A Particularly Cake-Filled Story

The smell of sweet, freshly cooked sponge cake was insulting his nostrils. It wasn’t fair. He wanted cake. And he wanted it now.

Nuhvok-Kal didn’t understand much these days. It felt like years since he had fought the Toa Nuva and been sucked into a black hole created by his own, out-of-control powers. He had no idea what had happened to his siblings. He didn’t even know if the nest or the Bahrag or anything still existed. He could have been completely alone. Except he wasn’t.

The smell was taunting him through the gaps of the old, rusty ‘oven’. Not even Mata Nui knew how old that oven was. Nuhvok originally thought that it must have been millions of years old, compared to the rust he’d seen on the oldest Matoran, but he was later told that wasn’t the case. He was also asked what a Matoran was.

“Can I have some please?” Nuhvok asked, his eyes lighting up.

The human didn’t reply. He didn’t even look at Nuhvok. He was looking at the door. Someone was knocking on it. Nuhvok sighed, then headed to the low cupboard by the ‘refrigerator’. He climbed in and pulled the door shut, just as the other door opened.

“Zhe cake iz not ready yet…”

“I’m noot loooking for cake, laddie boy! I’m lookin’ for me whiskey!”

There was an audible sigh from both sides of the conversation as a cupboard near Nuhvok’s location opened and quickly slammed shut again.

“Ahh, cheers, mate!”

“Zhe coast is clear, little one…” Nuhvok waited for a few seconds, for the other human to let him out, then climbed out, careful not to knock the door off its hinges again. With a grunt, Nuhvok climbed up one of the chairs, then continued to watch the cake being made. This human was an odd one. It spoke with a lot of Zs and Vs and such. Apparently, he was a ‘doctor’, but he wasn’t like any doctor he’d seen back on Mata Nui. The Matoran doctors and healers used magic and elemental powers. This human used specialised technology. And he still hadn’t told Nuhvok his name. With another grunt, Nuhvok watched as the ‘doctor’ took the cake out of the ‘oven’ and turned it off, the flame disappearing with a quiet fizzle. The smell was even better now that there wasn’t rust and fire in the way. It was like… Well, Nuhvok didn’t really know.

“Have you had cake before?” Someone asked out of the blue, grabbing Nuhvok’s attention.

“No, I have not.” Nuhvok replied. “But my enhanced sense of smell is struggling to cope with the scents I am inhaling…”

The doctor grinned, then opened a draw and pulled out a large, wooden cylinder. He then opened another cupboard and pulled out several different packets, all of which were white. After that, he rummaged around for a small, blue bottle, and put that on the worktop along with the other ingredients. “Cannot have a cake without zhe icing…”

“Icing?” Nuhvok asked. “Does that have to do with ice?”

“Nein!” the doctor replied cheerfully, before pouring a bag of something called ‘flour’ on the worktop. He then opened another packet and dumped that on the side too. But this other thing came out as a solid square. He then carefully opened the small, blue bottle and placed a drop of that on the solid square, which he then started to knead and push about with the wooden cylinder. “Ach, I could not be bozhered vith making it myself…”

Before long, the solid white block was now a flat, round shape of pale blue. The doctor grinned, then placed the pale blue ‘icing’ on top of the cake, trimming the edges away. The doctor held a piece of icing up, just as there was another knock on the door. Nuhvok scurried away back to his cupboard and slammed it shut.

“Who is it?”

“Doc, is that darn ol’cake ready? The boys are gettin’ anxious out there! Not t’mention tha’ they’re gettin’ obnoxious!”

“Ja, it’s ready. Let me get zhe candles. Tell zhe… Zhing to get itz lighter so ve can light zhem…” Nuhvok could hear the sound of rummaging in draws and the rustling of paper, before everything disappeared. Several rooms away, there was a loud cheer and what sounded like songs, which soon faded back into normal chatter.

Nuhvok sat alone in his little cupboard, unsure whether he could leave or not. The problem was, only the doctor knew about him. He’d never told the other humans. Nuhvok had seen the other humans before, he’d peered at them through the gaps in his little hiding places, but he knew that they wouldn’t accept them. Well, not all of them. Some of the humans were quite scary or quite vicious. They had a funny job. They were ‘Mercenaries’ as the doctor had explained, but the idea of killing for a prize made very little sense to the Bohrok. Even their emotions and thoughts were a mess to a being who’s own emotions were so mechanical…

Time passed. It must have been about fifteen minutes, but Nuhvok wasn’t sure. Either way, the room was empty. The only difference was that the cake was gone, and there was some paper on the work top. Wait, where did the paper come from? With a hint of curiosity in his giant, yellow eyes, Nuhvok climbed onto the work top and looked at the paper. There was a note on it. He sniffed, then followed his nose over to the edge of the worktop, where something was hidden in a small, wooden box.

Nuhvok grinned as he took a bite out of the little, blue sponge cake.”Thank you, Medic…”