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Kikia stood wearily on the top of Mount Taoratia, the highest peak in the whole of Po-Wahi. His chest heaved from the running he had just done.

His trip from Onu-Koro to the mountain had taken longer than he had expected, but the sand had held him up. As he ran it had stung and grated his skin. Only his formidable Po-Koronan stubbornness had kept him going. He felt rather like he’d been thoroughly rubbed down with sandpaper.

“Well,” he muttered, ”I guess I was.”

He looked down on the swirling sands below him, occasionally seeing the ever-changing dunes though the veil of the storm. In front of him was a level pathway, eroded but still intact. He walked along it and slumped down against the little pedestal set on the very top of the mountain. Kikia’s eyelids flickered and then shut.

When he woke, he was covered in grit and dust. He stood up, brushed himself off and then felt around for the mask. He had put it behind him…

The mask was gone.

Kikia looked and felt around in panic, but couldn’t see it. He took a few paces back and looked around again. He saw tracks. The mask had left a trail in the dust. It started where he had left it, and then it had rolled down… down… further down the side of the mountain… ah! The mask had stopped against a buttress of rock in the side of the slope, face down. Kikia quickly hopped down to it and picked it up.

“I can see you are trying to get away… Well, we’ll see about that!”

Kikia set off down the mountain, at top speed. He knew that the storm was at it’s least furious in the early morning. The mask was on top of the mountain. And the pedestal on top of it.

“Excuse me, did you see a huge Ussal come by here a few minutes ago?”

The Ta-Koronan looked up from the shrine he was polishing.

“Eh? Ussal? Yes, it went out the main gate over the lava. Looked terrified, we didn’t dare try to stop it.”

“Thank you.”

The Chosen walked through Ta-Koro. They squinted in the bright red glow of the village, being in stark contrast from the almost light-less Onu-Koro and it’s tunnels. Kaiwera looked around at the familiar sights and sighed. He was home again.

“Hey guys, I don’t suppose we could stay here a while could we? It was a long walk from Onu-Koro…” he said.

“I don’t think so Mr. ‘Were-on-an-important-quest’,” said Moana. “We came here to find that Ussal.”

“Hurumph.”

The Chosen were nearing the gate when Vakama stepped out of the bridge control room and jumped in surprise.

“Kaiwera! What are you doing here, and who are these Tohunga?”

“Ah… hello Turaga Vakama. These are the other Chosen…”

“Well… now, this is splendid! You’ve done well. Four your company now is. Soon you shall have the other two and will be able to complete your quest. Do you have the Kanohi?” Vakama asked with excitement.

“We only have to find one more member, Priest. Our other comrade, Kikia, from Po-Koro is off on another errand. We have all the masks except for Kohuke’s here. We were just on our way to get it…”

“Kaiwera, you will not find the Pakari this way, it will be in Onu-Koro. You shouldn’t have led your friends all the way to Ta-Koro just to be in your own village again.”

Kaiwera looked up at Vakama in amazement.

“Priest! I have done no such thing, we are on the trail of a missing Ussal-“

“Ussal crabs? Why you are searching for the wrong thing entirely – you should be looking for Kanohi not crabs.”

“Turaga… let me explain…”

Within a little time all was explained to Vakama.

“Oh. Well, yes, you’d better get on and find that crab quick. Why are you still here talking to me? Go!” and then we walked off.

“Man your Turaga is weird. Is he always like that?” asked Kohuke.

“Erm… no, well, yes, but I guess he’s been under a lot of stress recently…” said Kaiwera doubtfully. “Come on, we’ve got to find that Ussal soon.”

Onepu was cleaning out the stables with a bent shovel when Kohuke and the travellers returned. They were riding on Nikki.

“Nikki!” he cried, and ran to hug her. She purred with content and retracted her legs, allowing the Chosen to get off.

“So you found her Kohuke?”

“Yes, Onepu! It took a while, but eventually we came across her near the beach of Ta-Wahi!”

“I'm glad she's safe- now I can get back to winning the Ussal races! Ha ha! I heard from Turaga Whenua that you have been sent on a quest... A very important quest. It is only right that help out in any way that I can.”

“Erm… about that, Onepu. You don’t think we could, borrow, Nikki for a bit do you? We just need to get to the Earth Temple…” asked Kohuke quietly.

Onepu stood up slowly.

“Well… lets say this is your chance to redeem my trust in you Kohuke, ‘eh? Yes, take her, but take care of her, I’ve lost her once today, I’m not keen to do it again.”

“Yes Onepu! Thank you!” Kohuke gave a little squeak of joy and then gestured for the Chosen to hop onto Nikki. They did so, Kohuke steering, Kaiwera and Pirihi behind and Moana trailing her legs on the back, as they had done on the way to Onu-Koro.

“OK Chosen, time to see how fast this girl can go…”

Two Kofu-Jaga were feeding off a root that protruded into the tunnel from the surface. The sap was sour but nourishing. They became aware of a noise. Shouting was heard, and then the ground shook a little. The Kofu looked at each other, but didn’t have time to do anything else as they were thrown into the air by Nikki, speeding through the tunnels like a bat out of hell. Kohuke was trying to control her, but could do little more than hold on, the same as the other Chosen. Moana was only able to stay on by Kaiwera and Pirihi holding her arms.

They cannoned through the heart of Mata Nui. After what seemed like a few minutes Nikki began to slow down. Finally they stopped, and could see faintly the very last embers of the lightstones that had been set in the brackets either side of the tunnel. Nikki carried on a little way, and their senses could tell even in the pitch black that they were now in a huge empty space.

“Whoa…” said Kohuke and Pirihi together. Only they could see the huge columns and terrible height of the front of the Earth Temple. The stone work was magnificent, preserved by the earth around it from the weather and the winds.

“What? I can’t see a thing…” said Kaiwera, and pulled out his lantern. He opened the all the grills and let the light of the lightstone escape. The Chosen shielded their eyes to the light, but as they grew used to it, and Kaiwera shone it up to the top of the cavern they all gazed in awe at the magnitude of the Temple.

“This must have taken years to build! I mean, look how high it is!” exclaimed Kaiwera.

“Yes… all the Temples did. They were tributes to the great Toa in the times of old. That’s what Whenua told us anyway. I guess we should go in?” said Kohuke.

“Hang on, if that’s right, why are the Po-Koronans building their Temple now?” asked Moana. “Kikia?”

“Well… our Temple is lost Moana. It was out on the dunes, but one time the sand storm was real bad and no-one left the village for a month. When we can out the temple had… gone, disappeared under the sands. We dug for it, but everyone argued over where it used to be. So… we started building a new one. It gave us something to do at least,” sighed Kikia.

“Poor you. OK gang, swords at the ready. We don’t know what we could come up against in there…” said Kaiwera.