Chapter 3

Nuparu stumbled backward, trying to bat the spider away, but it clung to his arm. Its legs dug deep into the Boxor, ripping at its cables and circuitry. With a mighty thrust, Nuparu threw the creature off, but even as it flew through the air, its long head snapped forward, and its jaws clamped at the space inches from Nuparu’s harness.

The engineer stepped back a few paces and raised his mechanical arms in defense. Now that there was a gap between them, he could get a better look of the animal. Half the creature was red, and the other half was blue. The Rahi scuttled around on four legs, and its skull was long and pointed.

The spider lunged again, but Nuparu snapped his arm forward, punching it hard in the jaw. The Rahi screeched in response, and spat acids from both sides of its jaw. Nuparu stumbled backwards, and the acids landed in two puddles where he had been standing, discoloring the ground two different colors.

“Two colors?” Nuparu mused. “Two different acids?”

He had heard it said that the Lehvak had wielded two forms of acid, which had served two different purposes in leveling the island. Both forms were equally destructive, but when mixed, the two neutralized as water.

His mathematically-geared mind immediately set to work, calculating the speed and angles of the acid spray, and the precise distance he would have to be for the streams to collide. Nuparu stepped a few paces backward, and as the spider attempted to close the distance, he remained at exactly that distance.

The Acid Spider hissed impatiently, spraying both streams of acid as the engineer had hoped. Nuparu guided his Boxor safely to the side, and when they hit the wall behind him, the splashes mixed and formed clear water. The parts of the pools that did not overlap ate away at the rock.

“We have enough corrosive personalities on this island,” Nuparu grunted. He turned to face the Acid Spider. “Unfortunately for you, we know how to deal with them.”

The spider spat another spray, and as Nuparu jumped back to the safe distance, the streams collided and neutralized as water. With a grim expression, the engineer triggered his powerful arm, which shot forward and pummeled the spider’s jaw.

“I don’t know if you’re a servant Makuta or the Bahrag, but it doesn’t matter,” the Onu-Matoran muttered. “But you can take a message back to them: the Matoran will defend their homes.”

The Acid Spider screeched and stumbled toward the rear wall. That was when Nuparu noticed a small nest tucked in the corner behind the Rahi. That sight caused the Matoran to hesitate.

It's its home! he realized.

The battle-hardened Matoran frowned. For nearly a thousand years, Matoran had struggled against the corrupted beasts of Makuta’s Rahi armies. Even after Makuta was defeated, they had barely survived against the onslaught sent by the Bahrag. All his life, all he had known was fighting and struggling to survive.

But was it even possible that this Rahi before him didn’t mean him harm? Was it conceivable that it only wished to defend its home, even as the Matoran had defended theirs?

Sensing his hesitation, the Acid Spider snapped its head forward, even as Nuparu triggered the ejection on his prized Boxor. The Onu-Matoran was thrown several feet away, even as the acid struck home, devouring the machine. With a pang, Nuparu’s heart sank as sparks flew. It was now unusable.

Any invention can be rebuilt, he knew. But this may be the only chance to fix this… Matoran and Rahi must coexist.

The Acid Spider’s jaws snapped at the immobile Boxor, as motionless as a disabled Bohrok. And like a krana, Nuparu stood helpless and powerless. The machine fell backward with a clatter as the spider began to notice Nuparu’s presence.

The Rahi scuttled forward warily, and instinctively the Onu-Matoran raised his arms defensively. But the spider’s head did not snap forward, nor did sprays of acid shoot from its mouth. Against the dim glow of the empty Bohrok-Kal nests, the two creatures regarded each other curiously.

And then the spider returned to its nest and sat down.

Nuparu lowered his arms. Vaguely, the recesses of his mind echoed with a half-remembered truth. The Onu-Matoran would take great interest in the discovery of this new Rahi.

Would they? The engineer frowned. What reason would he have to think this?

It should be archived.

He shook his head. There would be time enough to ponder this possibility later. For now, it was enough to leave unharmed.

The Bohrok-Kal nests had been fully explored. There would be no salvaging the Boxor, at least today. Much as its loss tore at him, Nuparu knew what had been gained was far more important.

Far more important.