Chapter Two

Since becoming Toa Hordika, the team had come up with a list of tasks to complete in order to rescue the Matoran. Finding Keetongu was made clear from the moment the Rahaga had found them. Then there was defeating Sidorak and Roodaka, recovering airship parts to shuttle the Matoran home, and expelling the Visorak from the city.

Not once on this list did ‘death by molten protodermis’ come up, but it seemed that the Toa Hordika were about to fulfill that goal.

They were falling through the air, collapsing toward the lake of lava below. The heat rising into the air was an uncomfortable reminder of their fate, but there was little time to think. Toa Onewa, running out of time, thought quickly. If I got us into this, he said to himself, I will get us out! Charging another Rhotuka, he leaned forward, and let the spinner fly toward the ground. In an instant, it collided with the lava, forming a platform of stone amid the lake just as the six Toa collided with it.

The landing was less than pleasant, slamming directly into solid rock. But all of the Toa Hordika would agree, it was several times preferable to the alternative.

“I can’t believe that worked!” Onewa laughed, rising to his feet. “Try to best that, firespitter.”

Vakama growled, only for Nokama to place a hand on his shoulder. “If it hadn’t worked, we wouldn’t have lived with the consequences very long,” she chided. “Or at all. Next time, warn us before you spring a plan like that.”

“There won’t be a ‘next time’ if we don’t move,” Vakama replied, “look!”

Looking up at once, the others watched in horror as the various Visorak squads repelled down from the ceiling, gracefully gliding down from their webs. On the narrow platform of stone, there would be little room to battle.

Toa Nuju was quick to scan the room, activating the scope on his mask. He quickly noticed a hole in the nearby wall, depositing further into the system of tunnels. “Look!” he said, “Over there!”

Onewa was quick to oblige, and fired off a Rhotuka spinner at the ground below them. “Hop on!” he commanded, leading the charge to the next stone as it formed among the lava. “I’ll make us a path.”

One by one, the Toa Hordika began hopping across the stones, slowly advancing towards the chasm in the wall. With each step, the Visorak only drew closer, leaping from rock to rock just behind them.

“I guess the floor really is lava,” Whenua chuckled to himself, kicking his foot back to force a Visorak back. Before long, the six Toa had entered the hole, even as the Visorak gnashed at their heels.

“Hurry!” Matau urged, crawling on his hands and knees in a single file line with the others. The cramped nature of the tunnel required such form of travel, but it was uncomfortably close to the way Rahi creatures traversed. Just another reminder of their bestial state.

At last, the Toa Hordika began spilling out of the end of the tunnel, into a darkened underground hall. Vakama rushed out into the open, even as Whenua hopped out from the hole. “Onewa!” he shouted. “Bring it down!”

The Toa of Stone grinned. “With pleasure.” Firing his Rhotuka spinner at the door, he watched as the hole caved in, mounds of rock covering the opening. The sounds of struggle from the trapped Visorak soon followed, but they were sealed beyond the point of threat. He drew a breath of relief, leaning against the wall to rest.

Nuju looked upon the rock wall Onewa had created, shocked by his apparent new power. “So,” he said, turning his gaze to the team’s leader, “you’ve figured out what these spinners are.”

“Yes, Norik told us about them during our detour in Po-Metru,” Vakama explained. “They’re called Rhotuka, wheels of energy formed by our very thoughts, granting us powers. For whatever reason, the mutation gave us a launcher to use them.”

“The Visorak have them too,” Whenua noted. “As do the Rahaga. I wonder, do all beings have these Rhotuka?”

“Whatever they are, they’re our only way of using our elemental powers for now,” said Onewa. “It’s more difficult than before, but it works. That’s good enough for me.”

“I’m sure you’re eager to try it, but don’t test them out here,” Vakama warned. “It’s far too confined, and they can be hard to control.” His gaze turned to Matau, who had been preoccupied rambling to Nokama. “I take it you didn’t find any functional airships in Le-Metru?”

It took the Toa of Air a second to realize who Vakama was talking to. Perking up, he straightened himself out. “None,” he reported. “There were some structure-frames, but we’ll still need to hard-gather materials to make them operational.”

Vakama nodded. “Then after we return to the surface, we’ll determine what we need for them and seek it out. But right now, finding the Turaga is more important.”

Matau winced, as the sound of claws scraping against rock echoed from the direction of the sealed up hole. “Then we’d better hurry,” he said, “that barrier isn’t going to hold out the Visorak forever.”

✴        ✴        ✴

The Toa Hordika moved quickly through the underground passage, making sure not to stop moving. Knowing that any minute could see the Visorak return kept them light on their feet as they progressed. From the ceiling, small droplets of lava leaked out, threatening to scald anything in its path. The team were quick to avoid it, but even the passageway had small rivers of molten protodermis snaking through the ground.

“There’s only one thing I don’t get,” Whenua mused. “When we were last coming this way, there wasn’t any molten protodermis anywhere. Where did all this come from?”

Onewa glanced up at the ceiling and followed a path with his eyes, mapping out the area in his mind. “The central heating facilities are nearby,” he reasoned. “They must have exploded from all the pressure during the earthquake.”

“If something like that were to happen in Ko-Metru, the protodermis could melt the Knowledge Towers!” bemoaned Nuju. “So much research, lost!”

Nokama sighed. “Ga-Metru as well. But there isn’t much we can do about it.”

“All the more reason to recover the Matoran and get out of here quickly,” said Vakama. “I doubt those spheres would stand a chance against molten protodermis. Better we rescue them than save some old seer’s notes.”

Nuju frowned at the slight, but said nothing.

As Matau rounded the corner, he spotted something at the end of the hall. Past a stream of silver liquid, a metallic sphere rested undisturbed at the edge of the room. “Speaking of spheres,” he announced, “looks like we’ve quick-found Dume’s.”

From the shadows, a pair of crimson eyes watched as the six Toa Hordika explored the area surrounding Dume’s pod. As they poked around the river, the eyes retreated back into the darkness, remaining ever watchful.

Vakama raised a curious brow as he scanned the area. “The liquid protodermis stream wasn’t here before…” Beneath his feet, he felt a low rumble through the ground, shaking the very floor of the tunnel as it progressed. “Wait,” he muttered, “do you hear that?”

Before anyone could respond, the doorway at the end of the hall burst open, the metal door collapsing to the ground as a horde of Rahi exploded into the area.

“Against the wall!” Vakama shouted, shoving Matau and Nuju up to the edge. “Now!”

The other Toa were quick to oblige, clinging tight to the wall to let the flood of Rahi pass. It was difficult to discern, but Whenua recognized several species of Sea Spiders and Cable Crawlers among the crowd, scurrying through the tunnel. It seemed confusing to him that such Rahi would be in the tunnels below the city, as neither were native to the subterranean areas, but he ignored the thought to focus on staying out of their way.

At last, the Rahi flood ended. As the last stragglers escaped, the six Toa Hordika returned to the ground, catching their breath as they watched the myriad of creatures racing off into the halls from where they had come.

“They’re running,” Nokama said. “But from what?” Looking back to the opposite end of the hall, she quickly received her answer.

A massive, spiderlike Rahi loomed over Turaga Dume’s pod, gleaming silver in the dimmed tunnel lights. Growling and hissing in, the Rahi made it clear that it had no intentions of moving without a fight.

Matau groaned. “Why did you have to ask?”