The Feral Plains/Volume III

The Feral Plains: Volume III is the third part of The Feral Plains. It was first written in four episodes (one with two parts) by CaptainLandr0ver on the Lego.com Gallery under the name "tomatopaste101", and was later proofread, edited and combined into a volume to be released here.

Submerged
Hatar, Toa of Gravity, was standing at the water's edge, watching the Matoran finish up their work. It was early to quit working, but today the sun was merciless. Many of the workers had given up already, claiming that they could not take the heat. The Ga-Matoran were swimming near the shore of the lake, and had invited some friends, but Hatar did not allow them to swim very far out.

Finally, Vandir, his brother, arrived.

"Vandir," said Hatar, "So glad you could make it."

"It is nice to see you again," replied Vandir. "How is the work going for you?"

"Swell so far," said Hatar, "we have found quite a few veins of lightstone underground. But some of these veins I think are too close to the lake. I plan to send Ga-Matoran down with the miners to make sure that they do not breach into the lake bed and get the tunnels flooded."

"Sounds dangerous."

"It is. I am worried about the work conditions here. With all this work so close to the lake, I fear that an accident is almost inevitable."

"Well, it is for a good cause."

"That's the thing, Vandir. I don't get it. Why do we need to protect ourselves from the natives? From the way you're acting about them, I'm honestly more worried about an invasion from your camp. Not everyone is going to want to fight."

"Trust me, Hatar."

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't."

"Brother, last time we stopped preparing our island was annihilated by the forces of the Makuta!"

Hatar froze. He thought about what Vandir just said. "Vandir, this is not the Makuta."

"They did something to me. They made me ill. We can't let them overtake us."

From the other side of Lake Faradi came a cry for help.

"Hatar! Help!" said the Ga-Matoran on the other side.

"What is it?" said Hatar. He trotted to the edge of the cliff.

He saw Le-Matoran Nepto squirming at the bottom.

"Can you get him?" yelled Hatar.

"I can swim down there," said the Ga-Matoran, "but I'm not strong enough to pull him up!"

"That leaves only one choice."

Hatar took no time and began running to the other side of the lake. He took a deep breath and slipped into the water.

Hatar couldn't waste time. He used his elemental powers to sink himself down to the bottom and attached himself to the rocky wall. This was no normal lake, as it had stone where it should have had dirt and sediment. Pieces of protodermis sparkled on the sides, dancing in tandem with the caustics on the floor.

When Hatar reached Nepto, the Matoran lashed out and climbed onto his back. He wrapped his arm around the Toa's neck and began choking him. Somehow, despite Hatar’s immense strength, he was unable to shake the Matoran off of him.

Vandir was appalled. He needed to save his brother. He didn't care what had come over Nepto to make him attack Hatar.

Vandir leaped into the water and used his powers to careen right to his brother. He focused hard and created a bubble of air just big enough for the three of them.

"Nepto!" screamed Hatar after gasping for air. "Stop! Get off!!" Vandir began prying the Matoran off of his brother, but this broke his concentration and once again they were underwater.

After being hit, kicked and scratched by the Matoran, Vandir finally struck him with a blast of air that sent everyone flying away. Hatar grabbed the angry Nepto and desperately thrashed his way to the surface, where Vandir now was.

He laid Nepto onto the rocky shore, and after many convulsions the Matoran came back to his senses. He apparently had no recollection of what had just happened. Vandir was confused, Hatar was holding back the urge to throw the Matoran at something. Nepto never seemed to make anybody this angry or alarmed, and was not the violent type. Whatever had just happened was not natural, and was not Nepto's fault.