get a better view.

The only one who didn't flinch at the Tarakava's return was Ruby Rose.

"Then neither will I," she said fiercely as she unlimbered Crescent Rose, letting it expand into a nine-foot-long scythe. "I'm done jumping at shadows - it's time to show Makuta that this little rose has thorns."

"We will protect the pump!" Penny declared, already grabbing a nearby harpoon.

"Really wish you'd stop volunteering me for dangerous things…" grumbled Takua, though he raised his arms as well.

"And I will guard the Matoran," added Nokama. "I am sorry that we must trouble you to protect us once again."

Ruby gave a confident smirk that wouldn't have looked out of place on her older sister.

"Don't worry. I won't let you down this time!"

With that promise filling her heart she pulled the trigger and fired the gun part of her weapon behind her, letting the recoil propel her into a mid-air charge. She pulsed her Semblance as she flew to become a whirling buzz-saw of red roses, one that cleaved through the front arms of the lead Tarakava with one stroke. The beast shrieked in pain as the scythe tore apart solid metal, which only gave Ruby an opening to whirl around and shove Crescent Rose's barrel down its throat. Three bell-like gunshots rang out in quick succession, and then the creature was silent forever.

She leapt back as the dead Tarakava slumped forward onto the Tidebreaker's platform, eliciting awed gasps and cheers from the Ga-Matoran. Ruby grinned and twirled her weapon in a flourish and jumped over to an open lily pad, taking potshots at the monsters that sniffed the corpse before following her across the waves. The mighty lizards hissed and wailed as they circled around their brother's killer, crawling onto the leafy battleground and failing to intimidate the little red reaper.

The darkness that clouded her mind was, for the moment at least, finally gone.

Ruby Rose was back.

"Ready to try this again?" she taunted, widening her stance as her weapon became little more than a spinning red blur behind her. "Cause I sure am! Come on - I've seen guppies that were tougher than you!"

With a chorus of shrieks eleven Tarakava met her challenge with their own, launching an assault of flying fists and lunging tackles. The silver-eyed Huntress dodged and weaved between the attacks, spinning Crescent Rose to deflect the punches and slashing at the eels that passed her by. One charging Rahi missed by a country mile. She took the opportunity to hook her blade onto the tank treads along its body, yanking the tracks free with the pull of a trigger. Another one tried to corner and overpower her with a flurry of jabs. She retaliated by splitting the arm right down the middle, then lopping off its lower jaw before it could even cry out in shock. A third monster crashed into her unguarded back and dragged her down into the water. She held her breath and triggered her Semblance to appear behind it, flowing into a spinning underwater slash that split the beast in half and filled the sea with dark fluid.

As the recently-bifurcated Tarakava sank to the bottom of the bay, Ruby kicked off the dead Rahi and got ready to dart back to the surface in a burst of rose petals. Unfortunately she never got a chance - another mighty lizard slammed into her and pinned her against an underwater boulder with its forearms, knocking the wind out of her in a thick cloud of bubbles. With no air in her lungs she clamped her mouth shut and tried to swipe with her scythe, but the Tarakava leaned to turn a fatal blow into a glancing one. Then the beast opened its jaw to bite down on her head, and Ruby raised her arms to brace for the attack.

An attack that never came.

"Mmmbl?"

She lowered her guard in confusion as air escaped her pursed lips, eyes slowly widening as she realized what happened. Sure enough, Ruby saw a streamlined blue figure swimming in circles around the teal-green Tarakava, forming a water spout with both her speed and her control over the sea. When the swirling current reached its greatest power the Toa of Water raised both arms, launching the lizard out of the sea and into the sky. Gali looked over to Ruby, who grinned and cheered to celebrate her arrival - before the silver-eyed Huntress suddenly remembered where she was, and sheepishly rocketed towards the surface in a swirl of rose petals, bubbles, and gratitude.

SPLASH!

Ruby launched herself out of the water and landed back onto the lily pad, shifting her weapon into its hip-fire mode and loosing a few shots to get the attention of the Tarakava who chose to focus on the Ga-Matoran in her absence. They hissed and screamed as they surged towards the Huntress, unaware of the Toa of Water leaping to touch down behind her. Gali's hands glowed with azure light as the sea shaped to her will, forming into massive chains and sharpened hooks that reached out of the surface like the arms of the damned. The watery implements grabbed two distant Rahi that still chose to harass her people instead of fight; they let out one final screech before they were dragged down into the briny depths, never to be seen again.

"Hey again Gali! Thanks for stopping by!" Ruby grinned as she looked up at the Toa stepping forward to stand next to her.

Gali returned it beneath her mask. "It is good to see you again too, little one. Apologies for the delay…I would have been here sooner, if I had the Mask of Speed. I was rudely interrupted in my search for that Kanohi by a most persistent Matoran…"

That got a giggle out of the young Huntress. She looked back to the gathered Ga-Matoran just in time to catch a glimpse of Hahli and Kotu fishing an exhausted, waterlogged Macku out of the bay. The sailor's yellow eyes spiraled in their sockets and water poured out of her mask, but she otherwise looked fine.

"Well, don't worry," assured Ruby with a smirk. "With you here, we should be done soon enough so you can get back to it." She looked over to the five Tarakava that surged towards them. "You wouldn't happen to have any weapons besides water, would you? These things have some tough armor, too tough for me to punch through with a wooden spear. Got anything sharp and pointy like my sweetheart here?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," answered the blue-armored hero. "Will these suffice?"

The Toa of Water flicked her wrists, and soon the sound of mechanical whirring filled the air. Her forearms opened up and her hands rotated out of sight, flipping out of the way and making room for a pair of sharpened steel hooks as big as Ruby's head to take their place. Their cobalt finish and intricate detailing seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, and in less than a second Gali readied her new weapons as the panels on her arms snapped shut once more.

Silver eyes widened so much they were nearly lost in Ruby's pupils. "…that is seriously the coolest thing ever," she cooed in an awed whisper.

"So says the human with a shape-shifting scythe," remarked Gali with a soft laugh. "Fight as you normally would; I will support you and follow your lead."

With a nod Ruby spun Crescent Rose to shift it back into a scythe, darting to one side before lunging to the other and slashing at a Tarakava's flank. Gali leapt forward and began swiping and swinging with her hooks, blocking the punches of the mechanical monsters and digging her weapons into sections of armor to retaliate. The four smaller Rahi tried to bring down the warrior women, but soon fell to their combined efforts despite outnumbering them. One was divided down the middle with a scythe, another was flipped into the water and carried away by a summoned undertow. A third lizard had its head removed and its body filled with Dust ammo, and the fourth had its metal plates ripped apart by the hooked blades of the Toa of Water.

The final Tarakava, the same massive one that had struck the pump, loomed over them both. Ruby and Gali stood back-to-back as they stared up at their last opponent, who finally shrieked and released a powerful punch towards the pair. They dodged in opposite directions as the fist struck the platform where they once stood, tearing a hole into the lily pad as it started taking on water.

Huntress and Toa both nodded before fleeing their sinking ground and circling around the Tarakava while attacking in their own ways. Ruby fired round after round from her rifle at its left flank, while Gali summoned a swirling orb of water between her hooks and blasted a high-pressure stream at the monster's right. Neither barrage seemed to leave much more than a scratch on the lead Rahi's armor; if anything, it looked annoyed as it slithered into the sea to pursue them. Not even a whirlpool conjured by the Toa of Water seemed to do much more than slow down the monster, though it did buy the pair time to swim back across to the Tidebreaker's platform.

"It would seem this one is tougher than the rest," mused Gali as she pulled Ruby back out of the water, putting herself between the struggling beast and the gathered crowd of Ga-Matoran. "Do you have any ideas, little one?"

Ruby hummed thoughtfully, biting her lower lip as her mind raced. She thought back to everything she'd learned about the Tarakava, every possible way for them to end the fight quickly. Eventually, the answer stared her right in the face - literally, as the empty gaze of rust-rimmed eye holes in a darkened steel wedge met her own.

"The mask! We've gotta get that mask off its face!"

Once again her mind flashed back to the initial attack, recalling how the Tarakava she tried to pull the mask from had suddenly reacted violently. Ruby knew she wasn't strong enough to pry it off now, nor did she have the lung capacity to survive the death roll of the mighty lizard. But Gali's hooked blades seemed perfect for yanking it right off its perch, and she now knew that the Toa could breathe underwater thanks to her Kanohi Kaukau. If anyone had a chance of doing it, it was her.

The Toa of Water looked to the infected mask, then to her ally. "You are certain this will work?"

"Yeah," Ruby said simply. "I'll get its attention, you go for the mask. Watch out, though - he'll try and drag you under as soon as you start pulling."

"That will not be an issue," said Gali as she narrowed her eyes. "Tread carefully, Ruby."

She nodded meaningfully as the giant Tarakava finally freed itself from the whirlpool and surged towards the Tidebreaker. "You too, Gali. Let's do this!"

And with that the silver-eyed Huntress launched herself into the fray once more, spinning and slashing against the massive lizard as it crawled onto the platform and slithered on its treads. While even Crescent Rose's sharpened blade couldn't pierce its thick armor, she at least succeeded in keeping the Rahi's focus on her and her alone. Ruby dodged and ducked between the punches it threw at her, which she knew from experience were strong enough to shatter her Aura in one hit. She fought cautiously and carefully, always staying on the move and never leaving herself open.

While Ruby danced and dashed around the beast, Gali dove into the water and pooled it around her body in a whirling vortex, preparing to launch herself at the most opportune moment. That moment came when the little rose diverted a punch meant for her face into the Tidebreaker's walls, allowing her to pin the fist in place with her scythe and lock the Tarakava's arm in an extended position. The Toa of Water released the stored pressure with a wave of her hooks, soaring out of the sea and latching onto the Rahi's spine. She dug one hook into a gap between the armored plates to anchor herself, while the other slipped under the edge of the infected mask and started prying back forcefully.

Just like before, the Tarakava reacted violently.

The mighty beast let out a howling scream and moved with a sudden second wind, yanking its stuck arm back and hitting the Huntress with a backhanded blow. Ruby yelped as the flailing arm just barely grazed her, slamming her against the Tidebreaker's walls with a pained groan. Her Aura flickered once in warning - a clear sign that her soul armor's reserves were running low - but she wasn't concerned about that. She was more worried about the fact that the Rahi was thrashing and bucking and trying to throw Gali off, before it revved up the motors in its tail and zoomed off the edge of the platform. The Toa of Water kept her hooks firmly in place despite the danger, disappearing with the mighty Tarakava beneath the waves.

A storm of bubbles broke the surface as the pair fought fiercely under the cover of water, like the bay itself was a giant pot of boiling soup. Ruby clutched her side as she limped over to the edge, trying to peer into the depths to find some indication that Gali was winning, but all she could see was the waves kicked up in the wake of their struggle. Nokama and several other Ga-Matoran joined her, matching her gaze as she finally sank to her knees. Part of her wanted to dive in and help, but the rest of her knew that getting between the two oceanic opponents would be suicide. So she waited with bated breath, clutching tightly to Crescent Rose just in case the Tarakava came up first in victory.

After what felt like an eternity, the surface of Lake Naho finally stilled as the unseen struggle ceased. Then the waves parted…and a massive reptilian frame emerged from the water.

No…

Ruby pulled herself to her feet. Nokama brandished her trident. Even some of the Ga-Matoran took up arms as they prepared to fight the same beast that had vanquished their protector.

But it was all unnecessary, as the giant Tarakava flopped onto the platform with a heavy groan, revealing the true victor - Toa Gali, standing on the water's surface, clutching an infected mask in her hook.

The entire village collectively let out a sigh of relief, before erupting into cheers.

Ruby stowed Crescent Rose and turned to face Penny, who was already running over to reward her with a tackling hug. Several of the Ga-Matoran embraced one another, while Kotu went to check on the semi-conscious beast. Even when her view was partially blocked by the mass of orange hair, Ruby could see that the Tarakava showed no signs of aggression towards the villager approaching it. Maybe…maybe now that it was free of Makuta's influence, it could be tamed. Maybe this meant there was a better way of fighting the Rahi instead of just…killing them.

But those were all thoughts for future Ruby. Present Ruby was focused on one thing and one thing only.

The clear sky above her, now that the storm was finally over.

Compared to that entire ordeal, the rest of Ruby's second day on Mata Nui was rather boring.

It didn't take very long for the villagers to get back to work, as though nothing had even happened. Materials from the bay floor were scavenged, huts were patched up, and the foundations of bamboo fences were laid down around the village perimeter. Gali had offered to stay and defend Ga-Koro for a few more days, just in case the Rahi came back. Nokama turned down the offer, saying that her quest for the masks mattered more - and she also believed that Makuta would not bother them for a good long while.

"We know the key to disarming his Rahi now," the Turaga had said. "You have shown us that it is possible. At this point, he will surely think twice before sending more of his servants against us, lest he lose control of them too."

Nevertheless, the Toa of Water had chosen to remain for the rest of the day, using her power over water to undo some of the flood damage caused to the huts (and fetching Ruby's scroll from the bottom of the bay). Despite the Turaga's protests that she'd already done enough to help, Ruby had spent the afternoon making flax alongside Hahli, even getting a chance to lay it down alongside the Ga-Matoran. Penny and Takua also decided to stay and assist, though they planned to remain in Ga-Koro for at least a few more days. Partly because the former Maiden wanted to develop her newfound Technopathy powers in a safe and secure location, and also because Takua had managed to "persuade" her into taking swimming lessons.

Ruby was almost sorry she was going to miss those, but her decision had been made.

When Gali left Ga-Koro again to return to her quest the next morning, she was going with her.

So at the end of the day Ruby found herself in the same place where she'd started it: sitting on the edge of a lily pad, her soaked clothes drying next to her, bare legs dangling in the water. She watched as the sun sank lower towards the horizon, painting the sky as red as her namesakes. Unlike earlier in the morning, she was oddly at peace, for reasons even she couldn't fully explain. Her best guess was that her new mood was a side effect of actually winning a decisive battle and making a clear difference, which served to silence the part of herself that berated her for past failures.

Sure, the voice and the thoughts were still there, but they weren't quite as loud as they'd been before. Her heart felt lighter, her mind felt clearer, and despite almost drowning multiple times in one day it didn't hurt to breathe anymore. Even the distant waves along the horizon didn't seem nearly as imposing as they once did. Instead, they felt…nice. Tranquil. Serene.

Gentle.

"Ruby! Look what I made with my Technopathy!"

She turned and looked at Penny approaching her with a smile, holding an eighteen-inch metal rod with a perpendicular grip in her right hand. It was the same teal-green color as some of the Tarakava that attacked earlier - which wasn't a surprise, as the parts used to make it were clearly scavenged from the fallen Rahi. Her left arm had a massive gauntlet mounted to her forearm, although this device was primarily black and dark gray, with the only teal parts being the ones that formed the outer shell.

"Oh, very nice!" Ruby praised. Then she tilted her head. "What are they?"

"My new Huntress weapons!" Penny said with a grin. "Watch this - the one on the left can expand into a shield…"

Ruby watched intently as the teal panels on the left gauntlet unfolded into a wide sheet, one large enough for her to curl up and hide behind. Then she stood back up and raised the right device, firing the hydraulic pistons along the metal rod with the pull of a trigger. After a hiss of steam the weapon sprang from her grip and nearly tripled in length, expanding into a six-foot-long polearm that Penny caught in mid-air - just as a bladed hook, one yanked right from a fallen Tarakava's mouth, popped out of one end.

"…and the one on the right extends from a tonfa into a spear!" finished the freckled girl. "Thanks to my Semblance I can control both weapons remotely, which means I am able to pull them back into my hands after throwing them!" She looked quite pleased with herself. "The hook is sharpened on both the top and the bottom, so I can use it to both stab and hook things. It almost looks a little bit like one of Gali's hooks, does it not?"

A little bit of Ruby's heart broke as a realization washed over her. Whether Penny knew it or not, these new weapons were almost a match for Miló and Akoúo̱, the spear and shield once wielded by Pyrrha Nikos. She wasn't sure if it was a deliberate reference to the fallen member of Team JNPR, or if it was just a coincidence. Either way, Ruby was sure that the new weapons would serve the former Maiden well, especially with her newly-discovered powers.

"Aw man that's so cool!" She cheered aloud and applauded with her best attempt at a warm smile. "Although…I'm kinda surprised you didn't just try and recreate Floating Array again."

Penny laughed and collapsed the weapons again, the shield folding back up and the spear hissing as it telescoped back into a handheld tonfa. "I thought about doing that at first, but I eventually decided that I wanted to do something different. I figured that since I was in a new world with new technology, I should try to make something equally new instead of reusing what I am already familiar with." Then she put her hands behind her back sheepishly. "Also, I could not find any sword parts on the Tarakava…"

The little rose giggled. "Fair enough. One more question, though - have you thought of a name yet? That's the most important part in making a new weapon."

Her friend nodded, lifting first the shield then the tonfa-spear hybrid. "Vita and Luce. They are words from an old language that Papa used to tell me about, words that mean 'life' and 'light' respectively. I wish to carry both of them forward as I grow and learn as a Huntress…just like my friends, who helped me realize the meaning of those words in the first place."

She could feel the tears welling up already as her heart broke even more. "Aw…Penny…"

Ruby sniffled and pulled herself up, running over to the friend and hugging her tightly. The freckled girl gently set her weapons down before she returned it with equal force, wrapping both arms around her waist and sighing contentedly as the little rose ran her hands through burnt-orange hair. They stood there in the sunset for a little while, no words exchanged between them. Just the warmth that came from a loving embrace, one that filled both their souls and melted their hearts.

"Hah…Ruby…" murmured Penny softly. "…I do not want to let go…"

"Me neither," Ruby admitted quietly into her friend's shoulder. "You sure you don't wanna come with me and Gali? That way we could hug each other as much as you want."

That got a gentle laugh out of the green-eyed girl. "A very tempting offer, but I must decline. Takua needs me…and I need him. In…multiple senses of the word."

Ruby finally drew back and blinked, shocked to find a frown on her friend's face. "What do you mean? Is everything alright?"

"I…" Penny buried her face into her hands, pressing her palms against her eyes. "I do not want to say it…but I must…I cannot lie to you too…"

Gently shushing her friend, Ruby took Penny's hands in both of hers, just like she did the day she first discovered the little freckled girl was actually a robot. "Here. Why don't we sit by the water? You can tell me everything that happened…anything you want. And I won't be mad at you, okay? I promise."

Penny sniffled, rubbing her nose on her sleeve. "Okay…eww, that is disgusting…"

That got a choked laugh out of Ruby. "Welcome to being human. You get to have gross boogers whenever you cry. Now, come here…let's talk."

And so the little rose led her friend to the water's edge and sat her down, the pair dipping their legs into the bay as Penny tearfully told her everything. How Cinder had mortally wounded her to get the Winter Maiden power. How she bled out in Emerald's arms. How she woke up on a beach outside Ta-Koro next to Takua, and started dying again whenever they weren't next to each other. How she found Yang and lied to spare her feelings, only to hurt them more with the truth. Ruby tried to be brave as she absorbed every word, tried to keep the shadowy thoughts at bay, and she nearly failed at both. She was on the verge of collapsing into a sobbing wreck by the time the former Maiden finally finished her tale.

"I do not know for certain if Weiss and Emerald are here," she finished as she wiped a few more tears away, "but I can only assume that if my body fell, then they did too."

Ruby nodded slowly, absorbing the information and impressed that she wasn't breaking down crying herself. "Okay. I…wow. That's a lot to take in…"

"It is," agreed her friend sadly.

"You…you died."

"Yes."

"Cinder got away with both relics."

"Most likely."

"You almost lost the Winter Maiden powers."

"Unfortunately, yes."

"And the only reason you're alive right now is because of Takua?"

"He is also the only reason I remain alive."

Silver eyes looked over at the little Matoran who was sitting a few feet away and dangling his own yellow legs in the water, though he had his back turned towards them to give them at least a little privacy. Panic suddenly welled up in the little rose's chest as questions flowed out of her mouth.

"Is that why you can't come with me and Gali? You have to stay next to him all the time now? How far away can you be? How long does it take for you to start dying again? Shouldn't you two be sitting closer? Oh gods am I killing you right now?!"

Penny laughed softly, putting her hands on Ruby's bare shoulders and squeezing gently. "Please relax. I will be fine, sitting here with you. Takua and I did some testing today, after the attack. We discovered that there is a 'buffer zone' of approximately ten feet around me, where my heart can sustain itself so long as he remains within a twenty-foot diameter. If I get too far from him, I have…anywhere from a minute to ten seconds before my heart fails, depending on my mental state. At that point, he must make contact with me to reestablish a connection - it is the only reliable way he has been able to restart my heart."

Ruby frowned. "That…doesn't sound pleasant to try and nail down."

"It was not."

She grabbed the hands that held to her shoulders, gently massaging the palms with her own. After a moment of silent comfort, Penny withdrew her hands again, staring into the sunset. A thought suddenly occurred to Ruby, one that shone as bright as the odd stone she held during their search.

"What about that thing you had earlier?" she asked. "You weren't dying when we were underwater…at least, not until you started drowning. So you should be fine as long as you hold onto that…glowstone, right?"

"Lightstone," corrected Penny with a choked laugh. "And yes, we tested with that as well. The good news is that it can indeed keep me alive as Takua's presence does, if he is not within my buffer zone. The bad news is it can only do so for about ten minutes. After that, I must return to his side again, or else I will begin dying once more…I do not know if he can revive me again once I well and truly pass, and I am afraid to find out."

The former maiden pulled her legs out of the bay and hugged her knees to her chest, green eyes staring into an unseen abyss. "I…I do not want to die anymore, Ruby. I have…it has happened so many times, and each time it gets worse. It is…scary. And cold. And empty. And then…there is nothing."

Ruby bit her lower lip and put one hand on her friend's back, tracing small circles between her shoulders. At the same time her other hand tightened its grip on the edge of the lily pad, clenching so hard her knuckles turned white.

"So turning you human with the Staff of Creation to remove the virus…it just made it easier for Cinder to kill you. For anything to kill you." She stared down into the water and shook her head, guilt and sorrow rising like bile in her throat. "I'm so…so sorry, Penny. This was my fault. It was my mistake, a risk I took on your behalf that ended up backfiring in the worst possible way. Just like every single thing I did during the siege, it was the wrong call to -"

"No."

The sudden conviction in the former Maiden's voice was surprising, and it shocked her enough to snap her out of the dark cloud that once again threatened to invade her mind. Ruby looked up to see Penny staring hard at her, shimmering emerald gazing into bloodshot silver.

"No, Ruby," she intoned firmly. "Please do not…please do not ever blame yourself for what happened to me. I have lost some things, yes, and I am not as strong or powerful as I once was…but I have gained so much more. The battle for Atlas was not perfect, and you did make mistakes - we all did - but bringing me to the Winter Maiden Vault and asking Ambrosius to remove my robot parts was not one of them. Do you understand? My fate was not your fault."

Ruby felt tears pool and blur her vision, even as her friend never broke eye contact. "But…but you died. You bled to death because of my stupid - !"

" - because of a choice that I made," interrupted Penny, reaching up to wipe away a tear forming amidst silver. "I chose to go back and fight alongside you after Yang fell, because I wanted to save people. I wanted to save my friends. I wanted to be the Winter Maiden that Fria believed I could be…that you believed I could be. I did not believe in myself…but you did. And that was all that mattered to me. That was why I came back. That was why I did not follow the plan. Because I could not leave you. I could not leave any of you."

She paused and finally stared down at Ruby's hands, moving to trace her fingers along the worn scars and creases that lined her friend's palms. "When I was under the effects of the virus, all I wanted was death," she admitted, her voice breaking slightly. "I wanted to die again, so that the power and responsibility would go to someone else. Anyone else. I…I begged you to kill me. I begged others to kill me. But you did not. You did not give me what I wanted. You gave me what I needed instead. You gave me life, Ruby Rose. Do you even realize just how incredible of a gift that is?"

The freckled girl dipped her legs back into the water and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply and sighing meaningfully. "I could not feel anything before. It was all just…data to me. Sensors feeding me information that I knew to be true, but could never truly experience myself. But now…now I can feel everything. The wind in my hair…the water on my skin…the ground beneath my feet…and the warmth of a hug. There is so much I want to experience, so much I want to feel…and thanks to you, I have a chance to do all of it."

Penny's eyes opened once again, and emerald warmth stared back at the little rose with an almost-pleading gaze. "So please. Do not think that you killed me. Do not ever think that. You have done the exact opposite - you have made me feel alive. Just like you have always done, Ruby…from the very first moment you called me a friend. And no matter what happens…I will always be thankful to you for that."

For a long moment, Ruby didn't know what to say. What could she say? Penny endless gratitude and unwavering faith in her had been exactly what she needed to hear, exactly what she wanted someone to say to her but was too afraid to ask for. Tears welled in her eyes once again - or maybe they were the same tears that had been building in her chest ever since she fell out of Remnant. She didn't know anymore. She didn't care.

Emotion swelled in her chest as the realization washed over her like a cool refreshing rain. Ruby realized that she had been so focused on her failures, on the battles she'd lost and the mistakes she'd made, that she had blinded herself to the good within the bad. Overlooked the beauty that came from pain. Forgotten that dawn always followed the darkest nights. The realization didn't completely absolve her of her sins, but it gave her the hope that one day she could forgive herself for the people she failed. That she could learn to live with the weight of her sorrows and failings, instead of letting them consume her and drag her into the depths.

And despite everything, despite all that had happened, Penny was still herself. Her same wonderful and radiant self that brought joy to everyone when they needed it. Most importantly, she was alive. Really, truly, alive. And now she had a chance to live that life all on her own, in a realm safe from Salem's machinations and Cinder's thirst for power. Even though this new life was tied to Takua's, that alone seemed to be enough for Penny.

And maybe…maybe that would be enough for Ruby as well.

The exhausted and emotional little Huntress tipped forward, leaned into her friend for another embrace, and finally let herself cry.

Chapter Text

Two Days Ago…

Sand.

That's all it seemed there was in this new world. All that she could see. All that she could feel. All that she could taste. All of it was just sand.

Neo groaned silently and clutched her aching side, squeezing her eyes shut and pulling herself out of the dune that had softened her fall from the sky. Well, "softened" in the sense that she wasn't a pancake of blood and chunks right now - her muscles were still tender from whatever impact wasn't absorbed by her now-shattered Aura, and the giant crater she left in the middle of the desert was proof enough that her landing was not a pleasant one. Still, she was alive, and that had to count for something. She finally crawled out of the pit and rolled over onto the surrounding sand, panting and shaking and trying to keep her heart from bursting out of her chest from the near-death experience.

When she became convinced that she hadn't survived the painful landing only to die of a heart attack, she finally cracked her eyes open and immediately regretted it.

Blinding light shone down from the sun high above, unblocked by anything nice like clouds or storms. Arid winds blew across the exposed patches of her skin, bringing no cool comfort and only blowing around more misery. She could already feel her bare shoulders, neck, and stomach begin to sizzle as the searing heat took their toll, and the little tiny particles of stone that flew around seemed to gravitate to her nose and mouth - much to her frustration.

It hurt to see, and it hurt to breathe.

But Neopolitan would not let that slow her down.

With a noiseless groan the mute woman sat up and started shedding some of her clothes, working on field-modifying her outfit to one better suited for desert travel. The chocolate-brown overcoat was sloughed off her back and turned inside out to become a heavy shawl that covered her bare arms and ivory vest, one that would shield her from the sun until she could find her beloved parasol. She pulled off the gray scarf and flattened it out, wrapping it around her lower face to serve as an improvised filter for sand and dust. Finally, the black high-heeled boots were discarded and left to the desert sands, the spats that once covered them repurposed into footwraps that kept her stocking feet protected from the worst of the scorching terrain. It wasn't the prettiest outfit that Neo ever wore, but it served its purpose - keeping the sun and the wind off her back until she found a way to leave this island.

But before she could even think about escaping, she had a few obligations to take care of first.

Namely, revenge.

Neo pulled the improvised cloak over her pink-and-brown hair, careful not to knock the black bowler hat off her head - the one thing she still had left of Roman Torchwick. She reached into the pocket and pulled out her Scroll, which thankfully still worked even in this strange new world. Immediately the screen was beset by multiple flashing warnings such as "NO SIGNAL" or "NO AURA" or even "SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION" - she dismissed all of them as she swiped in search of an app, one that made memories flood into her mind even as she scrolled through the options.

Making a new weapon, huh kiddo? Lemme give you a little tip - work one of these little babies into the design somewhere, and you'll always know exactly where it is. It's a tracking module designed by the eggheads up in Atlas, for their so-called "Ace Ops" to find if they lose their weapons in a fight. Self-powered, won't set off any alarms, and if you know the frequency, you can use a Scroll - any Scroll - to track it down anywhere in a hundred mile radius! …huh? You're asking me how I got one? Oh come on Neo, you know me - do you even need to ask?

The voice of a good man - a dead man - echoed in her ears, and it took every bit of willpower to keep the tears locked behind a solid dam. She couldn't afford to cry for him right now; she was lost in the desert, and every drop of moisture had to be carefully conserved. The skin of water she kept in her coat pocket would last her two, maybe three days if she rationed it carefully, and part of that survival plan included not letting her emotions get the better of her.

Besides…she'd already spent too long weeping over her Roman. It was time to turn that sorrow into action, just as she'd done in the wake of the Battle of Beacon.

Her persistence at using the Scroll paid off. A circular display soon appeared on the main screen, one that had her standing at the center. A green dot blinked softly on the lower-left edge; she turned in place until the marker lined up with the straight line at the top, orienting herself in what she could only assume was a south-eastern direction. Once she was sure she was facing towards Hush's resting place she marched forward, pulling the inverted jacket over her shoulders with one hand and holding out the Scroll with the other.

Neo's trek across the desert was, if she had to choose a word, boring.

There was nothing impeding her progress except sand, sand, and more sand, with an extra helping of sand and a complimentary side of gods damned sand. Sure, sliding down the rolling dunes and hills was at least a little exciting at first, but even that momentary thrill grew dull as she was forced to keep doing it again and again and again. The only things she could see in the distance were several large mountains and dunes, none of which held any interest for her besides how far away they were and how much more interesting they would be to explore. If this were a movie, then at least Neo would have had an epic orchestral score to keep her company and spur her on as she journeyed across the flatlands; as it was, the only music she had was the sound of the wind whistling past her. There were no desert creatures or other interesting sights to break up the monotony: no camels, no cacti, not even a cute little tumbleweed rolling by.

Beads of sweat clung to her skin as she walked, the droplets evaporating almost instantly in the dry heat of the desert. Her throat tightened from the lack of moisture already, and she could feel her lips begin to dry out and crack no matter how much she licked them. Neo had to resist the urge to take a drink from her waterskin every single time she felt thirsty, willing herself to go on while taking as few and as small sips as possible. If she ran out of water in the wilderness, she was practically a dead woman. She had to keep going. Had to keep climbing. Had to keep sliding.

Had to keep surviving.

Eventually, her persistence was once again rewarded after walking for about half an eternity; the sound of a chisel striking stone against stone echoed on the wind, piquing her curiosity. As she moved closer her mismatched eyes caught the blurry outline of a black-and-tan figure, one that was sitting by three large eggs with some kind of big tool in its hands. She knew it wasn't a hallucination - the noise that echoed across the desert was perfectly timed with the figure's movements, so she made her way towards the sight. The green dot on her Scroll came closer as she did so, which only confirmed her suspicions and forced her to be on guard. If her weapon had been picked up by someone else, then maybe her Aura had recovered just enough to dupe and deceive them while she took what was hers. Or maybe stab them in the back for looting what belonged to her in the first place. It would depend on how tough they were, and how angry she was when she saw them.

When she finally came face to face with the source of the sounds, she was all at once confused, disappointed, and annoyed.

It was a person making the noises, alright, but not a person that Neo recognized. Neither human nor Faunus, the tiny little stranger was mostly mechanical, with a wedge-shaped black mask and glowing orange eyes that barely looked up from its work. Its armored torso was tan like the desert sands around it, while the stocky triangular legs matched the color of its faceplate. It had a large gray pick in its hands, one that monotonously and repeatedly struck one of three stone markers that sat along matching paths stretching off into the horizon, the crossroads of which Neo found herself standing in as she stared at the little worker.

And next to one of the completed carvings, leaning against a large smooth stone oval with a tiny little face, was Hush.

Neo bit her lower lip, looking from her parasol to the worker, the latter of which didn't even look up at her. She could possibly just swipe it without interacting with the carver, but she wasn't sure what the little figure was capable of, and she didn't want to do anything hasty until she had a better idea. Sure, it seemed small and harmless, but as she herself personified, looks could be deceiving. Another bit of advice from past Roman floated into her head: never pick a fight you don't 100% think you can win. So for now, she chose to just watch the figure as he worked, shuffling her feet in the sand as she waited for it to move while she pondered her options.

"Hot enough for ya, stranger?"

She bristled as it suddenly spoke in a voice that sounded like stones rubbing against each other. Was it…was he…talking to her?

"Can you guess what it is yet?" he asked, gesturing to the stone carving in front of him.

Even if she could answer using words, she had no idea what the giant stone with a face was supposed to represent. Neo shrugged and shook her head.

"Not even gonna try, huh?" said the figure gruffly without looking up. "Fine, I'll tell you - it's another Hafu original!"

She raised an eyebrow. Hafu? Was that the carver's name? Why was he out here alone? And what was so important about these markers that he'd risk exposure and heatstroke just to -

"Wow," he said under his breath. "Sometimes I impress myself. Beautiful detailing, even by my standards. And the curves…Mata Nui, those curves. Not even Makuta himself would dare bring ruin to such a fine piece …"

…oh. So he was an artisan. Not just any kind, either - the obnoxious, excessively-vain type, too. It all came together in one annoying stroke. She pouted and let out a silent huff.

Hafu finally looked up at her, not at all puzzled by her strange appearance. "If you're looking for Po-Koro, traveler, then take the right road. It'll lead you straight there. My right. Or is it your right?"

Neo frowned behind her scarf. She had no interest in going to Po-Koro - whatever that was - and was only interested in retrieving her parasol before this simpleton tried to use the hidden blade within for a toothpick or a backscratcher. Assuming he already hadn't done so.

So she pooled what little Aura had come back to her into her Semblance, creating an illusion out of thin air. She didn't know in particular what would scare this Hafu person, so she chose to prey on the two weaknesses artists like him always had - their vanity and their overprotectiveness of their artwork. Neo created a mirror image overlaid on the third stone marker, projecting a display of her pushing and toppling over the stone carving with ease before skipping away with a smug smirk.

That got Hafu's attention. "Hey! Get back here!" he shouted as he ran after the illusion and swung his chisel. "No one lays a hand on a Hafu original! I'll use your mask as a centerpiece in my next work, I swear to Mata Nui himself!"

Unbeknownst to the carver, the real Neo emerged from behind the second marker, twirling her recovered parasol and popping it open. Immediately a blanket of shade enveloped her, making the heat a little more bearable; she swayed her hips from side to side contentedly as she walked off in the opposite direction. Hafu would come back eventually to find his statue back to the way it was, but by the time he did she'd be long gone.

Which suited her just fine.

Weapon once more in hand, Neo left the idiot behind to play with his rocks as two plans formed in her mind. The first one involved finding Ruby and making her finally pay for what she did to her dearly departed friend.

The second involved finding a way home and gouging out Cinder's other eye with her bare hands.

After two solid days of wandering the desert, it was safe to say that Neo hadn't made much headway in either of her plans.

She no longer had the strength to use Hush's parasol form to shield herself from the sun; it trailed lazily behind her as she dragged it along and drew a line in the sand. Blood burst from her feet with every step she forced herself to take, staining the ground with red splotches and leaving behind precious moisture with each lost drop. Her empty water skin hung uselessly in her pocket, no longer giving any comfort and only serving to weigh her down even more. She didn't sweat anymore, she had stopped dripping water about a day ago, but that quickly went from a blessing to a curse as she felt her insides begin to bake in the relentless heat.

Neo blinked with tired swollen eyes, coughing up another mouthful of dust into her scarf and shaking another ounce of sand out of her bangs. She scanned the horizon and strained her sight once more, looking for something - anything - that told her she was getting closer. Or water. Or an oasis. Or anything besides more gods-damned sand.

Unfortunately, all she found was an entire cyclone of shifting winds and swirling sand coming her way.

In any other state of mind, she would have recognized the desert storm for what it was: a vortex of suffocating sand and whipping winds, one that would flay the skin off her bones and bury her alive. But when she was this deep in the throes of heatstroke? The only conclusion Neo could reach was that the object was a dust cloud kicked up by the little silver-eyed brat that killed her Roman. So despite how tired she was and how much her feet screamed in pain beneath the ruined spats, she kept one hand on Roman's hat as she trudged forward to meet the storm head-on.

Neopolitan collided with the wall of wind, and then everything went dark.

She had always heard that when people were dying, their life would flash before their eyes.

If that were true, then at the tender age of six she wouldn't have very much to relive.

Her breath exploded from her lungs as she sprinted down the alleyway, her tiny little stocking feet pounding forcefully against the cold cobblestone ground. The hem of her gossamer-thin silk dress fought against her every movement, white fabric threatening to bind her legs together and keep her from escaping. Brown and faded pink hair fell in front of her face in big matted clumps, muscles ached and screamed for rest, and a child-sized heart threatened to burst right out of her chest as it strained to keep up with her body and mind's demands.

She didn't care. She kept running.

In the main roads behind her, she could hear people calling her name. She didn't need to look at them to know who they were - she'd seen them all her life. Men and women in tailored suits and clean white gloves, all of them looking for her and threatening to bring her back to the hell she'd narrowly managed to escape. Some threatened violence. Others promised candy. She didn't answer any of them. She would not answer any of them, even if she physically could.

The sound of hammering footsteps followed her. They were closer than they'd been a moment ago. She knew that the grown-ups were faster than her.

But they weren't smarter than her.

She sprinted around a corner and ducked out of sight, disappearing around the edge of a raised building. Before the grownups could round the corner and see her, she rolled under the foot-high gap between the building's floor and the ground itself, vanishing into the darkness cast by the platform. Her body may not have been moving anymore, but her heart still refused to relax - she wasn't safe yet, as quivering mismatched eyes got a good look at three pairs of shoes stepping into her field of vision. She crawled backwards as far as she could, hoping that the shadows would conceal her from the voices that flooded into her little hiding place.

"Where'd she go? We saw her round this corner just seconds ago."

"She couldn't have gotten that far. Maybe she climbed onto the roof?"

"She's six, Harold. You see many six-year-olds climbing sheer walls in your life?"

"Well, you clearly haven't met my kid…"

"Cut the chatter. Both of you, check the east and west streets. I'm gonna listen to what the ground has to say."

Her tiny little frame trembled as she saw one pair of shoes leave the others, their owner crouching down and poking a pair of fluffy white bunny ears into the crawlspace. The Faunus guard was clearly listening for the sound of her breathing; she sucked in as much air as her exhausted lungs would allow and held her hands firmly over her mouth and nose. She felt the burn build up in her chest as her pursuer lingered for a moment longer, seemingly waiting for her to cave and gasp. She did no such thing, pushing against her biological need to breathe for as long as she could despite how much it hurt.

It would only hurt worse if they found her.

It always did.

Eventually, after an agonizing moment of bated breath, the pair of ears withdrew, and the guard groaned as he stood back up. She started slowly exhaling and inhaling through her hands, easing the strain on her chest but not letting her guard down quite yet. Just in case the rabbit Faunus was still listening.

"She's not here. Let's move."

"Are you kidding me? What, did she vanish into thin air or something? I thought your kind could see in the dark!"

"I have ears on my head, dumbass, not eyes. And I don't need to look when I don't hear anything down there. There's no way I'm going down any lower - I just got this suit cleaned, and we all know how Her Majesty feels about paying for dry-cleaning."

"Alright, but if you go and tell Spades and Queen that we lost their kid cause you were afraid of getting dirty, they're gonna have your head."

"They can have yours, maybe. You don't seem to be using it for much, considering you can't even tell whether a kid turns left or right. Come on, let's regroup with the Diamonds and the Clubs. Maybe they saw something we missed."

"Yes sir."

"You sure you don't wanna lie in the dirt like a filthy anima - "

"Finish that sentence and the bosses will be paying for both dry-cleaning and dental work. Move."

The trio finally stepped out of sight, their footsteps and their bickering fading into the sounds of Vale. Only when she was sure that they were well and truly gone did she finally let herself breathe properly.

She coughed and choked on her own spit as she pulled herself back out of the little crawlspace, groaning silently and trying to blink away the shadows that danced in the corners of her vision. Her head felt light and faint from spending so long with little air, forcing her to lie there in the open alleyway and greedily gulp down breath after breath. When it no longer felt like the world was spinning, she pulled herself up and stumbled off, huddling herself for warmth as the cold night descended.

It wasn't the first time she'd almost been found by the Cards - her family's privately-owned hired muscle - but it had certainly been the closest.

The weeks that had passed since she "accidently" crawled into a Bullhead and left the estate seemed to bleed together, as every day felt like any other. They all followed the same basic pattern: wake up hungry, find something to eat, evade the Cards, look for a safe spot to spend the night, and go to sleep even hungrier than before. The ways she found food were varied, at least - sometimes she'd dig through the trash to find stuff the rich folks threw away, other times she'd trail wealthy-looking men and women and slip a hand into their pocket for a fistful of Lien. Most people didn't even notice they were being robbed - and of those that did, she was already long gone before they could even turn around and spot her. She got a few questioning looks when she showed up at the cashier with a bag of meager groceries, but most folks assumed that she was just a little girl running errands for mommy and daddy. None of them suspected that she was actually a lost scion on the run from a man and woman that blamed their only mute daughter for all their woes, and punished her as if she were solely responsible for all their terrible terrible life and financial decisions.

And she preferred to keep it that way.

But now it was nighttime, which meant she had to think about finding somewhere to sleep. The thought saddened her, making her clutch her rumbling tummy. Her encounter with the Cards had started since about the minute she woke up today, so she hadn't had time to scavenge for food or cash. And after all the exertion from the day, after all the running and jumping and swimming and holding her breath, going to bed hungry was not on the table. But all the grocery stores on this side of town were closed at this point, and most of the restaurants kept their backdoors locked tightly to keep people like her out of their larders.

All except one.

She kept her breathing even and steady as she navigated the twisting alleyways of downtown Vale, avoiding the glowing streetlights and ignoring the hisses of feral cats. Her feet followed a path that she'd taken many times before, to the one little ice cream parlor that she knew was open at this hour. Years later, with the benefit of hindsight, she would realize that Little Jack's was a "front" for a money-laundering scheme, which was used to legally exchange the money made from selling drugs and under-the-table Dust supplies to the local gangs. But for now, her six-year-old mind only saw it as a paradise, a magical wonderland of delicious ice cream guarded by a mean old ogre who didn't want to share any of it with her.

Eventually she found the back door of the place, and smiled to herself. Hah! Stupid Mister Horner had only engaged two of the locks tonight! What luck! To make things even better, they were the two locks she knew how to pick the best - a little jiggle of the needle here, a slight push of the bobby pin there, and soon enough the door swung slowly open. A cold blast of air instantly blew past her; she stood in the doorway for just a moment with a silent sigh of relief.

Once her sweat-soaked neck and shoulders felt properly chilled, she deftly made her way across the floor, ignoring the voices and the rowdy conversations happening in the main dining area above her. She hid behind the corner of a sink and scanned the surroundings with a determined pout. Good. No sign of Mister Horner. That meant she was clear. She grabbed an empty milk crate, pushed it as quietly as she could against the stove, and climbed up to the stainless steel pot to pry open the lid.

Her face fell as she realized her folly. This wasn't proper ice cream - not yet, at least. What she'd found was the milk and cream and sugar that was still turning into the sweet cold stuff she loved so much, a slurry of off-white stuff swirling around a motorized mixer at the bottom of the pot and thickening with each churning motion. She didn't know if it was as good as the real thing, but she was too hungry to be picky.

Besides, it was just ice cream that hadn't been frozen yet, right? It couldn't be too bad.

Both hands dipped into the thickening cream and pulled out a big scoop of the stuff, bringing it to her lips as she greedily slurped it up. It was delicious! She was just about to scarf down another handful when a loud clang filled the air, the metal cover slamming down on her fingers and knocking her back.

"You again?! Beat it, you little vagrant!"

Oh no. She knew that voice. And worse, the voice knew her.

Like so many times in the past the broom came next, battering and beating her and knocking her off her perch. Not the soft bristles of the sweeping end - that would have hurt less. No, what started whacking her was the cold, hard, unfeeling wooden shaft that cracked against her skin, breaking open old scabs and adding fresh new bruises to her vast collection.

She scrambled and scampered away like a rat in the light, darting out the back door as three hundred pounds of portly rage continued its assault. The balding face was twisted and contorted in anger, and if it grew any more purple she suspected it would burst like a big ripe plum. Her little legs carried her out of the parlor and down the slick winter steps, and she would have made a clean escape if she hadn't lost her footing and fallen into a rather large puddle.

"Little Jack's does not give out free samples!" boomed the parlor owner as he loomed over her. "Especially not to naughty little girls! I see your face around here again, I call the police!"

With that, mean old Mister Horner slammed the door shut and engaged the locks. All seven of them. The alleyway fell silent a moment later.

Doing her very best not to cry, she got back to her feet and winced as she grabbed her bruising arm. Water dripped from her puddle-soaked dress and hair, but that didn't matter to her. All that mattered was that her stomach ached even more, and she desperately wanted that ice cream. Or any kind of food, really, but the ice cream tantalized her the most. It had been right in her grasp and then…ugh, that stupid old man! She thought darkly about doing many, many nasty things to Mister Horner…things that she would finally get to do years later, at a shadowy woman's request.

But that was a story for another time. For now, she sniffled and slinked away, a plan forming in her mind. If mean old Mister Horner wasn't going to give her any ice cream, then she would just march in and buy some! Wouldn't that old troll be so surprised to see her strut in and slap down a whole wallet full of Lien onto the counter, demanding that he make her the biggest sundae she'd ever seen! And then she'd stab him in the hand, and use it to pour fresh plum sauce all over her treat!

Except…that plan required money, of which she had none.

Surely there was someone nearby who wouldn't mind losing some, right?

Her eyes carefully watched the pedestrians as she stumbled out of the alley and into the main streets, looking at the people who walked the city of Vale at night. Not a lot of men and women traveled by foot after the sun went down, and for good reason - violent thugs and warring gangs often claimed the dark hours for themselves, and the panic and rage caused by their skirmishes drew in the shadowy Grimm that lingered just beyond the city walls. She knew herself how dangerous it was out here - she still had the scars to prove it - and she also knew that those who braved the streets at night didn't have much money in their pockets. If she wanted an ice cream, she'd either have to pick the pockets of ten trigger-happy gang members, or the pocket of one rich idiot who had more Lien than common sense.

In a miraculous twist of fate, she found the latter.

A man in a big white trench coat and a fancy black hat sauntered down the street, humming and scatting softly to himself as he walked. She slipped between shadows and darted under darkness, keeping step with her mark as he lazily twirled his cane to a rhythm only he knew. He would tip his hat to any ladies and gentlemen who he crossed paths with, who all reacted with either annoyed sighs or open disdain. Her single-minded focus and deft little feet let her follow the man unseen for a block and a half, and when she saw the man slip into an alleyway she knew it was time to strike.

She rounded the corner and crept close to the man, whose eyes were locked forward as he kept humming to himself. Eyes of brown and pink scanned the pockets of the coat, looking for bulges or wrinkles that signaled a neglected little wallet waiting for a new owner. When she saw which pocket held her prize - the right coat pocket, the one closest to the trimmed hem - she held her breath and reached out, feeling her arm nearly disappear into the coat while she did her best to sway and move with the man's step.

There! She could feel it, just at the very tip of her fingers. Old leather wrinkled under her lightest touch, and it felt heavy with cash. All she had to do was pull it out -

WHAP!

The curved head of the cane suddenly struck her ankle hard, making her lose her balance and cry out in silent pain. Before she could even realize what was happening she felt something hook her foot and pull it out from under her, and the next thing she knew she was laying on the cold hard cobblestone with ringing ears and a splitting headache. She tried to scramble back to her hands and knees, but a sudden sharp weight pressed into her chest, making it hard to breathe and impossible to move. Her eyes trailed down to find the opposite end of the cane pushing against her ribs, held in place by a man whose face was framed in shadow.

Then he lifted his head, and she saw his face for the first time.

If she thought she was afraid when she was running from the Cards, then that fear paled in comparison to how she felt staring at the man's piercing green eyes staring at her first in rage, then confusion. He brushed his orange-red hair out of his eyes, adjusted his nice hat, then stared down the length of his cane with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you have…any idea who you just tried to steal from, kid?" His voice was…smooth, but not soft. Confident, but not careless. "Huh? Any idea at all?"

Her eyes widened as she gulped, biting her lips and shaking her head fervently. She started fiercely waving her hands, trying to say through gestures that she didn't want any trouble and that she was a good girl and any other lies that she thought might get her out of her situation. She just wanted a little bit of Lien. At this point she'd be willing to escape with her arm intact.

The man just looked as confused as ever. "What's that? What are you doing with your hands?" He groaned. "Oh, don't tell me I caught you just as you needed to use the little girl's room. Use your words, kid - I can understand those."

She bit her lips again, making a slashing motion across her throat. He seemed to understand that, at least.

"…you can't talk, huh?" Another sigh escaped his lips. "Ugh…great, just great. Alright, since you don't know who I am…lemme give you a little hint. A little introduction, if you will. Fortunately for you, the folks around here are nice enough to hang up these handy little pamphlets - just in case I wake up with amnesia one day. Here, take a look."

He pulled a roll of paper out of his back pocket and tossed it down to her, bopping her in the nose. She grabbed it and unrolled it, her eyes widening as she read the frighteningly-large text.

WANTED
ROMAN TORCHWICK
DEAD OR ALIVE
TEN MILLION LIEN REWARD
CONTACT VALE CITY AUTHORITIES REGARDING ANY POTENTIAL INFORMATION

"Notice any resemblance?" said Roman with a smirk, one that matched the exact face that stared back at her from the wanted poster's picture. "I'd complain that they didn't get my good side, but really they're all good. There's more on the back, if you wanna keep reading - that's my favorite part."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she turned the paper over with trembling hands and scanned the long, long list.

This criminal individual is wanted for:

Murder
Arson
Larceny
Money Laundering
Drug Trafficking
Assault
Assault and Battery
Auto Theft
Bullhead Theft
Weapon Smuggling
Fraud
Forgery
Extortion
Conspiracy
Manslaughter
Solicitation
Vandalism
Disturbing the Peace
Contempt of Court

"And that's not even the most recent one," Roman boasted. "I've managed to add shoplifting and littering to my rap sheet since then. Face the facts, kiddo. You're dealing with a criminal mastermind." He gave a sharp laugh. "I'm joking, of course - I'd never just leave garbage lying around."

At that moment, she didn't feel very much like laughing. Not while Mister Torchwick was leaning down on her with half his weight, making breathing even harder.

"So that just makes me wonder…" he drawled with a smirk, "…out of literally all the pockets you could have picked, why'd you pick mine, if you didn't know who I was? Were you won over by my sparkling personality? Maybe you saw some idiot humming away in the dead of night and thought you found an easy mark."

He suddenly scowled. "…or maybe you're one of the little urchins that Lil Miss Malachite likes using, and she specifically sent you for 'collection' purposes. She probably sent her cutest kid cause she thought I wouldn't hurt a child, bless her heart. In which case, I think I might send this one back in pieces - just to prove her wrong."

His hand reached for a hidden trigger on his cane handle. She shook her head fervently, waving her hands in a desperate attempt to not get blown to bits. He watched her for a moment, then lowered his finger. Her hands fell with a relieved sigh, tears forming in her eyes.

"Okay, okay, fine fine. Maybe that's just me being a paranoid asshole." He furrowed his brow. "That still doesn't answer my question of why I got targeted. I mean, what the hell's a kid like you even gonna spend it on?"

A neon sign displaying a pink, white, and brown sundae suddenly flickered to life over Roman's shoulder. The timing literally could not have been better - it was as if it was a message sent from the Brother Gods themselves. She pointed at it with sincerity and fear in her eyes, even grunting as best she could with non-working vocal cords. Roman kept the cane firmly against her chest and turned back in confusion, staring at the sign for a good long moment before finally making the connection.

"…ice cream." The man in the black hat sounded both annoyed and amused at the same time. "Ice cream. You tried to swipe the personal wallet of Roman Torchwick, one of Vale's most notorious criminals…all so that you could buy ice cream."

…it did sound pretty ridiculous when Roman said it out loud, but she nodded anyway. Mister Torchwick groaned, cradled his forehead in one hand, and finally pulled the cane off her with the other. She scrambled back to her feet, dusting off her dress and standing up. She looked up at him with as much innocence as she could muster, too scared to approach yet even more afraid to turn her back.

"Of all the things to almost get pilfered over…" groaned Roman. He looked down at her. "Then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's not like you'd be using it to buy filet mignon and caviar. I mean, what are you, four?"

She pouted and held up six fingers.

"Close enough," grumbled Roman. "Still, why pickpocket for ice cream money? Can't you just, I dunno, ask your mommy for an allowance? Or your daddy? Or hell, even your caretaker? You've gotta come from a family flush with cash - you won't find a dress like that in a thrift shop, unless you're really lucky."

A knot tightened in her stomach as he broached the heart of the matter; the reason behind her self-imposed vagrant lifestyle. He looked around with a raised eyebrow.

"Where are your folks, anyways?" Roman looked down at her. "You'd think they'd put a curfew on their kids or something."

Time to come up with a convincing lie. Her eyes darted to the ground, and she made another slashing motion across her throat.

"Dead, huh? Damn." Torchwick cast an unsympathetic gaze down at her. "I'd play you a song on the world's tiniest violin, but unfortunately it's in the shop. If you're trying to make me feel sorry for you, then you'll have to try harder than that."

She bit her lower lip. This man was really gonna make her just go and show him, huh? She shuffled her feet with a nervous look, checked to make sure no one else was around, then lifted the hem of her dress to reveal bruises and scars along her legs and thighs. Ones that she knew for a fact didn't come from mean old Mister Horner, and continued farther up than she wanted to show.

Roman seemed to understand that quite well. He swore and walked away, one hand clutching his forehead while the other slammed his cane against the ground.

"Great," he growled and grumbled. "Just great. This has been a fantastic day. First I get screwed out of a deal with the Spiders. Then Tukson cuts me out of the loop and bans me from his store. Then Belladonna calls me back and tells me that he doesn't have any need of my services because 'the White Fang does not believe in violence' or some other hippy-dippy nonsense like that. And now, to top it all off, my wallet almost gets pilfered by a four-year-old who's running away from a rich mommy and daddy because they treat her like an expensive punching bag." At her raised hand, he sighs. "Oh, sorry. Six-year-old. I almost got swindled by a six-year-old. That makes it hurt so much less."

He groaned and sat down on a nearby step. "What happened to this town? What happened to me? I used to run this place with the Brownings and the Steelhawks, kid. Now I'm lucky if I can swipe a sucker out of a baby's mouth while the little gremlin's drooling all over it. How the hell did I go from being at the top of the food chain to the very bottom? Sure, I might have the cash and the men…but where's the power? Where's the respect? Where's the fear?!"

Roman sighed one more time, hung his head and fell silent.

She wasn't sure if he was crying, but he seemed sad all the same. With a frown she went over to his step and sat next to him, leaning against his arm and hugging it with tiny little limbs of her own.

"What are you doing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you trying to be my friend or something? Trying to make yourself all cute and innocent so that I take you along with me? Is that what this is? Is that what's going on?"

Her heterochromatic eyes looked up at him with the soft, quivering gaze of a very sad puppy.

Mister Torchwick sighed. "Look, kid, I get it. You want a better life than the one you've got now, and you'll do anything to find it. But I'm probably the last person you'd want for that kind of thing. Most of my days are spent either doing business deals with heavily-armed clients breathing down my neck, or trading bullets with the cops as I make my grand escape from the scene of another crime. That's no way to raise a kid, no matter how desperate you might be. So just…go. Just leave me alone and go kill your parents when you turn eighteen or something. I guarantee it'll turn out better than hanging out with me."

Then he smirked. "…unless of course, this is all just an act and you're only trying to rob me again."

She froze mid-motion, fingertips clutching to the very edges of the wallet with a guilty expression. Roman chuckled and pushed her hand away, which devolved into a playful slap fight between the hardened criminal and the little thief.

"Alright, alright, y'know what? Congratulations. You've wormed your way into my cold dead heart like an adorable little tapeworm." He flicked her tiny little nose, drawing forth a soundless giggle. "And you've got some deft hands there, too. Make no mistake - you've got a real gift for that kind of thing, kiddo. Hell, I've fended off pickpockets twice your age who got half as far as you just did. I dunno where you learned how to do that, but I'll be damned if I let raw talent like that go to waste."

Her face beamed with pride, and she hugged his arm even tighter. He didn't look pleased…but he didn't exactly push her away, either.

"Now don't get too attached," he warned as he got to his feet. "We're giving this a trial run. I'll keep an eye on you for a week, and we'll see how this whole 'surrogate family' thing plays out. Starting tomorrow, I'll be teaching you how to put those hands to work - and make no mistake, you will be working."

That seemed agreeable enough. Then again, if it meant that she didn't have to run away from the Cards anymore, she'd have given up her left leg. She got to her feet and kept pace with her new "friend", looking up at him with the first smile she'd worn in weeks. He seemed to understand the significance, because he reached down and ruffled her hair with a gloved hand, a sensation that made her nearly faint on the spot with joy.

"Just you wait, kiddo," said Roman Torchwick with a smirk. "Soon enough, you'll learn that the whole world is your ice cream bowl. You got a name, by the way?"

She put her hand against her chin in a pensive pout for a moment, wondering how she would communicate her name. Then she realized that if she really was running away from home, if she really was going to live with Mister Torchwick, she might as well call herself something that she liked. Rather than carry her old name around with her, she'd pick a new one.

So she turned around and looked back at the sign that had saved her life, pointing to the letters underneath the bowl. The squiggly little line over the "a" had burnt out after years of shining without maintenance, but that didn't matter. It was perfect just the way it was.

And so the newly-christened Neopolitan walked out of the alleyway alongside Roman Torchwick, the unlikely pair disappearing into the darkness.

As the fourteen-year-old memory came to an end, Neo didn't expect that she would open her eyes ever again.

When she finally did, she was pleasantly surprised to find herself sitting against the wall of a cool and damp cave, one that was free of searing heat and blinding sunshine. Her eyes still ached as she took in her surroundings, and every inch of her body screamed in pain when she tried to move. Sand and dust caked her clothes and her skin, each breath felt like it was inhaled through sandpaper, and even the faint sound of moisture dripping from a stalactite into still water made her headache worsen and her ears feel like they were -

Wait.

Water!

Neo's head rolled to one side, praying that her senses weren't playing a trick on her. Fortunately, she was not being deceived - a recessed little section of cavern floor held a small pool a few feet away, a reservoir of natural cave water that was just big enough to serve as a bathtub if she wanted. A ragged, silent laugh escaped her lips as she reached out to the stuff of life…only to immediately topple over in a pile of pained limbs. She collapsed on the floor with her prize just out of reach, barely even feeling as Hush dropped from its upright position to bonk the back of her head.

"Easy there, stranger. Try not to move so much, you're still dehydrated."

Mismatched eyes flitted up to find where the voice in the cavern came from, then widened as Neo realized she wasn't alone.

She had a guest.

She had a very large guest.

Like the carver she met days ago, the figure in the cave with her seemed to be mostly robotic in nature, though obviously this one was much, much taller. He dwarfed her by standing at a solid ten feet tall, with hips wider than his shoulders and gleaming bronze armor covering most of his frame. His short arms and long powerful legs were the same color as the desert sand, which in turn matched the steel toes affixed to the ends of his massive brown boots. A pair of black trapezoids with two long fingers each formed his hands, a collection of gears on the small of his back gave the appearance of a rabbit's tail, and orange eyes stared down at her through a brown triangular mask with wedges on the sides that looked like the whiskers of a great big cat. While his appearance was somewhat stocky and strange, his posture was relaxed and confident and his eyes held both concern and curiosity in their glow.

In other words, he reeked of heroism.

She soundlessly groaned, clutching her side as she rolled over. The stranger stepped closer, the stone floor practically rumbling underfoot.

"Careful now," he said in a rough, light-hearted voice that was nonetheless full of concern. "You've had a rough time out there, haven't you? I don't know much about organic beings, but I could tell you were in danger. The sands had practically claimed you as their own by the time I found you, and it took careful digging just to pull you out."

So she owed her life to this strange, half-robot bronze figure. Great.

"Can't help but wonder what could have possessed you to wander into a storm like that…" he continued. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me, would you? I've honestly been quite curious, I'll admit."

Like she did so many years ago, Neo made a slashing motion across her throat and opened her mouth. Her strange rescuer tilted his head, then nodded.

"Not much of a talker, huh? That's quite alright - I can speak plenty for both of us." He smiled wryly behind his mask. "Name's Pohatu, friend. Here. Roll over, and I'll help you drink."

Neo hated the idea of relying on this…thing, whatever he was, but she hated the idea of dying of thirst even more. So she reluctantly did as this "Pohatu" asked, watching carefully as he scooped some water into his massive mechanical hands and carried it over. When he brought it to her lips she forewent any appearance of being civil and proper - she gripped the servo-like limbs and titled it up, greedily slurping down the offered drink like it was the elixir of life. Most of it splashed against her face instead of going into her mouth, and she nearly choked twice, but she didn't stop drinking until Pohatu's hands were completely dry.

"There," Pohatu said as he drew back. "That better?"

Strengthened by the water, she crawled to the pool itself and fished out her empty water skin, shaking the sand out before plunging the flask under the surface. She held it under until the bubbles stopped rising, at which point she pulled it back out and drank deeply once again. A vague part of her mind reminded her just how foolish this was - cave water like this really should be purified before drinking, just to be safe - but the rest of her didn't care. She was thirsty, and she'd deal with the consequences later when she wasn't dying.

Once she'd consumed two-and-a-half skins worth of water she filled the pouch one more time, shed her clothes, and slid into the pool itself for a much-needed bath.

Relief flooded through her sand-encrusted limbs as she poked her face out of the surface and leaned back, letting the biting cold soak into her dried, cracked skin. When she caught Pohatu staring inquisitively, she pouted and shook her head while pointing to the wall. He got the message clearly enough: after letting out a small embarrassed "oh" he nodded and averted his eyes, servos whirring as he turned around to give her at least a little bit of privacy.

She'd just started raking her nails along her legs when a massive slab of stone rose up from the floor between them. Her arms flailed in shock.

"Don't worry, friend." Pohatu called from the other side. "That was me. It's clear you don't want me to see you without your…er, armor. Skin? Whatever the case, just throw a rock over the top when you're done cleaning yourself. I'll wait."

Neo cast a furtive glare at the figure on the other side of the sudden wall. Had he…had he really done that? Did he have control over the stone itself? What kind of power was that?

She decided to figure it out later, emptying her mind as she bathed in silence save for the occasional splash. Her decision to clean herself after drinking paid off - the water soon became murky and dark with blood and floating particles. Neo held her breath and dunked beneath the surface, shaking her head and scrubbing her scalp to clear several days' worth of dust and sand out of her pink and brown hair. There was no soap or shampoo, and the water was freezing cold, but she didn't care. After constant exposure to the scorching sun, a cold rinse was like a gift from the Brother Gods themselves.

When she finally felt clean she pulled herself out of the water, shaking her hair dry and carefully stepping across the cave floor to balance herself along the chest-high wall. As she used her coat as an improvised towel she looked over the edge and studied the bronze-armored figure carefully, trying to get a read on her strange and unlikely rescuer. Pohatu was powerful, there was no doubt about that, but he also seemed rather single-minded. All the hero types were. Maybe she could use that.

Right now he was busy digging one of his fingers into the cave wall, drawing a map of the island that was almost as tall as he was. He hummed and tapped his foot as he stared, occasionally adding another mark to the map or writing in a circular alphabet Neo didn't know how to read. Sometimes he muttered to himself, sometimes he paced, other times he grabbed a bit of stone and ground it in his palms to fill in a mark he'd previously made.

"Seems most of the masks Onewa told me about are across the Motara desert," he mused. "That only accounts for three of the five, though…the other two must be hidden across the rest of Mata Nui. Maybe I should go scouting again…my Mask of Speed should get me to the southernmost tip there within a day…"

Neo's ears perked up. Mask of Speed? The stranger could travel very quickly?

That sounded extremely useful.

She snapped a quick picture of the cave drawing with her Scroll and saved it, then after getting dressed she picked up a stone and threw it over the wall. Pohatu heard it and turned with a nod, lowering the rocky barrier with another stomp and approaching her in steps marked by mechanical whirring.

Time to pull out the waterworks.

The silent assassin hung her head and squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her face. It didn't matter that those tears came from rubbing sand into her eyes - they just needed to look convincing. She pressed her hands to her face and sank to her knees, her shoulders trembling as she took shuddering, almost-wheezing breaths.

Predictably, Pohatu took pity on her instantly. "Oh…oh dear," he said, already reaching out a hand. "Are you alright?"

She bit her lower lip and shook her head. If she could wail, she would have.

"Poor thing…is there anything I can do to help?"

There it was. She smirked inwardly as she snapped her fingers, calling on what little Aura she still had to trigger an illusion. Her own natural form was replaced by a blanket of refracting prisms, turning her into the perfect image of one Ruby Rose. Silver eyes, ruffled hair, red and black clothes, and a stupid heroic smile…she looked up at Pohatu with the eyes of her most hated enemy, before dismissing her new form with a wave of her hand. Then she broke down "crying" once again for good measure.

"I see," said the bronze-armored figure, head tilting to the side in understanding. "Is that a friend of yours? Are they here as well?"

Despite the sickening feeling at the back of her throat, she nodded with a silent sob. She even looked up with her best puppy-dog eyes and the cutest little pout she could muster, just to help sell the lie.

Pohatu smiled under his mask and puffed out his armored chest. "Then as the Toa of Stone, I solemnly swear to aid you in your quest to find your ally. For as Turaga Onewa says, Unity is the greatest of the Three Virtues…and how could I claim to be the Great Spirit's champion if I didn't help others uphold his sacraments? When you're ready and have recovered your strength, climb onto my back. My Mask of Speed shall let us scour every inch of Mata Nui in a short time - and forgive me for saying so, but I believe finding another one as odd as you should not be difficult."

Neo rolled her eyes at the theatrics, but nevertheless gathered her things - her weapon, her coat, her Scroll and her hat - and climbed onto Pohatu's backplate. She didn't really know half the words he was saying, or what it all meant, but she didn't really care either. All that mattered to her was making the brat bleed red like roses, and this big oaf was her best ticket at doing just that.

And if he ever did catch onto her, she was certain she'd be able to figure out how to steal and use this "Mask of Speed" for herself.

"Are you secured up there, Pebble?"

Frowning at the sudden nickname and the twinge of guilt she felt at manipulating someone so earnest, Neo nonetheless held on tight and rapped her knuckles twice against the shoulder pauldron.

"Then let us be off! For Unity!"

And with that, Pohatu's mask glowed, and the unlikely pair shot off into the desert night.

Chapter Text

"Kick with your hips, not your knees…bring your shoulders back to reduce your drag…okay, now take a deep breath and blow for as long as you can!"

Penny gasped and squeezed her eyes shut as she stuck her face into the water, hands squeezing tightly to Hahli's as a deluge of bubbles spilled out of puffy cheeks. Takua watched from the sidelines, sitting on one of the massive lily pads and dangling his legs into the bay. He raised his arm to block the occasional splashes from the half-floating Huntress, chuckling as the human girl spent a solid fifteen seconds blowing bubbles underwater before throwing her head back and shrieking for air.

"Not bad, not bad," praised Hahli. "Now do it again."

The freckled human made some sort of gurgled groan.

"Repeating the exercise is the only way you'll get good at it. Come on."

With another wail of fatigue she nonetheless took another breath and blew more bubbles, kicking through the shallows of Lake Naho and gliding across the surface alongside Hahli. Even though she was in the water and he wasn't, Takua was still well within the "buffer zone" that existed around Penny, so he wasn't worried about her heart suddenly stopping without his presence. His yellow gaze was half-amused, half-pensive, and his mind wandered as he watched the human flail and flounder around.

It must be tough, not having any mechanical joints to augment the organic ones, he thought to himself. Then he frowned beneath his mask. Then again…according to what Ruby said before she left, mechanical joints used to be all she had…what kind of world was Remnant that they'd even build their machines to look like humans?

"I see the swimming lessons are going well."

Takua looked up at the source of the wise voice from behind him, unsurprised to see that it belonged to Turaga Nokama. With a bow of respect Takua shuffled over to make a seat for the village elder, who nodded in return and sat beside him. Nokama lifted up the hem of her sapphire robes and dipped her armored feet into the water, shuddering for a moment before sighing in relief. Then she folded her hands in her lap, setting her trident down behind her for easy reach.

"They're going about as well as they can for someone with those proportions," laughed Takua. "Seriously, how can anyone even stand with legs that long? You'd think she'd just topple over with every step."

Penny gasped as she got her feet under her, standing in the shallow water until the waves lapped at her waist. "I happen to like my very long legs, thank you very much!"

"Ignore him, he's just salty that you can lift him up without even trying," said Hahli with a chuckle as she treaded water. "And that he's so tiny."

Takua raised an eyebrow. "Who you calling tiny, tiny? In case you haven't noticed, us Matoran are all the same size."

"Which just makes having a tall new friend sting even more, doesn't it?" The Ga-Matoran grinned under her mask. "Alright Penny, now practice what we talked about on your own. Without me holding onto you."

The freckled human whimpered slightly, but nevertheless took a deep breath as she stretched out in the water, kicking and splashing frantically amidst a cloud of burbling grunts. She managed to keep herself afloat for all of ten seconds before she started sinking, disappearing under the surface with a pathetic little bloop. Hahli sighed and ducked under to grab Penny by the shoulders, bringing her face back above the water a moment later and leaning to avoid the spray of seafoam as her student coughed to clear her throat.

"You know," grunted the Ga-Matoran as she paddled backwards with Penny in tow, "I'm starting to think you're just doing this on purpose now."

"I am not, honest!" gasped Penny. "It is - achoo! - extraordinarily painful!"

"Well then let me introduce you to a very advanced and high-level diving technique," huffed Hahli. "It's called closing your mouth underwater."

"How ironic," intoned Nokama from the sidelines with a wry smile under her mask. "I seem to recall seeing you struggle with the very same concept, little one. If memory serves, Amaya had to stuff your mask port with seaweed just to keep you from breathing in whenever you dove…"

Hahli suddenly looked quite flustered and embarrassed. "Turaga, please! Don't humiliate me in front of my student with such slander!"

"It's no slander!" called another Ga-Matoran from a nearby hut. "I also remember those days!"

"Shut up Amaya no you don't you're not helping!"

The elder gave a soft laugh, which Takua joined in with a chuckle of his own. He watched as Penny rolled back over with quivering lips, repeating the set of lessons once more. As he observed Penny dip her face back in the water and blow long chains of bubbles, his mind began to wander back to the constant questions that plagued him. Questions that had only intensified after rescuing Ga-Koro, and it took a few pensive moments before he finally found the words to voice them.

"Turaga Nokama…" he said after an uncomfortably long silence. "…who am I?"

She looked at him with a curious tilt of her head. "Hmm? Why ask me? You know your name."

"Yeah, but that's about all I know," said Takua with a long sigh, "You didn't seem all that surprised to see me when I showed up alongside Ruby and Penny, and the other Ga-Matoran all…look at me, like I'm someone they recognize. Some of them are intimidated by me. Others refuse to even speak to me. They all seem to remember who I was before…well, all of this. I just wish I could do the same."

He looked back over to Penny. "And…something tells me that if it was any other Matoran that found her…she wouldn't be alive right now. No one else could do what I did to bring her back to life…and I don't even know what I did. So I'm just wondering…why me? What makes me so special? And why can't I remember what it is?"

Nokama was silent for a moment, looking at the waves and watching Penny attempt to swim with wise amber eyes. The great sapphire sea lapped at their legs with each gentle bob and lull. Takua wasn't sure if she was putting on a show of ignorance, as Vakama had done, or if she was just as clueless as he was. Either way, if anyone could give him some proper answers, he felt like it would be the so-called wisest of the Turaga.

When she finally spoke, he could easily see why she held that title.

"I think…someone has plans for you," said Nokama carefully, "Plans that are greater than your stature would suggest. Perhaps you are to be a hero like the Toa, or a warrior like the Huntresses who have graced our shores. I do not know. There is much that is unknown, especially in these dark days."

She shook her head sadly. "The Matoran have forgotten much of themselves. Their culture, their civilization, their achievements…it has all been lost to them, like a dark cloud that hangs over their memories. Your forgetfulness is not uncommon, merely more severe than that of others - which is nothing to feel shame about. Not even the Turaga have full records of all that came before, and with each passing year a little more of our legend is worn away."

The Turaga gestured to the water. "But the ocean remembers. Like history, the water holds many secrets in its forbidden depths. It surrounds Mata Nui and covers it, guarding the island as the Great Spirit slumbers. It caught the Toa gently as they fell, and delivered them to us after a thousand years of patient prayer. Even the humans, outsiders from another world cast out by circumstances beyond their control, were granted reprieve and safe passage to our shores by its grace and mercy. It is both our legacy and our charge, giving both the storms that destroy us and the rains that nourish us. And when we are long gone, it will remain to tell our stories, just as it did for those who came before."

Takua felt Nokama's hand rest on his mask, rocking it back and forth in what was clearly an affectionate gesture.

"You, like the ocean, are an absolute in these uncertain times. Your past is forgotten, and your future is an empty book. I cannot tell you what your Destiny is, Takua - you must find it for yourself."

He sat on the pad in silence, pondering the elder's words as he watched his friend splash around in the water. So the other Turaga were just as clueless about his true nature as he was. In a way, that was oddly comforting - as was being compared to something as huge and unknowable as the ocean itself. While it had been their enemy the other day, now it was nothing but gentle and soothing, giving them a calm after the storm and nursing their wounded souls. He also didn't doubt Nokama's claims that it remembered the past, even if he didn't believe it was a thinking entity. The odd little Matoran knew that even now it was watching, listening, and remembering everything that happened on this island, recording the events with its waves and storing them in its depths.

Am I the same way? Takua wondered to himself as he kicked his tiny little yellow legs. Is that what my Destiny is? To be there for important events, and bear witness to them? To remember them, for when others forget? And is that why Vakama didn't tell me what I did, because it's a story I need to find for myself?

His musings were interrupted by the sound of splashing without gasping. He looked over to his odd friend, who was kicking and moving her arms to stay afloat even as her face stayed in the water. She didn't move very far and she didn't do it for very long, but it made him smile all the same.

After a few seconds of near-frantic paddling Penny gasped as she finally threw her head back and pushed it out of the water. Her hair was soaked and her eyes were red and puffy, but she still had a big triumphant smile on her face.

"I did it," she panted joyfully. "I did it! Takua, did you see that? Did you see me? I! Was! Swimming! I was actually swimming!"

"For about four seconds," clarified Hahli. "But hey, that's still four seconds longer than you could before!"

"Only because I had such an excellent teacher! Thank you so much, friend! I knew there was a reason Ruby spoke so highly of you!"

Penny scooped Hahli up out of the water and hugged her close, oblivious to the Ga-Matoran's squirming and wriggling. Takua laughed at the antics in front of him, yet even in his happy pride there was something else in his mind.

Resolve.

I may not know what my past is…but right now, my future is with her.

And in that moment, Takua swore that he would do everything possible to give Penny Polendina the best life he could.

The morning jungle air was silent and still.

Okay, that wasn't technically true - the jungle was never truly silent, and it never stayed still for very long. But Emerald couldn't think of any other way to describe the wind around her as she silently leapt from branch to branch, following the green-and-teal figures that guided her on either side. The mint-haired thief kept her breathing even and her bare arms close to her sides, keeping herself in an alert and agile mindset as she raced across the jungle canopy.

Despite her initial reluctance to learn how to "leaf-run," she couldn't deny how good it felt to lose herself in the parkour-like movements and moments as she slid down sturdy branches and swung across vines. She also couldn't deny just how quickly she'd picked up the basics, and how skilled she'd grown over the course of a single day. Part of it, she reasoned, came from her own naturally honed agility - after all, the life of both a thief and a Huntress with a hit-and-run combat style required her to be quick, sure-footed, and reactive. But the rest of it had to come from her teachers.

Matau was right. Tamaru, despite his eccentricities and fear of heights, quickly proved why he was considered the best leaf-runner in Le-Koro. The green-masked Matoran practically flowed from branch to vine to trunk and back again, often too fast for even her eyes to follow. Her other instructor, sweet little Radka, wasn't quite as adept as Tamaru, but she was still quicker and more agile than Emerald herself, and when the thieving teenager did slip and fall, it was Radka more often than not who caught her. While Tamaru had focused more on the practical side - which vines were sturdy enough to swing on, which branches had enough moss to slide across, et cetera - Radka was more of a spiritual coach, seemingly in tune with the natural rhythm of the jungle and instructing her to do the same.

"The trick to leaf-running is to be keen-aware of your surroundings," Tamaru had told her. "The branches and vines form natural way-paths within the jungle, flowing into each other like the great web of a Fikou-spider. If you're quick-fast and clear-eyed these connections will reveal themselves - often even as you move-swing and leap-dash! A master leaf-runner like myself can travel uptree for kios without ever touching ground-floor…which is just as well, because that is where the Makuta's Rahi-beasts most commonly lurk."

"Each tree-limb and branch-vine has its own beating heart-root," Radka had added. "Let your feet follow that heart-song, and they shall never steer you wrong."

Sure enough, Emerald found herself lost in the zone as a path through the canopy all but revealed itself to her, like a ley line guiding her through a world of clutter. A sturdy vine reached just far enough to let her leap onto an outstretched branch, which doubled as a springboard to further her jump. She pooled Aura around her feet to reduce the friction as she slid down a thick mossy branch, releasing the stored energy to propel herself at the branch's end. Her hands grabbed an outstretched tree limb and swung on it like monkey bars, her feet kicked off of vertical trunks to build up speed, and her body twisted in mid-air to squeeze through gaps in the foliage and grab the vine hidden from sight. Despite the danger of falling, and the fatigue building up alongside the friction burns on her fingers, a strange sensation came over her - and it took her a solid minute to realize what it was.

She was enjoying herself.

A grin spread across her face at the realization. When was the last time she did something fun for herself? Sure, messing with people at Cinder's command had been fun - or at least, she'd been conditioned to think so - but that was stuff she'd done under orders, to try and please a woman who she now realized never truly cared about her. The jungle was there, though, like a salve to her broken heart, and while Emerald's first venture had been miserable, she understood now that the hardship came from fighting against the growth and foliage instead of leaning into it and using it to guide her.

She still hated the bugs, though, who seemed to see her sweaty skin as free real estate. At least swatting them was almost instinctual at this point.

The massive tree that served as the foundation of Le-Koro loomed in her peripheral vision, which told her that her training was almost complete. Tamaru and Radka started triangle-jumping between parallel tree trunks to gain height; Emerald followed their lead and trailed behind them as they scaled over low-hanging branches and swung from overhead vines. She tumbled off a weakened perch with a yelp as she started falling, but she managed to catch herself with a reflexive throw of Thief's Respite. The hooked chain dug into the sturdy branch of a great tree, doubling as an anchor that let her swing and run along the side of its massive trunk.

"Flower-friend!" Radka called in alarm. "Are you alive-well?"

Emerald's grin brightened, and she let out a whoop of delight as she jumped at the apex of her improvised move.

"Suppose that answers that, then," said the Le-Matoran, pride in her voice.

The chain of Thief's Respite retracted and lashed out again and again, hooking into sturdy trees and giving her more height with each swing. Emerald let out another delighted laugh as she combined the leaf-running techniques with her own Huntress training, creating a new art of parkour on the spot that was truly and entirely hers. She soon caught up to Tamaru and Radka just as they leapt from their branches and landed with flips on Le-Koro's central platform; she joined them a moment later, rolling to absorb the impact and coming out in a three-point landing that made her halt.

Le-Koro erupted into cheers.

Emerald gasped as her breath struggled to catch up with the rest of her, wiping her brow and shaking off the sweat. Her heart threatened to burst out of her chest, but not from exertion - rather, it was practically swelling with pride and excitement. She looked at Matau, who nodded in approval. Then she looked at Radka and Tamaru, the former of whom was already darting over to hug her leg. Finally, she looked at Lewa, who had a grin that mirrored her own as he approached.

"Good work, sprout-leaf," said the Toa of Air with a proud laugh, reaching down and ruffling her hair. She made a show of wincing and pushing the green gauntlet away, but secretly she was pleased.

"So what's the plan now?" Emerald asked, doing her best to smooth out her mint-green hair and shake the affectionate little Le-Matoran off her leg.

Again, Lewa chuckled. "Plan? The plan is to seek-find the masks, defeat Makuta, and save Mata Nui." He suddenly frowned and cast a dirty look over to Matau. "Although the old mud-stick here says we should find the other Toa first…so much for the 'bringer of party-cheer.'"

The Turaga matched his taller counterpart's expression. "Your skill and strength are not in question, great Toa-Hero…but even with Emerald at your side, that may not be enough. I only urge you to meet-see your brothers, the ones with which you will awaken-save Mata Nui. It is your Destiny, after all - and you cannot leaf-run or wind-fly from that."

Lewa huffed. "Watch me. Come, sprout-leaf. Show me what you've learned - our time-stay here has ended."

With that pithy remark, the Toa of Air leapt off the platform and disappeared into the canopy. After casting an apologetic look at the Turaga - and giving a thankful bow to Radka and Tamaru - Emerald followed suit. It wasn't hard to follow Lewa, thanks to what she knew now…but she had a feeling that her larger friend wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of working with people other than her.

His pride and confidence are as big as the trees around here, she mused to herself. Let's just hope they don't come crashing down around him - or us.

Weiss Schnee gave another frustrated sigh as she paced the length of the Sanctum a fourth time, bare arms folded over her chest and heeled boots clicking and echoing through the icy chamber. After their battle in the Place of Far-Seeing, she and Kopaka had decided to come back to Ko-Koro, both to get some much-needed rest and to reconvene with Turaga Nuju. The sleep had been nice - except for all the times the white-haired Huntress dreamed of being with Ruby in romantic situations, which were only slightly less nerve-wracking than the nightmares of screaming and dying innocents - but morning had brought a new vision for the village elder, one that he saw fit to share with the Toa of Ice immediately. What frustrated Weiss was that Nuju wanted to speak to Kopaka and only Kopaka, and what she assumed would be a quick two-minute conversation was stretching into hours at this point.

Which brought her to where she was now: wandering around the Sanctum of Ko-Koro completely and utterly bored out of her mind.

She cast another gaze around the chamber, at the Ko-Matoran who sat reading the walls in complete silence. If she was being disruptive with her angry pacing, they hid it extremely well - they were all too busy poring over countless rows of circular letters, clearly understanding the words but not the meaning. This only added to Weiss's frustration; she was in a place where there were possibly miles of written word, likely the only such place that existed on Mata Nui, and she couldn't read any of it.

Maybe I should fix that, she thought to herself after another lap around the Sanctum. After all…if I'm going to be stuck here for however long the boys are talking, I might as well do something useful.

With her mind made up she spun on her heel and approached one of the gray-masked scribes, one that seemed familiar to her. "Excuse me. Sonya, was it?"

"…shall one day journey to the daggers of death, and challenge - hmm?" The Ko-Matoran looked away from her section of the wall and stared up at Weiss, head tilting for a moment before she blinked in recognition. "Oh, hello. You're the Huntress that travels with Kopaka. I remember you…how can I help you?"

"Well, if you don't mind, and if you're not too terribly busy…" The white-haired Huntress pulled out her Scroll and expanded it, opening a note-taking program on the multi-functional device. "I was wondering if it would be possible to learn the Matoran language. Or at the very least, learn how to read it. If it's not too much trouble, of course."

Sonya blinked again, then laughed softly. "It's no trouble at all, traveler. I suppose such knowledge would be useful to you…and you won't find a better teacher than a scribe, nor a better medium for learning than the Wall of Prophecy."

"That's kind of what I was thinking," said Weiss with a smile of her own. She pointed to one section. "Let's start here, with this sentence you were reading earlier. We can use it to start with the translation."

The scribe hummed, then blinked. "Ah, an excellent passage. It has every letter we use in our alphabet - all twenty-six of them."

The heiress grinned. "What a coincidence. Ours has twenty-six as well. Can you tell me what it says?"

Sonya nodded. "Of course. It says, 'Six brave Matoran, quick of mind and zealous in spirit, shall one day journey to the daggers of death and challenge puppets of Makuta with energy from a star.'"

Weiss tilted her head. "Well, that sounds ominous. What does it mean?"

"I have no idea," admitted Sonya. "Nuju's visions are often…fragmented, and unclear. Much of our time here in the Sanctum is spent studying them, so that we may better understand what is to come…and how to prepare for it."

"Doesn't that sound a little…self-defeating, though?" mused Weiss. "If you know something bad is going to happen, wouldn't you rather not know about it, so you don't have time to dread it? And wouldn't trying to prevent that bad thing just make it happen anyways?"

"Possibly," said the scribe with a shrug. "But knowing that there is a future after a troubling event is comforting, in its own way. And avoiding Destiny is never the intention - we only seek to understand it, so that we may do what is necessary to accomplish it. Regardless, I think this passage should suit our needs for learning the language. What words do you wish to learn first?"

Weiss hummed, then pointed at the first word. "Let's start from the top. You said this means 'six, right? So then…this must be an S…"

The next few hours were spent carefully translating and repeating, with Weiss drawing circular runes onto her Scroll and typing the corresponding letter underneath them. Most of the letters followed a similar pattern of shapes within a circle, such as an A being represented by a dot in the lower hemisphere of the circle while an X featured two crossing lines within the orb. Some letters were quite similar to each other, like how Bs were drawn with two vertical dots while an S had those same dots at an angle. Others were more esoteric and strange, - a pair of vertical lines with two dots between them formed an H, and Vs were drawn like Xs with one extra dot above the intersecting lines. Weiss noticed that if she squinted, she could almost make out what most of the letters said just based on their shape, though she still had to consult her notes for most of the consonants.

So the language everyone speaks is mostly like ours, and only the proper names and titles are in a language I don't understand, she thought to herself. I wonder why that is. Do they not remember enough Matoran to speak it fluently? Is it similar to how most of the old Atlesian languages fell out of use, and only really get used for naming things?

Anthropology-related musings aside, she finally looked down at her completed "cheat sheet" with pride. She turned to Sonya for permission to put it into practice, who nodded with a smile behind her mask. The heiress rose to her feet and started pacing along the walls, looking for passages to translate and humming as she kept consulting her notes. Punctuation and sentence structure mostly seemed to follow her own language's rules, and while there wasn't any physical distinction between uppercase and lowercase, proper names and the starts of sentences had circles that were slightly larger than the ones on either side.

"Okay, pretty sure I've got it now," she said after another hour or so. Weiss looked at the wall, then to her newly-drawn cipher. "I think this one says…'beware the Bohrok.' And that one says 'fear the mask of Time.'" Her smile faded as she kept reading. "…and this one says that ruin will come to the city under the sea, besieged by the fearsome okay seriously does this stupid wall ever have any good news?!"

Sonya laughed aloud, smiling under her mask. "Here. Read this one, I think you'll enjoy it. Nuju had this vision just yesterday - I transcribed it myself."

The former heiress peered at the section of text that the scribe pointed out, expecting to read something about a giant dragon eating the world. But after translating the newly-carved string of circles, her heart warmed.

The Huntresses shall find each other safe under the guard of the mighty Toa, and reunite with love and warmth in their hearts.

"…he saw us?" Weiss asked, faintly blushing.

"The future holds many things, both good and ill," intoned Sonya. "It's easy to see only shadows on the horizon…but if you search deeply enough, you will always find light when you need it most."

Doing her best to keep a stiff upper lip, Weiss saved the notes and switched to the image gallery on her Scroll, pulling up a photo she'd gazed at so many times: team RWBY on the docks of Vale, tired from stopping Roman Torchwick's latest plot yet triumphant all the same. The setting sun bathed the girls (and the corgi) in warm amber light, dust and rubble clung to their clothes, and the gentle waters lapped softly at the pier. She stared at the picture for a good long moment, letting the memory wash over her as a single tear slipped down her cheek.

You will always find light when you need it most.

She hugged her own little light to her chest, eagerly waiting for the promised reunion.

"That's it, big guy! Keep your hands up just like that! Don't let me move 'em!"

Sweat clung to Yang's forehead as she pounded her fists against Tahu's outstretched palms, the massive red gauntlet on the Toa's left hand forming a perfect focus mitt for the blond brawler. She threw a rapid flurry of jabs and hooks against the trapezoid of metal, then finished with an overhead cross that nearly made her sparring partner buckle under the force. Servos whined in protest as they fought against her, but Tahu kept his stance wide and his gauntlet steady under her relentless assault. The morning sun shone on them both as they sparred in the rolling grasslands of inland Ga-Wahi, ephemeral dew still clinging to long blades of green in the early hours.

"Nice, nice," praised the Huntress even as she kept up the barrage of punches. "Good form, good stance. Keep at it!"

Tahu raised an eyebrow under his mask. "I still fail to see what the purpose of this exercise is," he said in a voice that burned like the flames he commanded. "How does this benefit either of us?"

"It builds up muscle mass," panted Yang, throwing a tricky three-hit combo of jabs and uppercuts. "You might have the Mask of Strength now, but there's no substitute for getting stronger the old-fashioned way. Plus, it helps me keep in form, too. So really, we both win in this situation. I get better at punching, you get better at blocking."

"Perhaps," intoned Tahu as he moved his hand-shield to intercept the wild hooks. "Would it not be more efficient to use the Mask of Shielding, though?"

"Can't protect you from everything." Yang kept beating her fists against the gauntlet. "Remember how you got grabbed yesterday? One of those Hikaki snuck around and struck you from behind… like this!"

The blonde brawler suddenly leapt to the side and rolled around her opponent's flank, rising to her feet and flowing into a powerful uppercut. Tahu spun around and crossed his arms just in time, absorbing the impact of the metal gauntlet with little more than a grunt of discomfort. Then the Toa of Fire swung his arms back out and smacked her in the face, sending her flying across the grassy knoll and crashing against the side of the hill.

Ow.

"Little flame! Are you well?"

Yang grinned as she looked back at the worried Toa. "Hah, see? You're getting faster and stronger already! And 'little flame,' huh? Is that a nickname I heard from you? A term of endearment?"

Tahu's momentary concern faded from his crimson eyes, and irritation replaced it. "…I was merely caught off guard, is all. It would be…a burden on future fights if you were injured during training."

With a soft laugh she rolled out of the Yang-shaped outline in the tall grass, crossing her legs and resting her chin in her hands. "Aww, that's so cute! The big bad Tahu does care about me!"

"I said no such thing."

"C'moooon, admit it! You're warming up to me!"

"I refuse."

"No need to get so heated, big guy!"

"This conversation is over."

Laughing to herself again, Yang rolled her head to the side and spotted a natural waterfall flowing into a clear spring. Her grin widened at the sight of a body of water that wasn't from the sea - her hair hated salt water. She wasn't sure how long it had been since her last bath, only that it had been far too long.

"…I'm gonna go for a dip under those falls over there," she said, eyes lighting up. "Care to join me?"

Tahu followed her gaze and stared at the pool with a frown behind his mask. "Go ahead, but I will pass. The water and I have…disagreements."

Yang shrugged and ran full tilt at the fresh spring, shedding most of her clothes with reckless abandon and plunging into the cool waters. In contrast to the grimy seas and its salt, the spring felt clean and pure and it welcomed her into its depths as she swam down on a single breath. When she reached the bottom she curled up into a ball and smiled to herself, feeling the tickle of bubbles rushing past her as her golden hair floated around her like wings.

It was a wonderful feeling, especially after the stifling heat of Ta-Koro.

She just wished Blake was there to share it with her.

I wish Yang was here. Or anyone, really.

That was all Blake could think to herself as she slashed at another trio of tiny little scorpions, the cleaver-sheath of Gambol Shroud easily slicing through red-orange metallic chitin. The Rahi attacking them - the Kofo-Jaga, according to Whenua - weren't a threat when they attacked alone, as their small size and tiny stingers couldn't do much against something as large as her. No, what made them dangerous was just how many there were, and how easily they swarmed over anything that moved. One Kofo-Jaga sting left a searing burn even through her Aura. A dozen made her skin start to sizzle. And a hundred? Blake wasn't sure she wanted to find out, but she could only imagine it would feel like burning alive.

Still, the feline Faunus managed as best she could.

She held a small chunk of Ice Dust in her palm as she pulsed her Semblance, leaving behind a frozen copy of herself that the Kofo-Jaga began swarming. When enough of them began attacking the decoy she pooled her Aura into her blade, swinging it and sending a slash of pure energy flying from the sharpened edge. The wave of violet crashed into the statue, shattering it into a storm of icy shrapnel and sending scorpions showering everywhere. While many of the tiny fiery bugs fell, even more came to replace them; Blake grit her teeth and loosed a few more Aura Slashes to keep them at bay, keeping one eye on her Scroll to monitor her reserves.

Knew there was a reason I stopped using these, she thought with a frown as the green bar under her picture faded to yellow. They're powerful but inefficient, and not really necessary when a bullet does the same thing. But I don't have the other half of Gambol Shroud right now - so if I want to use ranged attacks, I'll just have to tough it out and watch my Aura levels.

She backflipped to avoid another surge of brave little Kofo-Jaga, dropping another Shadow in her wake. Her eyes darted over to Onua, who was using his massive claws to sweep away huge crowds of scorpions with mighty swipes. The Toa of Earth's metallic frame protected him from the worst of the stings, but even he seemed to buckle and hiss despite his attempts to hide the pain. Whatever venom the Rahi were using, it was clearly taking its toll on him.

"You holding up okay over there?" Blake called as she sliced a leaping scorpion in half.

Onua let out a rumbling chuckle, slamming another creature into the dirt. "I am well, for now. What about you?"

"Doing alright," she said simply with another slash. "Might be tough if a few more show up, though."

A column of rising earth erupted in front of the Toa, crushing a few Kofo-Jaga against the ceiling. "Then let us hope that their numbers are running thin. I would hate to make this trip a bother for - eugh!"

"Onua!"

Too late, the Faunus watched as a half-dozen of the mechanical menaces dropped from the roof of the tunnel and latched onto the Toa's back, driving their stingers and pinchers into the vulnerable gearbox of his shoulders. He dropped to his knees in a loud groan, trying to grab the stinging monsters and failing. The swarm seemed to chitter and chatter in delight, moving to converge on the downed Toa of Earth as the green light in his eyes flickered and dulled.

"Oh no you don't! Hold on, Onua!"

Blake took off at a full sprint and leapt to assist, summoning a Shadow underfoot to use as both a stepping stone and a springboard. The swarm pivoted to attack the ephemeral decoy, giving her enough time to deal with the latchers. She took out two of the little bugs in a single spinning slash, bounced off another copy of herself to grab onto Onua's backplate, and kicked off another pair of scorpions as they hissed and screeched. Her free hand grabbed a Kofo-Jaga and pried it off before flinging it away; the last Rahi had just enough time to snap at her before its stinger was lopped off with one swift cleave, along with its claws, its legs, and its head.

"Onua? Onua! Come on, wake up! The fight's not over yet!"

To her immense relief, the Toa of Earth's eyes flared back to life and he rose to his feet with a mechanical groan, steam hissing through the side vents of his mask. With a nod of thanks to the Huntress on his shoulders he reared back both his arms, letting out a guttural roar as he slammed his fists against the ground. Immediately a seismic tremor went through the entire tunnel, shaking the walls and ceiling and every single Kofo-Jaga that chittered in sudden terror. After a moment of rumbling and quaking the stone finally collapsed, raining down rocks and rubble on the scorpions and crushing them under several tons of falling stone.

When the dust finally settled, the only sounds that echoed through the tunnels were the heavy breathing of the Toa and the Huntress as they inspected their wounds.

Onua was the first to find his voice after a moment of panting. "Thank you, Blake."

"Don't mention it," she replied with a tight nod. Then she cast her amber eyes over the caved-in length of tunnel. "Well…guess we won't be going back that way."

"Perhaps it is for the best," sighed the Toa of Earth. "I see now why the Matoran abandoned this road…wild Ussal crabs and Peka cave bats were one thing, but the Kofo-Jaga are a threat even to us. Doubly so, under Makuta's influence." He frowned under his mask. "To think that the people of Onu-Koro - my people - have suffered constant attacks from these monsters in my absence…"

Blake hummed and put a hand on her companion's shoulder. "To quote a very important friend of mine…that's why we're here. To make it better."

Onua chuckled softly, his smile returning. "Yes…yes, that is correct. Your friend must be quite wise indeed."

"She has her moments," answered Blake with a small smile of her own. She checked the map on her Scroll, making a little mark on the screen with her finger. "Kini-Nui's not far now. The tunnel exit should be just around the corner."

The Toa of Earth nodded and moved to set her down, before stopping when she hissed in pain.

"Blake?"

She clutched her burning ankle, sucking in air through her teeth as her nerves felt like they were bursting into flames. One of those damn scorpions must have gotten a lucky sting through her Aura, and it was only when she tried putting pressure on the leg did she realize the wound was there.

"I'm fine," she lied, just before another wave of pain proved her wrong. "Er…I will be, soon as my Aura heals the sting. It's a little low right now, but it should come back as I'm walking. Just gotta…just gotta tough it out."

Blake made it all of four stumbling steps before falling to her knees in another sharp cry. Dammit! She was so close to the temple…so close to seeing the others…so close to seeing her…she just had to keep going. Had to power through this stupid wound…

She was just about to rise to her feet again when she felt a pair of claws gently scoop her up and lift her into the air. Blake looked up and saw Onua staring down at her, catching a glimpse of a gentle smile shining through his mask. The massive mechanical hands - which she'd seen tear apart Kofo-Jaga mere moments before - handled her with the utmost care as the Toa of Earth cradled her in his arms, just like her own father had done when she was little more than a kitten.

Looks like some things are universal, she thought to herself.

"Please, do not put undue stress on yourself. Allow me to walk for both of us," he said, and his tone of voice made it clear this plan was not up for debate.

Blake made a show of rolling her eyes and huffing, but nevertheless settled in for the ride as the Toa of Earth began trekking through the tunnels once more. It wasn't the most comfortable trip, what with Onua being made of more metal than muscle, but it was less painful than walking on her own - not to mention how safe she felt in the grasp of her giant armored ally.

He must be eager to see his fellow Toa, she reasoned as she instinctively curled up in Onua's claws. Maybe even just as eager as I am to see the others.

The Faunus let out a silent sigh.

I just hope they all found a friend like I did, too.

"Are you ready back there, little one?"

The beautiful sapphire surface flowed and splashed against Gali's buoyant armored frame, a calm contrast to the golden-red sky that was bathed in fading daylight. She looked over her shoulder and watched as Ruby breathed slowly and deeply, tightening her grip on the Toa of Water as the pair floated on a gentle roll of the tide. She could tell that the silver-eyed Huntress was nervous about the coming experience, but did her best to keep the fear in check. While saving Ga-Koro had restored some of her confidence in herself, the human still feared the ocean on some instinctive level, shying away from its depths and letting out a nervous little whimper anytime a wave splashed too close.

It was Gali's hope that diving with Ruby in the open sea would dispel some of that anxiety.

"Y-yeah," said her passenger after a moment, shifting her bare arms slightly. "Ready as I'll ever be."

The Toa of Water nodded gently. "Take a deep breath. Fill first your lower lungs, then your chest. If you feel yourself running out of air, tap three times against my mask. I will return to the surface at once."

Ruby nodded with a small shudder, then did as instructed. Once she was done Gali activated the power of her mask, arched her body to push herself straight into the sea, and the pair disappeared under the surface with little more than a splash.

An endless expanse of blue opened up before them, extending an invitation that the cobalt-armored warrior could not turn down. Gali kicked with both her legs and dove downwards into the new world, setting her crystal-clear sights on a small section of seabed forty bios down that teemed with biomechanical life. The waters seemed to part for her as she surged forward, inviting her deeper into its depths even while she raced with blinding speed.

How fortunate I was to arrive with the Mask of Water-Breathing, she thought to herself as bubbles rushed through the gap between her face and her mask. I could not possibly imagine exploring the ocean's majesty without it.

"Mmmbl!"

A sudden sense of folly washed over Gali as she felt a tiny hand furiously rap its knuckles against her visor. She turned to see Ruby clutching her throat and shaking her head fervently, bubbles spilling out of her lips and nose as she squeezed her eyes shut. With an understanding nod the Toa held the Huntress close to her chest as she rapidly ascended, crossing the blue expanse in only a few seconds and breaching the surface just after turning off her mask power.

"Ruby?" Gali looked down at the human girl in her arms, who was coughing and gagging. "What happened?"

"Too fast," spat Ruby as she shook her head with a sputter. "You went down too fast and my head got all fuzzy, and I did that thing where I pinched my nose and blew until my ears popped but I almost lost my grip and I panicked and I just…ugh…I'm sorry…"

Gali laughed softly, raising her hand to block an incoming ocean wave. "That is quite alright. You have my apologies as well - I did not realize your kind were so sensitive to rapid pressure changes. Clear your throat, and we will try again when you are ready. I will go slower this time, and give you time to acclimate to the depths. Do you think you will have enough air to reach that shelf I saw?"

The silver-eyed Huntress ran her hand over her face, sputtering one final time. "I think so…yeah. Long as you're the one doing the swimming, and as long as you're going slow, I should be fine."

After taking a few more experimental breaths, Ruby inhaled deeply and gave another nod to the Toa of Water before they slipped underwater again.

When the clear blue seas greeted them once more Gali fought the urge to swim as fast as possible, instead pausing every few kicks to glance back at her passenger. At each stop Ruby pinched her nose shut with one hand and blew air out her ears, before flashing a thumbs-up to the Toa of Water to signal that she was ready. It took four such stops before the sea shelf finally came within reach…and then the Huntress frantically tapped her mask again, pointing up to the surface as a ripple of bubbles burst out of her lips.

"Okay…maybe not that slow," wheezed Ruby once they were floating with the waves once more. She looked down with a guilty expression. "Sorry…I'm terrible at this…"

The Toa of Water gave another soft laugh, her hand leaving the water to brush against Ruby's cheek. "You have nothing to apologize for, little one. This entire exercise is intended to make you comfortable in the water, not me. I know that you fear the ocean, and you have every reason to do so…but it is my wish to show you that it is full of life and wonder, as I see it. If you can make it to that sea shelf, I believe you will know this for yourself."

Ruby nuzzled into the blue metallic palm for a moment, before looking up and nodding determinedly. "I'm ready this time."

Gali nodded once more, and after the Huntress filled her lungs as deeply as she could the two women dove together once more.

This time, the open ocean seemed to beckon to them both. The Toa of Water's entire body kicked and flowed through her domain at a speed that she hoped would be comfortable for Ruby. A quick tap on her mask made her look back in concern, expecting to see the Huntress furiously signaling for air. What she saw instead was her friend doing that same equalization gesture, pinching her nose before giving a big happy smile. Gali smiled back, then continued diving down at that same pace, grateful to have found a happy medium for the little human on her back. She allowed Ruby to set the pace of their dive, pausing her kicks each time she felt a single knock on the left side of her visor and continuing when another one rang out on her right.

The sea shelf came into visual range a moment later, and a quick peek over her shoulder told Gali that sure enough, the little Huntress was utterly entranced.

She had to smile to herself as Ruby pulled away from her back to swim just a little bit closer, keeping one hand on the Toa of Water's wrist to stop herself from drifting away. The Huntress's other hand gripped the edge of the shelf, giving her enough leverage to lean until she was nearly face-to-face with the sea shelf's vibrant surface. It would seem that her earlier fears were almost entirely forgotten - not that Gali could blame her, for this elevated section of the ocean floor truly was a marvelous display.

Mechanical fish wove through tangled growths of clear green seaweed and tube-like anemone, swimming in patterns no one but them understood. Huge stalks of verdant kelp stretched for kios to the distant seafloor below, with their seeds along the stalks faintly glowing with amber light. A steel-finned Takea shark stalked the waters with large bulbous eyes, recognizing the power of the Toa and swimming closer in curiosity. Ruby stared in wonder at the sleek predator as it approached, reaching out her hand and brushing her fingers against its dorsal fin for a moment before the shark suddenly darted away.

Silver eyes widened in delight as Ruby turned to face Gali, gripping both hands in her own as she bubbled and chattered excitedly. Her words may have been lost to the sea, but her excitement was clear all the same - as was the sudden embarrassment when she clutched her throat with a sheepish smile. With a grin of her own Gali kicked once again, pulling the silly little Huntress along as they ascended to the surface.

"Pwah! Ack!" Ruby sputtered with a slight cough, then her eyes went wide with excitement again. "Oh my gods that was so cool! Did you see how close that big one got? Did you see me touch it!? I actually touched the shark!"

"Indeed you did!" said Gali, still smiling behind her mask. "Well done, Ruby. It would seem to me that you have found the courage to face your fear of the seas, and conquer them. For this, I am glad - the ocean is a magnificent place, one where I could easily spend hours admiring its beauty. I am happy that you can see it the same way…though it is a shame that your kind cannot hold their breath for very long."

Ruby scoffed and spat out a mouthful of seafoam, though her smile still remained. "Well, gee, I'm sorry. We can't all be born with magic masks that let us breathe underwater, Gali," she said in mock exasperation.

She laughed in response. "True. But not all of us possess the ability to transform into petals and propel ourselves at high speed." The Toa of Water reached up and lightly tousled some of her Huntress's wet hair, earning a giggle and a playful push. "But do not worry about that. We all are given different gifts by the Great Spirits, all in service of the same goal. Unity fosters Duty, Duty leads to Destiny, and shared Destiny brings others together in Unity - all are intertwined."

"Makes sense to me!" Ruby beamed. "Although personally I think it'd be cooler if your mask let you send out a sonar pulse that doubled as a sonic attack. Or if it let you take on the different abilities of nearby sea creatures." Her eyes widened once again. "Ooh! Or if you could summon a huuuuuuge fish to attack on your command! That would be awesome!"

The Toa of Water tilted her head to the side. "Hmm? How would that work?"

The silver-eyed Huntress began animatedly splashing. "It'd be perfect. Just picture this - you're staring down Makuta and he's all like 'muahahahaha you cannot stop me! I rule this island and all its Rahi!' And then you trigger your mask, maybe saying something cool like 'Not all of them, you big creep! Come to me, fishy friend!' And the fish would come flying out of the water and be all 'BWOOOOAAAAAAGH' as it comes in for a massive belly flop! And Makuta would be all like 'ohhh noooooo please have mercyyyyyy aaaaahbleugughvhgluhhhhhh…"

Gali laughed as Ruby melodramatically sank back into the sea, rewarding her with another playful headpat once she kicked back up. "That certainly would be useful, and I do not doubt that masks with such powers exist elsewhere. Regardless, now that you are comfortable in the sea it would be best to seek out the Kanohi that we know for certain lie in its depths, and from there we can…"

The Toa of Water trailed off mid-sentence as a sudden and strange sensation came over her. Her head spun so fast it nearly flew off its joint as she snapped her gaze back to the island, her yellow-gold eyes suddenly flashing blue for a moment.

"Huh? Hey Gali, is everything okay?" Ruby asked, reaching forward to put a hand on her shoulder. "What is it?"

"I…do not know," she answered, as though her mind were elsewhere. "It feels as if…something calls to me. I sense an energy that is both familiar, yet foreign…but I cannot say for certain."

An image flashed across her eyes, one of a great temple carved out of beautiful sandstone with four large arches and a large central courtyard. She wasn't sure if it was a memory from the past, a glimpse of the future, or something in-between. All she knew was that she had to go there. Something in her compelled her to seek out the temple whose name floated within her mind.

"Kini-Nui…" she murmured. "We…we must go to Kini-Nui."

Ruby tilted her head as she stared across the horizon to Mata Nui's distant shores, then nodded and mounted her back again.

"Alright! To Kini-Nui, then! Although…I think I know a faster way to get there instead of swimming, if you're up for a little experimenting."

"Do tell, little one." Gali blinked and fought the urge to blindly dive.

"You can stand on the water's surface, right?" Ruby asked, to which the Toa of Water nodded.

"And you can control the waves of the sea?" Another nod.

The silver-eyed Huntress grinned. "What if you did both at the same time?"

Beneath her mask, Gali mirrored her friend's smile as she realized what she was proposing.

I knew there was a reason I was drawn to you, Ruby Rose.

Chapter Text

Blake hadn't realized how much she missed the sky.

A rich red and gold band stretched across the horizon, bathing the trees and forest in a pale warm light. Despite being half-hidden by the edge of the world, the setting sun nearly blinded her after spending so many days underground. She wasn't alone in that regard, at least - Onua's glowing green eyes squinted as he kept walking through the woodlands, though he said nothing or complained in any way.

"You don't have to carry me the whole way to Kini-Nui," remarked Blake as she looked at the biomechanical arms that still cradled her. "My Aura's back and the sting's healed, so I'm fine to walk on my own."

The Toa of Earth gave a low chuckle. "Perhaps, but it will be faster this way. I take larger steps than you, after all."

She scoffed. "Don't remind me," she said with a mock pout. Her cat-like ears flattened against her head, and she resolved herself to be carried through the thick forest. Small woodland creatures - or whatever passed for such on Mata Nui - scurried up into the trees as they passed by, curling up in their nests or disappearing behind blankets of leaves. Night would fall soon, but she wasn't worried - both Blake and Onua possessed excellent night vision, and the stars and moon would give them all the light they'd need.

Eventually, the trees gave way to a clearing of fresh green grass, which surrounded the temple.

And what a temple it was!

During Whenua's explanation of the island and all its features, Blake had pictured Kini-Nui as nothing more than a small ruined structure that had been lost to time and reclaimed by the elements, much like the ruins that dotted the landscape of her own home world. What she didn't expect was a perfectly pristine chiseled dome, one that was nearly forty feet tall and over a hundred feet in diameter. There were four massive ramps that led to the dome's peak with gentle slopes, stretching outwards in every cardinal direction to make the temple seem bigger than it actually was. Enormous angular spires of stone rose out from the space between each pair of ramps, towering over the surrounding tree line like a four-fingered claw reaching to the heavens. The entire structure was the clean, smooth tan of polished sandstone, and even in the fading light it was evident that it was well-cared for…or it retained its luster even without Matoran hands, as if not even the choking growth and weeds of the forest dared to intrude.

And that was just the temple itself. The scenery around Kini-Nui was just as breathtaking and gorgeous, from the lush and verdant eastern forest to the enormous river that flowed in from the west. The northern horizon was broken up by a jagged range of snow-capped mountains, while the south gave way to a huge volcano that seemed to breathe heat and smoke. The significance of all these features being present here was not lost on Blake - this was a sacred site where the elements themselves gathered and communed, waiting for the day when their respective Toa would do the same.

And hopefully today's that day, she mused to herself.

It was a long moment before Onua finally found his voice. "Magnificent…" he intoned softly. "An absolute marvel of both art and craftsmanship, undisturbed even this far from any of the villages. I shudder to imagine how long it took to carve such a site…"

"Yeah…" Blake agreed with a nod. "We've got ancient temples and historical sites all over Remnant. Stuff that was built by past civilizations that were lost to time…but we've never managed to find anything as grand as this. It's…beautiful."

The two of them spent another moment gazing and marveling at Kini-Nui, before the Huntress in the Toa's arms spoke again. She almost hated to break the spell with her question, but it was one that had to be asked eventually.

"How does it work?"

Onua blinked and hummed. "Whenua said that the arrival of one Toa will send a signal for the others…perhaps if I make contact with the stone itself? Forgive me, Blake, but I may have to set you down…"

Blake chuckled. "By all means, feel free. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to check it out myself."

The Toa let out another rumbling laugh of his own, gently lowering his passenger to the ground and allowing her to hop off his claws. She looked back with a nod and immediately started approaching the temple, running her fingers over the smooth grain of the sandstone while Onua made his way up the nearest ramp to check the center of the domed top. Amber eyes gazed over the stonework, eventually picking out unpainted murals and anglular figures carved into the side of Kini-Nui - clearly they were meant to represent stories and historical events, but without any cultural context or ability to understand the circular language, Blake couldn't make heads or tails of them.

Or at least…that was the case for most of them.

Her breath caught in her chest as she came across one stretch of wall that jumped out at her. Six more of those rough figures were etched into the stone with runes above their heads, vigilantly watching over a bed of sand that had six differently-colored glowing stones. What really grabbed her attention was that one of those ten-foot-tall murals was a dead ringer for Onua, complete with claws and diamond-shaped mask. The other five carvings had similar shapes with different masks and tools, which she could only assume were meant to represent the other Toa. Oddly enough, each figure had an indentation in its chest, as if they were meant to fit something particular to each Toa. The recesses ranged from narrow slits for swords to curved crevices for axes and hooks, along with a wedged opening for a rather large foot and three grooved channels that seemed the perfect size for…

Wait.

"Onua?" Blake called out. "Better get over here, think I found something."

The Toa of Earth slid down the side of Kini-Nui, raking his claws lightly against the stone to slow his descent. He barely left a scratch as he dropped and approached, falling into stunned silence yet again.

"Is that…me?" he finally asked simply.

"Sure looks like it," said Blake with a small smile. "Don't suppose you can read the names above them, can you?"

Onua nodded. "Of course I can. There is…Tahu, Toa of Fire. Kopaka, Toa of Ice. Lewa, Toa of Air. Gali, Toa of Water. Pohatu, Toa of Stone. And…my name. These must be the names of my brothers…but why would they be here?"

"Maybe it's a sign you were always meant to arrive." Blake said with a shrug. "Or maybe some bored Matoran got creative and started chiseling. I wouldn't know, and it's not what I called you over here to see. Look at that groove on your mural - doesn't it look like your claw would fit there?"

The Toa of Earth held up an ebon-black claw to the opening, snapped his gaze between the two, and hummed thoughtfully.

"I suppose there is only one way to find out…" he intoned after a moment's thought. "Be ready."

She nodded and drew the sheath of Gambol Shroud off her back, bracing herself as Onua slowly lowered his articulated digging tool into the grooved channels. It fit perfectly - almost too perfectly. At her nod of approval he kept pushing deeper with his claw, guiding it through the unseen stone within until it finally stopped against a hidden button.

CLICK. CLUNK. GRRRRRRRRR…

A moment after the satisfying click and heavy clunk, the silence was filled with the sound of stone scraping against itself. Blake's ears twitched as her Faunus hearing picked up on rumbling from deep within the temple's dome, feeling her hairs stand on their end when unfamiliar energy began to hum in the twilight air. Each breath felt laced with static as electricity gathered, seemingly pulled out of the ground itself - and before it could get too uncomfortable, a massive pillar of light erupted out of the top of Kini-Nui, painting the horizon in a cluster of colors.

Onua pulled his claw free and looked up at the beam, his eyes flashing between their usual green and a strange violet glow. The Faunus tracked her gaze between the Toa and the temple, trying to stare at the light through narrowed eyes in an attempt to examine it without blinding herself. As it turned out, she didn't need to bother - the intense beam of light soon softened to an ephemeral wisp, one that softly hummed as its relaxing glow cycled between smooth blues and reds and greens.

The Toa of Earth blinked several times as his own green eyes returned in full, then clutched the forehead of his mask. "That was…Mata Nui, that was intense."

"What was it?"

"I think it was…a beacon of some sort," Onua said slowly. He shook his head to try and clear the daze. "As soon as the light began shining, I received an intense mental image. I saw Kini-Nui, as though I were hovering in the sky, and then it fell away and I saw the rest of the island. Then I felt an intense urge to go there, as though my mechanical parts were programmed to seek out the temple…and I am certain that if I were not already on the temple's steppes, I would feel that urge still."

"That must be the signal that Whenua told us about," mused Blake. "An island-wide message, broadcasting the temple's location. And just like standing in front of a blaring siren, you must have gotten hit the hardest considering you were right here. Let's just hope that it was strong enough to reach the other Toa…wherever they are."

She looked up to the sky, gazing wistfully at the fading daylight. "So what now? Do we just…sit here and wait for them to come to us? How long would we be waiting? It took us two whole days just to get here - what if it takes them even longer?"

Onua shook his head. "Onu-Koro was farther north than the other villages, the furthest from Kini-Nui. With luck, the remaining journeys will not be so long - although it may take a while, still. The island is a large place, and filled with treacherous terrain. Even a Toa may struggle to move quickly, as we know firsthand."

Blake let out a deflated sigh and sat down on the ground, curling into a ball with a sour expression on her face. The Toa of Earth seemed to sense her disappointment, because he reached out to rest a claw on top of her head. Annoyance was replaced by the urge for comfort as she instinctively nuzzled her ears against the hand, her Faunus trait twitching under the soft scratches. It didn't feel quite as good as it did when Yang massaged her behind the ears…but it was better than nothing.

"Get some rest, Blake," intoned Onua. "I will keep watch for any dangers…and for the others. In the event of either, I shall wake you."

With a reluctant nod Blake shed her coat and folded it into a little pile underneath her, resting her head against it like it was a makeshift pillow. A thousand dark thoughts crept into her mind when she closed her eyes - that the other Toa wouldn't follow the signal, that her friends hadn't found their own Toa after all, that none of this would have happened if she'd just managed to catch Yang in the first place - but she pushed them out as best she could, hugging her knees with increasing force as she tried to get comfortable.

Hopefully she and Onua wouldn't be waiting long.

"Again."

The cold air of Ko-Wahi was filled once more with the sound of clashing steel as Kopaka brought his weapon to meet Weiss's, the blade of his ivory-white broadsword striking against a thin silvery rapier. If the human girl in front of him struggled to bear the weight of his blows, she didn't show it - the only expression on her face was one of grim, focused determination. Her white hair had been pulled back behind her head and tied with a strip of cloth, revealing more of her bare upper body and keeping the snow-colored fibers out of her face as she sparred with the Toa of Ice.

Kopaka kept his footing firm and his stance even as he fended off a flurry of thrusts, doing his best to deflect them with his sword alone before relenting and raising his shield. Weiss instantly switched tactics and drew the second sword off her back, striking at his exposed ankle armor with an ebon-black blade. It didn't hurt, and the blow did little more than leave a scratch, but it was an annoyance all the same - one that would be repaid in full.

He kept blocking and defending against the sudden surge of attacks, looking and waiting for an opening to strike. When he saw one, he did so ruthlessly and precisely, ending the little sparring match in four quick moves. A shield bash to the face knocked Weiss off-balance. Two strokes to the left and right knocked the weapons out of her hands and into the snowbanks. And a horizontal sweep brought the edge of his sword right against her neck, an act that would have been deadly if he hadn't forced himself to stop just before it met skin.

"Dead," he said icily.

Weiss scoffed and pushed his sword down. "Yes, yes, I get it. You've 'killed' me seven times already."

"Eight." Kopaka narrowed his gaze through the visible eyehole, the one that wasn't covered by the array of lenses. "And that's already more than enough to see the flaw in your current dueling style."

"Oh really?" she said with an annoyed huff. "Let me guess. My footing is off, or my posture is all wrong?"

"It's more fundamental than that." The Toa of Ice shook his head. "You begin each fight with a flurry of aggressive blows, clearly intending to overwhelm your opponent before they get a chance to fight back. That might work against the soft-bodied Grimm and Huntsmen of your world…but here on Mata Nui everything wears armor of some kind, and so you struggle to maintain that level of offense for long periods of time. When you wield the second sword alongside your first, this problem only increases - you end up sacrificing defensiveness and sure footing for raw power and attack, and if you run out of stamina before your foe falls, it might be the end of you."

Weiss's furrowed brow softened slightly as she looked at the fallen weapons, sighing after a moment. She couldn't disagree with his analysis - not in good faith, at least.

"So…what? Are you saying I need to start from scratch? Forget over ten years of training just so I can learn a new way to fight?"

"Of course not," Kopaka countered coldly. "But you need to learn how to protect yourself. Not with your Semblance, or Aura, or Dust…but with just you. Because at the end of the day, when the chips are down, that's the one thing you'll always have. The one thing you can always depend on, even if all else fails."

Ice blue eyes narrowed slightly, then she let out another sigh as she retrieved the swords.

"…maybe you're right. And you might have a point about the thing with the swords. It does feel too easy to slip into a 'guts-or-glory' mindset when both of them come out." She looked down at the black curved sword. "…I shouldn't even be using this one, anyways. It's not mine to wield."

Kopaka was just about to ask what that meant when a strange sensation came over him, chilling him to the nerves and making him freeze on the spot. An image of a massive temple flashed in his mind, one he'd never seen before. Despite this, the name escaped his lips on one reverent breath.

"Kini-Nui."

"Hmm?" Behind him, Weiss tilted her head. "Kopaka? Is everything alright?"

He wasn't sure how to answer that. He wasn't sure if he could answer that. The only thing he was sure about was that he needed to get there as soon as possible - and that it wasn't too far away.

Just like Nuju saw in that vision he told me about, thought the Toa of Ice to himself.

"Pack up the camp. We're leaving."

The Huntress's eyes widened. "Seriously? The sun's almost down and I just got the fire going. Where do we need to be all of a sudden?"

"Somewhere important." Kopaka threw down his shield and prepared to slide down the side of the snowy mountain. He glanced to the side as Weiss sighed and scooped up some snow, throwing it on top of the meager little flame before she climbed onto his shield in preparation.

"Alright…" said the former heiress with a resigned frown, "but if I end up falling asleep on the way there you'd better make sure I don't fall off."

The Toa of Ice stepped onto the shield with a small nod, pushing off the snowbank and letting gravity and his own elemental power do most of the work as the pair took off down the slope. As they raced across the frozen terrain he couldn't help but wonder why he was feeling this urge now of all times, nor could he begin to guess what he'd find at this so-called Kini-Nui.

More secrets and mysteries to puzzle out, he thought with a frown. This island certainly seems to have a fondness for them.

The moment Tahu felt the pulse, he knew what it meant.

He snapped his gaze towards the horizon, crimson eyes narrowing as they brightened and dimmed in a brief and rapid pattern. The terrain was blocked by the natural woodlands of inner Ga-Wahi, but he knew what lay beyond the trees. A temple, one of great importance and meaning, one that called out to him even now. And if he could feel it from this far away, then surely the other Toa could feel it as well.

It was time for him to be the leader the legends regarded him as.

Yang paused halfway through her roasted fruit, looking up at the Toa of Fire with a raised eyebrow. "Hey, you good?"

Tahu nodded. "Better than merely 'good.' I feel…summoned. Called to something in the middle of the island. Something…important."

The Huntress tilted her head. "How far is it?"

"Not far. If we leave now, we should arrive by the next sunrise."

"And what do you think you'll find there?"

The Toa of Fire narrowed his eyes. "My Destiny."

Yang chuckled as she stood up, taking another bite out of her kebab of berries. "Well, hopefully your Destiny's less of a prissy stuck-up than the one I knew back at Signal. Let's go, Big Red."

He nodded again and turned to walk towards the temple, confident that the loud one was following him.

Lewa hated not being in control of himself.

He was most at home when he was as free and limitless as the wind he commanded, soaring through the trees and swinging from vines. Right now the moon and stars shone down on him as he did just that, using his Mask of Levitation to stay above the treetops on windy currents. He couldn't see in the dark, but he could see well enough as he stayed in the uppermost layer of the jungle, and each leap and jump reaffirmed his love of freedom and independence. The wind didn't need to rely on anyone. It didn't need to listen to stuffy old Turaga. It just existed, flowing and blowing wherever it pleased, and the Toa of Air knew he felt the same.

That was why this urge, this instinct to race to the middle of the island, was so maddening to him. And why he was so eager to follow it, even in the dead of night. The sooner he arrived at whatever this "Kini-Nui" was, the sooner he could purge this sensation out of his system like scratching an irritating itch…or, if it ended up being a trick of Makuta, the sooner he could destroy it.

He cast a look back over his shoulder every now and again to check on his companion, the small Huntress who ran along branches and kicked off tree trunks to keep pace with him. Emerald's technique of leaf-running wasn't quite as refined and natural as his, but then again that wasn't surprising. She'd only mastered the art earlier that day, and she had no mechanical muscles or mask powers to aid her movements. What she did have, however, was a long chained hook that let her swing across vine-less patches, an odd device that fascinated Lewa and made him want to learn more about her and her world.

What use do I have for the other Toa-Heroes? he wondered to himself. I have a hero of my very own by my side, and that should be more than enough. I'll find the others after I get a full set of masks - that should amaze-shock them into leaving me alone.

The quest for his Kanohi, sadly, would have to wait until after he got to the temple and got rid of this overwhelming urge. So he resolved to make his way there.

Even if he had to wind-fly all night.

Morning broke without much fanfare.

Blake shuddered and tightened her grip on her knees, muttering into her folded coat as she fought both to stay asleep and to wake up. Her body demanded more rest and sleep, but her mind screamed for an escape. It was a war of two primal desires, one born of fear and another born of fatigue, and it was only decided when a large metal claw gently prodded at her bare arm.

"Wha-! No! YANG!"

She shot up to her feet, reaching for the cleaver of Gambol Shroud on her back only to grasp empty air. A few shaking breaths calmed her down enough to look up and see Onua standing over her, green eyes glowing in concern through coal-black armor. The Toa of Earth tilted his head, clearly full of questions yet he could sense that she didn't want to answer any of them. Not yet, at least.

"Sorry, little one," he rumbled apologetically. "I hope I did not intrude on your restful slumber."

Blake panted for a few moments, then finally let the tension fade from her bare shoulders. She was okay. Yang was (probably) okay. He wasn't there.

"It wasn't that restful anyways," she eventually said with a yawn, rubbing her eyes to clear out the sleep and the crimson blade that burned itself into another dream. "What's wrong?"

Onua smiled under his mask. "I believe you will want to see this for yourself. Look at the river."

Arching her back to stretch her bare arms, Blake lazily cast her gaze over to where the Toa pointed. At first she didn't notice anything unusual…but then she saw what he meant as it churned and splashed against its banks. What was more, the ground itself seemed to rumble as her Faunus-enhanced hearing picked up a distant roaring - and in that moment, she understood what was coming.

A tidal wave, coming right down the river itself!

Her first instinct was to leap into a tree. Her next instinct was to find some cover. But her ears perked up as she heard something else amidst the roaring of water and the crashing waves, a pair of voices. She didn't recognize the deeper of the two, but the other…the other was one she was very familiar with.

"Whoooooooo! Yeah, this is awesome! Gali, you're the coolest!"

"You have said that seventeen times thus far, friend!"

"Well I'm gonna say it again! You're awesome! Do another backflip!"

"As you wish!"

"WHEEEEEEEEE!"

"…Ruby?" Blake whispered, breath hitching in her chest.

Sure enough, when the massive wave finally came into view, that well-known voice only grew louder alongside its counterpart. Blake caught sight of a figure in blue armor standing on the wall of water, one that looked as tall as Onua even from this distance, as well as a red-caped girl riding on its shoulders. The newcomer surfed on the edge and rode the wave all the way to the temple, at which point it raised its glowing hooks as it leapt to the shore. Twenty feet of water and seafoam hung in the air for a motionless minute before it gently sank back into the river, barely even splashing against the banks as it diminished into little more than a ripple across its surface.

"You were right, little one," said the figure with a soft laugh, "That was far more efficient than merely swimming to Kini-Nui."

"And so much more fun!" cheered the little red reaper. "You were all like, 'Whoa!' And I was all 'Wheeee!' Then you were all like 'Whoooaaaaa!' And then I was like 'Yeaaaaaaaah baby that's what I'm talking about!' Aw that was so cool we gotta do that again sometime!" Then she whirled around with silver eyes full of wonder, which eventually locked with amber and widened with both shock and joy. "Blake?"

The shadowy girl blinked in disbelief. "Ruby?"

"Blake!"

"Ruby!"

"Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!" shrieked Ruby as she streaked towards the Faunus like a hug-seeking missile, latching onto her with enough force to almost knock her over. She grinned and laughed and returned the embrace just as tightly, even picking her smaller team leader up and swinging her around a little. Tears born of every emotion pooled into her eyes as she held onto her friend, just like she'd done upon arriving in Mata Nui. Unlike their arrival, however, Ruby was more than able and willing to hug back this time, and Blake enjoyed every moment of it.

"I…I'm so sorry," she eventually choked. "I tried to hold onto you as we fell, but Neo attacked us and -"

Ruby shushed her friend by nuzzling her face against her bare shoulder. "Shhhhh…it's okay. No apologies. Just hugs right now. Your team leader demands it."

With a noise halfway between a sob and a chuckle, Blake complied and rested her chin against the young rose's head. The warmth of her adorable little team leader flooded into her, crashing against her like an overwhelming wave of relief.

After so many days of being separated, she'd finally found one of her missing teammates.

Now it's just a matter of finding the other one.

One advantage of being taller than her team leader was that she could hug her tightly and still have an unobstructed view of the world around her, as looking over Ruby's head was no trouble at all. So she got to witness Onua approach the new Toa tentatively, bowing before the blue-armored figure with warmth and reverence. Ruby's new friend gave a bow of her own, gazing down at the Toa of Earth with glowing yellow eyes.

"Judging by your appearance and ability to control the waves and the sea," he rumbled, "I presume that you must be Gali, Toa of Water?"

"You presume correctly," affirmed Gali. "Are you the one who activated Kini-Nui?"

"Indeed I am." He put a claw to his chest. "Onua, Toa of Earth, at your service. It is a pleasure to meet you, sister."

Gali smiled behind her mask. "Likewise, my friend. Let us hope that the rest of our brothers do not take very long to arrive."

As if on cue, Blake's Faunus hearing picked up on more sounds. More cheering and whooping reached her feline ears, though this time they stemmed from the trees. Moments later, two green figures emerged from the canopy and landed in the clearing - one was a Toa with emerald armor and a bird-like mask, while the other was a Huntress with darkened skin and hair the color of mint.

"Well would you look at that, big guy?" said Emerald as she dusted herself off and scanned her surroundings. "Guess you ended up meeting the other Toa, after all."

The big green figure clearly wanted to seem annoyed, but he seemed more intrigued than anything. Not as intrigued as Blake, though - she, Ruby, and Yang were the only ones who fell into the void, weren't they? So what was the former thief doing on Mata Nui?

"Wait, you're here too?" Blake finally found her voice as Ruby pulled away to face the new arrivals.

Emerald scoffed and held up her hands defensively. "Well, gee, don't act so disappointed. Sorry that I'm not a big muscly blonde with huge - oof!"

Whatever the green-haired thief was going to say next was lost in a heavy grunt as a blur of red crashed into her. Ruby had clearly decided to move on and give her a welcoming hug now, squeezing tightly and nuzzling her ivory cheek against darkened skin. Emerald looked down at the little rose with a wary glance, then sighed and rolled her eyes as she returned the embrace with one hand and cast a helpless stare towards Blake.

"Is she always this, uh…clingy?" she asked with no enthusiasm in her voice.

Blake smiled. "Mm-hmm. And now that you're on team Good Guys, you're gonna be getting a lot more hugs."

"Oh joy, I can hardly wait…"

If Ruby was bothered by Emerald's sarcasm, she didn't show it. She instead withdrew and held the former thief's hand in both of hers, bouncing up and down excitedly as she spoke.

"Ah man…I wondered if you guys were alright!" Ruby grinned. "Penny said that you and Weiss might be here, but even she wasn't sure if -"

"Wait," Blake cut in. "Penny's here too?"

"Penny's alive?!" interjected Emerald, at almost the same time.

Amber eyes widened. "…Penny died?!"

"Who is Penny?" Onua tilted his head in confusion. "And for that matter, who are you? Are you a friend of Blake's as well?"

"Something like that. Name's Emerald." The former thief gestured to her taller friend. "The overgrown leaf blower here's Lewa. Don't let him start talking, or else he'll never shut up."

"You know you love it, sprout-leaf!" The green-armored figure chuckled, then gave a grand bow to Gali and Onua. "Greetings, earth-brother and water-sister! I am indeed Toa Lewa, the spirit of air and soaring wind-flyer himself! I'd hoped to impress-awe you with a full set of mask-powers before meeting, but it seems Destiny had other plan-ideas."

"Your presence alone is welcome enough, Toa of Air," Onua intoned with a soft laugh. "And it is a pleasure to meet you as well, Emerald. Any friend of Blake's is a friend of mine."

At Emerald's noncommittal shrug, Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry if it sounded like I wasn't happy to see you," said the Faunus. "I am, I'm just…confused too. Why are you here instead of in Vacuo? And what was that about Penny dying?"

The mint-haired girl scowled. "Let me give you a hint. The answer to both those questions starts with a C, rhymes with 'tinder', and if you look up the word 'bitch' in the dictionary, you'll find her stupid face smirking right back at you." Her eyes softened. "But…apparently something else happened with Penny? What's up with that? She's alive?"

Ruby nodded. "She sure is! She helped me and Gali save Ga-Koro!" Then she frowned. "Well…I mean, she's kinda alive. It's, um…complicated…but don't worry! I'll explain everything as soon as the others get here!"

"That's a long time to keep us in the dark, Red," said Emerald with a huff. "I mean, it's not like the other Toa are just gonna show up out of the blue right this second."

Of course, that was more or less exactly what happened.

The air suddenly grew very cold and crisp, to the point that Blake could feel frost form on the tips of her ears. Her Faunus trait perked up once more as a distant sound got her attention: snow crunching under the path of a metal bobsled as it slid at high speeds. She hugged herself for warmth and turned to face the source of the new noise, only to see some kind of localized blizzard rushing towards the clearing. Through the hazy storm she could see a figure in white and silver armor standing on a large round shield, holding a glowing sword in its ivory grip.

"And who might this walking bringer of snow-hail be?" asked Lewa with a tilt of his head.

"With an entrance like that," laughed Onua, "I believe it is safe to assume we have just met Kopaka, Toa of Ice."

"That is a fair assumption, yes." Gali's hooks retracted into her arms, and she put a newly-formed hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Look there. Is that another one of your friends?"

Silver eyes widened with delight. "It sure is! That's Weiss!"

Sure enough, Blake could see a white-ponytailed woman clinging to the front of the shield as it skidded to a halt, spraying snow in everyone's face. The young Schnee dismounted immediately and ran at a full tilt towards her and Ruby, pulling them both into a tight, silent hug that was equally returned. Weiss was missing her coat, and she had a few new scars on her porcelain-like skin, but she looked alive and healthy and full of emotions. Yet she didn't give words to any of them for a good long moment, merely breathing heavily and letting out a few sobs as she embraced her lost friends.

"W-Weiss?" Ruby asked quietly, feeling the heiress shudder under her touch. "Weiss, are you…"

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, you dolt," choked Weiss, her grip around the waists of her friends tightening. "Either of you, for that matter. When I saw you both fall, I…I didn't know what to do. Gods, I…we all thought you were gone forever. I thought I'd be alone all over again…"

Blake slipped one hand under the former heiress's bare shoulder, giving her leverage to nuzzle against her neck. "It's okay. We're here now. You're not alone anymore."

Ruby slid both hands around Weiss's delicate waistline. "Yeah…I promised I wouldn't leave you, didn't I? We all did. And we're not going anywhere you don't want us to. You can't get rid of us that easily, Weiss Schnee."

Weiss let out a bitter laugh as she rested her forehead against two separate bare shoulders. "I don't want you to go anywhere else ever again. Not without me."

The other Toa watched their reunion in silence for a moment, then approached the silver-armored figure to introduce themselves. Kopaka made no move to reciprocate their greetings, only giving his name and answering questions with a nod or a shake of his head. Emerald stood off to the side, kicking the dirt awkwardly and rubbing her arms as one group reunited with tender embraces and the other gathered together for the first time.

After a moment of silent hugging, Weiss rolled her eyes. "Get in here, Em."

"Hm?" She put her hands up defensively once again. "Oh, no, I'm good. Really, I don't need to be part of your team hu-uuuugh!"

That was all the former thief had time to say before a glyph pushed her towards the girls, at which point Ruby reached out and pulled her into the group hug. Emerald scowled and groaned, but eventually relented, wrapping her arms around the pair and pressing her front against Weiss's back. A small shiver and sigh escaped Weiss's lips, and she nuzzled into Ruby's shoulder (who returned the gesture).

"…you just wanted another warm body, didn't you?" asked Emerald as she and Blake finally withdrew.

"It is so cold traveling with Kopaka you have no idea."

Ruby giggled and wrapped her cloak around both her own bare shoulders as well as Weiss's. "Well here! Let me warm you right up! Sorry if it's still wet, hanging out with Gali kinda means being around water all the time…"

Weiss's face went almost as red as the cape that embraced her, and she let out another contented sigh. (Was Blake imagining things, or did she hear a small moan in there? No. She must have just been imagining things.)

"It's perfect, Ruby," breathed the young Schnee. "Just like you." (Nope. She definitely was not imagining things.)

The little rose blushed and chuckled. "Aw, Weiss…"

After drinking in her partner's warmth for another moment, Weiss reluctantly withdrew and stepped away. She pulled a long black sword off her back - one that Blake recognized instantly, for it had been at her side for many years.

"Here," said Weiss as she handed Gambol Shroud's other half to its rightful owner. "Figured you might want this back. I had to use some of the ammo to fight Cinder before I fell, and I needed the rest to stop a Rahi the other day. Our Dust is more efficient here, so what I've got in my belt should last for weeks if we use it carefully - just let me know if you need more, either for using raw or to make bullets."

Blake accepted her sword with a reverent bow, reuniting it with its cleaver-sheath after so many days of being separated. The two swords slid over each other and locked together with a click, and just the act of sheathing her sword again brought a sense of relief to her mind.

"Thanks, Weiss," said the shadowy feline. "Don't worry about paying me back with ammo or Dust - I've still got plenty of both myself. And I hope she served you well, while she was in your hands."

"She's a fine weapon," agreed the lost heiress with a smile. "But…I think I'll stick with just one sword for now. I'll need a lot more practice before I can dual-wield as effectively as Winter."

"Oh! That reminds me!" Ruby suddenly piped up and rummaged through the seaweed satchel that hung from her shoulder, somehow pulling out a jungle-green revolver with hidden sickle blades. "One of the Ga-Matoran fished this out of the water not too long after we arrived. She couldn't figure out what it was, so she gave it to me just before Gali and I left the other day. Poor thing must've fallen alongside us and landed in the ocean! Hope the rust isn't an issue…I cleaned her up the best I could, but I didn't want to take your weapon apart without your permission."

Emerald took the other copy of Thief's Respite with an amused smile, then hummed as she examined the weapon. "Hmm…nothing a good scrubbing can't fix. Thanks, Red."

Ruby grinned. "Anytime! Now let's see…Blake's with Onua. Emerald found Lewa. Weiss teamed up with Kopaka. And Penny's traveling with Takua, one of the Matoran. So the only one who's still missing is…"

The sound of more marching footsteps caught Blake's attention. Her ears turned once again towards the source followed by the rest of her, and hope surged into her chest until it hurt to breathe. Whether it was fate or something else, the last member of Team RWBY chose that exact moment to wander out of the trees alongside a fierce-looking Toa, one with a sword of flames and armor as red as a roaring blaze. But the feline Faunus wasn't interested in the newest elemental warrior - she was far more enticed by the head full of glowing golden hair, the rippling muscles under soft tanned skin, the lilac eyes that brightened with recognition as soon as they met her own…

She couldn't contain herself any longer.

Blake lunged forward and tackled the blonde brawler to the ground, staring down at her now-prone partner with a thousand emotions flooding into her amber eyes. Her legs hugged the woman's hips, her hands pinned down her broad shoulders, and she could feel the fiery Huntress's heart pounding under her touch. Two hands - one mechanical and the other warm - reached to clasp her around her waist, trailing up her sides in a way that made her skin tingle and her spine shiver in delight.

Her partner, the golden-haired woman she loved more than the sun itself, seemed to wilt under her tearful gaze. "Blake…"

"Yang," she choked, her body wracked with emotions. "You're…you're alive. You're here." One hand clasped her cheek, and she leaned against the soft palm. "You're okay."

The blonde brawler chuckled breathlessly. "I'm better than okay. I'm with you now." Then she grinned a devious grin. "So, um…is this the part where we share a 'thank the gods you're alive' kiss? Or am I totally misreading the mood here?"

She managed a dry chuckle before she dove down to do just that.

The clearing went dead silent as Blake and Yang's lips crashed against each other. Ruby covered her mouth and blushed, unable to contain the small squeal of delight that escaped her lips. Emerald scoffed and rolled her eyes, fidgeting with her hands as she turned away to give the pair some privacy (and to conceal her own longing gaze). The Toa all tilted their heads in confusion, intrigue, or both as they tried to understand the odd display of affection in front of them, one that didn't seem to stop anytime soon.

Only Weiss didn't seem all that shocked at the kiss.

"Hmph, well. It's about time."

Chapter Text

"Just a little further, Pebble. Shouldn't be long now."

Pohatu's steps through the woodlands were deliberate and careful, his wide bronze-armored frame struggling to walk and weave around a maze of trees and fallen logs. His movements were further challenged by the odd organic creature that sat splayed out across his shoulders, settling comfortably into the groove between his neck and backplate while sewing up a new pair of boots for herself out of scavenged leather and cloth. The stranger may not have said much in their travels together - or anything at all, really - but the Toa of Stone could feel annoyance and doubt in her gaze without even looking back at her.

He couldn't explain how he knew where he was going. He just…felt it in his gut. An instinct.

Stone wasn't usually an impulsive element. Like him, it was slow to change and slower still to make up its mind. Yet in that unyielding nature was a strength and stability that others could build on, an inexhaustible well of resolve he could tap into at a moment's notice. Hidden within the crust of Mata Nui were mios of loose rocks and boulders, and with just a little bit of thought and guidance, he could shape it to his will. It was a comforting thought, having such a physical tether to his element at all times - and Turaga Onewa, leader of Po-Koro, had told him that so long as he followed the stone, it would never lead him astray. And right now, it was leading him through the woods to a temple called Kini-Nui in the center of the island; he had to trust his path was the correct one as he navigated through difficult and unfamiliar terrain.

To think the Toa of Stone's greatest opponent so far would be the wetlands, he thought to himself with a small chuckle. Then again, I could hardly imagine myself being any other element. And I'd rather navigate the woods than deal with another of those Rahi on my own again…

Pohatu cast a glance back at his passenger, watching as she pulled one of her boots over an armorless foot. If he was the embodiment of stone, then she reminded him of glass: brittle and delicate yet beautifully intricate, bearing deceptively sharp edges when shattered. Her power was quite unlike his in that it seemed to manifest out of thin air at her very will, forming into prisms that bent light around her in dazzlingly complicated ways. These illusions served as her primary means of communicating with him, and while they were nowhere near as strong as stone or other solids, they were far more durable than they looked. Hopefully reuniting with others like her would make communicating easier - organic creatures like her must have had a thousand different social and language cues that he was entirely blind to.

There is so much I simply don't know about these strangers from another world, he admitted. Onewa said nothing of such creatures, only that he saw other stars fall alongside our Toa Canisters. I wonder what happened on their planet to bring them here? Did Makuta's machinations extend to their world as well? Or were they facing a shadow of equal threat?…

He walked in silence for a few moments longer, letting the sound of his footsteps speak loud enough for them both. After he wove through a tight-knit group of trees and nearly stumbled, his passenger looked down with more irritation than usual. She snapped her fingers, and took on the appearance of the silver-eyed creature before shifting back.

"Look, stranger, I know you're eager to see your friends," said Pohatu with a beleaguered sigh. "But these woods are difficult to navigate for one as large and flat-footed as me. I'm built for racing across the open desert, not tip-toeing around plants and trees. I'm already going as quickly as I can."

The figure rolled her eyes, then snapped her fingers yet again. A copy of his Kanohi Kakama appeared over her face, then vanished in a shower of mirror shards.

"Hah. Believe me, if I felt comfortable using the Mask of Speed to plow through the woods, we'd be there already. But there's no telling what I'd run into - at best, I'd be picking splinters out of my armor for weeks, and at worst something larger will be doing the same with bits of me. So if we want to get to the temple safely I must be cautious, at least for now. I may be the Toa of Stone, but even the toughest rock can still crumble…and I'd rather not fall to pieces so soon after my arrival, if it's all the same to you."

His passenger seemed placated by the explanation, though her annoyance didn't completely fade. She made a show of stretching and yawning silently, then kicked back in her little perch and dangled her newly-made boots over his shoulder. With a soft chuckle he instinctively shifted his weight a little bit to avoid throwing her off, and he was once more left to his thoughts.

As he trekked through the woods, the Toa of Stone could only hope that his brothers and the stranger's friends would be a little more…normal.

"Whoaaaaa…that's so cool!"

The right half of Kopaka's vision was filled with three very blurry Ruby Roses, giving him several overlapping perspectives of her face hovering a breath away from his lenses. The Toa of Ice gave no reaction other than a long beleaguered sigh, making no move to brush the Huntress away while she climbed all over him and gushed about his biomechanical features. Even when she put her hands against two of the three ports in his visor and began rotating them in their socket, he took it all with a stoic annoyance that not even he could rationalize. This girl meant no harm, even if she had no regard for personal space - and although she was annoying and quite handsy, her enthusiasm and joy were almost infectious.

Almost.

This one is…pushy, yet earnest, he mulled to himself as his lenses got twisted once more. According to Weiss, Ruby is the team's leader and her own partner, in addition to being one of the fiercest warriors from her world. Perhaps Remnant has different standards for leadership, if a child like this is the one in charge? Or perhaps she did something to earn her title, a feat that has gained the respect of all those who follow her…

"Oh my goodness…" cooed the silver-eyed girl. "It's like an entire little galaxy of gears and lenses in there. Ohhhh man, if only I'd brought my micrometer - I could spend all week measuring every little itty bitty gear in those sockets!"

The Toa of Ice raised an eyebrow under his mask, and concluded that Remnant really was just that weird.

"I have so many questions!" Ruby's voice was excited now, and she was talking much faster. "How do you control the lenses? Are they part of your mask? Can they be used separately from the mask's power itself? Does it hurt when I turn them manually? If the other Toa have to find their own copy of this mask, would theirs have the lenses too? Can you see through walls with them? Can you see stuff that's far away? Can you see me?!"

Kopaka huffed as he tried to keep track of all the questions, and in what order they were asked.

"I control them with my mind, the lenses are built into the Kanohi Akaku, yes, no, I presume they would, yes, yes, and I wish I didn't."

"Amazing!" said the Huntress in a hushed, awed whisper.

Weiss sighed and finally stepped forward, tugging on her friend's cloak. "Ruby, come on. Stop bothering Kopaka."

Ruby grinned as she looked back. "Psh, whaaaat, no, I'm not bothering Kopaka! He's not bothered at all!" Then she looked back. "Are you bothered right now?"

"Yes." The word came out without a moment's hesitation.

The silver-eyed girl looked slightly crestfallen, but nonetheless came down after another pull from Weiss. "Fiiiiiine. Let's go see what Tahu's up to! I wanna check out his fire sword next!"

And with that, she disappeared in a flash of rose petals, earning another groan from Weiss as she moved to follow her fast and flighty friend.

Now that he was no longer forced to stare at every single disgusting pore in the human's soft ivory flesh, Kopaka took a moment to stare across Kini-Nui's courtyard, where all the Toa and Huntresses had gathered in response to a mysterious summons. Along the trees he could see a Huntress - one with short green hair and darker skin than the rest - gathering logs and berries alongside Lewa, ducking under wide swings of his axe and berating him each time the Toa of Air nearly took her head off. A blur of rose petals swept past them both and snagged the pieces of fallen timber before reappearing closer to the massive temple, arranging the logs in a pile right at Tahu's feet. The red-armored Toa of Fire looked down at Ruby in equal parts annoyance and surprise, before he nodded and raised his sword. With little more than a spark, the pile of wood erupted into a roaring fire, one that grew with each new log added to the blaze. While the silver-eyed Huntress squealed in delight, Tahu narrowed his gaze. It was as if he was almost…disappointed with how small the fire was, even though it soon grew half as tall as he was.

This Fire Toa seems full of hot air and bluster, he thought to himself. He has an arrogance about him, carrying himself like a Toa who assumes power and authority without proving himself worthy of either. Will he be prepared for the heat of the battles to come? Or will he burn out quickly, like a dying ember?

He next looked over to Onua, who was busy engaging the golden-haired Huntress known as Yang in some sort of contest of strength. The Toa of Earth knelt and rested his elbow against a chest-high stone slab, pushing one massive claw against the smaller woman's mechanical arm as she pushed back with equal force. Kopaka's observations of the black-armored figure revealed that he spoke less than the others, content to let others do the talking while he simply listened. Did that subdued exterior conceal a busy mind, or an empty one? He still wasn't sure.

The black-haired Huntress - Blake - stood close to both her Toa and her teammate, the strange appendages on her head flickering as she watched the contest. When Onua proved himself stronger, she bumped her fist against his own in celebration; when Yang slumped back with a defeated groan, she was quick to swoop in and press her maskless lips against her neck. The act seemed to make the blonde brawler change colors in an instant - despair turned to euphoria, and she soon pulled away from the Toa of Earth to engage in more of that…strange mouth-touching behavior. Kopaka didn't understand what they were doing, nor did he wish to. Organics would be organics, after all, and he was less interested in the mechanics of courtship and far more interested in what it meant about the Huntress pair.

From what I can tell these two seem…dependent on each other, mused the Toa of Ice. Their hardships have brought them closer together, no matter how often circumstance drives them apart. He furrowed his brow. Admirable, I suppose…but should one fall and never rise again, what would happen to the other?

Shifting his focus back to the Toa of Air, he watched as Lewa somersaulted and twisted in mid-air, landing on one hand while a gust of air blew out of his other palm. Ruby cheered and clapped, Onua nodded in approval, while Emerald merely sighed and rolled her eyes. With another handspring Lewa leapt and landed on his feet, giving a deep bow to the gathered audience.

So much energy, but it blows out of him in all directions; as unpredictable as the wind he claims to control. Kopaka scoffed silently. He's unfocused and easily distracted…hardly someone I'd trust with my life in a tough situation.

He next looked to Emerald, who was struggling to scoop a pile of berries into her arms. At Ruby's questioning glance she shook her head, seemingly insisting she could carry the load herself. When she was proven wrong - twice in fact - she finally relented, allowing the smaller Huntress to load some of the berries into the red cloak and help move them over to the growing bonfire.

She carries the weight of her sins and past deeds, both real and imagined, reasoned the Toa of Ice. Misfortune has shaped and forged her like a diamond in the rough, bringing forth her true inner self when exposed to the abrasiveness of an uncaring world. I wonder, though…is she truly ready to let go of her past to embrace the future? Have the others truly forgiven her for all the wrongs she's committed? Can they?

Kopaka finally looked over to the river, where Weiss was spearing half-mechanical fish alongside Gali. Now this was a puzzle he couldn't solve on his own, aggravating as it was to admit. Unlike everyone else, he simply couldn't get a read on the Toa of Water; she seemed to flow between roles as easily as the waves she commanded. What he could glean about her was that she was very wise, perhaps wiser than all her brothers put together, yet she was modest about her strengths and forthcoming about her weaknesses. If there was anyone he trusted to lead the Toa, it would have been her…and yet, she seemed to have no interest in taking charge, only in keeping the peace between Toa and Huntress.

An odd group of Toa, to be certain, he finished as he crossed his arms, and an even stranger group of Huntresses. If Mata Nui really chose individuals like these to save the island and vanquish Makuta…well, let it never be said that Great Spirits don't have a wicked sense of humor. Or at the very least, a hilarious lack of one.

"Well now…doesn't this seem cheerful? We must be in the right place, Pebble!"

His attention was drawn to a bronze armored figure emerging from the trees, one who resembled him and the other Toa - albeit with a wider lower frame and strong, powerful legs. The other Toa soon turned to look at him as well, followed by the Huntresses. Tahu narrowed his eyes in suspicion, Weiss raised an eyebrow, and Blake and Yang moved ever-so-slightly towards each other.

"And so the sixth among our number finally arrives," intoned Onua with a smile. "You must be my elemental kin, the one who controls the land above as I do below."

"Certainly took your slow-time arriving!" Lewa cackled. "What's the matter? Lose your way-path in the forest, rock-breaker?"

"Brother, please." Gali chided the Toa of Air, then gleamed behind her mask. "Regardless of how quick your arrival was, it is welcome all the same."

The newcomer bowed deeply and respectfully. "Thank you, sister. My brothers, please forgive my lateness. As you no doubt have guessed by now I am indeed Pohatu, the mighty Toa of Stone. As for my talkative friend here, she is - huh?"

Pohatu suddenly looked around in confusion, orange optics darting back and forth behind his angular mask.

"Is something wrong?" asked Ruby, approaching the Toa of Stone with a worried, earnest smile.

"Ah, nothing to worry about little one," he answered reassuringly. "It's just…strange, is all. I had another one of you…smaller creatures on my back just a moment ago, one who was very insistent on reuniting with you. Where could she have gone?"

Emerald's eyes shot up in alarm. "Another one like us? Wait, you can't mean -!"

It was at that moment that a glint of light at the edge of the clearing caught Kopaka's vision. A sunbeam that bent at an odd angle, a leaf that seemed too close to the one next to it. There was something hiding in the trees.

Something dangerous.

Before he could even think about drawing his sword, the ground under his feet trembled and came alive.

The time for her vengeance was almost at hand.

She waited in the shadows of the tree line, safely under the cover of both the natural foliage and an Illusion that kept her out of sight. The hidden sword within Hush's handle was already unscrewed and ready to be drawn at a moment's notice, its sharpened tip able to slip between the gaps in Aura, armor, and bone with a singular fatal thrust. In the moments since her arrival she'd already studied the terrain, mapped out every possible exit and angle of approach, and positioned herself right behind the blissfully unaware red-cloaked child that had taken the one thing she loved from this world.

This was it. After so many months of planning and scheming, she was ready.

That stupid little rose was finally ripe for pruning, and with one fatal stroke…Roman Torchwick would be avenged at long last.

She drew the blade from Hush's handle and ran towards her mark, dropping the Illusion and focusing Aura into her weapon as she prepared to strike -

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE.

And suddenly the ground shook underfoot as a ten-foot-high wall of stone rose to block her path, followed by three identical barriers that formed a box around and behind her. Her eyes widened when she realized she'd been trapped, then narrowed as she crouched low to make her escape and finish her mission. Aura flowed and pooled into her boots as she prepared to leap over the newest obstacle, but a sharp and quick blow to her head broke her concentration. Soundless snarls escaped her lips as the rocky walls themselves seemed to come alive in flurries of punches, arms and fists extending from the granite surface and surging forward to pummel the cornered assassin.

The thin blade of her sword shattered in half under the force of a glancing blow, leaving her with only the parasol section of Hush to defend herself with. She managed as best she could by using the canopy as a shield to deflect the stony arms, shattering them with Aura-infused kicks in retaliation. But for every attacking appendage that was smashed back into rubble, three more took its place - and considering how they struck from literally every direction, there was no way she could guard against all of them. She twisted and contorted her body in painful ways to avoid the flying fists, a feat which became even harder as the walls slowly began to close in on her. Her space was running out, her Aura was whittling away with each fist smashing into her, and even getting hit once left her vulnerable to seven successive strikes before she could regain her footing.

She wanted out.

She needed out.

Neo pulsed her Semblance and slammed her tattered parasol against the ground, concentrating her power into creating an Illusion of solid glass under her feet. It burned more of her precious Aura to harden her tricks of light into tangible objects, but the extra cost was a sacrifice she was willing to make if it meant a quick getaway. By her command the platform raised and extended into a crystalline spire, giving her a lift out of the prison of rocky fists.

Freedom and vengeance were just one jump away -

CRASH!

- only to be cruelly ripped from her grasp at the last minute.

A dozen arms of stone attacked all at once, striking the base of her tower and smashing it into trillions of glass shards. With nothing keeping her aloft she fell into the waiting grasp of the flying fists below, all of which were reaching towards her like the arms of an angry mob hungry for blood. She barely had a chance to gasp in shock before they latched onto her limbs and yanked her back into the box - and as soon as she hit the ground, the side walls slammed together suddenly and forcefully like a high-pressure trash compactor.

CRUNCH!

A silent scream of pain escaped her lips.

Her Aura shattered under several tons of rocks and rubble crushing her all at once, fizzling out and floating away in a shower of sprinkles. Her head spun as stars exploded across her vision, and her entire body felt crushed and limp as the sides of her box drew back into place. The earthen barriers weren't done with her, however; the hands grabbed her roughly and lifted her back up before the walls themselves traveled down their length, weaving together and hardening into a tight coil of stone that pinned her arms to her sides and locked her legs together.

The bound, defenseless Neo tipped over and fell painfully against the ground, the target of her vengeance staring down at her with a bewildered expression that morphed into quiet rage.

"…you." Silver eyes narrowed. "Of course it was you, Neo. Who else would it be?"

She grit her teeth and strained against her stony bonds. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit! The stupid kid was right in her grasp! Her vengeance was literally inches away! All she needed to do was free herself, get Hush out from between her ribs, and plunge the shattered sword right through that stupid little face! She was not going to die here! She was not going to be denied her revenge by some big dumb -!

WHAM.

A heavy bronze boot suddenly slammed down inches away from her head, and her entire body reflexively seized up in fear. Mismatched eyes trailed up along the leg to find the person it belonged to, and she was rewarded with the sight of a very angry Pohatu staring down at her. His usual jovial nature or charm was gone, and in its place was a scowl that his mask failed to hide - one that was as firm and unyielding as the very element he commanded. The rocks against her skin crunched and crackled slightly, putting pressure against bruises and minor fractures that sent a wave of pain across her nerves. Neo knew that if he wanted to, the Toa of Stone could easily crush her like an empty bottle; all he needed was a reason, and she had zero intention of giving him one.

"Seems you haven't been entirely honest with me, Pebble," he growled with orange eyes glaring daggers down at her. "Suppose you thought you could pull a fast one on old Pohatu, did you? 'Oh, he's just a big talkative oaf with a bunch of rocks in his head, he'll listen to any sob story and do whatever you want with no questions asked.' Is that what you were thinking?"

Neo gulped, then shrugged slightly with her shoulders.

"I thought as much." Pohatu leaned down until his mask was inches away from her exposed, trembling face. "Listen and listen well, Neo. I may not be the sharpest rock in the quarry…but do not take me for a fool. Pull one wrong move, make any attempt at escape, and every stone and boulder for kios around will emerge from the land to bury you in rubble. Do we have an understanding, little one?"

The humiliated assassin took a shallow breath, one cut short by fear and the pressure against her chest, and nodded tightly. Pohatu returned the gesture and rose back to his full height, giving her a chance to look over at the assembled Huntresses. The blonde one - Yang - was already raising her fists, while the Faunus Blake drew the blades off her back. The Schnee had one hand on her sword's hilt, Emerald's fingers hovered over the trigger of her revolver, and even the other figures raised their weapons and pointed them defensively at her. Despite their attacking stances, no one made a move.

The green-armored giant was the first to break the sudden silence with a sharp laugh. "I think you just might be my new favorite brother, rock-breaker!" He turned to Emerald. "Now, who might this little party-crasher be? Is she another friend of yours, sprout-leaf?"

Emerald scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Friend? Please. Even when I was still following Cinder around like a little lost puppy, Neopolitan and I were never friends. That little psychopath was always watching from the shadows, spying on us for her sleaze ball of a boss. I kept waiting for her to stab us in the back when we weren't looking…but I guess she's shifted her murderous focus to Ruby over there."

"She's been a thorn in our side ever since Beacon," said Yang with a grimace. "I've still got scars from our little scuffle underneath Mountain Glenn, when she kicked my ass on a train and tried to kill me. Been itching for a chance to return the favor."

"Not to mention she's the whole reason we're even here in the first place," spat Weiss. "The fight was going just fine until she showed up and tried to gut Ruby when no one was watching. Yang fell into the void trying to protect her sister, we were suddenly down a Huntress…and then it all spiraled out of control from there. Us being on Mata Nui, and Cinder's victory in Atlas? It's all her fault."

Well now that just sounded like projection.

The red-armored figure nodded in understanding. "I see. If she was a threat to you in your world, then she is also a threat to this one." He raised his flaming sword. "One that we cannot afford to let exist any longer."

"Tahu!" The blue-clad giant gasped. "You know not of which you speak! This is a person, just like the Huntresses! Slaying the Rahi beasts as needed is one thing, but this - we are to be the heroes of this island, not its executioners!"

"We're also supposed to protect the lives of those under our care," intoned the figure in silver-white armor. "Threats such as this one must be dealt with, one way or another." He drew his own broadsword off his back. "And I propose that we show this 'Neopolitan' that justice on Mata Nui can be very…cold."

The trapped assassin rolled her eyes.

The squat black figure with claws for hands stepped forward. "Stay your swords, brothers. I do not believe that the judgement of this woman should fall to us. Remember, she came to Mata Nui from the same world as Blake and the other Huntresses. They know more about her than we do, as well as how dangerous she is - we should allow them to decide her fate." He looked over to the Faunus girl. "Is that sufficient?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. We'll handle this." Blake shifted her gaze from the trapped Neo to the red-cloaked murderer. "Looks like Pohatu broke her Aura before binding her up like this, so she's not going anywhere…and she wouldn't get very far with all those injuries anyways. We might never get a chance like this again, Ruby - should we deal with her now, while she's vulnerable?"

Neo squeezed her eyes shut. She knew what "deal with" meant, and she didn't want to look in her killer's eyes as they -

"No. No one else dies today."

…what?

She dared to open her eyelids just a crack to see everyone looking at Ruby with shock and bewilderment. The silver-eyed girl ignored their aghast stares as she walked right up to the bound assassin, getting down on one knee as she loomed over the woman who'd just tried to murder her in cold blood. She looked up and searched Ruby's gaze for some kind of hostile intent or anger, but she found nothing of the sort.

Only pity.

"…I don't know what Cinder told you to rile you up like this," she said calmly after a quiet moment, "but I promise it's nothing but lies. You were manipulated, Neo. You were manipulated by a woman who only knows how to twist other people into doing her dirty work. Just like Emerald. Just like Yang. Just like all of us. And I don't care what you think of me - I did not kill Roman Torchwick. He died to the Grimm, not me. But even if he hadn't, even if I was the one who landed the final blow, I wouldn't be responsible for his death - his fate was already sealed the moment he cast his lot with that monster. Cinder Fall threw him away like a pawn as soon as he stopped being useful to her, just like she did you. He took a gamble…and he lost."

Neo's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in anger as she squirmed under stone. No. No! Lies! More damn lies! Ruby had to be lying! Just like Cinder -

…

…gods dammit.

She was an idiot. Of course Cinder had lied to save her own skin back in the Spiders' Den. That's all that stupid bitch knew how to do! She wanted to believe that the kid in front of her was doing the same thing, but she'd observed this dumb little rose for long enough to know that she was a terrible fibber. Besides…it lined up with something else that gnawed at her. Something that had weighed on her for ages now, ever since she sailed away from an Atlesian airship in the dead of night, watching as the ship that had the one man who'd ever cared for her exploded into a fireball.

No. This had weighed on her for even longer than that.

Look, I know you're worried about this deal. Yeah, I'll admit, it's a bit of a crooked hand, even by my standards. But if we play our cards right, we'll be living like kings and queens. Vale, Mistral, hell, even all of Remnant - it'll be a nice pretty little snow globe we can hold in the palm of our hands. Wouldn't that be nice?

Her lower lip began to tremble. Why was that voice coming back to her mind now, of all times?

Ruby's eyes softened. "He meant a lot to you, didn't he? I'm not sorry he's gone…but I am sorry you lost him. Trust me, I know what you're going through. I…I've lost people, too, people who are important to me. We've all lost someone like that - someone who was a mother, a mentor, a friend, or even all three. But instead of focusing on that anger, and letting that grief blind us…we chose something else. We chose life. And maybe now it's time for you to do the same."

Neo thrashed under her bonds with renewed vigor, fighting the stones as hard as she fought to keep the tears at bay. She didn't want pity, dammit! She wanted blood! Ruby's! Cinder's! Salem's! Anyone's! It just wasn't fair that everyone else got to grow and live while Roman Torchwick was laying dead in an unmarked grave!

And yet…another memory of her surrogate father rose to the front of her mind, implying that Roman knew his life would end exactly like that.

Listen, kiddo…there might come a time when I'm not around anymore. You gotta promise me you'll be strong enough to survive out there on your own, okay? The real world isn't like a fairy tale - the real world is cold, harsh, and doesn't care about spirit. So if the world punches you in the face, you gotta punch it right back. It's an eye for an eye world out there, kiddo - it's hell, but it's the only one there is, so might as well make the most of it. Okay?

The silver-eyed Huntress carefully lowered a hand, lightly setting it against Neo's hair. She reacted violently with a snap of her jaws, trying and failing to bite off a thumb for posterity's sake. Rather than leap back in anger and shock, Ruby just pulled her hand back slowly with an equally solemn shake of her head, sighing softly.

"…I wonder what he'd think, seeing you like this."

Neo snarled silently. How dare she lecture her like this? She had no right to do so! She was just a stupid kid who didn't know how the world worked!

Then again…what did that make her? Hadn't she been one, once upon a time?

"Growl at me all you want," intoned Ruby with firm yet quiet conviction. "But that doesn't change what happened, and it doesn't make the truth any less real. You might be able to use your illusions to cover yourself up…but you can't hide from yourself. And without your Aura…you can't even do that anymore, can you?"

The red-cloaked Huntress pulled out her Scroll and opened it to its largest possible size, toggling the front-facing camera before holding it in front of Neo's face. She instantly squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head, afraid to see herself as she was. As she'd become. But eventually curiosity got the better of her, making her peer through one puffy eye to see her reflection…

And she immediately regretted it.

Gone were the smooth gentle curves of a small yet well-toned assassin with hidden muscles and creamy ivory skin. In its place was a haggard and withered skeletal frame, with flesh marked by scars on the outside and bones yearning to burst out from the inside. Clothes were torn and ripped to shreds, blood gushed even from the shallowest of cuts, and a swelling mass of black and blue overtook nearly half her face. Her hair, once a vibrant mix of chocolate brown and strawberry pink, was now a faded mess of colors as her natural black roots reclaimed the rest of her locks. Soft puffy cheeks were now gaunt and angular, lime-green eyeliner was smeared messily in tear-like streaks, and her mismatched eyes were both red with blood and stress. She realized that she'd been so obsessed with vengeance she'd foregone any sort of food and all but the bare minimum amount of water - and the lack of nutrition and self-care was taking its toll on her.

"How much longer do you think you can do this, Neopolitan?" asked the silver-eyed Huntress even as the assassin stared at herself in horror. "Did you really think that you could just kill me, and everything would magically get better? Even if you got your revenge…even if I died by your hands…then what? Do you think my team - my friends - would just let you walk away? That the Toa would let someone as dangerous as you loose on their island? And even if you managed to get back to Remnant, what would you do? Would you go after Cinder next? Salem? The Grimm? Where does it end? What are you hoping to get out of this?"

Neo squeezed her mismatched eyes shut as she tried to block out Ruby's words. She didn't care! She didn't care about any of that! She just wanted…

She just wanted…

Her thrashing stopped as she realized she didn't know what she wanted anymore. The one thing she truly wanted, more than anything…she knew it was impossible. She wanted Roman back. She wanted her old life back. She wanted to keep lying, stealing, cheating, and surviving, just like he always did.

But all of that was gone now. Gone forever.

As if she sensed that the emotional barriers were torn to shreds, Ruby leaned further in until she was close enough to kiss her. If she wasn't utterly defeated, she could have - and would have - locked her jaws around the stupid kid's throat, and they both knew that. But her head didn't even rise a fraction of an inch as her most hated enemy whispered in her ears, deafening her with one final plea.

"Please, just…stop this insanity, Neopolitan. You know he's not coming back, no matter how many more lives you take. So stop targeting who you think is responsible. Stop coming after me and my friends. And above all else, stop killing yourself for the sake of a dead man. Start living for him instead."

And there it was. The final blow in a decisive battle of words. Her words were as sharp and twisted as a dagger in the ribs, except a thousand times more painful. The dam of tears Neo had spent months upon months building up ruptured and cracked, before it all came crumbling down as she soundlessly, silently wept.

Ruby lingered mere inches away for a few more moments, clearly taking no joy in the emotional breakdown she'd just inflicted. After confirming that the tears flowing down the assassin's face were genuine, she stood up and looked at Pohatu with a mournful gaze.

"You can let her go now," she said, wiping away a few tears of her own.

The Toa of Stone raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "You're certain, little one? What if she attacks again?"

"That's up to her at this point," answered the silver-eyed Huntress as she sighed and glanced down at Neo. "Isn't it?"

Pohatu hummed, then waved his hand over the bonds. Stone and rock crumbled away into dust at the gesture, but she barely even noticed that. The world around her was filtered through blinding tears and dust, and no matter how many times she blinked to clear her vision, more of both clung to her eyes.

She rose to her feet, clutching her sore arm with one hand and gripping a mangled Hush with the other. Her knees trembled, her breath hitched, and her throat felt raw and ragged like she'd attempted to scream for hours. Though she was blinded by grief and grit, she could feel the stares of six Toa and five Huntresses bearing down on her, watching her cautiously for whatever she was going to do next.

With a silent shudder and a violent sob, Neopolitan ran away.

To Ruby's immense relief, the hours after the assassin's retreat were much less stressful.

After a delicious (if alarmingly metallic) lunch of roasted fish and berries on wooden skewers, the Huntresses lazed around in the grassy knoll surrounding Kini-Nui and talked amongst themselves. The Toa similarly stood in a circular formation not too far away, sharing all the info they'd gleaned from their individual journeys. Stories about their own experiences were likewise swapped between the girls, and while Ruby had the most to share about Penny, Takua, and how their mutual friend was alive and well, she still listened intently as her friends recapped their adventures.

Eventually, after everyone's tale had been told, Yang found her voice first.

"So it sounds like we've all had a run-in with those Rahi things so far." She chuckled humorlessly with a shake of her head. "Man…never thought I'd see the day where I'd miss the Grimm. I'd take those freaks of nature over the monsters here in a heartbeat, if I had a choice."

"I know what you mean," agreed Blake, leaning into the blonde brawler. "Even the small ones have more armor than a Boarbatusk. And there's just no end to them…they just keep coming, no matter how many of them you strike down. Makuta must have been thorough in his efforts to turn them under his control - feels like anything with claws, teeth, or stingers answers to him and him alone."

"Not to mention that my Semblance doesn't even work on the big ones," added Emerald with a sigh. "Even the Grimm used to fall for my hallucinations, to the point where I could pretty much fight them without ever being seen. The fact that I can't do that here means one of two things: either these ugly bastards don't have enough of a mind for me to trick…or Makuta's mental link with them can easily overpower mine."

"If it was one of the Rahi under his control, I'd say it's definitely the latter," mused Ruby. "But it's not all bad news! Gali and I managed to figure out a pretty important weakness. You know how almost everything on this island wears a mask?"

The girls all nodded.

"Well, the ones worn by Makuta's Rahi are infected with some of his power, and serve as signal relays for his commands. Knock it off their face - or wherever the mask is - and they go right back to being nice and harmless!"

"Well, that's good to know," said Weiss with a nod. "Trust me, some of these things are tough as nails. It took a lot of effort and more Dust than I'd like to kill that bull - if we can neutralize bigger ones like them more efficiently, that'd be great for us."

"Oh, that reminds me." Ruby's silver eyes looked at her partner. "You said you got the killing blow on your Rahi, right? Does that mean you can summon it now? You know, using that super-cool Semblance of yours?"

The heiress paused, then hummed. "I…don't actually know. I haven't had a chance to try it yet. Most of my Aura these past few days has been spent keeping myself warm…especially after that stupid bull tore up my coat. That doesn't leave a whole lot left in the tank for experimenting, as it turns out."

"Well, then here."

Everyone turned in surprise to see Emerald untying her checkered jacket from her waist, pulling out ammo for Thief's Respite and handing the coat over to the former scion.

"What?" asked the former thief in response to all of Team RWBY balking at her. "I can be generous when I want to be."

Yang chuckled. "Who are you, and what have you done with Emerald Sustrai?"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up blondie." Emerald rolled her eyes and pouted. "Look, it's less about me being nice and more about us being practical. The only ones of us who still have their coats at this point is me and Blake. Your girlfriend doesn't have any pockets in her pants - she keeps all her ammo and stuff in her own coat, so she can't hand hers off to the princess. And considering that I'll probably be spending most of my time with Jungle Boy over there in the tropics, I won't be needing my jacket - so I might as well give it to someone going someplace cold. Y'know?"

Weiss gave a soft laugh of her own. "You don't have to justify your spontaneous act of kindness, Emerald. Thank you. I appreciate the…wait."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Weiss? What - oh. Oh my goodness." She covered her smirk.

The white-haired Huntress pulled out a very hefty-looking brown leather pouch, glaring at her green-clad ally. "Emerald. Would you like to explain what my wallet was doing in your coat?"

She shrugged and leaned back in the grass with a satisfied smirk, resting her head in her bare arms. "What can I say, princess? Old habits die hard. Surprised it took you this long to notice!"

Ruby snickered. Yang snorted. Soon all five girls broke down into a fit of giggles - even Weiss and Emerald. Eventually, after the laughter faded, the not-so-former-thief broke the silence.

"Speaking of old habits…we sure it was a good idea letting Little Miss Psychopath go free?"

Ruby hugged her knees to her chest with an apprehensive sigh. "I don't know," she admitted quietly. "I don't know if I made the right call in letting her go, but…it didn't feel right ending her life, either. So many people have already died because of Salem, and even more have suffered so much worse. In a lot of ways, Neo's just another one of her victims - a dangerous one, sure, but a victim all the same. Now that she's realized that, and now that she knows the truth, she'll make the right choice and not cause any more trouble. Hopefully."

"Plus, that Pohatu guy seems like he'd be a good influence if he ends up sticking with her," added Yang. "At the very least, he should be able to keep an eye on her for us…and knock her around again if she does try anything."

The mint-haired teenager wore an unconvinced expression as she turned around in her seat, laying down until she faced the group while propped up on her elbows. "Even if she doesn't try to kill us again, do you really think she'll change that quickly? That she'll just turn over a new leaf and join Team Good Guys, all because you were nice to her and didn't dump her in a shallow grave?"

"It worked for you, didn't it?" Blake said with a raised eyebrow.

Emerald chuckled. "Maybe, but I was just there for Cinder. I didn't know about Salem's whole 'gather the relics to destroy Remnant' plan, and as soon as I learned about that, it just made me want out even more than I already did. It's not like I ever supported the queen bitch of evil herself - not even back in Vale."

"I don't think Neo ever did, either," Ruby said. "Roman…I don't know exactly what they had, but he seemed to mean as much to her as Cinder did to you. You worked with them both before - did you ever get that impression?"

The former thief shrugged. "Dunno. I never paid much attention to the two. Can't say for sure whether it was a father-daughter thing, or a boyfriend-girlfriend thing. Never cared enough to find out…and I guess we never will."

Weiss nodded. "Then it sounds like, at least in motivation, she's less of a Tyrian or a Watts, who were just straight-up evil…"

"…and more of a Hazel, who was blinded by grief." Yang finished. "And even he made the right choice in the end, remember? He saved us from Salem when she had us cornered in that whale of hers, after Oscar opened his eyes to what was really going on."

Emerald sighed, and Ruby could tell she was biting back tears and a stabbing remark. "Yeah…yeah. I know. I just…wish I shared your optimism, Red. I didn't exactly grow up seeing the best of people, y'know?"

"I know," said Ruby, reaching over to put a hand on her bare forearm. "I want to trust that I made the right choice, too. But from now on, it's up to her what happens. Not us. She deserves that much, at least."

"And if she does come after us again?" Yang's eyes flashed from lilac to red for a brief moment. "I'll pound her into the dirt myself."

"You'd have to get in line," snarled Blake. "If she spits on this second chance Ruby gave her, I call first dibs on my pound of flesh."

"Ooh, I love it when you're feisty," said Yang with a laugh, trailing a mechanical finger along her partner's bare stomach.

"Haven't you learned by now?" The feline Faunus smirked and did her best not to shudder under the touch. "I'm always feisty."

Weiss buried her face into her hands with a groan. Emerald dry-heaved dramatically. Ruby rolled her eyes and sighed, laughing softly. Blake just grinned at everyone's reactions and shifted in her seat to lay her head on Yang's lap, purring gently as her girlfriend - gods, it felt good to be able to use that word - scratched her behind the ears. Another moment of peaceful silence settled over the girls, and once more it was broken reluctantly by Emerald.

"So…not that I want to bring down the overall mood, but how exactly are we getting home?"

The smiles on the faces of Team RWBY all fell at once. Blake stopped purring.

"I…have no idea," Ruby said with a slow shake of her head, which prompted her partner to lay a hand on her shoulder. "I haven't thought that far ahead yet - I've been so focused on just getting through each day that I never even considered…you know. Getting back."

"Vakama was under the impression that helping the Toa find their masks would help us find a way back," recalled Yang as she stroked her girlfriend's scalp. "He didn't have much in the way of solid proof, but he sure seemed to think that helping the Toa would help us too."

Weiss nodded. "Nuju believed something similar. When I asked him how he knew, he just said that 'with the will and the power of Mata Nui, all things are possible.' I'm not sure if he was speaking out of blind faith, or if that came up in one of his Visions…but if Mata Nui really was the one who brought us here after we fell, then logically he has to be able to send us back."

"He'd probably do that in a heartbeat if we asked him," pointed out Blake. "From all the stories the Matoran tell about him, he's a benevolent creator and protector who was schemed out of his power and put in a deep slumber against his will. Problem is, we can't just ask him - Makuta saw to that. So if we want his full help, there's really only one thing we can do."

"Help the Toa find their masks, take down a big shadowy villain, and wake up the big guy himself." Emerald sighed. "I had a feeling it'd come to that. I just wish we had a plan B in case we do end up saving the island and nothing happens."

"Me too," Ruby said with a hopeful gaze. "I have no idea if helping the Toa and reviving Mata Nui will get us home…but we have to try all the same. Because even if it doesn't, it's still the right thing to do - and that's part of the job of being a Huntress."

"Exactly," said Yang with a nod. "And hey, worst case scenario? This island's got some pretty cool tech - we can use it to build a spaceship that'll take us back to Remnant." She gave a mischievous smile as she hummed thoughtfully. "Think anyone would notice if a few Matoran or Rahi went missing? We could strip them down for parts if we have to. I wonder how well Kanohi masks would hold up in orbital re-entry?"

Blake snorted and pushed herself up. "Oh gods, Yang. That's awful."

"Made you laugh, didn't it?" The blonde brawler grinned and snuck in another kiss when her girlfriend's guard was down. "Couldn't have been that bad, if it managed that."

Weiss rolled her eyes and hugged her new coat while lilac and amber orbs stared dreamily into one another. "You two…I swear, you could make a crowded room feel like a third wheel. It's going to be insufferable being on a team now, isn't it? What with you two making doe-eyes at each other constantly…"

"Hey, if you wanna smooch one of those lovely ladies over there to make things less awkward, be my guest," said Yang with a mischievous grin. "I can personally guarantee that one of them really wants it. Like, really really wants it."

Ruby covered her face with her hood in an attempt to hide her blush. "Yaaaaaaang! Stopppp!"

"Aw come on sis, there's no need to be shy! I read your diary, I know allllll your secrets!"

"It's not a diary it's a field journal you dingle-dork!"

"Really? Cause I've never seen a field journal with 'I heart Weiss' scribbled in the margins over and ove - oooof!"

Yang broke out into laughter as a rushing ball of roses suddenly tackled her and started roughhousing, the tiny little team leader trying and failing to get her giggling older sister into a headlock. After a few seconds of fruitless play-fighting Ruby finally gave up, settling for scooting back to her seat with an indignant pout. Blake chuckled softly, Weiss picked at the grass with a faint blush, and Emerald sat back up with a groan.

"Come on, we'd better go and make sure the Toa are getting along," said the former thief. "Wouldn't want them making plans without us."

"Good point," said Ruby as she rose to her feet. "They've been talking for a while now - I wonder what kind of cool plan they've come up with?"

Unfortunately for the young rose, as she and her friends approached the group of six mighty warriors, it quickly became apparent they were at an impasse themselves. An air of annoyance covered the Toa, and none seemed more irritated than the red-armored figure at the head of the group. Ruby and the rest of her friends took up their positions alongside their respective Toa - she stood next to Gali, Weiss went to Kopaka, Blake and Yang moved to stand between Onua and Tahu, and Emerald leaned against the branch Lewa had perched himself on.

"Let me get this straight," snarled Tahu, crimson eyes burning with annoyance. " None of you have found any of your hidden masks yet?"

"I am afraid not, brother," said Gali with a slow shake of her head and a voice as soothing as an ocean wave. "As I said, I had to put my search on hold to save my village from a Rahi attack. The rest of my time was spent exploring the ocean and all its mysteries, as well as helping Ruby acclimate to an unfamiliar environment."

The silver-eyed Huntress nervously scratched the back of her neck. "Yeah, I uh…kiiiiinda almost drowned when I first got here."

Weiss's eyes went wide across the circle. "You what?"

"And again during the Tarakava attack on Ga-Koro."

"You what?!"

"And while we were rescuing the Ga-Matoran."

"Yang seriously did you ever even try teaching your little sister how to swim?!"

Onua cleared his throat, cutting off the impending argument with a noise like crunching gravel. "My main priority after being briefed by Whenua was in seeking the temple to arrange this meeting," he rumbled. "Blake set aside her quest in order to help me accomplish mine; I sought to return the favor."

"Aw, Blake, I knew you cared about us!" Yang cooed, putting an arm around her newly-promoted partner.

"Oh, like there was ever any doubt?" quipped the Faunus teasingly.

"I too put the needs of my sprout-leaf above my own," continued Lewa, though he seemed like he was about to fly away in a stray gust of wind. "She needed aid in navigating the jungle, so I let my tree-people teach her the ways of leaf-running. While she learned from the best I did some exploring of my home-realm, to get an idea of where the masks might be before I seek-find them."

"My time was spent in a similar manner," added Pohatu in a jovial tone, speaking like a rock-solid friend. "I may already have the Mask of Speed, but that in no way means I should act in haste. Many of my days before this one were spent investigating the island and its local mysteries, to better narrow down my search. It was during one such scouting venture that I came across Neopolitan running headfirst into a sandstorm…you can guess what came after that, I'll wager."

Tahu sighed and looked over to the final Toa of the group, the white-clad warrior that stood closest to him yet seemed the farthest away. "And what about you, brother? What is your excuse?"

Kopaka narrowed his eyes - one of which was hidden behind an array of lenses - and shot a frosty glare at the Toa of Fire. Then there was a flash of light accompanied by the sound of reality warping, and a mask that mirrored Tahu's appeared to replace his own.

Whoa, teleporting masks, thought Ruby. Cool!

"Not all of us were wasting time, brother." His tone was pointed. Confrontational. Worrying.

The Toa of Fire glared defiantly, then scoffed. "Yes…congratulations. We have both managed to find one mask apiece. That still leaves over two dozen total masks scattered across Mata Nui, and the important thing is to find them - fast."

"You'll find no argument there from me," said Pohatu with a nod. "I've traveled the length of the island at least four times since my arrival, and it feels like it gets larger with each lap. The Kanohi we need could be anywhere - we shall need an organized plan of attack for finding them in an efficient manner."

"Which is why our best option would be to split into smaller groups and spread out across the island." Tahu puffed his red-armored chest. "That way, we can cover the most ground without leaving ourselves vulnerable."

Ruby watched the other Toa for their reactions to Tahu's plan of attack. Kopaka seemed uninterested, Lewa looked bored, Gali and Pohatu were exchanging curious glances, and Onua was humming in thought. It was a far cry from the unanimous support she'd come to expect from her friends, and it was then that she realized something that made her stomach drop.

The Toa, for all their individual power and skill, had no experience with being a team.

Oh gods…she mentally wailed. Is this gonna be like our first semester at Beacon all over again? Please tell me Tahu's not gonna just bark orders and assume that silence means everyone agrees with -

"So it is decided, then."

Tahuuuu no why I thought you were cool why are you like this.

With no one challenging his command, Tahu continued on as he pointed his sword towards the others. "Gali and Lewa, take your Huntresses to comb the beaches and jungles together. Onua and Kopaka, check the caves and cliffs of Onu-Wahi with your allies. And Pohatu, you can come with - "

"Now hold on a moment, fire-spitter," Lewa interrupted. "I certainly never agreed to this plan-idea. If speed is what we're after, why bother with all the pair-making? Why not let each of us journey-search on our own, as we have been doing in our own home-realms? We already have our sprout-leaves to aid us in the search, must we also slow one another down?"

Onua hummed thoughtfully. "Our fiery brother has a good plan," he mused. "Working in pairs of Toa makes the most sense, as it strikes a good balance between speed and caution. Blake has informed me that the world of Remnant has a similar structure for their Hunter organization, where partnerships are often made between two individuals to form lifelong bonds and to strengthen them both. There is merit to such an arrangement; it would be wise to follow it."

Ruby wasn't exactly keen on splitting up so soon after they had all reunited, but at least pairing off into groups of four was better than the alternative. Still…she would have preferred if everyone stayed together, if only for selfish reasons. She looked up at Gali, and it was almost a relief to see the Toa of Water shaking her head.

"Brothers, please," she said calmly yet firmly. "The Great Spirit called the six of us here for a reason. If Makuta is as dangerous as the legends say, then nothing less than Unity among us all will overcome him. We must stay together not only for ourselves, but for our allies from another world. They have endured many hardships that have forced them apart - would you allow your pride to be yet another, Tahu?"

"We cannot afford to be emotional, sister," Tahu said with a shake of his head. "The Huntresses are strong and capable on their own, especially when paired with a Toa. As you said, they have been separated before, and they can do so again."

None of the girls liked that assessment. Yang's hair flared up. Weiss's hands balled into fists. Blake's ears flattened.

"I think the Huntresses would prefer to make that decision themselves, thankyouverymuch," said Emerald with a scoff and a roll of her eyes.

"By all means, their so-called leader is more than free to speak on their behalf." Tahu's burning gaze turned to Ruby. "Well, little one? What do you say?"

The silver-eyed Huntress suddenly felt very small and timid under the Toa of Fire's withering glare, but she cleared her throat and did her best to stand tall anyways.

"I…I agree with Gali. We should stay together. All of us. We're stronger that way, and safer. And if we map our path right, it might actually be more efficient than pairing off or traveling alone."

She could feel her Toa of Water smiling in pride behind her mask. Weiss looked at her with an expression she didn't quite understand. Onua and Pohatu looked at each other and nodded slowly, followed by Yang and Blake. Tahu, on the other hand, was fuming at his leadership being challenged. He wasn't the only one who was cold to the idea of traveling in one large group - none were more annoyed than Kopaka, the Toa of Ice.

Lewa was similarly opposed. "One enormous party-group traveling the island?" he balked. "We may as well take off our masks and let Makuta know where his Rahi-beasts can find a free lunch-meal. With that many of us in one spot, we'd be slow-footed and exposed - easy pickings for any monsters that lurk in the dark-wood."

"Doesn't matter how many of us stick together at once," said Blake pointedly. "If Makuta rules the shadows, then he'll find us all the same. Pretty much the entire island is under his thumb - splitting up or staying together won't change that."

"But if we work as a team, we'd have a better chance of fighting off whatever he throws at us." Yang slammed her fists together. "Six Toa and five Huntresses, all in the same place? I doubt even Makuta has the ball bearings to mess with that many of us at once."

"Our sister and allies make excellent points," said Pohatu as he nodded fervently. "There is much expected of us, and we have little idea of how to accomplish it. I myself have faced a few of those Rahi in my individual travels before I crossed paths with Neo, and they nearly got the better of me. The ones guarding the masks are sure to be fiercer, and I would rather not face them alone."

"We've all had encounters like that, Pohatu," said Weiss with a nod. "These monsters are just too dangerous to take on by ourselves, Toa or not. I'm with Ruby on this - we stay together, and we'll be ready for anything. Don't you think so, Kopaka?"

She looked up to her Toa, only for her face to fall in disappointment as she seemed to sense impatience radiating from Kopaka like chilly winds in a blizzard. He looked down at her with an icy glare.

"I already told you, I prefer to work alone," he said coldly. "It's bad enough that I'm stuck traveling with you - I'd rather not take my chances on pairing up with someone who might actually be a threat to me."

The words stabbed Ruby's heart like an icicle, and she could tell she wasn't the only one enraged. Emerald winced in sympathy, Blake's ears flattened against her head once more, and the little rose could feel her older sister's temper flare up protectively from across the courtyard.

Ember Celica clicked into place threateningly. "And just what's that supposed to mean, you stuck-up son of a -!"

"Yang, it's okay," said Weiss without breaking eye contact with her Toa. "I've got this." Then she gave a small smile, one that quietly thanked her teammate for standing up for her, before it faded as she scowled at Kopaka.

"Sure, you may prefer working alone," she continued, "but would you also 'prefer' it if I hadn't killed that giant bull? Or if I hadn't stepped in while you were stunned? Would you rather have your parts scattered across the mountain by monsters that aren't afraid of a little snow? Is that what you'd prefer? Because it's what would have happened if I hadn't been there. And it's what's going to happen if we don't all work together. So the sooner you drop this whole 'lone wolf' mindset, the better. You need us - and we need you, no matter how insufferable you insist on being."

Damn. The silver-eyed Huntress was pretty sure she felt her heart skip a beat, listening to Weiss lay down the law like that. She wasn't the only one, either - Yang was beaming with pride, Emerald's jaw was thoroughly on the floor, and the other Toa all tilted their heads in fascination.

"That's our Weiss," she heard Blake whisper from across the courtyard.

"I'm so proud of her," agreed Yang.

Kopaka's gaze widened, then narrowed in response to Weiss's diatribe. Whatever he was about to say next was cut off by a low growl from Tahu, who was practically breathing smoke and fire with each frustrated breath.

"Enough of this bickering!" snapped the Toa of Fire impatiently. "We will accomplish nothing by standing around and having a debate! The decision is already made - we will split into small groups! Two Toa, two Huntresses, ten masks to find each! It is the best of both worlds, can you not see that?!"

Ruby cringed sympathetically as the other Toa bristled at Tahu's demanding, arrogant attitude. There was clearly already friction in the group, and the red-armored giant's words were as lubricating and soothing as ground glass. Predictably, Kopaka redirected his anger from his Huntress to the Toa of Fire, icy blue eyes somehow narrowing even further.

"All I can see is one who believes that power and authority belongs to whoever can shout the loudest," he said harshly. "Well I, for one, am not willing to follow such a 'leader,' if one can even call you that. Not while I still have life in my body."

Tahu's sword suddenly came alive in a roaring blaze. "That can easily be fixed, brother."

"Not as easily as you might think," shot back Kopaka, already drawing his own sword and shield.

Ruby really didn't like where this was going, especially when the Toa of opposing elements started widening their stances as they faced each other. Before they could start exchanging blows she was already across the courtyard in a flurry of rose petals, stretching her arms out and staring down both armored giants despite being half their height.

"That's enough!" Silver eyes snapped back and forth between Tahu and Kopaka. "You both know damn well that fighting's not gonna solve anything. We're all part of the same team here, whether you like it or not - so how about you two start acting like it?!"

Her fingers twitched in the direction of Crescent Rose, ready to draw her scythe if the situation demanded it. She knew it wouldn't be good to start yet another conflict within the group, but dammit, she was tired of people who were supposed to be on the same side holding weapons at each other's throats! Fortunately, both of the Toa seemed to realize their feud wasn't worth the trouble it would cause, as Kopaka sheathed his blade over his shoulder while the fiery edges of Tahu's weapon simmered down.

Yang let out a low whistle. "Nicely done, sis."

Emerald smirked. "Who would've guessed our cute little rose had thorns like that?"

Pohatu chuckled. "Indeed. Brave of you, little one, to come between two enraged Toa. Any chance you would like to trade Huntresses, Gali? I'm growing rather fond of this one."

"I am quite happy with my choice in companion, Pohatu," intoned Gali with a relieved laugh of her own. It didn't escape her notice that despite the Toa of Water's relaxed stance, her hooks were already halfway deployed.

She smiled and nodded in thanks to her friends, then looked hopefully at the two warring Toa. "Well? What's it gonna be? You two gonna play nice and be civil about this? Or am I gonna have to shout at you both a little more?"

Kopaka glared down at Ruby, then at Tahu, then back again. Finally, after a moment's deliberation, he let out a frosty sigh.

"If you wish to lead, Tahu, I suggest taking lessons from the small one here - otherwise, don't expect me to follow. And that goes for the rest of you, as well. Seek me out when the time comes to face Makuta, but until then? Stay out of my way."

The Toa of Ice barely even waited for his words to hang in the air before he turned and walked away, leaving a trail of frost in his wake. Tahu made a noise that sounded like a strangled snarl before he scoffed and stormed off in the opposite direction, creating small fires in the grass with every step. Ruby's heart sank as she watched them leave, looking sadly at the other girls who just shrugged. Yang and Weiss didn't seem all that surprised - if anything, it looked like they expected this.

"Well, it seems we're split-leaving after all," said Lewa with a smile behind his mask. "Come, sprout-leaf, back to the trees for us. Farewell, Toa-brothers! And sister, of course. Good luck in your quest-search!"

And with that, the Toa of Air leapt backwards and did a handspring off the ground, catching an upwards draft and disappearing into the trees. Onua cast a sympathetic look at the two remaining Toa, then shrugged and departed with a bow. Pohatu looked at the Huntresses, then at Gali, and sighed.

"Apologies, sister," he said in a warm, kind tone, "but I suppose I had best check to make sure that our little assassin is not plotting revenge against all of us. With luck, our paths may cross yet again in the near future. If you have a need for me, seek me out in Po-Wahi - I'm almost always a stone's toss away."

Pohatu departed with the sound of heavy footfalls, leaving Gali standing alone. Ruby immediately went back to her side, looking up at her in concern even as the other Huntresses gathered around her.

"Well…that could have gone better," sighed Weiss.

"All that time Onua and I spent to call the meeting, and they just…walk away," groaned Blake.

Yang took her girlfriend's hand and gave a comforting squeeze, then looked up at the Toa of Water. "I know you tried to keep everyone together…you doing okay?"

"Fools…" Gali shook her head in disappointment. "All of them, fools. We must remain united against this threat…how can they all be so eager to separate?"

"Eh, boys will be boys," said Emerald with a shrug. "Give them some time to get their heads screwed on right, and they'll come around."

The last Toa in Kini-Nui sighed. "I can only hope you are right…I just wish that they were wise enough to see it for themselves."

"Don't worry, Gali," said Ruby as she reached up to put a hand on the Toa of Water's forearm. "They'll realize that it's better to stay together eventually, just like we did. And in the meantime, you'll have us to work with."

She put on a grin as she looked at her friends. "Isn't that right ladies? We're all sticking together, aren't we?"

The pit in her stomach grew about three sizes as she saw everyone's eyes avoid her own. Yang kicked the dirt under her boots, Weiss fiddled with her hair, Blake scratched her face as her ears drooped, and Emerald crossed her arms with a small sigh.

Her smile faded. "…aren't we?"

Yang finally sighed, lilac looking up to meet glowing yellow. "Hey, uh…Gali, was it? Think you can give us some space? We, uh…we need to talk."

The Toa of Water stared for a moment, before nodding in understanding. Taking a moment to stroke Ruby's hair in comfort, she pulled away and moved to sit on a rock at the edge of the tree line.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Well, it's…um, you see…" Weiss murmured.

"If the Toa are all splitting up, then maybe we should too." Emerald finally said.

"Em!" Yang glared at the former thief.

"Come on, we're all thinking about it." Red eyes rolled in their sockets. "We can't just stand around and mince words all day. As much as we want to stay together, the Toa obviously don't want to do that. They're all going their separate ways again - time for us to do the same."

Ruby shook her head in disbelief. She had a feeling in her gut that this was coming, but it hurt all the same.

"That's…no," she cried, "No, we just got back together, we…that's how this all started! Splitting up, going our own ways…we can't just do that again!"

"Believe me, I hate this just as much as you Ruby," sighed Weiss. "I don't want to go, either. But this isn't about what we want. We can't afford to be stubborn like Tahu or Kopaka - not when there are lives on the line back home."

"This isn't the same as it was in Atlas," pointed out Blake. "We all agree on what we're doing this time - we work alongside the Toa, find their masks, and defeat Makuta. These are all just separate parts of that same plan, one that the Toa are already following - and if they won't help each other, then we will."

"They're tough, sure, but they're not as invincible as they think," said Yang. "Dunno if you've noticed, but they've all got some serious issues of their own to work through, stuff that's keeping them from trusting each other and working together. Like, my guy couldn't find his way out of a paper bag without me, and you saw how much of a team player he was. Dude's got an explosive temper and a short fuse, which I think I know a thing or two about working through."

Emerald nodded. "Lewa's obnoxious and easily distracted, but he's marginally more tolerable than Mercury. I think I'll be able to keep him on task."

"Exactly," agreed the blonde brawler. "And you saw how Ice King over there acted like he was better than everyone else. Does that remind you of someone?"

"Hey!"

"No offense, Weiss. You know I love you. Plus you're way less uptight these days."

"Hey!"

"Point is, they need us as much as we need them," finished Yang with a barely-hidden smirk. "We help them work through their problems, they might be more open to teaming up in the future. Just gotta get them to that point, you know?"

Ruby bit her lower lip, weighing the words of her friends. It was a solid plan, and as a leader she knew she had to weigh the benefits against the risks. As a friend, however, every fiber in her being was violently against this idea. All she wanted to do was pull every single girl in the clearing into a hug and never let go again, never let them out of her sight and never spend another day without them by her side…

But that was a luxury they couldn't afford right now.

"…you're right," she eventually admitted with a heavy sigh. "I know you're right. I just…I'm tired of being away from my friends…"

Weiss stepped forward and took Ruby's hands in hers, squeezing softly. "We won't be apart for long. I promise, we'll see each other again soon."

Yang came in and pulled the white rose pair into a tight embrace of her own. "Yeah. Now that I know you guys are here and safe…I feel a lot less nervous about splitting up. This world can't be that bad if it's got you in it, right?"

Ruby nuzzled against her sister, returning the embrace and drinking in the golden warmth. She felt a small teardrop drip into her hair, the one crack in the blonde brawler's confident facade. Her hand rubbed the back of Yang's neck in support, trailing across toughened muscles and providing a small comfort of her own. An unspoken farewell happened between the two, a silent declaration of love between the sisters that nothing could break.

A moment later the fourth member of their team joined the group hug, wrapping her arms around Yang's waist and embracing her from behind. "I certainly don't plan on being apart from the team for very long this time," she purred softly. "My partner here and I have some…unfinished business to tend to. Business that's long overdue, if you know what I mean."

The blonde brawler sucked in a shuddering breath through her teeth as Blake planted a kiss on her exposed neck, her blush deepening when she felt the feline Faunus gently nibble her clavicle. "Oh, damn, that's good…c'mon, Blakey, you can't tease me like this…" she moaned.

Blake grinned and nuzzled her chin against Yang's bare shoulder. "Consider it something to look forward to, firestar. After you get your masks."

"Like hell I'm waiting that long. C'mere, you!"

And with that Yang released Weiss (who was turning pink) and Ruby (who was slowly dying of embarrassment) to spin around in Blake's arms, scooping up the feline Faunus and sweeping her off her feet in every sense of the word. Blake let out a delighted squeal that was muffled by a deep kiss, one she returned just as fiercely as her hands ran over Yang's muscles. The blonde brawler at least had the decency to shuffle over into the undergrowth before the straps of her overalls were torn off her shoulders, obscuring herself and her partner from view - though the giggling and gasping and flying clothes left nothing to the imagination.

"Well that's my cue to leave," deadpanned Emerald as she turned away. "I should probably find Lewa before he gets too far into the jungle again. Don't have too much fun without me!"

With one more wave and a knowing wink, Emerald departed to the opposite edge of the tree line, vanishing into the undergrowth as though she was never there. Weiss shook her head to try to ignore the noises coming from the bumblebee duo, then looked at the other remaining Huntress with a meaningful stare. Ruby nodded and took her partner by the hand, leading her away from the giggling bush with a faint mutual blush.

"Sorry about Yang and all her…you know, Yangness," said the little rose sheepishly. She noticed just how uncomfortable her friend seemed. "Does it…bother you?"

Weiss shook her head fervently. "N-no no! It's fine! And honestly…I'm happy for them. They deserve good things. They deserve each other, much as I might complain. Blake has been through a lot, and so has Yang. I'm glad they can find solace and comfort in each other."

"Oh…oh, good." Ruby said awkwardly. "Good, good."

The heiress shuffled her feet. "I just…there is just one question I have."

Ruby tilted her head. "Wh-what is it?"

"…were you really writing 'I heart Weiss' in your field journal over and over again?"

If it were possible for her face to grow hot enough to spontaneously combust, Ruby might have just done so at that moment. "Oh gods…why did she have to expose me like that…"

The heiress covered her mouth and giggled softly. It was…a nice little laugh. Sweet and soft, yet refined and dignified - just like the rest of her. Ruby melted on the spot, before letting out a laugh of her own if only to avoid the dreaded question a little longer.

But all the small talk and laughter in the world couldn't stall the inevitable.

"So…this is goodbye again, huh?" She finally asked, looking up with quivering silver eyes.

An icy blue stare that was somehow so warm gazed back unsteadily. "Yeah…looks like it. I know that this is the right thing to do…but gods, I…I really wish it wasn't. It's going to be so cold without everyone…"

Ruby nodded in understanding. Despite how Weiss hugged Emerald's checkered coat to her chest, it was clear she wasn't talking about a physical chill. Rather, she was afraid of going back into the shadow of an emotional blizzard; one she'd lived under nearly her entire life, and one that only Team RWBY seemed to dispel.

Well if I can't be there physically, maybe I can give her something that she can take with. But what should I…oh, I know!

Silver eyes brightened with an idea as she unfolded Crescent Rose, slamming the tip of her scythe into the soft earthen soil. Then she pulled her beloved red cloak off her shoulders, humming thoughtfully as she measured out a length of the crimson fabric. Weiss watched the entire thing with a curious tilt of her head and a raised eyebrow…only to cover her mouth in shock as Ruby looped some of her cape around the exposed blade and yanked hard.

R-R-R-R-RIP!

The blade that easily cleaved a Beowolf into equal pieces had zero difficulty in trimming the hem of the red fabric, and despite the heiress's surprise Ruby just smirked in satisfaction as she threw her cloak (which was now four inches shorter) back over her shoulders. She picked up the newly-cut piece and twisted it into a little makeshift scarf, then walked over to Weiss and carefully tied it around her neck. Her hands trembled as she worked the cloth over and around smooth ivory skin, and her cheeks suddenly felt very warm as she felt her partner's breath against her face. Eventually, she managed to get it secured around her friend's collar, and she lingered for another moment to trail her fingertips down long arms until she found a pair of hands that eagerly met her grasp.

"There we go," whispered Ruby with a warm grin as she squeezed her friend's palms. "Now you'll have a little piece of me anywhere you go. Should help with the cold, you know? In uh…in every sense of the word."

Weiss bit her lower lips and took a shuddering breath, and for a moment Ruby was afraid she'd berate her for ruining yet another perfectly good cape. Her fears were dispelled when she pulled the little rose in for yet another hug, squeezing her tightly and digging her fingers into short dark hair. She let out a sigh of relief and returned the embrace, playing with her partner's ponytail with one hand and clutching her under the shoulders with the other. Silver eyes slowly closed as their owner tuned out everything except the sound of the heiress's breathing, until all she could feel was the warmth spilling out from the woman she'd come to adore.

And then…Ruby felt something on her cheek she didn't expect.

A kiss, one as soft as a butterfly landing and darting away.

She opened her eyes just in time to see Weiss pull away with a deep crimson blush, one that nearly matched the brand-new scarf. "You gave me something," she half-mumbled, half-whispered. "Only fair I leave you with something, too. Just…be careful out there, Ruby. And if we see each other again… when we see each other again…maybe I can show you what I've been scribbling in my field journal. If…if you want."

Ruby laughed softly, turning as red as both her namesakes and cupping one of Weiss's hands against her cheek. "Yeah…I think I do want that. See you soon, Weiss."

The heiress nodded, then after another silent moment she finally turned to leave. Ruby did the same, doing her best to pretend she didn't hear the quiet sobs from her partner as she went back to Gali's side. She was tempted to let out a few tears herself, but she knew there was no need for her to do so. Not this time, at least.

Something told her that the next time the Toa and her friends came to Kini-Nui, they would all be leaving together.

And as Toa and Huntress alike left the temple grounds, six colored stones in a pit of sand began to glow with ominous yet meaningful lights.

Chapter Text

Penny's first few hours in Po-Wahi were an absolutely magical experience.

The moment she and Takua stepped off Macku's boat marked the first time she had ever been in a desert; neither one of her old robot bodies had ever set foot in a land so barren and sandy. An unobstructed sun shone down its full fury on a dry, lifeless expanse of desolate terrain, showering it with a stifling, searing heat and blinding light. Sweat dripped down her arms, legs, and everything in between as she and her Matoran friends walked down the desert path. It was hot. It was dry. It was dusty.

And she loved every minute of it.

Her toes curled around the sand underfoot with each step, feeling the warm grains seep into every crack in her skin. Penny skipped and danced among the dunes, kicking up dust and dirt and twirling as the light danced off each individual piece of sand. Macku stared in disbelief at her as she rolled across flat plains, while Takua chuckled at seeing her cartwheel and land face first in a small sandbar. She did not care about how thirsty she was getting, or how much dust was gathering on her clothes and hair. This was a brand-new experience, and she wanted to feel all of it.

And there were so many interesting new sounds too! The whistling of the wind, the shuffling of sand with each step, the distant cries for help -

Wait, what?

Penny pulled sand-encrusted ginger hair out of her face, cupping her hands around her ears as she turned to face the sound. Sure enough, two pairs of metallic voices were echoing across the flat desert terrain, easily heard across the many, many yards of empty space. They did not sound like cries of delight - they sounded like calls of distress. And even though it was fun to play in the sand, her duty as Huntress took priority.

"Someone is in trouble!" She furrowed her brow. "Takua! Lightstone!"

The Ta-Matoran at her side nodded in determination, hand already halfway down his rucksack to retrieve the glowing piece of amber - the one that allowed his human friend to live without being next directly to him. He handed it to Penny, who paused only to tuck the item into her dress's pocket before she took off running. She may not have had Ruby's super-speedy Semblance, but Huntresses already boasted a greater speed and stamina than most other humans. Right now she was calling on both of them to sprint across the desert with all her might.

As she came closer, she spotted the source of the cries for help. A pair of Matoran in earthen colors were standing back-to-back, facing down a swarm of strange birdlike Rahi that ran circles around them. At least, Penny was pretty sure they were birds - though she had never seen birds with very long necks or huge muscular legs before, nor did she understand why their big oval bodies had such tiny little wings on the sides. What she did understand was that their beady eyes were glowing with a dangerous red light, and that they were shrieking in rage as they kicked and pecked at the endangered villagers.

"Get back, you mad birds!" shouted the black-masked Matoran, swinging his chisel at the metal-feathered beasts. "If any one of you messes up my markers, I'll give you something to go feral about!"

The birds did not back down in the face of the threat. If anything, it only seemed to make them angrier. One of the avian Rahi trilled in fury, and brought its beak plummeting down on the stonecutter…

Clang!

Penny surged into the empty space between Matoran and Rahi, Vita deployed into a full shield to block the blow. She pushed back and drew Luce in tonfa form, striking the bird's torso in a swift flurry of thrusts and knocking it away. It fell into the sand and scrambled back onto its talons, hissing at the newcomer.

"Eh? Who are you?" asked the Matoran in a gruff voice. "What are you doing here? Where'd you come from?"

"Do not worry," said Penny as she widened her stance with both weapons raised. "I am combat ready, and I am here to help!"

The birds kicked at the sand under their feet and reared their torsos back to raise their heads even higher, flapping their tiny little wings and scattering metallic feathers in a clear display of aggression. Penny met their challenge with one of her own, charging with her shield deployed and crashing into the lead Rahi with all her might. Her opponent went sprawling across the sand as two more moved to peck at her flanks. She blocked the beak of one with Vita and diverted the other with Luce, battering them both and ducking to avoid a kick aimed at her head.

Penny soon fell into a rhythm as the battle continued. Block, evade, strike back, repeat. It wasn't the same as fighting with an array of floating swords, but the basic steps were similar enough. Anticipate an opponent's attacks, react, then respond with one of your own. Not to say that the fight was easy - the seven-foot-tall birds were relentless, swarming and circling around her in an attempt to strike at her blind spots. It took all her concentration to make sure she guarded herself from all angles, and to keep her blows from leaving her open.

Perhaps I should not have been quite so quick to jump into the fray… she thought to herself as a well-placed kick nearly sent her stumbling back.

CLUNK!

A blue blur suddenly flew into the fray, striking the side of a bird's head and making it stagger back with a pained hiss. Penny's eyes tracked the flying disc as it bounced from Rahi to Rahi, before finally returning to Macku's hand. She grinned as she saw the Ga-Matoran come running on tiny little legs alongside Takua, leaping into the air and tossing her disc again with a mid-air spin. The wooden throwing weapon crashed into the head of another opponent, stunning it long enough for the freckled Huntress to sweep it off its feet and pin it against the ground with her shield.

"Please do not struggle!" Penny pleaded even as the avian Rahi squawked and swung its talons blindly. "I only wish to remove your mask! You will be okay after that."

Green eyes scanned the creature's form, looking for any sort of face wear mounted on its oblong armored body. Eventually, she found it just above the tail feathers; a quick tug with the handle of Luce peeled it away, and soon the tainted brown mask was discarded and thrown into the desert sands. Unfortunately, the Rahi did not calm down when Makuta's infected Kanohi was removed - once again, its rage only intensified as it thrashed and kicked even harder under her weight.

What? Why is this not working? It worked when Gali removed the Tarakava's mask - could something else be wrong with these Rahi? Perhaps -

"Penny! A little help here!"

She snapped around and saw Takua ducking and weaving around kicks and slams, armed with only an Infected Kanohi he had pulled off the Rahi currently harassing him. Macku let out a yelp as two more birds stormed her position, plunging their beaks into the sand where she had been moments before. It became clear that even with the evil masks removed, the creatures would not stop attacking. Something else was wrong with them - and she did not have time to figure it out.

No time for mercy, then.

Penny slammed her shield down onto the neck of the floored bird with one hand, pooling Aura into Luce with the other and throwing it at Takua's opponent. With a tug of her Semblance the tonfa shifted into a hooked spear in mid-air, one that grabbed the bird by the neck and yanked it back like a shepherd's crook. The Rahi let out a choked cry as it was pulled towards her on teal-green strings of energy; she ran at it and caught the weapon before launching into a fast and deadly combo of piercing thrusts and sweeping slashes. A low swing sent the flightless bird falling to the sandy ground, and a downward stab into its ribcage ensured it did not rise again.

With two Rahi dealt with, she shifted focus to the ones attacking the other Matoran. A controlled toss of Vita stunned the birds harassing Macku, allowing her and the Ga-Matoran to double-team them with finishing blows. Another burst of speed put her between the Po-Matoran and the remaining pack, which she fought off by alternating between wide slashes and focused lunges. The disc throws and chisel swipes of her smaller allies opened the creatures up to finishing blows, staining the sands with mechanical fluids and scattering metal feathers to the winds.

It was only after the last bird let out its mournful death cry that Penny's muscles stopped tensing up.

She panted and stood for a moment longer, arms trembling under the weight of her weapons and eyes scanning the horizon for more threats. Takua came over and laid a hand on her bare leg, letting out a breathy chuckle.

"Nice moves," he said between deep sighs of his own. "Looks like all that practice paid off, huh?"

Penny managed a small laugh. "So it would seem!" Then she looked over to the Po-Matoran. "Is everyone okay?"

The black-masked stonecutter let out a huff. "Hmph. We could have handled them ourselves. I'd hardly be able to call myself Hafu, greatest Carver in Po-Koro, if I couldn't handle a few angry birds."

"Ignore him, he's just too proud to admit he's grateful." The other Matoran, the one with a tan bird-like mask, shook his head. "In any case, we are unharmed thanks to you, tall one. Name's Golyo. I'm a Mahi herder around these parts…or at least I would be, if there were any wild Mahi left around here to herd."

Golyo chuckled humorlessly, then turned to the Ga-Matoran. "Sneaking out of the village again, huh Macku? Does Nokama know you're out here this time?"

An indignant huff filled the air. "Of course she knows! She's the one who sent me, after all. Said that since I'm not gonna stay in Ga-Koro anyway, I might as well escort these two through Po-Wahi to see Turaga Onewa."

The Po-Matoran nodded. "I see. And who are you escorting, exactly?" He looked up - very far up - at the long-legged, barefooted Huntress stowing her weapons away. "For that matter, what are you?"

"Salutations, people of Po-Wahi!" she said with a bright grin and a wave. "My name is Penny Polendina, and I am a human girl from another world. It is a pleasure to meet you!" Then she gestured to the small Matoran that scrambled to join her side. "And this is Takua. He is from Ta-Koro…or he was."

Golyo blinked several times, trying to process the new information that had just been dumped on him. Hafu, meanwhile, just glared at Penny for reasons she did not understand, before squinting and staring at his red, blue, and yellow counterpart.

"Takua, huh?" He leaned against his two-handed chisel. "Your name feels familiar, as does your mask. Have we…met before, traveler?"

Takua stammered, then shrugged. "If we have, I don't remember. I've, uh…lost my memory."

"Well that's a damn shame," said Hafu. "And here I thought I was too gorgeous to forget about…"

"In any case, thank you for your help," said Golyo with a bow. "Wild attacks from the Rahi have become far more common as of late, ever since the Toa arrived. Why, our very own Pohatu - the Toa of Stone - nearly got his head knocked off by a punch-happy Fusa. Took Turaga Onewa's direct intervention to keep them from destroying each other. Never seen someone so old move so fast before…"

Penny chuckled, then looked down at the nearest fallen bird. "I am sorry about these Rahi, though…I tried to pacify them by pulling off their infected masks, but it did not seem to work."

Golyo let out another humorless laugh. "Very merciful of you, but I'm afraid you won't find any of Makuta's dark influence on these ones. Usually beasts as small or 'harmless' as these Husi go unnoticed - he prefers to infect the bigger and more dangerous ones around these parts, like the Nui-Jaga or the Kane-Ra. Still…maybe it's better this way. Not much we can do for the poor things, once they get struck by the Madness…suppose we're soon to follow…"

The freckled Huntress tilted her head. "What is the Madness? And what do you mean that you might be 'soon to follow?'"

The Po-Matoran looked up. "You haven't heard, stranger? Po-Koro's been under quarantine for the last few days. Some kind of new disease is gripping the folks there, making them ill at best and violent at worst. No idea what's causing it or how to cure it, so Turaga Onewa put the whole village under lockdown. No one gets in, no one gets out."

Penny's smile faded as her spirits sank. Another village in crisis…another threat to the Matoran, so soon after the last. Compared to the urgency of the situation at Ga-Koro, an illness ravaging Po-Koro felt slower yet far more insidious. She did not even know that Matoran could get sick - it was a surprise as unsettling as it was unpleasant.

Takua put a steadying hand on Penny's leg as he took back his lightstone. "Why aren't either of you affected, then?"

"Busy," said Hafu simply, already focused on chiseling once again. "Too busy to play Koli or barter or stay in the village. These great works of art won't carve themselves. Not yet, anyways."

"And I usually tend to the wild goats around here, wrangle them back to send to the village," explained Golyo. "I stay out here for moons at a time, so I've avoided the worst of the plague just by doing my job. Or trying to, at least…no one knows how quickly it can spread across the desert, and by the time we find out it might already be too late…"

"What about Hewkii?" Macku asked with concern in her voice. "Is he…"

Golyo shrugged. "No idea. Can't exactly go back and check on him, can I? There's been no trade, no visitors, nothing. Under Onewa's orders, the entire village is cut off from the outside world."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Penny's eyes brightened. "Surely Turaga Onewa would make an exception for us, if we wanted to assist. We were able to help Ruby and Gali save Ga-Koro - I would very much like to do the same for Po-Koro."

"Of course you would," said Takua with a chuckle.

"I don't recommend it," warned the Mahi herder. "But if you insist…take the right road here. It'll lead right to Po-Koro - the left path goes to the Quarry."

"And if you do get sick, stay away from me," said Hafu dismissively. "Can't afford to lay in bed and feel sorry for myself. Not when there's still great works to be made by my hand…"

"Boy, you must have a lot of friends with that attitude," deadpanned Takua.

Hafu chuckled. "Who needs friends when I've got perfectly good stone right here?"

With a shrug, Penny bid goodbye to her new "friends" and led an anxious Macku and a curious Takua down the path to the village.

Whatever was happening in Po-Koro, she hoped she could figure it out.

After several more hours of travel, Takua was relieved to finally see some semblance of civilization again.

The path leading up to Po-Koro's walls was decorated with a dozen statues that were at least three times Penny's height, each one depicting a maskless Matoran head with a stern gaze and an empty mouth socket. Each was marked with the words "Another Hafu Original" near the base, leaving no doubt who had carved such nearly-identical works. One final head was carved into the gate itself, its mouth serving as the entrance into the village of stone. Takua was no carver, but even he knew great craftsmanship when he saw it - and as he and his two female friends approached the village, he knew he was surrounded by it.

But as beautiful as the outside of Po-Koro was, it did nothing to hide the ugliness within.

After a quick but tense discussion with the guards, the stone barricade was finally lowered to reveal a village plagued by rot and decay. Domed huts carved from stone formed rows along the walls, with half of them sealed shut by doors bearing large red X's on the mantle. Matoran in every conceivable shade of black, brown, and tan scurried around with (thankfully non-aggressive) Husi and goat-like Mahi, though their orange eyes seemed glassy and soulless. A large playing field made of sand and rock, one with four goalposts and nearby carved bleachers, looked lifeless and empty with no players or fans in sight. Even the bazaar on the right side of the village looked nearly abandoned, with only a few of the stalls active - the most active of which was a booth manned by a Matoran with a black copy of Nokama's mask, selling carved spheres to a clamoring crowd of Po-Matoran.

"Comets! Get your Comets here! Don't be the only Matoran in Po-Koro without one!"

"Trading two Husi for a Mahi. Any buyers?"

"The Mahi market is bottomed out. I used to get at least three Husi for the same price…"

"That's my final offer. Take it or leave it."

He didn't understand all the chatter going on, but he could understand that times were tough for the traders. Not that it was easy for anyone else, either - an overwhelming sense of dread hung in the air, like a toxic miasma that lingered with each breath. Groans and growls escaped from the quarantined huts, even through solid stone walls, while abandoned tools and equipment lay scattered across the village untouched since their owners fell ill. As bad as the sights and sounds were, it had nothing on just how bad it smelled. Takua didn't know what was creating such an awful stench, and he hoped he'd live the rest of his life without ever finding out.

"It's…horrible…" muttered Macku, shaking her head. "How could an illness spread so quickly in such a short amount of time?"

"Very easily," said Penny with a thousand-yard stare, "especially in cramped, crowded conditions such as this. I remember one time when a Dust miner in Mantle caught a very nasty strain of pneumonia without telling anyone, and went back to his home thinking it was only a simple cold. Within two weeks, three whole city blocks were coughing and puking blood, and it would have spread to the rest of Mantle had General Ironwood not ordered a quarantine."

Takua looked up to his friend. "Did it work?"

"In a way," she said sadly. "No new cases sprung up after the order was put into effect. But for the people who had already contracted the illness…there was little we could do but ensure they were comfortable before they passed."

Penny hung her head and sighed. "There were many funerals that month."

The Ta-Matoran squeezed one of her hands with both of hers. "Don't worry. I'm sure we can do more than that here."

Macku repeated the gesture on Penny's other side. "Yeah. Let's go talk to Turaga Onewa. If anyone can tell us what's going on, it'd be him."

Penny smiled at the two Matoran comforting her, wiping a tear on her shoulder. "Okay. Do you know where he is?"

"Yeah, I come to visit all the time," said the Ga-Matoran with a smirk under her mask. "Right this way."

She led them through more rows of huts and market stands, eventually coming to a domed building at the playing field's edge that was twice as large as the surrounding structures. The sound of chiseling stone escaped through the open doorway, and a quick peek inside revealed the source to be a tall figure with a tan mask and robes embroidered with bronze thread. His hunched frame leaned over a block of sandstone as he worked it with a large hammer and chisel, shaping it down into a shallow bed with a built-in headrest. Other works of carved stone lined the walls, ranging from smooth figures with faces to a large copy of a great Kanohi Kakama. (Takua prided himself on how quickly he was starting to recognize the different masks and their names again…as he presumably could when he didn't have amnesia.)

"Turaga Onewa?" Macku knocked twice on the stone doorframe. "We'd like a moment of your time, if you have one."

At the sound of her voice, the village elder turned and bowed before the company. "Macku…it is good to see you are well. How fares Ga-Koro these days?" He smirked under his mask. "Does Nokama know you have snuck off again?"

"Why does everyone keep assuming that?!" The Ga-Matoran pouted. "I'm here on official business this time, I swear! And my village is, uh…well, it's fine now. Was in trouble a few days ago, but everything's okay now. Thanks in no small part to these two, as well as Toa Gali herself. Turaga, meet Takua from Ta-Koro and Penny from…um…"

"Remnant!" The freckled Huntress piped up happily.

"Yeah…Remnant. It's apparently another planet."

The Turaga turned his amber gaze onto Takua and Penny, scratching the chin of his mask as he hummed pensively. Then he smiled beneath his mask and bowed, which he answered with a deep nod and she met with a curtsey.

"A curious group of adventurers indeed," he said in a voice like crushed gravel. "I would be glad to welcome you to Po-Koro…but I fear that you have come to visit at an unhappy time. If you are here to watch the Koli match, I am afraid you will have to leave disappointed; I am about to give my people the news that the coming games will have to be canceled. This will be an unpopular decision, but a necessary one if we wish to stave off the sickness."

"Understandable," said Penny with a nod. "We met Golyo and Hafu on the way here, and they told us that there is an illness sweeping through Po-Koro. What can you tell us about it?"

Onewa gave a deep, morose sigh. "Not much, I fear. All I know is that it has brought ruin to our doorstep. Just a few days ago I was bringing forth magnificent works from the stone. Yet today I am fashioning mere beds."

The Turaga ran his hand over one of the pieces, clearly yearning for the days when he was carving literally anything else. "I am struggling to bring comfort to the sick people of this village," he said with a shake of his head, "but it is a fleeting solace. We know nothing of this illness, how long it might last, or where it comes from. Left unattended, I fear the Madness…"

The fact that he didn't finish his sentence spoke volumes on its own. Takua tilted his head.

"Why are you only canceling the Koli matches now?" he asked as he stepped forward. "If so many people are getting sick, why risk gatherings like that?"

"Because even now, when a dark plague has corrupted my people and my village, Po-Matoran are a stubborn breed." Onewa shook his head. "Though many still stay at their work, visit the bazaar, and play Koli, they have blinded themselves to the truth and put strength and Duty before fear and caution. At first I allowed this, to help take their minds off these dire circumstances, but that was a mistake on my part. Too many have fallen ill within the last few days, and I can no longer afford to put the mental comfort of my people above their physical safety."

He picked up a loose stone and rolled it around in his fingers. "Hewkii, our greatest Koli champion, was one of the first to fall ill. He has become weakened, and cannot move from his bed. I fear that soon we will see in him the beginnings of the Madness, the same diabolical force that grips the wild Rahi when their masks become infected."

Macku looked down at the floor, her shoulders trembling. Penny put a hand on her mask in comfort, rubbing softly.

"This illness has taken its toll on us for many days now," finished Onewa. "My people try to ignore it, but they fall prey to it all the same. It is why I must now cancel the coming match and order all workers to remain in their homes - until the plague abates, we are all at risk of falling prey to its clutches."

Huddling away in a dark, cramped room waiting to die didn't sound any more appealing than the illness itself. There had to be a better solution…and from the way Penny was humming thoughtfully, she clearly agreed.

"Hmm…Gali was able to save Ga-Koro when it was in trouble," she mused. "Maybe if we can find Pohatu, he will do the same?"

The stone elder let out a dry chuckle. "I admire your optimism, off-worlder, but the greatest irony in this crisis is that our patron Toa's strength and speed will not save us. An enemy that can neither be seen, nor felt plagues us now, and his efforts to aid us in our crisis would be fruitless. Right now he must focus on finding his Masks of Power; I cannot allow him to be distracted from that goal. Without knowing even where this illness comes from, there is little anyone can do…even the great Pohatu. And I fear that despite your urge to help, you can do even less. I am sorry."

The freckled human looked crestfallen. Takua put a hand over hers, and bowed to the Turaga.

"Thank you, sir. With all due respect, we'd like to do what we can to help anyways. Would it be alright if we took a look around the village? Maybe an outsider's perspective will turn up something you missed."

Onewa bowed in response, and sighed. "You are welcome to stay in Po-Koro and help if you wish, but do not linger long. I do not know if this illness can ail humans such as you, Penny, but I would not take any chances. Conduct your business, gather what info you can, and be on your way. The sooner you leave, the safer you shall be."

With that somber statement, Onewa returned to his sorrowful task of carving beds for the ill. Takua led the girls out of the Turaga's hut and back gathered in the crossroads outside, pacing thoughtfully as he pondered.

"Hmm…looks like he's just as in the dark as we are," mused the lost Ta-Matoran. He looked up to Penny. "I don't suppose that Aura thing of yours has any disease-curing powers, does it?"

The freckled Huntress shook her head. "It does not," she admitted with a sigh. "And even if it did, I do not think it would work on Matoran. We will need to find the source of the illness, and stop it directly."

"Hewkii was the first to fall ill, right?" Macku piped up. "Maybe we should go check on him, see if he can give us some answers."

Takua could tell there was another reason for that request, one that had gone unsaid. He just nodded. "Okay. Can you take us there?"

She nodded with fear and resolve. "Follow me."

The moment Penny carefully pushed open the stone door, she regretted it.

A darkness as thick and black as tar greeted her and her Matoran friends, filling the room and creating an atmosphere so heavy it hurt to breathe. Her eyes barely caught the outline of a third native inhabitant laying on a bed of limestone, orange eyes flickering in and out of focus with each rise and fall of a tan armored chest. The sick villager's mask and feet were a light brown, one that reminded her of fresh caramel…though his body was covered in spiral sores that obscured his vibrant armor colors.

And the smell…gods, the smell. Penny hoped it would not offend anyone if she held her breath.

"Hewkii!"

Macku all but pushed past her and Takua to run to the ill Po-Matoran's side, taking one of his armored hands in both of hers. Hewkii barely even responded to her presence, save for a slight cough.

"Who…who's there?" he rasped weakly. "Please…stay away from me. I just…want to be left alone…"

Despite her face being hidden by the mask, Macku's sudden despair was all too visible. Penny's heart shattered right alongside hers.

Takua cleared his throat as he stepped inside. "We won't bother you for too long," he said comfortingly. "We're from outside Po-Koro, and we want to try and help. Is there anything we can do?"

Hewkii took a few more mechanical wheezing breaths, then coughed a few more times. "Water…"

Without another word Macku reached into her seaweed satchel and pulled out a mechanical-looking bladder, one that had a spout at the tip that snapped open with a twist. The Ga-Matoran carefully slotted the neck of the flask through an opening in Hewkii's mask, slowly tilting it back and letting him drink. She held his head under one hand as she held the water skin steady with the other, only stopping when a spasm and cough sprayed both of them. Macku didn't get angry, she just stowed her water again and kept holding onto the ill Po-Matoran.

"Ugh…thanks…" Another dry cough. "What…do you want to…know?"

"What can you tell us about how you got sick?" Penny asked gently. "When did it start, and where were you when it happened?"

"I…" Hewkii coughed again. "I…I don't fully…remember. I was…playing Koli in the field when all of a sudden I felt…sick. Like…like everything hurt, and everything…was dark. Tried to keep playing, but…it kept getting worse, kept hurting…everything after that is…a haze. I've been sick for…how many days? I…don't know. I used to know."

Another coughing fit broke out, one far more violent than before. When Hewkii finally got his breath back, his voice was almost pleading.

"Please…you must go. I feel…strange. No one must come here…especially not Macku. Please do not tell her I am ill, it will worry her. She must not see me like this, she must not…"

"Oh…Hewkii…" Macku pressed her mask against his own. "I'm right here. If only you could recognize me…"

But Hewkii gave no reply other than ragged, wheezing breaths.

"He's delirious with fever," Macku said after a moment. "I'll stay here and watch over Hewkii, try to keep him drinking and resting. Keep searching without me - I'm not leaving him."

Takua took Penny's hand and nodded. "Okay. We'll check the Koli field. If that's where he got sick, then maybe there's some kind of clue about what caused it…come on, Penny. Let's give them some space."

With a numb nod of her own, the freckled Huntress followed her friend back out the doorway, trying to ignore Hewkii's strangled groans and violent coughs. Soon they were back out in the sunlight, but Penny did not feel any warmer. Takua must have noticed her discomfort, because he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as they crossed into a large field of open space.

"Hey, don't worry," he said as encouragingly as he could. "We'll fix this, just like we did in Ga-Koro."

Penny sighed. "I know we will. I am just…frustrated that I cannot do more. I could do so much to help Ruby bring the Tidebreaker back to the surface, and it was so simple - fix the machine with my Semblance, find the missing pieces, and help rebuild the damaged huts. But there are no machines to repair here in the desert, no clear-cut solutions or goals, no physical danger to fight against. I feel so…useless…"

"You're not useless, Penny." Takua's glowing yellow eyes stared into pools of green. "No one else is saying that right now but you. All we need to do is find the source of the illness, and get rid of it. Our own immune systems can do the rest."

The red-headed teenager took a few steps away from Takua, kicking at the sand under her feet.

"I hope so…but where should we look now? I doubt that the solution will simply come flying at us out of nowhere."

"Hup! Hup! Hup! Wild ball incoming! Clear the field!"

Penny looked up towards the sound of the voice, eyes widening to see a fast-moving chunk of stone flying right towards her head!

Her first instinct was to dodge out of the way or draw her shield, but something strange happened. The flying rock briefly morphed into a fireball, and the whistling as it soared turned into the high-pitched shrieking of Cinder's summoned landmines. She froze like a deer in the headlights, unable to move her head out of the way no matter how much her mind screamed at her muscles to do so.

She was paralyzed.

Takua was not.

Before the chunk of stone could make contact he pulled on her arm, yanking her down and out of the way of the fast-moving object. The projectile soared overhead and struck the edge of a granite goalpost, bouncing off the surface and shooting right back the way it came. Takua leapt onto Penny's shoulders and used her as a springboard to jump into the ball's path, intercepting it and wrapping his arms around it before rolling back to the sandy floor. Once he was back on his feet he tossed the rock into the air once again, bouncing it off his chest and mask before turning and kicking it towards the bronze-armored Matoran running onto the field.

"Intercepted and returned!" cheered the newcomer as he leapt to block the ball with his chest. "And the crowd goes wild! 'Scoreboard! Scoreboard!' Hup hup hup!"

Takua panted as he got his bearings, then turned to his friend as the Po-Matoran came running over. "Penny? Are you okay?"

"Whoa…Takua, that was incredible!" Penny breathed in amazement. "I did not know you could do that!"

"Oh good, that makes two of us, then." The little Ta-Matoran scratched his head. "I don't even know how I did that."

Eventually, the Po-Matoran's tiny little bronze legs brought him in front of the pair, the offending ball tucked under one tan arm. His mask was identical to Takua's in shape, but its color matched his legs rather than the sky. Despite his face being hidden, it was clear from the shape of his glowing orange eyes that he was grinning from ear to ear, and his voice and mannerisms suggested that he was younger than most other Matoran.

"Nice aim, stranger!" said the Po-Matoran athlete as he started bouncing the ball and keeping it in the air with quick little kicks. "Good blocking and reflexes, too! Name's Epena, nice to meet you. You've obviously got the skills - you up for a quick Koli match? I'd love to see what else you've got up your sleeve!"

Takua gave a nervous chuckle and shook his head. "Oh, um, thanks but…I didn't even know I had that up there. My memory's a little fried at the moment, so there's a lot I don't remember. In any case, Penny and I are way too busy right now to play with you. Sorry."

Epena stopped dribbling, letting the ball fall to the sandy floor. "Aw. That's a shame, but I understand. Sure wish I had some more teammates to play with, though. Everyone else has gone home, apparently 'cause they're not feeling well. Not even Hewkii can play anymore these days…hope he gets better soon!"

The freckled Huntress did not have the heart to break her new friend's spirits by telling the truth about Hewkii's condition. Not that she got a chance, though, as Epena seemingly shook himself out of his own dark thoughts and ran over to the ball, kicking it up into the air and catching it.

"Oh well, at least I can practice by myself! Wanna take this new Comet out for a spin, see what she can really do!" He proudly displayed it to the two of them. "Bought it right from that Koli ball salesman when he opened up shop this morning, traded two whole Husi for it and everything."

Penny tilted her head. "A…Comet? What is a Comet? And how did you come to own an extrasolar body made primarily of ice and gas?"

Epena laughed. "Not that kind of comet! A Comet's the best kind of Koli ball on the market right now. They sell better than even Ally's Desert Pies - everyone wants one of these, and they're scrambling to get them. They're perfectly balanced, so it's very hard to miss, and when you kick them, they fly as fast as a…well, a comet! Hence the name."

"Ah. I see…" She nodded in understanding. "Impressive!"

"Aren't they?!" The Po-Matoran rolled the ball across his arms and dribbled it between his feet. "I just got her this morning. There's only one merchant who sells them, and he's been trading them like crazy for a few days now at the bazaar. I don't know where he keeps getting them, what with the lockdown on trading and everything…but whoever carved them is truly a master stonemason."

A few days ago…was that not also when the disease began to spread? When Ga-Koro was saved from a monstrous Rahi attack? Penny knew better than to believe that correlation was the same as causation, but she still had a feeling that the timing was awfully convenient. Evidently Takua had the same idea, because he looked at the young Koli player with a raised eyebrow.

"What can you tell us about the guy selling them?" Takua asked. "He's the guy in the black Rau, right?"

"That's him! He's a little pushy, but there's no denying he's got a real edge when it comes to mercantile," said Epena as he rolled the ball under his foot. Then he frowned under his mask. "It's weird, though. The bazaar is open day and night, but when I went last night with my Husi to make the trade after the crowd died down, he wasn't there. His stall was just…empty. His hut was sealed too, and no matter how much I knocked he wouldn't answer. Like he wasn't even there…but that's impossible. Onewa put the village under quarantine - nothing gets in or out…"

The Po-Matoran stared into nothingness for a moment, before he shook his head again. "Well, I guess it's not that weird! After all, when you're selling the goods everyone wants, you get to make your own schedule! He'd move more sales if he stayed open all day, though…ah, but I'm rambling. You sure you two don't wanna play?"

It was Penny who shook her head this time, rising to her feet. "Sorry, perhaps another time! We are busy at the moment."

Epena was a good sport about it at least, waving goodbye to them as they walked away. "Alright, well let me know if you change your mind! I'll be right here practicing in the meantime! Hup hup hup! Hup hup - ahkoff!"

The sound of a loud, violent cough got the attention of Matoran and Huntress alike. They whirled to find the young athlete tucking his mask into his elbow, his Comet rolling away as he sank to one knee. Where once he was enthusiastic and full of energy, he was suddenly fatigued and frail, as even his orange eyes seemed to flicker and dim.

"Ugh…ahem…" groaned the Po-Matoran with a few more coughs and a dry retch. "What…what? No, I…I can't be sick…I was…fine yesterday and the day…before that…haven't felt ill…all week…"

Takua set down his backpack and fished out his lightstone, thrusting it into Penny's hands. "Keep investigating. I'll take Epena right to Turaga Onewa."

Penny looked down at the glowing crystal in apprehension. "But…Takua, I…I do not know what to look for!"

"Just look for anything that doesn't fit!" The Ta-Matoran slung Epena's arm over his shoulder, leaning to avoid the fluid discharged by another coughing fit. "Check the wells, or the Husi pens, or anywhere else that people gather in large numbers. There's gotta be something that's out of place - and if anyone can find it, you can! I'll be back as soon as I get him taken care of. Come on, buddy. Let's get you a bed."

"Ugh…but…Koli…"

"You can play Koli all you want after you get better. Let's go."

And with that, Takua half-carried, half-dragged the suddenly sick villager off the field, leaving Penny alone once again. Her hands clutched the lightstone in a trembling grip, unsure of herself and even less sure about her chances of success. She was an outsider in every sense of the word - she did not know what was usual or unusual for Matoran, nor did she understand what even could make a Matoran sick. Illnesses in Remnant were born of bacteria or viruses…did Mata Nui have those as well?

I wish Papa was here, she thought mournfully. Or Ruby. Or Winter. They are all very smart and brave…they would know what to do. They would know what to look for…

That was when she noticed the solitary ball of stone rolling across the sands of the Koli field, abandoned and dropped by its former owner. She swallowed hard and pushed down her doubts, marching across the soft grainy ground and kneeling to examine the chunk of rock. Sure enough, it was the very same Comet that had nearly taken her head off - and the very same one that Epena had proudly boasted about. Penny picked it up and cradled it in her arms, holding the lightstone and looking at the backsides of the now-distant pair of Matoran.

"W-wait!" she called out. "Takua, hold on! You forgot to grab Epena's…"

It was only after Penny took another look at the ball that she noticed something very strange.

The Comet itself was not very remarkable, other than how well-carved and aerodynamic it was. No, what caught her attention was what happened when she shone the lightstone onto the ball, revealing a sticky greenish-black fluid that sloshed around the cracks and natural divots within the stone. At first she thought it was just some sort of liquid injected into the core to help stabilize the ball as it rolled, before she realized that such a feature would require hollow channels that did not exist, and that the material would not rise to the surface so easily. The liquid also seemed to flow with no regard for how she moved the stone itself, and when she leaned down to sniff it experimentally she was assaulted by a pungent, disgusting odor.

There was only one word that sprang to mind, one word to describe this strange fluid.

Poison.

"Turaga Onewa! Turaga Onewa! You must see this!"

The beleaguered and exhausted elder looked up from the newest occupied bed, facing the doorway alongside Takua as Penny nearly crashed headfirst into the low archway. She skidded to a halt on strange unarmored feet, sliding into his hut in a panting, gasping mess. Onewa cast a gaze back at the now-sleeping Epena to make sure he still slumbered, then let out a tired sigh.

"That is twice within the last two minutes that one of you has demanded my attention…" he growled, more out of frustration than malice. "What is it? Did someone else fall ill?"

"No, but I found -!" Penny paused mid-sentence to take a much-needed breath. "I found where the sickness is coming from! It is coming from this!"

She pushed a stone ball as big as her head towards Onewa's feet, who leaned down to pick it up. Holding it in one hand, he brought it closer to inspect it…only for his eyes to widen as he saw some kind of tainted fluid coursing through the cracks. He had seen something similar in countless infected masks, so he knew immediately what flowed through the Koli ball like protodermis flowed through his veins.

He just could not believe it.

"What? But this is just a Koli ball…" Onewa narrowed his eyes, peering further and taking note of the sickeningly exquisite craftsmanship. "Hm…no, not just any Koli ball. This is the special kind that is now being traded at the bazaar, and which has become very popular in recent days."

"That was Epena's, wasn't it?" Takua asked, tilting his head. "The one we just saw him playing with?"

Penny nodded as she rose to her feet, careful to mind her head. "Yes. He said he was fine all week…yet after only a few hours exposure to this Comet, he has fallen ill. It cannot be a coincidence."

"Mata Nui protect us…" breathed Onewa, shock in his orange eyes. Then he set the ball down and faced the odd outsiders. "Thank you, adventurers, for showing this to me. You are as noble as your reputation, and equally resourceful."

The human's strange maskless face turned a light shade of pink, while Takua nodded and smiled beneath his mask.

"This opens my eyes to many things," said the Turaga as he leaned to examine further. "The symptoms, the timeline…it all matches up. These Koli balls appeared just before the first cases of the illness set in, with our players even falling sick on the field during games when using the Comets. You are correct in that there can be no coincidence…these balls are the instruments Makuta has chosen to use against us this time, infecting them with the very same toxin he uses to taint the wild Rahi. To think that he would defile such a noble sport with his tyranny and lust for power…the lows to which he will sink in the name of poisoning this land disgusts me."

"If these really are the source of the disease, then we must remove them," said Penny resolutely. " All of them."

The Turaga of Stone held up a hand. "I am in agreement, though if only it were so simple. This is but one ball among dozens that have likely been sold within the past few days. They are very popular at the moment, and the Matoran of Po-Koro value Koli above many things - even their own health. To recklessly gather them and throw them to the sea would cause great anger among my people…and where there is anger, violence will be sure to follow. We cannot act so boldly unless I have irrefutable proof that they are indeed the cause."

"What more is there to prove?!" Penny protested. "You said it yourself, this is Makuta's doing! Why can we not simply take them away from the Po-Matoran?"

"Ah, but therein lies the insidious nature of this plot." Onewa shook his head sadly. "Makuta knows well that we would not let go of such a crucial part of our culture, even if it ends up dooming us. It is in our very nature to value stone and maintain the status quo above all else; we cannot fight this drive, no more than a Ga-Matoran can fight the urge to swim, or a Ta-Matoran can pull their masks out of their own rear ends." He cast an apologetic look at Takua. "No offense."

"None taken."

Penny's face fell, and she squeezed her eyes shut. A pang of guilt shot through the Turaga, prompting him to lay a hand on her head.

"Do not be discouraged, off-worlder. Your discovery may not be the entire solution…but this is still a vital clue. We know now that the illness comes from the Comets…but we still do not know where the Comets come from."

The human blinked and wiped her face. "So then…we must find this evil at its source."

"Precisely," said Onewa with a nod. "Seek the merchant in the bazaar who sells these balls - you must find out from him where they came from. But take care. If he is somehow involved in this plot, then he will not want you to find out."

Takua tilted his head. "I think I know the guy you're talking about. We saw him on the way in, but…it didn't look like he had an infected mask. Why would he be doing this to his fellow Matoran?"

"Not all who seek to sow darkness display themselves so brazenly," said the Turaga remorsefully. "The evil that visited Ga-Koro across the waves has come, it seems, to target our ocean of sand. I fear the shadow of the Makuta has been cast across Po-Koro, and not all are brave enough to stand against it. Some may be drawn to his false promises, or turn to him in belief that Mata Nui will not awaken. I do not know for certain why some fall from the Three Virtues. But I do know that whatever is causing this plague must be found and stopped…or all may be lost."

Penny clasped her hands around the village elder's palm. "Do not worry. We will stop it."

Onewa chuckled softly. "I believe you. Go. Do what must be done to save my people. I will send those who are well to find Pohatu with a message to seek you out, and together I hope you can end this nightmare for all of us. Would that the sick did not need me, or I would personally come to assist you on your quest. Alas, my blessing is all I can give."

"Your blessing is more than enough, Turaga," said the human girl with a bow as she drew away. "Thank you."

Takua nodded. "Come on. Let's hit the markets."

"I wish you both the speed of Pohatu, adventurers." Onewa bowed his head once more as they left, then turned to face the ball. His hands clutched to his hammer-staff, gripping tightly as the servos within his elderly frame trembled with righteous anger.

Makuta…of all the tricks and deceptions you have used against us, this is by far the lowest. He raised his tool above his head. Why, were I still my old self, I would just as well march right to Mangaia myself and…

With one downward slam of his hammer, the infected Koli ball shattered into a thousand pieces.

…bring the cavern down on our heads with my own two hands.

If the markets were this crowded with half the village sick, Takua wasn't sure he wanted to see what it was like if there wasn't an ongoing plague.

He nearly disappeared in a sea of tan and bronze Matoran, despite the fact that his colors made him stick out like a sore thumb. Penny stood out even more, towering over every other person in the bazaar with those long fleshy legs of hers. Despite the fact that she could have easily skipped the line for the one booth selling Koli balls, she insisted on staying next to Takua as they waited, saying it would be "impolite to disrupt others." Part of Takua wanted to argue that it would be more impolite to let the merchant sell more poisoned balls to unsuspecting villagers, but he decided against it. No reason to make a scene and raise suspicion. Best pretend to be just a pair of tourists looking for a souvenir.

Still, he couldn't help but tap his foot impatiently as he waited for the picky Po-Matoran in front of him to check nearly every single Comet on display. Come on, come on, they're all exactly the same. Each one's gonna kill you just as much, no need to take this long to pick one…

Penny, on the other hand, was far more amused by the Husi that the cautious customer intended to trade, tilting her head to stare into its eyes and chirping along with it. "I must admit, these Rahi are rather cute…when they are not threatening to disembowel us, of course."

"Yeah, that's usually a deal breaker for most 'adorable' things," said Takua with a laugh. "Don't get too attached to your new friend there, or you might start following him instead of me."

The human Huntress giggled, which helped set the Ta-Matoran's nerves at ease for at least a little bit. When it was finally their turn to step up to the stall (after the customer in front of them walked away with a fresh new ball), he took a quick glance at the stone booth and the black-masked merchant behind the counter. Everything seemed ordinary at first glance, from the pen of Husi and Mahi to the rows and rows filled with Koli balls - there was nothing in particular that stood out as malicious, but something about the trader's gaze unsettled Takua all the same.

"Hello, stranger!" said the Po-Matoran with a welcoming smile behind his mask. "How may I help you on this fine desert day?"

Penny gave the brightest, most sincere smile that she could muster. "Salutations, mister Merchant-man! I am Penny Polendina, and I wish to buy a souvenir straight from Po-Koro. I would like something beautiful that I can show to all my friends back home!"

Hic.

Takua raised an eyebrow under his mask. What…was that noise? And why did Penny seem embarrassed? Ah, he could ask later. Her attempt at charming the merchant seemed to work, for he just chuckled and smiled under his own coal-black mask.

"Hah, please, friend. Call me Ahkmou. It is my name, after all. As for a souvenir…well, you can't go wrong with a good Koli ball. Let me recommend the Comet, our most popular model." He gestured to the array of stones behind him. "Interested?"

Time to be the idiot everyone thinks I am.

"Maybe. What's a Koli ball?" Takua asked innocuously.

"Why, Koli balls are for playing Koli, of course," he replied with a saccharine smile under his mask. "You'd want a Comet — our most popular model. Trading for two Husi pecking birds, or the market equivalent. Don't be the only Matoran in Po-Koro without one! Here, check one out for yourself."

Ahkmou pulled a Comet off the back shelf and rolled it across the counter. Takua caught it with his palm and examined the rock as big as his head, peering over it with an inquisitive stare and making a show of hemming and hawing as he looked for anything suspicious. Penny leaned over to stare with him, clearly looking for a venom that matched the ball she had found…but oddly enough, there was no sign of it sloshing around under the surface. Nothing but smooth, polished stone and masterfully-shaped angles across its surface.

Puzzled, Takua took the Koli ball in his hands and bounced it up and down a few times, trying to get a feel for whatever hidden toxin might be shifting around inside. Again to his dismay, he felt nothing. To his surprise, the ball felt lighter than it looked, practically gliding over his hands and even spinning on its own each time it came back down. As much as it pained him to admit it, he was impressed. No wonder these things were so popular - they were really well-made.

He sure seems pushy about these Comets, he mused to himself. Not that I can blame him…I may not know stone, but even I can tell that the craftsmanship on these is amazing. Although…I can't see any of that poison that Penny talked about. Maybe it's only revealed by the lightstone? Or maybe she can see stuff I can't…or it's dormant until it's actually kicked. Either way, I think it's time to start asking some harder questions.

"These are some good balls," conceded Takua as he tossed it back to Ahkmou. "Good craftsmanship, too. Where'd you get them? I doubt you could pull Hafu away from his statues long enough to pump these out."

The dark-masked Matoran chuckled again as he placed the ball with the rest of the stock. "You'd be correct in assuming that the so-called 'greatest carver in Po-Koro' had nothing to do with these. As for who carved them…well, I'm afraid that's privileged information, my friend. Let's just say I have a secret source…"

"Really now?" Penny asked, leaning onto the counter. "Why so secretive? Statistically speaking, being transparent about your products and their origin can lead to an upwards of a thirty percent increase in sales."

Hic.

Takua facepalmed.

"Oh I have no interest in profit, my oddly-tall friend," said Ahkmou with a laugh. "I am but a humble merchant, one who merely wishes to distribute my Comets to all Matoran."

The red-haired girl nodded, thoroughly unconvinced. "I see. And is that all you wish to distribute?"

At this, Ahkmou's facade of a smile faded. "…what exactly are you implying, stranger?"

"I imply nothing," said Penny as she pushed off the counter and began pacing. "But I do find several things quite curious. You are no doubt aware of the plague that has befallen Po-Koro. Do you not also find it odd that the first cases broke out shortly after you began selling your wares?"

"A cruel coincidence, I assure you," said the merchant harshly.

"What about the fact that the bazaar is open at all hours of the day, yet you conspicuously disappear every night?"

"I enjoy sleeping," growled Ahkmou. "Is that such a horrific crime? I am guilty of that, and nothing else."

"Then perhaps you have an explanation for why packs of wild Husi are rampaging across the desert, beset by the same illness that plagues Po-Koro. Or how Epena, who experienced no symptoms since the start of the disease's spread, suddenly felt sick after purchasing one of your Comets this morning. Or how no trade with the other villages has been allowed for several days, yet you somehow manage to acquire a fresh batch of Comets every -"

THUD. The merchant slammed both fists against the counter and rose as high as he could.

"Enough! You will get no answers from me, you maskless freak!"

Ahkmou's voice dropped all pretense of friendliness and charm, and his sudden shout made all of Po-Koro fall into silence. Penny froze up, bit her lower lip, then buried her face into her hands with a sob. Takua instantly laid a hand on her arm, casting a glare at the merchant who was seething with rage…rage he was already in the process of bottling back up.

"Now look what you've done, you made my friend cry," he said with a scowl. "I hope you're happy."

"And I had hoped you would buy something, but it seems we shall both end the day disappointed." Ahkmou went ahead and glared right back. "Now, if you're done needlessly questioning my character, I suggest you take your weeping friend somewhere else. I have too many customers to waste time on those who seek only to inconvenience me."

Give it a few more days, and that probably won't be a problem anymore, thought Takua darkly. He chose to hold his words and give a stiff wave farewell, taking Penny by the hand and leading her back towards the Koli field and behind one of the hut formations. The girl continued to cry into her sleeve…at least until the stall was out of sight, when she started doing something very different.

She began giggling.

"Um…Penny?" Takua asked with a tilt of his head. "You okay?"

The freckled human pulled her sleeve down to reveal a perfectly dry face and a wry grin.

"Oh, I am quite okay Takua!" she said quietly. "In fact…we have just been proven correct."

"I'm not following," said the confused little Ta-Matoran. "How does this prove anything? He didn't say anything helpful."

"Except…he did." Penny's grin widened. "He was evasive through our entire conversation, and while he had prepared answers to most of our questions, when I asked about multiple things he only responded in anger. If he were truly uninvolved, he would have waited for me to finish or merely stared in confusion, but he did neither of those things. So the only reason he would have snapped at me as he did…"

"…would be if he was hiding something!" His eyes widened as he whispered excitedly. "Penny, that's brilliant! So what do we do now?"

The red-haired Huntress leaned back over the edge of the hut, staring at Ahkmou with suspicion in her eyes.

"We wait until nightfall for him to take his leave. When he does…we follow him, and let him lead us directly to the source of this evil."

Now there was an idea that Takua could get behind.

Chapter Text

"You're not upset about the other Toa splitting up, are you?"

Blake watched as Onua turned from the cavern wall he was tearing up with his claws, looking down at her as she stared up at him. Her fingers tapped against the edges of her Scroll, which currently displayed a map of the underground cave network with markers about the possible locations of Masks of Power. Apparently the surveys done by the Onu-Koro Mining Guild had found many strange items buried in solid rock, but none of the Matoran had the tools or the manpower to dig that far. With the Toa of Earth, however, it was no issue to excavate them…although Blake was curious why Onua had selected this spot, considering how far out of the way it was.

He pondered her question for a long moment, then sighed.

"I admit that I am disappointed, yes," he rumbled with a slow shake of his head, "but I am hardly surprised. It is quite clear that the others need time to grow into themselves and their roles, and to learn that Unity is the correct path for all of us. Perhaps I signaled for a meeting too early…but I do not regret doing so, for now I have at least met my brothers and sister. And regardless of how we Toa feel about each other, a reunion with your friends was clearly what you all needed - so in that regard, I am far from upset."

Blake faintly blushed and tucked a strand of short black hair behind her human ears. "…well, thanks. I appreciate it. I…thought I'd lost Yang when she fell into the void…it was good to see her again. Oh, and the others, of course."

"Yang was the one with Tahu, yes?"

The Faunus nodded. "We're partners."

"I see."

The digging continued for a short moment, before Onua in turn broke the relative silence.

"So…do partners always greet each other with that…gesture? Forgive me, I do not know what it was called."

Oh gods.

Heat rose to her cheeks as she looked down. I do not need to have this conversation right now, she mentally screamed.

"Um, well…we call it a kiss," she mumbled, far less confidently than she would have liked. "And it's not done between all partners, just…very close ones."

"A kiss," repeated Onua. "I see. What purpose does it serve? Is it some sort of energy-transferal process?"

More like a tongue-transferal process. Her mind instantly bit down on that thought. What kind of fiend had Yang turned her into?

"No, it's…" Gods, why was she blushing like a schoolgirl right now? "…it's a gesture of affection. Something that people who love each other do."

"Love?" Onua tilted his head. "What is…love?"

The lyrics to an overplayed pop song rose to the front of the Faunus girl's mind, unbidden. She shoved that thought away too.

"It's part of our reproduction process," explained Blake hastily, feeling her ears - both human and feline - grow hot enough to fry an egg. She looked up at her taller friend. "You know…romantic attraction, mating, courtship…that kind of stuff. It's how we organics make more of ourselves, though these feelings don't have to be for that purpose alone - like when it happens between two males or, in the case of Yang and I, two females." She hummed thoughtfully. "Don't the Toa and Matoran have something like that?"

Onua shook his head. "We do not. There are Matoran who 'pair-bond' with each other and express deeper feelings of affection than they do with others, but it is a purely social and emotional relationship. Unlike organic beings, we lack the ability or drive to reproduce. We are all crafted, built, and given life by the Great Spirit himself; why, then, would we need the power to create more of ourselves?"

On the one hand, Blake found it oddly comforting that even in his endless slumber, this "Mata Nui" cared about his people enough to stay and help them thrive. On the other…an existence without romance and love sounded lonely and cold to her. Not that she'd tell that to Onua - despite the lack of reproduction means, she could see that the Toa and Matoran had other, non-sexual based forms of affection, ones that were no doubt just as alien to her as hers were to them.

"That must be nice," she instead said diplomatically. "Having a higher being that actually cares about you."

Her ebon-armored friend tilted his head again. "That is…unusual?"

Blake sighed. "Let's just say that most of the problems our world faces are a direct result of our own 'Great Spirits' being colossally petty and vindictive, and leave it at that."

The Toa of Earth nodded and went back to digging, letting a natural silence fall between them again.

"I have another question, if you will indulge me."

No, I am not explaining the birds and the bees.

"Depends on what it is," answered Blake, bracing herself for the embarrassment that was sure to follow.

Onua looked down and pointed at the feline ears on her head. "I noticed that the others, your friends…they did not have 'extra parts' like these. Why is that?"

For a moment, Blake almost wished Onua had asked her about where babies came from.

She opened her mouth to speak, then paused. If she explained that she was a Faunus, the Toa of Earth would likely ask what that meant. If she answered that, he would ask why that was seen as unusual. And if she answered that, then Onua would almost certainly probe deeper into her people's bloodied past in a well-intentioned (if misguided) attempt to completely understand his strange new friend. Racism against her people, the White Fang, Menagerie, Adam Taurus…these were all cans of worms that Blake very much wanted to keep sealed for now, especially considering her audience and his ignorance on such topics.

Based on what she'd seen, Mata Nui was unlike Remnant in many ways, not the least of which was how the various types of Matoran interacted. Sure, they lived isolated from one another, but it was done out of necessity rather than bigotry. This island seemed to be a paradise free from the shadow of prejudice, and she didn't want to be the one who planted that seed. Besides, how could she respectfully condense hundreds of years of Faunus-human conflict and put it into terms that such a peaceful culture could understand? Too little detail, and she felt she would be doing a disservice to her heritage; too much detail, and she risked alienating or horrifying the curious Toa.

"I'm different," she finally said simply, and she hoped that her tone made it clear she was done talking about this.

It was hard to read the Toa of Earth's expression under his mask, but he seemed to understand he was broaching a sensitive topic. He simply nodded and focused on digging once more, raking compacted dirt and loose stone through his massive claws until he finally stopped. Blake watched as Onua poked and prodded through the rubble, eventually pulling his prize out of the earth - a dull-gray circular mask with a cluster of scopes on one side.

She nodded in approval. "That looks like the one Kopaka was wearing."

"Indeed," answered Onua. "The Kanohi Akaku, the Great Mask of Vision…with this in hand, finding the other masks hidden under the island should be far easier."

"So that's why you wanted to find that one first," noted Blake as she consulted her picture of a crudely-drawn stone tablet. "To speed up the search."

"And to ensure we are aware of any dangers surrounding the other masks." Onua nodded in agreement. "Now…let us see beyond what can be seen by eyes alone."

The feline Huntress nodded as she watched the Toa of Earth place the new mask over his own, and prepared herself for the search ahead. No use thinking about what might have been, or in worrying about what was to come. All she could do was learn from the past and prepare herself for the future, and work with Onua to complete his Duty.

Blake just hoped that the others were doing okay with their respective Toa.

…seventy-two elephant…seventy-three elephant…seventy-four elephant…seventy-five elephant…

Stale air pushed its way reflexively through Ruby's pursed lips, floating in front of her face in clouds of bubbles. Silver eyes tracked them up to the shimmering surface just a few inches away, tantalizing her to stand up from the sloped seafloor and take a fresh lungful of sweet sweet oxygen. But as tempting as the offer was, she refused for a little longer, pushing herself and the limits of her lung power just that much further. It didn't matter how much her stomach contracted, or how badly her throat twitched. She was going to hold her breath for at least two minutes this time!

Glub.

…okay on second thought, maybe two minutes was a little too ambitious. Maybe ninety seconds? That felt doable. Ninety seconds, then she'd go up for air.

Ruby blinked a few more times and hugged her bare arms and legs tighter to her chest, trying to clear her thoughts and focus on counting the seconds as they went by in her mind. Eighty-one elephant…eighty-two elephant…eighty-four elephant…eighty-five elephant…eighty-six…wait did I skip a number? Which one did I miss? Better start back from eighty, just to be safe. Ugh. Eighty-one elephant…eighty-two elephant…eighty-three elephant… man I wish I could actually read my Scroll underwater…that way I could actually see the timer…eighty-four elephant…actually hold on wouldn't it be eighty-five by now - ?

"Mmbblgluh!"

Yeah, that was probably ninety seconds.

The rest of her air blasted out of her lungs just before she quickly stood up, pushing her face out of the water and into the breezy afternoon air. Ruby coughed and gasped and sputtered and wheezed, wiping her eyes and nose to try and stop the stinging sensation. When she finally could see without tears or saltwater blocking her vision, she looked down at the timer on her Scroll (which was no longer too blurry to read) - and took another gasp at the number she saw, which confirmed her mental count and then some.

One minute and thirty-seven seconds.

Ruby giggled and danced in the shallow water triumphantly, whirling around and showing the screen to the blue-armored figure sitting at the sea's edge. "Gali! Check it out - it's a new record! I held my breath for a minute and a half that time! And I didn't pass out!"

Usually, the Toa of Water would have been elated at the little rose's newest swimming-related milestone. But this time, all she did was look over at Ruby sadly, give a nod of recognition, then go back to staring at the distant waves. Gali's hands absent-mindedly grasped at another stalk of Harakeke grass, weaving it into another fibrous Kanohi mask that matched the five completed ones next to her. It didn't take a counselor to know that something was wrong, and Ruby had a pretty good idea of what was bothering her taller friend.

Poor Gali…she thought to herself, her face sinking back into the water and blowing bubbles dejectedly. All that arguing about why everyone should stay together, and the other Toa just decide to split up anyways. This was their first time meeting each other…and it was also their first fight. She needs to talk about what happened, but I don't think I can get through to her when she's like this. If only she had a distraction…

Ruby's silver eyes fell on the woven masks, and an idea struck her.

With a pulse of her Semblance she zipped over to the shore and snatched up her cloak and one of the grass masks, disappearing with both items into the underbrush. In the time it took for Gali to cry out in shock, she was already bursting out onto the sand with the leafy Hau held over her face and her red cape thrown over her head.

"Hey everyone, look at me! I'm Toa Tahu!" She made her voice as angry and harsh as she could manage, waving a stick around for comedic effect. "I'm big and mean and I like yelling at my teammates, even when they have good ideas! Rah rah rah, shout shout shout! Fire fire fire!"

Gali's face may have been hidden behind her own mask, but Ruby knew a smile when she saw one. Encouraged by the growing grin she swapped Tahu's mask for the others in turn, holding each one up to her face as she continued her charades.

"Ohhh, look at me, I'm Kopaka," she drawled while donning the Akaku, drawing out every vowel like an angst-ridden teenager. "I don't like being here because I'm just too cool for everyone else. I have the best mask and the best Huntress partner but I'm gonna pretend I don't care because I'm so edgy and detached and it's not a phase, mom."

Then she hung from a nearby branch by her knees, clutching the Miru while rocking back and forth upside-down. "Heee heee heee look at me I'm Lewa, the high-flying Toa of wind-air! I talk funny-weird and I like swinging through the trees like a monkey and I have all the attention span of a fruit-fly! I don't need any other Toa, I just need to feel the wind in my mask and the splinters in my hands! Hehehehehehe!"

Her stance widened when she wore the Kakama. "Howdy, y'all! My name's Pohatu, and I'll be friends with just about anyone! Sorry 'bout being late, pardners - I was too busy saving a dangerous and violent psychopath! Can ya really blame me, though? I can't just let a bad guy die in the desert. Where's the fun in that?!"

Finally, she held a fistful of Harakeke blades in one hand to mimic a claw, holding up the Pakari with the other. "Graaaaah! I. Am. Onua! I, uh…" Ruby's voice trailed off for a moment. "I like dirt."

The sound of Gali breaking into laughter was like music to her ears. Ruby grinned and retrieved the rest of her clothes, pulling her skirt and belts back over her hips while handing the masks back to her Toa friend.

"I know you're worried about the others," she said with a smile of her own, "and you've got every reason to be upset. But I trust my teammates to help them find their masks. Trust me - the other Toa are gonna be just fine."

At this, Gali's smile faded, and she turned away with another sigh. "That is…thank you for the comfort. But that is not what concerns me."

Ruby sat down on the sandy beach next to her, dipping her bare legs back into the water. "Then what is? Wanna talk about it?"

The Toa of Water hesitated for a moment, then finally let out another sigh. "I am simply…baffled by how short-sighted and foolhardy they are. They squabble like Ruki fish over a piece of protodermis, believing their own needs and wants to be greater than that of others. They have so much confidence in themselves, and so little in each other. Were it not for the Huntresses at their side, I suspect they would each swear to storm Makuta's lair all on their own - and some of them may even try to do that regardless."

Gali looked out at the waves again with a somber and wistful stare. "The Great Spirit sent for the six of us for a reason. If one Toa was all it took to save the island and her people, then only one would have arrived. How can we protect the Matoran, let alone awaken Mata Nui, if we cannot even remain together long enough to talk about being united?"

The silver-eyed Huntress put a hand on Gali's forearm, looking up at her with a reassuring gaze.

"Believe me, I get what you mean," she admitted quietly. "I love my friends more than anything, and I wish we could have all stayed together too. But you know that bringing a group like that together isn't a one-and-done thing, right? It's something you gotta keep working towards, something that everyone has to want. Heck, even we had to learn that - it took us a while to really figure out how to be a functioning team, and in some ways we're still learning."

Glowing yellow eyes looked down at Ruby, widening with surprise. "Really? From the way you speak about them and from what I observed, I would have thought your team experienced nothing but peaceful coexistence."

Ruby chuckled sheepishly. "I think I'll take that as a compliment." Then she shook her head. "But seriously, it was…messy, at first. Yang and Weiss were always butting heads, I had all the work ethic and commanding presence of a hyperactive child, and Blake…Blake didn't even trust us enough to let us know who she really was. Sure, we all came together during Initiation to bring down that Giant Nevermore, but it wasn't like that was the end of us learning to work together. That was just the start."

"I see." The Toa of Water tilted her head. "And how did you deepen your relationships with each other?"

"Well, we had to let ourselves be vulnerable around each other," continued the Huntress. "We had to train together and talk with each other, and most importantly, we had to trust each other. That's how we got to the point where we can read each other in a fight, how we can synchronize attacks with just a word…it wasn't enough that we were friends. We had to be teammates."

A wave of memories washed over her, memories of long training sessions that left them tired but triumphant, of late night fights and shouting matches that ended in group hugs and apologies, of movie nights and board game matches and study sessions and many many meals shared together. All of them brought a small tear to Ruby's eye, which she wiped away as she continued sharing her experience with the Toa of Water.

"And we all had things we needed to learn on our own, too. I had to learn how to be a better leader, how to step up and take responsibility for the people I was commanding in battle. Weiss learned how to warm up, Yang learned how to cool down, and Blake finally learned how to stop jumping at shadows from her past. Even when we got separated after the Battle of Beacon, we still grew and figured ourselves out through our own journeys. And when we all found each other in Mistral…it was a little awkward and rough at first, sure, but we became closer than we ever were before."

She still remembered how warm she felt, holding Weiss and Blake and Yang in her arms after so many months apart. It was a feeling she would never forget, not for as long as she lived.

"Maybe…maybe something like that has to happen for the other Toa, too," offered Ruby, wiping her eye once again.

Gali nodded in understanding, then let out another beleaguered sigh. "I do not doubt your words, little one. But I am worried that we may not have that kind of time. The people of this island have been under Makuta's shadow for a thousand years, and you…you have people who need you back on your world. I would rather not have anyone suffer the consequences while we take our own individual quests of self-discovery…"

"…but if you don't take the time to figure this out and rush in as a dysfunctional team, then you're going to fail, and people will suffer anyways," said Ruby pointedly. "I think the Matoran, and my friends on Remnant, would rather we all make sure this gets done right, not just quickly. Sure, I'm not suggesting we take it slow and treat this like some tropical vacation…but I'm not saying we need to treat it like there's a ticking doomsday clock over our heads, either. Being a team isn't something you can rush - not if you want a group that stays together after the war's over."

She smiled and leaned against the Toa of Water, hugging a blue-plated arm as she did so. "Besides…I trust my friends to help the Toa out with their own stuff. If anyone can make Tahu more level-headed, it's Yang. If anyone can help Onua be more decisive, it's Blake. And if anyone can convince Kopaka to pull that giant sword out of his butt, it's Weiss. If you want the Toa to trust each other, to trust you…then maybe you can start by trusting them. It's a two-way street, after all."

The sapphire-armored figure stiffened under the contact, and Ruby suddenly wondered if she'd touched a nerve. Before she could ask if she said something wrong, she found herself scooped up in strong biomechanical arms and pressed against Gali's armored chest. The Toa of Water's body was surprisingly soft, feeling more like streamlined armored fibers than pure steel - but that wasn't nearly as surprising as the fact that Gali was hugging her. She blinked a few times in surprise, then returned the embrace, stretching out her bare arms to try and fail to wrap around the Toa's wide frame.

"Thank you, Ruby," she intoned quietly. "You carry an enormous burden yourself, yet still choose to aid me with mine. You are wise - far wiser than you give yourself credit for."

"I have my moments," said Ruby with a soft laugh. Then she squeezed her eyes shut. "I just…wish I'd had more of those moments while we were fighting to save Atlas. Maybe we could have avoided all this if I'd thought with my head, instead of my heart…"

"Perhaps," admitted Gali. "Or perhaps your Salem would have found ways to win no matter what you did. Do not dwell on what was in the past - let it be like the ocean as it washes against you. Learn from it, draw strength from it, but do not lose yourself in its depths. Your heart is your greatest weapon, Ruby Rose, and the reason your team loves you so. I only ask that you not let it be corroded by shadows and darkness."

The silver-eyed Huntress let out a sob, no longer certain who was comforting who.

"Thank you…" she mumbled into her Toa's shoulder. "And…if there was one good thing that came out of all that…it's that I got to meet you."

Gali nodded, her arms protectively tightening around the young rose. "The feeling is mutual, little one. I am glad to have one such as you by my side."

After another moment of embracing, Ruby pulled away and wiped her eyes.

"Well, that was productive," she said with a choked sob. "But, uh…we probably should start looking for the masks again, huh? Are there any of yours nearby?"

The Toa of Water hummed, then nodded. "Indeed. According to Nokama, my Kanohi Miru - the Great Mask of Levitation - rests at the top of the tallest cliff in Papa Nihu Reef. I believe it lies just north of here, where the earth meets the sky."

"In that case…" Ruby grinned as she reached for her boots and pulled them over her legs. "…we might as well grab that one while we're in the neighborhood, right? Come on - let's go get you your first mask."

Gali smiled under her visor, then raised her hands as she stood up. The waters pooled together and rushed towards the shore at her command before merging into a massive wave, one that obeyed her will and hers alone. Ruby's grin widened as she grabbed the rest of her stuff and climbed onto Gali's shoulders, letting out a cheer when the blue-armored figure leapt from the shore to stand atop the tidal mount. Wind and seawater billowed through her hair and cloak as she gripped tightly to her Toa, as the ocean carried them off to another part of the island for another adventure.

We may not be together, but we're still united, Ruby thought to herself. The other Toa will figure that out eventually. I know they will.

Tahu was not in a good mood.

He didn't even have a clear destination in mind as he stomped around the cliffs of Ta-Wahi, leaving burning patches of magma in his wake. His own thoughts seemed to burn in his head, hotter than the lands around him but far less sightly. His annoyance at the other Toa…that entire fiasco with the murderous Huntress…it all hovered around him like Hoto firebugs, harassing him and refusing to leave him alone for even a moment's peace.

The only silver lining was that the loud one hadn't followed him. If he was lucky, she would have chosen one of the other Toa to annoy. Maybe she'd go splash around with Gali, or kick rocks with Pohatu, or maybe even -

"Heyyyy! Slow down, Big Red! Where's the fire? Er…I guess the better question here is where isn't the fire?"

…of course.

He stopped in his tracks, more out of annoyance than anything else. This gave the organic Huntress that insisted on following him a chance to catch up, stopping at his side and panting as she doubled over. Her hair was even more of a mess than usual, one strap of her strange clothes was improperly secured over her shoulder, and (most alarmingly) several large bite marks lined her bare neck and trailed down her arm. She still wore that same insufferable smile, though, so obviously whatever happened to her wasn't serious enough to ruin her mood.

But her presence alone was enough to make his mood even worse.

"And what happened to you?" Tahu asked, raising an eyebrow beneath his mask. "You look as though you have been ravaged by some wild animal."

For some reason, Yang's face turned very red. "Well I mean…that's certainly one way to describe what happened, although don't let Blake catch you saying that. She prefers the term 'Faunus.'" She laughed, then shook her head. "But never mind that. Where are you off to in such a hurry? Did you find the Mask of Speed when I wasn't looking or something?"

Oh, if only that were the case.

Tahu said nothing as he started marching again, hoping against hope that the loud one would get the message and leave him alone. Unfortunately for his mood, Yang continued to follow the Toa of Fire, walking lazily a few paces behind him and humming thoughtfully with her hands behind her head. The fiery, volcanic landscape of Ta-Wahi was usually a beauty to behold, but in his anger it was nothing more than a backdrop for his steadily-building rage.

"So, um…we gonna talk about what happened at Kini-Nui?"

He shot a warning glare over his shoulder, then kept walking.

"No, huh? Well, that's fine. I can talk for the both of us."

That was decidedly not what he wanted, and she knew it.

"The other Toa seem nice, don't they? Friendly, chatty, less prone to burning down half a forest? Except for that ice guy, he seemed like a bit of a dick. Although…there was something kinda cool about him, eh?"

His brow furrowed at the mention of that pompous Toa of Ice. He did not need this right now. He did not want this.

"Why not follow one of them, then?" Tahu snarled. "If they seem so much more pleasant than I, why insist on staying with me?"

"What, and miss out on your latest temper tantrum?" He could feel Yang smirking behind his back. "Please, this is comedy gold, watching you throw a hissy fit over things not going your way. Hell, if I had CCT access, I'd be filming this and posting it all over my socials. I can picture the video title now: Local Fire Toa Gets Pissy When Friends Call Him Out On His Bad Attitude. What Happens Next Will Shock You!"

Tahu didn't understand a word of what the Huntress was saying, but he could tell that she was mocking him. He growled and stopped in his tracks, whirling around to scowl at Yang and deliver a stronger nonverbal warning. She took it about as seriously as the last one, still wearing a confident smirk on her maskless face.

"Do not test my patience today," he growled. "You are playing with fire, loud one."

She scoffed. "You think I haven't been burned before? Come on, big guy. You can't just walk away from the problem, or the other Toa. What happened to all that talk of Destiny on the way over? About how it was up to you to lead them?"

His eyes narrowed. "Clearly, they do not want my leadership."

"And have you given any thought to why that might be?" Her smirk disappeared, replaced with a scowl to match his own.

"I have."

"Good, good, that's a good sta -"

"And it is because they are all fools not worth the trouble."

"…okay, see, that's like the opposite of what you're supposed to be learning here."

"What else is there to learn?" Tahu snarled as his annoyances with the other so-called "heroes" came to mind. "You were there, you saw them and their attitudes clear as day. So you know just how insufferable they are. Lewa can barely sit still for more than five minutes, Gali is so self-righteous and acts like she is so much wiser and better than the rest of us, Onua barely talks or says anything worthwhile, and Pohatu…"

He frowned, then sighed.

"…is fine, actually." Then his eyes narrowed once again as anger swelled. "And do not even dare to speak of that infernal Toa of Ice in my presence. Mata Nui…I have never met such an arrogant, self-absorbed, conceited, headstrong, egotistical waste of - why are you looking at me like that?"

Yang shrugged and shifted her stance. "Oh, no reason. Just thinking about an old story with pots and kettles. But this isn't really about them, is it?"

"It is entirely about them!" He swung his hand out for emphasis. "They refuse to respect me!"

"Cause you haven't given them a reason to respect you," said Yang pointedly, crossing her arms. "You can't just march in and expect everyone to follow you cause you shout a bunch. You have to earn their trust."

The Toa of Fire furrowed his brow as his anger burned to a fever pitch. "And what would you know of such things? You dare to lecture me, even in the face of your own failure? Your own lack of respect and trust in your leader is why you are here in the first place!"

Lilac eyes widened. Shoulders trembled. Even in his anger, Tahu felt his heartstone sink in his chest as soon as the unkind words left his mouth.

Yang bit her lower lip and took a deep, shuddering breath to conceal her emotion as best she could. Then she turned on her heel, marched over to a rocky outcropping, and squatted into a ball. While she didn't say anything or look at him, her silence was more concerning than anything else.

Speak to her. Do not let this fester.

Tahu mentally groaned and walked over to her, surprised to see some sort of clear fluid leaking from her eyes. He'd only seen her do it once before, when she was upset and holding the one called Penny, and while he didn't know what it meant then, he had a fair grasp on its mechanics these days.

"I…apologize," he said, laying an armored hand gently on her head. "That was out of line to say."

"Yeah, it was." Yang pushed his hand away. "And don't. Touch. The hair."

With a nod of understanding the Toa of Fire pulled his hand back, taking a seat next to her. She didn't look at him, but she didn't move away either. For a moment, only the splashing lava and roaring fires spoke for them.

"You think…you really think I don't know that?" Yang finally said after a long silence. "That I'm not constantly beating myself up over the fact that I messed up when it counted most? That I'm the one who pushed for the team to split up, when we needed each other more than ever? I didn't listen to Ruby…I didn't trust her…I kept thinking that I knew better than her, or Ironwood, or Ozpin, or anyone else in charge…and that got people killed. I'm gonna have to carry that weight for the rest of my life."

Tahu was about to offer words of comfort when he saw Yang wipe her eyes with a metal fist, shaking her head. "But that's my beef. My problem. And we're not talking about me right now - we're talking about you. And y'know what? If anything, that little outburst of yours just proves my point. You want the other Toa to respect you? Then you can't just keep yelling at them until they suddenly decide to tolerate you. That's not gonna get them on your side. I know for a fact that it's gonna do the opposite."

The Toa of Fire tilted his head. "You speak from experience?"

She leaned back and rested on her palms. "Yeah…I've seen it happen before, back at Beacon before it fell. Lemme tell you all about one of my classmates - a guy named Cardin Winchester. You in the mood for a story?"

He nodded. Part of him groaned at having to endure another tale from Remnant, but the rest of him knew better.

"You have my attention."

"Alright, but fair warning - this might hit a little close to home for you." The Huntress laughed humorlessly, then let out a long sigh. "Cardin was on one of the other freshman teams that formed after our Initiation. When he was made the leader of Team CRDL, it went to his head in a bad way. I dunno what his home life was like, other than that he apparently came from some long distinguished line of Huntsmen, but he'd bully and push others around all the time. And that included the other boys on his own team - hell, they probably got it worse than anyone."

Already Tahu could see the comparisons being drawn between himself and this Cardin person, and as uncomfortable as it felt he stayed quiet. The look in Yang's eyes contained a tiredness that he only now saw, a wistfulness for her home combined with annoyance and regret for missing its less-perfect elements.

"I didn't see what went on behind closed doors, but I didn't have to," she continued. "The team was pretty much dysfunctional. Sure, they put on a front of being a bunch of 'dudebros' hanging out in the best Huntsman Academy, but everyone could tell they weren't really friends. They didn't fight well together, they didn't work together, and when the mask slipped you could see that they didn't even really like each other. The only reason they did anything was because Cardin told them to, and I guess they were too afraid to find out what'd happen if they didn't."

Crimson eyes narrowed. "So they followed him out of fear, and not loyalty?"

"Pretty much, yeah," said Yang as she idly kicked her legs over the cliffside. "Cardin thought being a leader was a badge, not a burden - a great power he deserved with no responsibilities on how to use it. That affected how he treated the guys under his command, and how well the team worked - or didn't work - together. He and his boys lounged around on missions and let others do the tough jobs for them, they tripped over each other during sparring matches, and they got into public arguments constantly. It all came from a lack of respect, from everyone. Cardin's own team didn't respect him, and he sure as hell didn't respect them."

"And what happened to him?" The Toa of Fire could only guess the ending of this tale was not a pleasant one.

Her eyes grew darker still. "When Beacon got attacked during the Vytal festival, when things actually got dangerous…the rest of his team turned tail and ran while he stayed to fight. I guess Cardin assumed they were right behind him, and he was so caught up in the moment that he didn't even realize they'd deserted him. No one's seen or heard from him since."

Once again, Tahu's spirits fell as his guess was proven correct. He sighed and shook his head.

"…my condolences, then."

Yang shrugged. "Eh, you don't gotta apologize - he was a real asshole, anyways. Always pushing people he saw as 'weaker' around, just because he could…there are probably folks who miss him, but I'm not one of them."

She shook her head and looked up at him, wisdom swimming in her lilac eyes. "My point is, being a leader isn't just something you're given by Destiny or the Great Spirit or whatever. It's something you have to earn and work for, a title you constantly have to prove you deserve to carry. It's about more than just barking orders and making plans - it's about earning the trust of your team, and trusting them right back. They're putting their lives in your hands every time you lead them into another battle. It's up to you to remember that in every single fight, both on and off the battlefield."

Yang smiled wistfully with pride, looking down at her Scroll. "Those are all lessons that Ruby had to learn in her first few weeks at Beacon, and now? Now she's grown up into the strongest young woman I know, someone I'd follow right into Salem's lair itself. If you really wanna lead the other Toa against Makuta, then you're gonna have to learn this too."

Part of him wondered if he hadn't already burned that bridge into ashes, but the rest of him hoped there was still a chance to make things right. "And how can I learn this?" he asked, meeting her gaze. "What must I do to prove to them - and to myself - that I am indeed worthy to lead?"

The blonde brawler smiled and held up her mechanical fist. "You can start by trusting and respecting me, Tahu. Show me that you can lead me without bossing me around, and I can help you with that temper of yours. Help me live long enough to get home, and I'll help you find your masks. Deal?"

Tahu stared at the fist for a moment longer, before nodding and bumping his knuckles against hers.

CLANK.

"We have a deal, Yang Xiao Long."

The biting winds of a Ko-Wahi storm overwhelmed and overpowered Weiss, chilling her to the bone even through her borrowed coat. Snow swirled and built around her ankles, making every step feel like it was being taken underwater. Even Kopaka struggled to maintain his footing as he took the lead - and when a ten-foot-tall Toa had trouble standing up to the blizzard, what hope did someone like her have?

"Can't you just stop the storm with that power of yours?!" Weiss yelled over the roaring wind.

Kopaka shook his head as he readjusted his shield. "Not when the blizzard is this intense. Even my elemental powers are limited - I can't fight the mountain itself. There's a cave up ahead, though, one carved into the stone of Mount Ihu. We'll take refuge there and wait for the storm to die down."

That sounded like enough of a plan for Weiss, who focused on taking large steps to follow the Toa of Ice's footprints. She stayed as close behind Kopaka as she could, letting the ten-foot-tall armored warrior take the brunt of the rushing winds and biting snow. After what felt like an eternity of plowing through the blizzard, they finally reached a small Matoran-sized opening in a wall of stone. A few slices of the Toa's sword widened the entrance, and the heiress hurried inside.

To her relief, the inside of the cave was indeed much warmer than the world outside. Weiss had to guess it was partly thanks to its small and enclosed nature, and mostly thanks to the glowing orange object in the middle of the floor. A heatstone, she remembered Matoro calling it - a special stone that seemed to radiate warmth and light all on its own, allowing a wandering Ko-Matoran to set up a temporary shelter just about anywhere. Apparently, even ice-aspected Matoran could still freeze to death, and hideaways like this proved a critical role in staving off frostbite. From the assortment of empty bottles and dried Vuata Maca berries dangling overhead, she could only guess this one had been visited frequently.

"Huh," hummed Weiss. "Looks like we're not the first ones to use this place as a shelter. I wonder what happened to the Matoran who originally set this up?"

"I can hazard a guess," rumbled Kopaka, turning back to the mouth of the cavern. "Get yourself warmed up by the heatstone while I seal the entrance. We may be here for a while."

The heiress nodded, pulling her checkered coat down until its collar was level with her elbows and the hem reached past her thighs. Her newly-bare shoulders shivered as they were exposed to the elements, but better that than to sit on the snow and let the frozen water soak her skirt as she warmed up. She positioned the coat over a blocky mound of white powder, guided herself to sit carefully, and hunched forward to draw close to the heatstone. Kopaka erected a wall of ice in the mouth of the cave - one he could easily destroy as soon as the storm stopped - and walked over to join her, forgoing the seat entirely to sit on the ground so he could actually fit.

A bitter, deafening silence settled between the two, punctuated only by the dripping of melting icicles and the sound of their own breathing. Weiss's throat was tense and tight within her neck, and her eyes narrowed in frustration. She had plenty of choice words to say to the Toa of Ice following what happened at Kini-Nui, but in the face of an overwhelming blizzard she'd been forced to bottle them up. There was a time and place to have that kind of conversation, and the middle of a winter storm was neither.

But now that they were safe and survival was no longer an immediate concern? She uncorked that anger like a vintage wine and let it flow.

"So…it looks like we're really doing this again," said Weiss harshly.

Silence.

"I finally see my team, my friends, after thinking they were all dead or worse…and now we're all separated from each other again."

More silence.

"All because you didn't want to team up with the other Toa."

Unsurprisingly, even more silence.

She trembled as she balled her hands into fists. "Do you have…any idea how that feels? How much it hurts being away from them? I had zero reason to believe that anyone could survive a fall into the void back on Remnant, so for all I knew they were dead. My entire team, gone, just like that, and I was alone. And then…almost immediately after I reunite with them, after I learn that they're all okay and alive and that they're here…you cause a scene that makes the Toa split up, forcing us to do the same."

Icy blue eyes squeezed shut as emotion pooled into their corners. "I know that you don't like trusting other people, but would it really have killed you just to put up with the other Toa for a few days so I didn't have to leave them again? Why did you have to be the problem? Why did you…"

Weiss stopped herself before she could say something truly hurtful, as bitter memories and familiar voices echoed in her mind.

Why are you so bossy?!

Jeez, what's your problem Ice Queen?

Are you always this pushy, or is today just a special day?

As much as she wanted to stay mad at Kopaka for being selfish and unreasonable, she couldn't. Not when she'd been the same way not long ago. So she settled for muttering a quick apology and curling up into a ball, staring into the exposed heatstone as it radiated warmth and light yet not nearly enough of either. The Toa of Ice, on his part, continued to say nothing at all, and he stayed that way for another long and empty moment.

"I know I'm bothering you, but…I need to ask one more thing," she finally said after another terse silence. "You didn't…really mean what you said in front of everyone else, right? About how it was bad enough that you were stuck with me? You were just saying that because you didn't want to travel with the other Toa. I'm not…I'm not that much of a burden."

Weiss stared up at the silver-armored figure, feeling something warm pool in the corners of her eyes. "…am I?"

The look that Kopaka gave her was hard to read, but she felt a pang of cold shoot through her heart. Weiss buried her face into her knees, staining the cuff of her boots with tears.

"…it's okay to say it, if it is true," she said bitterly. "It wouldn't be the first time I've heard those words."

The many, many angry words of Jacques Schnee rose to the front of her mind, like a haunting specter. They were followed by numerous snide comments from Whitley, a multitude of drunken ramblings from Willow, and capped off with a collection of disapproving stares from Winter. Her entire life had practically been defined by people telling her she was a burden - what was hearing it one more time from a giant half-robot warrior gonna do?

And yet, when the Toa of Ice finally spoke, his words were not at all what she expected.

"It…isn't true."

Weiss finally looked up with tears pooling into her eyes, watching Kopaka stare into the heatstone. Each word was delivered with clear and firm conviction, yet it felt like his own throat was trying to close up before he could say them. It occurred to the heiress that these were words the Toa of Ice had likely never had to say before, that he was giving a voice to long-held thoughts, and even though he struggled, he still said what she needed to hear.

"You…are no burden, Weiss Schnee. Not to me, at least. You're strong, unyielding, and loyal. Human or Toa, these are all admirable traits to have in a companion. You're absolutely right - if you hadn't been there when the Kane-Ra attacked, I wouldn't have survived. It was wrong of me to say otherwise. I…apologize for my behavior."

While the words were a weight off her chest, his actions still painted a different picture. After all, it took more than one apology to make things right, and it didn't fix or address the core issue. Weiss knew she needed to probe deeper, to find out why Kopaka had even said such a thing in the first place.

"Then…why do you keep trying to push me away?" she asked as she wiped her eyes.

"I'm not doing it on purpose." Kopaka sighed. "Listen…I'm the Toa of Ice. You're from a frozen kingdom yourself, Weiss, so you know what that means: solitary mountains and isolated glaciers and cold, lonely nights. Everything on this island, in this world, manifests its element in some way; Matoran and Toa are no exception. If being warm and trusting of others was easy for me, then I'd probably be a Toa of Water instead. But I'm not. It's in my nature to be cold and distant - I can't change that about myself. Not all at once, at least."

The Toa of Ice stared down at his own palm, as frost gathered across his armored fingertips.

"Besides…who would willingly travel with someone who brings only ice, winter, and death? Because that's all my element is. That's all that I am. Cold."

And just like a snowflake in a frozen cloud, the heiress's own reflection crystallized in front of her.

The parallels between the Toa's story and her own were almost uncanny. Here was a soul isolated and forced apart from the world not because they wanted it, but because it was all they knew. Yet unlike her, where the isolation stemmed from an abusive father and a dysfunctional family, his seemed to come from a belief about his very nature. The other elements each had their own component for creating and maintaining life - even stone and fire, which provided shelter and warmth to those in need of either. But ice was cold and ruthless, stealing and sealing away plants and animals in its frozen depths. Only the desperate tried to turn fields of snow into farms and cities, and even they struggled to survive.

Was this why Kopaka wanted to get away from others? Was he afraid that he would bring nothing but the dark chill of death to any who followed him?

Weiss stared in understanding for a moment, then scooted over and leaned against Kopaka's armored shoulder. It wasn't nearly as cold or hard as she was afraid it'd be, and while she could feel the Toa of Ice bristle under the contact, he didn't pull away or push her back. She took his lack of resistance as implied consent, daring herself to wrap both her arms around his own. Kopaka looked down with a perplexed expression, as if he was trying to find a reason why she was using his limb as a cuddling supplement. Finding none, he turned his gaze back to the heatstone, giving no further protest as she yawned and felt the tension slip out of her weary muscles.

"I used to think the same thing," she mumbled as fatigue crept up on her. "That I would always be cold and alone. But then I found people who made me feel warm…I hope you can find that with the other Toa. And for the record, I happen to find ice to be very beautiful…when it's given the right shape."

The heiress was asleep before Kopaka could even finish sighing in resignation, but she caught one small phrase before she passed out. A single sentence, barely more than a whisper, yet hearing it made her heart glow with pride and warmed her dreams.

"…thank you."

The sound of the rushing river was the only ambience for Neopolitan as she sat hunched over at the very edge of the forest, a disassembled Hush laid out in front of her on a muddy riverbank. Next to her was the remains of a local biomechanical fish she'd caught with her own two hands, its meat slowly roasting over a meager fire and its metallic bones being used to repair broken parasol pieces. Whatever the metal in this world was, it was oddly pliable and workable, lighter than air yet stronger than steel. And after patching up the torn fabric on the body of the parasol - always carry a needle and thread for these exact situations! - her signature weapon was well on its way to being rebuilt after her encounter with the Toa of Stone.

If only her worldview and mental state were so easy to fix.

Tears welled up in the corners of mismatched eyes as she worked, forcing her to set down Hush and rub her face with a bandaged wrist. She wanted to be angry. Angry at Cinder for lying to her and manipulating her. Angry at Ruby for letting her live and humiliating her. Angry at Roman for dying and leaving her behind. Angry at herself for letting all of this happen. But the flames of rage had died out under the flood of emotions, and all that was left was sorrow. And unlike the sweet taste of revenge, this new feeling was nothing but bitterness. Her least favorite flavor.

While she waited for the spot-welds on the replaced rods to harden and cool, she pulled out her Scroll and swiped lazily until she found the last picture she ever took of her surrogate father. It was a candid surprise shot, taken without him knowing on the night of the Battle of Beacon, and it depicted him leaning over the weapons controls of a newly-hijacked Atlesian battleship as he turned the kingdoms' own cannons on their former owners. Even without realizing he was being photographed, he still looked incredibly photogenic; his red hair was slightly tousled under his signature bowler hat, his posture was cocky and confident as he leaned slightly against Melodic Cudgel, and he had a mischievous smirk that outshone the bags and bruises under his eyes.

Roman Torchwick had been a lot of things to a lot of people - a swindler, a thief, a public enemy, and a nuisance, to name a few - but to Neo he had always been an overflowing font of charisma and confidence, someone who could have nothing but snake oil in his pockets yet still convince you he held the elixir of life itself.

And now he was gone, and all she had left were memories and a well-worn hat. The world hadn't stopped spinning since that night. Everyone else had moved on, like he never existed at all.

Why couldn't she do the same?

"Ah, so that's where you went after you ran off."

She snapped her head up to face the source of the voice, eyes narrowing as the bronze-armored brute emerged from the underbrush. Neo's breath already hitched in her throat as she reached for the shattered remains of her blade, rising to her feet and holding it out menacingly. Pohatu merely raised his hands and shook his head as he approached, trying to make his stance less aggressive.

"Relax, Pebble," said the Toa of Stone with a soft laugh. "I've no intention of harming you…so long as you can promise the same. Can you?"

Her eyes looked him over, searching for weak points and hidden weapons in the armored frame, before she finally let out the breath she'd been holding. The blade fell to her side, and she knelt by the river's edge to pull her supper out of the fire. Pohatu nodded and took a few steps forward, looking down at the silent woman as she bit into the fish and chewed it as best she could.

"So…what was that all about back there?" he asked, curiosity in his voice. "You clearly had a history with Ruby and the others, but it did not seem like a friendly one."

Neo swallowed and groaned soundlessly, partly in response to Pohatu and partly because of how awful her fish tasted. She choked down a few more bites before she pulled out her Scroll again, searching for that last picture of Roman again to show the Toa of Stone. Orange eyes stared down at the hard-light screen with curiosity and intrigue, one that matched the vaguely cat-like mask their owner wore.

"Interesting…is this another friend of yours? One from back home? What happened to him?"

With a bitter frown she took the cooked fish in both hands and snapped its neck, hopefully sending quite a clear image. Pohatu seemed to understand that, at least.

"…I see. So he's gone, then. And you believed that Ruby was responsible?"

A nod.

"So you wanted to kill her."

A very resolute nod.

"Even though you were both lost and kios away from each other in an unfamiliar land, with no way home and no guarantee of survival."

…in hindsight, it did sound pretty dumb when the Toa of Stone said it out loud like that. With the extent of her "plan" laid out in front of her, she couldn't deny just how stupid and shortsighted it was. How stupid and shortsighted she was.

So Neo settled for curling into a ball, burying her face into her knees and weeping soundlessly.

Why?

Why did he have to die?

Why couldn't they have just taken over the Atlesian battleship and flown away together, leaving Vale behind and using their ill-gotten firepower to build a new criminal empire? Why did Ruby have to play the dumb hero and get in their way? Why didn't those stupid Grimm leave them alone during their fight? Why had she left herself wide open for that damn kid to outsmart her and send her careening off into the night sky?

And why had Roman died without even giving her a chance to say goodbye?!

Tears flowed down her face, mingling with the river below and staining her worn clothes. She could feel Pohatu looking over her shoulder, but she didn't care what he thought. She had turned to revenge as a way to give her mind something else to focus on, something to think about besides how lonely and cold and scared she was. Now that the prospect of violence was ripped away from her, she was forced to confront the grief she'd spent so many months burying - and it threatened to drown her until all she knew was sorrow and despair.

"…close your eyes for a moment, Pebble."

Well that wouldn't be hard. There were too many tears to keep them open anyways. She buried her face further into her arms.

Rumble rumble rumble…CRUUUUNCH.

The sound of stone sliding against stone drilled into her ears. She reflexively tensed up and braced herself, waiting for the pummeling of rocks that were sure to follow Pohatu breaking his promise. When the anticipated beating never came, however, curiosity got the better of her, and she opened her eyes just a crack to see the Toa of Stone raising a pillar from beneath the ground, humming and muttering to himself as he measured and carved out huge chunks of solid rock with his massive hands.

"Hmm, is this too much stone? No, no, I think it might be too little…let's see, if I use limestone for the base and shale for the detail, it should result in a more even - hey, no peeking Pebble! I mean it!"

With a silent yelp she turned around and covered her eyes again, letting the Toa work and talk to himself without being watched. Not that it was much of a secret what he was doing; it was obvious that he was making something out of stone, but she couldn't tell what was being made without stealing another glance. When she succumbed to the temptation to peek again, she was dismayed to find a ten-foot-tall wall of stone around Pohatu and his new project. Evidently he didn't trust her enough to not sneak another look…which, if she was being honest, was a completely fair assumption.

The sounds of stonework slowed, prompting her to try and pretend she had her eyes closed the entire time when the walls came down and Pohatu called out.

"Okay, now you can look!"

She turned, expecting to see nothing more than a pile of stupid rocks…only for her jaw to drop in shock.

There, standing at about the height of Pohatu's chest, was the chiseled form of a man. Not just any man, either - a man with a confident and cocky swagger about him, with a narrow cane in one hand as the other palm reached out to her eye level. His frame was blocky and rough, but it was recognizable all the same, and what little detail existed on the stone mostly served to replicate the iconic long coat and buttons. The face was blank and featureless, but that hardly mattered to Neo, whose mind was already projecting piercing green eyes and a mischievous smirk onto the cold brown stone. Before she knew it she was already walking up to the statue, more tears pooling down her face as she took the outstretched hand of "Roman" in both of hers.

"I take it you like it?" asked the Toa of Stone. "Turaga Onewa told me that Po-Matoran like to memorialize their greatest Koli champions by carving their likeness out of stone. I do not know what traditions exist in your world, nor do I know much about your friend, but I can tell that he meant a great deal to you. So it seems only fitting that some tribute exists for him, even in an unfamiliar land such as this."

Neo's lower lips trembled as she pressed her face against the stony hand, imagining warm flesh brushing across her cheek. A choked sob and a silent cry escape her lips, her eyes squeezing shut as an entire river poured from her face onto the statue itself. After a few more moments of nuzzling the palm she fell to her knees and grabbed his ankles, crying all over his shoes with shuddering breaths and heaving shakes. She knew it wasn't really Roman, that it was just a tribute made out of rock and rubble, but it still meant the world to her.

As did the fact that Pohatu made it, completely unprompted. Her attempts at being friendly towards him may have been a ruse, but he clearly didn't feel the same way about his actions towards her. Maybe…if he was willing to take a chance on her, she should try to take a chance on him.

Maybe.

For now, she was focused on giving her dearly departed friend the goodbye he never got but deserved more than anything. She rose to her feet and hugged him around the waist, dreading the moment where she knew she'd need to let go. She stood on her tiptoes and nuzzled her forehead against his, feeling the smooth grain of hewn stone rub against her skin. Finally, she took a deep breath and pulled the bowler hat off her own head, mustering all her emotion to set it on top of the statue's head before she slowly, regretfully, walked away.

She was ten steps from the statue when she looked back, and for the first time in what felt like years, a genuine smile broke out across her lips.

Goodbye, she mouthed, with an accompanying message in sign language for him and him alone.

Letting out one more sob as she turned away, Neo finished repairing her weapon and ate her modest supper, sitting in silence for a little longer before gathering up all her belongings. Pohatu stood nearby and watched her work, only approaching when she made to leave and looking down at her with glowing orange eyes. Though he said nothing, she knew exactly what he was asking; she nodded tersely before drying her eyes on her coat. When she was ready she walked around and climbed onto the Toa's back, holding tightly as the bronze-armored giant activated the power of his mask.

And so the pair sped off towards the desert as the sun set on Roman's River, bathing the memorial site in red and gold.

Chapter Text

Night in Po-Wahi was just as beautiful as the day. An unknowable number of stars shone down through a clear darkened sky, with no clouds or smog to hide them away. The moon gleaming over the island of Mata Nui was whole and unbroken, casting a pale light that bathed the desert sands in cool gray. And the overwhelming heat of the sun gave way to a deep refreshing chill that swirled over the dunes in wispy, whistling winds.

On any other night, Penny would have loved nothing more than to fall asleep under the stars.

But tonight, she had a mission.

The freckled Huntress crouched behind one of the massive carved statues that lined the path to Po-Koro's entrance, eyeing the gate with focused intensity. She may not have had the night-vision capabilities of a Faunus or her old robot bodies, but the full moon still gave enough light to see her general surroundings. According to Onewa, this was the only way in or out of the village of stone - so if Ahkmou were to slip away in the dead of night, this would be the only way he could.

She looked over her shoulder at the Ta-Matoran tied to her back with ropes. "Are you secured back there?" Penny whispered.

Though Takua was facing away from her, he was obviously pouting as he huffed and crossed his arms. "I still can't believe I let you talk me into this," he grumbled quietly.

"I cannot risk losing track of you in the darkness," explained Penny once again, "and we cannot use the lightstone when we are trying to be sneaky. So this is the only way to make sure we do not get separated. I apologize for the discomfort."

Her Matoran friend sighed in resignation. "Yeah, yeah, I know. And I'm not uncomfortable, I'm just…this is embarrassing, is all. Plus, this can't be good for your back."

A quiet giggle escaped her lips. "Oh, do not worry about that. You are not that heavy."

"Oh, good." Takua blinked as he did a double take. "Wait, what do you mean 'that' heavy?!"

Before Penny had a chance to banter back, the sand in front of an opposite statue shifted suddenly. She immediately shushed Takua and stared at the disturbance, watching as a stone door slowly rose out of the surrounding desert at an angle. Red-orange eyes glowed as they peered over the edge of the newly-opened hatch, scanning left and right with a suspicious gleam as they checked to make sure the coast was clear.

A hidden door under the village gate, she mused to herself. The oldest trick in the book.

Her breath hitched as pressed herself against the curved rock of her own statue, hoping to escape notice and blend into the surrounding shadows. She must have been at least somewhat successful, because the Po-Matoran felt safe enough to emerge from the hatch and climb up to the road. Even in the dim light she could see a black egg-shaped mask that matched his legs and contrasted with his tan body - confirming her suspicions even further that it was indeed Ahkmou, the suspicious merchant selling the poisoned Comets.

As if his appearance was not proof enough, Ahkmou took one look at the statue behind him, scoffed, then trundled off down the path.

Penny leaned back out from behind her hiding spot, giving Takua a chance to confirm the traitor with his own eyes. The brave little Ta-Matoran set all his annoyance at being used like a backpack aside - this was important work.

"Guess now we know how he's getting in and out of the village every night," he breathed as he furrowed his brow. "To think that this creep is willingly helping Makuta…"

"He does not have a torch or lightstone of any kind," mused Penny with a quiet whisper. "That makes it easier for us to hide from him, but at the same time…he must not be afraid of the darkness."

"He clearly doesn't want to be noticed or followed," agreed Takua. "So why don't we go and do just that?"

With a silent nod Penny followed the treacherous trader down the road, stepping as lightly as she could against the cold desert sand. She kept her eyes trained on the Matoran-shaped outline ahead of her, trusting Takua to keep watch around and behind her while she tracked her target with laser-like precision. Her patience and focus were rewarded when she saw Ahkmou open another hatch underneath a carved Matoran head, giving a low whistle at whatever lay in wait. A dozen or so bipedal birds scrambled up a hidden ramp and took off running in the night, kicking up a violent storm of dust and metal feathers as they disappeared in the low light.

"Guess that explains how the wild Husi got infected," noted Takua grimly. "He must be using his 'profits' to sow chaos and spread more of that illness across the desert. I'll bet this is why Golyo can't find any wild Mahi out here anymore, either. Ahkmou isn't just hurting Po-Koro with that poison - he's attacking Po-Wahi itself, too."

Penny's heart shattered. "Poor birdies…" she whispered with a slow shake of her head. "I wish there was more we could do."

"We can't help these ones, Penny." Her companion reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. "But we can make sure it stops happening - by stopping Ahkmou, and whatever plan Makuta's got him carrying out. Stay strong."

She bit her lower lip and nodded, moving down the road again as soon as she saw Ahkmou doing the same. The freckled girl did her best to stay on task and follow without being seen, but the shadows of night made staying hidden easy enough. Rather, it was the fear of being heard that worried her more, especially considering how difficult it felt to stay quiet in her new form. Her footsteps may have been muffled by the sand, but everything else she did - the pounding of her heart, the rustling of her dress, even the sound of her own breathing - felt deafening in her ears. At any moment she expected the merchant to whirl around and look at her because the sounds she made tipped him off, even though logically she knew that only she could hear herself.

I never realized just how much noise human bodies make, she thought to herself. How do people like Blake or Ren manage to stay so quiet and sneaky? A frown overtook her face. It is times like these that I almost miss being robotic…it is not a good feeling…

As if he could sense the dark spiral of her thoughts, Takua poked her shoulder with a soft whisper. "Psst, Penny. I don't know how you manage being this tall all the time. The ground is so far away."

It took all her willpower to stifle her giggle, but the joke did its job. Penny smiled and felt the shadows in her mind disperse for a moment, giving her the mental clarity to keep following Ahkmou in the dead of night. Eventually, the treacherous merchant came to a forked path adorned by three markers and a sleeping Hafu - Ahkmou spared one disgusted glance at the prideful carver before resuming his walk down the leftmost path.

"Strange…" mused Penny quietly, "The right road marks the way we came, from the docks. What would be the other way?"

"Looks like it leads to the Po-Wahi Quarry," said Takua as he read the roadside marker. "But why would he go there?"

"Stone comes from quarries," she said pointedly.

"Yeah, raw stone," he countered. "Not perfectly cut rocks like those Comets. Even if that's where he got the materials, there's no way even a Po-Matoran could carve that many balls in one night."

"Then perhaps someone else is carving the balls for him." Penny narrowed her eyes. "In any case, there is only one way to find out."

Takua nodded. "I'm with you, always."

The journey to the Quarry was long but uneventful, and soon the road sloped downwards into a massive valley. Only when sand-covered hills rose on either side did Ahkmou pull out a torch and light it, bathing his surroundings in a pale orange glow. While this made seeing where he was easier, it also meant that Penny had to stay farther back beyond the edge of the light - lest the trader look over his shoulder and see her behind him plain as day.

Eventually, the path opened up to reveal a massive chasm formed from jagged stone walls, one whose sides were pockmarked with exposed ore veins and carved ladders and platforms. Soft sand and loose rubble littered the floor, spilling over onto the roads like weeds overtaking a garden sidewalk. Six massive Kanohi masks were chiseled out of sandstone into the walls of the ravine; Penny recognized two of the masks as the ones worn by Tahu and Gali, and she could only assume that the rest of the statues displayed the masks of the other four Toa.

"Whoa," she breathed softly, taking a moment to gaze at the sight before her.

"Yeah, it's…incredible," agreed Takua quietly. "Don't stare at it too long, though - we've still got a job to do."

Penny refocused just in time to see Ahkmou approaching Tahu's mask, making one final check over his shoulder before pressing a hidden stone button. Immediately the ground rumbled as a slab of rock at the base of the statue slid into the ground, giving way to yet another hidden passage. The treacherous trader hummed softly before descending into the depths, and with a resolute nod shared with the friend (literally) at her back, Penny followed.

The tunnel was dark and damp and oddly cold. Weathered stone scratched the soles of her bare feet as she trailed behind her target, keeping one palm against the wall to steady herself down the steep downward slope. Ahkmou seemed to have no fear or worry as he himself made his way down, and before long he reached the end of the tunnel and stepped into the room beyond.

She arrived a few seconds later…and immediately felt a pit form in her stomach.

"Mata Nui protect us," whispered Takua.

The pair found themselves in a spacious and enormous underground cavern, with weathered stone walls and a rough, uneven rocky floor. Pillars covered in ancient markings held up the heavy ceiling, bearing the entire weight of the cave on their shoulders like a mythological titan. A single dim lightstone overhead swung back and forth on a rusted chain, giving just enough light to see and nothing more than that.

And in that low light, Penny almost wished she was blind to the cave's other occupants.

Huddled around big piles of perfectly-cut Koli balls were dozens of armored mechanical scorpions, each one depositing venom from pressurized stingers into the piles of stone. The insectoid Rahi all had six legs as black as charcoal and about as rough around the edges, clattering to carry box-shaped abdomens across the floor in perfect unison without missing a step. Some had mandibles, pincers, and tail tips that were all a deep shade of purple, while others had those parts colored with a pale blue. Penny did not know what other differences may have existed between the two kinds, but she concluded that both variants were equally dangerous - especially given how each beast had a pair of rusty-looking infected masks that sat flush with the carapace of their front-facing claws.

"Nui-Jaga," she whispered darkly, recalling the vivid descriptions from Onewa about the local wildlife. "So they are responsible for infecting the Comets. We have finally found the source of this illness - if we stop them here, it will end the plague once and for all."

Takua furrowed his brow. "Easier said than done. There's gotta be at least thirty of those things walking around, and I'll bet none of them would be happy to see us. This isn't just a cave, Penny - this is a nest."

Ahkmou marched into the middle of the scorpions' lair without a trace of fear or hesitation, barely even sparing a glance at the venomous Rahi that worked tirelessly to infect his people. The Nui-Jaga in turn paid him no mind, merely moving from one pile of Comets to another like clockwork. Penny ducked behind one of the pillars at the cave's entrance and watched the merchant intently, observing him draw some kind of circle in the ground before stepping back and tapping his foot impatiently.

The lightstone overhead darkened instantly.

Penny had to stifle a gasp as the entire cave was plunged into shadow, her eyes struggling to see through the pitch-black sea that had suddenly swallowed her. Eventually she caught sight of the glowing eyes of Ahkmou and the Nui-Jaga, which she soon realized were the only traces of light within the nest. Yet something else seemed to take shape in front of the treacherous trader; a towering clawed figure that seemed to defy the laws of physics by being darker than the surrounding darkness, as if it was malevolence and terror given physical form. A pair of blood-red streaks soon shone ominously at the top of the figure's silhouette, forming another pair of glowing eyes that radiated cunning, hunger, and annoyance. The intensity of this gaze, combined with the overwhelming presence of the new figure, left little to guess as to who - or what - this new being was.

Makuta, she thought with steeled eyes. This has to be the being of evil that torments the Matoran - or at the very least, a shadowy messenger that speaks and acts on his behalf. Ruby told me that Salem once used a Seer to appear in Ironwood's office to deliver a threat…I wonder if this is something similar?

Her suspicions were confirmed the moment she heard the shadow speak, narrowing his long red eyes as he stared down at the treacherous Po-Matoran.

"Ahkmou. Report."

The merchant knelt in the face of the booming malevolent voice. "Great Makuta," he intoned. "I'm pleased to say that another five Po-Matoran have fallen ill. I sold over a dozen Comets today alone, which means at least half that number should be sick by the sun's rise."

"An admirable increase," intoned the shadow of Makuta with a subtle nod. "And what of their resolve? Are they close to breaking?"

"Very close." Penny could hear Ahkmou grinning under his mask. "The Po-Matoran do their best to put on a brave face, but they are terrified of being the next to succumb. Oh, they try to be as strong and dependable as rock, but they fracture and crack like imperfect stone. It will not be long before their spirits crumble completely."

"Excellent. We shall allow them to stew in that despair for a few days longer, then let the Madness consume them. You have done well in your task, little Matoran…"

Ahkmou seemed to beam under the praise. Penny felt her stomach churn.

"…and yet, not well enough."

The merchant's head snapped back up in surprise. "What? But why? I have done all that you asked of me!"

"Indeed, but you failed to be discreet," growled Makuta. "For in your haste to prove yourself and spread the illness, you have attracted unwanted attention from inquisitive minds. Even now, they hear your every word as they try to cower and hide in the shadows. My shadows."

A cry of shock escaped Penny's lips as something dark and cold wrapped around her waist, quickly spreading and stretching to pin her arms to her side. Takua let out a yelp of his own as he was similarly ensnared, bound by the very darkness that once concealed them. The tendrils snapped back and yanked them towards the middle of the nest, dropping the Huntress and the Ta-Matoran at the feet of Makuta - who merely narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he grabbed the collar of her dress and lifted them both into the air.

He glared at them with a look that sent shivers down the freckled girl's spine. "Explain this. Now."

Ahkmou's eyes went wide behind his mask. "I-I didn't know I was followed, honest!"

"Then you are as blind and deaf as a newborn stone rat, with intellect to match," growled the Makuta, crimson eyes briefly glowering at the cowering merchant. "But the discussion of your failure shall come later. For so rarely do I get a chance to welcome visitors from another world…let alone visitors who were once dead upon arrival."

Penny put on her best attempt at a brave face, even with the island's greatest evil lifting her three feet off the ground. "Y-you do not scare me, Makuta. I know that you are just shadows, nothing more than that. I am not afraid of you!"

Hic.

"You are mistaken, child." Makuta other arm reached up and placed a shadowy claw against her forehead. "I do not seek your fear. Only your memories."

She was just about to ask what that meant when a sudden, searing pain overtook her. Penny cried out in alarm as thousands of dark needles bore into her brain, leaving no physical wounds but inflicting agony that was very much real. Takua yelled her name several times, but soon his voice fell away as the shadows ripped him away, slicing through the ropes and dragging him into darkness.

"No! Please! Do not hurt him!" Despite her tears and pain, Penny's mind thought only of her friend.

"I would worry more about yourself and less about some inconsequential villager," drawled the Makuta. "There is nothing unique or interesting about him, save for how he is far too curious for his own good. He will be safe in the nearby shadows, where he cannot see or speak…but he will hear every one of your feeble cries, and find himself powerless to aid you. That should be punishment enough."

"You cannot do this!" She cried. "The Rahi -!"

"- are under my command. They will not waste time in attacking, not when there is so much work to be done. It would take a far more significant disruption to disturb them…and your little friend is barely a nuisance. Besides…I would prefer that you and I have a chance to converse uninterrupted."

With that Makuta withdrew both his claws, letting Penny tumble back down to the ground. She immediately scrambled back to her feet, whirling around for some sign of light or life. But she found neither - the glowing eyes of both Matoran and Rahi had vanished, leaving her alone in a sea of darkness with no lifeline or anchor in sight.

I do not want to believe what Makuta is saying, but…Takua must still be nearby, she reasoned as she tried to get her breathing back under control. Otherwise, my heart would have stopped beating by now. That is…comforting, at least for the moment. I just need to find him, and then we can escape.

That plan would have to wait, as a massive Beowolf suddenly appeared before her.

She gasped and immediately drew Vita and Luce, not even questioning why the lupine creature of Grimm was on Mata Nui. Her tonfa and shield had scarcely extended before they were knocked away by the lunging Beowolf, whose paws suddenly became as large and powerful as a bearlike Ursa. Then the armored form split open as a prehistoric dragon burst forth, slamming its wings into her and knocking her to the ground.

"Wh…what…?" The confused little Huntress slowly got back to her feet, staring back up at the Teryx that loomed over her.

"Do you know what the worst part of being an immortal shapeshifter is, little one?" drawled Makuta in his newest appearance. "It gets so dull, cycling through the same tired forms for centuries on end. But your world…"

The Teryx expanded into a massive elephant that towered above her. "…your world has many fascinating creatures of darkness."

The Goliath grew feathers and became a mutated ape with raven-like wings on her left. "So many terrifying new appearances…"

The Winged Beringel twisted into a colossal being of stone and Dust on her right. "…so many wonderful shadowy forms…"

Finally, the Geist shrank down and became a Centinel that crawled onto Penny's shoulder, clicking its mandibles next to her ear. "…but which ones to choose?"

Doing her best to ignore the maw of the caustic centipede literally inches away from her throat, the former Maiden scowled. "It matters not what form you take," she spat defiantly. "The Matoran have never yielded to you, and neither will I!"

If the Makuta had a face in this new appearance, he would have frowned in response to her bravado. He leapt off her shoulder and disappeared into the shadows, and after a moment of bones crunching the hunched-over, bipedal form of the Hound stepped into sight. The fear in her chest tightened its grip as Salem's experimental attack dog came ever closer, its rancid breath billowing in her face and overpowering her senses.

"Again you misunderstand," said Makuta, sounding oddly disappointed. "You underestimate just how many shadows plague this island. And I am in every one of them, listening and watching and pulling the strings. I am everywhere. I am everything. Not even your friends are immune to my influence…and neither, for that matter, are you."

A claw of pure darkness brushed threateningly against her cheek, drawing a well of unpleasant memories towards the front of her mind. She bit her lower lip and pushed it away, stepping back from the master of shadows with anger in her emerald eyes.

"Tricks and deceptions, nothing more." Penny scowled and furrowed her brow. "That is all you have, Makuta. You can boast all you want, but you are nothing compared to Mata Nui."

Makuta narrowed his own gaze in turn before he lashed out with one arm, extending his limb and plunging a claw of solid shadow into her chest. While the attack did not physically hurt her, it did bring back painful memories of being wounded in an identical way once before - especially when the shapeshifter became a colorless copy of Cinder Fall with piercing crimson eyes. She nearly forgot to breathe as Makuta pulled her back while wearing the face of her murderer, lifting her off her feet before slamming her roughly into the ground and slamming a heeled foot against her stomach.

"Mata Nui was weak," he growled with hatred and malice dripping from his voice. "Mata Nui was a fool. All that power at his fingertips, and he squandered it away on serving these feeble creatures. He willingly made himself a slave, when he could have ruled them as a god. I would never be so foolish. So…pathetic."

Penny barely had time to get a breath before Makuta reached down with the arm of shadows again, this time wrapping long dark fingers around her throat and windpipe. Her mouth hung open limply as she tried in vain to gasp and scream and do anything besides uselessly thrash around, eyes widening with each passing second as death inched closer. After what felt like an eternity of suffocating and clawing at the arm that choked her, Makuta released his grip, letting her breathe once again as pain and coughs wracked her trembling body.

"Ah, but I do not expect one as simple as you to understand." The Master of Shadows knelt down menacingly next to the shaking girl. "I have a greater plan, you see, a plan to rule that is so great and complex that it shall make my brother's ambitions seem like mere child's play. But you see, I am faced now with a conundrum - the arrival of the Toa was a planned eventuality, one that I had long prepared for. You and your little Huntress friends, however, were not. And I simply cannot abide having any unknown elements in my plots…not when I have spent thousands of years crafting them to perfection."

The freckled Huntress tried to scoot away from the visage of the one who killed her, but the piercing gaze of Makuta left her paralyzed.

"Which means that, if I want my plans to continue without delay or interruption," continued Makuta, "I must either seek to understand you and how you arrived…or eliminate you from the equation altogether. Preferably the former before the latter - I have always believed in the benefits of patience and careful observation. That is the only reason you and your friends have survived thus far on this island. On my island. You fascinate me."

Clawed nails hovered threateningly over her heart, ready to plunge down once more and end her life one final time. "You in particular are…an enigma, to me. An inscrutable puzzle, a riddle with no answer. You arrived on these shores broken and lifeless, yet now you breathe and walk as well as any other. I do not know why or how my brother brought you back to life…but I shall enjoy dissecting you to find out."

Penny's chest suddenly clamped tight like a vice grip, and she screamed. "No! No! Not again! Ruby! Papa! Help! Please! Do not let me die again!"

"Oh, do spare me the dramatics," said Makuta in a droll tone. "Your friends are not here to save you, and no one shall heed your final cries for help. I have spent far too long making the Matoran fear the shadows…they all know better than to interfere."

"Not all of us, Makuta!"

Takua's voice rang out an instant before a brilliant light enveloped the cavern, nearly blinding Penny as she reflexively shielded her eyes. Makuta let out a strangled cry as he backed away from the prone Huntress while writhing in agony, the features of Cinder Fall melting away and revealing the same clawed figure that spoke to Ahkmou moments earlier. The brave little Ta-Matoran wasted no time in putting himself between his friend and the Master of Shadows, waving the lightstone menacingly with one hand while taking hers in the other.

"You okay, Penny?" he asked, sparing a glance over his shoulder.

"Takua…" she gasped as she crawled to her knees. A warm smile stretched across her face. "You came back for me."

The Ta-Matoran gave a smile of his own under his mask. "I never left. I promised I'd be with you, didn't I?"

Penny laughed softly and pressed Takua's hand against her cheek. "You did…thank you."

Then she looked over at the shadowy messenger, raising her eyebrow in fascination. With the way that Makuta squirmed and spasmed under the glow, one could almost be forgiven for thinking he was in pain. Penny was suddenly reminded of how the shadowy tendrils holding Ruby underwater withered away at the sign of the light - was light the main weakness of the dark figure? Or was there something special about the lightstone itself, that it could dispel the illusions and influence of the Master of Shadows…?

"What…again?" Makuta snarled, disbelief seeping into his voice. "What…is this? A trick of the light? Or perhaps…no…that is not possible…not this early in the timeline…"

Takua seemed to draw the same conclusion as both Penny and Makuta, because he held out the stone with a confident smirk. "What's wrong, oh 'great and powerful' Makuta? Afraid of a little light?! Well there's more where that came from! Come on, try and take her again! I dare you!"

The shadowy apparition narrowed its eyes, then scoffed.

"Hmph. No matter. This is an inconvenience at most…I shall have the answers I seek eventually. Just know that where there is light, there will also be shadow. And where there is shadow…there I will be. Assuming you live long enough to escape the Nui-Jaga, of course…you should be proud of yourself, little Matoran. Thanks to your selfless act of bravery, every Rahi in this cave now knows exactly where you are."

Sure enough, the chattering of mandibles and the clattering of chitin from all directions signaled that the giant scorpions were turning to face them beyond the light, stingers rattling and pincers snapping in anticipation.

"I expect to hear your screams all the way from Mangaia. Please, do not disappoint me."

And with that final pithy remark, the shadow of Makuta slipped away.

Penny and Takua instinctively stood back-to-back with one another as the overhead light flickered back to life, giving them a clear look at the several dozen Nui-Jaga that moved to circle around them. The Huntress reached out with her Semblance and pulled Vita and Luce back into her waiting hands; the Matoran, lacking any weapons of his own, just held up the lightstone with an angry expression under his mask. If the scorpions were intimidated, they certainly did not show it. In fact, their pathetic attempts to threaten the bugs just seemed to encourage and embolden them. All the while, Ahkmou wove carefully between the Rahi and made his way towards the cave entrance, clearly intending to make his escape while the pair were distracted.

"I don't suppose your plan to follow that guy included a way out for us, did it?" Takua asked nervously, glancing over his shoulder. "Or it had a way of keeping him from escaping?"

The freckled Huntress frowned. "No…I did not think this far, unfortunately. I am sorry, Takua."

"Hey, it's fine," said the little Ta-Matoran. "I always wanted to die underground, torn to pieces by hungry oversized bugs while the guy behind the whole thing gets away."

"…wait, really?"

"No Penny I was being sarcastic of course I don't want to die like this!"

Unfortunately, it seemed the Nui-Jaga were tired of waiting. Four of them lunged forward and brought their stingers plunging down…

FWOOOSH!

A rushing bronze blur suddenly swooped in and wove between the armored scorpions, scooping up Penny and Takua just before their tails could make contact. The freckled girl felt her stomach lurch into her chest as she was carted back towards the entrance at high speed, looking up at the figure that was holding her around the waist. The figure looked about as tall as Tahu and Gali, but with an inverted brown torso, massive armored boots capping off a wide pair of tan legs, black two-fingered hands attached to short stocky arms, and a triangular mask that was streamlined and windswept with whiskers like a cat's. Orange eyes gleamed in the low light and looked down at the pair of them as the newcomer set them down gently, concern and friendliness etched into the expression behind the mask.

"Well now…that could have been messy, little ones."

The figure winked towards the pair with a clear smile, laughing softly at their dumbfounded nods. Then he looked back at Ahkmou, whose eyes were practically as wide as the holes in his mask as he stood frozen in place.

"And you…I doubt your silence is one of respect and awe at the sight of your village's long-awaited savior. In fact, I would venture that it's for the opposite reason - you were hoping not to see me."

Ahkmou just glowered and slipped back into the shadows. Takua looked up and down at the new figure, something clicking in his mind.

"Toa Pohatu, I presume?" he asked with a tilt of his blue-masked head.

"The one and only," said the figure with a nod. "You must be the travelers that Onewa told us to seek out. Apologies for the delay, I was busy helping - "

Penny's eyes narrowed as she saw a familiar head of pink and brown hair peer out over Pohatu's shoulder. "- you!"

The curved spearhead of Luce came out in a threatening thrust, one that was aimed directly over an ebon-black pauldron. Neopolitan merely flipped off the Toa's back and landed daintily on her feet, mismatched eyes widening in shock as her own hand went for her weapon. Before either of them could make any further moves, Pohatu stepped between them both, hands spread apart to keep them away from each other.

"Hold your Rahi, friend! Pebble here means no harm to you. Not anymore, in any case. I promise, I'll explain everything as soon as we - look out!"

The Toa of Stone spared a glance over his shoulder to see the Nui-Jaga flicking their stinger tails at the group, hurling globs of sand mixed with venom at high speeds. Pohatu stomped the ground and brought up a wall of solid rock just before the volley hit, blocking as many of the projectiles as he could manage. Some of the dirt and debris soared over the wall, however - and one extremely lucky ball of sand and ichor splashed right into the Toa's mask, making him cry out and stumble back in alarm as his eyes went from bright orange to pale yellow.

"Pohatu!" cried Penny, instantly returning her glare to Neo and anticipating a sneak attack. But rather than take advantage of the Toa's blinded state, the assassin merely reached out with a shocked look on her face. She almost looked…concerned? Was that possible?

It was a mystery she would have to solve later, because Pohatu groaned and shook his head.

"Ugh…blasted beasts…" he grumbled. "Seems the scorpions have blinded me for the moment, I can't see anything more than a bio in front of me…"

Takua's eyes widened, then narrowed. "But I can."

Penny tilted her head. "Takua…?"

That was all she could say before the Ta-Matoran pushed the lightstone towards her feet, running at the blinded Toa of Stone and swiftly climbing up his back. Pohatu stumbled and jerked as Takua walked all over him, only stopping once he settled into the gap between his shoulders and behind his head.

"Traveler?" asked the Toa of Stone with a raised eyebrow. "What are you -?"

"Don't worry, Pohatu!" said Takua triumphantly. "I'll be your eyes for this battle!"

The bronze-armored figure chuckled. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm afraid even that won't do much. If I can't see, then I can't summon or channel my element safely. Not without accidentally bringing the entire cave down on us."

"You don't have to," said the Ta-Matoran. "There's entire piles of Koli balls sitting all around the nest…it'd be a shame not to use them. You're the Toa of Stone - how good are you at kicking rocks at high speed?"

Pohatu smiled under his mask. "You'll find none better at that than I, little friend."

"Then it sounds like we've got a plan!" Takua looked down at Penny. "Keep the Rahi at bay as best as you can! Pohatu and I will back you up at range!"

The young girl nodded as she picked up the lightstone and tucked it into her belt. "Understood! But what about Ahkmou? He is responsible for all of this, we cannot let him escape!"

"I think your friend has that covered!"

Penny raised an eyebrow in confusion, then heard the sound of steel clattering against stone ringing out. Sure enough, there was Neopolitan squaring off against the treacherous Ahkmou, spinning and striking with her parasol in her usual fashion and attacking from every angle. While the Po-Matoran put up a considerable fight despite his small stature, he was no Huntress, and he certainly was no assassin.

"I believe you are correct," said Penny as she readied her weapons. "But she is not my friend."

"Not with that attitude, she isn't!" Pohatu said with a chuckle. "Now then, adventurer - show me where to aim and what to kick!"

"Start with the pile on your right! There's two Rahi dead ahead from there!"

With a nod the bronze figure darted over to a nearby stack of Comets in a blur of motion, rearing back for a mighty kick before slamming his boot against the topmost Koli balls. The rocky projectiles flew so fast they nearly burst into flame, splattering one Nui-Jaga into insectoid chunks and stunning the one behind it with a solid blow to the head. Penny quickly moved in to finish off the concussed scorpion with a flurry of blows and thrusts, sliding underneath the unarmored belly and dragging her spear tip across the canvas-like flesh. As soon as the underbelly was torn open the Nui-Jaga shrieked and convulsed for a moment, gears and fluids spilling onto the floor before finally slumping to the ground, dead.

That is two down, thought Penny, and only…

She cast a nervous glance at the dozens of scorpions scuttling over, gnashing their mandibles in anger and vengeance.

…far too many to go.

A cry of shock and pain got her attention on her right, and she saw Ahkmou lying face-down on the ground with Neo standing over him. Though the Po-Matoran was clearly done fighting, the assassin was not - she was raising a long thin blade over her head, with clear intent to plunge it into her opponent's unguarded back. Penny surged forward with Huntress-born speed and strength, barreling past Nui-Jaga and knocking one away with her shield before shoulder-checking the pint-sized mute. Neo stumbled back under the force of the blow, lowering her blade and raising an eyebrow.

"Do not kill him!" She said with raised hands.

Neo said nothing (as usual), but she was visibly confused all the same. She pointed first at Ahkmou, then at the Rahi, then at Penny with a doubtful expression.

"Do not misunderstand," said Penny with a furrowed brow. "He will face punishment for his crimes. But not at our hands."

She reached down and kicked Ahkmou over, grabbing his mask in one hand and yanking it off in a single smooth motion. The Po-Matoran immediately fell unconscious as his Kanohi was removed, the lights in his eyes dimming and servos humming as they powered down. Talking with Onewa had taught her that Matoran went into some form of stasis when their masks were removed - which meant that Ahkmou would no longer resist them or try to escape.

The mute assassin shrugged, then her eyes widened as she thrust towards Penny with her blade. Penny let out a cry of shock as she tried to dodge, but she realized she need not have bothered - Neo's target was not her, but rather the eye of the Nui-Jaga that snuck up behind her. With a begrudging nod of thanks the freckled Huntress swung her spear and shield low to the ground, flipping the mechanical scorpion over to expose its vulnerable underside. Neo yanked her sword free and leapt to finish off the downed foe, plunging into exposed flesh and mechanisms before twisting the blade to cut off its death rattle.

With another reluctant nod the two Huntresses began fighting back-to-back against the coming scorpions, darting between targets and using their speed and agility to keep the Rahi off-balance. Penny blocked with Vita and thrust with Luce, while Neo did both just by repeatedly form-shifting her parasol. When the former Maiden needed some breathing room, Neo used an illusion to grant it. When the silent assassin needed a launch point, Penny's shield provided one. And when chunks of stone crashed into a Nui-Jaga hard enough to leave it disoriented, it almost became a race to see who could rush in first to deliver the killing blow. Penny almost did not want to admit it, but Neo's fighting style complemented her own quite well - and much to her own surprise, she almost found herself having fun fighting alongside the smaller woman.

Still, there seemed to be no end to the Rahi. For every one that fell to their combined efforts, two more simply trampled over their fallen carcass to swarm them. Both Auras flickered and flared as the girls got hit by claw swipes and stinger jabs that slipped past their guards, the protective soul armor doing its best to keep them from bleeding or getting poisoned. And although Pohatu's fusillade of stone helped keep the creatures at bay, not every flying rock found its mark - some crashed into the distant wall, others were intercepted by lunging stinger tails.

After killing her fifth scorpion, Penny felt fatigue flood into her limbs. It had never occurred to her before just how tiring prolonged combat was for a human body, especially a human body that had only recently come into existence. A quick glance at Neo told her that the assassin was running on fumes as well, as much as she tried to hide it.

"We cannot keep fighting like this," she panted as she resisted the urge to sink to one knee. "There are too many of them. We need a new plan…"

Neo looked over and met her gaze, then nodded. After making a show of silently humming and furrowing her brow - and pushing back another scorpion with her parasol - her eyes almost literally lit up. She pointed to Pohatu, then the pillars, and finally made some kind of slashing motion with her hand.

"You want to destroy the pillars?" Penny guessed with a tilt of her head. "But they are all that is holding up the ceiling. If we destroy them, then the entire cavern will come crashing down -"

Right on top of the Rahi.

The freckled Huntress grinned. "Ohhhhh…I understand now. An excellent idea! Cover me, I will grab Ahkmou and run back!"

She stowed her weapons and scooped up the unconscious Po-Matoran, carrying him and his mask as she darted back towards the entrance. Neo pulsed her Semblance to create a number of mirror-like copies of herself and Penny, confusing the Rahi and making them attack the clones only to see them shatter like glass. Once the scorpions were distracted the silent assassin sprinted back herself, joining the freckled Huntress in her mad dash.

"Pohatu!" Penny called across the nest. "Use your elemental power! Do not hold back any longer!"

Takua's eyes widened. "Bad idea! He's still blinded, he can't see what he's doing! Do you want him to bring down the whole cave?"

"Yes! That is exactly what we want!"

The bronze-armored Toa let out a hearty chuckle. "Then I shall be more than happy to oblige! These monsters tried to use stone to destroy my people - let's see how they like it!"

And with that, Pohatu grabbed a Comet and placed it between both his palms, channeling as much of his power into the Koli ball as he possibly could. When it began to glow with amber light he nodded in satisfaction, throwing it into the air and bouncing it off his knee, chest, and head like a professional athlete. After a few more seconds of keeping the empowered rock in motion he finally delivered a mighty kick with an armored boot, sending it careening down the cavern with the speed and force of a ballistic missile.

BOOM.

The supercharged Comet exploded into a storm of stony shrapnel, shredding any nearby Nui-Jaga and shattering any pillars that were hit by the blast. Those pillars similarly detonated in a series of cascading explosions, showering rock and rubble across the entire cavern as the walls shook and rumbled. Chunks of sand and stone rained down through cracks in the crumbling ceiling, from pebbles that bounced off the Toa's armor to enormous boulders that crushed the armored scorpions.

"I hope you are happy now!" wailed Penny as she raised Vita to shield herself and Ahkmou from the debris.

Neo just twirled her parasol and grinned, as happy as a five-year-old dancing in the rain with her first umbrella.

"Time to go, little ones! Hold on!"

Penny barely had time to cry out in shock as Pohatu scooped her and Neo up in his arms, turning tail and running back up the tunnel with incredible speed. His mask glowed faintly as their velocity increased, and soon her surroundings became a big brown and tan blur. In the time it took to take four breaths the crumbling Nui-Jaga nest became little more than a cloud of dust and debris on the other side of the Quarry, as the evil within was crushed by several hundred tons of falling rock and rubble.

The battle, at long last, was over.

Pohatu set down the Huntresses and grinned behind his mask, eyes once again glowing orange in the night. "Excellent work, my small friends! We make a good team, the four of us!"

Takua beamed as he hopped off the Toa's back, leaping into Penny's waiting arms to catch him. The redhead giggled and cheered as she hugged her Matoran friend close, even twirling around in the sand with a bright smile. Though she could not see Neo clearly, she could still feel the quiet woman rolling her eyes at the display.

"Yes, I know what I said Pebble," chided the Toa of Stone, as if he could read her thoughts. "Don't think I can't see you - my sight has already returned to me. You won't be able to hide your feelings from me…or from yourself, for that matter."

Penny slowly set Takua down as her smile faded, casting a suspicious glare towards Neo. "You…why did you help? What trick are you trying to pull? I am grateful for the assistance, but…I do not understand."

Neo hummed soundlessly for a moment, looking pensive and thoughtful. Then she snapped her fingers and created an illusion of a red-clad Huntress with silver eyes and a massive scythe, one that pointed the barrel of its weapon at the silent assassin as she herself got on her hands and knees. The illusion stared at her with pure anger in its eyes, before its gaze softened and stowed the weapon before walking away. Neo made a show of hugging herself as she rose to her feet, turning towards Pohatu with shame in her body language as the mirror image disappeared in a wave of triangles.

"I…I see," said Penny slowly. "You tried to go after Ruby again, but you failed. Rather than finish you off, she took pity on you and allowed you to live. So now you seek to make amends for your actions, and you are starting by helping the Toa find the masks." She looked up at Pohatu. "Is this correct?"

"More or less," said the Toa of Stone with a nod. "She's been through a lot, both on this world and on her own. Her past actions may be inexcusable, but now she has a chance to right her wrongs and heal the pain she's inflicted on others. Tonight was a good first step in that direction, in carving her own path independent of the evils that manipulated her on Remnant. Pebble here may be stubborn, but even the roughest and toughest stone is still malleable - with enough patience and work, it too can become as smooth and brilliant as marble."

The silent assassin blushed and shuffled her feet shyly, kicking at the sand under her boots with a dainty little smile. Penny watched her carefully, blinking several times as she worked to process what she saw and heard. While everything in her mind screamed that this was just an act on Neo's part to earn good graces from Pohatu, her gut believed that even someone like her was capable of genuine change. After all, she had personally seen Winter Schnee go from an ice-cold soldier to a warm soul deserving of the Winter Maiden power, so who was to say that she could not also do the same?

That is the true magic and ability of humans, she thought to herself. Their ability to change, and grow. No one is born good or evil - it is only their actions that define that.

"I hope you are correct, Pohatu," Penny finally said with a slow nod and a smile. "And for what it is worth, I am glad you were there. Thank you, Neopolitan. I hope that we can fight together in the future."

She extended a hand toward the woman of few words, who flinched and reeled back. When she realized it was not a hidden attack, she reciprocated the handshake, breathing a silent sigh of relief. Penny could not say for certain, but she could have sworn she saw tears pooling in the corner of Neo's eyes. Whether it was a trick of the moonlight or not was hard to say, but she chose to believe they were genuine.

"And of course, we should be thanking you too, Toa," said Takua with a sharp laugh. "We would have been scorpion bones without you."

Pohatu gave a grand bow. "Honored to be of service, little one." Then he furrowed his brow. "Although…I admit, the implications of this plot are darker than I feared. For most Matoran, willingly betraying their village would be an unthinkable crime, so what kind of prize could Makuta have tempted Ahkmou with to turn him against his people? And even though Po-Koro is safe now, this still warns of a greater danger - it seems that Makuta's influence can extend even beyond just the masks, somehow…"

Penny's heart sank. Pohatu seemed to suddenly realize this, because he laid an armored hand on her head and ruffled her hair gently.

"Ah, but don't concern yourself too much with what's to come," he said encouragingly. "You did a good thing tonight, little ones. You all did. I'll take the traitor and return to Po-Koro, and from there Pebble and I will help Turaga Onewa throw the remaining Comets into the sea. My mask should let me get there quickly - perhaps even quickly enough to save Hewkii. Would you like a ride back to the village?"

Emerald eyes looked down to dusty feet, nearly disappearing behind long red hair. Between the revelations made tonight, the lingering fear from her encounter with Makuta, and the adrenaline from the fight wearing off, Penny's stomach felt like it was twisted and stretched into tight knots. She was not certain if she could handle traveling at such high speeds again. Not without dry-heaving for the entire journey.

Takua picked up on her hesitancy, and walked over to take a hand in his. "If it's all the same to you, great Toa…I think we'll walk back."

"Fair enough," said Pohatu with a nod of understanding. "Know that I shall likely be gone already by the time you arrive. But fret not! I believe we will meet again in the future…perhaps we can even work together again someday. Come, Pebble. Let's bring the good news - and the culprit - back to the village."

Neo nodded and climbed up onto the Toa's back, hooking the handle of her parasol around his shoulder and holding tightly. Pausing only to scoop up the sleeping Ahkmou and his mask, Pohatu took four steps down the road before disappearing in a bronze and red blur.

Only when they were gone did Penny's knees finally give out.

She sank to the ground and took shaking, shuddering breaths, trying and failing to fight against the wave of trauma that threatened to drown her. Memories of the Hound trying to steal her away while she herself tried to fight the virus ravaging her robotic body. Memories of Ruby holding tightly to her, even as she begged the silver-eyed Huntress to kill her just to shoulder a burden that was too strong for her. Memories of Cinder's sadistic smirk as she mortally wounded the now-human girl, her attempt to siphon the magic interrupted only by a timely strike from Weiss.

It was no accident that she had faced the nightmares of her past tonight. The Makuta had clearly chosen forms from her memories that would get emotional reactions out of her during their little encounter - and though she did her best to suppress her feelings in the moment, it all came crashing down like a burst dam after the fact. Tears dripped down her face and darkened the desert sand as she trembled and wept, and not even the beauty of her surroundings could distract her from the shadows that plagued her mind.

The only thing that broke through her haze of sorrow was a pair of mechanical arms wrapping around her waist.

She shuddered and pulled her face out of her hands, looking down at the little Matoran holding her tightly. "Takua…?"

A blue mask stopped burying itself into her back and looked up, uncertainty in his glowing yellow eyes. "Am I, uh…am I doing this 'hugging' thing right? It seems to make you feel better when others do it, so I thought I'd…y'know. Try it myself. You looked like you needed one…"

Despite the sobs wracking her body, Penny smiled and twisted around to reciprocate the embrace. As she held onto her friend - her lifeline - the sun began to peer over the horizon, signaling the start of a bright new day.

"You are doing it perfectly, Takua. Thank you."

Chapter Text

"Scoreboard! Scoreboard!"

"Hewkii is up seven-to-four! Can Epena catch up to him?"

"Who ate all the pies? Who ate all the pies?!"

"Ooh, nice interception from Kivi! Will she be able to maintain that defense?"

"You call that a kick? That was clearly a foul! Come on, Podu - I know you can do better!"

"HEWKII I LOVE YOU! WIN THIS ONE FOR MEEEEE!"

"…okay, who let the Ga-Matoran in here?"

It still amazed Takua just how quickly things could go back to normal.

He sat comfortably in the sandstone bleachers that surrounded the Koli field at the back of Po-Koro, his thoughts nearly drowned out by the sea of cheering sports fans around him. Not that he could blame them for their excitement - after all, there were four healthy and happy Po-Matoran in the playing field, kicking and blocking the Koli balls that flew in a dizzying display. Takua still wasn't sure what the rules for Koli were, or who was winning, or even what half the cries from the other villagers meant. All he knew was that Hewkii, the star Koli player, was no longer sick with Makuta's deathly disease, and right now that was enough.

Takua took his eyes off the game for a moment to look down at the freckled human that lay on the seat next to him. Penny was curled up in a ball with her hair covering her sleeping face, her chest rising and falling with each soft snore that left her lips. Somehow, his organic companion had managed to fall asleep in the middle of a sports game; given that she'd stayed up all night to catch the Matoran responsible for the plot, it was no wonder she was so tired.

Looks like humans need more sleep than us Matoran, he thought with a small smile. Wonder what she's dreaming about?

"Ah, there you are. Come to watch the game, have you?"

He looked up at the sound of the voice, smiling under his mask as he saw Turaga Onewa climbing over the bleachers to join him. To his relief, the village elder was looking much less haggard and stressed now than he was the day before, as his village healed and his people's spirits were restored. While Onewa had never fallen ill himself, Takua wondered if the infected Koli balls hadn't passively worn him down with their presence alone. If so, that would have made Ahkmou's plan all the more insidious, and it made him all the more grateful that those horrible things were now withering away at the bottom of the sea.

"Penny wanted to see a Koli match, at least at first," explained Takua with a chuckle. "Then she ate four of Ally's pies, curled up right here on the bleacher, and fell asleep five minutes after it started. I'm surprised all the yelling hasn't woken her up."

"You would be surprised what some Matoran here can sleep through," said Onewa, laughing dryly as he took a seat. "Let her rest - she has more than earned it. As have you, Takua."

The odd little Ta-Matoran was tempted to point out that he didn't actually do much. Like Ga-Koro, his part in saving the day was nothing compared to the real heroes - Penny, the Toa, and the other Huntresses who fell from Remnant. But he knew that if he hadn't been there, things would have turned out differently; his freckled friend would have been at Makuta's mercy without his light, Pohatu would have been fighting blind without his guidance, and Neo…

Okay, so Neo probably didn't need or want anything from him. Still, at least he could take pride that he was there to help, and he didn't just end up being dead weight.

"Thank you, Turaga," Takua finally said with a bow, smiling under his mask. "So what happens now? Is everything alright here?"

"It will be," answered Onewa with a sage nod. "With the source of the infection removed, we are already healing. There are still some who need to recover, and our Mahi and Husi populations will be low for a while, but we will endure. Po-Koro has always held fast like a stone in the desert - that will not change today."

Glowing yellow eyes looked down at the ground, as something else weighed on him. "And what about Ahkmou? What happened to him?"

The Turaga of Po-Koro sighed and shook his head sadly. "We banished him," he replied remorsefully. "It was the only thing we could do, for we have neither the space nor the resources to imprison him under armed guard. So the desert shall be his cage for now. He will wander the sands of Po-Wahi for many moons, and should he survive long enough to see the error of his ways…we may see about allowing him back."

That was understandable. Takua doubted that a mask like Ahkmou's was gonna be welcome back in the village for a very, very long time. Especially considering he'd tried to poison everyone with the thing they loved the most.

Still, if he got banished for allying himself with Makuta… The Ta-Matoran suppressed a shudder. What did I do that was so bad, it deserved an equal punishment?

He shook his head to clear those existential questions with no answers, looking up at Onewa instead. "You're not worried he'll just run right back to Makuta?"

The Turaga shook his head. "He can certainly try. But if he is wise, he will know that only death and destruction await him should he willingly seek out the Master of Shadows. Experience has taught me that the Makuta does not tolerate failure on the part of his pawns, and once a plot is foiled, he will abandon it in favor of a newer, more insidious plan. That is what makes him so dangerous and unpredictable…he never uses the same tricks twice."

Takua watched as the village elder let out a heavy sigh. "This war with Makuta, this struggle for survival…it has eroded us down to our very foundations. True, we stand firm in the face of his influence, but the stone is quickly turning into shifting sand under our feet. So much of ourselves has been forgotten, so much history has been lost in the endless desert of time. We Matoran can live for thousands of years, yet each new phase of the moon seems to erase the one that came before in our minds."

Onewa set down his hammer-staff and reached into his robes, pulling out a pair of odd items. One was a gray rectangle with blue bubble-like screens that was as large as Takua's hand, and the other was a silver U-shaped blade with two sharpened points and curved edges. With a click near the base a shaft extended out of the latter, creating a staff that was almost as long as Takua was tall.

"Which is a problem I seek to correct, here and now." The village elder handed the items to the very-surprised Ta-Matoran. "This island has gone long enough without a proper Chronicler, I would say."

Takua looked down at the electronic tablet in one hand, and spared a quick glance at the bladed staff in the other. "A…Chronicler? What's that?"

"A Chronicler is a Matoran with a very special duty," explained Onewa. "It falls to them to travel the island and witness history as it happens, to write in stone the events they see so that it may be read and remembered by future generations. This task now falls to you, just as it did to countless travelers before you, and as it shall fall to many more after you. Even when the sand swallows all, when we return to dust and our heartstones stop beating, the stories you carve shall remain for all to see. In this way we will be remembered, immortalized in the solid foundation of the past."

He gestured to the items in turn. "This book, the Codex, will help you in this endeavor by recording all that you see and hear so that you may review it later. And this, the Chronicler's staff, will be the chisel with which you transcribe the events on a Wall of History. It will also serve as your weapon, should you decide to take a more…proactive role in shaping the future. These have been the tools of a Chronicler for many generations; they will serve you now, for as long as you remain the one to tell our stories."

The blue-masked Matoran stared down at the items in his hands, feeling his breath hitch in his chest. "I…this is an incredible honor, Turaga Onewa. Thank you." He narrowed his eyes as he looked back up with determination. "I swear I won't let you down."

"See that you do not," said Onewa with another nod. "I will never hear the end of it from Vakama if the first Chronicler in a thousand years dies before he makes a single record. But I know you are brave, noble, and resourceful." He gestured to the players kicking Koli balls across the playing field. "This is proof of that."

Takua nodded and stowed the Codex in his rucksack while collapsing the staff and slinging it over his shoulder. Then he looked down at Penny with a fond grin, laying a hand on her form even as she still snored softly.

"I'm just glad I could help," he said meekly while stroking her hair. "And that I had help."

Despite being fast asleep, the freckled human smiled in pride.

The sound of gunfire was music to Emerald's ears as another spider-like Fikou exploded into bits, blasted apart by twin hails of bullets from Thief's Respite. She shifted her footing on the sticky web and put another two rounds into the Rahi approaching on her left, then whirled to deliver a kick and point-blank shot from her revolver into the creature on her right. Another orange mechanical arachnid leapt to descend behind her with a maw full of venom, but a gust of strong wind knocked them off-balance and sent them spinning in a miniature cyclone. Nodding her thanks towards the Toa of Air she raised both guns - gods, it felt good to wield two guns again! - and dumped the rest of her magazines into the hapless spider, making it burst into a shower of bug guts and scrap metal.

Emerald ejected the now-empty cylinders from her revolvers with a snap of her wrists, looking over her shoulder at the green-armored giant and the Matoran-shaped cocoon he was working on. "You just about done with the rescue over there, big guy?"

"Almost, sprout-leaf!" called Lewa as his axe hacked and chopped at the strong strands of silk. "Just keep the spider-crawlers distracted for a little while-longer!"

She was about to give a snarky reply when another half-dozen Fikou descended from the trees, the empty eyes of the infected Pakari on their abdomens staring into her soul. The spiderweb, which hung suspended dozens of feet in the air between four massive branches, shook and trembled under the added weight - but the silky threads of the Rahi held firm even with six new arrivals joining the battle. Normally Emerald would have been glad that the strong webbing gave her a stable (if tricky) battleground, but considering how that same thread was also keeping a Le-Matoran trapped, it just reminded her how much she hated bugs.

"Well don't hurry on my account!" she called as she snapped a fresh set of bullets into Thief's Respite. "I could use the target practice anyways."

The first Fikou lunged with a shrieking cry, only to be knocked aside at a distance as the Huntress's revolvers form-shifted into long hooked chains. With a flick of her wrist she snapped her weapons back like whips, driving the sickle blades into the eyes of another spider. Emerald yanked the blinded Rahi towards her only to kick it into the approaching pack, sending it crashing into another Fikou and sending both spiders tumbling down off the web. When the remaining bugs came into melee range she let loose a flurry of swipes and slashes, cutting through chitin and metal with surgeon-like precision.

Man, spiders were already bad enough, thought the mint-haired thief as she tore her way through the Fikou. But making them the size of a small child and giving them metal armor? I don't know what kind of creator-god thought that was a good idea, but I sincerely hope they die a horribly violent death.

"Done with the chop-cutting!" announced Lewa proudly as he slung the now-loose cocoon over his shoulder. "Time to go, sprout-leaf!"

Emerald nodded and used the mask of an approaching Fikou as a springboard, leaping back towards the Toa of Air and grabbing onto his other arm. Lewa dove through the collapsing web and raced towards the jungle floor below, before flipping in mid-air and activating his mask while summoning a wind current. Immediately a cushion of air formed underneath him, which combined with the Mask of Levitation to slow his fall until he touched down with all the grace and gentleness of a dropped feather.

The Huntress cast a glance back up at the many, many Fikou who were pouring out of the trees to try and reclaim their lost meal. "Hey Lewa, mind creating another little updraft for me?" she asked as she fished out a metallic purple crystal. "I've got a little present for these things."

Lewa barked in laughter, raising his hand. "By all means, go ahead!"

A funnel of wind formed in front of Emerald, one whose wider end pointed back where they came from. She nodded in thanks and tossed the chunk of Gravity Dust into the tiny little tornado, crimson eyes tracking the volatile piece as it flew higher and higher. When it reached the apex of its flight she snapped Thief's Respite back into a revolver, aimed for a fraction of a second at the crystal, and fired.

VRMMMMMMMM…BOOM.

One bullet was all it took to detonate the elemental energy within the Dust, unleashing a burst of gravity so strong it manifested as a localized black hole. It swelled and expanded like a balloon until it grew large enough to pull the Fikou, the webbing, and even the branches themselves into its depths. Once it was big enough to fit at least five Toa it snapped back into the size of a pinhead, imploding violently with all its contents before blasting apart into a wave of pure deafening force. All that remained after the final explosion were the scarred remains of trees that once held the Fikou web…and a tiny little cube of compacted matter that dropped unceremoniously to the ground like dead weight.

The jungles of Le-Wahi went silent for a full twenty seconds before the familiar bird calls came back.

"Hah, quite the little trick-rock there sprout-leaf!" cackled Lewa, patting Emerald on the back. "Don't suppose you'd consider gift-lending some of that to me at some point?"

She let out a laugh and shook her head. "Not in a million years. You'd burn down half the jungle without even realizing it. No way I'm enabling that kind of behavior by giving you my Dust."

Besides, if you wanted to use elements other than wind and air, you should have stayed with the other Toa.

Emerald was quite proud of herself for how that fight was handled, but she was even more proud of herself for holding back her more…toxic remarks. Not that a little negativity wasn't warranted in this case - after all, Lewa was the one who had argued the most aggressively at Kini-Nui for the Toa splitting up, and he'd ended up getting exactly what he wanted. While it wasn't entirely fair to pin the blame on him, his attitude towards teamwork and the others certainly didn't help, especially considering how he reacted when Matau told him to look for his brothers and sister. So it was fair, Emerald reasoned, to at least partly blame him for splitting the Huntresses up once again, as they traveled with their own Toa to help them find their masks.

Not that Emerald actually missed Team RWBY and their goody-two-shoes leader.

At least…that was what she kept telling herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of webbing being ripped away, followed by a loud gasp. She snapped her head to see a Matoran with a light green Rau stumble out of the remains of his cocoon, falling on his knees and keeping himself up on trembling sky-blue arms. Emerald recognized who the unfortunate Matoran was almost immediately, but it still took her a second to process the information.

"Tamaru?!" she exclaimed.

"G-good to see you, true-friend!" The leaf-runner took another shaky breath. "And you, Toa Lewa! I'd be Fikou-bones if you hadn't shown up when you did."

Lewa gave a grand bow. "Always a pleasure to aid-help one of my tree-people!"

As long as they're not another Toa, you mean.

"How'd you even get stuck in there, Tamaru?" Emerald asked with a tilt of her head, pushing down another biting remark. "You're usually more attentive than that."

"Fleeing from three Rama-swarmers can distract even the best leaf-runners," admitted Tamaru sheepishly as he rose to his feet. "Buzz-fliers have been prey-stalking the jungles in small wing-teams lately, snatching up unaware tree-folk and dragging them to the shadow-dark. Managed to slip away, but ended up in the silk-web of Fikou-spiders. Still a kinder fate than getting caught by those Rahi-beasts, though."

That was…odd. From what Turaga Matau told her and Lewa, the enormous mosquito-like Nui-Rama were solitary predators when they were out hunting, and only in their hives did they tolerate the presence of others. They were vicious, violent, and highly territorial outside the nest - why would they suddenly set that aside in favor of pack hunting? She knew it had to be Makuta's doing, forcing them against their nature like this, but she didn't like the implications that came to mind.

Either Makuta is gearing up for something big, or he's looking for something or someone specific, she thought with a frown. Probably both.

Emerald shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Well, at least these bugs won't bother you anymore," she noted with a hint of disgust as she looked at the splattered guts. "Or anyone, really."

"And the same-fate will happen to any Rama-bugs we find!" Lewa puffed his chest. "Come, sprout-leaf - back to the quest-search!"

Tamaru's eyes widened. "W-wait! Should thank-bless you for saving me! Have to give-gift something…"

The green-armored giant waved his hand dismissively. "Please. A Toa-hero needs no reward-gift - "

"Oh! I know where to seek-find a Great Kanohi-mask!"

That got Lewa to change his tune. "…but it is appreciated all the same. Go on."

"It's the speed-fast mask, I think," said the little Matoran. "You can find it in a deep-cave at the southern edge of the Fau Swamp, between the two leaning great-trees. Be careful, though - the tunnels are connected to the sea-waves. When the high-tide comes in, the entire area can sink-flood in seconds."

The mint-haired Huntress tilted her head. "So you're saying that the Mask of Speed is in an underwater cave?"

"Correct, true-friend."

Lewa's sudden smile and enthusiasm vanished.

Emerald hummed thoughtfully as she processed the new information. She was an excellent swimmer; growing up as an orphan in a city with an absurd number of rivers and canals all but required knowing how to navigate currents and flooded tunnels, especially since they made great escape routes from the authorities. So she was pretty confident in her ability to handle this and get the Kanohi mask. But clearly the Toa of Air was less enthusiastic about this situation, if his tensed shoulders and clenched fist around his axe handle was any indication.

"What's the matter, big guy?" she asked with a smirk. "You've been so gung-ho about finding these masks ever since you found out about them. Don't tell me - you're not afraid of a little water to get one of those, are you?"

Lewa scoffed. "Afraid? No. Disgusted? Very-much so! Water-yuck is a place for sea-swimmers like Gali - not a high-soaring wind-flyer like me! We will keep look-searching, maybe it belongs to someone else."

That remark finally broke Emerald's sense of self-restraint. Lewa had just gotten a tip from one of his people, and his first instinct was to grouse and complain? Right in front of Tamaru, no less?! She could afford to be a little mean.

The mint-haired girl made a show of rolling her eyes. "Well gee, it sure is a shame someone didn't want to stick with the others, then. Maybe someone could have gotten it for you…"

And like that, a nerve was struck.

Glowing green eyes narrowed for a moment, then the Toa of Air crouched down and leapt away without another word. Leaves scattered down around Emerald as Lewa vanished into the trees, showering her in a storm of green and a gust of petulant wind. Part of her wondered if she'd been too mean. The rest of her wondered if she hadn't been mean enough.

"Is…everything right-well with our Toa-hero?" Tamaru asked. "He seems angry-mad. Did something happen?"

Emerald sighed and shook her head. "He's just…working through some stuff, is all. He's got this idea in his head that he doesn't need the other Toa, and that they don't need him. This came to a head during our first meeting between the Toa the other day, and…well, let's just say it didn't exactly end with everyone sitting around a campfire holding hands and singing Kumbaya."

The Le-Matoran tilted his head. "What is Kumbaya?"

"Never mind." Sensing the spirits of her friend fall, she knelt and laid a hand on his mask. "Don't worry. He's still got me, and even though I might get snippy I've got his back. I'm sure he'll realize it's better to work together soon. You know, how nice it is to be on this whole…team…thing."

Ugh. Talking about friendship and teamwork and all that junk feels exactly like having a hair at the back of my mouth. How the hell does Ruby pull out big speeches about this kind of stuff all the freaking time?!

"He must, for everyone's sake-life," said Tamaru with a worried nod, thankfully blind to her thoughts. "The legend-stories Matau sang to us always spoke of six Toa-heroes, and how they must be together-strong to face Makuta and his Rahi-beasts. Even the Rama-swarms know the power of Unity…it is what makes them and their nests and hives so dark-feared among my tree-people. I can only hope-pray that Lewa learns this too, before it is too late."

Emerald looked back at the Lewa-shaped hole in the trees, sighing as the green-armored Toa of Air grew farther and farther away - in every sense of the word.

"Yeah…me too, little buddy. Me too."

To Kopaka's immense relief, the morning sun brought an end to the snowstorm.

He stood at the edge of a cliff not too far from the shelter, casting his gaze over the snow-covered valley below. A fresh layer of white powder covered the world like a colorless blanket, reflecting the early dawn's light in dazzling beams with their brightness alone. It was hard to think that only a few hours ago this mountain was enveloped in a fierce blizzard, yet now it sat so still and calm and peaceful.

It was a stark contrast to how he felt inside, at least.

The Toa of Ice narrowed his eyes as he stared into space, his thoughts returning once again to that troubling vision Nuju had shared with him before the summons to Kini-Nui. According to the old Turaga, before the Toa confront Makuta they will awaken to a greater power than they knew, one that surpassed their own yet required a sacrifice of autonomy and independent wills. Three Toa would merge to form a champion of courage, while the other three would combine and become a warrior of wisdom. Thus would the spirits of Akamai and Wairuha walk the earth as Toa Kaita, a being born of fusion between the three Toa that combined the bodies, minds, and powers of the ones used to create them.

And this very concept chilled Kopaka to his core.

At first he wondered why such a thing would be necessary. Would they not already be powerful enough with the Huntresses at their side and a full collection of Kanohi masks at their command? Why would they need even more power on top of that? But his meeting with the other Toa and his conversation with Weiss made him realize it was a deeper issue, one he couldn't rationally explain. Was the incredible power of the Toa Kaita worth the cost of losing himself, even if only for a short time? And if the two other Toa he merged with saw the real Kopaka beneath the mask and icy armor, how would they react? What would happen after the defeat of Makuta, after the other Toa saw him for who he truly was? Would they accept him, as Weiss had when he bared his soul to her? Or would they turn on him, thinking he was too much trouble to put up with?

I know what Weiss was trying to say last night, he thought to himself. About trusting others and letting them trust you. But it's not the same - she's not expected to physically lose her own sense of self by combining with her teammates. I am.

Then again…did that matter?

"Krrrrf."

The sound of heavy breathing and crunching snow behind him snapped him out of his thoughts, and Kopaka realized that the heiress must have finally woken up to join him. He turned to face the sleepy-headed Huntress -

Only for his mask to nearly bump into the snout of a Kane-Ra as tall as he was.

Instinct kicked in as he stepped back and drew his sword and shield, ready to do battle with another one of the Makuta's beasts. But he paused as soon as he realized two things about the creature; first, it appeared to be constructed out of living pearl-white ice with light blue accents, and second, it didn't appear aggressive or hostile in the slightest. Instead, the Kane-Ra just stood there, lowing occasionally and sniffing the unfamiliar Toa.

"It's alright," said Weiss, trailing a hand alongside the spectral creature as she approached. "He won't hurt you. In fact…he won't hurt anyone unless I want him to."

Kopaka looked from the heiress to the Rahi, connecting the dots in his mind. "This is…one of your summons?" He'd heard her say she could use them before, but this was the first one he'd seen with his own eyes.

"My newest one," Weiss confirmed with a nod. "Like I said, my Semblance is…unusual, even for Remnant. It's hereditary, meaning that it's been passed down through my family line, and while the conjured glyphs can be modified with Dust to attack with fire and ice, its real power comes in the ability to call on the power of enemies that fell by my own hand. I knew I could do it with Grimm…but I hadn't thought to try it with the Rahi here until Ruby suggested it."

Her cheeks turned somewhat pink as she clutched the strip of red fabric around her neck. "…I can't wait to tell her she was right."

The summoned Kane-Ra chuffed and nudged her with its snout, which she rewarded with pats on the chin and scratches behind the horns. The Toa of Ice just watched for a moment, amazed at the change in temperament. Much like how the mountain and valley were so much calmer after the blizzard, the spectral Rahi was almost docile and gentle under her command, yet he had no doubt it could be just as fierce if its mistress wished it.

But there was something else she said that got his attention.

"This Ruby…" he said with a thoughtful gaze. "She means a lot to you."

Weiss nodded again. "More than anything."

"You could have gone with her after the meeting at Kini-Nui."

"Please. You can't get rid of me that easily."

The heiress looked up at him with a small, knowing smile. Though Kopaka's face was hidden by his mask, he found himself returning it all the same. Then he cast his gaze back at the horizon, activating his mask power as he searched the distant peaks and valleys.

"There are no other masks for us in Ko-Wahi," said the Toa of Ice after a moment. "We'll have to travel the rest of the island to find the rest. Any preference where we go first?"

"Literally anywhere that isn't a frozen block of ice, please," said Weiss with a sigh. "Maybe somewhere warm and tropical."

Kopaka nodded. "Leva Bay it is, then. Hop on."

He threw down his shield as he'd done so many times before, sword already humming with power to form a path of frost and snow. Weiss nodded and dismissed her summoned Kane-Ra in a shower of snowflakes, stepping onto the makeshift sled and kneeling as they took off. This time, it didn't escape Kopaka's notice that she leaned against his legs a lot more during this trip, or that she seemed a lot less tense and a lot more relaxed. For reasons he couldn't quite articulate, his own muscles weren't quite as stiff and the wind didn't sting quite as badly.

Maybe this was what the heiress meant when she said her friends made her feel warm.

Chapter Text

Of all the Rahi on this island, Pohatu decided he liked the Fusa the least.

Sure, they seemed cute and cuddly at first, what with their long fluffy ears and their big shimmering eyes and their hunched bipedal torsos covered in soft fuzzy fur. But the metallic marsupials were anything but harmless, as their spring-powered legs and piston-enhanced arms made them dangerous close combat fighters. Their punches and kicks didn't have much reach and power, but these little fighters more than made up for it with speed and reflexes that matched even a Toa's. Worse, these Rahi didn't wear an infected mask of any kind - which meant that there was no easy way for him to pacify the one that was currently using him for target practice.

"Look, I'm sorry to bother you!" Pohatu protested as he blocked another series of punches. "I told you, we're just here for the mask you've stashed in your den! It's not like you need it - you don't even wear masks!"

The Fusa didn't seem all that keen on talking it out, instead throwing a powerful kick at the Toa of Stone that dared invade its territory. He groaned as the foot collided with his chest, denting the armor and bruising the thin layer of muscle underneath. If he didn't fight back soon, he'd be nothing but sand in the wind, and Makuta would rule over the island with one less Toa to stand in his way. He wasn't about to let one belligerent bully make that happen, no matter how cute and "innocent" it was.

"Alright, I tried to be reasonable -" He ducked under a low left hook. "- but if violence is the only language Rahi like you speak -" A right jab was swatted away. "- then shut up and listen!"

And with that Pohatu reared his foot back and drove it into the Fusa's chest, servos and gears whining and grinding in protest. The Rahi's bulbous eyes widened in shock for a split second, before the kick sent it flying off the ground and careening into the sky. If he looked up and squinted, he was certain he'd be able to see a distant speck of gray and orange sailing across the horizon before falling into a distant dune. He was reasonably certain the trip wouldn't kill it, but he wouldn't exactly be torn up if it did.

The Toa of Stone stood there in the now-empty battlefield, panting heavily as a tiny little human appeared next to him in a shower of lavender triangles.

"Do me a favor, Pebble," groaned Pohatu as he clutched his aching chest. "The next time I propose a plan to solo the highly-territorial Rahi while you hide and raid its den for the mask…for Mata Nui's sake, please try to talk me out of it."

Neopolitan raised an eyebrow, then pointed to her lips.

"…you know what I mean. Did you find it?"

The silent Huntress nodded, then pulled out the dull-gray mask she'd been holding behind her back. Most of it was clear and transparent, as though it had been shaped out of glass - particularly the triangular visor that covered where the eye holes should have rested. With a grateful nod Pohatu slipped the new mask over his own, feeling its power course through him as it shifted its color to match the color and transparency of old amber.

"Ah, many thanks." He nodded in approval and carefully ruffled her pink-brown hair. "The first of our masks has been claimed - the Kanohi Kaukau, the Great Mask…of water-breathing."

Neo's face lit up at the praise…then immediately fell when she heard what its power was. She crossed her arms and pouted, puffing out her lower lips and glaring daggers up at the Toa.

"Why such a sour look?" Pohatu asked. "You think this a worthless ability, especially in the desert? Well, I happen to believe otherwise, Pebble - I'm as dense as stone, and just as skilled a swimmer, so if I ever find myself in deep water I'll immediately sink to the bottom. I won't have my legend cut short because I fell into a river and drowned, that would just be insulting. Don't worry, I'm certain our next prize will be a little more interesting…and a little less intensive for the both of us."

His human companion rolled her eyes, but she nonetheless climbed up on his shoulder. Pohatu could tell that Neo was disappointed that her efforts had all been for a less-than-immediately-useful mask power, and to some extent he understood her frustration. While water-breathing wasn't as flashy as something like shielding or incredible strength, his main worry was that if the Makuta ever turned the waters against him, he wouldn't be able to resist them. So having the ability to breathe beneath the waves was one anxiety filed away, at least for a little while longer.

With a sigh and a soft smile he reached up and lightly tousled her hair again. "Tell you what, Pebble. I'll let you pick the next mask to seek out. We have a full map of the island from Onewa, as well as a general idea of where many of my Kanohi are hidden - I believe we are well-equipped to handle any challenges that come our way."

Neo made a show of wordlessly humming and hawing, even putting a hand to her chin as she thought. Then her eyes brightened and she snapped her fingers, forming an illusion of a green bird-like mask over her own face. Pohatu recognized it as the Kanohi Miru, the Mask of Levitation - the very same mask that he remembered belonged to the Toa of Air.

"Hah, you want us to seek Lewa's mask, then?" Pohatu grinned. "Very well, but you'll have to teach me the best way to glide once we have it. You seem far more adept in the air than I, little Pebble."

His traveling companion seemed to blush under the compliment, though she got it under control just as the illusion disappeared with another wave of her hand. Pohatu switched back to his original mask, triggered its power, and zoomed off in a cloud of dust.

One down, four to go, he thought to himself. I wonder how the other Toa are faring in their own searches?

"…so then I said, 'why don't we kiss and make up?' Then I punched him in the face."

Yang laughed softly at the memory as she told an old story, giving her mind something to focus on while her hands worked to untangle a solid knot of woven branches. The trio of Taku chicks that sat in the neighboring nest didn't seem all that amused - they were mostly wondering why this strange fleshy creature with bare arms and pulled-down overalls was still perched in their tree. The reason why, of course, was because the Great Kanohi mask was still stuck in the old tangle of branches and vines, as the limbs of the great tree had grown around and through the eye holes and vents of the Kakama that was now practically part of the Ga-Wahi scenery.

"Anyways, that's when we had a big fight," continued Yang as she pulled out another chunk of wood. "Or rather, that's when he sicced his guards on me. Then his DJ took potshots at me. Then his own pet Huntresses - the Malachite twins, I think they were called? - started kicking and scratching me. The girls were cute at least, but kinda snobbish and snooty…wonder how they're doing these days? Haven't seen 'em since Beacon fell - maybe I should send a postcard when we get back."

Below her, the pacing Toa of Fire was reaching the end of his fuse. "Is there some grand moral lesson to this story, as well?"

"Maybe, maybe not," said the blonde brawler with a smirk, putting a hand on her bare side as she looked down. "I'm just reminiscing at this point. Talking about past adventures helps pass the time with boring jobs, like getting your mask out of a tree. It's like Dad always says - a good story makes anything go faster."

"Does it truly? Because it seems you are still not finished. Perhaps a blast of fire -"

"- will burn down the tree and half the forest?" Yang shook her head. "Bad idea, big guy. Remember what we talked about? About how you keep thinking with your flames instead of your head?" She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers. "Just leave this to me and my dainty little girls here. I'll have this thing out in no time, you'll see."

Tahu clearly had a biting retort planned, but clamped his mouth shut and looked away. Yang went back to working the wood around the mask, snapping away branches and pulling apart bark with concentrated precision. She was no stranger to undoing knots - hair as long and voluminous as hers didn't take care of itself, after all - but she was still glad that one of her hands was mechanical. Otherwise, she'd have to worry about two bleeding fingertips full of splinters, instead of just one.

"Sure wish Blake was here right now," she whispered to the trio of baby birds that watched her dismantle more of their tree. "Her blades would really come in handy with this, and so would her patience and delicate hands. Of course, there are other reasons I wish she was here…buuuuuuut you birdies are a little too young to know about that." Yang shot a wink to the metal-feathered Rahi, all of whom just tilted their heads in confusion. "I'll explain when you're older."

She fell into a pensive silence after that, focusing on the most delicate part of the knot. The air was filled only with the sound of snapping wood and ripping bark, along with the slow steady breathing of the blonde brawler. After several more minutes of pulling, prodding, and cursing under her breath, the Kanohi Kakama finally came loose; another moment of work later, the mask was completely free of the tree it was part of.

"Ta-daaaa!" Yang grinned, tossing the Kanohi down to the Toa waiting below. "One Mask of Speed, all yours for the taking. Now see, wasn't that much better than your plan to incinerate the tree to get it?"

Tahu stared up at her with a glare, then grunted in annoyance. "I still think my way would have been faster," he grumbled he scooped up his new mask.

"Faster, sure, but that doesn't make it right," said Yang pointedly as she snapped the straps of her overalls back into place. She gestured to the Taku in their nest, who chirped eagerly as their mother swooped in to deliver their lunch. "You see these little guys here? They'd be out of a home if you just came into the woods and started blasting, and so would a bunch of other cute little critters that rely on trees just like this one. And considering how dry and brittle the woods are right now, and how there's no chance of rain today based on the clouds, they wouldn't be the only ones who'd have their nests go up in flames - just the first. Think about that Charred Forest back in Ta-Wahi, and how dead and barren that entire stretch of trees is because of Makuta. Do you really think it's worth making another place like that, just to get one mask?"

The Toa of Fire furrowed his brow, then softened as he looked between the tree, the nest, and the Kakama in his hands. "I…I had not considered that."

"Collateral damage, buddy," said the Huntress as she hopped out of the tree and landed perfectly on her feet. "It's the difference between a hero everyone loves, and one that everyone fears. If you cause just as much chaos and destruction as what you're fighting, folks are gonna wonder if it's worth getting saved by you at all. Especially if it means they need to clean up after you once the fighting is done."

One of the Taku chicks leaned too far back during feeding time and fell out of its nest with a loud cry, flapping its malformed wings uselessly. Yang quickly leapt to catch the falling bird, cupping it gently in her palms as she landed on her feet. She looked down with a relieved smile to see the little Rahi squeaking up at her, and she kept it close to her chest as she walked back over to Tahu.

"I didn't care about that kind of thing once upon a time," she finished as she stroked the baby bird's crest with a single metallic finger, "and as you can imagine, it didn't get me a lot of friends. Trashing an entire bar and harassing the owner in my search for information not only didn't get me what I was looking for, it also put a huge target on my back. Plus I was grounded for like a week when Dad found out…but that's besides the point. Everything we do affects the lives around us, whether we realize it or not."

Yang took one of Tahu's hands in hers and moved his big metallic fingers, positioning his digits before using her other hand to place the Taku chick on his outstretched gauntlet. Instinct took over as the warbling little Rahi's feet gripped his extended finger like a branch, looking up at him with big soft eyes and adorable little chirps. For a fraction of a second, she could have sworn she saw something besides annoyance flash in the gaze of the Toa of Fire. It wasn't much, but it told her that her lessons were already taking root in the hotheaded armored giant.

"So there was a point to your story, after all." Tahu tilted his head to one side as he stared down at the nestling, watching it mirror his movement. "A lesson in how nature and the world around us live in a delicate balance…and with power such as ours, we must ensure it is both protected and maintained."

The blonde brawler smiled and nodded. "Now you're getting it." Then she smirked and folded her arms. "So why don't you be the one to put the little guy back where he came from? Preferably before his mom thinks we're keeping him."

With a nod, the Toa of Fire held out his unlit sword and carefully balanced the chick on its tip, then walked back to the tree and slowly raised the blade back up to the branch. As soon as it came close enough the baby Taku hopped from the Toa's weapon back into its nest, safe in the protective care of its mother. After nuzzling the larger bird it looked back over the edge of the nest and chirped farewell to its new friends, making Yang's heart skip a beat at the adorable display.

"I believe I am beginning to understand now," said the Toa of Fire with a soft voice, turning and bowing his head to his human companion. "Thank you for your wisdom, Yang Xiao Long. And for your assistance."

The blonde brawler chuckled and curtseyed with the hem of an imaginary skirt. "Anytime, Toa Tahu. Now come on, let's head for the next - "

Yang suddenly stopped in her tracks as a high-pitched electronic noise rang out. Tahu's head was on a swivel, instantly on guard in case some new foe was about to jump them. But the Huntress knew that nothing was attacking them, because she knew exactly what that sound was - though she could hardly believe it, as the noise seemed impossible.

It was the notification sound for her Scroll.

Which meant that she had a new message waiting for her.

Guys! Guys! Can you read this?!

Ruby waited with bated breath as she stared anxiously at her Scroll, anticipating the responses she'd get to that first message in the new group chat she'd set up. Her legs curled up tighter to her chest as she sat at the edge of a rocky cliff, doing her best to focus on the device in her hands and not on the two-hundred-foot drop that waited for her down below. She wasn't sure if it was the dizzying height or the hopeful caution that made her head feel all fuzzy, and for all she knew it might as well have been both.

"Is all well with you, little one?" asked Gali as she took a seat next to her. "Did you properly capture the vista with that device of yours?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I got a great picture of the view. But…when I went to put it away, I suddenly noticed that my Scroll had a signal again. Like I was in local transmission range with the rest of my team…but we're nowhere near each other. So I'm testing out the connection right now - and since I don't know how well the call function will work, I'm just texting my friends for now."

The Toa of Water tilted her head. "Texting…?"

Ruby suddenly realized that Gali likely had no idea what she was talking about. She cleared her throat. "Um…you know how Nokama told us that she and the other Turaga send letters to each other on the backs of trained Ussal crabs? To give reports or share news about what's happening in their villages?"

Gali nodded.

"This is like that, but without the crabs."

"Ah." The blue-armored figure hummed thoughtfully. "And so you are able to send these…crabless letters now? When you could not do so before?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out," said Ruby with a sigh. "Sorry for interrupting the climb like this…"

A metallic hand ruffled her hair softly. "Do not worry, little one. I could sense that you needed a rest, for this climb is difficult even for a Toa. We still have far to go, and my Miru is likely not going anywhere. If this is important to you, then I will wait."

She sighed and tried not to think about the fact that they weren't even halfway done with their climb. "Thanks, Gali. I promise this won't take long - just a few more minutes…"

Despite her promise, she stared at the Scroll for what felt like an eternity as a thousand thoughts raced through her mind all at once. Was she only able to send messages and not receive them? Was there some kind of lag on whatever new network her device had suddenly connected to? Was she trying to send messages to too many people at once? Or what if everyone else was busy? Or unable to reach their Scrolls? Or had their notifications turned off? Or maybe they were even…

No. No, that was the fear talking. Ruby ignored the darkest explanation her mind came up with and kept waiting, fighting the urge to chew on her lower lip with each agonizing moment spent in silence.

Eventually, however, her patience was rewarded.

Ruby?! Absolute shock from Weiss.

Huh…interesting. It looks like our Scrolls are sending messages again. Mild surprise from Blake.

Sup, ladies? How's your island vacation going? Casual charm from Yang.

Salutations, friends! ^.^. And of course, infectious cheer from Penny.

Her heart warmed immediately. "It works…"

"So it would seem," said Gali as she looked over the little rose's shoulder.

Ruby smiled and nodded tightly, unaware of the tears slipping down her cheek.

I'm so glad to hear from you all! she typed excitedly, with zero regard for proper spelling. Is everyone okya? Did anyon eget hurt? How far ar youy on ur mask colectioon?

Whoa, whoa, slow down Rubes. You know we can't understand you when you speed-text. Yang's message was followed by a winking face, because of course it was.

She took a breath and steadied her trembling hands. Sorry, sorry! she replied. I just…gods…I missed this. I missed you all so much.

It's only been a day since we left Kini-Nui, you dolt. But…yes, I missed you too.

Awww.

Awwwww! ^.^

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Yang it's not a competition to see who can add the most Ws.

It is now, kitty. Yang's message was followed with a kissing face, because of course it was.

Oh! Are Yang and Blake finally dating? Congratulations! ^.^ (Also, I believe Ren owes me twenty Lien.)

Wait, what do you mean "finally"?

And what do you mean Ren owes you money?!

Ruby bit back another sniffle as she watched the girls - her girls - descend into their usual chat room antics. Weiss and Yang playfully sniped at each other (with the latter using an ungodly amount of emojis) while Blake pretended she wasn't flirting with her girlfriend and Penny capped off every cheerful message with a smiling face. There was a greater delay between each response than she expected, but what mattered was she was getting them all the same. Even across the island, Team RWBY was still united - now, more than ever.

After grousing about the bumblebee duo's obvious flirting again, Weiss shifted the conversation topic. Does anyone else think this is strange, though? How are we even able to send messages again anyways? We're nowhere near a CCT tower, and none of us are close enough for local transmissions. Why would our Scrolls suddenly have a signal now, when they didn't before?

This island does have a lot of tech we don't understand, Blake answered. Maybe it has something to do with Kini-Nui, that temple we all met at. It seemed like a pretty important place for the Matoran, and it acted weird as soon as Onua touched it. What if it's acting like a temporary comms tower for us?

Yeah, didn't the Toa all get some kind of weird brain message that called them there and showed them where it was? Yang added. It was able to broadcast something, at least - who's to say it can't also boost the range of our Scrolls, like the CCT Network used to do?

That does seem the most logical explanation, mused Penny. Perhaps your Scrolls all needed to come into contact with one another to trigger the proximity detectors within the devices, and this Kini-Nui is simply serving as a relay for transmissions. It would make sense that it would require time to adjust for hardware and software differences between Remnant and Matoran technology.

Maybe…but that doesn't explain how Ruby was able to send you a message as well, countered Weiss. You weren't at Kini-Nui with the rest of us.

True. Hmm…I will need to look into this more. Do not worry, friends! I am certain there is a logical explanation! ^.^

I'm sure it'll be long, convoluted, and go right over all our heads. Ruby could almost imagine Blake's smirk as she sent that message.

Hey, at least we don't have to understand it to use it, right? Yang sent another wink to cap off her reply. In any case, this'll be good for sending updates or asking for help. The Toa might not want to talk to each other right now, but at least we still have this. We can share whatever info we find, report any leads for other masks we come across, or even ask for help! (Not to mention share cute photos of ourselves, haha.)

Oh, that reminds me. Weiss sent a message that had a series of images attached, which looked to be screenshots of her note-taking program. I took the liberty of studying and making a cipher for the Matoran language while I was in the Sanctum of Ko-Koro. I was going to share it with all of you at Kini-Nui, but with everything that happened I never got a chance. It's a pretty easy translation between our alphabet and theirs, but don't hesitate to ask me for more details. This should help you read any signs or important information here on the island.

Ruby grinned. Wow, this is great! Thanks Weiss! You're the best partner ever!

I know. Despite the glib reply, there was no doubt the former heiress was smiling to herself.

Oh, are Ruby and Weiss also finally dating? Congratulations to you as well! ^.^ (Also, I believe Ren owes me another twenty Lien.)

… Penny, you've gotta stop betting on other people's relationships.

And I dunno if they are dating. Are they? Yet another gods-damned winking face from Yang. Ruby didn't always have thoughts of committing fratricide, but right now the option was sorely tempting.

PENNY YOU CAN';T JUST SAY THA;LH KIND OF STUFF WE;RE NOT DATING YET

Oh, my apologies then! ^.^ I will withhold my congratulations until you are properly courting one another!

Penny that doesn't help!

"Not yet" she says. Now isn't that interesting? Awww…my baby sister's growing up!

Before Ruby could once again entertain the thought of strangling her own sister in a loving and gentle sort of way, Blake finally sent the message she'd spent the last minute typing up. This has been fun, but I'll need to go for now. Onua says his next mask is in the lair of something called a Kuma-Nui. Apparently it's a giant armored rat, or something like that. We'll talk later.

Weiss took advantage of the graceful exit. Yes, Kopaka and I were about to hit a Tarakava nest for his Mask of Water-Breathing when I got Ruby's message. So this is goodbye on my part as well. Be safe everyone!

Take care ladies! Tahu just found that mask of speed, so he's itching to zoom off and try it out. HMU anytime you wanna chat!

Ruby smiled. It seemed her friends were already making good progress on their separate hunts, and with their partner Toa. Hopefully this was a sign that they would be meeting up again sooner rather than later.

Okay, back to helping Gali find her Miru! TTYL!

Goodbye Team RWBY, and good luck on your search for the masks! Oh, and Takua also sends his regards! ^.^

Slotting the Scroll back into her pocket, Ruby looked up at Gali with a nod and stood up. Then she watched as the Toa of Water crouched down to build up pressure in her bio-mechanical legs, then leapt back to the sheer cliff face and dug her hooks into the solid stone. The little rose followed her as she climbed, using the newly-carved handholds to keep herself anchored to the wall and fighting the temptation to look down.

Another mystery about the island had presented itself to Ruby Rose, and yet for once she found she was fine letting it go unanswered for a little while longer. She didn't know why her little device chose now of all times to start working, or how it was able to send and receive messages, and even if she did she wouldn't care. All that mattered was that she once again had a direct line of communication to her team, and she intended to use it.

I just hope that Emerald's doing okay, too, Ruby thought to herself as she climbed behind Gali. We never did get her number during Salem's siege, and we didn't think we had any reason to ask for it at Kini-Nui. We'll have to fix that next time we see her…but for now, I'll just have to pray that Lewa's treating her right.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Emerald swung from vine to vine through the trees, feeling the weight of her new pack with each move she made. The leafy bag wasn't that heavy - the perfect weight for leaf-running, actually - but she still felt sluggish and slow even as she darted through the jungle. Then again, anyone would feel that way when compared to the Toa of Air, who had gone from five feet ahead of her to nearly twenty in the time it had taken Radka to hand off the supplies to the Huntress.

Lewa clearly hadn't heeded her command, keeping his momentum going as he kicked off tree trunks and slid down branches. Emerald followed suit, using the chains of Thief's Respite to take shortcuts whenever possible to slowly close the gap between her and the Toa. By the time Lewa finally jumped off and landed at the mouth of a large cavern in the swampy ground, she'd caught up enough to touch down next to him a full ten seconds later. She panted for a minute, resting her hands on her knees as she willed away the building fatigue.

"You good-well, sprout-leaf?"

Oh, so now you're worried about me?

"Yeah, just need a sec to catch my breath," gasped Emerald as she looked up at the shadowy mouth of the cave ahead of her. "This the one Tamaru told us about?"

"The very self-same," said Lewa with a nod before looking down at his human accomplice. "What's in the leaf-bag?"

"Supplies from Le-Koro," she answered as she started rummaging through the contents of her new pack. "Radka handed them off to me on the way here, said something about how Matau and the Le-Matoran managed to scavenge some stuff for us."

The Toa of Air tilted his head. "That's very generous-kind of them. What do we have?"

"Looks like fruit, mostly. There's two flasks of berry juice - I'm assuming the big one's yours - some kind of flute thing, and…oh? Well now, isn't this convenient?"

Emerald pulled out a pair of smooth amber crystals that immediately started glowing like tiny little suns. The light from the stones was powerful enough to clear away some of the shadows in the yawning cave mouth, but not so bright that it hurt to look at the stone itself. Lewa's eyes lit up - almost literally - as he took one of the objects, balancing it on his palm and tossing it in the air to catch as it fell.

"Lightstones!" barked the Toa happily. "Perfect for going through the ground-dark! Surely the Great Spirit himself is smiling upon us if we get such a gift-boon at a time like this!"

"I wouldn't know anything about that," said Emerald with a shrug. "But I'll take it. Now before we go in, I have something else for you. Something that I hope you won't need to use…"

The thieving teenager reached into her own pouch and pulled out a piece of pale green crystal, one that was almost as big as her palm. She weighed it carefully in her hand, making sure it was the right size and type for the reaction she had in mind. It was smaller than the lightstone, but it hardly mattered how big it was. Even that little bit of Dust could cause a big explosion of elemental energy, especially in its crystallized form.

"Here," she said, handing the crystal over to Lewa before she could second-guess herself. "For emergencies only."

The Toa's eyes were already glowing, but they somehow lit up even more at the chunk of Dust in his hand. "Understood, sprout-leaf! Your faith-trust in me will surely be rewarded! What kind is this? Fire-blast? Thunder-spark? Gravity-crush?"

"…it's wind."

And just like that, Lewa's enthusiasm faded. "Aw. But I already command that power-force."

"You can control the air around you, sure," said Emerald pointedly. "But what if you need to fight something while you're underwater? Unless you've suddenly figured out how to create a cyclone out of nothing, your elemental powers won't help down there. That's what the Dust is for - hit that thing with your axe, and you'll have all the wind you need, wherever you need it."

When the Toa's expression didn't change, she sighed and held out her hand. "Besides…I'll take it back if you don't want it."

Predictably, Lewa pulled his prize away like a child protecting their favorite toy. Emerald chuckled, then raised her lightstone again.

"That's what I thought. Let's go."

With her light source in one hand and the handle of Thief's Respite in the other, she and Lewa descended into the darkness.

"Okay Weiss, are you ready?"

"Ready."

The Toa of Ice nodded as he crouched on his rocky perch, overlooking the underground lake and its singular stony island below them. "Remember, once I freeze the surface of the water - "

" - don't fall in," finished the Huntress. "Believe me, I know how dangerous a frozen lake is. I grew up in Solitas, remember?"

"Just making sure." Kopaka readied his sword. "On your mark."

Weiss drew Myrtenaster and held it parallel to her body, closing her eyes as she felt the familiar hum of etheric energy swirl around her. Creating a full-fledged summon took more concentration than a simple Dust-infused glyph, but the process was largely the same for both. A circular rune appeared in front of her, one that contained the consciousness of a spectral Kane-Ra that was ready to turn solid and charge towards the mechanical eels that claimed this lair - and the mask within - as their own.

"Mark."

Kopaka nodded and fired a blast of pure cold at the underground lake, turning the still surface into a solid sheet of ice. Just as the surface hardened the Huntress released the stored energy in her summon, sending the Kane-Ra lunging towards the island with a ghostly bestial roar. The Tarakava who had been lounging in the water suddenly found themselves frozen up to their necks, trapped and unable to move. The four who were on land suddenly found their lair under attack from a strange bull-like Rahi, and zoomed on tank treads across the ice to meet their attacker.

"Go!"

The heiress and the Toa leapt and landed on the frozen surface, propelling themselves forward and racing towards the newly-unguarded mask in the middle of the cave. Weiss glided across the ice like a delicate figure skater, freezing the infected masks of the trapped Rahi with blasts of icy dust as she passed them by; Kopaka followed behind while sledding on his shield, shattering the brittle Kanohi with one swing of his sword. The summoned Kane-Ra roared as it rammed against its foes and shot its neck forward, biting down on the throat of one eel and throwing another against the back wall. With the territorial Tarakava either freed from Makuta's influence or otherwise occupied, crossing the icy lake was a quick and easy task.

As they approached the main fight Weiss leapt back and landed on Kopaka's shoulders, waving her rapier like a wand to form a glyph up ahead. With a nod the Toa of Ice steered his improvised sled over the circle pulsing with Auric energy, which launched the two of them into the air and sent them soaring over the heads of the Tarakava. The heiress plunged Myrtenaster downward into the head of a Tarakava, piercing its brain and ending its struggle with a clean, surgical stab. Her ally was equally merciless, freezing the entire beast with an icy breath before smashing his weapons against the monstrous machine in one shattering blow.

"You sure killing the occupied ones was the right call?" asked Weiss as her summoned Kane-Ra faded away with a wave of her hands. "We could have freed them like the others, and Ruby said that the one she and Gali fought was quite docile after its mask was removed."

"That one was forced out of its home to serve as Makuta's attack serpent," answered Kopaka icily. "But Tarakava don't need some shadowy puppet master to be violent and aggressive. Like all Rahi, they're quite protective of their territory…and we just broke into their lair. They're not going to like us even with their masks gone."

Sure enough, Weiss heard the telltale thump, thump, thump of piston-powered fists trying to break through the ice, as well as a chorus of mechanical shrieks. She nodded tightly and turned to keep an eye on the trapped Tarakava, readying glyphs to launch should one of them break out and come back for another fight. Confident that the Huntress had their rear guarded, Kopaka turned and bolted for the unclaimed mask, while Weiss kept her pale blue eyes on the seven Rahi glaring at her with glowing red -

Wait. Seven? Didn't they unmask eight of them on the way over?

Before she could even start to double-check her counting, the sound of shattering ice and crashing waves filled the air. Weiss barely had time to yell in shock as the angry Tarakava latched its jaws around her waist, smashing through the frozen surface as it plunged back down. Her breath exploded from her lungs in a cloud of frosty bubbles, the water chilling her to her core and sapping her strength. The teeth that dug into her torso kept her from fighting back, and even though her Aura kept her from bleeding into the water, it wouldn't last long if the Rahi kept chomping down on her as it dove even deeper.

"Weiss!"

With a pained expression she looked over the Tarakava's shoulder to see Kopaka swimming down after her, Mask of Water-Breathing already in place and glowing faintly with pearl light. She grunted and whimpered in pain as more air slipped past her lips, desperately pushing against the Rahi trying to drown her. The sight of her struggle seemed to spur on the Toa of Ice, who kicked downwards with both legs and plunged his sword straight through the serpent's back. Frost pooled around the blade as he pulled it back out, scooping up the breathless Huntress and swimming back to the surface as the lifeless Tarakava sank to the bottom of the cave.

It was only a few seconds, but to Weiss and her empty lungs it felt like an eternity. Just before she blacked out she saw Kopaka cutting a new opening in the ice with his sword, pushing her out of the water and onto the frozen floor. She gasped and coughed and nearly choked on her own breath, curling up into a ball and shivering as she tried to get her bearings again. The Toa of Ice pulled himself out a moment later, turning off his mask and staring down at Weiss as she slowly sat upright.

"And that's why I told you not to fall in," he said matter-of-factly.

Weiss groaned and rolled her eyes. "Oh, well excuse me," she said through chattering teeth. "I d-d-d-d-didn't exactly have a choice, now did I?"

Despite her complaint, she smiled up at Kopaka. Even though his face was hidden behind the translucent Kaukau, she felt him smirking back down at her. The moment of rest was interrupted by the sound of more ice cracking and fracturing, as she saw more Tarakava trying to break free.

"…let's get out of here," she said with a cough and a shudder.

Kopaka nodded as he switched preemptively to his Mask of Shielding. "Now there's an idea. Who in their right mind would want to spend all day swimming in a cave anyways?"

"Well…there it is. Wanna be the first one in?"

Emerald looked down at the inky-black water lapping at the edge of their tunnel, then at the Toa of Air who backed away from it like a hydrophobic house cat. She rolled her eyes. Sure, the walk down was dark and spooky, but they hadn't encountered anything dangerous except what their minds made up in fear. Compared to the million possible things that lurked in the corner of the former thief's vision, a nice swim in an underground cavern was almost relaxing.

Clearly, her friend didn't feel the same.

"…you're gonna make me go in first, aren't you?"

"If you wouldn't bother-mind," squeaked Lewa.

A long beleaguered escaped her lips as she shrugged off the leafy bag of supplies and kicked off her shoes. Setting her belongings in a corner far away from the pool, Emerald dipped her bare feet into the water as she sat on the edge of the stony shore. Judging by how her feet didn't touch any kind of sloping cavern floor, she guessed that it meant that there was a sheer drop between the flooded and non-flooded parts of the cave. After taking several deep breaths to get as much air in her lungs as she possibly could, she pushed off her perch and threw herself into the underground abyss.

SPLASH!

The water was dark and murky and bitterly cold. Emerald held her breath tightly in her chest as she peered into the shadows that danced at the light's edge, letting her hair and clothes and the occasional bubble float around her as she sank. A quick glance told her that the flooded tunnel continued deeper downwards, almost like the inside of a well that plunged straight into the earth itself. If the Mask of Speed was down there, it'd be one hell of a dive to get it - but she was confident she could make the swim. So could Lewa, if she had to guess.

But would he?

She kicked back up and blew out the rest of her air, timing her exhale so she could take a nice deep breath right as she surfaced. After treading water for a moment to get her breath back she looked over at Lewa, who seemed to shrink further away from the waves even as they lapped around her neck.

"Come on, it'll be fine," spat an annoyed Emerald with a roll of her eyes. "Get in here, you big baby."

Lewa huffed and crossed his arms. "I have no idea what a 'big-baby' is, but I most certainly am not one!"

"Then prove it by getting in the water already!" She sputtered and spit out a wave that washed over her mouth. "We're wasting time here - we need to get the mask before the tide comes in and floods the whole cave. If we lose this air pocket while we're searching, we're done for."

"…I'm suddenly having second thought-guesses about this, sprout-leaf."

The thief rolled her eyes again, blowing bubbles in irritation. Much as she wanted to just dive and find the mask on her own, she didn't know what was down there and she wasn't about to face it without backup at her side. Not only that, but it would be quite hypocritical of her to do that, while also being mad at Lewa for striking out on his own from the other Toa.

So Emerald decided to use the most powerful weapon in her arsenal.

Sass.

"Awww," she cooed condescendingly, raising an eyebrow and puckering her lips. "Is the little baby-Toa too fear-scared to go for a little water-swim?"

Lewa's eyes widened in shock. "…you dare use my speech-talk to mock me, sprout-leaf?"

"Does the little baby-Toa want a nap-sleep? Maybe a little lullaby-song to help-calm his temper-tantrum?"

"You're not even saying it right-well!"

Emerald smirked as she saw metaphorical steam coming out of the Toa of Air's ears. "Maybe the little baby-Toa needs his floaty-wings if he's gonna go into the big scary wet-dark. Or his blankie-pillow. Or maybe even…some nice warm bottle-milk?"

Lewa screamed in annoyance, then let out a strangled cry before he finally ran and leapt into the water. The sound of his glorified belly flop echoed and bounced off the cave walls, and after a moment of struggling under the churning surface the green-armored figure pushed his mask into the air pocket and coughed violently. Emerald kept her distance from the flailing Toa, afraid that he'd try to latch onto her and drag her down; when he finally started clumsily treading water, she floated over to him with a satisfied grin.

"There!" sputtered Lewa. "Now we're both in the water-yuck, sprout-leaf! Are you happy?!"

"Mm-hmm." Emerald nodded. "Take a deep breath before you go down. Trust me, you'll need it. Follow my lead."

And with that, she plunged back underwater before Lewa could have the last word.

The mint-haired girl dove down with slow and powerful kicks, trying to conserve as much air and energy as possible during her descent. Lewa followed clumsily behind her, doing his best to mimic her motions whenever he thought she wasn't looking. Bubbles spilled out of her pursed lips and flowed through the gaps in his mask, but beyond that only the glow of their lightstones marked their positions.

It wasn't the deepest Emerald had swum before, not by a long shot. But she still felt her lungs ache slightly by the time her fingertips finally brushed against the sandy cavern floor, twenty-five feet below the water's surface. A quick glance over her shoulder told her that Lewa was already kicking off the bottom to scramble for the surface; after looking around for a minute longer, the former thief reluctantly did the same before her chest burst.

"Ugh!" Lewa groaned as Emerald broke the waves and gasped. "I got water-yuck in my ears!"

"Better that than your lungs," retorted Emerald. She wiped her face with her hand. "Stick close. No telling what's down there."

After the pair took a few more deep breaths, they plunged into the darkness together.

Now that she knew how deep the bottom was, diving down was easier for Emerald. She knew how much air and energy she needed to spend swimming with each search attempt, and roughly how long she had to look around once she reached the cave floor. And thanks to the fact that Aura enhanced most of her muscles - including her lungs - she could stay down at the bottom for at least two minutes at a time, before her chest started to ache and yearn for a fresh breath. Sometimes she even managed three minutes before instinct took over, propelling her towards the surface yet again.

Lewa's lungs and muscles may have been larger and stronger than hers, but he was nowhere near as good a swimmer as his human partner. He kept kicking and stroking through the water even when he wasn't moving, constantly burning energy and air with his inability to stay still. And when he did manage to focus, it was to the detriment of everything else - even basic survival instinct. More than once he lost track of when he needed to breathe, prompting Emerald to abandon her search and help the floundering Toa back for air.

Not that the search was going all that well in the first place.

Even with the lightstones, finding anything in the dark waters was an exercise in frustration. Sand and silt got kicked up with every move they made along the bottom, turning the cave floor into a cloud of soup. Seagrass and kelp and other plants grew through cracks along the walls, blocking their progress and slowing down their search. And Emerald lost count of how many times she'd spotted something that looked like metallic protodermis on the swim back up for air, only to dive back down and find out it was an old abandoned seashell or something equally worthless.

As the search dragged on, she could feel the cold water start to sap her strength. Each breath felt like it gave her less and less time to look, and each swim back up or down felt longer and more grueling than the last. Lewa's stamina outlasted hers at least in that regard, but he still struggled to dive and ascend and spot things in the darkness. Part of the Huntress wondered if they shouldn't cut their losses and come back after they found the Kanohi Kaukau, the Great Mask of Water-Breathing. The rest of her doubted the Kakama would still be there by the time they got back…if they could even find the other mask when this one kept eluding them.

If he's not regretting splitting up from the other Toa right now then he's an idiot, thought Emerald as she ascended with puffed cheeks and furrowed eyebrows. A big, stupid idiot who couldn't find water if he fell out of a damn boat.

After the eighth or so fruitless dive Emerald and Lewa hung by the surface a little longer, gasping and panting and holding onto the ledge. Fatigue, both mental and physical, clung to them and threatened to drag them back down, and no matter how much the mint-haired teenager willed her legs to kick, her body was too tired to comply. Even gripping the lightstone and keeping her head above the water felt like an impossible task, one she wasn't sure she could keep up with.

"Somebody really doesn't want us finding that power-mask," gasped Lewa as his chest heaved for breath.

Despite herself, Emerald laughed. "Well, that somebody is gonna be disappointed. Are you good to keep going?"

The Toa of Air nodded. "Maybe it's the water-yuck in my ears talking, but I almost find this stuff…tolerable right now. Might as well make one more dive-plunge."

Another sharp laugh escaped her lips, making her ribs ache. "See? It's not so bad once you get used to it!"

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far, sprout-leaf," said Lewa with a laugh of his own. It wasn't much, but that little exchange seemed to invigorate the pair, giving a little bit of warmth and relief as they filled their lungs for another dive.

Sinking was almost effortless at this point. All Emerald had to do was swim deep enough to overcome her own buoyancy, and gravity and water pressure would do the rest. She was so tired she barely even kicked on the way down, which was probably gonna make the next ascent a bitch and a half. And given how her lungs started aching already, when her feet had barely even brushed against the floor, that was gonna be a problem sooner rather than -

There!

At first she almost didn't believe her eyes, believing it was just a trick of the light or wishful thinking. But shining her lightstone back on a patch of seaweed in the bottom corner debunked her delusions - the Kanohi Kakama sat there in all its triangular dull-gray glory, with kelp wrapped around the bottom wedges and woven through its empty eye holes. She signaled Lewa excitedly with a wave of her light, then drew Thief's Respite and deployed the sickle-like blade with one hand. A few clean cuts, and the mask was free to sink into her waiting hand, and she couldn't help but grin a bubbly grin as she clutched her prize.

Emerald turned to show the mask to the approaching Toa of Air -

And felt something slick and slimy wrap around her waist and yank her back.

A cry of shock escaped her throat without even realizing it, muffled and cut off by the water around her. The killer kelp slammed her against the cave floor with enough force to rattle her, making most of her breath explode from her lungs in a cloud of murky bubbles. Emerald watched her air float away with a pained expression, her body wracked with pain as the empty void in her chest threatened to collapse in on itself. Her lungs fought to breathe. Her mind fought to keep that from happening.

Of course the plants themselves want to kill us! She grit her teeth and did her best to thrash and fight despite her trembling chest. Why did I think this'd be easy?! Ruby even told all of us how Makuta can control the plants here, and how he already tried this same trick on her. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid!

Even with her senses dulled due to a lack of air, she saw Lewa swim over with concern and alarm written all over his face - or mask, as it were. The kelp lashed out to try and grab onto him, but the Toa was too quick; he either nimbly dodged the whip-like strands of seaweed, or cut them with his axe like an expert gardener. Hope swelled in her chest as she saw the green-armored figure reach forward, only for it to be dashed when more tendrils chased him away.

Ugh…this is bad…she thought to herself, trying not to focus on how badly she needed air. He can't cut me loose without slicing me to ribbons, and he can't get the mask without the plants getting him too. There's gotta be a way out of this…come on, Lewa, use your head! Think!

The Toa of Air seemed to reach the same conclusion, because he tucked the lightstone onto his hip and pulled out another crystalline object. Unlike the glowing mineral this was pale green and much smaller, seemingly humming with hidden energy. Though he said nothing, Lewa's eyes asked the question anyways, looking down at Emerald as if asking for permission. With a spasm in her throat and another gurgling stream of bubbles, she nodded fervently.

Okay, good thinking using the Dust… she thought as she braced herself as best she could. But oh gods…this is gonna hurt.

Whether it would hurt more than drowning, she couldn't say. All she knew was that as soon as Lewa tossed up the Wind Dust and slashed it with his axe, an explosion echoed through the water as the crystal shattered and its energy detonated. A local underwater cyclone surged through the waves and blew away just about everything - the sand, the silt, the stone, the kelp, and even the Toa of Air himself. Emerald was thrown back against the ground as the gale force winds battered and barraged her; it was only by some miracle that she managed to not only stay conscious through the raging storm and empty lungs, but that she managed to hold onto the Mask of Speed as well.

As soon as the windstorm subsided, however, she lost her grip on both. The last of her air slipped out of her open lips, her crimson eyes dulled, and she went as still as the water around her.

Then everything went dark.

The piercing roar of the ratlike Kuma-Nui echoed throughout the underground cavern, nearly blowing out all four of Blake's eardrums. By some miracle she managed to right herself in mid-air, landing on her feet and casting her gaze over to the armored creature that grappled with Onua. The hulking two-armed beast loomed over the Toa of Earth, its maw filled with dozens of sharp jagged teeth and its twin tank treads screaming to find traction as it pushed forward. Although Onua was using the Mask of Strength to stand his ground, the Rahi was plenty strong on its own; muscles rippled and strained to escape the gray and black steel that covered its entire body, red and yellow tubes along its arms shuddering as some kind of fluid flowed through its mechanical veins.

"Go, Blake!" shouted Onua. "Get the mask! I can handle this creature!"

She hesitated for a moment, wondering if perhaps the Kuma-Nui was too strong for even the Toa of Earth to stand against. But then she realized that with the Rahi distracted, there was nothing stopping her from grabbing the helmet-like Hau that sat on a stone pedestal - and if she was quick enough, she might even be able to help Onua anyways.

So she did as instructed, throwing the thinner half of Gambol Shroud and letting its ribbon fly loosely and form a tether between the bladed pistol and her own arm. The weapon sank into the cavern ceiling and stuck tight, letting her pull herself up into the air after using a Shadow as a stepping stone. With a flick of her wrist the weapon came free, and in one smooth motion she whipped it out again and snagged it on a nearby stalactite. Blake pumped her legs to build up momentum as she swung, giving her a perfect angle to swoop past the pedestal and snag the mask with her free hand.

As she perched on a nearby stalagmite and snapped Gambol Shroud back into her grip, she smiled to herself. Weiss had done more than just return the missing half of her weapon back at Kini-Nui - she had effectively restored the feline Faunus back to full fighting capability, as well as giving her back all her preferred mobility options. Without the lightweight component that served as a sword, heavy pistol, and grappling hook all in one, Blake had found herself grounded and slow. She always preferred a nimble, agile combat strategy…and now that she had her full weapon set, she could do just that.

Good thing, too, because Onua was clearly not handling the Kuma-Nui as well as he said. Servos strained to keep up with the Toa's feat of strength, and the giant rat hissed as it pushed forward to capitalize on his faltering resolve.

Blake kicked off her perch and swung from the ceiling on her ribbon, planting both feet against the Rahi's back in a dropkick that flowed into a leaping flip. The Kuma-Nui lost interest in the Toa of Earth and pulled its claws free to batter him away, spinning to face the irritating little creature that had dared to attack it from behind. But that was what the feline Faunus was counting on - as soon as the ratlike Rahi faced her she used another Shadow as a springboard, drawing both blades and slashing at the beast's eye as she darted past its face. Then she plunged the cleaver-sheath into a gap on its neck, switching the other weapon into a pistol that she aimed at the ceiling. With four powerful shots she broke the stone keeping a large stalactite suspended; she leapt back towards Onua seconds before the chunk of pointed stone fell and crashed into the giant rat, who just barely managed to catch it in its claws before it could be skewered.

"You were saying?" asked Blake with a raised eyebrow, looking back at the Toa of Earth.

"…perhaps I overestimated myself," admitted Onua sheepishly. "Do you have the mask?"

She nodded and handed over her prize, then looked at its twisted and warped copy - the one that protruded from the armor around the Kuma-Nui's belly. "Maybe you can't out-muscle this thing. But I'll bet with the Mask of Shielding, you can withstand its attack."

"A bold plan," said the ebony-armored Toa with a nod of his head as he slammed the new mask over his usual Pakari. Its dull-gray surface turned as coal-black as the rest of him, and Blake could see a field of energy already flow across his frame. "If I hold it down, will you be able to destroy its Infected Kanohi?"

"Count on it."

"Then let us do this together!"

With that, Onua reached forward and channeled his power into the stalactite the Kuma-Nui struggled to hold, making it explode into a shower of soil, silt, and shrapnel. With another piercing roar the ratlike Rahi leaned forward and dug its claws into the ground, steam hissing out of its extendable neck before a hidden set of linkages shot the head forward like the business end of an accordion. The Toa of Earth triggered his mask to create an emerald barrier around himself, protecting his frame as the jaws of the great beast locked around the field of energy. Blake surged forward and used her ribbon to yank herself towards the vulnerable body, shifting Gambol Shroud back into a thin sword as she swung it downwards in both hands.

SLASH!

The twisted and rusted Kanohi sat on its mounting point for a fraction of a second, before it fell to the ground in two equally disgusting halves.

All at once something shifted in the Kuma-Nui. Its head retreated back to its body, releasing its grip on the Toa of Earth and snapping back with another hiss of steam. The giant rat loomed over Blake for a moment, a low growl escaping its throat as it pulled its claws out of the ground and lowered its snout towards her face. The Huntress readied her blades in anticipation, but it was hardly necessary - after the Rahi sniffed her once, twice, three times, a long metallic tongue poked out of its jaw and started dragging itself across her ears and her hair.

"Ow! Ugh! What - why?!" she protested, doing her best to avoid the dry licks of the Kuma-Nui.

Onua chuckled as he deactivated his brand-new Hau, switching back to his usual preferred mask. "It would seem you have made a new friend today, Blake. Perhaps it sees you as one of its own in need of grooming."

"Yeah, well, I'd really rather it didn't," she said with a scoff, though she nonetheless smiled as she recognized the chittering of a happy rodent coming from the Rahi. Just…louder and deeper than most rodents she'd known.

I can only imagine what kind of ridiculous comment Yang would make if she saw this, she thought with a silent groan. Probably something about how she'd never seen a rat and a cat get along so well before…or she'd tell me to stop playing with my food.

A soft laugh escaped her lips all the same as the once-hostile Rahi started nuzzling her, and she embraced the moment of peace while it lasted.

After all, she and Onua had just found half of their masks, so maybe a little break was warranted.

Emerald didn't see what happened in the few moments where she'd blacked out. The next thing she saw was Lewa standing over her, concern in his glowing green eyes. She coughed and rolled over to vomit up whatever water she'd swallowed, then flopped onto her back to stare back up at the cavern ceiling.

"Oh, thank-praise Mata Nui…" said the Toa of Air with a sigh of relief. "I thought I'd lost you, sprout-leaf. Are you well?"

"Yeah…yeah, it's not the first time I've almost drowned," sputtered Emerald with a gasp. She groped around and found her lightstone sitting next to her, along with Matau's supplies and her shoes. "…did we get the mask?"

A sharp laugh echoed off the cave walls. "Considering how fast I swam-rushed to get you out of the water-yuck? I'd certainly say-so! How do I look?"

The Toa of Air leaned over so that his face was in plain sight, letting Emerald notice that he was indeed wearing the Kakama instead of his usual Miru. Unlike the dull-gray mask she found in the cave, it was now a vibrant and colorful green that matched the rest of its wearer.

"…not a bad look," groaned the thieving teenager. "Though I still think that Pohatu guy wore it better."

"Hah! Perhaps, but I'd like to see him try and wind-fly with that pot-bellied frame of his! Stone-breakers like him couldn't even spend a second off the ground - no way I'd be able to handle traveling with someone that slow-footed!"

Emerald's heart sank, and for a moment she wasn't sure whether her disappointment or her once-flooded lungs hurt more. Despite the search, despite the difficulty, Lewa had somehow managed to learn absolutely nothing from this encounter. While the mint-haired Huntress was comfortable with the swim, he was clearly out of his element - a fact that Makuta clearly exploited today. But how much simpler would it have been if Gali had been there to dive into the pool and get the mask for them? Or if Pohatu and Onua were here to safely drain the flooded tunnel? Instead of realizing just how useful it'd have been to have the other Toa there, the Toa of Air only seemed more confident in his independence - and now that he'd found one of his Masks of Power, she was afraid of just how high his arrogance would soar.

"Ah, but speed-racing and competitions can all come later, after we fight-win against Makuta. Can you stand-walk?"

After slipping her shoes back on, Emerald gave her best attempt at rising to her feet and failed miserably. She shook her head, clutching the leafy bag and the lightstone feebly.

"That's alright," said Lewa with a shrug. "I'll just have to soar-run for both of us! Let's see just how fast this speed-mask can really go!"

Despite the fact that she hated being manhandled through the jungle, Emerald nevertheless gave no protest as the Toa of Air scooped her off the ground, triggered the power of his new Kanohi, and took off from the cavern in a burst of speed. Even if he cared nothing for the other Toa, Lewa obviously cared about her a great deal, and went out of his way to make sure she was okay above everything else. Maybe he thought that introducing the others into their little group would taint their companionship, or maybe he knew he'd get jealous if she made friends with people beside him. She didn't know. All she knew was that the Toa of Air had a single-minded devotion to her, much as she'd once had towards the enchanting and charismatic Cinder Fall.

And maybe, just maybe, there was some small dark part of her that enjoyed the constant attention.

The rain poured down Gali's mask as she dug her hooks into the slick stony cliff, water pooling and flowing down her armor before dripping off and falling to the abyss below. Her glowing yellow eyes narrowed in concentration as she focused on her climb, keeping the hundred-bio-drop as far from her mind as possible. The storm had struck suddenly and without warning in the middle of a clear sunny day; there was little doubt in the Toa's mind that this was no ordinary downpour.

So the Makuta wishes to deter me with my own element, she thought bitterly. Well, if he does not want me to get my mask, he will have to try harder than this. After all…what is a rainstorm, compared to a flood?

Then again, it wasn't her own safety she worried about. Poor little Ruby had abandoned trying to climb altogether - her tiny fleshy hands simply couldn't grip the wet face of the cliff, even with the handholds Gali was making for her. So the silver-eyed Huntress now clung tightly to the Toa's neck as she rode on her back, hood drawn uselessly over her face as she shivered in the rain. Soaked to the bone and battered by howling winds, Ruby nonetheless stayed to weather the storm…even if she had to hold onto Gali for dear life in the process.

The rest of the climb was made in silence, save for the sounds of roaring rain and straining servos. Stone chipped away in sharpened pebbles, and each new mark she made in the wall felt harder and more draining. But at last, the lip of the cliff came near enough that she could reach up and drive her hook into the rocky ledge, allowing her to press her armored feet against the side of the terrain and pool strength into her leg muscles.

"Hold tight, Ruby!" she called above the pouring rain.

"That's the plan!" wailed the little rose.

Confident that her ally was secured, she released the stored energy like a coiled spring, pushing herself off the cliff and propelling herself up at an angle. Her momentum carried her well past the ledge, and a mid-air twist of her body kept her on the right path as she flowed around the rocky face like water rising into the sky. Gali landed on the top of the cliff with the grace and poise of a falling raindrop; with a heavy pant she peered back over the ledge she had scaled, amazed that the earth could form such tall and imposing landmarks all on its own.

"Little one?" she breathed. "Are you well back there?"

Ruby's head poked excitedly over her shoulder, silver eyes shimmering like stars. "That. Was. Awesome! Do it again!"

A soft laugh escaped the Toa's throat as she stowed her hooks back into her arms, reaching up to ruffle her human friend's sopping wet hair. "Perhaps another time, Ruby. For now, let us retrieve our prize, before you get sick from the rain."

"Oh please, I'm - achooo! - totally fine!" Ruby groaned as her own body proved her wrong, then peered back behind her. "Look, there it is!"

Gali turned in the direction Ruby had pointed, glowing yellow eyes narrowing as she squinted to see what her ally saw. Sure enough, there was the Kanohi Miru sitting several dozen paces away from them, its sweeping profile and bird-like face staring back at her with empty eyeholes. According to legend, no Matoran had ever managed to make this climb - Makuta had chosen to stash her Mask of Levitation somewhere so high it was nearly impossible to claim by anyone less than a Toa.

I suppose this is his idea of a joke, mused Gali. Hiding a mask in such a place that it would be easier to reach if you already had the power it provided…perhaps if Lewa or Onua were here, the climb would not be quite so arduous…

She shook her head. Wishing that the other Toa were here would not suddenly change their minds. Instead, for now it seemed she needed to trust in her own capabilities - and in the little Huntress that followed her, of course.

"Be alert," Gali finally said with a nod. "I suspect that a sheer climb and a wild storm are merely Makuta's way of dissuading us from collecting the mask. I do not know what else he may have in store for us."

Ruby nodded and pulled out Crescent Rose in its compacted form, looking down the sights of the odd launcher-like weapon and pointing it over the Toa's shoulder. Confident that the Huntress was guarding her back - literally and figuratively - Gali took one step forward…

And nearly lost her balance when the entire cliff began to shake.

"What madness - ?!"

KRA-KOOOOOM!

Lightning fell from the darkened sky and struck the cliff with a violent flash and a thundering boom, sending sparks flying as it scorched the stone. Moments later the rocky cliff face began to split as cracks wove through the stone like the threads of a great spiderweb, crisscrossing every bio of its surface as the rumbling sound intensified. Chunks of the cliff - including the section of ground where Gali stood - began to crumble and fall away, pulled down by their own weight towards the churning seas below.

"Ruby!" The Toa of Water yelled as she leapt from one mid-air boulder to the next. "The mountain! It is breaking!"

"I noticed! Wait - the mask!"

Her head whipped back around to catch a glimpse of the dull-gray Miru slipping through a growing ravine, nearly disappearing from sight.

"We must reach it! Hold on tightly!"

With that Gali took off with a sprint down the length of her current tumbling platform, leaping to another boulder and using it as a stepping stone - almost literally - to reach another large chunk of falling rock. No sooner had she touched down than another sound joined the cacophony of chaos - loud buzzing of wings beating hundreds of times a minute.

"We've got company!" called the Huntress.

Sure enough, at least a dozen green and orange armored wasps rose around them on four wings each, with an equal number of clawed arms hanging from their joints along large rotund bodies capped off by powerful stingers. Hundreds of eyes sat behind a pair of transparent blue shields, every single one of them eyeing up the Toa and her Huntress like the potential prey they were. Barbed mandibles dripped and oozed venom from open maws, and if the giant insects had lips, they would no doubt be licking their chops as they prepared to attack.

"Nui-Kopen!" Gali cried out, recalling Turaga Nokama's vivid description of the horrific hornets that Makuta uses as aerial shock troopers. Water pooled into her hands as she prepared to fight, but a shimmer of blank protodermis reminded her of her prize that tumbled further away with each passing second. If she engaged the Rahi, the Miru would be lost forever. But if she pursued the mask, the Nui-Kopen would strike while she was distracted.

Fortunately, Ruby's presence alone made that an easy dilemma.

Before Gali could even speak she leapt off the Toa's shoulders, firing several shots from Crescent Rose into the wings of a nearby Nui-Kopen as it hovered in attack formation. The little rose unfolded her weapon as she lunged and used the recoil to launch herself at another wasp, burying the tip of her scythe between its eyes and using it as a springboard to jump even further.

"Get the mask!" barked Ruby. "I've got the bugs!"

Gali wanted to argue against this plan, but she knew there was no time. So she nodded tightly and took off running and leaping across the falling stones, the pair moving so quickly they seemed to resemble little more than red and blue blurs against the rain and rubble. As she navigated the mid-air debris, she caught glimpses of Ruby's fight with the Nui-Kopen - or rather, she caught bits and pieces of the limbs and wings that were severed in the aerial melee.

Such senseless deaths, thought the Toa of Water. I know it is necessary, and that mercy is a luxury we cannot afford right now…but I wish it were different all the same. Perhaps once I get the Miru, I may be able to turn the tide of this battle in a direction more to my liking.

Speaking of the mask, it was only a few bios away at this point. Just one more lunging leap and one more boulder used as a springboard, and the Toa of Water had her prize. Snatching the Miru out of the air and slamming it over her own mask, Gali pooled her concentration and triggered the Kanohi's latent power, hoping that there wouldn't be too much of a learning curve involved in levitating.

Immediately a cushion of invisible force flowed around her, keeping her suspended in mid-air and floating like a leaf on the wind. The mask didn't seem to have any ability to propel herself, but quick blasts of water from her palms let her right herself and hover over the battlefield. Rain pooled into her palms as she shaped whips and chains out of her element, lashing out at the distant Nui-Kopen and even slicing one completely in half with a high-powered jet of water.

Ruby whooped and hollered. "Way to go, Gali! You got your mask!"

"Indeed!" called the Toa of Water with a smile. "Now let us finish this so we can return to the sea!"

Slowly but surely, the Nui-Kopen began to fall to their combined assault. Ruby kept engaging the wasps in melee as she pulsed her Semblance and used recoil from Crescent Rose to keep herself in the air, while Gali's new Kanohi allowed her to stay afloat and launch blasts of water. She used twin streams of liquid to push herself into the path of a charging Nui-Kopen, shifting her hands into hooks and latching onto the flying Rahi as she searched for its infected mask.

"Be still, creature of the sky," she said softly as the Nui-Kopen bucked and shook to throw her off, "let me find and remove Makuta's dark touch, and then you will be free…"

She finally found it - a tainted, twisted copy of Lewa's mask sitting between its wing sockets, staring up at the sky with pale empty eyes. It was easy enough to slip one of her hooks under its edge and pry it off with one smooth motion. It was even easier to throw it away, letting it fall into the churning seas far far below.

Gali expected the Nui-Kopen to seize up, maybe even fly off. She couldn't have expected that it would not only continue trying to claw and bite her, it would do so even more fiercely. And yet, that was exactly what it did, and only her quick reflexes kept armor and legs away from its mandibles.

"I…do not understand," she said with a shake of her head as she clung tightly to the wasp. "Your infected mask is gone. Your struggle should have ceased."

"Victory will no longer be so simple and bloodless, little Toa," drawled a shadowy voice. "I have…corrected that little weakness."

The Toa of Water narrowed her eyes at the mass of shadow that formed over the mask's mounting point in the carapace, crimson eyes glaring back at her like daggers.

"Makuta," she growled. "Release this beast from your control this instant!"

"And why would I do such a thing?" The master of shadows had no mouth, yet she knew he smiled anyways. "These creatures are even more monstrous when left alone, wild and chaotic and attacking anything that moves. Were it not for me, the Nui-Kopen would have made nests on every bio of this island, and your precious Matoran would be wiped off the face of Mata Nui. These Rahi are safer now, under my control. Under my guidance."

"Do not speak to me of guidance!" she spat, water pooling into her hands. "Your words are as empty and meaningless as the shadows themselves - you do nothing but corrupt and destroy everything you touch!"

Makuta huffed in annoyance. "So you accept the tales of the Turaga as truth without ever questioning their so-called wisdom. Disappointing, but hardly surprising. But if you truly believe me to be a destroyer so fervently…then destroy I shall."

Gali's next argument was cut off by a sharp, shrill cry.

A human cry.

Her head whipped around so fast her mask nearly flew off her face. Glowing yellow eyes widened as she took in the scene before her, heartlight blinking rapidly until it resembled a strobing star. Ruby was hanging from the maw of a very large and very irritated Nui-Kopen, one that had its mandibles embedded deep into her shoulder. The Huntress's eyelids fluttered as she struggled to focus, and her limbs twitched as she tried to fight back, but something kept her from doing either. Her scythe slipped out of her hands, flipping end-over-end as it embedded itself into the rocky cliff twenty bios below. From the way she dangled like a limp doll from the wasp's mouth, a similar fate awaited Ruby Rose.

"Ruby!" called Gali. Her eyes narrowed. "Your fight is with me, Makuta! Let her go!"

Again, she could feel the master of shadows smiling at her, and a pit formed in her chest.

"…oh, what a remarkably poor choice of words."

The great Rahi opened its mandibles, and Ruby started to fall.

Gali moved without even thinking. She kicked off the face of her Nui-Kopen and surged through the sky, running on plummeting rubble and using the momentum to carry her from one falling rock to another. Chasms too great to cross with leaps alone were cleared with the power of the Miru, and though she still struggled to keep herself steady she levitated all the same. Within seconds the falling human was pulled into a tight embrace with both arms, and Gali once more triggered the power of her new mask to slow their descent.

A quick glance at her friend told her that Ruby wasn't moving or looking at her, but she was still breathing.

Thank Mata Nui for small mercies.

No sooner had she thought those words than a sharp pain flared up and raced across her body.

She peered over her back to see the very same Nui-Kopen that had wounded Ruby, now driving its mandibles into her own shoulder. Barbs strong enough to punch through Toa armor plunged into her muscles, sending sheer agony washing over her like waves of fire. Her arms and legs began to stiffen and lock up, and her vision began to blur like she was swimming in gelatin. Whatever toxin the Rahi was flooding her with, it paralyzed her body and drained her will to fight.

"You Toa are so utterly predictable," drawled the shadowy specter of Makuta as it floated over her sparking shoulder. "One day…it shall be the death of you."

Gali struggled to hold on, struggled to focus on the world around her. The human in her arms. The Rahi that poisoned her into submission. The shadowy mask that taunted her just out of sight. The blurry ground and churning sea that waited for her far, far below. She needed to fight. Needed to activate her mask power to escape. Needed to pour her will into the rain, to shape it into some kind of blade to strike…

But nothing came.

The battlefield faded in and out of focus, her yellow eyes growing dimmer and brighter with each passing second. Each instant that ticked by felt like the last few sands dropping into the bottom half of an hourglass, measuring what little time she had left in this life. Her people…no, all the people of Mata Nui…they would be at Makuta's mercy, and the Toa sent to save them would be one sister weaker if she didn't do something drastic to save herself and her human friend very soon.

That's when she noticed a blade of red and silver sticking out of the nearby cliff face.

Ruby's scythe.

"…one day, perhaps…" she groaned, her mouth feeling numb as she forced out the words. Then her eyes narrowed. "…but not this day!"

And with that, she mustered all her remaining energy and channeled it into one swift move, stowing one hook and grabbing the scythe as she swung her arm back. With a cry of exertion she buried the blade into the Nui-Kopen, driving the tip through several layers of chitin and carapace. Then she pulled the trigger near the handle as she'd seen Ruby do so many times before; the blade jerked backwards in a violent recoil, tearing the wasp apart and sending two twitching pieces plunging into the darkness below.

The good news was that the Rahi was no longer pumping venom into her veins, and Gali could feel her focus already coming back. The bad news was that there was nothing holding them aloft anymore, and she knew clarity of mind wouldn't come back soon enough. With not enough concentration - or time - to activate her mask or her elemental powers, it was all the Toa of Water could do but hold Ruby tightly as they plummeted towards the stone and the sea, twisting and turning so that she'd land first.

Forgive me, little one. I let myself get distracted…and that nearly cost you your life.

She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself the best she could.

Should we somehow both survive this…I swear I will not make the same mistake again.

The rest, after a sullen fall and a painful crash into the waves, was silence.

Chapter Text

The next time Ruby woke up, she found herself in a whole new world of pain.

Her nerves flared and her head pounded as she reluctantly opened her silver eyes. The taste of iron and salt pooled into her mouth, every cough to clear her throat of seawater burned like sulfur on the way out, and every splash of the sea felt as loud as thunder in her ears. She looked around with a slight groan, taking in the area around her - a rocky shore surrounded by both the endless ocean and the towering walls of a very tall cliff.

Did…did we fall? Ruby thought as she looked up, shielding her eyes from the harsh sun that was half-obscured by the rising bluffs. We must have…Gali and I were trying to get her Miru, we were attacked, and then -

Oh. Oh no.

She whirled back around, trying to look for any sign that the Toa of Water was nearby and alive. Unfortunately for her, what she saw made the pit in her stomach grow even larger - Gali was lying facedown on another stony islet, surrounded by a red scythe and the front half of a dead Nui-Kopen. The Mask of Levitation was still on her face, a bright shade of blue that matched the rest of her armor, but her eyes were dim and dark and lacking their usual yellow glow.

Oh no. Oh no no no no please don't be dead.

Ruby instantly tried and failed to activate her Semblance, and a quick glance at her Scroll told her that she didn't have enough Aura to turn into a ball of rushing rose petals. So she opted to get to the larger island the old fashioned way, jumping into the water and surfacing with a gasp as she paddled and clawed her way through the sea. The churning waves splashed into her face as she swam, and she ended up drinking more sea water than she would have liked (which was none) but she eventually pulled herself onto the rocky shore, shaking herself dry and immediately rushing to check on her friend.

It didn't look any better up close.

Gali's once pristine, sapphire-blue armor was now mired with cracks and fractures, sparks of electricity jumping across exposed wires and muscles. The worst of the damage was in the left shoulder, which was so twisted and mangled it looked like it had folded in on itself. Silvery fluid dripped from gaps in the plating, and the smell of salt and venom wafted off of exposed muscle tendons. There was no way to tell just how long the Huntress and the Toa of Water had been adrift and unconscious in the sea before it spit them out - only that it was too long.

She must have tried to land in the water as we fell, so that she'd take most of the impact for me, thought Ruby with a slow shake of her head. Oh Gali…I thought you were supposed to be the wisest of the Toa. Why'd you go and do a dumb thing like that?

Fortunately, there were still signs that the Toa of Water still clung to life even in her sleep. Her armored chest rose and fell with slow steady breaths, and her heartlight slowly pulsed with dim yellow light. It reminded Ruby of a computer console in standby mode, where a terminal would shut down most non-essential functions to conserve power.

So not dead, thought Ruby with a sigh of relief. That's good. But she does have a broken shoulder, and a lot of fractures in her armor. That's…less good.

The silver-eyed Huntress pulled Crescent Rose out of Gali's tight unconscious grip, folding it back into its compact form and stowing it on her lower back. Then she sat down and curled up into a ball, staring at her friend and trying to ignore the growing stench of that stupid Nui-Kopen carcass. She watched as azure sparks danced across the frame of the Toa of Water, mending some of the smaller seams in the armor and shooting weakly out of the larger fractures. A pensive hum escaped her cracked lips as she watched most of the electric tendrils make their way to the shattered shoulder, only to spill out uselessly onto the rocky shore.

These Toa…they must have some kind of self-repair thing that runs while they sleep, she thought idly. Kinda like how our Aura accelerates our body's healing over time, and works better when we rest. But it looks like it's trying to fix that shoulder at the cost of everything else - and wasting a lot of resources and energy in the process. If that joint wasn't broken, then maybe…

Ruby bit her lower lip and tilted her head, peering at the damaged and mangled section of armor that selfishly hogged all the attention. She remembered one of the stories Blake had shared at Kini-Nui, one where she saw Onua literally put himself together after spilling out of his canister in pieces. Silver eyes looked first at Gali, then at the dead Rahi, and back again, and her mechanics-focused mind immediately started recognizing that some of the parts were identical on both…

No. No, this was insane. She couldn't operate on a living being. Heck, she'd almost thrown up when one of her classes at Signal had demanded that she dissect a frog. Even if everything here was more metal than flesh, it still seemed…wrong, somehow. Like she wasn't qualified to try this.

Then again…she'd built Crescent Rose, a mechanically complex high-caliber sniper scythe, almost entirely on her own by the time she was twelve years old. If she could do that, then couldn't she fix a Toa, too?

With a loud groan, Ruby made up her mind and fetched a small toolkit out of her pouch. It wasn't anything too big or fancy - just a few screwdrivers in common bit sizes and a palm-sized knife with built-in whetstone and filing edge. She didn't know if any of them would be needed for what she was trying to do, but it couldn't hurt…at least, it couldn't hurt more than her friend already was.

Gali's done so much for me since I arrived here, she thought resolutely. It's time I did something for her, for once.

Her course of action clear and her tools in hand, Ruby Rose approached her wounded friend to perform her first-ever repair job on a Toa.

"Hey Penny! Smile for the Codex!"

The freckled teenager was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts, turning her gaze away from the sand underfoot and towards the little Matoran at her side. Takua had a big grin behind his mask as he held up a blue steel slate, pointing its bulbous face towards her. Despite being caught off-guard, she still flashed her best and brightest smile towards the odd little device, even giving a little wave and a giggle as a bonus.

"Oh, beautiful!" Takua called. "Now say what we're doing and where we're going!"

Penny kept her smile as she swayed back and forth with each step down the path. "Salutations! My friend Takua and I are currently traveling from Po-Koro to Onu-Koro, so that we may assist with whatever situation ails the people in the village of Earth!" Then she tilted her head as her smile dropped a little. "Wait. Are you certain you need to be holding up the Codex like that in order to record? Because this seems inefficient."

"Uhhhhhh…" The Ta-Matoran looked up at Penny, then down at the tablet, and back again. "I have no idea." He let out a sheepish chuckle and shrugged. "Guess I should've asked Onewa how to use it before we left, huh?"

Another giggle. "Would you like me to take a look at it?"

"Yes please that would be great."

Penny laughed softly as she took the Codex in her hands, feeling the weight of the metal and circuitry against her palms. She slowed her breathing and reached out with her Aura, watching as teal threads of ephemeral energy spooled out of her wrists and wove into the device. Her Semblance explored the tablet's interior, probing into every inch and every secret, and before long all its mysteries were revealed to her as she gained an understanding.

"Ah…" she said after a moment. "I see. The bulb on the front is not a lens - it is a projector. It will display a playback of information that your own visual and auditory sensors collect, transmitted via electromagnetic wavelengths across a network that is tied to your bio-mechanical signature."

Takua tilted his head. "And that means what, exactly?"

She giggled again, pausing her walk along the desert road to kneel and meet her friend at eye level. "It means you do not need to be holding the Codex for it to store information. In fact, if you press this button to replay your most recent memory…"

A holographic recreation of her performance sprang to life from the bulbous projector, displaying how Takua saw the scene that had just occurred. She saw herself through the eyes of her Matoran companion, realizing just how much she towered over the three-foot-tall Chronicler. Everything was on full display, from her long orange hair to her bare legs and feet, from her worn-out green and white dress to the Huntress weapons made from scavenged Tarakava parts on her back…at least, everything but the smile and mirth that Takua had tried to capture for posterity.

"…you will see that you were actually blocking out my face by holding it."

"Of course I was," said Takua with a sigh - though considering he was still smiling behind his mask, Penny realized he was not that upset. "Ah well, it's not like I'll never get to see you smile again. I'm sure I'll have plenty more chances to get your joy and enthusiasm recorded for future reference…although when I do get around to writing stuff down in stone, I might have to describe you as a Matoran. You know, just so that future generations don't look at you and see a weird maskless nightmare…thing. No offense."

Another giggle left Penny's throat as she handed the Codex back. "None taken! Though I think I am too tall to be a Matoran, and I am not wise enough to be a Turaga…oh! You could draw me as a Toa!"

Takua laughed. "Oh, please. A seventh Toa? That's just ridiculous. Who'd honestly believe something like that could have ever existed?"

"Stranger things have happened," said the robot-girl-turned-Maiden-turned-human, rising to her full height with a wry smile. "I am proof of that."

"…you know what, that's fair," admitted Takua as they continued their walk.

The desert sands of Po-Wahi soon gave way to coarse silt and gravel, and the massive mountain on the horizon seemed to inch closer with each step. As they walked Penny caught sight of various flowers and grasses growing in the shallow soil, confident they could take root without being scorched by a relentless sun. Cool breezes blew down from the peak and swept over her, bringing a fresh relief without the bitter chills she had felt in Atlas. The divide between the biomes was slow and gradual, and before she knew it Penny had left those arid lands behind in favor of the foothills of Mount Ihu.

But they were not in Onu-Wahi just yet.

"The entrance to the Po-Onu-Koro Highway is just up ahead," said Penny as she consulted her Scroll, suspending it by the threads of her Technopathy so she could better show the island map to Takua. "The Onu-Matoran have done a great deal of mining and tunneling under the surface of Mata Nui, creating a network of roads and passageways that lead to the other villages. In theory, this creates safe and quick transit between the different Matoran settlements…"

"…but in practice, it's hard to protect big tunnel networks like that," finished Takua. "It's just the Po-Koro and Ta-Koro highways that are open for now, right?"

"That is what Turaga Onewa said, yes." She frowned. "Remember that he also told us that he and the other Turaga had not heard from Whenua for some time. Something must be troubling him…"

"Well, I'm sure we can handle it," said the Chronicler as they approached the mountain. "Dunno if you've noticed, but I think we've gotten pretty good at solving problems in the villages."

Penny giggled. "That we have! Thanks to you and your quick thinking."

"Oh stop, you do way more work than me!" Takua laughed. "You and your tallness and your weapons and that…what did Ruby call that power of yours? A…resemblance?"

"Semblance," corrected Penny with a smile.

"Yeah, that. You're the hero here - I'm just your biographer." With a knowing smile, Takua laughed. "How's progress in that, by the way? Learn any new tricks?"

"A few," said the Huntress with a nod. "As you just saw, I am able to understand electronic devices now, simply by connecting with them. Whether it is a Scroll or your Codex, I can interface with them and control them remotely. I have also been working to extend the range at which I can tether myself to mechanical objects, although…"

Takua looked up with a tilt of his head. "Although what?"

"Well, it is…difficult to describe," she said quietly. "But sometimes, when I activate my Semblance, it feels as though it is being drawn to…something down below. Like my Technopathy is attempting to connect with a machine of some kind, a huge mechanism that is far beyond my reach. I do not know what it is or why my power wishes to seek it out. I only know that it calls out to me."

The newly-appointed Chronicler blinked several times as he looked up at his friend. "Huh…that is weird. How long have you felt this 'presence' or whatever it is?"

"Only since this morning." Penny pooled Aura into her palms and stretched her hand out over the sand, watching as teal-green threads waved and danced out of her skin. They split up and splayed out in different directions for a few moments, before gently changing course as their tips converged towards the ground. She felt something tug on the strings at the other end, something that pulled on her power like a magnet, but all the Aura in the world could not have given her enough energy to actually reach the target.

"And you didn't feel anything immediately different when you woke up?"

The freckled girl shook her head as the threads dissipated. "Nothing out of the ordinary, no."

"Hmm…" Takua hummed thoughtfully. "Well, it's a good thing we're heading to Onu-Koro then. If anyone on this island knows anything about giant underground machines, it would have to be the Matoran that spend their entire lives digging out tunnels and riding on -"

WHUMP.

It all happened so fast. Takua's sentence was interrupted by a sudden blur of blur and yellow crashing into him, one that finally came to a halt with the Chronicler pinned underneath. Penny saw what could only be described as a large mechanical crab scramble over the Ta-Matoran, chittering and clicking and waving long black eyestalks back and forth. She recognized it as an Ussal, a (mostly) docile crablike Rahi that existed all over Mata Nui…although she had never seen one quite this large or enthusiastic before.

"Augh! Penny! Penny, help!" Takua cried as the mechanical crab extended a long fibrous tongue and started licking his mask. "It's trying to eat me!"

Penny's hands immediately moved towards Vita and Luce, only to freeze as she heard the sound of someone laughing nearby. She looked up to see another Matoran - this one black as coal from mask to toe - watching them as he sat near the cave entrance, across from a pen of differently-colored Ussal crabs. He had a little bit of straw stuck in the hole of his mask, which the Huntress found quite odd, but he did not seem to have a threatening posture - quite the opposite, actually.

This must be an Onu-Matoran, she thought to herself. She let her stance relax.

"Well, I'll be a Muaka's dinner," said the newcomer with another laugh. "I've never seen ol' Pewku greet anyone like that before. Not even Onepu gets that kinda reaction out of her, and every single Ussal crab practically leaps at the sound of his voice! You two must have a history of some sort."

Takua finally managed to pry himself out from under the crab - Pewku, Penny presumed - and dusted himself off as he stood up. "If we do, I can't seem to remember it," he said with a sigh. "I've forgotten a lot of things these days, unfortunately."

Pewku whined sadly, lowering her claws and sinking lower on her leg joints. Penny smiled softly and went over to the poor dear, scratching her behind the eyestalk and giggling as the Ussal crab perked up almost immediately. With a shrug, Takua moved to do the same, and despite normal crustaceans not being able to do so, Penny could have sworn she heard Pewku purring at the Chronicler's touch.

The Onu-Matoran smiled behind his mask. "That's the thing about Ussal crabs - they remember you, even if you don't remember them. There's a reason we call 'em 'Matoran's best friend' - they help us with everything from racing and heavy labor to defenses and transportation, and all they ask is that we keep 'em safe and well-fed in return. But I doubt you two came all this way just to hear me talk about the best Rahi on the island. Name's Midak, friends - mind telling me who you are?"

She pulled away from Pewku with a grin and a snappy wave. "Salutations, Midak! My name is Penny Polendina, and this is Takua the Chronicler! It is a pleasure to meet you!"

Midak chuckled. "Chronicler, eh? Been a while since we had one of those 'round these parts. And you, Penny…you must be one of them humans what fell from the sky a few days ago. Haven't seen one before, but I pay attention to what the crabs say - apparently the rest of your friends are helping the Toa find their masks?"

Penny giggled. "You would be correct! You must be quite well-informed."

Another laugh. "That's what happens when you make friends with the one Rahi that can survive in just about every part of Mata Nui. But don't let me talk about Ussal crabs - you'd be here all day listening to me ramble, and I doubt you have time for that. I'm guessing that you're heading to Onu-Koro to help with the problems? Or to record them, at least."

Takua tilted his head. "Um. Problems? As in, more than one?"

"Last I heard, yeah," said Midak with a shrug. "Wouldn't know more than that - unlike most of my folk down in the tunnels, I prefer being up here with the surfacers and the crabs. Haven't been back down in…I dunno, a few moons now? Not many Onu-Matoran come this way anymore, and the Ussal crabs don't like talking about things that stress them out. You'd have to go down there yourself to find out more. Take Pewku - she'll get you there faster, and she seems to like you. Reckon she can carry you both, if you like."

Penny hummed, then looked down at the Ussal crab that was currently chittering and clicking her claws and giving the crustacean equivalent of puppy-dog eyes. She grinned, then put one hand on her hip and pointed to the sky with the other.

"Then…Takua, we must ride the crab!"

A brief pause followed her declaration, followed by a cough from Midak.

"…that sounded much cooler in my head."

"Hah…now that's what I call speed-quick! Is all right-well back there, sprout-leaf?"

Lewa looked over his shoulder with a grin, watching the human girl on his back turn just as green as his brand-new mask. They were a long way from the cave where they found the Kakama - the highest trees of Le-Wahi were a far cry from the dank and dark underground pool, and for that he was grateful. Toa of Air, he decided, were much happier as far from the ground and water as possible. Better to let those other Toa play around there, while he gallivanted from the towering treetops.

"Y-yeah, I'm alright," groaned Emerald with another suppressed dry-heave. "Just…promise me you won't do that again."

The Toa of Air barked in laughter. "What, run straight up-tree and fast-leap from one branch to another?"

"Yeah, that." The Huntress sighed. "See, we humans don't like a lot of things, and one of those things is going really really fast, very suddenly and stopping just as quickly. It might not be an issue for guys with robot parts like you, but for people like me with squishy guts and soft fleshy bits? It's not fun."

"Fair enough," conceded Lewa as he switched back to his Miru. "We shall travel by wind-flight for a time. It's not my intention to make you uncomfortable, sprout-leaf."

"Really? Cause it seems like you just love taking me out of my comfort zone." Emerald laughed for a moment, then looked down as a breeze blew through her hair. Lewa took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief alongside her, letting his tense muscles relax and his servos loosen. It had been a deeply unpleasant experience to get his Mask of Speed, but this? This was worth any trials that Makuta or anyone else had in store for him.

"By the way…" said the Huntress after a pensive moment, "I don't think I ever thanked you properly for saving me back there. When that stupid killer seaweed grabbed me and…you know. So…thanks. I appreciate it."

He smiled under his familiar mask. "Ah, think nothing of it, sprout-leaf. Saving people is what I do as a - "

Lewa's posturing was interrupted by a rather strange sound, one that sounded like an organic being struggling to breathe. He looked back over his shoulder to see streaks of water running down Emerald's face, and he realized the noises were coming from her. The human's body jerked and spasmed with each shuddering breath, gripping his armor tighter and tighter with trembling arms.

"Oh…oh dear," he said quietly. "Are you still drown-soaked? Did you absorb so much water-yuck that you sprung a leak?"

"No, you dumbass," choked Emerald. "It's called crying. It's something humans do when we're sad, or scared…or when we realize that the last person we worked with - someone we devoted our life to, someone we hurt so many people just to please - would have let us drown back there without even blinking an eye. Cinder, she…she wouldn't have even looked back as she left me to die. And I would have choked down water proudly - proudly, dammit!- if it meant that she got whatever shiny new prize she wanted that day. How could I have been such an idiot? A stupid, sycophantic idiot…"

The Toa of Air's smile faded. He hadn't heard much about this "Cinder" person, and Emerald wasn't very forthcoming with answers. He knew from talking with Ruby and Gali that she used to oppose the other Huntresses, and that she had a history of villainy, but the former thief never said much about her past.

Now he understood why.

Without a word he gently lifted the Huntress off his back and pulled her into a hug, mirroring the action he'd seen the other girls do at Kini-Nui. Emerald seized up at first, then started crying even harder. At first he was afraid that he'd made things worse, but the way she gripped his neck and armor told him otherwise.

"No use looking backward, sprout-leaf," he said quietly. "You've been down that dark-path before, you know that nothing bright-good lies there. All you can do is move along, keep going ever-forward to become the best you that you can. Cinder has no power-grip over you here - and she never will again. And if I ever cross-paths with that witch-woman…I'll scatter her to the far-winds for ever daring to hurt you, my little sprout-leaf."

Emerald made a noise somewhere between a sob and a laugh. "I don't think killing her would be that easy…but thanks. I…is it wrong that I still catch myself missing her sometimes? Even though I know I shouldn't?"

"People who hurt-harm us are hard to forget," said Lewa. "Harder still, when we think they care about us. But make no mistake in my intentions, sprout-leaf. I do care about you. I wouldn't be half the Toa-hero I am without you by my side, and - "

His heartfelt attempts to comfort his friend were interrupted by the sound of loud pounding throughout the trees, echoing off every trunk and carried through every branch. Lewa recognized them as the drums of his village, which prompted him to set Emerald down and crawl to the edge of his perch to listen intently. Before he left Le-Koro, Matau had told him that different drum beats had different meanings…and after a moment of listening, his eyes widened behind his mask.

"Lewa?" Emerald asked as she wiped her eyes. "W-what's wrong?"

"The drums of Le-Koro tell a sorry-bad tale…" he muttered, "Matoran abducted…and Turaga Matau…captured?! Oh…oh no. The Rama-swarms! They are launching a mass-attack against the village! We must go and help-aid them at once!"

"W-wait!" said Emerald as the Toa of Air swept her off her feet. "Lewa, just wait a sec!"

He looked down at her with a shocked expression. "Wait? Wait?! Every moment I wait is another moment that the Le-Matoran do not have! You would have my tree-people suffer?"

"Of course not!" protested the Huntress. "But you won't save anyone if you just run in without a plan! We need to think about this. We have the Mask of Speed, and we know where the other Toa are. Maybe if we go and find them we can -"

Ugh, again with this talk of the other Toa-heroes! Lewa thought with an annoyed huff. Why must everyone keep pestering me about that like a stubborn Brakas-monkey on my back? I do not need the other Toa to be a great hero for my tree-people! I already am one!

He knew better than to say that out loud, though. Instead he shook his head and put Emerald over his shoulder once again. "There's no time for that, sprout-leaf! Le-Koro needs us quick-now!"

With the debate settled (for now) the Toa of Air triggered his new mask again, taking off in a green blur with the protesting Huntress in tow.

He could only hope he was not too late…and that he was strong enough on his own to stop this attack.

And…there. That should do it.

Ruby stepped back from the unconscious Toa of Water, wiping her brow as she examined her handiwork. She noted with a relieved smile that Gali's body wasn't rejecting the new shoulder from the fallen Nui-Kopen - in fact, given how fibrous muscles were already growing back and reaching through the replacement joint to connect with the forearm, it seemed like the transplanted parts were already being integrated into the rest of the armor. Silver fluid flowed through channels while azure sparks danced across the metallic surface, turning the patch of dull-gray steel as blue as the surrounding plates.

Much to her surprise, the repairs had gone exceedingly smoothly. She'd barely even needed her tools at all; everything seemed to snap together when she wanted parts to join, and the joint she recovered from the fallen Rahi had ended up being a perfect fit. Despite them being biomechanical creatures, there was nothing as complicated and messy as nerves or blood vessels or even bones to try fitting together. All the living tissue seemed to exist in bundles of thick fibrous muscles, which were trimmed easily enough with the blade of Crescent Rose and withered away once disconnected from the rest of the frame.

Guess this confirms my theory about all the parts here being modular, thought the little rose with a smile. I wonder if this has something to do with the way that Mata Nui made them?

That said, Ruby couldn't escape the feeling she had been extraordinarily lucky. Most of the damage had been concentrated in the shoulder, which meant she needed to carefully cut off the section of Gali's arm that wasn't damaged in order to fully replace it. And she thanked the Brother Gods that nothing in the torso had been broken. If she'd needed to repair or replace anything in the gearbox around the Toa's neck - or worse, anything inside the chest - then the operation would have been a lot more risky.

Still, it's almost hard to believe that I actually managed to fix an injured Toa. Ruby grinned. Man, I can't wait to tell Penny and the others about this!

That last thought wiped the smile off her face as she looked down at her Scroll. As badly as she wanted to reach out to her friends, to talk to them while Gali rested, she decided against it. The island of Mata Nui seemed to have a very limited amount of bandwidth - best to save it for emergencies and game-changing news instead of small talk and chats.

So as the Toa of Water slept, Ruby curled up into a ball near the waves and swiped idly through her little transparent device. Her fingers found everything from locally archived chat logs to recorded videos, from captured photos to games that no longer worked since the fall of Vale's CCT tower. She lost herself in the storm of memories, letting each candid picture and text message wash over her like a wave, and she had no problem plunging into its depths if it meant keeping her own mental shadows at bay.

It was during this nostalgic binge that she found something she knew wasn't there before.

She hummed thoughtfully as she swiped down the length of the hard-light screen, revealing a new menu that displayed six shapes all in a circle. Each shape sat in its own section of the radial menu, four of which were dark and colorless while one was light blue and another was pale green. Ruby stared at the shapes for a solid minute, trying to understand what they meant…before her eyes widened in shock.

Wait a minute…these are the masks! The Toa's Great Masks!

Indeed, she recognized Gali's visored Kaukau inside the blue wedge, as well as Lewa's beaked Miru facing opposite in a section of green light. The other four masks - Tahu's helmet-like Hau, Kopaka's scoped Akaku, Onua's diamond-shaped Pakari, and Pohatu's triangular Kakama - filled in the rest of the radial menu, although for now they lacked the colors of their associated Toa. Ruby guessed that as she and Gali found the other Kanohi, they would glow just like the first two - and while she wasn't sure how, when, or why this had suddenly appeared on her Scroll, she certainly wasn't about to complain about suddenly having a way to track the found masks.

She soon discovered that tracking masks was the least it could do.

While idly tapping the icons, her finger pressed against Lewa's mask - and she instantly shot up ten feet in the air. She let out a shriek of surprise, nearly dropping her Scroll in the process, but soon shock gave way to delight as she realized she wasn't coming back down. A cushion of energy enveloped her and her Aura, keeping her suspended off the ground and bobbing gently like she was floating on an invisible wave. Glancing back down at the screen, she saw the Miru's section of the radial menu glowing with a brighter shade of green, as well as two words in Matoran that she consulted Weiss's cipher to translate.

CHANNELING ACTIVE.

Ruby quirked an eyebrow. Channeling? Wait…does this mean that I'm using the power of Gali's mask? That I'm using the Miru right now, without her even being awake?

That certainly seemed to be the case. Ruby had already trained to fight from an aerial advantage whenever possible, so she didn't feel disoriented or nauseous as she levitated in mid-air. In fact…it felt rather nice, actually. Relaxing, almost. Even so, a quick glance at her Aura meter showed that the protective soul energy was slowly draining with the Miru's effect active, and she could already feel herself getting more tired the longer she tapped into this unfamiliar power. She reluctantly turned it off with another press of a button before it could drop too low, gently descending and landing softly on her own two feet before the energy dissipated.

As soon as the little Huntress stood under her own power again, she giggled with glee.

Augh, this is so cool! she thought excitedly. Okay, so the Mask of Levitation makes you levitate. Makes sense to me! So then that means that this other one must be…

She turned back to the sea, watching the water lap at the rocky shore and spill onto their little island. Ruby approached cautiously with her Scroll in hand, her thumb hovering over the Kaukau's wedge as she took a breath and slowly pushed her face below the surface. With her eyes squeezed shut and her cheeks pursed, she pressed down on the mask's icon and gathered enough courage to blow all her air out in a long string of bubbles.

Then when she needed a breath, she ignored every survival instinct and opened her mouth without lifting up her head.

Ruby expected to be punished for her stupidity with a burning throat and choking salt slithering down her gullet. Instead, she was rewarded with a deep calming sensation, as the sea poured into her mouth without suffocating her. She blinked several times to clear her vision, surprised that her eyes weren't stinging as they usually would while underwater. After a few more experimental breaths, she made another startling discovery - not only was she indeed breathing water, she had a perfectly clear view of the world beneath the waves.

And what a beautiful world it was!

Just from her little perch she could see how the sandy shore quickly gave way to a colorful coral reef, with creatures both fleshy and bio-mechanical littering the slopes and swimming through the water. A distant steel-gray shark swam circles around a slow-moving crab, while a cluster of anemone shaped like ribbed tubes swayed in tune with the ocean's silent song. Dozens of schools of silvery fish traveled through the open sea, with one brave little guppy venturing close enough to nibble on the Huntress's nose before suddenly darting away.

"Whoa…" burbled Ruby, her words rising on bubbles that spilled out of her lips. She grinned. "This is the best thing ever wooooooooooo!"

After watching the oceanic display of beauty for what felt like hours, she eventually - and reluctantly - pulled her head back out of the water. Turning off the mask icon on her Scroll she flopped down on the sand and started typing excitedly. Her earlier hesitation at reaching out was gone now - this needed to be shared.

Guys guys guys guys guys! Her fingers and thumbs were practically a blur as they flew across the keyboard, her grin spreading in anticipation. I found something really really cool! Pull down from the top of the screen - there should be icons of the masks the Toa use! Tap one of them and see what happens! After a pause, she hastily added. Err, but don't tap Gali's unless you're near water. I don't know how literal water-breathing is…

There was a long pause from the other girls, and for a moment Ruby was wondering if the signal had dropped. But before she could worry again, her team reported their findings.

Well, I just punched a rock in half with my bare hands, said Blake. So the Pakari definitely works.

I ran through a wall! Yang declared. Didn't even have to build up speed or use my explosives, just zoom and crash! Mask of Speed does exactly what it says! Unrelated: ow.

And I was able to see miles and miles of rock under my feet, so Kopaka's mask power also functions as intended, finished Weiss. This is…unexpected.

Hey, I'm not gonna complain! Ruby could practically hear Yang's excitement over text. I was already sold on helping Big Red find all his masks, but if I can use them too then I guess that just makes it even better! Wonder how hard I can punch stuff now using that Mask of Strength we found?

It'll definitely come in handy, especially as the Toa find more of their Kanohi, said Blake. Onua has almost a full set already - we just need to find his Miru and Kaukau now.

…I still have no idea how you memorized all the names and what their powers are already. I can barely even keep the shapes straight in my mind…

What can I say? I like learning about new cultures, firestar. Blake was the one sending kissing face emojis now. The infection was spreading.

Weiss cut off the upcoming flirting with another question. Okay, seriously, is no one else worried about how this island can just…mess with our Scrolls like this? What's going to happen next? What if our data starts getting deleted? What if our locations are being tracked? What if -

Hey, hey. Ice queen. BREATHE. Yang cut off the former heiress's spiral of messages with one of her own, which seemed to calm her down.

Sorry… messaged Weiss a moment later. I'm just…I don't know why this is happening. For all we know, this could be another trick of Makuta's.

Maybe, admitted Blake. Or maybe it's a gift from the other guy.

Ruby could have sworn she heard Weiss's scoff of disbelief from across the island. You don't seriously think that Mata Nui's the one who's been modifying our Scrolls this whole time, do you?

Why not? According to legend he created the Matoran and everything on the island, countered the feline Faunus. Who's to say he can't set up a few programs on some strange little devices from another world?

I dunno, kitty, said Yang. I'm kinda with Weiss on this one, at least when it comes to the big guy's involvement with this. Seems a little convenient for him to suddenly be pulling a little divine intervention out of nowhere. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's still in that coma that Makuta put him in. How's he supposed to add stuff to our Scrolls while he's sleeping?

You could ask the same thing for how we got here despite him being in his deep slumber, retorted Blake. I've read books about how ancient cultures believed that even dead gods still dream, and how their power can extend and warp the world around them just by existing. Maybe Mata Nui's the same way. Maybe he doesn't need to be awake to help us in small ways.

…wasn't the dude who wrote most of those books, like, SUPER racist?

I always just sort of skimmed past the anti-Faunus stuff in those stories.

Ruby could sense that this conversation wasn't going anywhere, so she typed up a long message as quickly as she could. The others saw their leader composing her words, and patiently let her have the floor.

It could be Mata Nui helping us, yeah, or it might be something else. Either way, this is a huge gift for us! We might have Aura and stuff, but we're still just flesh and blood. Our Dust is going to run out eventually - no matter how much the island boosts it, and no matter how carefully we ration it - and our Semblances can't always get us out of a tight spot. So this should help even the odds against some of the tougher opponents - and give us a way to grow alongside the Toa.

Agreed. Blake capped her message with a smiling face.

Well said, little sis. Yang ended hers with a winking face, though somehow it didn't annoy her as much as she thought.

Even Weiss relented once Ruby weighed in. I still don't like that this kind of stuff is just happening without our knowledge or consent. But if you all think we should use this, then I'll follow your lead. Just…be careful, alright everyone? I don't want to lose you again…

Aw. Ruby could feel her cheeks heat up, and she almost sent a heart with her message. Almost.

Awwwww.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Still not a competition, Yang.

The sound of whirring servos snapped the Huntress out of her longing gaze, and she looked up to see Gali groaning and pushing herself off the sand. Typing a quick message about how she had to go, Ruby stowed her Scroll and rushed to her friend's side. The Toa of Water coughed up clumps of sand and flecks of seawater, then eventually switched from the Miru to her usual mask in a flash of blue and a droning hum.

"Hey, easy there Gali," said Ruby as she laid her hands on the Toa's shoulders. "You took a nasty fall and were knocked out. Take it slow, don't try to move so fast."

Gali groaned and clutched her head, letting the smaller human help her sit up. "…how…how long was I…?"

She shrugged. "A few hours, maybe? I found you washed up on the island. Those Nui-Kopen must have done a real number on you…nasty stuff in their venom, huh?"

Yellow eyes suddenly snapped open. "The Rahi! The mountain! Ruby! Are you -"

"Gali, I'm fine," said Ruby gently yet sternly. "The only bug I saw was the dead one I found next to you. You got the mask off the mountain. You saved my life. Now shut up and let me make sure you healed right."

The Toa of Water opened her mouth to protest, then sighed as she nodded reluctantly. Ruby quickly inspected the cracked and damaged sections of armor, relieved to find many of them fused back together as though they'd never been broken. If she didn't know any better, she never would have guessed that Gali had taken a nasty fall in the first place - the sapphire-blue plating looked that pristine.

"Looks like the self-repair system did its job," noted the silver-eyed Huntress as she backed off and knelt in the sand. "Pretty much all the fractures from the landing have been patched up, and everything else is still running smoothly." She let out a short laugh. "Good thing, too - I thought you were dead when I found you, at least at first."

"The damage was that extensive?" Gali asked with a tilt of her head.

Ruby nodded grimly. "You looked like you were gonna fall to pieces if I so much as sneezed on you. Most of the cracks were in your torso, but your shoulder was practically hanging by a thread and sucking up all the attention of the self-repair systems. I had to cut it off and put in a new joint entirely; I figured once your body didn't have to worry about a mangled socket, it could get to work on fixing the rest of you. Glad I was right about that."

She stared down at the replaced shoulder joint. "You…fixed me in my sleep?"

Another nod, this one joined by a gesture to the half-disassembled Rahi nearby. "Had to grab some parts from our 'friend' over there to replace your broken shoulder. Not sure if that's taboo or something…or how well it worked. Wanna give it a try?"

Gali hummed and swiveled her arm in its socket, testing the range of motion and the responsiveness of the new servo. To Ruby's surprise (and delight) the results spoke for themselves, as the limbs snapped into several positions and poses with no resistance or delay. Once she had finished putting the shoulder through its paces, the Toa of Water looked back at her friend with a nod of approval.

"A seamless repair," she noted, praise and awe in her voice. "Thank you, Ruby. I am continually impressed by your cleverness and mechanical intuition."

The little rose went as red as her namesake, blushing and fidgeting with her cloak. "Aw, shucks, it's nothing. I've always been kind of a dork when it comes to gears and mechanisms and stuff like that…"

"A skill like that can only serve you well here on Mata Nui," said Gali with a small laugh. Then her face darkened behind her mask. "Unlike my sense of compassion and mercy towards living things, it would seem…"

Ruby knew that look all too well. "What happened up there, if you don't mind me asking? I didn't get a good look at you during the fight."

"It was a foolish mistake on my part," groaned the Toa of Water. "In the heat of battle, I went to remove the infected mask from a Nui-Kopen. I wanted to be merciful, I wanted to free the poor creature from its own enslavement…yet even after removing its Kanohi, it remained under Makuta's control. Then he…appeared to me, and taunted me. Distracted me. I was so busy trying to argue with the Master of Shadows, that I lost track of you. That is when the Rahi paralyzed you - and in the process of saving you, I fell prey to the same ailment. I am sorry, Ruby…I endangered you - endangered us both - in my own foolish attempts to retain my morality."

The words washed over Ruby like a shadowy rain. There were so many things in that one retelling that worried her, and for a moment she just sat quietly and tried to process all of them. Rahi that stayed under Makuta's control even without their infected masks? The master of shadows appearing anywhere and everywhere? Neither of those filled the little Huntress with confidence for the battles ahead, and she made a note to share the experience with the other girls later. If removing the masks wasn't working anymore…well, there went everyone's ace in the hole.

But right now, Ruby was far more concerned with the war that waged in Gali's mind.

A war she was very familiar with.

"Gali…listen to me," she said softly, reaching forward to take mechanical hands in both of hers. "You've got nothing to be sorry about, okay? Don't blame yourself for what happened, or for the mistakes you made - you tried to do the right thing, and no one could ever fault you for that. Trust me, people like Makuta? They're very good at getting in your head and messing with your mind. Making you think the right thing is wrong, telling you that you're a failure, preying on your fears and insecurities…that's how they get stronger. That's how they win."

Her lip trembled softly, and she squeezed the metal palms.

"Do not let them win."

The Toa of Water nodded slowly, then gazed at her friend. "Are these words solely for me? Or are they for yourself as well?"

Ruby shrugged, tears in her eyes. "No idea. But I'm pretty sure it's something we both need to hear right now."

"A fair assessment," noted Gali. Then she smiled with her eyes. "Thank you, Ruby. I shall take your words to heart. The next time Makuta tries to intrude my thoughts…I shall drown him out with the full fury of the ocean."

"Atta girl," said the Huntress with a soft laugh. Then she stood up. "Speaking of which, are you up for a swim? I'm thinking a nice casual little dive down to the seabed is exactly what you need to feel better."

The Toa of Water blinked in surprise. "You are certain? I am not opposed, but…will you be able to hold your breath that long?"

"Oh there's no way I could." She grinned as she kicked off her boots and pulled out her Scroll. "But I don't have to anymore."

Before Gali could ask what that meant, Ruby took off in a burst of rose petals and plunged into the sea, grinning and giggling with bubbly delight as she channeled the Mask of Water-Breathing.

Everything felt right, for the moment.

Turaga Whenua rubbed his eyes, pinching the edges of his mask as he applied pressure to glowing green optics. Normally his hut wouldn't have been this dark, but he had given his lightstones to the Mining Guild a few days ago, and had been forced to use torches to light up his dwellings. He had reasoned that if Onu-Koro suffers, then he also must suffer with his people…although at the moment he was beginning to regret his own insistence on sticking with his principles.

Standing in his hut were three very important Onu-Matoran, each waiting for a chance to speak. They were the Guildmasters for the Mining, Excavation, and Trading Guilds, respectively, and the different castes of Onu-Matoran reported to them for work and needs. All three of them had issues that burned in their eyes like the flames of the disposable torches around them, though unlike the wax lights from Ta-Koro there seemed to be no exhaustive end to their fuses.

"Apologies once again for having to split this meeting with all three of you," he intoned with fatigue in his gravelly voice. "As you no doubt have noticed, Onu-Koro has been under a landslide of new issues lately, so my time is limited."

The Guildmasters nodded, though some looked more annoyed than others. Whenua took it in stride as he turned to face the first of the trio, staring at the purple copy of his own mask.

"Let us begin with a report from the Mining Guild. Captain Aiyetoro, what news do you bring from your workers down in the Great Mine?"

Aiyetoro shook his head. "A great deal, and none of it good. While deepening the area of operations, the miners have hit an underground rock layer that they cannot break through. We fear the protodermis will run out at this rate, if we cannot continue our digging."

Whenua grimaced. It seemed this meeting would begin on a bleak note, and only go downhill from there. "If you have found stone you cannot breach, then that bodes ill for all of us. How far does it run?"

"Shafts 3 through 8 have ceased protodermis mining because they cannot break through this new layer," reported the Captain, "and Shaft B has ceased production altogether."

The elder's eyes widened. "That is…the entire active mining area."

"Yes, Turaga," said Aiyetoro gravely. "Even branching out from the initial contact point has revealed nothing but more of that new impenetrable layer. For all we know, this strata extends beneath all of Mata Nui…except, perhaps, the Mangai volcano."

"And you are certain there is no soft spot to dig through, Captain?"

"We've been over every bio of that surface," replied Aiyetoro. "There are no fractures, no fault lines, no unstable areas we can exploit. At this rate, any and all mine shafts we dig will eventually reach this strata."

The Turaga's heartstone sank at the implications of this news. His people had always found solace, safety, and prosperity in the depths of Mata Nui, and had been digging beneath the island for well over a thousand years. If this new layer was impenetrable, even to them…he shuddered to think about what this might mean.

"This does indeed bear investigating," he intoned. "How much remains of the surface deposits, in the meantime?"

The Captain looked down at his feet, and the Turaga knew the answer before he even spoke. "They are running out. If this continues, then we may have to look elsewhere for more protodermis. Like Ta-Wahi, or Po-Wahi."

A temporary solution at best, and a death sentence at worst. Onu-Matoran belonged in the safety and security of underground tunnels. The harsh unforgiving desert and the fiery volcanoes were the last places Whenua ever wanted to send his people. Still, if they could no longer excavate the treasures of the terrain in the comfort of their own dominion…what other choice did they have?

"What exactly is this layer made out of?" asked Whenua.

Aiyetoro hesitated. "We're not sure…this is like nothing we've ever seen before. Our prospectors believed it to be rock at first, but then Nuparu made a rather…startling discovery. He says that it has higher levels of organic material than any mineral composite he's ever seen."

"Organic?" Whenua raised an eyebrow behind his mask.

"Yes," the Captain affirmed with a nod. "According to his findings, it seems to have more in common with an Ussal's shell than any normal stone strata."

The village elder hummed thoughtfully and stroked his chin, pondering the implications. "Strange…I wonder what we will find if we break through?"

Aiyetoro seemed like he was waiting for that curiosity to be piqued, because he made his demand almost immediately. "Turaga, I must have more men and more machines if we are to find out. We ask that you allocate more resources to the mining guilds."

"Captain, I am doing everything I can," replied Whenua with a long sigh. "No one wants to see the protodermis run out. But Onu-Koro has many problems right now, and they all demand my attention. Speaking of which, if there is nothing else…Foreman Kevla, your report? How fares the Le-Koro Highway project?"

The second coal-black Matoran let out a long sigh, showing her emotions even through the Komau she wore. "The same as always, Turaga. Which is to say, it does not fare well at all. And there has been a new development, one that has slowed progress even further."

Well that did not sound good. "Another Rahi attack?"

"Thankfully no," said Kevla. "This problem is less severe, but impedes us all the same. Most of the workers have gone on strike in protest of the lighting conditions."

…ah.

Whenua sighed. He'd expected that something like this would happen for a while, and the only thing that surprised him about the strike was that it had not happened sooner. Refusing to work was well within the rights of any and all Onu-Matoran, especially when they felt their own safety was in jeopardy. But to do so now, when things were already difficult…it was a delicate situation.

"What are their demands?" he finally asked.

"They are requesting that the damage from the lava flood in Tunnel 12 be fixed, to restore access to the Cavern of Light and its lightstone veins. If that is not feasible, they suggest we find ways to tunnel around or they ask that auxiliary passages be made to reach it, though that would obviously take longer and further reduce the rate of progress on the highway."

The Turaga let out another pensive hum. The Cavern of Light was an underground cave that held dazzling deposits of lightstones, more than enough to illuminate the entire island twice over. In more prosperous times, it had been the source of the shining crystals for all of Onu-Koro, as shipments were made and mining operations were run like a well-oiled machine. Unfortunately, a rogue lava flow had flooded more than half of the tunnel leading to that treasure trove, cutting it off from the rest of the village and darkening the mines of Onu-Koro significantly.

A common misconception about Onu-Matoran was that they had perfect vision in all levels of light. While they did have eyes that could more easily see in darker areas, pitch black tunnels still left them as blind as anyone else. Some source of light was still necessary for them to work effectively, be it a lightstone or a simple torch - and the latter still caused great strain to anyone who tried to work in its light, to say nothing of the smoke and vapors emitted as the wax and its wick burned down.

But right now, the uncomfortable and unsafe option was all they had.

"Who all has gone on strike?" Whenua asked.

"Tehutti and Gahina are the main ones organizing the protest," reported Kevla, "and they're striking alongside Dupka, Setchi, and Nobua. Dosne tried to keep them in line at first, but now he's joined their cause and refuses to work. Just about the only one who hasn't laid down his pick yet is Taipu, who…well, you know how he is, Turaga."

Ah Taipu…loyal, stubborn, simple-minded yet hard-working Taipu. One of Onu-Koro's strongest diggers, a Matoran who was unafraid of anything and curious about everything. He was one of Whenua's youngest charges - only a few millennia old or so - and it certainly showed in his demeanor, his determination, and his cheery enthusiasm for the world around him.

He was a bright beacon in even the darkest tunnels.

He was also the most likely to get in trouble.

"I sympathize with their plight, I truly do," said Whenua with a heavy heart. "But the Le-Koro Highway must be completed soon. We need safe passage between the villages, now more than ever. We must ask them to continue working in spite of their protest."

Kevla balked. "But - that - Turaga, we cannot ask our workers to continue under these conditions!" she protested. "I understand that this is important, but surely the lives of Onu-Matoran are equally important!"

"We have done greater things under harsher circumstances, and in the face of far worse dangers," countered Whenua. "The Cavern of Light is lost to us, and until we can repair the flood damage there is little I or anyone can do."

"You can give us more Matoran, and more equipment!" pleaded the Foreman. "The other Guilds and the Traders have extra. We can use those!"

"What?!" The third Guildmaster suddenly snapped a glare towards her. "We do not have extra! We are barely even - "

"It is not your turn yet," Whenua said sternly to the merchant. His face softened as he turned back to Kevla. "As you heard, they are already strained for able-bodied Matoran. How would it help if they did?"

"The air is bad because of the torches, and the Rahi attack frequently because of the darkness," stated Kevla. "If we had more workers, we could alternate teams before they get ill. We could put more guards on duty. I do not know if it would satisfy the Matoran currently on strike, but it would ensure some level of safety…at least until access to the Cavern of Light is restored."

A stopgap measure, at best, and a logistical nightmare at worst. It was a sound plan on the surface, but unfeasible under the current circumstances. The Turaga of Earth shook his head slowly, a little bit of his heartstone breaking at the sight of Kevla dejectedly staring at the floor.

"Foreman, I understand the problems you are facing," Whenua commiserated. "I am doing everything in my power to get you the help you need. But you must be patient. Tell your workers what I told you, and give them my word that I have them in my heartstone. As soon as access to the Cavern of Light is restored, they will be the first to receive fresh lightstones."

Kevla nodded slowly. "I…I understand, Turaga. I will try."

But patience, like so many other resources at the moment, was limited.

The third Guildmaster, an ebon-black Matoran with a matching Hau, got sick of waiting. "Turaga Whenua, I will not tolerate this kind of delay! The Trade Guilds have contracts with four of Po-Koro's most influential artists, and they require raw materials for their projects!"

The Turaga's eyes narrowed. To think that you are concerned with profits in times such as these…

"I understand that, Zemya," said Whenua, carefully containing his growing annoyance, "and I am doing everything I can."

"Protodermis production has stopped," complained the tradesman, seemingly immune to the glares his other two Guildmasters were shooting at him. "Stonemasons are slowed by the darkness. And half the shipments were lost to Rahi attacks!"

"Ta-Koronan torches are being used to light the stone quarries now," he said pointedly. "Those deliveries will be made."

Zemya scoffed. "The Kofo-Jaga are not afraid of torchlight. And what of the protodermis? The Po-Matoran cannot trade stone for nothing!"

Aiyetoro was about to speak up, either with his words or his fists, but Whenua raised his hand to stay his rage. "As you have heard, the Mine Captains are working to break through this rock layer. Until then there is little we can do."

"They make goods from the protodermis. Without it they cannot trade for stone! We will lose that market." The tradesman was clearly concerned.

Whenua was less so. "There are other markets," he said matter-of-factly. Compared to the other problems being brought before him, this one almost seemed…petty. He understood that the Onu-Koro Market was important, and that it allowed them goods that they could not make themselves. But were such issues truly on the same scale as an impenetrable rock layer, or an incomplete highway across the island?

The tradesman certainly seemed to think so. "And what of the Le-Koro highway? It was to be finished months ago. My caravans refuse to travel to the south until it is complete!"

"And my workers refuse to dig until they can see!" shot back Kevla.

Whenua raised his hand to head off the argument before it began. "Kevla, your point has been well made. Zemya, if your caravans cannot be persuaded to make their journeys, then the Le-Matoran will have to come and trade at our market until the highway is finished."

"They try, Turaga!" exclaimed the tradesman, agitation building in his voice. "But they can no more come north than we can go south! And we cannot trade across the seas because there are even more dangerous Rahi in the waters than on land!" Zemya scoffed. "What of Onua? Is he doing nothing to help Onu-Koro? How can we know for certain that he is -"

That was the last straw.

"Enough!" Whenua cut off the trader's tirade with a harsh glare and a slam of his drillstaff. "Onua did not descend from the heavens to help you and your profits alone, Zemya! He is pursuing a great quest that may yet save us all, and it would serve you well to be grateful that he is here at all. I understand that the market suffers, but right now all of Onu-Koro suffers. You can either sit there and grouse and complain…or do something to help your people. Without the promise of filling your coffers for once."

After a silent, tense pause - the Turaga of Earth almost never raised his voice - the merchant hung his head in shame.

"I-I am sorry, Turaga. I didn't mean to imply…I understand." Zemya looked up at his fellow Guildmasters. "Is there anything I can do to aid you, friends? My caravan workers are traders, not tunnelers…but perhaps I can assign a few idle merchants to the highway as sentries."

Kevla's eyes lit up. "We would be most grateful, Zemya. Thank you."

"Perhaps some of my prospectors could accompany your caravans to the other villages?" offered Aiyetoro. "They could scout out surface Protodermis deposits for us to mine, at least until we find a way to dig deeper."

"Also a plan," said Zemya with a nod. "But these are both short-term solutions to long-term problems. What more can we do?"

"Endure, and have faith," said Whenua, tired yet triumphant and glad to finally see progress. "The earth has always given us what we needed to thrive below the surface. I see no reason why that should change today. Now, perhaps we could also…"

And so the Turaga of Earth and his Guildmasters talked long into the following hours, seeking solutions to the impenetrable rock layer, the lost lightstone mine, and the unfinished highway.

Completely unaware that the key to all three issues was standing just outside his hut, listening with attentive organic ears and watching with hopeful emerald eyes.

When Lewa and Emerald finally arrived at Le-Koro in a pair of green blurs, chaos was all that greeted them.

The once-peaceful village in the trees was practically swarming with savage Nui-Rama, enormous insects that terrorized the villagers with buzzing wings, razor-sharp claws, and venomous stingers. Some of the airborne menaces were covered in lightweight orange metal and had hook-like proboscises between their clustered eyes, while others had three-pronged mandibles and armor that was the same washed-out green of a diseased leaf. Both varieties of flying Rahi had what appeared to be transparent blue Kanohi Ruru that served as eye shields - perhaps those were their infected masks? Regardless, there were so many of the bugs that the sky seemed to disappear, leaving only darkness on an otherwise-sunny day.

Everywhere Lewa looked he only saw more carnage. Huge metal-feathered Gukko birds shrieked and cawed as they were knocked out of the sky, careening into the trees with their riders in tow. Le-Matoran scrambled in every direction, the lucky ones managing to leap off the platforms and into the jungle while the rest got grabbed and stung by the flying menaces. And for every Nui-Rama that got knocked out of the sky by a flying disk, three more seemed to take its place - if there was an end to the swarm, it was nowhere in sight.

An especially large bird - a Kahu, by the looks of it - crashed into the platform near where they stood, launching one of the Le-Matoran in its saddle and sending him flying into the waiting grasp of a Nui-Rama. The other rider groaned and prepared a disc to save his copilot, but a group of the insectoid Rahi swarmed his position and forced him to shift focus with narrowed eyes behind his own Miru. One, two, three bugs were taken down by well-placed throws, but six more descended with outstretched claws - only for half of them to be blasted apart by gunfire and the rest blown away in a great wind.

"Sorry we're late," said Emerald as she snapped new rounds into the chambers of her weapons. "It's Kongu, right? You okay?"

"Captain of the Gukko Force, yes," affirmed the teal-masked Matoran with a nod, "…or what's left of it. And I'm right-well, though I can't say the same for my Kahu-bird or her second. Where are the other Toa-heroes?"

Lewa tilted his head. "Others…?"

Kongu groaned. "Did you not hear the drum-song? We ask-yelled for all the Toa! Nothing less will save Le-Koro from a Rama-swarm of this size!"

Anger boiled within the Toa of Air. He didn't need to look down at Emerald to know that she was glaring up at him with an expression that screamed "I told you so," and right now he wasn't in the mood to listen.

"Why ask for six Toa-heroes…when one is enough?!"

Fueled by spite and annoyance Lewa threw his axe with all his might, whipping the winds around it to make it soar and spin end-over-end. He guided the flying weapon through at least a dozen airborne Nui-Rama, making them explode into showers of chitin and protodermis parts. The axe flew back into his hand a moment later, and he used the broad head of it to generate a blast of air that exploded out like a shockwave, blasting another dozen Rahi out of the sky.

Kongu did his best to not be impressed. "Hm. Very well then! You and your human-friend draw the Rama-swarm's attention! Give the other Le-Matoran a chance to leaf-run and escape - Rama-swarms do not dare fly-chase us into the thick deep-woods! Focus on fighting as many of the Rahi-beasts as possible - but if you see a chance to rescue-help, do not hesitate to take that chance-risk!"

"I think we can do that," said Lewa with a nod. "Sprout-leaf?"

"Got your back," said Emerald with a determined expression.

"Then let us fight-battle! For Le-Koro!"

With that, the pair leapt into the center of the crumbling village, letting loose hails of gunfire and blasts of winds in every direction. Thankfully, the individual Nui-Rama were not very strong or durable - it only took a few shots or a well-placed wind current to break them apart, and when they swooped into melee, the Toa and the Huntress were able to slash and hack them apart with little effort. But it didn't matter how strong each individual Rahi was. When they attacked in huge swarms, they still threatened to overwhelm them.

It would seem that the universe is taunting me with this "lesson," thought Lewa in annoyance as he dispatched another dozen bugs with an axe throw. He looked over at Emerald. "Do you have any Dust-tricks we can use, sprout-leaf?"

"Not without wiping the village out completely!" yelled the Huntress as she swung with her chained hooks, releasing the grabbed Nui-Rama and sending it crashing into five more. "Everything else I have is too volatile and dangerous - for Le-Koro, the Matoran, and us!"

"Well, we must do something!" countered the Toa of Air as he blasted more bugs away with a funnel. "There are too many of them for us alone to fight-battle!"

Emerald scoffed, slicing through the wings of a low-flying insect. "Gee, maybe we wouldn't be having this problem if someone had listened to me!"

"Do not lecture me on this, sprout-leaf!" Lewa growled as he bisected another Nui-Rama.

"Why shouldn't I?" The former thief laid down some suppressive fire. "You know I'm right! I know it, Matau knows it, hell even the other Le-Matoran know it! So why won't you just admit that you need the other Toa?"

"Because I do not need them!" Another bug fell to his axe. "I do not want them! They will only slow me down and get in the way!"

Two more Rahi exploded in gunfire. "You know what's funny? Cinder used to say that exact same thing. Maybe you are more like her than you realize."

Lewa's eyes narrowed. "You dare to -?"

"Help! Someone! Anyone! Help me! Do not let them take me into the dark-hive!"

Emerald looked up at the sound of the shrill female voice calling out high above them, eyes widening as she saw four Nui-Rama carrying a Kaukau-clad Le-Matoran away. "Radka's in trouble! Lewa, give me a boost!"

Despite his annoyance the Toa of Air complied, letting the girl stand on the head of his axe and swinging it skyward while summoning a gust of wind. The Huntress flew five bios into the air, extending her chains and hooking one of her blades into a flying Rahi. With a tug on her weapon she both pulled herself closer and dragged the offending insect away, using it as a stepping stone to leap higher and dig the sickles into another bug. She repeated this method of grappling and rising until all four Nui-Rama were falling below her with puncture wounds, at which point she crashed into Radka and kicked her into the jungle.

"Thank you!" called the Le-Matoran as she flipped mask-over-heel in mid-air, before finally disappearing among the trees.

Lewa didn't catch Emerald's response - he was too busy hacking away at the insects that swarmed him - but he was certain she could handle herself. After all, she was strong like him. She did not need help, no more than he needed the other -

A loud piercing scream proved him wrong.

He snapped his gaze up to see a wasp-like Nui-Kopen move in and begin slashing at Emerald with four clawed arms, striking from her blind side so quickly its limbs seemed to be nothing but green and orange blurs. The Huntress's Aura flared weakly with each successive attack, trying to keep the Rahi from drawing blood and failing. Lewa fired a blast of wind to blow it away, but the new arrival was heavier than the Nui-Rama, and its thicker armor prevented him from dispatching it as easily as the others. When it had finished overwhelming Emerald with a flurry of slashes, it grabbed her with all four arms and slammed its abdomen into her gut, delivering a powerful downward strike that sent her careening back towards the platform in an uncontrolled freefall.

"Sprout-leaf, hold on!" called Lewa. He prepared to channel the power of his Mask of Levitation to catch her -

But a split-second's lapse in concentration was all that the Nui-Rama needed.

At least a dozen of those insects swarmed over him like flies on a fresh Bula fruit, digging their claws and stingers into him and punching through his armor. He groaned and cried out as burning venom flooded into his system, fighting it and the bugs as best he could but struggling against both. And to add insult to injury, one Nui-Rama got extremely lucky in their swipe at his face - the blow knocked his mask clean off, and sent it flying into the waiting grasp of another Nui-Kopen.

No! My mask!

Fatigue filled his limbs as soon as the Kanohi vanished out of sight, carried off like a trophy by one of the four-armed wasps. He tried to mentally trigger the power of the Mask of Speed, only to feel nothing but emptiness. Was the power of any new masks he picked up tied to his original Miru? By losing that…had he lost both his abilities? That was upsetting, but far more distressing was just how lethargic he felt with a bare face. How…sluggish, how slow, how unlike himself he felt.

How useless.

Emerald landed painfully in front of him seconds later, her green Aura flickering for a moment before fizzling out altogether. She winced and clutched her side in pain, using her other arm to try (and fail) to push herself up.

No…I can't…I have to…

Lewa sank to his knees despite his best efforts to remain standing, leaning against his axe at first before eventually pushing against the floor. He fought against the darkness that grew in the corner of his vision, pushed against the inevitable that drew ever closer. The Toa of Air knew what was happening - much like how Matoran went into their own form of stasis with their masks removed, the Toa were severely weakened without their own Great Kanohi masks. So now he was nearly powerless to stop the Nui-Rama from scooping up the last of his people and flying away…and judging by how one of the Nui-Kopen was pulling off its own infected mask, he could only guess what awaited him.

After all, Makuta would never pass up a chance to have a Toa as his thrall.

Especially a very foolish, very vulnerable Toa like himself.

The Toa of Air's arms trembled as he hung his head in shame. What…have I done? Even thinking and trying to keep himself upright was a challenge. My people…my tree-folk…all lost-gone, because of me. Because of my fool-pride. I should have listened…should have heeded the word-tips of my sprout-leaf, should have stayed with my Toa-brothers…but I didn't, and now all will suffer for my dark-sins.

Lewa's bare green eyes turned to stare at Emerald, who was still struggling to stand up and fight despite her wounds and missing Aura. Red fluid leaked from torn patches of her skin, dripping down her arms and seeping through her clothes. Her face was contorted in pain and rage, but she was fumbling to turn her weapons back into hand cannons all the same.

But that doesn't mean she must suffer as well.

"Sprout-leaf…" he rasped, gathering his energy like fistfuls of sand. "…Emerald…go. Leave me. It's come-time for you to wind-fly on your own…and to return with aid-help. Can you do that?"

The girl looked over with widened crimson eyes. "Lewa…no. No, you didn't abandon me when I needed help. You can't ask me to do the same!"

"You must…you must go…"

"No! I'm not going anywhere!" More water dripped down her face as she fervently shook her head. "I-I'm sorry for what I said! I didn't mean it! Please, just let me stay!"

Her loyalty was admirable, but right now it was the last thing he wanted. "It's not that…no, nothing to do with that. You must know that nothing waits for you but dark-pain if you stay…if Makuta gets his way-will, I will not be able to protect you. But if you leaf-run and hide now, and return-strike later with your friends…perhaps that will be enough."

He hung his head in shame. "You…you were right, Emerald. I cannot do this alone. We cannot do this alone."

She turned back to face him with a sob. "I don't care about being right, Lewa! I care about you! I'm not leaving you, I can't just - !"

"I SAID GO!"

Using the last of his strength Lewa made one more wild sweep with his axe, conjuring a mighty wind that knocked the Huntress off the platform and into the trees. The Nui-Rama swarm spotted his act of defiance almost immediately, bearing down on him with paralyzing stingers that found every chink in his armor and every vulnerable tendon underneath. If his head wasn't swimming in toxins, he would have seen his little friend tumble through the branches clumsily, before finally landing on a fallen log in a broken, sobbing heap. As the bug-like creatures dug their claws into his arms to hold him upright, he caught a glimpse of Emerald staring back up at him in the distance with shimmering eyes, before squeezing them shut and vanishing into the undergrowth.

Good, little sprout-leaf, he thought as he watched a Nui-Kopen bring a dark, twisted copy of his own Miru into view. Find your friends. Find aid-help. Don't make the same mistake I did.

He managed to think one more thought for himself before his mind was consumed by darkness.

Please. Protect my people…from me.

Chapter Text

"Toa Onua, Huntress Blake…it's an honor to welcome you to the Great Mine."

Blake couldn't conceal her gasp as Onepu once more led them into a massive structure, though this one absolutely dwarfed Onu-Koro in terms of size and scale. A far cry from the fifteen-foot-wide circular tunnels that crisscrossed under the island in mazelike pathways, the Great Mine was an enormous spherical chasm that stretched so far she couldn't even see the distant edges. Hundreds of lightstones and other light sources twinkled in the distance like stars in the night sky, and the air was abuzz with the sound of far-off machinery drilling through rock and stone for the treasures within. If Blake didn't know any better, she could have almost forgotten they were still underground.

Beside her, the Toa of Earth stood speechless, in absolute awe of what his people had created. Onepu sat on a purple Ussal crab in front of them both, looking back at their reactions with a satisfied smile. He was clearly proud of the works of the Onu-Matoran - and why wouldn't he be? The Great Mine outclassed just about every structure Blake had seen on Remnant.

Still, Penny didn't message me asking Onua and I to come here just for sightseeing, she thought after staring for another moment. Something's stopping them from digging down at the bottom - and she wants us to find a way past it.

She shifted her focus to the Ussalry Captain. "It's certainly amazing, but our friend told us that there's a problem here. Something big enough that it's worth putting the quest for the masks on hold. What's the situation?"

Onepu sighed. "Ah…yes, the situation. One of many that plagues us, I fear. The prospectors have come upon a layer of odd stone that they can't penetrate, and that obstacle is keeping us from finding more underground protodermis deposits. You're familiar with what protodermis is, yes?"

"The fundamental building block of life on Mata Nui," intoned Onua with a nod. "It can take on many different forms, from solid stone and metal to liquid and gaseous states of matter. Our bodies, everything from our mechanical servos to our organic muscles, from our heartstones to our Kanohi…they are all made from protodermis."

Blake listened carefully and nodded. "Sounds a bit like our Dust back home. It has a lot of different forms, too, mostly in regards to what element it holds and whether it's a powder or a crystal. The main difference is that we only use it as an energy propellant, or as weapons to fight the Grimm. We don't really build things out of Dust - it's hard to use it for construction when it can explode into fireballs or thunderstorms if you hit it wrong."

Onua chuckled. "Yes, I imagine that would be quite anxiety-inducing. Fortunately, protodermis does not have that issue."

"Then I'm sure you don't need me to tell you why not being able to mine for protodermis is a problem," said Onepu. "Nuparu's the one trying to figure out a way through the strata; take the elevator to the bottom or Shaft B, it's the second car on your right. It'll take you right down to where he's set up shop…I'd wager his curiosity would keep him down there for at least a few moons without rest."

The pair of tall heroes nodded and went to the specified vehicle, which seemed to resemble a collection of coal-black girders and steel beams suspended on a network of cables. Despite being sized for regular Matoran use, Blake was relieved to find that both she and Onua fit, and though the car lurched under their weight it seemed to hold well enough. With one pull of a lever the elevator car rumbled and descended on its pulleys, plunging into the darkness below as Onepu saluted them farewell.

Looks like Onu-Koro's got a ton of problems these days, thought Blake on the ride into the depths. Let's hope that Penny and this Takua of hers can handle the rest.

"You can't dig what you can't see!"

"No more torches! No more torches!"

"We can't see, we won't work! We can't see, we won't work!"

Penny cast a sympathetic glance to the group of miners as she passed them by, her eyes straining to pick out the details in the low torchlight. Not that she could see any better - in the flickering flames all she could see were the miners' overall frames, as everything from mask shape to colors were obscured by the shadows. Takua similarly kept blinking blearily as he tried to focus on the surrounding tunnels, but as a Ta-Matoran he was almost as blind as the freckled human at his side.

Even so, she could see at least a half-dozen Matoran carrying signs in their hands as they marched in protest, old torches mounted on their masks as they burned down to the wicks. A dozen more were lying in beds that sat in near complete darkness, groaning softly as their emerald eyes pulsed dimly. In contrast to the joy and purpose the miners who worked in the main village showed as they dug to expand the walls, these Matoran looked absolutely miserable. There was no hope, no joy, nothing but emptiness in the stares of the sick and hopelessness in the glares of the peaceful protesters.

Something tells me that using the lightstone would be seen as an insult to the miners deprived of one, thought Penny, once again feeling vaguely nostalgic for her robotic features. Or worse, they may demand that we give it to them…and while I would gladly give them what they need, they cannot have ours.

At least her ears worked well, because she could very clearly hear the sound of a chisel striking stone over and over. She and Takua followed the constant stream of noise, carefully stepping over loose rubble and tools as they made their way across the dig site. When they reached the far wall she was barely able to make out the frame of another Matoran, one that was diligently digging despite the darkness.

"Taipu, I presume?" asked Takua with a tilt of his head.

The digger paused and turned to face them. "Oh, hello. Yes, that's me." His glowing green eyes looked up at Penny. "Are you one of those Toa that Onepu said came this week?"

"Ah…no, I am a human," said Penny with a faint blush. "A girl. My name is Penny Polendina, and this is Takua the Chronicler. We are here to help, however we can."

Taipu blinked twice, then slammed his pick into the stone again. "Sorry. You looked as tall and strong as a Toa, so that's why I asked. It's very nice to meet you, Penny and Takua. Stay close - if the Rahi attack, I will protect you."

Casting a glance at Penny's weapons, Takua cleared his throat. "So, why are you the only one digging?"

"We are building a highway to Le-Koro," said Taipu without a moment's hesitation. "Whenua says I am the strongest of the Onu-Matoran, so I'm leading the way. No one else is working because it's hard to see…they want lightstones instead of torches."

"That hasn't stopped you?" asked the Chronicler.

"It's hard to dig when there is almost no light," admitted the young Onu-Matoran. "But Onepu says I have to try anyway. Nothing will happen if I don't."

"Onepu?" Penny asked with a tilt of her head.

"The Captain of the Ussalry," said Taipu with stars in his eyes. "He's also my best friend in all of Onu-Koro! Onepu is very brave and smart, and he knows a lot about fighting Rahi and riding on Ussal Crabs. He's supposed to be digging too, but he showed me how I can do both of our digging at the same time. That's how smart he is!"

The two travelers shared a skeptical look, then turned guiltily back to the young digger.

"Taipu…I think that Onepu may be taking advantage of you," said the former maiden with a frown. "And if he does that, then I do not think he would be your friend."

"Oh, thank you for the concern, but it's not like that," he answered with a shake of his head. "He is just very busy right now, helping organize village defenses and keeping the tunnels safe. Onu-Koro has a lot of problems right now, and he is helping Whenua resolve as many of them as he can. He is smart like that. I am not smart, but I am very strong. I know how to dig, so that is what I will do. Someday we will reach Le-Koro, even if I am the only one working on the highway…and then there will be one less problem for the Turaga to worry about."

On the one hand, Penny found it admirable that Taipu would continue working even when no one else was, purely out of dedication and duty. On the other hand, she knew that there was no possible way that one Matoran could dig a path all the way to Le-Koro. If things did not change, then Taipu was going to be digging for a very, very long time…assuming he was not simply wasting his energy, of course.

In any case, she and Takua had learned all that they could just by visiting the dig site. It was time to go and think of a solution.

"Thank you for your time," Penny said with a bow. "We will not bother you any longer."

"It's no bother at all making new friends," said Taipu with a smile under his mask. "Goodbye."

And with that, he turned and went right back to digging, splitting stones from the wall and casting them to the side. The travelers shared another look, then carefully made their way back past the protesting workers and into the main tunnels. While it was still difficult to see, the primary passageways had dim, faintly-flickering lightstones mounted along the walls, so the lighting in those pathways was slightly better. Slightly.

"This is terrible," said Penny sorrowfully. "All these miners…they are working and fighting so hard, even when they get sick or tired or hurt. They all seem so sad…"

"Yeah," agreed Takua with a nod. "It all stems from the torches. There's too much smoke underground, it's making them ill and weak. Plus it's not keeping the Rahi away."

"Perhaps if they had their lightstones, it would clean the air and help them work more quickly?"

"Not a bad idea," said the Chronicler, "but you heard what Whenua said. They can't get to their lightstone mine - something about a lava spillage blocking the way."

"Mm." Penny sighed. "If only there was a way to get across the lava."

"Yeah…if only…"

After another moment of hemming and humming, two pairs of eyes - one human, one Matoran - lit up with inspiration. They gasped and turned to each other with excitement etched into their faces, and spoke almost at the exact same time.

"The lavaboard!"

After a short but uncomfortable elevator ride, Blake and Onua found themselves in the deepest Matoran-made part of the island. Old flickering and fading lightstones lit up the area, giving them just enough light to see and nothing more. In the dim glow the Huntress could see that they were standing on a sheet of bedrock, the topmost layers of which were chipped off and peeled back to reveal a dull-gray surface as smooth as soap and as cold as steel. Some of the miners and prospectors down here were either digging side tunnels or taking measurements, others were gathering up the many, many broken tools that had tried and failed to pierce the stone strata, and one curious-looking Matoran was examining what looked to be a giant metal dais with great intensity.

That particular Onu-Matoran caught her attention as she and the Toa approached. She recognized him and his strange colors - his orange Pakari, his coal-black torso and arms, and his legs as gray as the stone around him. Beyond that, Blake also recognized his reaction to the pair…or rather, his lack thereof. While most of the other villagers bowed in reverence whenever Onua passed by, this one barely even looked up from his work. His focus was entirely consumed by the symbol-laden metal disk in front of him, staring at it pensively and humming thoughtfully.

I'll bet that this guy and Ruby would have a lot to talk about, thought Blake, smiling wryly at the mental image of Remnant's best weaponsmith talking shop with Mata Nui's greatest engineer.

She walked up and cleared her throat. "Hello again, Nuparu."

"Yes, hello again - oh." The engineer blinked and looked up at her in recognition. "Ah, the offworlder. Blake, right? Glad to see that you and our Toa could spare the time to help us." He tilted his head as he stared at the weapons slung across her back. "Strange…you didn't have that other sword when we last met in Onu-Koro. It looks far more mechanically complex than its sheath…any chance I could take a closer look at it sometime?"

Her hand clutched protectively to the hilt of Gambol Shroud. "I wouldn't hold my breath."

"Fair enough." Nuparu shrugged, then looked up to Onua. "And you're just the Toa I was hoping to see, actually. Your elemental power should be perfect for figuring out this strange layer."

The Toa of Earth nodded. "What would you have me do?"

"Let's start with the obvious question. Can you break through it?"

Onua hummed and knelt down, placing the tips of his claw against the ground with three light taps. Although Blake couldn't see any obvious effects, she knew that her taller friend was sending vibrations through the strata, listening closely for a response. After a brief moment of silent sensing, Onua activated his Mask of Strength with a hiss of steam, drew his arm back, and slammed his claw down with every ounce of might he had.

Nothing.

The black-armored Toa frowned behind his mask as his claw simply bounced off the floor. "Strange…a blow like that could have cleaved through a tectonic plate in one strike. Whatever this is, it is stronger than my claws…and stronger than me, even."

Nuparu hummed. "That is odd, that earth like this would resist even its patron Toa. Then again…maybe it's not earth at all. As I reported to Aiyetoro, this material seems to be at least partially organic, like the shell of an Ussal crab. Beyond that, and this strange disk here, the strata is completely unremarkable…except that it seems to extend under the whole island, and no one can break through it."

Blake tilted her head. "Maybe this thing here has a clue. What is it?"

"I'm not entirely sure," admitted the engineer. "I've been studying it for three days straight, and I'm no closer to figuring it out now than I was earlier this week. Based on the astrological markings and the letters carved into the surface, I would guess that it's a sundial of some kind…though why anyone would build a sundial this far underground is beyond me. I wonder if it's somehow the key to getting past this layer, and what we might find underneath it…"

With a hum of her own she pulled out her scroll and checked the cipher that Weiss sent, comparing the former heiress's notes to the circular runes inscribed on the dais. Sure enough, the different wedges seemed to mark the different hours of the day, from sunrise to sunset and midday to midnight. Various pictures and carvings seemed to adorn the empty spaces, depicting everything from tall armored figures to hideous beasts and terrifying winged giants. It was a very intricately carved sundial, to be sure…but as Nuparu said, a sundial without sunlight was less than useless. Especially one that was missing a marker of any kind in the middle.

Maybe we need to find its centerpiece and shine a light so it points to the proper time? The feline Faunus thought for a moment, then shook her head. Wait, no. Silly Blake. That kind of solution only works in those old point-and-click adventure games.

She cast a glance towards Onua, who was busy running his claws over the ground in a vain attempt to leave at least a scratch on the strange strata.

Still, there's gotta be a way to open this…but how?

In stark contrast to the pitch-black darkness of the dig site, the lava flood was harshly bright.

Penny's human eyes strained to adjust to the sudden influx of light, seeing a faint orange glow become a blinding field of white as soon as she turned the corner of a tunnel. Eventually her pupils shrank to correctly compensate, giving her a clear picture of the yellow-red hellscape that lay before her. Steam and smoke rose from where the pool of lava lapped at the tunnel edges, the sound of melting stone and churning waves flooded her ears, and the smell of burning sulfur assaulted her nose. It reminded her of Ta-Koro in all of the worst ways: all the dangers and fury of runaway fire, with none of the warmth and safety it provided when tempered.

Takua clutched the strap of his rucksack a little tighter. "Well…I can see why lava farmers are so important now."

The freckled human nodded with a hum, watching the half-dozen Onu-Matoran nearby try and fail to dig trenches, tunnels, anything that could help divert or navigate around the spill. She crouched down and pulsed with her Technopathy, her Semblance stretching out in tendrils of teal-green string to seek out mechanisms and connect with them. Within just a few moments, she had an intimate understanding of how the system around the lava flow worked…and why it currently was not working.

"It looks like there is a series of pipes that are meant to drain and divert the lava into reservoirs on either side," she reported as she withdrew her strings and stood up. "This tunnel cuts through the heart of an underground lava pool, so rather than drain the entire lake the Onu-Matoran have devised a way to keep the molten rock out of this tunnel, and use the newly-bisected magma deposits to collect geothermal energy. However, some of the lava has cooled prematurely within the pipes, creating blockages that could build up enough pressure to cause all the pipes to rupture. Explosively."

Takua's eyes widened as he followed where Penny was pointing, gazing at the half-dozen steel gray pipes that formed arches along the edges of the tunnel. "Mata Nui! Is that what happened here?"

She waved her hands frantically. "Oh, no! No, that would be the worst case scenario. This is actually the system working as intended - rather than allow the pressure to build to catastrophic levels, the automated emergency release valves have opened just before the lava can reach the blockages. This forces the entire system to flush the pipes, letting the lava flow into the tunnel itself rather than remain in the pipes to cool and harden and make things worse. However, the system is stuck in a faulty loop at this point, as no one has been able to clear the blocked sites. That is what has caused the flood to persist; the pipes continue to try and drain the lava out of the tunnel, only to release it back as soon as it is collected."

The Chronicler clearly did not understand what all those words meant. One of the nearby Onu-Matoran scoffed and slung his pick over his shoulder.

"Am I incorrect in my analysis?" she asked.

"Nah, you pretty much got it," said the villager clad in a purple Miru. "Just surprised to see an offworlder figure out one of Nuparu's inventions so quickly. Half the time, us regular villagers don't even understand how to turn them on, much less how they work."

Penny grinned. "What can I say? I am very familiar with machines."

"I guessed that much."

Takua was still lost, but he nodded all the same. "Can you fix it from here?"

"I cannot," said the Huntress with a shake of her head. "But there is a control panel for the valves on the other side of the lava flood. If we can get to that, I can force the system to purge the blockage and reseal the valves, allowing the tunnel pipes to drain normally. That should clear the tunnel within a few minutes…in theory."

"Yeah, Nuparu put the control panel on the south end of this tunnel, next to the entrance to the Cavern of Light," explained the nearby Onu-Matoran. "He said he put it there in case any Matoran got trapped on that side by a lava flow and needed to clear the flood." He let out another humorless laugh. "Of course, he failed to consider what might happen if everyone was on the north end, and if no one was over on the south side should a flood break out. I even told him as he was making it to put a panel on this side too, but did he listen? Of course not! No one listens to old Damek, he's just a guard…he's nowhere near as smart as Onu-Koro's best engineer! And of course, he's been so obsessed with that stupid sundial in the Great Mine that he hasn't even come out here to check on things…"

Penny sensed some bad blood - protodermis? - between this Nuparu and Damek, but she did not wish to probe further. Neither did Takua, who unslung his rucksack and pulled out a red-and-blue metal square. The strange object unfolded in his hands, turning into a six-foot-long board of thin steel with a pair of coal-black handles on the sides and a sloped section at the front.

"Well then it's a good thing we're here," said the Chronicler proudly as he looked up to his taller friend. "Okay, Penny. Are you ready for this?"

Damek tilted his head. "Ready? Ready for what?"

She grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. I am ready!"

"Seriously, what are you two ready for?"

"And you're sure you don't wanna just hold the lightstone and stay here while I paddle across?"

"While you what?!"

"You will need my Technopathy to fix the machinery on the other side. Besides, my Aura will protect me."

"Now hold on just a minute -!"

"It'll protect you from the fumes, Penny. It won't save you if you fall into the lava itself. If we wipe out, that'll be the end for both of us."

"That's why you shouldn't try to - !"

"Well then I trust you will not 'wipe out'! Let us go!"

"As a member of the Onu-Koro guard, I must insist that you -!"

"Alright then! Follow my lead!"

"WAIT!"

Despite Damek's increasingly-frantic interjections, Takua and Penny took off running towards the lava's edge, the former throwing down the lavaboard and leaping onto it alongside the latter. Much to the Huntress's relief, the board not only floated on the molten rock, it actually blocked most of the heat - to the point where it almost felt cooler kneeling behind Takua than it did when she was standing near the shore. The momentum of their running jump carried them forward with surprising speed, allowing them to surge and surf across the sea of sulfur.

The Chronicler stood with his arms outstretched, leaning with his weight to bank and steer the lavaboard around the downpour from the overhead pipes. Penny chose to stay on her hands and knees, curling up as tight as she could behind Takua and following his lead when it came to steering. Despite the splashes of sulfur that threatened to burn her toes and the sweat that poured down her brow, she smiled as the pair moved through the flooded tunnel at high speeds. Surprisingly, she was enjoying herself.

He is a natural at this! Penny thought proudly as she watched Takua expertly steer and balance from behind. Even if his mind does not remember being able to surf across lava, his muscles clearly do. I wonder if he was some kind of athlete before he lost his memories?

Eventually the Ta-Koronan roller coaster ride came to an end, the glowing underside of the lavaboard scraping against solid ground once again. The pair hopped off with a nod; Penny started looking around while Takua dragged the board out of the lava.

"Well, that was…almost fun," he said with a soft laugh.

"It was very fun!" Penny proclaimed. "But our job is not finished. We need to find that control panel…ah! There it is!"

Sure enough, she could see a large square block of steel and glowing lights, one that was connected to a shuddering and shaking bundle of pipes. Penny didn't need to follow the steel-gray rods to know that they lead to the rest of the lava drains - the hissing of steam and the thumping of impending cavitation was proof enough. The Huntress quickly ran up and activated her Semblance, placing both palms on the control panel and sending those same ephemeral threads deep into the mechanism.

Only when she went to find the system reset controls, she found something else alongside it.

Penny let out a small gasp as she probed into something new, something that sat waiting below the surface of the rudimentary control panel. While the Matoran machine built on top of it was easy enough to figure out, this underlying system was anything but - it felt wholly different from anything else she had encountered. It did not run off of sleek, smooth, intangible code like most Remnant devices, nor did it match the same ruggedized and clunky mechanisms used by villagers all over Mata Nui. This new system, this hidden machine…it almost felt alive. Or at least, like it had been alive at one point.

Strange… she thought to herself. Damek said that Nuparu built this machine, but the technology underneath is…old. Far older than the pipe network itself, or the lava pumps. It feels as though it is connected to…something. Something much larger and farther away. The lava draining system and the control panel must have been added later…but what was this machine's original purpose?

That curiosity made her probe deeper into this unfamiliar system, weaving threads of energy into its hardware in a vain attempt to wake it up. Unfortunately, despite her poking and prodding, no reaction occurred. Rather than disappoint her, this discovery only further piqued her fascination. What did this machine do back when it had worked? Was it some kind of terraforming device? A databank? Or maybe it was a relay for something larger…the same massive enigmatic machine that seemed to call her from far below like a proverbial song in the night…?

"Um, Penny?" Takua poked her leg. "You doing alright? The display on that Scroll of yours just went from green to orange. Is that normal?"

…oh dear. It seemed that Penny's investigation into the odd machine had quickly drained her Aura. She shook her head to clear it, and though it pained her to pivot mentally away from the mystery, she forced herself to focus on the control panel itself. Answers and secrets could wait another day. Helping people always came first.

A few seconds of pulling internal levers and manually connecting crude circuits later, the panel fully lit up with a soft ding.

The results were instantaneous. A series of loud hisses echoed across the tunnel, followed by the sound of creaking valves and grinding gears. Penny pulled back from the control panel and looked behind to see ceiling-mounted junctions along the pipes spit out chunks of semi-solid rock before sealing up, which made the dozen or so overhead lava spouts thin out and disappear altogether. The edge of the sulfur sea was already pulling back, as the pump arrays worked quickly to drain the flood. Within seconds the lava flood was half of what it was before. A minute later, less than a quarter remained. After two minutes, only cinders and embers glowing with faint red gave any indication that a spill had happened in the first place.

Withdrawing from the machine, she turned and looked with pride at her handiwork alongside Takua.

Then the Onu-Matoran came.

Even in the darkness Penny could see over two dozen pairs of glowing green eyes staring back at her and her Chronicler, growing closer with each second as they marched in unison. Some of them had shovels that they used to sweep away the burning coals in their path, while others rode on Ussal crabs carrying pickaxes over their shoulders and metal buckets in their laps. Most of them passed the pair wordlessly as they made their way through the tunnel, but one of them - the purple-masked guard who had tried to stop them - snapped a quick salute at the Huntress and the Chronicler as he stepped out of the procession.

"You travelers have got to be the craziest folks on Mata Nui to even think about doing something like that," Damek grunted. "And for that, all of Onu-Koro owes you a great debt."

Takua smiled behind his own mask. "Just glad we could help. Anything else we can do? Maybe we can help with mining."

"No need for that," answered the guard with a wave of his hand. "Now that access to the Cavern of Light has been restored, we can get fresh lightstones anywhere they're needed across the entire Wahi. I know that the Le-Koro Highway team has been digging by torchlight for several moons now - we'll send them the first batch we mine. Should arrive in a few hours or so."

"I think Taipu would greatly appreciate that," said Penny with a grin.

"You have no idea, offworlder," said Damek with a smile of his own. "Now, if you'll excuse me…there's a lot of work to catch up on. Thanks again, strangers - may Mata Nui smile on you both as you continue your travels."

Then with one final salute, Damek joined the rank and file of miners who passed them by. Eventually, the marching footsteps of the Matoran and their Ussal mounts grew quieter and their forms became dimmer, until both disappeared altogether.

"Well, it's not much of an accolade, but who has time for celebrating when everyone else is fumbling around in the dark?" Takua let out a laugh. "Nice work with the machine, Penny. That little trick of yours might just be the best thing that's happened to the island."

Penny giggled and curtseyed. "I would not have been able to use the control panel if you had not been so brave and resourceful yourself. Who knew that you were so skilled in the art of surfing on molten lava?"

"Not me, that's for sure!" said the Chronicler with another laugh. "Come on, let's head back to the highway dig site. We might as well bring the good news ourselves!"

With a laugh and a smile, Penny followed her first Matoran friend down the tunnels. Despite the grin that clung to her face, the mystery of the machine within the machine still gnawed away at her, tainting her victory with more unanswered questions. There was still the frustration of having something so strange and foreign to her being dangled in front of her face with no way to grasp and understand it, of course, but now there was something else that bothered her.

When she had used the access panel to force the system reset…something had shifted inside the older machine.

She was not entirely sure how it had happened, especially when the ancient system did not otherwise react to her probing and prodding. Dozens of potential explanations flooded her mind, trying to understand and answer the burning questions with what little information she had. Maybe the two machines were more intertwined than she realized, and manipulating one had affected the other. Maybe she had not fully withdrawn from the older mechanism when she controlled Nuparu's invention, and her strings got snagged on something in the process. Or maybe it was just a coincidence, and she had nothing to do with it at all. Each rationalization rang more hollow than the last, and left her feeling empty and unsatisfied.

Then again…maybe it really was nothing? Maybe it really was just a broken machine, a relic of whatever civilization predated the Matoran, and it did absolutely nothing in this day and age. The earth had not opened, and the sky had not fallen, so whatever was in that mechanism had not triggered a world-shattering cataclysm. Perhaps it was enough that Takua was happy, that the Onu-Matoran had their light source back, and that one of Onu-Koro's most grave problems had been fixed.

So for now, Penny decided to keep the knowledge of the extra switch to herself.

After all…it was probably nothing important.

"Everyone! Get back!"

The earth around Blake rumbled and shook, nearly drowning out Onua's sharp call. The miners and prospectors all scrambled back as the metal dais suddenly began to shift and spin rapidly, unscrewing like the handle of a great vault and splitting neatly in half. The rest of the floor soon followed, opening up like two great sliding doors to reveal a bottomless pit.

"Mata Nui, what is that?!"

"Is this some trick of Makuta?!"

"The edge grows closer! Quick, get along the wall!"

As she and Onua shepherded the villagers away from the sudden and expanding chasm, Blake caught sight of what lay below. The steel sides of the new ravine, with what appeared to be miles and miles of circuitry etched into the metal, were a far cry from the stone walls of Onu-Wahi. Arcs of lightning danced and leapt between distant pylons, gears spun and churned with no apparent function, and a deep groan seemed to escape the depths like the humming of a great machine. Whatever was down there was not natural - even compared to the other technology she'd seen on Mata Nui, this was alien and strange.

Most of the Onu-Matoran were wise, quick, or lucky enough to back away from the ledge of the ever-growing divide.

Nuparu was none of those things.

"Whoooaaaa!"

Blake was in motion before the engineer could even finish his scream. She leapt into the steel-plated ravine and dove after him, Gambol Shroud already drawn and folded with its ribbon tied around her wrist. One arm flung the bladed pistol out to hook into the lip of the chasm. The other arm wrapped around Nuparu's waist and held firmly, her body doing its best not to cry out in protest of the added weight as the tension suddenly snapped taut. The pair dangled above the endless darkness, swaying back and forth slightly yet holding firm to their lifeline.

When she was sure they were done falling, she looked down at the Onu-Matoran in her grip. "You good?"

"Y-yes, thank you Blake," gasped Nuparu, instinctively putting his arms around the one thing keeping him suspended. Then he looked down at the seemingly bottomless pit of circuitry and machinery, and chuckled humorlessly. "You know…when I said I wanted a closer look at what lies beneath that strata, this isn't quite what I had in mind."

Blake almost laughed. Almost. "Yeah…well, in any case, I don't think you're finding any more protodermis down there."

The engineer sighed. "Unfortunately, you may be right. This layer seems to be the limit of where we're meant to dig…for now, at least." After another moment of the two simply hanging there, he cleared his throat. "Err…not that I don't appreciate the rescue, but do you have a way back up?"

She was about to say she was working on that element of her plan when she felt the tension in Gambol Shroud's ribbon shift, and a single weightless moment made her worry that the blade had lost its grip on the edge. Her fears were dispelled when she looked up to see Onua picking up their lifeline, pulling them both back up to safety with his Mask of Strength. Once she had her feet back on solid ground, she nodded to the Toa of Earth gratefully. Nuparu did the same, staring back at the chasm with a sigh.

"…thank you for your help, great heroes," he said morosely. "Our resources might still be scarce, but at least now we know not to waste them on trying to get through this strata."

"I am sorry this did not yield the treasures you were hoping for," said Onua apologetically. "If you wish, I can use my Akaku to help you locate new deposits of protodermis, ones that may have escaped your survey efforts until now."

"We would be truly grateful, Toa Onua," said the engineer. "We Onu-Matoran are a resourceful bunch, so we'll likely be able to use whatever you find for us. It's a pity, though…despite all this, I'd still like to examine the depths of that chasm. It almost seems like the insides of a giant machine…perhaps I can study it in more detail someday."

Blake took one look back at the yawning abyss that now took up nearly the entire mineshaft, and prayed that a day like that wouldn't come for a very, very long time.

Now this…this was curious.

Deep in the shadows of Mangaia, he saw and felt everything. Every shift in the light. Every subtle vibration. And just now, while he was deep in thought, he felt the earth above him roar and shriek as a new opening to his lair suddenly opened.

How was this possible, he wondered? True, the island of Mata Nui had many secret passages to his domain - he used them quite extensively to channel his elemental power, after all. Yet most of them were either sealed off and locked with ancient relics, or closed and opened by his will alone. That the Matoran were suddenly able to access one all on their own, one that not even he had control over, was unfeasible. Impossible, even.

Unless…unless the Matoran had nothing to do with it.

He scowled in the darkness. Of course. It had to be the machinations of those foolish Huntresses, the ones who kept poking their disgusting organic noses where they did not belong. Had they not already disrupted his plans enough with their mere presence? Were they still unaware of just how aggravating it was to keep rearranging the timeline to account for their reckless actions? It would be bad enough if they were the only ones who kept messing with his perfect design. Now they were encouraging their Toa and Matoran "allies" to do the same.

It was a nuisance, to say the least.

Very well, he thought with an annoyed huff. If these children are growing bored enough to keep causing inconveniences for me, then clearly I have not done enough to keep their attention. Perhaps I should raise the stakes…make my Rahi a little more dangerous, and stage some more dangerous attacks on the villages. Should they prevail, it will give me time to realign my schemes. And should they fall in battle? Well, that would solve the problem altogether. Either way…they will not disturb you, my Brother.

Still…perhaps it would be best to keep a closer eye on the Matoran themselves, and redouble his efforts to keep them in line. It was the only way to keep them safe, and to keep them controlled.

After all, he simply could not allow them to burrow into the face of their Great Spirit.

Chapter Text

"So, how's the new mask feel?"

Tahu furrowed his brow as he walked alongside the human Huntress, the motion once again throwing the lenses of his brand-new Kanohi Akaku out of alignment. His vision went from depicting one whole picture of Ta-Wahi to three fractured images, like a scattered puzzle in front of his eyes. It wasn't a painful experience, but it was disorienting - and quite annoying.

"It is…difficult, for now," he reported. "While the power itself works well, the function of this scope is…strange. I have yet to grasp how to properly control it."

Yang hummed thoughtfully, her arms behind her head as she walked. "Want me to shoot Weiss a message asking to meet up? I'm sure Kopaka could give you some pointers on how to - "

"No," he growled, then shook his head. "Apologies…no, I should be able to figure this out myself. It is not debilitating, merely…disruptive."

If that pompous, arrogant fool can use a mask as complicated as this, he thought sullenly, then so can I.

"Uh huh," said the blonde brawler skeptically. "You sure it's because of that? Or because you just don't want to see him again?"

Tahu didn't dignify that with a response, but his silence was enough. Yang sighed.

"Look, I get it," she said. "Weiss was the same way when we started the team, and at first I couldn't stand her either. None of us could. But the more she got to know us, the better we got to know her…and eventually, she stopped being so frigid around us."

"You presume much to assume the same will happen here," said Tahu pointedly. "We are not humans - we are Toa. We embody the elements themselves, their traits and their power. Have you ever seen a snowflake in a land of volcanoes, or a fire in a blizzard? Our elements oppose one another…it is in our nature to do the same."

Yang hummed and tilted her head to one side. "Hmm…maybe you have a point. But just because fire and ice are enemies doesn't mean you have to be the same way. Y'know?" She smirked. "Besides, I don't hear you badmouthing Gali much. Isn't water your opposite element just as much as ice is?"

The Toa of Fire averted his gaze, narrowing his eyes. "That is…a different matter."

His smaller companion laughed. "Ohhhhh don't tell me - you got a crush on her?"

"That is not your concern."

"I'm not hearing a noooooo," she said in a singsong voice.

Tahu did his best to ignore the taunts of the human at his side, instead focusing with the lenses as he kept walking forward. He snapped all three of them towards the horizon, trying to make them align so that he could actually see what lay in the distance. To his delight, the scope on his mask finally decided to obey his will, and soon he could see the fortified walls of Ta-Koro in the distance.

Only…he didn't need the Mask of Vision to see that something was very wrong with his village.

"Hey, no judgment here," she continued. "It's perfectly normal for a young, handsome Toa like yourself to start feeling things towards - "

He raised his hand to cut her off, and she could tell that it wasn't because of embarrassment. Her head tilted in concern.

"Strange…" said Tahu as he glared at the horizon. "There is…smoke, over the hill. It seems like it is coming from Ta-Koro."

Yang shrugged. "So? It's a village of fire. There's bound to be smoke."

"Yes…but not that much smoke."

The sound of a distant roar got the attention of both warriors.

"…something's wrong, isn't it?" asked Yang warily. Her Scroll was already in hand, and her thumb hovered over an image depicting the Kanohi Kakama.

Ah, yes…the humans can channel our mask powers now, the Toa of Fire reminded himself. An oddly-timed gift…but a welcome one, all the same.

"I fear so, yes," said Tahu as he narrowed his eyes, switching from the Akaku to his Mask of Speed. "Come, we must hurry!"

And with that, the pair sped off in the direction of Ta-Koro, hoping against hope that they weren't too late.

It was hard for Ruby to believe that just a few days ago, she had been afraid of the sea.

The silver-eyed Huntress let out a bubbly giggle as she coasted through the deep waters, letting her cape and skirt flow behind her with every kick like she was some kind of crimson jellyfish. Every now and then she pulsed her Semblance for a burst of speed, scattering bubbles and rose petals in her wake as she zoomed across the sandy seabed. And when she finally got tired of pretending to be a speedy little submarine, she lay down on the edge of a cliff and stretched her bare arms with a big yawn, gulping down water with no fear of drowning or losing her breath.

Man…no wonder Gali likes swimming down here so much, she thought to herself as she blew short bursts of bubbles and watched them rise to the distant surface. I don't think I'd ever leave the ocean if I had the ability to breathe underwater, too!

She looked over at her companion with a big grin, only for her excitement to give way to concern. Gali was sitting cross-legged on the same ledge as her, with her head bowed, her eyes closed and her hands resting on her ankles. Ruby recognized this as the Toa's preferred meditation pose - something she did when she wanted to bring peace and clarity to her mind, yet right now it seemed like it was bringing the opposite.

"Gali?" she asked, raising her voice slightly in an attempt to be heard over her own bubbles. "Is everything okay?"

The Toa of Water opened her glowing yellow eyes and turned her gaze to the Huntress. "I…I do not know, little one. I celebrate with you in your newfound ability, but…the waters do not. They seem…angry, somehow. Something stirs within the seas that wash upon the island's shores, and that rage is being carried even as deep as here. I fear that a great calamity is in motion on the surface…one that threatens all of Mata Nui."

And just like that, the good feeling was gone.

Ruby tilted her head. "Hmm…if the waters feel angry, can't you ask them why?" she burbled. "You know, to find out more about what's going on? You control them, after all."

Gali nodded, then closed her eyes for a moment while her hands glowed with azure light. The silver-eyed Huntress kept an eye on her surroundings for a moment, looking away only to check her Scroll and make sure her Aura didn't drop too quickly. The field of soul energy that covered her body did more than just protect her and fuel her Semblance now - it also powered her ability to use Kanohi masks, such as the one that was currently letting her breathe underwater. If she ran out down here, this far from the surface…

Nope. Nope. Don't think about that. You're okay. Deeeeeep breaths, Ruby. Deep breaths.

After taking a moment to do just that (exhaling long strings of bubbles in the process) she looked over at Gali. "Any luck so far?"

"There is…a great disturbance along the shores," reported the Toa. "Dozens - no, hundreds - of Rahi are on the move, splashing through the coastal waters and rivers with no regard for the world around them. It seems they are gathering on the eastern side of the island, converging on the village of…"

A moment later, the Toa of Water's eyes snapped back open in alarm.

"Ta-Koro," she said gravely. "Ta-Koro is under siege by the Rahi, and it faces a force larger and stronger than any that has come before. Not even the Ta-Koronan Guard will be able to protect the village from a threat such as this."

Ruby took a deep breath of water cautiously. "Oh no…do you think Tahu and Yang are there? Could they handle it by themselves?"

"I do not know," answered Gali. "The waters say nothing about them, good or ill. I want to believe in them, and yet…you saw how aggressive and difficult a dozen Rahi had become. Soon they will be menaced by hundreds of such beasts - and though I do not doubt that they and the Ta-Matoran are fierce warriors, that alone may not be enough."

Her heart sank along with the rest of her body. "Yang…"

The Toa of Water let out a bubbly sigh of her own, falling into a moment of sorrowful silence. A pit formed in the Huntress's stomach, and suddenly swimming around seemed so…childish. Pointless. Meaningless.

I know what Yang's like, thought Ruby as she hugged her knees to her chest. She's not gonna back down from a challenge, not matter how huge or impossible. I mean, this is the same woman that punched Salem when they came face-to-face. But something like this…she can't do it alone, even with Tahu. She needs help.

Fortunately, it seemed that Gali had a similar idea.

"I…" began the Toa of Water uncertainly, "…I know that Ta-Koro is not my village nor my element, so I feel as though I have no authority in this situation. But…"

"You want to go and help," finished Ruby.

She nodded.

"But you also don't want Tahu getting mad at you."

Another slow nod.

Ruby smiled and swam over to the Toa of Water, wrapping her arms around the back of a kindred spirit.

"Well, he can't be angry at us forever, and anything's better than sitting around down here blowing bubbles and feeling sorry for ourselves. Let's get going to Ta-Koro! If we hurry, we might be able to get there in time to save the day - and our friends!"

Gali nodded resolutely, pooled the waters around herself, and shot through the sea like a speeding bullet with her Huntress in tow.

Jaller had seen many Rahi attacks in his centuries-long tenure as Captain of the Ta-Koro Guard.

But he had never seen an attack as large as this one.

He was used to fending off Hoto fire bugs or the draconic Hikaki, or even the odd Tarakava that wandered up from the beach. But there had never been hundreds of them trying to attack as one massive swarm before, nor had they been joined by the beasts from other regions. In the last hour alone he had knocked the masks off of at least four tiger-like Muaka - which were native to the cold tundras of Mount Ihu - and avoided the lunging bite and venomous stingers of Kane-Ra and Nui-Jaga - both of which were mostly desert Rahi. As if fighting the grounded beasts wasn't bad enough, he and his warriors also had to contend with insectoid Nui-Rama swooping down and slashing with claws, as well as the rodent-like Kuma-Nui burrowing underground and erupting in showers of stone.

This isn't just a random incursion, he thought as his shield buckled under the weight of another heavy blow. It's the start of a full-on invasion!

His brow furrowed under his yellow Hau as he swiped with his spear, his mind quickly forming the best plan even while he fought. There had been six checkpoints along the Tren Krom Break; the Rahi had smashed through the first five with ease, leaving every Ta-Matoran in fighting shape to hold the line at their outpost on the rim of the Lake of Fire. While the valley formed between two natural hills gave them a tactical advantage, the sheer number of mind-controlled monsters barreling down the choke point still threatened to overwhelm them. If the beasts broke through this last defensive line, then nothing would be keeping them from overrunning Ta-Koro except the village gates…and Jaller didn't know if the gates were strong enough to withstand a horde like this, nor did he want to find out.

His fellow guards fought their bravest, but even the strongest Matoran faltered in the wake of Makuta's warpath.

"There's so many of them! We can't hold the line!"

"We have to! If they get past us, the village is done for!"

"Keahi's down! Someone grab his mask and pull him back!"

"Lizards have got Agni pinned! Discs away!"

Jaller alternated between barking orders and trading strikes with the Rahi, batting away the eel-like Tarakava and the flaming Hoto bugs with impressive strength despite his size. His spear was caught in the jaws of a Kane-Ra and snapped in half, prompting him to bash the massive bull's snout with his shield. While the great horned Rahi was stunned he unslung his disk and threw it with perfect aim, watching it ricochet between two Nui-Rama overhead and shear through their wings. He caught it as it flew back into his hand and leapt just as the Kane-Ra was about to strike again, spinning in mid-air and bringing the sharpened edge down on the beast's neck. The bull roared in pain and bucked hard, throwing him off before he could deal another fatal blow and knocking him to the ground.

"Captain's down! Jaller, get back!"

Despite his shield and disc being ripped away by the impact, Jaller got back to his feet and he drew his knife. If he was going down, he was going down fighting. The Kane-Ra dragged its hoof across the ground, revved up its back motors; when it bellowed and charged at him with full speed, he closed his eyes and angled the blade, hoping to at least bring his opponent down with him…

But the expected blow never came.

Jaller slowly opened his eyes to see the Kane-Ra stopped dead in its tracks, fighting to free itself from whatever was stubborn - or strong - enough to grab it by the horns. He instantly recognized the obstacle as Yang Xiao Long, the otherworldly Huntress with glowing golden hair and rippling organic muscles that fought to keep the Rahi locked in place. The Kane-Ra huffed and growled menacingly, spinning its treads and breathing thick smoke as it pushed with all its might. Yang pushed back with just as much force, digging her boots into the ground and gritting her teeth as she grappled with the mighty metal bull.

She looked over her shoulder and flashed Jaller a wide smile, clearly confident despite the struggle. "Oh, hey Jaller! Hope you won't get mad at me for - ngh! - saving your masks again!"

Jaller let out a short laugh of relief as he lowered his knife. "You won't hear any complaints from me this time, Yang. Thank you." He looked around. "Is Toa Tahu with you?"

Yang gave an insulted look. "Oh, what, I'm not good enough for you?"

"T-that's not what I -!"

"Just teasing ya, little guy," she said with a grin and a wink. "Remind me to teach you how to talk to girls at some point. And in any case…"

The Huntress turned back to face the Kane-Ra (who was still trying and failing to shove her aside) and reared back for a moment before delivering a headbutt so strong it made Jaller wince from a bio away. While her Rahi lowed and wavered in pain she pressed the advantage, driving her knee into its jaw and twisting the horns to the left. She let out a loud yell as she flipped the entire beast onto its back, slamming it to the ground and keeping it pinned. A blur of red suddenly appeared just in time to drive a fiery sword into its exposed stomach, letting out a blast of flame that incinerated the bull from the inside-out.

"…why don't you ask him yourself?"

Tahu pulled his weapon out of the fallen Rahi, turning up his flames to burn off the blood and oil before unleashing a wave of fire against the other enemies. The other guards, in stark contrast to their initial meeting with the Toa of Fire, raised their spears with hollers and cheers. It was as if the mere presence of their guardian was enough to rekindle the spirit of the Ta-Matoran - for his part Jaller fetched his disk and threw it into the eyes of an incoming Nui-Kopen, stunning it long enough for a fiery blast to incinerate it in mid-air.

"It's good to see you, Toa Tahu," he said with a sharp salute.

"Likewise, Captain." The taller figure nodded. "Now then, report. How and when did this attack start?"

"Less than an hour ago," said Jaller as his disk flew back into his hand. "Everything was clear before the Rahi suddenly gathered at the westmost part of the Tren Krom Break, at which point they went into the frenzied charge you're seeing now and overwhelmed most of our defenses. There was no sign of them moving and congregating before now - I suspect that Makuta must have transported them to the surface through his underground tunnel network, to keep from drawing suspicion."

"Makes sense," grunted Yang as she fired rockets out of her odd wrist-mounted weapons. "Villains like him love their 'big swarm out of nowhere' surprise attacks."

The Toa of Fire nodded, then looked at the wounded guardsmen and their broken tools. "Do you have any other weapons you can use to repel the assault? Something larger than throwing disks and spears?"

"We have lava launchers and magma mortars within the village walls," reported an injured Keahi as Nuhrii helped him to his feet. "But with how quickly this attack happened, we haven't had the time nor the idle hands to set them up."

"Then we'll give you both," said Yang as she slammed her gauntlets together, releasing a shockwave that knocked back a pack of Hikaki. "Tahu and I can hold the line here while you fall back to prep the artillery. Right, big guy?"

Another nod from the red-armored titan. "Captain, do as she says. We will ensure that none of these monsters reach your village. Sound the horns when you are ready - and make haste."

Ordinarily Jaller would have protested, insisting that the Captain of the Guard never runs away from an ongoing battle. But he knew that the taller warriors were right - against a horde of this size, there was no way for them to stand their ground. So he snapped a salute, spun on his heel, and shouted orders as he ran back to the village with the rest of his Guardsmen. The stone bridge appeared for just a moment to allow them passage, then sank back under the lava once they were back inside the walls of Ta-Koro.

Besides, he reminded himself, he wasn't running away from the fight.

He was running to finish it.

"Did you hear that?"

Blake may not have been in tune with the earth like Onua was, but her Faunus ears twitched all the same at the sound of distant rumbling far above their current tunnel. She looked over at the Toa of Earth, who had switched to his Akaku and was using it to gaze at the ceiling - and then through it altogether. With a shrug, she pulled out her Scroll and navigated to the app Ruby had told her team about, the one that let her share in the mask powers used by the Toa, and pushed a button that matched her companion's current Kanohi. Soon her vision was filled with the world that lay beyond the layers of stone around them, and she could see what was happening on the surface far above.

And what was happening was chaos.

There were so many Rahi-shaped outlines in motion, so many bodies snarling and striking and screaming, that it was almost impossible to make out individual shapes. A tall humanoid figure with a flaming sword kept them at bay while smaller figures retreated, though there was no telling how long the Toa of Fire could keep up his blazing defense. But the most concerning thing that Blake could see was a female skeleton fighting alongside the burning warrior, punching at the endless hordes of Rahi while glowing like a supernova.

"Yang…" she mewed softly - almost literally.

Onua nodded. "Indeed. And not just her, either; it seems that all of Ta-Koro is under attack. Your partner is strong and fierce, as is Tahu, but you know her better than I, Blake - will that be enough?"

She bit her lower lip, then shook her head. Not against that many of them.

The Toa of Earth hummed, then willed away the Mask of Vision to summon his usual Pakari. Then he walked over to one of the tunnel walls and began digging, tearing huge chunks of earth and stone away with each mighty sweep of his claws. He looked over to Blake and tapped his shoulder, which finally got her to look away from the carnage above and face him with a nod.

"You know that Tahu's not gonna be happy if you show up to save him," she noted with a wry smile as she ran and leapt onto her Toa's back, though her gratitude was on full display.

"He can fume and shout at me as much as he wishes," rumbled Onua as he continued tunneling upwards. "But his village will be safe all the same. Navigate for me, Blake - I will get us there."

With a tight nod the feline Faunus kept her augmented vision on the battle above, praying to the gods that Yang would be safe until they showed up.

And maybe…maybe she prayed a little bit to Mata Nui, too, if he was listening.

Bang! Wham! Crack! Ka-chunk!

Yang leapt and bounced between targets like a flaming pinball, racking up points and knocking down Rahi with each fiery punch and burning blast of shrapnel. Eel-like Tarakava had their clocks cleaned with powerful uppercuts, while the reptilian Hikaki dragons were knocked out with flurries of jabs and hooks. Hoto bugs - massive insects that resembled enormous fireflies with emphasis on "fire" - were squashed and splattered into hot sulfur and steel shrapnel, massive Nui-Jaga had their scorpion stingers torn off and plunged into their backs, and any Nui-Rama that tried to grab her from behind got their wings ripped from their sockets.

Yet no matter how many Rahi she dispatched, more kept coming.

"Jeez, where did Makuta find this many of you?!" Yang yelled in exasperation as she tossed aside another Kane-Ra. "Did he raid a zoo or something? One for freaks and weirdos?"

A feline Muaka snarled and crouched low, steam hissing out of its trapezoidal nose. While its body resembled that of the Kane-Ra - two heavily clawed forearms, an armored torso capable of extending its neck as an attack, and a set of tank treads for the back legs - there were a number of differences that set it apart. For one, it was smaller and slightly leaner, though no less heavily armored. For another, it had razor-sharp claws on its front legs instead of hooves, which were a shade of yellow that matched its triangular ears in place of horns. And finally, it gave no obvious tell before it charged to bring its jaws down on the blonde brawler - it simply did so with catlike speed and agility.

CHOMP!

Yang groaned as she reflexively blocked the bite with her arms, the position of her gauntlets giving her leverage to try and push back against the two sets of teeth that threatened to make a meal out of her. The Muaka snarled and kept trying to bite down with the full strength of its jaws, growling in annoyance as the gap slowly but surely widened as its maw was pulled apart. Her left arm trembled and the servos in her mechanical right arm whined in protest, and as much as she wanted to reach down and tap the Mask of Strength on her Scroll, she couldn't risk letting go of the tiger-like Rahi even for a moment…

FWOOOOSH!

A blast of fire came to her rescue, ending the contest of strength by slamming into the beast's flank and sending it flying. Yang nodded in thanks towards Tahu, and returned the favor by launching a salvo of Dust rockets from Ember Celica. The projectiles screamed and shrieked as they streaked through the air, before finally crashing down into the trio of Nui-Jaga that threatened to flank the lone Toa. While he nodded back and went to work hacking the explosion-weakened scorpions with his flaming sword, she dashed off to finish her own target, taking the tiger by the throat and slamming her gauntlet into its face. Repeatedly.

"How you -" WHUMP. "- holding up -" WHUMP. "- over there -" WHUMP. "- big guy?" WHUMP!

Tahu grimaced as he drove his sword through the back of the first stunned scorpion. "I am well, for the moment. My stores of elemental energy dwindle, but I can absorb the heat of Ta-Wahi to replenish it. And you? How do you fare, Yang?"

The blonde brawler hummed thoughtfully as she finished her Muaka off with a snap of its neck. "Aura's running a little low, but I'm alright for now. Just gotta watch how often I use those mask powers - they drain the tank pretty fast."

"An unfortunate development, for this new power to carry so high a cost," mused the Toa of Fire as he reduced another Nui-Jaga to molten slag. "Let us hope that the Ta-Matoran can bring their heavy weapons to bear soon. Until then, we must remain - AAAAAUGH!"

"TAHU!"

Yang's eyes widened as she watched the third Nui-Jaga recover more quickly from the shell shock than its two brothers, driving the tip of its tail into the Toa's shoulder and knocking him off his feet. While the blow didn't penetrate his armor, it did send him sprawling across the ground - and the nearby Rahi were quick to swarm on the prone Toa and strike while he was down. Tahu roared in pain and activated his Mask of Shielding in a last-ditch effort to protect himself, but there were so many claws and fangs and stingers and fists bearing down on him that it became impossible to protect himself from all of them.

"Hang on buddy, I'm coming!"

The blonde brawler darted over and started blasting and punching and pulling the beasts off her Toa, but more kept crawling over to continue the beatdown. Some retaliated and fought back, and Yang felt her Aura flag more and more with each backhanded Tarakava punch and every snap of a Nui-Jaga's pincher. And just when she was about to brawl her way to the heart of the horde a pair of Nui-Rama swooped down and dug their claws into her arms, buzzing their wings as they carried her far, far above the battlefield.

Yang thrashed and struggled in the grip of the giant bugs, trying and failing to wrench her arms free. The Nui-Rama wisely kept their bodies away from the business ends of Ember Celica, making the shotgun shells spray uselessly into empty air as they rolled along with the recoil. No matter how much she pulled or kicked, no matter how much she growled and grit her teeth, she could only watch as Tahu's shield finally fizzled out down below.

"Dammit, no!" she growled. "Let go of me, you oversized fruit flies!"

WHOOOSH.

Surprisingly, the Nui-Rama heeded her request.

As she looked back in freefall, Yang realized the real reason why the bugs had let her go - they were falling alongside her in finely chopped pieces.

What the…

She fired her gauntlets to slow her fall before landing in a roll, narrowly avoiding the shower of metal parts and splattered bug juices that followed her down. Yang cast her red-tinted eyes back to Tahu…only to watch in amazement as a blur of crimson passed over the fallen Toa several times, removing more and more Rahi with each sweep. When only a dozen or so creatures remained the speedy savior zoomed off just as the Toa's armor started glowing red like a newborn star, at which point Tahu let out a roar of power as he unleashed the energy he'd been storing up.

BOOOM!

A pillar of fire engulfed the Toa and everything nearby, turning any Rahi foolish enough to hold him down into ash and molten protodermis. The blonde brawler quickly moved to start throwing beasts into the burning blaze, watching the red-clad newcomer bounce between targets and leaving massive gashes in their wake. Yang had a pretty good idea of who had come to their rescue, which was confirmed when she caught sight of a massive mechanical scythe underneath the cloak and the waves of rose petals.

Yep, that's her alright.

Sure enough, after driving Crescent Rose through the neck of a Kane-Ra, Ruby threw back her hood to reveal silver eyes full of light and hope. She looked back at her fellow Huntress, her older sister, and waved eagerly.

"Hi sis!" shouted the little red reaper with a grin as she pulled her scythe out of her latest victim's back. "You're not having too much fun without me, are you?!"

Yang's face erupted into a smile. "Ruby!"

The blonde brawler launched herself into the air with a backwards shotgun blast, giving her the leverage to leap up to greet her sister - and slam her fists against a Nui-Rama that flew in to rudely interrupt the reunion. Ruby grinned and collapsed her scythe into a rifle with one hand, taking Yang's offered palm with the other and locking it tightly in her grip. The pair then started to spin and dance around each other until they became a whirlwind of red rose petals and yellow flames, firing bullets from Crescent Rose and shells from Ember Celica into anything that got too close.

When they finally stopped their blazing tornado of death the pair separated and stood back-to-back, firing at distant Rahi and punishing melee attackers with scythe slashes and powerful punches.

"You picked - hah! - one hell of a time to show up!" said Yang as she kicked away a Hoto bug. "What are you doing here?"

The silver-eyed girl spun her scythe to build up momentum before lashing out to bisect a Muaka. "We were nearby when Gali said that the waters felt angry - yah! - so we thought we'd stop by and see if everything - on your left! - was okay!"

Yang cocked her fist back almost without looking, clocking an approaching Hikaki right in the jaw. "Appreciated! Glad you're here to help - these things just keep coming, and knocking their masks off isn't doing much anymore."

Ruby frowned as she watched a distant Nui-Rama fall back down to earth, its wings sheared off by a well-placed bullet. "Yeah…Makuta's done something else to the Rahi to make them obey him even without their infected masks. Gali and I found that out the hard way."

"Speaking of Gali, where is she?"

A huge wave rushed into the battlefield, answering Yang's question even as it swept up the beasts in its path. The Toa of Water stood atop the waters for a moment before leaping off, switching to her Miru to float above the battlefield. Her hands reached out to grab the water and shape it into spears and other such sharpened weapons, which she used to pelt the Rahi from above like the world's deadliest rainstorm. When she ran out of water she changed back to her usual mask, shifting her hands into hooks as she fell and driving them into the back of a Kane-Ra. The creature reared back and roared in pain; Tahu was quick to capitalize on this moment of vulnerability, using his Mask of Speed to surge across the battlefield and plunge his blade into its exposed throat.

Well, guess that answers that.

Tahu pulled his sword back out from the fallen Rahi, turning to face the Toa of Water as she leapt off.

"…pleasure to see you again, Gali," he said through gritted teeth, though his tone of voice made it clear the experience was anything but.

Gali, likewise, was uncharacteristically cold in her reply. "The feeling is mutual…Tahu," she said simply, narrowing her eyes even as she nodded tightly.

Ouch. Yang cringed internally. This is…oh gods this is embarrassing. It's like watching Uncle Qrow try and flirt. While sober.

A narrowly-avoided punch from a Tarakava reminded her that they still had other problems.

"Say hello later, you two!" Ruby called as she slashed the offending eel. "We're not done yet!"

The blonde brawler fired another salvo of rockets into the horde. "Yeah, fight now, hug it out afterwards!"

Tahu and Gali shared another frustrated glance, then nodded before summoning their elements to do just that.

With two Toa and the Rose-Xiao Long sisters joining the fray, the fight slowly began to turn. No longer was it a desperate struggle for survival - now, with Ruby's speed and Gali's crowd-controlling waves, it became slightly easier to stand their ground and hold their position. Even so, the sheer number of Rahi kept pressing against them, and as they were forced back further and further, the heat of the Lake of Fire grew more and more intense on their backs.

At this rate, we might end up going for a nice lava swim, thought Yang to herself. Unless Mata Nui has another miracle up his butt for us?

The earth suddenly began to rumble.

…huh, okay, I guess he does!

Yang watched as the ground suddenly erupted into a shower of stone and rock, scattering everything from Hoto bugs to even the imposing Kuma-Nui. A figure clad in ebon black armor started swinging his massive claws left and right, sending creatures flying with each mighty blow. Another figure leapt off his back and started slashing with twin blades, jumping from target to target with precision and grace as the pair fought their way to the others.

Blake landed in front of them just before the Toa of Earth burst through the crowd of Rahi. "Miss me?"

Ruby squealed in delight. Yang laughed and ran up to hug her girlfriend, who returned it warmly. Gali smiled behind her mask.

Tahu was less enthused, greeting the newcomer with a grimace. "And now you are here as well," he groaned. "How many more Toa will arrive to humiliate me today?"

"As many as it takes to protect your people," answered Onua in a deep rumble. "For that is why we all have come to Mata Nui, brother." He looked down at Yang. "I assume we are to hold this position?"

"Until the Ta-Matoran set up their heavy weapons, yeah," answered the blonde as she pulled away from Blake. "They were caught off-guard by the initial attack, and didn't have time to deploy them. We've gotta protect the entrance until they're ready."

"Then protect it we shall," said Gali as she readied her hooks. "Together, brothers."

Onua nodded and crouched low with his claws outstretched. "Let us show Makuta that neither we, nor the Matoran, will bow or break before him."

Tahu narrowed his eyes in annoyance, but raised his sword all the same. "None have breached Ta-Koro's gates before…and none shall this day!"

Blake shot a glance to her girlfriend as she readied Gambol Shroud. "You ready, partner?"

Yang grinned as she pumped her gauntlets, loading fresh rounds into Ember Celica. "Always, babe."

Ruby slotted a new magazine into Crescent Rose, smiling with determination as she pulled back on the charging handle. "No time for big speeches today! Let's do this!"

And with that, the heroes lunged into the fray.

With three Toa and Huntresses each, the battle for Ta-Koro reached its fiercest point yet. Yang led the charge in a storm of furious punches, backed on both sides by the cleaving blades of Ruby and Blake. Her teammates tore through the Rahi like whirling blenders, the long shaft of Crescent Rose and the ribbon of Gambol Shroud giving their sweeping slashes plenty of reach. Gali and Onua hung back and focused on controlling the crowd with their elements, disrupting the horde with waves of water and eruptions of earth. And Tahu concentrated his power into flaming fireballs that surged forward, incinerating anything in the immediate impact point and scattering whatever survived.

Over time, the six of them fell into sync, even finding ways to combine their powers and further thin the swarm. Tahu melted the earth and rubble that Onua lifted, creating waves of lava that burned anything it touched. Gali created pillars of water that trapped Rahi in their depths, which were frozen by Blake's Dust bullets and shattered by Yang's fiery punches. And whenever a flying bug like a Nui-Rama or a Nui-Kopen swooped down for a grab, Ruby was there in a flash of rose petals to intercept the blow and slice them apart.

"You seem quite adept in attacking from above, Ruby," noted Onua during one such save. "Do you wish to fly?"

Silver eyes practically sparkled in delight. "That would be the coolest thing ever!"

"Then brace yourself!"

Ruby did just that as the Toa of Earth grabbed her and triggered his mask power, throwing her with all his strength and sending her soaring straight up into the sky. Yang watched as the little rose became more and more distant, her delighted giggle growing further away before the echoing shots of Crescent Rose rang out. Rahi down on the ground immediately started dropping like flies as piercing sniper bullets struck their weak points; Tarakava flopped as their necks were perforated, Kane-Ra toppled over with exit wounds between the eyes, and Hoto bugs exploded into bursts of phosphor.

"Pfft, showoff," said the blonde brawler with a smirk and a roll of her eyes.

"Wonder where she gets it from," quipped Blake as she cut down a Nui-Rama. "Any idea how much longer it'll take the Matoran to set up those weapons?"

"What, you want to end the date already?" Yang punched out the lights of a Tarakava.

"…you consider this a date?"

"You don't?"

Blake scoffed, but smiled anyway. "You're weird, Yang."

"You know it, you love it. Now come on, babe! Let's do this, Bumblebee style!"

With that, the pair fought with renewed efforts, slashing and punching while standing back to back. Yang grabbed Blake and swung her around on a long solid ribbon, giving her a chance to kick at any Rahi that moved in to surround them. This flowed into the black-haired Faunus launching the blonde at a Kane-Ra, who brought two blazing fists down onto its head and shattered the bony plating of its skull. Another tug on Gambol Shroud pulled Blake up and overhead, who used a Shadow as a springboard to bring her cleaver down on the weakened bull's crown. Then Yang leapt with the ribbon gripped tightly in one hand while her partner anchored herself, swinging the brawler around like a flaming wrecking ball. Every other punch on the beasts in her path left a bright red proximity mine in her wake; when Blake finally yanked to bring Yang back into her arms, a pump of the latter's fist detonated the grenades in explosions of fire just as the former caught and dipped her partner in one smooth motion.

"…I love you," they said almost at the same time, their kiss highlighted by the fireworks around them.

The sound of a loud horn echoing across the battlefield cut the moment short.

"The signal of the Guardsmen!" shouted Tahu as he loosed one more fiery blast. "Everyone, to the walls! Now!"

Yang took Blake's hand in her own as she made a mad dash back to the village, punching a path through the crowd ahead as her partner fired her pistol behind them. Ruby crashed back to earth and hit the ground sprinting, running normally for a moment before dashing and scooping up her teammates in a burst of her Semblance. The mass of red, yellow, and black rose petals surged across the battlefield, landing on top of Ta-Koro's walls just as the Toa leapt across the bridgeless gap.

"We're clear!" declared Ruby, still standing at the ready. "Do the thing!"

"Ready!" shouted Jaller, standing in front of several dozen Ta-Matoran all armed with giant crimson tubes. "Aim! Fire!"

The air was filled with the sound of heavy thumping and whistling projectiles, as rockets made of pure lava flew into the sky like fireworks before careening down into the charging horde. Each projectile detonated with the force and fury of a thousand suns, creating blinding flashes of gold and orange across the battlefield. Rahi that were "lucky" enough to survive the heat and explosive impact found themselves thrown backwards and smashed into each other…or worse, they found themselves launched into the puddles of magma that formed with every mortar round. Anything that wasn't done in by the artillery was instead pelted with rods of molten glass, which hardened into obsidian moments before striking and tearing through armor, flesh, and bone.

Realizing that nothing - not even serving the will of Makuta - was worth navigating literal hellfire, the Rahi lowed and screeched in defeat before running away in a disorganized crowd.

The Matoran in the village walls waited with bated breath for a moment, before they all erupted into cheers. Yang whooped and hollered right along with them, scooping up Ruby and Blake in both arms and spinning them around. And even though Tahu was clearly annoyed that others had come to share in the glory, he still looked pleased with himself as he vaulted over the barricades to join the Huntresses and his people atop the wall.

"Thank you for your valor today, Captain," said the Toa of Fire to his yellow-masked counterpart. "History will remember you and your Guards as the true victors of this battle."

Jaller snapped a salute to Tahu. "Perhaps it will, but let it never be forgotten how you, along with the others, are what truly delivered us from the claws of Makuta."

Tahu's brow furrowed as he looked at Gali and Onua, both of whom had finished their climb up the village walls to meet him. "Yes…others…"

The cheering and celebrating quieted as a pair of soft footsteps approached. Yang stopped spinning just in time to see Vakama walking up to them, with eyes that glowed as bright as his firestaff and a smile that outshone them both. He approached the Huntresses and bowed in reverence, then turned and did the same for the Toa. Ruby curtseyed with a small giggle, Blake gave a small nod and smile, Yang flashed a thumbs-up with a smirk, while Onua and Gali returned the gesture with deep bows of their own.

"On behalf of Ta-Koro, I thank you for your aid," intoned the Turaga. "Ruby and Blake, Yang spoke highly of you when she first arrived…I see now why her first thoughts were of you and you alone. You are every bit as noble and strong as she implied you were in her stories, and the flames of courage burn bright within your souls. This village will never forget you or what you have done for us, and neither shall I."

"Aw, shucks…" Ruby said with a blush, scratching a nonexistent itch on her neck. Blake merely nodded and hummed in appreciation, leaning her head against Yang's shoulder and letting the blonde brawler kiss her crown.

"Furthermore, I also wish to extend my gratitude to the Toa of Earth and Water, for I know our lands can be inhospitable to those not of Fire…yet you came to help regardless, all of your own accord. I cannot possibly thank you enough, great ones."

"There is no need for thanks," rumbled Onua. "We are sworn to the safety of all Matoran, not just those in our own villages."

"It is our Duty and our Destiny to stand in Unity," agreed Gali as she cast a glance to the one between them. "I hope that you can now see that, brother."

Tahu began to fume, but instead took a deep calming breath. "My intention was never to disrupt the team. I…"

He looked to Yang, who nodded, and continued.

"I…apologize, for what I said and how I acted at Kini-Nui," he said with a slow sigh. "I was rash and presumptuous, and merely wished to decide on a plan to save Mata Nui quickly, rather than correctly. The Matoran have suffered in our absence for a thousand years; I had my heart set on not letting them suffer one day more. It does not excuse my behavior, I realize…and I hope you can find it in yourselves to forgive my temper and my actions."

Gali's gaze softened somewhat, while Onua simply chuckled and laid a claw on his fiery brother's shoulder. Tahu stiffened up at the touch, but eventually he relaxed and found the courage to look the black-armored figure in the eye.

"If forgiveness is what you seek, you already have mine," rumbled the Toa of Earth. "We all acted poorly at the temple, possibly due to my impatience to meet you all. So eager was I to reunite Blake with her people, I did not consider that we would all need space to adjust to these new and unusual circumstances. Yet I can see that your time since then has been spent growing and learning…as have I. If you would have me, I would be glad to save this island by your side, under your leadership."

The Toa of Water finally smiled beneath her mask and stepped closer. "We all have been shaped and molded by our friends from Remnant. Though we still have much to learn and accomplish, I would be glad to do so in the company of my brothers. Perhaps you are ready to lead us, Tahu…or perhaps there is more for my little one to teach you. Either way, I will be there to navigate the waters ahead, should that be your desire."

The Toa of Fire nodded, then held out his fist to bump knuckles with his brother and sister. After some confusion, they returned the gesture with smiles under their masks.

Ruby squealed in delight as she hugged Yang's arm. "They're doing it!" she whispered excitedly. "They're bonding! This! Is! Happening!"

Blake chuckled as she leaned against her partner. "…I think you owe Nora royalties when we get back."

"Eh, I'll just get Weiss to write her a check. She's still rich, right?"

Yang just laughed, putting her arms around her teammates and watching the Toa begin to form their team for the first -

THUD.

A distant rumble echoed through the air, making the blonde brawler's blood freeze in her veins.

THUD.

The Matoran ran to the wall and started looking around, wary of any potential threats as the sound came closer.

THUD.

"What is this?" Tahu snarled as he whipped around. "I thought the attack was finished."

THUD.

"Do not underestimate the machinations of Makuta," said Vakama warily. "Though the horde has passed…I fear he may have simply called them back to make room for something worse."

THUD.

"Something worse than every Rahi on the island attacking us all at once?!" wailed Ruby as she held tighter to Yang (more to keep herself steady). "Like what?!"

THUD.

"I fear we will find out soon, little one!" exclaimed Gali. "Brothers, be ready for anything!"

THUD. THUD. THUD… KRA-BOOM!

The source of the disturbance emerged with an ear splitting roar as the surface of the lava erupted, waves of burning protodermis flying in all directions to make way for a new creature. Yang's breath hitched in her chest as she caught sight of a massive dragon taking flight around the village, slithering like an oily snake across the sky and scattering ash and cinder from its obsidian-like scales. Four sets of claws on the end of powerful muscular legs glowed like ingots in a furnace, tearing out chunks of the surrounding mountain with the most gentle of grazes. Dozens of blank, dead-eyed masks adorned its neck and upper body, each one displayed proudly like a grisly trophy by the long-whiskered reptile that gazed hungrily upon the village of Ta-Koro.

Fear gripped the eye of every Matoran, Toa, and Huntress, followed by confusion and chaos. What was this thing? Where did it come from? And why was it wearing so many masks?

Only Turaga Vakama had a reaction unlike the others - a look of sheer abject terror.

"No…it cannot be," gasped the elder, nearly dropping his firestaff. "I thought…it should not be here…should have been driven off…this…this should not be possible…"

Blake looked down at the trembling Turaga. "You know what this is?"

He nodded. "Indeed…though I wish to Mata Nui himself that I did not…"

"So what is it, then?" Onua tilted his head. "Some new breed of Rahi?"

"Oh…it is so much more than that," intoned Vakama in a fearful whisper. "This creature, this terror of the skies…it is the most fearsome Rahi to ever plague our world. It is a beast so powerful that it shapes mountains and valleys with its breath alone. It is a monster so foul that it needs no infected mask to serve Makuta - for it does so not only willingly, but gladly."

The oily dragon let out another guttural roar as it coiled up in the ash-laden sky, nearly drowning out the Turaga's words.

"Our worst nightmare. The Kanohi Dragon."

Chapter Text

KROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAA.

The ear-piercing cry of the oily dragon rang out like thunder in the ash-gray sky, deafening the ears of those in Ta-Koro far, far below. Blake's Faunus ears pressed flat against her head while her amber eyes watched the hundred-foot-long creature of fire and steel swim and slither through the air, snaking its armored body like a serpent and dropping hot cinders in its wake. Everything about this beast, from its four powerful claws to the smoke billowing from its whisker-laden snout, gave off an aura of menace and might - and if every mask along its scales did indeed belong to a prior victim, then the monster flying overhead truly had a long and storied history of violence.

For Blake, the feeling of Yang's hand in her own was the only thing that kept her grounded.

Turaga Vakama could barely speak as his own terrified eyes tracked the Kanohi Dragon, trembling as painful memories clearly washed over him. "I had no idea such a beast as this still slumbered beneath our island. To think that it would appear now, after a thousand years…this can only be the machinations of Makuta…"

Gali, the Toa of Water, moved to stand just a little closer to Ruby. "Nokama warned me that older, powerful Rahi lingered in the waters surrounding Mata Nui. Perhaps creatures like this wait in every Wahi, to be awakened by their master?"

Tahu furrowed his brow in annoyance, clearly not interested in the mythology behind the new arrival. "It is just another Rahi, Turaga. It will fall before me, just as the rest have."

Vakama snapped up his gaze. "This beast will not yield to your flames, Tahu, nor will it fear the waters of Gali or the tremors of Onua. There is only one thing that can quell the fury of the Kanohi Dragon - the bitter chill of ice and snow."

Onua hummed thoughtfully. "Then perhaps we should have our Huntress allies reach out to the one who travels with Kopaka. His mastery over his element may give us a chance to -"

"I do not need more help saving my own village," growled the Toa, shifting his mask to that of the Pakari. "If it will not fall to my fire, then it will submit to my strength!"

And with that, Tahu took a strength-enhanced leap off the wall and charged into the fray, yelling a furious challenge to the serpentine Rahi. The Kanohi Dragon let out another deafening roar before diving down to face its opponent, snarling as eyes of angry crimson narrowed in anticipation. Onua and Gali balked at their brother's foolhardiness for a moment, then narrowed their gazes as they too leapt to face the dragon. Blake, meanwhile, held back a moment with her teammates, staring blankly at where the Toa used to be before looking at each other.

"…yeah, I'm definitely pinging Weiss for this," said Ruby as she started furiously tapping on her Scroll.

"Good idea, Rubes," agreed Yang with a nod. "Between her Dust and Kopaka's frostiness, we should have all the ice we need to make this guy chill out. Literally."

Blake suppressed a smirk, then looked at Vakama with determination. "You said this thing's vulnerable to cold. Any other weaknesses we should know about?"

The Turaga furrowed his own brow as he hummed deep in thought. "If memory serves…there is a narrow chink in the armor located on the back of its neck, a scar from earlier battles. It may be possible to deliver a killing blow there, but trying to reach it without first immobilizing it with freezing temperatures would be a fool's errand."

Ruby nodded, folding her Scroll back up and stowing it on her hip. "Alright, I sent the message to Weiss and Kopaka, so hopefully they'll be here soon. Keep a lookout for them, and let me know when they get close. We'll keep the Kanohi Dragon busy for as long as we can."

Vakama bowed respectfully. "May Mata Nui shield you all, girls. Be careful - the Kanohi Dragon is no ordinary Rahi."

"Oh, I'll bet," said Yang with a confident smirk. "But don't worry - we're no ordinary Huntresses, either."

Wishing she had a tenth of the confidence her girlfriend pretended to have, Blake nonetheless took a deep breath to steel her nerves, then leapt with her teammates to face the floating serpent.

This wasn't her first time fighting a dragon, but this Rahi made the Sea Feilong of her home world look like an oversized shrimp.

Massive dragon attacking Takoro! Need ice! Have water, earth, and fire, but not enough! Come here ASAP! Team RWBY needs you! Pretty please, with cake on top?

Weiss's gaze narrowed as she examined her Scroll, oblivious to the harsh desert sunlight or the impassive stare of Kopaka as he fitted a silvery-white Kakama over his existing mask. The Toa of Ice must have realized something was wrong, because he walked over and peered over her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes and quickly explained what she'd read. (One day, she would teach her towering companion how to read the Remnant alphabet.)

Once she finished reading, she looked up to gauge his reaction. Kopaka said nothing at first, but he also didn't need to. The annoyance in his icy-blue eyes was answer enough - to join the defense of Ta-Koro would mean working with the other Toa, and right now that was the last thing he wanted.

"Look, if you're not going to help them, then I will," said Weiss with a frustrated sigh, already pulling up the mask wheel on her Scroll to channel the newly-gained Kakama. "Those are my friends, and I'm not going to abandon them. Not without a fight."

She was just about to press the button when she felt a cold hand clamp around her wrist. Weiss whirled around and prepared to really ream into the Toa of Ice for not even letting her leave, only for her own pale blue eyes to widen as Kopaka picked her up and tucked her under his shoulder. The ivory titan didn't throw down his shield or channel his element this time - with the Mask of Speed in his possession, sledding everywhere on a path of ice was no longer necessary.

"Save your strength," he said icily. "Using the masks like that drains your Aura, and you'll need as much as possible for the fight. I'll get you there - get us both there."

Despite the embarrassment at being carried around like a piece of luggage, Weiss nonetheless smiled with pride as the Toa of Ice triggered his new mask and took off in a silvery-white blur.

The first time Yang came to Mata Nui, she didn't think it was possible for the Charred Forest to burn twice.

Yet as she ran towards the site of battle (alongside her sister and her partner) she watched one blackened tree after another burst into flames, lit by the ink-black fire that spewed from the mouth of the airborne Kanohi Dragon. She caught glimpses of the other Toa moving and attacking through the trees - Onua dug up massive chunks of earth and hurled them with all his might, while Gali fired blasts of water from her palms - but the oily serpent in the sky weaved its way through everyone's attempts to knock it down. It retaliated with another ground-shaking roar and a wide blast of hellfire, making the Toa of Water seek cover as her brother quickly burrowed for safety.

Only Tahu stood his ground against the dragon's rage, extending one hand to keep the flames at bay with his elemental power.

"Your fires are nothing compared to mine, monster!" he roared as he reached for a fallen log with his gauntlet. "If you mean to fight us, then come down here and do so already!"

The Toa of Fire's challenge was punctuated by a forceful throw of the charred trunk, the Mask of Strength allowing him to toss the enormous fallen tree like it was nothing. The Kanohi Dragon paused its fiery assault just long enough to snatch up the hurled object before it could hit, shattering the log with one powerful snap of its jaws. Another deafening roar followed as it plunged down to meet Tahu's challenge head-on, slamming its front claws into the ground with enough force to make the horizon itself tremble. Leaping to avoid the impact, Tahu struck back with both fists, pummeling the dragon's face with a series of jabs and hooks.

"Is…is he actually punching the dragon?!" groaned Ruby as they continued running.

"…look I never said that my Toa was the smartest one of the bunch," admitted Yang sheepishly.

"At least his form is on point," noted Blake. She looked at her girlfriend with a wry smile. "Wonder where he learned that?"

"Hey, punching dragons wasn't supposed to be covered until next week," quipped the blonde brawler.

"Then let's help him out to make sure he can have those lessons," retorted the feline Faunus as she collapsed Gambol Shroud into a pistol. "Ice Dust bullets are loaded and ready."

"Same here!" chimed in Ruby, slotting a magazine marked with a snowflake into Crescent Rose.

Yang pumped her arms to unload the shells in Ember Celica, replacing them with two belts of cyan-colored slugs into the gauntlet on her left wrist and the cannon in her right. "Then let's bring the cold wave, ladies!"

"…Yang why are you like this."

"You love it, sis!"

And with that the Huntresses surged into the clearing where Tahu and the Kanohi Dragon struggled against each other, opening fire with their weapons and pelting the hundred-foot-long lizard's hide with icy bullets. Gali and Onua landed on either side of them and added their own elements to the mix, their blasts striking true now that the mighty Rahi had landed and was an easy target. The Kanohi Dragon barely even flinched under the onslaught of the attacks - if anything, it seemed more annoyed at the tiny creatures that kept shooting it and trying to stop it. So it merely settled for swinging its tail around and swiping at them, before swatting the Toa of Fire into their group and knocking everyone over like bowling pins.

They all had just enough time to disentangle themselves from the pile of limbs before the dragon moved to squash its foes, bringing its claws to bear in mighty swipes and leaving burning cinders with each mark in the ground. Scattered in different directions, they all tried to attack the mighty Rahi from every angle, only to find themselves falling one by one. Onua switched to his Hau to block a downward strike, only to be knocked aside by a swipe from his blind spot. Blake left frozen clones of herself to dodge the slashes, but left herself open for a swinging tail to knock her into - and through - a dozen dead trees. Ruby and Gali flipped and ducked and fired off attacks while moving, only for the former to be batted away while the latter was doused in searing hellfire. And Yang's hair burst into flames as she triggered her Semblance, channeled all the damage she'd taken into one powerful attack on the beast's unguarded flank; the Kanohi Dragon took it easily, and responded with an even stronger blow that shattered what was left of her Aura - along with what felt like every bone in her body.

"YANG!"

The blonde brawler fell to her knees as the golden field of energy fizzled away, taking her strength with it. She was vaguely aware of Blake's desperate cry as the Kanohi Dragon slammed its claws down on either side of her, opening its jaw and lowering its teeth to bite her head right off her shoulders…

But the sound of whirring servos snapped the world back into focus, as she caught sight of Tahu - empowered by the Mask of Strength - standing over her while prying the jaws of the Rahi apart with his bare hands.

"You will not harm the Matoran or the humans!" snarled the Toa of Fire. "Not while the power of Mata Nui still flows through my being!"

Awww. He does care about me, thought Yang, although her mouth was too full of blood to comment.

She felt a ribbon wrap around her waist and yank her back into the trees, pulling her roughly into the arms of her girlfriend. The feline Faunus took off in a sprint, carrying her partner bridal-style and panting heavily. Yang smiled up at Blake as thanks for the save and the lift back into the fight, then blinked in confusion as she noticed that the battlefield wasn't getting closer - it was getting farther away.

"Blake," she coughed, "did you get lost? The fight's back that way."

"I know, but Ta-Koro is this way," countered her partner between heavy breaths.

"You're just grabbing me and running away? Blake, come on, we talked about this. You can't just keep running from problems - "

"But I can't lose you again, either!" Blake shrieked, looking back with amber eyes full of tears.

Yang was about to prepare a counter argument when the notification sound for both their Scrolls suddenly rang out. She pulled her device out of a scorched pocket, scanned the two-word message, and let out a small laugh.

You won't.

A silvery-white blur suddenly rushed past the two of them, one that left a trail of frost in its wake. Icicles sprouted up from the ground and shot into the sky, joining the dozens of razor-sharp frozen spears that floated and followed the new arrival. Several dozen glyphs appeared in a spiral around the Kanohi Dragon and gave the speeding warriors a path to run along, slash their swords at the armored Rahi as they passed by. When Weiss and Kopaka left the loop and skidded to a halt they made one final swing with their weapons, combining the icicles and the glyphs into one mighty lance of ice that crashed against the beast's head and shattered into trillions of pieces.

"Weissssss!" Ruby cried excitedly as she pushed a fallen tree off herself. "You came!"

"Of course I came!" The former heiress rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same as she brandished Myrtenaster.

Onua chuckled as he rose to his feet. "It would seem you have a knack for dramatic entrances, brother," he rumbled with a smile behind his mask.

Kopaka merely grunted in response, narrowing his gaze as he watched the Kanohi Dragon stagger from the impact of the frozen strike. While it wavered on its legs for a moment, it eventually shook its head and let out a deafening roar at the new arrival.

"Well that didn't work as well as we hoped," noted Weiss as she looked up at her Toa. "Plan B?"

"Plan B," agreed the Toa of Ice, plunging his sword into the ground to summon a cold mist across the battlefield. The Kanohi Dragon was enveloped in a cloud of white, snarling impotently and swiping uselessly at empty air. A pair of glyphs appeared in thin air and fired frozen arrows into its eyes, blinding it even further and drawing another deafening roar. Before it could unleash a fiery blast on its breath, Kopaka twisted his blade and snap-froze the mist into one solid block that trapped the creature in a thick layer of ice.

Yang had to admit, she was impressed.

Although given how hard Kopaka tried to hide his slumped shoulders and buckling knees, she could only guess it was a hard trick to pull off even for a Toa of Ice. Weiss retreated with her taller companion, running over to Blake and Yang while keeping one eye on the trapped dragon. Ruby rushed over with a gasp and a burst of rose petals, and soon Tahu, Gali, and Onua came over to join the improvised meeting.

"That should buy us all a few minutes, but it won't hold forever," said Weiss with a small pant. "Is everyone okay?"

Yang groaned as Blake set her back on her feet, doing her best to avoid dropping to her knees. "Oh, we're doing just swell. I mean, sure, my Aura's completely gone, every part of me hurts, Ruby and Blake are in the red, and the Toa are getting their shiny metal asses handed to them…but other than that, I think we got this!"

Ruby's eyes softened, then she reached into her pockets. "I might be able to help with some of those problems. Here."

She pulled out some weird cross between a blackberry and a metal motor, unscrewing two of the big bulbous seeds and passing them to the Bumblebee duo. Then she let her silver eyes fall onto the last seed, pausing momentarily before biting into it with a shrug. Yang stared at the strange berry she'd been handed, feeling the weight and firmness of the fruit against her palm. What was this thing?

Onua answered the unasked question. "Ah…a Vuata Maca berry. A rare fruit, but a very potent one all the same. I was not aware humans could benefit from its energizing juices."

"I've had this one since Macku and I went to go look for help in Ga-Koro," said Ruby, her face puckered up like she'd bitten into the world's most sour lemon. "It's the only one I've seen, though, so don't expect any more from me."

Blake regarded the Vuata Maca berry curiously. "…is now really the time for a snack break?" she asked, casting a glance back at the thrashing terror behind them.

"Just eat it, trust me. It'll bring your Aura back to full in just a few moments."

With a shrug, Yang bit into her fruit - and almost choked on the acidic juice that shot out. Yet by the time she finished eating she could already already feel her strength returning, the golden glow of her Aura slowly rippling and reforming over her skin. She winced as the protective field of energy immediately went to work on healing her, knitting together torn flesh and setting fractured bones back into place. A slight cough next to her told her that Blake had polished off her berry as well, her own Aura flaring up in a flash of violet.

"Hah…man, that beats Oobleck's coffee any day!" Yang said with a laugh.

Weiss nodded. "Great. So while you two recover, let's talk strategy. What's the plan?"

Tahu furrowed his brow. "The plan is to bring this beast down before it can harm my people."

Kopaka scoffed. "If that's your idea of a plan, then no wonder you're struggling. To think that our 'fearless leader' cannot take a beast of fire on his own…"

"And what would you propose we do, brother?" growled the Toa of Fire. "Pelt it with snowballs and dazzle it with tricks?"

"It would certainly be more effective than trying to punch it into submission," snapped the Toa of Ice.

Yang scowled and grunted as she grabbed her newly-healed ribs. "Hey, guys? Is there any chance we can save this new episode of 'Whose Crankshaft is Bigger' until after we deal with the giant dragon?!"

Blake barely managed to suppress her snort. Ruby failed to muffle her snicker, while Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Yang is correct," said Gali with a harshness in her yellow eyes. "We must work together to bring down this beast. We need to - ngh…"

The Toa of Water sank to her knees, planting her hands against the ground as she wavered on unsteady joints. Ruby was by her side in an instant, looking over her in concern. Onua was next to come to her side, and even Tahu and Kopaka watched in worry.

"Gali, are you okay?" asked the silver-eyed Huntress. "Are you hurt?"

"Not physically, no," rasped Gali. "However, the heat of Ta-Wahi saps my strength, and the blasts of flame I have taken from the Kanohi Dragon only accelerates my fatigue. I fear my stores of elemental energy are running dry, and there is not enough moisture in the air here to replenish it."

Ruby looked at the half-eaten Vuata Maca berry, then offered it to Gali. "Here, will this help?"

She waved off the gift. "Very kind of you, little one, but you need it more than I. It will not help with the heat, in any case."

"There is a beach nearby," said Onua. "Perhaps if I were to take you there, you could absorb the waters of the sea to recharge?"

"That will suffice," said Gali, looking sorrowfully at Ruby. "I am sorry to leave you, when you need me most…"

"Don't be sorry," consoled Ruby, resting a hand on her mask. "We can handle things here. I don't want you to push yourself against this thing - we all need to be at our best to beat it. Go with Onua to charge up, and don't come back until you're completely ready. Alright?"

The Toa of Water nodded reluctantly, then hissed in pain as Onua slung her over his shoulder while switching to the Mask of Speed. A black and blue blur raced away from the battlefield, leaving everyone else behind to stare at the half-shattered prison of ice. The Kanohi Dragon clearly wasn't courteous enough to sit and do nothing while the Huntresses and Toa had their huddle - with thrashing claws and snapping tail, it was well on its way to freeing itself.

"That thing's gonna break out any minute now," said Blake pointedly, "and we're down two Toa with still no plan. What do we do now?"

"Remember what Vakama said?" Ruby piped up. "The Kanohi Dragon doesn't like ice or frost, and it has a weak point in its armor on the back of its head. We've got two of the best masters of that element now - we just need to keep hitting it with cold attacks to slow it down long enough to strike."

"That still isn't a plan," Kopaka said icily. "This beast shrugged off one of my most powerful blasts, and even now it's clawing its way out of my strongest trap. It'll take more than just a Toa of Ice to slow it down enough to weaken its armor."

Ruby looked down at her feet. "Well, then maybe we could - "

"Perhaps a mountain, then?"

Everyone turned to face the source of the new voice, puzzled by the sudden appearance of a Matoran who almost certainly wasn't there before. The newcomer was clad in red metal from mask to toe, gazing up at them curiously through the eye holes of his powerless Pakari. Kopaka raised his sword by instinct, Tahu groaned, and three-fourths of Team RWBY tilted their heads in confusion.

Only Yang didn't seem all that surprised, laughing softly as she waved at her first friend on Mata Nui. "Sup, Kapura?" she said nonchalantly. "How's the practice going?"

"It is going quite well, Yang, thank you." Kapura smiled under his mask, then gestured with his hand. "I have actually just returned from Mount Ihu. It is several times larger than even our own Mangai. The mountain has layers upon layers of ice and snow, and even one small shift of a snowflake can bring down a mighty avalanche."

Tahu glared at the strange little Ta-Matoran. "This is hardly the time for riddles, slow one."

"It's not a riddle. It's an idea." Ruby looked back at the Kanohi Dragon as it continued to claw at its icy bonds, the gears in her head spinning and clicking into place. "If we can keep that thing's attention on us, we can lure it away from here and draw it out to Ko-Wahi -"

"- where we bring down the mountain right on top of it," finished Blake with a nod. "Now that sounds like a plan to me."

Kopaka cast an icy glare on the Huntresses. "You're suggesting you drive the beast towards my people?"

"Not your people. Your element." Weiss met her ally's gaze with a resolute stare of her own. "You said it yourself - one Toa of Ice isn't going to be enough to stop this thing. But an avalanche? A huge mound of ice and snow just waiting to fall and crush anything underneath? That might be exactly what we need."

"Using the terrain of Mata Nui to our advantage…" Tahu furrowed his brow as he hummed thoughtfully. "A bold and resourceful plan indeed, but it will require time to set up a controlled disaster of that scale. I doubt the Kanohi Dragon will grant it willingly."

"Which is why my team and I will hold it off while you go on ahead of us," declared Ruby as she handed her Scroll over to Kopaka. "Do you know how to use this?"

"I have studied Weiss when she used hers, yes."

"Perfect." The silver-eyed reaper readied her scythe. "When you're ready, send a message to the group chat and we'll bring it over there. Once we get the dragon into position, you two will trigger the avalanche and bring it down. You're going to have to work together to make this happen - can you do that? Not for yourselves, but for the Matoran. And for us."

The pair of elementally-opposed Toa looked at each other with disgust for a moment, and Yang briefly wondered if the silver-eyed Huntress would have had an easier time convincing Salem to hug a puppy. But eventually Kopaka turned to face Ruby with a tight, if reluctant, nod. Not wanting to be outdone, Tahu did the same - although he was clearly holding back another insult as he looked at the icy warrior.

"Judging by your entrance, I take it you have found the Mask of Speed?" he asked as his Hau shifted to the Kanohi in question.

"I have," answered Kopaka as his mask changed as well. "Watch your step once we reach Ko-Wahi - you may struggle to find traction in my element."

"Hmph. We shall see about that."

And with that, the Toa disappeared in red and white blurs.

"Think they'll actually work together?" asked Blake.

"They have to," said Ruby with a sigh. "This whole plan will fall apart if they don't…but for now, let's focus on this thing. Blake, you attack from the left while I go right. Weiss, Yang, you two take point. We'll be right behind you."

Yang snapped a salute to her sister. "You got it, Rubes. And thanks, Kapura - "

But when she turned to face the unusual Ta-Matoran, he was already gone.

"…dang, he has been practicing."

Weiss just stared in disbelief, then shook her head and readied her sword. The blonde brawler and the white-haired scion leapt back into the fray, watching as the mighty lizard finally clawed through at what was left of its prison. It pulled its snout from the block of ice and looked down at them with a mighty roar, focusing its burning gaze on them and them alone.

"I'm already regretting this idea," groaned Weiss dryly as she looked to her teammate. "I suppose you have a plan?"

"Something like that," said Yang with a wink. "Start with a little Freezerburn, then you can bring out one of your summons while I get his attention. Think you can do that?"

"What do you think?"

"I'll take that as a 'yes,' ice queen."

Vakama watched the distant battle from the walls of Ta-Koro, hands gripping tightly to his firestaff while his knees trembled. As proud as he was of the Toa and the Huntresses bravely holding their own, this development worried him greatly. The Kanohi Dragon was something that not even his own visions had warned him about, and although it appeared to be greatly weakened, it was still clearly powerful enough to challenge warriors from two different worlds.

And yet, the physical danger it presented paled in comparison to the existential one.

For a thousand years the Makuta had toyed with them, tormented them, threatened them using the natural flora and fauna of their island home. He had brought down lightning from the skies and tsunamis from the depths of the sea, and ravaged the land with quakes and famine. Many of the Rahi on this island served him and him alone, launching raids on the villages as they clung tenuously to survival. Yet this was the first time he had called on resources beyond what the island provided - the Kanohi Dragon had never been on Mata Nui before, of this he was certain.

How was this possible, he wondered? Had Makuta truly gone to the lengths to find and release one of the most dangerous Rahi in existence? Had he opened new pathways between the worlds above and below, and lured the great beast to the surface? Or was this even truly the Kanohi Dragon he was familiar with? Perhaps it was a machine that mimicked its appearance and powers? Another member of its species? The village elder had no answers, and that worried him more than anything.

As far as the Matoran knew, Mata Nui had always been their home. But Vakama and the other Turaga knew better; they knew that a once-glistening city lay in ruins far beneath them, abandoned and broken in the wake of Makuta's prior bid for power. Even after a thousand years the village elders still had dreams of a time lost to them, a time where they were nothing more than teachers and archivists and other common jobs that didn't involve keeping the darkness at bay. Those days had long passed, and for the Master of Shadows to bring a reminder of that time to their island…to threaten them now with a secret of the past that should have stayed buried…it sent a clear message to the former mask-maker.

Makuta, on some instinctive level, feared the Huntresses.

To their shadowy adversary, the arrival of warriors from another world was a threat to his idea of order and control, a rogue Nui-Rama that flew into his carefully-constructed webs - and threatened to tear them down just in their struggle to survive. Makuta had once told him that even his setbacks were planned, so that no matter what happened he would emerge the victor, yet he suspected that none of those contingencies included seven powerful human girls appearing alongside the Toa and aiding them in their quest. Part of Vakama took pride in the crumbling confidence of the Master of Shadows, yet the rest of him grew only more worried. A desperate and scared Makuta was far more dangerous than a calm and methodical Makuta, and he doubted that the horrors from the past would cease at just the Kanohi Dragon.

"Turaga Vakama? Isn't there anything we can do?"

The elder looked down at Jaller by his side, standing at attention as usual. Though the Captain's eyes shone with fear, he did his best to conceal it behind the yellow Hau he always wore - the one that brought a fresh wave of pain and regret every time Vakama lay his gaze at it. He shook his head slowly, resting his hand on the brave little Ta-Matoran's head.

"Against a beast like this, even the finest guards will be nothing more than insects," he intoned gently. "And while the heavy weapons saved our village from the horde, they will do nothing against the Kanohi Dragon. The best we can do for now is pray that Mata Nui will deliver victory to the Toa and their allies…for if the dragon does not fall here, darker days lie on the horizon for our island home."

Jaller grunted, then nodded. "I suppose you're right, Turaga. I just…hate feeling helpless like this."

Now there was a sentiment Vakama understood all too well.

"Weiss, go right and target the joints! Bumblebee on point! Keep the pressure on this thing, don't let it fly off!"

Ruby could barely hear her own words over the sounds of gunfire and draconic snarling. She yelped as she ducked under another sweeping claw, firing with Crescent Rose and hitting the Kanohi Dragon in its left shoulder. Across from her Weiss dodged the Rahi's slams and stomps with acrobatic leaps and jumps, each graceful movement accompanied by a swing of Myrtenaster and a blast of Dust-infused glyphs. While the seeking spirals and ice-laced bullets didn't do much but irritate the beast, that was all Team RWBY needed right now. Keep its focus on them, and not on the dozens of vulnerable Matoran or the two Toa working to set up a frosty trap.

While Ruby and her partner kept launching hit-and-run attacks against the Kanohi Dragon's unguarded sides, the other half of their team worked to draw its focus. Blake and Yang practically danced around each other as they fired their weapons at the dragon's snout, constantly reminding the massive Rahi that they were there and ready for a fight. It snarled and met their challenge with snaps of its jaws and quick jets of flame, but both Huntresses were quick and evasive. Blake knew when to run, and Yang knew when to stand their ground; working together, they were untouchable.

"Ruby!" Weiss called out, backflipping to avoid a swipe of its tail. "Shoot the eye on your side! It's less armored than the rest of its face, and it should give Blake and Yang a chance to do some real damage!"

"On it!" Ruby called back, using her Semblance to shoot straight up and avoid the low sweeps of dragon claws. She brought up her weapon, looked down the sights at a crimson eye as tall as she was, breathed out, and fired. A single bullet ripped through the glowing biomechanical flesh, drawing out another scream as the Rahi's head sank low to the ground.

"Nice shot sis! Come on, Blake!"

And with that the blonde brawler tossed up her partner with all her strength, giving the agile Huntress leverage to deliver a series of aerial slashes with her cleaver. A long black ribbon kept the two tethered together as they launched their dual assaults, striking from the air and firing icy rockets from the ground. Blake hopped between Shadows like they were floating platforms as she hacked and shot the scales around the dragon's eyes; when the Rahi growled and raised its head back up to attack, she pulled on the ribbon of Gambol Shroud and flung her partner at the Rahi's snout to grab a handful of long whiskers and pull with all her might.

It did not like that at all.

The Kanohi Dragon roared and screamed at the Huntress hanging by the sensitive hairs on its face, plumes of smoke and ash billowing with its breath as it whipped its head around in an attempt to shake her off. Blake found herself slammed into the ground hard enough to lose her grip on her partner, bouncing and grunting and rolling across the battlefield. Yang just responded by wrapping the sinewy tube around her arm and planted her feet against the tip of its jaw, firing blasts of ice dust from Ember Celica into its gaping maw while it raged. As explosions of frost tore apart the flesh within, and as Weiss and Ruby kept pelting the armor on its neck, the dragon snapped its teeth together and tried to bite down on the most immediate threat. It was all Yang could do but jump while still suspended to make sure she didn't lose her other arm, too - or a leg, or a head, or (worst of all) a lock of hair.

"Ugh, seriously dude?" she yelled as she switched tactics, repeatedly punching the nearest exposed dragon tooth. "I'm trying to make your breath a little more palatable and minty-fresh, and this is the thanks I get?"

Another ear-splitting roar told the team that the massive reptilian Rahi was not amused.

"Sheesh, dentists get no respect." The blonde brawler took a leap of faith off the dragon, winking as she flipped in mid-air. "But hey, since you've been such a good patient…I left a little something for you in your fangs."

She pumped her arm back and twisted her wrist before landing on her feet, and soon the air was filled with the sound of rapid beeping. The half-dozen or so red explosive charges detonated with explosive fury, weakening the roots of the fang they stuck to and blowing loose centuries of dried protodermis-based fluids. The Kanohi Dragon screamed in fury, slamming down on all fours and releasing another torrent of pitch-black flame from deep within its gullet. This time, instead of quick bursts of fire, it swept its burning breath across the battlefield in the hopes of incinerating any Huntress caught in its path.

Blake and Yang, who both had the Mask of Shielding on their Scrolls, quickly pressed the right buttons to fortify their Auras just before the river of flame washed over them. Yellow and violet orbs of energy encompassed them, reducing the burning fire from "flesh-melting" to just "agonizing."

Ruby didn't have that luxury.

The shockwave from its claws knocked the red reaper off her feet, leaving her defenseless and unable to escape the black blaze that threatened to consume her. Before it could, a woman in blue and white put herself between Ruby and the dragon, slamming her sword into the ground to create a pillar of earth that suddenly towered over them. Weiss pressed her back to the wall she created and pulled her partner into the makeshift cover, holding her tightly as heat and fury surged around them. Tongues of flame scorched her clothes and her Aura, but Ruby felt protected by her partner…in more than just a physical sense.

"Th-thanks…" she gasped, squeezing the heiress just as tightly.

Weiss nodded firmly as she cast a glance to their earthen barrier, which was already starting to glow as the heat melted it into magma. "That's not going to hold forever, and when it's gone we'll be next. If you have a crazy idea, Ruby Rose, now would be an excellent time."

The silver-eyed Huntress leaned as far as she dared to look over their cover, and grinned as she spotted one of the dragon's teeth dangling by a literal thread. A clear point of pain, judging by its reactions, and one that was ripe for exploiting. Only problem was that the wall of flames around them would need to stop, if only for a moment, and neither of them were in a good position to attack. Not without losing their only source of protection.

Unless…

"Hey Weiss," said Ruby with a grin. "Remember how you and Kopaka met?"

"You're bringing that up now?!" Weiss snapped, then her eyes widened. "Ohhhhh…"

Her grin only widened as she unfolded Crescent Rose. "On my signal. One…two…now!"

With a mighty yell Weiss swung Myrtenaster and its amber blade, sending the wall of stone and rocks flying forward with incredible force. The Kanohi Dragon's fiery onslaught was cut off by the barrage of earth battering against its face, and while it was the briefest of pauses, it was all Ruby needed. She surged forward in a burst of rose petals and spun with her scythe, her blade effortlessly cleaving through the weakened muscle fibers. Another pained howl assaulted her ears as the dragon tooth went flying out of its mouth alongside her; she fired two more frost-covered bullets into the holes she was pretty sure the flames came from, plugging it shut with two thick layers of ice before she hit the ground.

Blake immediately rushed over to help her fallen leader back to her feet. "Nice work, you two."

"Yeah, great job finishing what I started," agreed Yang as she joined her sister, grinning as she glanced at the stolen fang. "And you even got us a souvenir, too! Wonder if anyone on the island knows how to work with…whatever Kanohi Dragon teeth are made of."

"Let's worry about that kind of stuff after we're done here!" Weiss shouted as she backpedaled away from the writhing dragon while launching icy blasts from her glyphs. "Even if it can't use its fire breath now, it still has claws and teeth and a nasty attitude! And once it adapts to the new pain, it won't hesitate to use them!"

Ruby nodded and readied her rifle once more. "Then let's hope that Tahu and Kopaka get into position soon!"

BWOOP.

Yang pulled out her Scroll to reveal…a message containing a bunch of random letters and numbers. "Speaking of which…I think this is their way of confirming that," she said with a soft chuckle. "So let's get this guy's big scaly butt over to the mountain already!"

Weiss nodded. "Give me some cover while I get us some wings!"

"You got it, partner! Ladybug!"

With that simple command the red and black-clad Huntresses opened fire and went to work, diving once more into melee while peppering the armored dragon with frost-coated bullets. The myriad scratches and patches of ice began to build across the Rahi's scales, and though none of their attacks penetrated the armor, it annoyed and insulted the furious beast all the same. Yang fired a few more salvos of ice-tipped missiles from Ember Celica over their heads, exploding into frozen flames that blinded and enraged the Kanohi Dragon even further. Finally, Weiss conjured up what could only be described as a massive mechanical hawk, which took flight with jet-like engines as soon as all four girls leapt onto its back. The dragon took a running leap into the air to pursue them, slithering through the sky like an oily serpent.

Blake looked down at Weiss's choice of summon with a raised eyebrow. "I thought the Kahu were peaceful Rahi, with none of them under Makuta's control. Why do you have one as a summon?"

The heiress blushed. "That's, uh…that's a long story."

"Feel free to tell us later!" shouted Ruby as she fired at the dragon behind them, egging it on with more shots from Crescent Rose. "For now, let's keep this thing following us! Go ahead and switch to normal Dust bullets - I think we have its attention no matter what we do!"

Yang pumped her shotgun gauntlets and slapped in her usual shells. "Good, cause I was almost out of Ice Dust anyways. Time to show this overgrown lizard what Team RWBY can really do!"

And as the spectral bird soared in the sky, the booming chorus of the Huntress's projectiles rang out like thunder and struck their prey like lightning. The dragon blasted quick jets of smoky-black flame from its maw to purge the ice clogging its channels, then let out another fierce roar as it followed them with blazing lances and lunging bites. Weiss guided her summon with precision and grace, Yang and Blake kept pouring on the Dust and calling out incoming attacks, and Ruby's eye barely left the scope of her rifle as Crescent Rose sang her battle song.

Looks like we've got our part well in hand, thought the silver-eyed leader to herself. Hopefully Tahu and Kopaka are doing alright with theirs.

"You are certain the message was sent?"

"I'm sure of it."

"Can you see them?"

"Not yet, but I will as soon as they leave the shadow of Mangai."

"How soon will they be here?"

"I don't know. Have patience. And try not to blow so much hot air around - you'll fog up my lenses."

Tahu furrowed his brow as he sat on the snow-covered edge of Mount Ihu, gripping his fiery sword anxiously and swinging his legs tensely. Next to him the sleek white armor of Kopaka nearly blended into the surrounding environment, appearing invisible even though he knew his brother was standing right next to him. The Toa of Ice was currently using the scope built into his mask to scan the horizon for the monstrous Kanohi Dragon; while he was tempted to summon his own Akaku to check for himself, he didn't want to give Kopaka the satisfaction of seeing him struggle.

So the Toa of Fire busied himself by looking down at the trap they'd thrown together, running through the plan again in his mind. Thanks to their combined elements, entire sections of a huge chunk of ice and snow had been melted by his heat and flame, only to be hastily refrozen in a more fragile pattern by Kopaka's mastery of frost. The entire structure sagged and groaned under the weight of what felt like half the mountain itself - all Tahu had to do when the time came was unleash a wave of fire at the base of the supports, and the entire thing would come tumbling down on top of whatever was unlucky enough to be underneath.

Which, hopefully, would include the Kanohi Dragon, and would not include himself, the Huntresses, or even his own brother.

"Here they come."

Kopaka's words snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see a speck of white on the horizon followed by what could only be described as an oily black serpent streaking across the sky. Though he couldn't make out the details himself, Tahu could see that the shapes were approaching very quickly - and they were coming directly towards them and their trap. As they closed in he could see with his naked eye that the four colored figures on the giant bird were fighting in perfect tandem alongside each other, firing their strange weapons at the Kanohi Dragon and leaning in unison to avoid the Rahi's counterattacks.

They come from many walks of life, even on their own world, mused the Toa of Fire, yet it is as Yang said - they work together not in spite of their differences, but because of them. If they can achieve such Unity…why, then, would we not be able to do the same?

He pushed those thoughts aside for the moment, rising to his feet as he raised his sword of fire. "Tell me when, brother."

"On my mark," Kopaka responded with a nod. "We must time this carefully - we only have one chance at this."

Tahu nodded as well, pouring elemental energy into his sword while the Toa of Ice did the same. Eyes of crimson and cobalt watched the flying mount of Team RWBY carefully, tracking its flight as it led the Kanohi Dragon into the valley below. The spectral Kahu disappeared as the Huntresses dismounted and hit the ground with rolls; a series of black runes appeared when Weiss swung her sword, which imbued Yang's projectiles with some form of strange energy that forced the dragon to the ground with a mighty slam.

"Now!"

He didn't need to be told twice. With a mighty roar Tahu unleashed the energy he'd been storing in his blade, creating a wave of fire that surged through the air and sheared through the icy supports. Kopaka swung his own weapon as well, channeling his power over ice and snow to shatter the beams into showers of frozen shards. The mountainside lurched and rumbled and nearly drowned out the sound of similar structures snapping under the sudden shift in weight, and before long the simple shockwave cascaded into a full-on collapse.

The avalanche had begun.

"It is time we left!" said the Toa of Fire as he tried and failed to steady himself.

Kopaka nodded and threw down his shield. "The Mask of Speed won't help us while the ground itself is shifting. Hop on!"

Tahu did as instructed, standing behind the Toa of Ice and mirroring his movements as the two slid down the collapsing mountainside. Mounds of shifting snow and crumbling hills passed by at high speeds, though as fast as they were going he could tell it wasn't fast enough. Not when a literal wave of icy boulders was tumbling down behind them crushing anything in their path, and he doubted even Toa armor could withstand such an impact.

But perhaps, if I were to combine my power with his once more…

He narrowed his gaze and shifted his footing to press his back against the Toa of Ice, pooling his energy into his sword and unleashing it in a hot flame. The Toa of Fire had seen Yang control her momentum and propel herself using the recoil of her gauntlet-mounted weapons, which themselves seemed to function off the rapidly-expanding gasses of a controlled explosion. Perhaps he could do something similar with his own power? It wouldn't hurt to try, at least.

Sure enough, he must have been doing something, because the wave of death seemed to grow smaller and smaller with each passing moment. It wasn't anything Kopaka did either, because he looked over his shoulder in confusion at the burst of speed.

"What are you doing?" he asked, barely audible over the crumbling world around him.

"Giving us thrust!" Tahu shouted back. "We need it to outrun the mountain! Steer us well brother - our survival depends on it!"

Rather than argue, the Toa of Ice merely nodded and turned back to the task at hand, leaning from left to right to avoid the glaciers that seemed to emerge out of the churning sea of snow. Every element of the collapsing mountain seemed determined to bring them down with it: the chunks of ice at their back, the splashes of frost on their sides, even the wind itself seemed to push against them and their desperate escape. Tahu furrowed his brow and poured more energy into his flame to heat the air around them, ignoring the building mental strain and the cold death that conspired around him.

Despite the danger, Kopaka was as cool as his surroundings during the entire descent. He barely even flinched as flakes of frost flew at speeds fast enough to scratch his armor, only tilting his head or his shoulder just enough to avoid the larger chunks. His eyes seemed to track obstacles before they even appeared, and often when they did he was already swerving to the side and avoiding them. When there came walls of snow and ice that were too large to avoid he simply smashed through with one swing of his sword, clearing a way forward while hardly even expending elemental energy. It was clear to even the Toa of Fire that his brother was in his element - in every sense of the word.

I suppose even he has things to teach one such as me, he reluctantly admitted to himself. Things that he can do which I cannot. Perhaps this is what Yang meant when she said that just because our elements oppose each other, we do not have to?

After what felt like an eternity of outrunning death itself, their speed eventually exceeded that of the collapsing mountain. It was a split second of relief, but it was all that Kopaka needed to create an icy ramp that diverted them into the air and sent them sailing high above the battlefield. Tahu watched as their escape platform was swept up in the wall of white, disappearing into the wild untamed power of the avalanche as it crashed into the valley below.

The Huntresses, quick and alert, were fast enough to escape the worst of the falling snow.

The Kanohi Dragon, large and distracted, was not.

A piercing scream escaped the Rahi's throat as it realized too late the danger coming its way. It let out bursts of jet-black flames from its maw to fight back against the natural disaster, but no amount of fire in its belly could have conquered the ice that fell around it - and no amount of fury in its heart could compare to the rage of the mountain. Waves of snow crashed and flowed like the swells of a churning sea, glaciers slammed against each other and shattered like glass with every impact, and chunks of frozen stone rained down and crushed anything that tried to withstand the full force of the mighty avalanche.

After a solid minute of relentless noise like thunder, the frosty barrage finally ended in a deafening silence.

Tahu kept a close eye on the enormous mound of ice and rubble that covered the Kanohi Dragon, cutting the flow of energy to his sword and allowing gravity to take them once again. Kopaka steered their sled back to the ground, sliding down the result of their hard work before finally skidding to a halt in front of several suspicious bumps of snow. The two Toa shared a begrudging nod of respect, then stepped off the shield and scanned the area around them.

"Is everyone alright?" asked the Toa of Ice as he picked up his shield.

A pile of snow shifted slightly to reveal a length of red fabric underneath, as Ruby emerged from the avalanche's aftermath with her signature cloak drawn over her and Weiss's heads. "All good here! That was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen…did it work?"

"I sure hope so," said a muffled-sounding Blake as her topmost ears popped out of a snowbank and twitched to shake off the light dusting, followed by the rest of her. "Cause that's yet another thing that I don't ever wanna do again. Where's Yang?"

"Right here!" laughed the blonde brawler as she pulled herself down from the tree that the shockwave had launched her into. "Totally fine! Thanks for worrying about me, though."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Oh sure, you worry about her more than you do your teammates, now that you're dating. Fine, I see how it is…"

"Says the girl who still hasn't let go of my waist," said Ruby glibly.

The heiress's face grew red as her arms withdrew. "O-oh. Was I? I didn't realize I had even - "

Ruby cut her off by pulling her back in. "Hey, I never said it bothered me. Hold on for as long as you want. You won't hear me complaining."

"Right…thanks…"

Blake and Yang just shared a knowing glance. Tahu tilted his head. Kopaka narrowed his eyes as he turned his gaze back to the mound of fallen snow, raising his sword suddenly.

"Don't get too comfortable," he said. "I can see the dragon still moving around under the rubble. It's been weakened, and wounded…but it's not dead yet."

"A problem easily remedied," said Tahu as his sword came alive once more. "Huntresses, ready yourselves!"

Despite their fatigue Team RWBY nodded and drew their own weapons, standing at the ready for the moment the Kanohi Dragon would dramatically burst from the aftermath of the avalanche. They didn't have to wait very long - the top half of the serpentine Rahi soon erupted from the pile of ice and snow, scattering ash-white powder and red-hot cinders in its wake. Cracks and sparks lined its armored frame as burning oil dripped from its joints, boiling away the frozen water with sheer heat alone. While its eyes still blazed with hatred, the crimson lights had dimmed somewhat, and the smoke that wafted out of its nostrils no longer choked the air with pungent fumes. The cold had taken its toll on the beast, but rather than free its lower body and potentially escape, the dragon instead slammed its claws on the ground and issued a final challenging roar to the assembled Toa and Huntresses.

KROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

And just like that, its fate was sealed.

The six warriors fought and acted like one unified whole. Ruby pulsed her Semblance and swept up Blake to swirl around the dragon's head, pelting it with bullets from their strange cannons. Kopaka and Weiss launched barrages of frost from their blades, while Tahu donned the Mask of Strength to assault the Rahi's claws alongside Yang. Each powerful punch, each piercing shot, and each frosty blast robbed the beast of a little more strength, eroding its armor and its dwindling energy stores with every attack they landed.

For its part, the Kanohi Dragon did not go down without a fight. It snapped its jaws and swept its claws with intent to crush and rend, shooting quick blasts of smoky flames to incinerate distant targets. But it soon found its attacks would have no purchase; the team instinctively moved to cover the weaknesses of others. When the dragon snapped its jaws at Yang, Kopaka rushed to punish it with a slash of his icy blade. When it swatted at the Toa of Ice, Ruby and Blake swooped in and distracted it. When it opened its maw to breathe fire at the airborne Huntresses, Weiss fired glyphs infused with ice Dust to draw its attention. And when it targeted the white-haired heiress with its flames, Tahu leapt to intercept the fire with his own command of the element and catch it on his sword.

"Yang!" called the Toa of Fire, his blade coursing with smoky flame. "Your Semblance - it allows you to absorb energy and draw strength from attacks, yes?"

The blonde brawler looked over her shoulder with a grin, quickly piecing together his plan. "It sure does! Toss it here, big guy - I'm open!"

With a grunt of determination he swung his weapon and unleashed the fire he'd caught in a wide arcing wave, which passed over the yellow Huntress as her Aura flared up explosively. Her hair took on a golden glow as it too erupted into flames, lavender eyes shifting to red as she leapt and threw all her might into one mighty punch. The blow struck the dragon on the chin with enough force to make the Rahi yelp and recoil from the impact alone, stunning it long enough for Ruby and Blake to descend like hawks and slam into its crown. A low bellow escaped its throat as the Kanohi Dragon's head struck the ground hard enough to cause a tremor; Yang quickly grabbed its whiskers and pulled hard while her sister and her partner rushed to her side to join her.

"We'll keep it pinned down!" shouted Ruby as she tugged with all her might. "Weiss! Give the Toa a boost to the back of its head so they can finish it off!"

The heiress swung her sword and raised a hand. "On it!"

Two pathways made of circular runes appeared and wove around and over the neck of the fallen beast, and with a wordless nod Kopaka ran along the left path while Tahu took the right. The pair of Toa channeled all their elemental power into their swords as they sprinted with every muscle in their bodies, weapons glowing brighter and brighter until they resembled little more than blades of red and white energy. The Kanohi Dragon seemed to sense that the end was near; it struggled and snarled against the Huntresses holding it down, but Team RWBY kept it firmly in place long enough for their allies to move in for the final blow. Even when it blew out smoke and flames to scorch them, they stood their ground and let their Auras take the heat.

When the pair of Toa finally reached the ancient scar on the back of the dragon's skull they both drove their blades point-first into the weakened armor, drawing forth sprays of pitch-black blood that showered over them both like high-pressure geysers. Tahu and Kopaka paid no mind to the spray of fluid and viscera staining their frames, merely letting out mighty yells as they drove their swords deeper through layers upon layers of protodermic muscle. Only when they were stuck hilt-deep into the beast did they finally unleash the energy they had built up, allowing a combined explosion of ice and fire to tear through the Rahi's skull like a burning, freezing lance.

The Kanohi Dragon's eyes widened as it thrashed against the ground, and after one final piercing roar, it let out a low groan as its eyes finally darkened, its neck fell limp, and the fire within its belly went out for good.

At long last, the battle was over.

Silence fell over the canyon in the wake of the beast's demise. Tahu and Kopaka messily extracted their swords and leapt into the snow, their armor dripping with oily blood and their frames flooded with fatigue. All four Huntresses clutched their burns as they stepped backwards, panting heavily and keeping their eyes locked onto the fallen dragon. While they knew the fight was well and truly won, there was some primal fear that kept their weapons in hand. Just in case the massive reptilian Rahi still wasn't as dead as they all thought - and hoped - it was.

After a moment of quiet punctuated only by heavy breathing, Blake was the first to find her voice.

"You know…" she said with a small chuckle, "this is probably a bad time to bring this up, but…we should have had Weiss kill it."

Ruby stared at her black-clad teammate for a moment, then slapped her forehead. "Ugh, duh! Yeah, we should've had you deal the final blow, Weiss! Then you'd be able to summon it!"

Yang groaned. "Come on, Blake! You couldn't have said something like that sooner?! We could've gone back to Remnant with a huge freaking dragon on our side! How cool would that have been?"

"Hey, if anything I should have been the one to think of it!" countered Weiss as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "…oh well. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'd be able to summon something this big, anyways. Not without draining my entire Aura reserves in one go."

"That's a good point, yeah," said Yang, laughing softly as she hugged Blake around the shoulder. "Wouldn't want a repeat of the Battle of Haven now, would we?"

"…what's that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean, ice queen." The blonde brawler pulled her long hair back into a ponytail. "'Oh no, I want to try and call up my big fancy knight in the middle of a fight, but this crazy bandit lady keeps getting in close and attacking me! Whatever shall I do? Oh, the humanity…if only I had a, like, a sword or something I could fight her off with…'"

Ruby giggled, while Weiss gasped. Tahu wondered briefly if an argument was about to erupt, but from the way the girls were smiling he had a feeling there was no ill will behind the remarks.

"You do not have any room to judge, you brute! You could have just pulled right out of Mercury's grip, you didn't need to leave your whole arm behind! And Ruby, don't you dare laugh at me. Do I even need to remind you of that ridiculous headbutt?"

"Well, you always were telling me back at Beacon that I needed to use my head more…" said the silver-eyed girl with a grin, nuzzling her forehead against her partner's cheek.

"That's not what I meant and you know it you dolt!"

Team RWBY erupted into a fit of giggles and laughs, all while Tahu and Kopaka just stared in confusion as they rose to their feet. Was this…normal for organics? Did their usual post-stress response involve jokes and stories and excessive physical contact? Or was this a product of their trust in one another, a testament to their bonds and experiences, that they could feel such joy and relief moments after a narrowly-averted disaster?

And if it was, could the Toa ever reach such a level of Unity?

The sound of the earth collapsing behind him reached his ears, and he instinctively turned to face the noise with his sword raised in case it was a threat. To his relief, he was greeted with the sight of two armored figures crawling out of a newly-created tunnel, one squat and wearing coal-black plates while the other was taller and slimmer and clad in blue. The Toa of Earth and Water looked at Tahu, then at Kopaka, then at the fallen Kanohi Dragon, before finally facing each other with a shrug.

"Hmm…seems we were not quick enough to rejoin the fray after all, sister," rumbled Onua, his tone slightly disappointed.

"So it would seem," mused Gali with a smile. "At least our allies did not suffer in our absence."

Blake crossed her arms and chuckled as she shifted her footing. "I was wondering if you two would show up or not. Too bad you missed all the action."

Ruby's eyes lit up as she launched herself into the arms of the Toa of Water. "Gali! Aw man, you should have seen it! It was so cool! I was all like, 'whoosh!' And Weiss was all like 'bshew bshew bshew!' And Blake was all like 'Hiiii-ya!' And Yang was all like 'Kabooooom!' And then we brought down half the mountain right on top of that big dumb dragon, and Tahu and Kopaka were all 'yaaaaaaaaargh!' And then they stabbed it in the head! At the same time!"

Gali laughed softly as she tried to follow her ally's animated recap, casting an intrigued gaze at her fellow Toa. "Really now? Is this accurate, brothers? The two of you, actually working together without quarreling?"

Kopaka cleared his throat. "It, well…strictly speaking, it isn't untrue."

Tahu huffed, then cast a glance at the icy figure. "You…you fought well today, brother. Thank you for your aid in bringing down this beast."

Glowing cobalt eyes stared back, and for a moment Tahu wondered if he'd broken his fellow Toa. His fears were unfounded, as Kopaka eventually nodded.

"The feeling is mutual…brother," he finally said. Then with a sigh and a glance from Weiss, he added, "And I would like to…formally apologize to you all for my behavior in our last meeting. It was not conducive to the spirit of Unity our sister was working so hard to instill, and it resulted in a rift that threatened to tear our team apart."

Tahu shook his head. "You have nothing to apologize for, brother. The fault was primarily mine."

"No, I'm the one to blame."

"I insist, I was the one in the wrong."

"You're not making it easy to apologize."

"Because no apology is needed from - "

"Oh my gods, you two!" groaned Weiss, burying her face into her hands and dragging her fingers down her cheeks. "Can't you two even say you're sorry without making it into another fight?! It's so exhausting!"

The Toa of Fire and Ice looked at the Huntress, then at each other, and chuckled nervously before shrugging awkwardly.

"Nicely handled, ice queen," said Yang with a laugh, holding her hand out for a fist bump that was immediately reciprocated.

"So it seems we are united now," Onua rumbled proudly. "Shall we gather the rest of the Toa and join forces to find the remaining masks, as our sister suggested at Kini-Nui?"

Gali hummed thoughtfully, and was about to speak when Ruby piped up.

"Actually…I've been doing some thinking, and maybe Tahu was onto something with the whole 'splitting into pairs' idea."

The Toa of Water looked down in surprise. "What makes you say that, little one? I was under the impression that you wished to continue fighting alongside your team."

"Of course I do," said the silver-eyed Huntress as she fiddled with her cloak. "It's just, well…today proved that by working together we can do incredible things, sure. But it's also a pretty good sign that Makuta's done playing around. It's getting more dangerous for everyone now, not just us - he pulled Rahi from all over Mata Nui to attack a single village without anyone noticing, and there's no telling how soon he'd be able to do it again somewhere else. Not to mention the Kanohi Dragon showing up at all…even Vakama seemed worried about that one. If something like this happens again on one end of the island while all of us are on the other side…"

"You worry that a larger group will make us slower to respond to new threats," said Tahu with a nod of understanding.

"Pretty much, yeah," answered Ruby. "But if we're spread out across Mata Nui in smaller teams, we can more easily protect the villages if they need us. And if the groups themselves run into trouble, we have working Scrolls now - we can just contact each other if we need help. But the important thing is that we find the rest of the masks as fast as we can, before Makuta tries something even more dangerous. The Rahi are usually easy enough for us to handle…but they'll always be a threat to the Matoran, until we finish this."

The others in the group hummed thoughtfully, before eventually nodding in unison. Yang grinned as she walked over and slung an arm over her sister's shoulders, pulling her in for a side hug that was eagerly returned.

"Aww, look at my little sis, all grown up and making big decisions," she said with a soft laugh. "And you're sure it's not just because you don't want your older sister embarrassing you while you and Weiss make doe-eyes at each other?"

Ruby seemingly froze, then bit her lip. "…mmmmaybe? I mean, if Gali and Kopaka are okay with traveling together, then um…it, uh, it might be nice…"

Gali laughed softly at the way her human ally turned as red as her namesake. "I believe that can be arranged. What do you say, brother? Shall we form an alliance?"

"That works for me," said the Toa of Ice with a nod. "Weiss and I have already found most of my masks, so we should be able to help you find the rest of yours."

Tahu nodded. "Then that leaves you and me, Onua -"

"Hold that thought," said Blake as she peered at her Scroll. "Um…we might have to take a rain check on that team-up. Just got a message from Penny, and…it looks like there's big trouble with Lewa."

"Uh oh," said Yang as she let go of Ruby, checking her own device to verify alongside the other Huntresses.

Gali tilted her head at the news. "Should we not all aid him then, as we helped Tahu in need?"

"Your energies are all expended from the battles today," said Onua, "and you could not tunnel fast enough to keep up with me even at your strongest. This is a matter that calls for both speed and power - as well as discretion. We will explain more later…but for now, leave it to us. We will join forces with Lewa after the situation is resolved."

Blake nodded, going over to take Yang's hands in hers. "Sorry…I'm sure you were looking forward to running around the island with your girlfriend."

"Eh, we'll have other dates in the future," said the blonde brawler with a soft laugh. "Just be careful out there, alright? Try not to land in the fire when you jump out of the frying pan."

The raven-haired Huntress chuckled. "Same to you. See you soon?"

Yang quickly pressed her lips against Blake's, lingering for a moment before drawing back. "Looking forward to it."

And with that, the Toa of Earth dug himself another tunnel and sank beneath the earth, Blake quickly leaping back to follow him. Gali and Kopaka bid farewell to Tahu, before they too turned and left with their blushing Huntresses in tow. The Toa of Fire saw his allies depart, then looked down at Yang…who seemed to keep staring at her feet.

"Is all well, Yang?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"Hm? Oh, yeah…" she answered with a sigh. "Just…if Onua and Lewa are teaming up, then that means you'd be working with Pohatu. Which, assuming that little psycho is still running scared, means I'd be the only human trying to keep up with two Toa…just feels a little lonely, you know?"

…ah. He hadn't considered that.

After thinking for a moment, Tahu stowed his sword and put his hand on the young woman's shoulder, feeling her stiffen up at the sudden contact at first before relenting. Unlike when he'd tried to comfort her by touching her hair, her stance relaxed at his touch, and she even rolled her head to rest her cheek against his metallic knuckles.

"You fought with exceptional valor and spirit today, Yang Xiao Long," he said, allowing pride to seep into his voice. "If it truly is only you, me, and Pohatu in our group, I promise you will be treated not as a burden, but as an equal. You may not be of this world, and you may not command the elements as we do…but in my eyes, you are a Toa all the same."

The blonde brawler chuckled softly, clasping his hand in both of hers. "Thanks, Tahu. And you know…based on how you acted today, I'd say you might be able to pull off this whole 'leader' thing sooner rather than later. You've come a long way, considering it's just been a couple days."

"I would not have gotten this far so quickly without a teacher of your skill."

"Aww, now you're just trying to make me blush," said Yang with a laugh. "Come on, let's get out of here and head back to Ta-Koro. I'm sure Jaller and the others are gonna want to throw a party for their heroes of the hour…plus I'm freezing my butt off over here."

With a nod between then, Tahu and Yang marched back towards the heat and warmth of Ta-Wahi, leaving the body of the Kanohi Dragon behind to be claimed by the falling snow.

Unknown to either of them, shadowy claws were already stretching from the ground to drag the fallen Rahi's body back into the depths.

Chapter Text

Rain fell on the jungles surrounding Fau swamp, soaking Emerald to the bone as she navigated the undergrowth alongside a handful of Le-Matoran. While the mighty trees and their wide branches above caught most of the evening storm, a flood-inducing downpour still managed to slip through the cracks in the canopy. The Matoran she was escorting had all their organic components locked underneath layers and layers of cybernetics; the Huntress didn't have that luxury, relying on her Aura alone to keep herself warm in the cold misty monsoon.

I'll bet Lewa would be extra annoying right about now, she thought grimly to herself. He'd probably say something like "ugh, water-yuck from the sky?! It was worry-bad enough when it was in the dark-ground!" Or something like that…who knows? Maybe the fact that it comes from the sky means he might actually like it…

She shook her head to clear the thought of her enthralled friend and forced herself to focus. Emerald couldn't afford to let herself get distracted, or even let herself cry. The trio of air-aligned villagers, as well as the rest of their kind, were looking to her for guidance and protection after losing both their Turaga and their Toa in one single attack. In these dark days, they needed a pillar of strength - a brave and daring Huntress who would lead them out of danger and help them see the light of a new day.

Instead, they were stuck with her.

The good news about the rain was that it kept their main threat out of the sky as well. Nui-Rama couldn't fly in downpours like these - their insectoid wings caught too much water and got too heavy to flap, grounding any of them foolish enough to try hunting from the air. That's not to say that the jungle was safer during a storm, however. Land Rahi like Nui-Jaga scorpions or Muaka tigers still stalked the trees under Makuta's influence, and there were still natural dangers to worry about like suffocating quicksand, venomous bog snakes, and web-weaving Fikou spiders. The relentless rains also brought a whole new danger to avoid: flash floods.

One step at a time, though.

Emerald peered out from behind the cover of a great tree, checking their surroundings to make sure that there were no immediate threats. Finding none, she waved her hand to signal that the way was clear, urging on the little green-armored villagers and sending them ahead of her. Each Le-Matoran moved quickly and quietly despite carrying sacks of food, metals, and wood on their backs, the contents of their bags barely even rustling as they sprinted under the shadow of another towering tree. She rushed over to join them with swift, silent steps of her own, reaching the trunk just as the first two villagers started climbing. With a few simple gestures, she told the third member of her little foraging party to go on ahead - she'd keep an eye on the ground level for incoming dangers.

After the last Matoran nodded and joined his fellow villagers in the trees, she pressed her back against the bark and let out a tired sigh.

Man, it's no wonder Team RWBY looked half-dead during the siege on Atlas, she mused as she slumped to the ground, crimson eyes still scanning the undergrowth around her. Being an upstanding hero of the people is exhausting.

Emerald wasn't sure how long it had been since the Nui-Rama attack. Maybe it was a few hours ago, maybe it was weeks ago. Time seemed to bleed together into an endless blur, not helped by the fact that she'd stopped keeping track of the sunrises and sunsets. All she knew was that she was on the run from Makuta's gaze along with less than a dozen Le-Matoran, and that responsibility didn't allow her luxuries like sleep or timekeeping. There were even times where she forgot to eat…which in all honesty wasn't a new experience.

At least the stuff Lewa taught me about the jungle has paid off so far, she thought with a long, slow sigh. The Le-Matoran are pretty independent and capable; they just need someone bigger to follow around. A scoff escaped her lips. I'll bet Cinder would have jumped at the chance to play girlboss like this…

A series of knocks down the tree made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up straight. Trouble. Emerald cursed under her breath and dug her shoes into the gnarled bark, feeling for knots and other rough surfaces she could use as footholds to quickly scramble into the branches. She carefully perched herself on a sturdy wooden limb alongside the other Le-Matoran, balancing on the arches of her feet and resting one hand against the trunk to steady herself. Her other hand hovered over the holstered handle of Thief's Respite, just in case.

"What's wrong?" she asked in an almost silent whisper.

"Tree-lurker," replied the lead Le-Matoran in kind. "Ash bears usually laze around in the high-branches of Le-Wahi, waiting for a chance to drop-strike and take prey by surprise. The one ahead is doing so under the command-urge of Makuta, watch-waiting - for us."

Sure enough, she could faintly see the outline of a large ursine creature, one clad in burnt orange armor with sharp claws and huge muscles. Another silent curse escaped her lips. "Any other ways around?"

"Not without going through swamp-snake territory on our left," whispered another, "or disturbing the Fikou-spider nests to our right. Going up-tree brings us closer to the rain-fall; down-tree has nothing but bog-marshes and Jaga-stingers. Forward is our only choice-hope, and now even that is blocked off. We are, as the earth-diggers say, stuck-trapped between a hard-rock and a dark-place."

Emerald doubted that any Onu-Matoran had ever said it quite like that, but she nodded in understanding all the same.

"I'll deal with this. Wait for my signal, then get ready to move."

The villagers nodded and coiled up their muscles, waiting for the signal from the mint-haired Huntress. She reached out and pulsed Aura between her fingertips, stretching her mental energies towards the ash bear and pooling invisible power into its consciousness. When she first landed on Mata Nui, she was horrified to discover that her Semblance didn't work on Rahi under Makuta's control…and yet, in the time since that day, she'd learned a way around that particular roadblock through careful experimentation.

Remember, don't just target the Rahi's mind, she coached herself. Target the mind behind their mind. Changing what the animal sees and hears isn't enough - you need to fool Makuta, too.

A few days ago, she would have considered it daunting if not outright unthinkable. Use her Semblance on the Master of Shadows himself? Who, according to legend, was always watching from every darkened corner of Mata Nui? It seemed impossible, but Emerald knew from experience that watching everything, everywhere, all at once was equally impossible. Not even Makuta could see every inch of the island at all times - everyone had blind spots in their peripheral vision, and exploiting those blind spots formed the backbone of her unique mental powers.

Besides…lately, Makuta seemed more easily distracted. Like he was spreading himself too thin over the various Rahi, selectively using some as his eyes and ears while leaving others mostly to their own devices. Was his power finite? Was his grip over the wildlife looser than he implied? Or was he just focusing really hard somewhere else, and he had bigger things to worry about than a few renegade Matoran and one annoying little Huntress? Emerald wasn't sure, but for now she was glad that the Master of Shadows wasn't paying close attention to her antics.

It certainly made her job easier.

She wove together a complex fabrication of sights, sounds, even smells and projected it into the mind of both the ash bear and the Makuta, causing a slight stir in the beast as the Hallucination took hold. It lifted its head and stared blankly at what seemed like an ordinary patch of branches damp with rainwater, completely oblivious to the trio of Le-Matoran standing less than a dozen feet away. The ursine Rahi growled in irritation, then chuffed as it rested its chin on its paws, staring lazily into empty space and watching raindrops fall in rivulets from individual leaves over its head.

"Go," whispered Emerald through grit teeth, already feeling the strain from fooling both the bear and its master. "Hurry, I can't hold it forever."

The Le-Matoran nodded and took off running, their footsteps and movements obscured by the false picture of peacefulness within the Rahi's mind. The ash bear, in turn, seemed oblivious to the rushing winds that followed in their wake, more interested in the nonexistent little fly that buzzed into its field of vision. When she was certain that the eyes were tracking the imaginary insect, Emerald sprinted down the branches herself at full speed; by the time the lazy bear turned back to see the real world around it, she and her little friends were long gone.

Another overwhelming win for the forces of good, she mentally told herself. Go us.

As the resting Rahi grew further and further away, the mint-haired Huntress let out the breath she hadn't even realized she was holding and sank back against the nearest tree trunk. She took several more deep breaths, and if she were feeling safe, she might have rested there to let her Aura recover from the trick. But instead she opted to keep moving, to keep climbing up the trees and swinging from their branches, and to keep staying alive for the sake of the other Le-Matoran.

She owed Lewa that much, at least.

"Salutations, friends! We have another deposit of lightstones for you!"

Penny grinned as the rapidly-expanding highway tunnel came into view, perching on the corner of an Ussal-pulled cart and waving like a princess in a parade. Takua sat next to her with a goofy expression behind his mask, laughing softly at her behavior as he brought Pewku to a gentle stop. And the Onu-Matoran diggers looked up from their work with elation in their emerald eyes, raising their tools over their heads and cheering in gratitude for the delivery. The foreman in particular - a stern, stocky female named Kevla - approached with what looked to be an electronic tablet in her hands, giving a quick glance over the cart's cargo before nodding in approval.

"Yep, that checks out. Forty-eight fresh stones, with A-Class cuts along the faces for maximum light dispersal." Kevla gave a rare smile behind her mask. "Thanks, travelers. With this shipment, we should be able to keep the highway properly lit for at least a few more kios of tunnel, and replace the rest of the torches at this end to keep the beasts back. Did you run into any issues on the way over here?"

"No Rahi attacks, if that's what you mean," said Takua proudly. "Penny scared them off with her fearsome appearance."

The freckled Huntress giggled. "Oh yes! I am very intimidating! Fear me, creatures of shadow! Teehee!"

"We did get some dirty looks from the trade caravans that passed us, though," Takua added. "They probably thought these lightstones were for them."

"Of course they did." Kevla rolled her eyes as she unloaded half the lightstones and handed them off to other workers. "Don't worry about them - now that you've re-opened the Cavern of Light, there'll be more than enough for everyone in all the guilds. Besides, getting this highway dug to the jungle takes absolute priority." She puffed her chest in pride. "Once it's finished and smoothed out, a three-day trip from Ta-Koro to Le-Wahi can be completed in less than two hours on foot or two minutes on Ussal-back, with zero chance of dangerous encounters along the way. I'd like to see Zemya and his merchants try to beat that claim."

"Safe and quick passage between the villages is a better long-term investment than short-term profits," observed Penny.

The foreman nodded enthusiastically as she placed a collection of metal rings with chains into the cart. "Spoken like Turaga Whenua himself. If you still want to help, take the cart down to the main excavation team and start setting the lightstones in these fixtures. Now that they can see what they're digging, they're outpacing how quickly we can set up lights - not that you'll hear me complaining about that." Kevla gestured down the long, narrow tunnel that stretched beyond the gateway. "I'm sure Taipu'll want to thank you in person. He hasn't stopped talking about the 'Maiden of Mata Nui' that lit up his whole world."

Penny chuckled and blushed, toying with her burnt-orange hair. "I hope that does not become my new nickname…"

Nevertheless, Takua urged their cobalt-armored Ussal to travel the length of the highway, which had grown much much longer since their last visit. Penny leaned back as she sat contentedly on the corner of their cart, marveling at just how much progress had been made in just a few short hours. Spent torches that once lined the walls were thrown into hastily-dug trenches, replaced by glowing amber crystals that shone brightly and cleanly. Some Onu-Matoran were using shovels and rakes to clear out excavated debris, while others were running spinning disks over the tunnel walls to polish the rough stone until it was smooth as soap. Still others rode on black Ussal crabs that had buzzsaws mounted to their front claws, allowing them to quickly clear away huge sections of earth in showers of sparks and silt.

"This is the life, isn't it Penny?" Takua asked, softly laughing. "Traveling the island, helping people in need…and best of all? No giant monsters or natural disasters this time! Isn't it nice to do a good thing without having to risk life and limb?"

"It is an excellent feeling," agreed Penny with a giggle. "Though I would not mind a few smaller battles every now and then. I would like to keep my skills sharp."

"What, teaching me how to use my staff doesn't give you enough of a workout?" The Chronicler grinned. "I mean, you can come out and say that kicking me around during our spars is too easy, I'll only be a little offended."

"Oh, I did not mean it like that!" The freckled Huntress patted her friend on the shoulder. "You are actually quite skilled, and naturally strong…maybe you were a Ta-Koronan Guard before you lost your memories?"

"I sure hope not," said Takua with a pout. "Staying stuck in one place all day, staring at the unchanging scenery and sticking to the same routes over and over? No thanks."

"I did not mind doing it!"

"Yeah, but you had rocket boots and laser beams, Penny. I don't think they make those for Matoran."

Penny giggled again, kicking her bare legs over the edge of the cart. "I can build you some, if you would like. It would not be difficult, especially with my Semblance."

"Tempting, but I'll pass for now." Yellow eyes noticed that the walls had become distinctly bare during their conversation. "How about we start setting up the lightstones? Put those ridiculous proportions of yours to good use."

With yet another giggle, the freckled Huntress did just that, slotting the glowing stones into their metal sockets and reaching over to drive their mounting stakes into the wall. Soft amber light soon began to fill the tunnel, growing brighter with each new hanging lantern that was pushed into place. It reminded Penny of fireflies on a dark night, her favorite kind of insect - which was oddly fitting, because the way that Onu-Matoran dug their tunnels reminded her of ants, her other favorite insect.

Life can adapt to its surroundings in so many different ways, she thought with wonder. The Matoran may be different, but they are just as alive as the people of Remnant. I wonder what the worlds would look like if humans had access to protodermis, or if the people of Mata Nui had found deposits of Dust deep down here…

The end of the tunnel soon came into view, as did a trio of Onu-Matoran working diligently to change that. Two of the miners rode on saw-bearing Ussal crabs; the third had only a simple pickaxe, yet he somehow managed to dig twice as fast as his machine-aided allies. Penny smiled when she saw what was unmistakably Taipu taking the lead - though his tan body with black mask and legs made him seem at first like a Po-Matoran, his glowing green eyes and his incredible digging skill proved beyond all doubt that he was a villager of Earth.

Takua patted Pewku twice on the shell, commanding her to stop so that he and Penny could safely disembark. Their blue-armored Ussal let out a sigh of relief, sagging on her orange legs and letting off steam through gaps in her gearbox. Penny gave Pewku some appreciative scritches before taking the remaining lanterns to hang from the ceiling. The Chronicler walked in front of the crab and mirrored the gesture, lingering for longer and chuckling when she purred contentedly.

"Great job, old girl," he said softly. "Don't worry. Soon as we're done in Onu-Koro, I'll send you back to Midak. You can have all the treats you want at that point - you've earned it."

Pewku trilled mournfully, clearly torn between wanting to be pampered and wanting to stay with her favorite Matoran.

"You know," said Penny as she hung another lightstone by its chain, "we could have Pewku come with us on our further travels."

"Considering I don't remember how to care for an Ussal crab?" The Chronicler shook his head. "Wouldn't be fair to her, asking her to come with us into danger when I don't know the first thing about Rahi keeping. Besides, I'm sure this isn't the last time we'll see each other. Call it a hunch."

That was understandable, if a little sad. Still, Penny kept hanging the remaining light fixtures from the ceiling, earning nods of thanks from the crab-riding diggers. Her spirits were lifted when she hung her last one over Taipu: she could swear that the young Matoran's eyes went as wide as his curved, square-shaped mask allowed when he looked up at her.

"Wow…" he breathed with a bright smile. "You are even more beautiful by the lightstone's glow than you are by torchlight! No wonder I thought you were a Toa at first!"

She felt her cheeks grow quite red, and she tried (and failed) to hide in her hair.

"Oh…my…thank you, Taipu," she said meekly.

Taipu shook his head as he kept driving his pickaxe through the earth over and over again. "No no, it is I - " CLANG! " - who should be thanking you! When - " CLANG! " - Onepu dropped off the first lightstone shipment - " CLANG! " - he told me that you and Takua - " CLANG! " - were responsible for this - " CLANG! " - wonderful thing. Now that we can see - " CLANG! " - I believe we will get to Le-Koro - " CLANG! " - very soon. I can feel it in my heartstone!" CLANG!

Penny grinned at the sheer enthusiasm on display, wincing every time the Matoran's tool loudly rang out and echoed off the walls. "I believe it too, Taipu." CLANG! "It is a pleasure to be of service!" CLANG! "If there is anything else I can do to help - " CLANG! " - then please let me - "

CLUNK.

Everyone seemed to freeze at the very different sound that Taipu's pickaxe made. At first Penny wondered if it was a bad sign, but considering how excited the other Onu-Matoran seemed to get, she realized it was a noise they had all been waiting to hear. Sure enough, after Taipu struck a few more times the wall began to crumble and fall away, allowing something else to flow between the cracks.

Light.

A tidal wave of white flooded the tunnel, so much that it was almost blinding for a solid minute. Penny's eyes soon adjusted, her mind shifting and sorting the light into various shades of green and brown and blue. Those colors sharpened and softened into shapes the Huntress had never seen before - trees as tall as the sky, vines dangling precariously from towering branches, and a thousand different plants she had no names for, all weaving together into one lush and verdant tapestry.

The way to Le-Wahi was now open.

And it was beautiful.

Takua scrambled over to Penny's side in a heartbeat, rubbing his eyes through his mask as if he could hardly believe what he was seeing. Taipu shielded his eye holes with his hands as he looked out in wonder, determined to stare at this new world no matter how much it hurt. The other diggers were a little more sensible, working to widen the entrance as orders were barked in the background.

"We did it!" exclaimed the little tunneler excitedly. "We made it through! Wow…Onepu was right. It is so beautiful here…"

"It certainly is," breathed Penny. "I have never seen this much green in my life!"

"I'll bet no Ta-Matoran has ever recorded this before…" mused Takua.

The three of them stared at the unfamiliar landscape for a moment, before Taipu sighed and slumped his shoulders. Despite being dazzled by the scenery, this did not escape Penny's notice. Evidently, Takua saw it too, because he moved over and poked the Onu-Matoran in the arm.

"You know, you seem kinda down for someone who just opened up the highway to a brand-new region," said Takua. "What's wrong?"

"Well, that's just it," answered Taipu with a heavy sigh. "I know that we need to set up camp and secure the tunnel against Rahi, but I wanna go explore! I want to see Le-Koro, and the tree people, and the birds and all the other cool things in the jungle…"

Penny looked from the other Onu-Matoran, to Taipu, to Takua, then back again. The travelers shared a glance, then nodded.

"I do not think it will be an issue if you come with us!" she said finally. "If you want, that is. We would like to see Le-Koro as well."

Taipu's eyes lit up in every sense of the word. "Really?! That would be wonderful! I would love to come! I bet the rest of the jungle will be even more beautiful than the Great Mine! Let's go!"

And with that the eager little Onu-Matoran slung his pickaxe over his back and took off running, leaving the Chronicler and the Huntress to catch up.

The surrounding jungle of Le-Wahi became little more than green-brown blurs as Lewa bounded recklessly across the cluttered floor. Once, he might have prided himself on how he swung from the vines and leapt from the trees; now he regarded the idea as silly and needlessly slow. This was much faster, he decided, sprinting on all fours like a savage Rahi. After all, this was the land of fierce monsters - why not do as they did?

His barreling charge was ceaseless and relentless. The streamlined shape of his armor and mask sliced like a blade through the wind, cutting through air resistance and making him go even faster. Anything in his way was either shoved aside, mowed down, or found itself blasted through with a razor-edged gale. Not even the Wahi's oldest, strongest trees gave him pause. They were smashed through and felled by him without even batting an eye.

Useless, he mentally snarled at the archive moles and Taku birds that scampered to escape his rampage. No…worse than useless. No claws or armor, no teeth or venom. Too small-weak to be a threat, too numerous to purge-kill entirely. Worthless to the island of Mata Nui. Worthless to Makuta.

Makuta…the very word brought a wry smile to his lips. When he arrived on the island, lost and confused, he'd gone looking for answers. He found himself in the care of a wise old Turaga, who spun him a tale about why he was here and what his purpose was. According to "legend," Lewa was one of six Toa destined to defeat the shadowy menace known as Makuta, collect the Great Kanohi Masks of Power, and awaken Mata Nui. He'd accepted this legend without question, and embarked on his little quest.

How foolish he'd been.

The Turaga had lied to him. He didn't need all six masks to be a true Toa-hero, he just needed the rusted one that now sat on his face. Makuta was not some ancient evil in need of vanquishing, he was a noble protector who the Matoran selfishly refused to worship. And Mata Nui did not need to be awakened. The Great Spirit was safe in his deep slumber, free from the pain and suffering that consciousness would have cursed him with.

How had he possibly gotten things so backwards?

His target appeared in the corner of his vision. He shifted direction slightly and refocused on the Kane-Ra that grazed on some bushes. With a leaping pounce he grabbed the bull's back, looping his axe under its neck when it inevitably roared and reared back in an attempt to buck him off. Lewa freed up one hand just long enough to pull out a slimy writhing snake from a pocket in his armor, holding it over the Kanohi masks on the Rahi's shoulders and letting his little "friend" do its work.

Skisssssssh.

The Kane-Ra's demeanor shifted almost instantly as soon as the serpent bit into one mask, its petal-like mouth splitting open in several directions to do so. Black-brown rust began to spread across the surface like a ripple across a still lake, turning the entire mask into a twisted, aged copy of its former shape. With the Rahi placated for a moment he repeated the process for the other side; when both masks were properly infected, he held the creature near a gap in the bull's armor and allowed it to slither deep into its inner workings.

These worm-critters, these…Kraata, Lewa thought to himself, they will keep the Rahi-beasts under Makuta's command. The tainted Kanohi relay his will, and the Kraata remain inside as a fail-safe. This way, even if their dark-masks get removed, they still serve him…and these shadow-slugs will not be so easily removed. Let us try to see the other Toa-heroes or the Huntress-girls pry these out…Makuta's great-plans will not be so easily foiled.

A part of the Toa's mind reeled at what he'd just thought. At what he'd just done. What was he doing?! This was wrong! Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong! He was supposed to be doing the will of Mata Nui, not Makuta! He was a hero, not a monster! He had to get rid of the mask on his face, the one twisting all his thoughts and actions. He needed to get free. He needed to -

Skisssssssh.

He heard that familiar hissing again and felt something slimy slither up from his gearbox. As soon as it bit down on his neck, the seditious thoughts were once more silent. No…there was no need to worry. No need to fight. He wasn't doing anything wrong. He was just doing what was best for his Matoran. These Rahi were dangerous creatures, and by placing these Kraata inside them and infecting their masks, he was pacifying them. Taming them. Is that not what the Matoran had already done with creatures such as the Gukko birds and the Ussal crabs? Why was it such a sin when the Master of Shadows tried to do the same?

So he was making the island safer. Making these Rahi less violent and aggressive. And if someone angered the beast by trying to remove the infected mask, or by trying to extract the Kraata…well, that would just be an unfortunate side effect of their own stupidity, wouldn't it?

The Toa of Air hopped off the now-subservient Kane-Ra, beating his chest like a lava ape and snarling. With a low growl the bull turned and trundled away, moving in a path through the jungle that would give it the best chance at finding more Rahi - or better yet, more Matoran. He allowed himself to smile at his own handiwork. Another dangerous beast pacified. Another powerful soldier added to Makuta's growing army.

Everything is right-well, thought Lewa as he took off sprinting once again, bounding across the jungle floor on his hands and feet. Makuta will bring order to the island. He will protect the Matoran. He will tame the Rahi. I just need to convince my brothers of what he really wants, and surely they will see things my way. His way.

After all, legend said that Makuta was Mata Nui's brother, so surely he couldn't be that bad.

Right?

"Look at this! And look at that! There are so many beautiful plants and flowers! I wonder where the people are…oh, an archive mole! Come back, little guy! I just want to be your friend!"

Penny grinned at Taipu's antics as she and Takua trekked through the jungle, carefully stepping over the roots and rocks that tried to trip her up. The Onu-Matoran ahead of them moved through the gorgeous scenery with surprising speed, barely slowed down by the grassy growths and trees that made walking difficult. Each breath she took felt hot and humid, stray branches and vines threatened to catch on her hair or her dress, and she felt so many insects latch onto her bare legs for a sip of her lifeblood.

In other words, the jungle was magnificent!

Takua, who had somehow let the freckled Huntress talk him into wearing him like a backpack, seemed less enthused. "…you know, I don't remember much, but it's coming back to me just how much I hate Le-Wahi."

She chuckled. "Well, at least that is one memory you have recovered! Perhaps others will follow soon! In any case, you seem to be in the minority. I find it quite visually stunning, and Taipu…"

"I have so many bug bites right now! My parts are gonna itch for weeks! This is so cool!"

"…I believe Taipu agrees with me," she finished with another giggle.

"Really? I couldn't tell." Takua laughed softly and shook his head, glowing yellow eyes tracking the digger that always seemed to hover just out of sight. "You know…it's a good thing you didn't meet him first when you came back to life. You'd wear out your legs trying to keep up with him."

"Hah! I do not think it would have been that difficult!" Penny grinned. "I take longer steps than you, after all."

"Don't remind me."

"IT'S HERE! LE-KORO! I FOUND IT!" Taipu's voice somehow managed to sound even more excited. "IT'S BEAUTIF - MMMPH!"

Penny's eyes widened as their new friend's cries were suddenly cut short. Vita and Luce jumped into her hands as she surged forward instinctively, bashing through branches and trees that blocked her way. She emerged from the jungle and stumbled into a small clearing just in time to watch the young digger get pulled off a boulder and into the sky by an orange insectoid Rahi. Her eyes narrowed as shifted the tonfa into a spear and aimed to throw it, but she knew it was a futile effort.

The Nui-Rama - and Taipu - were already gone.

She fell to her bare knees, the weapons clattering from her hands. "No…"

Takua hopped off her back and put a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture, rubbing slowly and softly. "Hmm, that's…worrying. But don't worry, Penny, you did everything you could. It's not your fault he got grabbed."

"But it feels like it is my fault," she said mournfully. "I was the one who invited Onu-Koro's best digger to come with us into a strange and unfamiliar land. And now he is…gone."

"You didn't know this would happen," said the Chronicler. "And even if you did, I don't think it would've stopped him." He looked over to the trees. "Besides, that was no ordinary Rahi. Did you see that infected mask it was wearing? That was one of Makuta's beasts - it could have torn him apart if it wanted, but it captured him alive. So there's still a chance we might be able to rescue him."

Penny sobbed as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Where could the Nui-Rama have taken him, though? And why?"

"I don't know, but sitting in the jungle feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to give us any answers." Takua patted her shoulder twice more before pulling back. "He said he found Le-Koro - maybe the villagers there will know what's going on and how to get him back. You with me?"

The freckled Huntress sniffled, then smiled as she rose to her feet and picked up her weapons. "Always, Takua."

"Good to hear! Now let's go see what got him all excited…"

The rest of the trek was made in determined silence, as the beauty and irritation of the jungle faded into the back of their minds. It only took a short walk before they were rewarded with the sight of a massive tree, one that made its nearby cousins look like tiny little saplings. Penny saw multiple details such as a great lake that pooled underneath its roots, hollowed-out sections of gnarled bark, and a leafy pod that dangled from a pulley system made entirely out of vines.

"This must be Le-Koro, then," said the Huntress with a pensive hum. "And that…looks to be some sort of rudimentary elevator. Perhaps the village is in the trees?"

"Seems like it," agreed Takua. "You think it'd be more lively, though, given how much Taipu talked about how good they are at singing…why's it so quiet?"

"I do not know," mused Penny. "But there is only one way to find out."

She took Takua's hand in her own and stepped into the verdant elevator, pushing on a lever inside with her unoccupied palm. Almost immediately she felt her stomach drop about six inches as the pod rushed upwards at high speeds, nearly making her sink into the floor. Penny marveled at just how fast and smooth the ascent was; despite lacking gears and motors and metal and other common fixtures around the island, it seemed that the Le-Matoran had a style of technology all their own, one that was no less ingenious or resourceful than the other villages.

I wonder if my Technopathy would work on a construct such as this? She tilted her head as if she was considering reaching out with her Semblance, then decided against tinkering with the elevator. Maybe when they were no longer in it, she would take a closer look at the contraption.

Maybe.

After a few seconds of feeling like a pancake, the elevator suddenly slowed. It swayed back and forth slightly as its momentum refused to completely fade, making the world outside the tear-shaped doorway rock from one side to another. Though Penny wanted to walk out of the pod and step onto the platform, something grabbed onto her leg and kept her from doing so. A quick glance down told her that it was the Chronicler himself, wrapping his arms around her thigh with his feet off the ground entirely as his entire body shook and trembled.

A soft laugh escaped her lips. "Takua…are you afraid of heights?"

"What no who told you that I'm not scared of falling nope no way couldn't be me."

She giggled again, gently patting Takua's head. "It is okay. High places and moving very fast is a very common fear. Why, even my friend Jaune used to be unable to ride a Bullhead without throwing u- "

"Can we please have this conversation on anything other than a swinging leafy death pod."

Penny laughed once more as she finally stepped forward, swinging the leg weighed down by the little Matoran. Only when her feet brushed against the wooden grain of the platform did Takua finally let himself slide down with a metallic thump. After shaking his head to clear it, he continued walking hand-in-trembling-hand with the Huntress. The pair made their way to the center of the village and saw everything from wooden domes and huts carved into the trees to lightstones and tools hanging from overhead branches…all the usual trappings of the settlements they had seen on Mata Nui thus far.

Except that the village of Le-Koro was completely empty.

This is very strange, Penny thought to herself as they saw yet another blockaded hut. Where are the Le-Matoran? Where is the Turaga? Is there anyone here at all?

The click of a revolver hammer locking into place answered her question, followed by the sensation of cold steel pushing into the back of her neck. Penny froze up instinctively as the weapon bristled against her skin - though she knew her Aura could protect her from many things, she was not certain if it could completely shield her from a point-blank bullet at the base of her skull. A quick glance down at her side revealed that Takua was similarly being threatened…though the glint of green that aimed straight down at his head seemed oddly familiar…

"No sudden movements," said a commanding yet exhausted-sounding voice from behind. "Hands in the air, and weapons on the ground."

As soon as she recognized the voice and the weapon, Penny did neither of those things.

Instead she gasped and broke into a wide smile, spinning around and pulling the gun-wielding Huntress into a massive hug. Sure enough she caught a glimpse of mint-green hair and blood-red eyes, both of which belonged to the same woman who held her while she bled to death. Despite their complicated history, despite the fact that the former thief smelled like musty mildew, Penny squeezed with every bit of strength she had and nuzzled her chin against the young woman's bare, dark-skinned shoulder.

"Salutations, Emerald!" Penny said, still beaming with delight. "It is so good to see you again!"

Emerald seized up for just a moment, before her chest heaved under her grasp and she dropped her weapons to return the hug. Penny could feel a few tears flowing down into the crook of her neck; she simply allowed Emerald to bury her face into her shoulder while she ran ivory fingers over rough, scar-marked skin and combed through matted green hair.

"Penny…" she choked between sobs, "I…gods, to think I almost…I'm so sorry, I thought you were - !"

"Shh…it is okay, Emerald…" shushed the red-haired girl. "Please do not cry. I am here. I am safe. And you will be alright…"

After a moment of quick and quiet comfort, Emerald finally pulled back and wiped her eyes. Penny smiled and picked up the two copies of Thief's Respite, handing them back to their former owner with a reassuring gaze. The freckled Huntress studied her unlikely ally carefully, watching her accept the sickle-revolvers with a nod and stow them tentatively in their holsters…and noticing that despite being among friends, Emerald's hands never strayed too far from her weapons.

"Well, you're definitely not one of Makuta's Rahi in some kind of new skin-suit," she said with a sigh of relief. "Even if they could try to look like you, I doubt they'd be so warm or eager to hug someone."

"What can I say?" Penny grinned. "I am very good at giving hugs."

"So I've noticed." Bloodshot eyes glanced down at the Ta-Matoran who stood awkwardly beside the two. "And I'm assuming this little guy's your new friend? Ruby filled me in on your…situation. You have to stick next to him to stay alive, right?"

"More or less," said the Chronicler with a shrug. "Name's Takua. Are you another one of Penny's friends?"

"Emerald Sustrai is the one who held me in her arms while I died during the Battle for Atlas," said Penny, blushing faintly. Then her gaze darkened as a terrible memory washed over her. "…but she is also the one responsible for the destruction and 'death' of my first robot body." Her smile returned a moment later. "I do not blame her, though - she was being manipulated by the same woman who killed me a second time, who herself was being manipulated by an even meaner woman! Needless to say, Emerald does not work for them anymore."

Emerald stared at the freckled girl with an aghast look on her face, while Takua just looked between the two of them quizzically.

"…sooo, is that a yes or a no?"

"It's a 'we'll probably figure it out later, when things are less stressful and dangerous,'" said Emerald with a scowl. "Speaking of which…"

The former thief stuck her fingers into her mouth and whistled loudly. Almost immediately, movement began to stir around them. A green-masked Matoran slowly poked their head out of a thatched-over window, while another peered out from a cluster of leaves. Still others leapt from branches and landed in a circle around the Chronicler and the Huntresses, tilting their heads in fascination as they stared at the newcomers. Penny noticed that these villagers seemed far more agile and alert than the ones she had seen thus far - which made sense, as the Le-Matoran were supposedly aligned with the element of air.

They certainly seem to move as quick as the wind itself, she thought to herself. But does that mean they are just as quick to flee as well?

When less than a dozen of the Le-Matoran hopped out of hiding, the movement around them stopped. Emerald's eyes darted between each one, and she whispered frantic numbers under her breath. Penny pretended not to notice the worry on the Huntress's face as she counted the villagers…and she did not pry when she let out a sigh of relief as soon as she reached ten.

Something must have happened here, she reasoned. Something…terrible.

Takua did his best to greet the villagers with an awkward wave. "Err, hello people of Le-Koro! I am Takua the Chronicler, and I'm here with Penny Polendina to…um…chronicle, I guess. And help out, if we can."

The Le-Matoran all looked at each other, then at Takua, then at Penny, and finally at Emerald before they nodded among themselves. They then started chattering excitedly, speaking so quickly that Penny did not understand their words at first. Only when she realized that the villagers were speaking to them did she try to listen carefully, though it was…difficult to follow along.

"Tamaru of Le-Koro!" exclaimed one clad in a green egg-shaped mask. "High-fly Vine-swinger, deep-wood Way-finder! Fastest leaf-runner in the village!"

"Kongu, Chief Kahu-tamer!" said another, this one wearing a turquoise beaklike Kanohi. "Ever-quick pilot! Weaver, mapmaker! Le-Koro Matoran!"

"And I am Radka, Le-Matoran spirit-guide and disc-carver." The third Matoran, wearing a green version of Gali's mask, bowed her head. "Forgive our quiet-hiding, but the village is still cautious after being attacked by Makuta's evil beasts."

"Feared at first you were Rahi," chimed one Le-Matoran, "but no Rama walks on two legs like that, so down-tree we come and greet!"

"You must be the brave wanderers that some speak of," said another. "Braver still, for coming to Le-Koro!"

Takua looked first at the villagers, then at Penny. "…you know, I'm starting to miss the silence, if this is how the Le-Matoran usually are."

"You get used to it," said Emerald with a sigh.

Penny curtseyed all the same. "Salutations! It is a pleasure to meet you all!" Then she tilted her head. "There are…fewer of you than I expected. What happened? And why did you think that Takua and I were Rahi at first?"

The Le-Matoran went silent, looking mournfully at one another before sighing. Penny's heart shattered.

"A great dark-time has fallen over Le-Koro," said Kongu with a slow shake of his head. "Matau stolen, Lewa gone…only the jungle-trees of Le-Wahi and our own quick-wits have kept us safe this long."

"In the last rain-season, Gukko-riders on patrol saw a Rama-hive growing topleaf-high, far in the eastern deep-wood," added Radka. "Unknown to us, those Rama-swarmers were all infected by Makuta. Several days ago, a force of cloud-sneaking Nui-Rama flew on Le-Koro, seeking to capture-snatch all of us in one fell-swoop. Quick-soaring Gukko-riders were tree-launched, air-defenders were deployed, and a great battle was fought here. The village may still stand, but many were lost - taken to the dark-hive."

So it was not just stray Onu-Matoran that Makuta was interested in collecting. It was any Matoran in the jungles of Le-Wahi. Penny idly wondered how long she would remain alive if Takua had been grabbed instead of Taipu…then shook her head to banish such dark thoughts.

"Oh, cursed Nui-Rama, buzz-flying Rahi!" wailed Tamaru dramatically. "Hundred-eye, all-seeing, fright and fury! Makuta-Madness makes them even worse! Wings mash, pincers grab! Frail and brittle-armored, so easy to snap-break, yet cunning Rama sneak-swoop-smash and fly out of reach!"

Takua's head tilted so far to one side it nearly lined up with the horizon. "…uh, I'm lost." He looked at the two girls with a sigh. "Can you understand anything they're saying?"

"Unfortunately yes," groaned Emerald. "Basically, Makuta's been sending his oversized fruit flies to scoop up Matoran and take them into their hive. At first they were just grabbing them one at a time while they were out hunting, but a few days ago they launched a huge attack and took most of the villagers captive - including Turaga Matau. Lewa and I tried to fight them off on our own, but…we weren't enough. I wasn't enough…"

Penny reached over and laid a hand on Emerald's shoulder. "We were traveling with another Matoran on our way here - a digger from Onu-Koro named Taipu. He was captured by a Nui-Rama, and we were hoping that you would be able to help us rescue him…and in turn, we will help you rescue the other captive villagers."

"You come at a lucky-bright time, travelers," said Kongu with a determined nod. "We're preparing to launch a rescue-flight of our own, and we could use every brave wind-rider in the effort. Last few days spent stockpiling weapons and armor, carving throw-disks from wood, and keeping away from the eyes of the Rama-swarmers."

"Emerald has been our guide-leader since Le-Koro fell," chimed in Radka. "Protected us she has, with the wisdom of a Turaga-chief and the valor of a Toa-hero. Without her guidance, all tree-people may have been lost to the shadow-dark."

"You have been leading them?" Penny grinned in delight and clasped Emerald's hands in both of hers. "Emerald, that is very noble and heroic! I am so proud of you!"

The former thief turned a shade of red as deep as her eyes, looking away and muttering something about how it was not a big deal.

"Oh! Before I forget…" Penny pulled out her Scroll and reached into Emerald's with a pulse of her Semblance, linking them together and transferring Team RWBY's contact information between the two devices. The process took less than a second, and despite the mint-haired girl scowling in protest, she nonetheless pulled out the device and hummed in fascination.

"There," said the freckled redhead proudly. "I have synchronized your list of Scroll numbers with my own. You may now contact the other Huntresses at any time - the island itself has begun to act like a CCT relay, allowing for wireless communication across all of Mata Nui. Ruby says you can also use the mask powers that Lewa has found for yourself, as if you were wearing the Kanohi. Be careful, though…that feature is powered by your Aura, and doing so drains it quickly."

Emerald let out a low whistle as she inspected her Scroll. "Damn. Ruby told me you got a new Semblance when we all met at Kini-Nui. Didn't think you'd be this good at it so soon…not bad. Not bad at all."

"In any case, we should fly-launch quickly," said Kongu. "Makuta's sure to have dark-eyes everywhere, and there's no telling when - "

"The Rama-swarm returns!" shrieked one of the other Le-Matoran. "They come on the east-wind! Looklooklooklooklook!"

Penny's eyes widened, while Emerald narrowed her own. Sure enough, a quick glance at the horizon revealed a dreadful sight - an absolutely massive cloud of gray-black that seemed to blot out the afternoon sun, slowly inching towards the village. The coming threat reminded the freckled Huntress of Salem's Grimm armada flying towards her home Kingdom of Atlas to signal its fall…in fact, it reminded her a little too well of the nightmares that still haunted her sleeping hours.

Fortunately, this time she was able to physically feel a soft hand slipping into her own to comfort her.

"Breathe," she heard Emerald whisper into her ear. "Don't let yourself get trapped in your mind. Focus on what's around you. Make it an anchor."

She nodded numbly, choosing to concentrate on her newfound sense of touch. The wooden grains beneath her bare feet. The thief's thumb tracing circles over her palm. The Chronicler's metal hand on her calf. The air that flowed in and out of her lungs. All of that brought her out of the mental mirage and allowed her to see the Nui-Rama swarm for what it really was.

A threat that she could probably handle.

"Looks like we sky-battle now!" said Kongu with determination in his voice. "Leaf-Runners, flee to the deep-wood until the all-clear sounds! Gukko-riders, scramble! Chronicler, Huntresses, stay close-near! We must get to my Kahu!"

The Le-Matoran all took off running in different directions, moving with the speed and grace of the wind. Wooden doors along the huts opened to allow brightly-colored metallic hawks to fly out, flapping ten-foot-wide wings and letting out beautiful echoing cries. Some of the villagers leapt onto the backs of the birds as they passed their branch, while others tossed said riders leafy sacks filled with throwing discs. Penny allowed Emerald to guide her and Takua through the flurry of activity, who in turn followed Kongu to an open platform.

Then the door to a larger hut opened up, and a very big bird stomped out with folded wings.

Whoa…

Penny's fear gave way to wonder as she looked over the mighty avian Rahi, which towered even over her at a staggering fifteen feet tall and twenty feet long from crest to tail. It boasted steel-black feathers and powerful orange talons, along with a golden beak that seemed sharp and strong enough to split a great tree in half. Wings composed of linkages and a powerful propulsion system in the back hinted at its semi-mechanical nature, and two grooves along the neck - one with a set of reins on either side, the other facing a disk-launcher on a swivel - were the perfect size and shape for a pair of Matoran to sit comfortably. The size and power of its wings and frame reminded her of a Giant Nevermore…but unlike the murderous corvids of Remnant, this creature had nothing but gentleness and peace in its glowing orange eyes.

Kongu noticed Penny staring, and smiled behind his mask. "Beautiful, isn't she? Gukko-birds that grow up to be as great-large as my Kahu here are a rare-sight and difficult to tame, but if you make the effort you'll find yourself a long-life friend that rules the wind-skies!"

"She is incredible," said the freckled Huntress. "Does she have a name?"

"Vizuna," said the Gukko rider proudly as he climbed into the front seat. "Raised her from hatch-egg myself after she got knocked out of a bird-nest, and she's carried me through more battle-flights than I can count! Only issue is that she stays tree-bound without a disk-thrower - Chronicler, will you be my second? You're the only one who'll sit-fit, and the other Le-Matoran must swift-hide to avoid capture-snatch."

Takua blinked and flinched. "Me? You want me to sit up there? But I don't know how to throw a disk…or at least, I don't remember how…"

"Oh, there is no need for throwing them." Penny waved her hand and scanned Vizuna with her Semblance. "The array on the back is semi-automatic - pull the trigger, and the disk launches itself at high speed! All you must do is aim properly…which I believe you are more than capable of, Takua."

The Chronicler looked at the launcher, then at his friend, and sighed. "…alright. If you're sure about this, then I'll do it."

"We will do it," said Penny resolutely. "I will ride as well, Kongu. Wherever Takua goes, I will follow!"

"Not like you have much choice," noted Emerald, tilting her head. "Think Vizuna's strong enough to carry all four of us?"

Kongu laughed. "She is strong enough to carry ten of us! Will you also wind-fly with us, shadow-leaf?"

"Might as well." The former thief hummed thoughtfully as she looked over the outsiders. "Unless Penny somehow managed to hide a working gun into that spear and shield of hers, you're gonna need someone with ranged weapons to help Takua pick off those bugs. Plus, you'll need a stealth expert once you're in the hive -"

"Emerald." Penny smiled. "You do not need to continue justifying why you are helping us. We know that you care. That is more than reason enough."

The mint-haired teenager once again blushed, then pouted. "…shut up."

Nevertheless, the Huntresses and the Chronicler took their places on the back of the mighty Kahu, with Takua sliding into the second seat while the girls hung off either side. Kongu smirked and snapped the Rahi's reins, prompting her to spread her wings and start flapping them slowly. Huge gusts of air billowed and blew through Penny's hair, the deafening sound waves nearly drowning out the high-pitched whirring of the propulsion engines warming up. When Vizuna's talons finally lifted gently off the platform, her wings straightened out and gained a green glow while humming with power.

Penny grinned as the anticipation took hold, eager to return to the sky.

Takua took a breath to steady himself, shifting his grip on the handles for the disk launcher.

Emerald narrowed her gaze and drew Thief's Respite in its revolver form, checking to make sure the chamber was fully loaded with fiery Dust rounds.

"May the winds be ever-strong beneath our wings!" said Kongu with a fierce smile. "Lewa protect us! Let's go!"

And with that, the Kahu fired her jets and soared into the great blue battlefield.

Chapter Text

Takua quickly remembered that he did not enjoy flying.

The wind whipped past his mask and battered his body, threatening to pry him out of his seat as the Kahu raced across the sky. His organic muscles screamed and twisted themselves into knots from the intense speed, and his mechanical joints and sockets chattered and clattered like rusty junk tumbling down a hill. Every part of his brain screamed that Matoran like him weren't meant to go this fast, or this high, and certainly not both at the same time - yet the Le-Matoran in the seat ahead of him didn't seem to mind, and neither did the half-dozen sky-warriors flying in loose formation alongside them on their own Gukko birds.

On his right Penny hung from the side of Vizuna's saddle, with her hook-headed spear in her free hand and her feet planted firmly against the great bird's flank. Unlike the Chronicler and his reluctance to be in the sky, she was practically beaming with joy - her orange hair flowed behind her in the wind, her emerald eyes sparkled in delight, and she had a smile so big it almost overtook her entire maskless face. In contrast, the darker-skinned human on his left was stoic and focused, her finger fiddling methodically with her weapon's trigger while her crimson eyes glared daggers at the encroaching swarm.

"This is wonderful!" said Penny with a giggle, her voice barely audible over the rushing winds. "It feels so good to fly again!"

"Try not to get too distracted!" Emerald called back. "Remember, we're not flying for fun - we need to punch through the Nui-Rama swarm and get into their nest! Takua, you got that thing figured out yet?"

The Chronicler gulped and looked down at the odd contraption in front of him - a projectile launcher mounted to the Kahu's armor by a flexible swivel joint. A single long rail down the middle sat between two rotating cylinders, each of which were loaded with racks of wooden throwing disks with sharpened edges. A pair of handles on the sides allowed him to easily aim the entire launcher, and according to Penny's cursory scan with her Semblance, the left trigger was meant to load a disk into the rail while the right trigger launched said disk at high speed. While it wasn't as accurate or precise as a Matoran throwing a disk with their own arm, the launcher made up for it with quick loading and pure stopping power…as well as making it accessible to villagers like Takua, who had no idea how to throw the most common weapon on Mata Nui.

"I think so!" he shouted above the roaring wind. "Maybe! We'll see."

"Best quick-learn, traveler!" cried Kongu. "Rama-swarmers incoming!"

Sure enough, smaller clouds of buzzing orange and green split off from the funnel-like hive in the distance and rushed towards them. As they got closer, Takua could see that each cloud was in fact, made up of dozens - if not hundreds - of winged insectoid Rahi. Twisted masks over their compound eyes dripped with caustic fluid, razor-sharp claws and stingers bared themselves for the coming battle, and the constant flapping of their wings created a buzz so loud it could be heard above the rushing wind. Frail as each one might have been on its own, they didn't need to be tough - not when there were enough of them to darken the sky.

"Break formation, but back up your wingman!" yelled one Le-Matoran as their Gukko banked left.

"May the wind ever be under our wings…" chimed another as they followed suit and went right.

The Nui-Rama swarm dispersed and spread out to cover as wide an area as possible, hoping to catch flying Gukko birds in their claws. Shrieking and buzzing blended together into a cacophony of noise, which was further drowned out by the sound of gunfire from Emerald and the whistling of Penny's spear in motion. All the flying Le-Matoran banked left and right to avoid the insects that rushed at them - all except Kongu and Vizuna, who never stopped their straightforward charge across the jungle sky, turning the treetops below into a rushing blanket of green.

Takua took a deep breath - why was the air so thin up here? - and adjusted his grip on the disk launcher's handles. The weapon thumped as he pulled the left trigger to load a disk, letting him know it was ready to fire. He lined up the sights with an incoming Nui-Rama, squeezed the other handle to fire…

And missed.

He furrowed his brow as he saw the projectile sail through the air, cutting through the air a bio behind his target. His targeted Nui-Rama seemed to laugh at him as it charged in, only to get skewered by Penny once it came into range. The freckled Huntress cast a comforting glance towards him as she flung it off her spear, but he hardly felt any better. Especially not after the Rahi carcass flew back in such a way that it collided with another insect in mid-air, sending both bugs crashing into the sea of trees below.

Dead weight yet again, he thought darkly. What a surprise.

Pushing the thoughts of his own inadequacy aside, he kept firing at the oncoming bugs. The results didn't make him feel much better. Miss. Miss. Miss. Another miss. Hey, that one hit! …no wait, that was Emerald shooting it down. Because he missed.

The green-haired Huntress seemed to notice his troubles. "Lead your shots, little guy!" she called over the rushing winds. "The disks need time to travel between the launcher and a Nui-Rama on the move! Pick your targets, watch their flight paths, and aim for where they're going to be - not where they are!"

The Chronicler furrowed his brow behind his mask as he tried to follow Emerald's advice, shifting the launcher's position and picking out his next target from the swarm of oncoming Nui-Rama. Eventually he found one - a big orange bug coming on the right side, trying to sneak around while the gun-wielding Huntress was distracted shooting down targets on the left. He watched it fly in a curved path for a moment, aimed just slightly ahead of the Rahi, squeezed the trigger, and…

Direct hit!

His disk flew straight and true, striking right between the eyes and nearly cleaving the entire insect in half. Its buzzing wings sputtered and stopped before it fell to the trees below - if the quarter-bio-wide plate of wood sticking out of its face didn't kill it, the impact of landing almost certainly would. He let out a laugh of disbelief as the giant insect limply dropped out of the sky, no longer a threat.

"I got one!" he exclaimed excitedly. "I actually got one!"

"Good job, Takua!" The freckled Huntress was beaming in pride.

"Nice shot, keep it up!" Emerald sighted down her guns and took out three more. "Watch out, on our six! They're coming in hot!"

"Leave it to me!" Penny called as she twisted around and used her spear to hang off the side of the Kahu. Her other hand stretched out towards the trio of Nui-Rama gaining on the bird's tail, wrapping teal-green wires around the middle bug's limbs before she pulled her fist back forcefully. Takua looked over his shoulder just in time to watch the central Rahi suddenly lash out, slashing the left one with its claws and crashing into the right one to take them both out in a high-speed collision of chitin.

"Whoa, Penny!" Takua exclaimed as the shattered bodies fell away. "I didn't know you could control the Rahi!"

"Neither…did I…" Penny let her hand fall with a slight pant. "I only…acted on instinct…but I do not think that was full control. It seems that…I can only control the technology in their joints… provoking what one might call a 'muscle spasm.' I do not…I do not know if I have the ability to fully control them…"

"Still a pretty useful trick!" Emerald called out as she shot down another two bugs. "Try not to burn too much Aura, though - save it for when we're actually in the hive!"

Right…Takua remembered that they didn't need to shoot down every Nui-Rama. Only the ones that tried to stop them. He focused on covering the right side yet again, loading another disk preemptively.

Their flight continued with little interference. Emerald was a crack shot with her own weapons of choice, easily swatting down Nui-Rama like they were nothing more than fire-flyers. Takua's aim wasn't quite that good since his first shot, but he could feel his accuracy steadily increase with each grazing blow he landed. The green-haired Huntress's advice was a lifesaver - by aiming just a few bios ahead of the flying Rahi, his disks struck true more often than not. It wasn't always enough to knock a bug out of the sky, but it was enough to make them peel off and abandon their attack. He told himself that was just as good as a kill.

When they were about halfway to the hive, Emerald suddenly shifted her gun into a chained sickle. Everyone looked over with shock as she balanced herself on Vizuna's wing and drew her other weapon, transforming it to match.

"Kongu, the other Gukko riders are getting shredded!" She started twirling the hooked chains. "I'm jumping off to try and help them out!"

"Understood, shadow-leaf!" Kongu called back. "Meet you in the Rama-hive!"

With a nod, Emerald tossed her chains out and drove the hooks into the underside of a Nui-Rama. Rather than yank it down, she used it as an anchor point to pull herself up and into the sky. She deftly tore it apart with the sickles even as she leapt off its falling pieces, jumping to another airborne Rahi to repeat the process.

"Well there goes most of our firepower," groaned Takua as he fired another disk that tore off an oncoming insect's wing. "Now what?"

"Too many Rama-swarmers at this sky-level for you to shoot down alone!" responded Kongu. "Heading to the high-clouds to sneak-pass them!"

"What does that even mean?!" wailed the Chronicler.

"It means hold on, Takua!" Penny clarified as she shifted position, digging her spear into the back of his seat and straddling the armored ridge behind him. "We are going up!"

…oh good, so they were going to fly even higher now.