Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Feb 24, 2009 16:29:03 GMT -5
I'm starting a new story, cause RIA, Avak and Takal are all done, and I started writing one in my big green book.(the book with the first drafts of RIA, Avak, Takal and the two that never made it, Sorrowix and Axonn) This story, as usual, is in first person, but I'll be switching between the first person narratives of Takal, Avak, RIA (are we noticing a pattern?) and Nuara. (oh well...) I'm giving you a week's warning because....
[glow=red,2,300][/glow]
... It gives away the end of Ria's epic. It was hard not to, and if you read next week, or wait until Ria discloses it himself, you'll see why.
Anyway, our story begins next week, in the city of legends...
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Mar 3, 2009 16:07:19 GMT -5
TAKAL After the events on Karda Nui, we followed the Nuva to Metru Nui, in the hopes of creating an opening for Maroo's team to return Mata Nui to his body, if they managed to return at all. The Nuva were already in the city somewhere, helping the turaga maintain some sort of order. On arrival, the survivors of Ria's army fell into shocked silence. No matoran roamed the streets, there was no noise in the buildings, and the hissing and shadow that accompanied rahkshii was everywhere and unbearable. Buildings and homes had been destroyed in rahkshii raids, and the bodies of 'traitorous' toa and matoran who had rushed to Metru Nui's aid littered the streets. One of the most shocking things was a toa's head impaled on a staff, driven into the ground. It was the head of the Order toa who had rescued Nuara, we had all hated him, but he had been a toa, virtuous and noble like the rest of us. Even he did not deserve such a death. We wandered the streets, unhindered by rahkshii who saw us as no threat to 'Mata Nui', and as we passed through Onu-Metru, a red hand grasped my arm. "Psst!" hissed Tahu, to whom the arm belonged. "Down here, all of you. Quickly!" We followed the toa into the archives, where the rest of the Nuva, the matoran and the turaga hid. "Where is your leader?" asked Matau. He looked tired and defeated. I looked around, realising that everyone, even the Nuva, looked the same. Teridax, it seemed, had won. "So... What do we do?" Jaller asked tentatively. "Nothing. We survive until Maroo and his team return." Vakama answered. "Are you suggesting that we hide from your universe?" exclaimed our Axonn. "Yes, there is nothing we can do. We can't hope to defeat even a fraction of his rahkshii. I am not being foolish out of terror, I was once a wise and brave to-" "-You were once toa, now you are a coward!" roared Axonn, scaring the turaga and matoran. "You cannot hide from something omnipotent! There is no option but to fight these rahkshii, and give Maroo an opening to get the mask here. "That's suicide!" replied Vakama "And we can't fight Teridax without the risk of destroying the universe!" "I wasn't created in this universe" Axonn stated "But I'm willing to die defending it. And if i'm going down-" he pumped his skycannon "-then I'm taking down as many of the rahkshii scum as I can." "Then what do you suggest we do?" this was Gali. "RIA, go to Kini Sola, that place holds many secrets, and surely one of them can help us. Kova" (he gestured to a white and blue dark hunter.) "Go to the ruins of Destral. Find any written plans as to how to defeat Mata Nui, they should apply to Teridax too. Everyone else, scavenge whatever you can from the archives. Weapons, medecin, dimensional travel, anything." No-one questioned Axonn. When he had spoken, he had lain down the plan and raised our moral just as Ria had done. He followed me down into the archives. "Do you think I did alright?" he asked. "Axonn, no-one could improve on that speech, no-one." I replied, glancing over my shoulder. "Where are we going?" "Away from that exo" I replied. Exo was the term we used for Exo-rahkshii, a rahkshii in a reformatted exo-toa suit. As we pelted down the halls, the Exo realised that it had been spotted, and gave chase. I spotted a hole in the floor ahead of us. I pointed. Axonn nodded. We jumped. The Exo made to follow, but only just managed to tear off one of my gauntlets before becoming wedged in the small hole. We landed in a small room deep below the city. Alien corpses surrounded us, but we were unafraid, glad to be alive. Axonn pulled himself up from his crouched landing position in a small crater. "Well, that wasn't too bad." he joked. there was a bright flash of light, then we were falling a twenty-bio drop into the sand of a brightly-lit desert, just as quickly, we were face-down in it. I coughed up sand, and glared at Axonn. "You had to jynx it, didn't you?" I realised a brown figure leaning over us, laughing. "What the karzahnii are you doing here?" demanded Avak.
AVAK "-T!" I swore, as the dimensional gate faded, leaving me faced with a bright red warrior. His armour was decorated to look like flames, and his mask only covered part of his face, but that wasn't what bothered me. What bothered me was that he was wearing the spikiest gauntlets I had ever seen. "Uh... Where am I?" I asked it. "Are you thick?" it replied. "Who are you? Where are the others?" "I'm Malum, a Glatorian, and I don't know any 'others'." "Can you take me to my friends?" An evil grin spread accross his face. "If you can beat me." "Sure! At what? The 100 bio? Conkers?" His armourments made me doubt that conkers really did it for him. "A duel." "Ah... I suppose I could find them mysel..." "You already agreed." He fired a strange gun at me, I dodged, and it took a sizeable chunk off of an obstacle behind me. I dived behind a stone pillar, and surveyed my surroundings: I was in an arena with a madman. Not good. "Not much of a fighter, are you?" he taunted. I ran towards a hollow, crumbled pillar and scurried inside. I backed up against the far wall, and fumbled with am ammo clip, trying to force it into gun. I really should fix this I thought, remembering all he times it had jammed. My gun had warped because of being used as a hammer/shield/pointy-thing blocker. One of Malum's spiked gauntlets worked its way into the pillar, and picked up the gun by the barrel and beat his arm above the gauntlet with the climbing axe. This isn't doing it any good, my common sense told me. The arm retreated, and Malum stood in the center of the arena, goading me. "I will kill you, stranger. No doubt you are in league with the bone-hunters. I will find your friends and I will kill them too." "No, you won't." I said defiantly, climbing out of my hiding place. Malum smiled, and ran at me. I held up my hand, my eyes flashed, and Malum ran headlong into a solid protosteel wall. It dissapeared, Malum reeled behind it, clutching his face. The clip on my gun slid into place, and I fired a single shot. It hit Malum in the mask, knocking it off, and sending him to the floor. I walked over to the enraged dualist, staring down into his maddened eyes. "I'll... I'll..." he spluttered, trying to get to his feet. I pistol-whipped him in the side of the head, out for the count. There was silence in the arena, then someone behind me started clapping. It was another warrior, green, sitting on a pillar. The crowd started to cheer, and I found myself bowing and posing. Once the cheering had died down, I sat on a pillar, wondering what to do next. The green, toa like being came over, and offered me his hand, I took it. "I'm Gresh. I saw what you did, and frankly, I'm impressed. I doubt he'll be in any shape to take you to your friends, so I'll guide you. Why are you here, anyway?" "I've been sent here as part of an elite team formed by a dead warrior. I'm here to save my universe by finding a mask with a person's mind in it and returning it to its continent-sized body, whitch is being possesed by the mos evil being in my universe. Controlling this body has given him godly powers and control over life as I know it. Happy?" "It does sound a little far-fetched, but so does what you did to Malum, so I'm ready to beleive just about anything." "What's a Glatorian? Why are your matoran so weird? Where's your protodermis?" " A Glatorian is someone called upon to settle a dispute." "An arbiter." "An armed arbiter. Those people in the crowd you called 'Matoran' are Agori, and I've never heard of protodermis. Now, my question. Where did you learn that wall trick?" "A makuta gave it to me, but it usually does cages, which has me confused. The makuta altered my species to make us stronger and more obediant." "Did it work?" "We became stronger and with a shorter temper." "I see." Gresh was obviously thinking of the effect of Malum's taunting. He took me out into the desert, and we found what I identified as Maroo's footprints. We took off at a run to catch them, and soon caught up. "Avak, how nice of you to join us." said Maroo as if he didn't really care either way.
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Mar 10, 2009 15:17:25 GMT -5
RIA It was hard to find transport out of the city, but somehow I got hold of a blimp, and set a course for the strange island of Kini - Sola. The only change since my last visit was the lack of Makuta. It remained unchanged despite all that had happened. This place had been looted many times for the oddities found only here, so a light search wasn't going to reveal anything interesting except masonry. I spotted an area at the edge of the giant arena which took up nearly all of the island where the stands had collapsed in front of where an important feature must have lain, judging by the stonework around it. It looked as if the stands had been destroyed purposefully. I set to work 'clearing' the rubble in what may have been the way it had been put there. Once the larger stones had been moved, or turned into much, much smaller ones I cleared it by hand.
* * *
With the rubble finally cleared, I inspected what had for so long been hidden behind it. It was a circular door. I opened it, holding up one of my shields in a defensive manner in case what I had found did not want to be discovered. As it turned out, it was only junk, really. An assortment of helmets that wouldn't fit anyone I knew, a groove in the wall in the shape of wailing doom, and an engraving above it. I moved to inspect the engraving. TEXT: Unknown Language CLOSE MATCH: Ancient Matoran TRANSLATING: TRANSLATION COMPLETE
It read: Cleanser of Shadows, Howling Destruction. My glance returned to the the groove where Wailing Doom AKA: Howling Destruction had sat. This weapon had a prophetic purpose, and Vorsis must have known it. On his return, we would find out what that was. As I walked back to the blimp, there was a bright flash and a bang, and I found myself upside down in the sands on another world.
NUARA
"I'm sorry that I have to tell you this." Turaga Vakama said, slowly and sympathetically, "But Takal, Axonn, Kova and RIA did not return from their scavenging. RIA and Kova may be held up in transport, but Takal and Axonn were last seen being chased by an Exo-rahkshii through the archives. We have to accept that both are dead." Vakama held up a piece of Takal's armour, a gauntlet, shining gold. I wouldn't accept it. Takal had fought off rahkshii and Makuta, he had faced off with Teridax and killed Mutran just to save me. Axonn himself had hunted down more Makuta in Karda Nui than Takal and I had lost nights of sleep with nightmares of Mutran. They couldn't, shouldn't... I didn't go into depression, didn't cry, didn't fell even a little sad. Instead I felt an all-consuming anger. How dare that Exo kill them? I marched out into the street, wrenched my plasma-staff from my back, and killed rahkshii. Hundreds of them. My hatred was so strong that I didn't flinch when they tried to strike, and when a group of reinforcements came to aid them, I didn't care. Not until one hit me on the back of the head and knocked me out cold. I slowly and painfully opened my eyes. My head hurt, bright sparks from my concussion blinded me, and I couldn't feel my arms or legs. My vision improved as I focused on my surroundings. I was in the colloseum, surrounded by incapacitated and manacled toa and titans. I tried to stand up, but when I moved my arm, the other moved with it. I must be manacled as well, I thought. My next was, well, they wouldn't be rahkshii if they let a toa escape. One rahkshii was holding a toa so that he couldn't move. He was awake, and struggling. Another rahkshii, a Guurahk, was holding a staff. It swung it the toa, and pulled his mask off with his free hand. The toa's armour split into sand-like silver grains. The toa screamed, as his body started splitting too. The rahkshii holding the mask raised its staff again as the light in the toa's eyes went out, his heartlight having long since become dust. His remains fell apart, and the guurahk hissed with delight. It brought the mask down on its knee, snapping it in two. I squirmed and struggled with the hand and legcuffs, desperate to escape this gruesome death. One rahkshii nearby called to the one who had been holding the toa, a bulky Novahk, rahkshii of the dead makuta Novex. It raised its arm and pointed at me. The other nodded, and stalked through the prisoners towards me. I struggled harder, screaming for help: The Nuva, Antroz, anyone. I even, in my terror, called for Takal. The rahkshii picked me up by the shoulders and lifted me down to the Guurahk, still screaming and twisting. It split the legcuffs and handcuffs, and held me firmly in place on the ashes of the last toa. The Gurahk dropped the half-mask and hissed in my face, charging the staff...
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Mar 18, 2009 16:02:45 GMT -5
Avak "What the Karahnii are you doing here?" I asked Axonn and Takal, still laughing at their fall face first into the sand. "I don't kno- Avak?" replied Axonn. "So we're definitely not in Artahka then?" Takal said, always quick to the joke. "C'mon, hurry up. Maroo's leaving in a minute." I urged them them to get up. They both, but were unsteady on their feet. Enventually their dizzyness wore off, and we walked back to Maroo and Gresh. "We need to get your weapons fixed, so we need to get to Vulcanus. Then we'll head to Tesara to find us a treasure hunter who can find us this mask." Gresh advised. "As long as we make it quick." Vorsis replied. "Right, that's settled. Off to the volcano." ordered Maroo. We set off running for the volcano in the distance, and despite two bone hunter attacks, made it there before sundown. I was given a team of Agori engineers to help me mend the weapons, so I made use of them. "I need a metal I can use to galvanise our armour." I said. The workers returned with a strange metal definitely not protodermis in any of it's forms. I used it on our armour anyway, noting its strange properties. I spread it thin enough to be unnoticeable. Takal liked it particularly, as it was very conductive. Once finished, I set to work on my warped gun. I took it apart, straightening the barrel, rebuilding the cartriges and fixing anything neding fixing. I heard a lound bang from behind me, I hit the floor, grabbing the gun from the desk and pointed it at the direction the explosion had come from, an Agori with a lit splint. He burst out laughing, and I glared at him for a few seconds before realising why he was doing it. I was only holding the handle and trigger of the gun. The rest of it was still on the desk. "Oops." I mumbled, slowly returning the handle to the desk. I looked at the pile of black dust that the Agori had lit. "What's that?" "Gunpowder. Why do you ask?" he said as if I was Riedak. "We don't have it where I come from. Can I have some?" I did a variety of tests on the subtance, and scratched together a catalyst that would not only increase the volitility of the gunpowder, but react with the products of the combustion, reforming the used substance. It's very complicated, so I'll omit how I did it. Trade secret. My new improved gun impressed the Agori, and when he saw the firepower, he asked me to make him one. For his own safety, I decided not to. In return for the gunpowder, I made him a machine that created water from air. This city needed it, and it was the least I could do. I also built Gresh an attachment for his Thornax launcher, so that it created and fired the light blast of a midak weapon. I took my workings back to the team, we stayed in the village for the night, and next morning we left before sunrise for Tesara.
RIA I battled on through the sandstorm, searching for life, but finding none. I had been transported to a bleak and seemingly inhospitable world. I slumped down with my back to a sand-corroded pillar, and waited either for someone to find me, or for my CPU to rust. Over the storm, I thought I heard voices, familiar voices. No, I told myself, it's just the trickery of the winds. I heard the voices again, and realised that I had nothing better to do. I peered over the stones, and ducked back down again. It was Sorrowix! He was talking to Chirox. The Commander had killed both of them in Karda Nui, and I could see no reason why they should be here. I slowly raised my head back up, and listened in. "Chirox, I need some of your gas for each of the others, put it in the flask with their tissue, and I'll use the energised protodermis myself." Chirox mumbled a reply, obviously surprised to be alive. Sorrowix tipped a drop od the precious energised protodermis into the flask, and Vamprah grew out of it, in full armour. Sorrowix took another flask from his belt, and I decided to intervene before any more damage was done. I fired two shots. One took out the vial in his hand, the other took out all but one on his belt. He spun as I fired two more, for his neck and the final vial. Both missed. "Chirox, Vamprah, get the chiphead!" The Makuta flew at me, and I fired again, going too wide even to make them flinch. Chirox grabbed me, and they pulled me over the rocks to the waiting shadow emperor. The Makuta looked different. They were all stronger-looking and Vamprah was talking. "Why are you here?" I demanded, "How are you here." "I hate being cliche'd, but I suppose that I can explain." Sorrowix startred, "It won't change anything. After Ria killed me, or at least though he did, I heard your pathetic plan to save the universe. It had a chance, I realised, so I hat to intervene. I inhabited Maroo's skycannon, and hitched a ride to this place. When he killed a bone hunter, I stole his body and mutated it to look like this. I have killed many to regain my former strength, and it is a pity I get none from you." Sorrowix charged a shadow bolt to be fired from his spear, and he leveled it at my head. A spray of Midak exploded from nowhere, and he was thrown away. Another burst ripped holes in Vamprah and Chirox's wings. Kova was at the top of a dune, firing for all he was worth. I rolled up to the crest of the dune to meet my rescuer. Sorrowix and Chirox dragged Vamprah away, over the stones to mend their wounds. I fired a last shot, hitting the final vial. "How did you get here? How did I get here" I asked the Dark Hunter. "I think either Teridax wants us out of the way, or we were sent here to help Maroo. I won't waste my time looking for him. If we find the mask, we find him chasing it." "So we look for the Ignika?" "Yes."
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Mar 24, 2009 16:11:25 GMT -5
Takal Slowly we entered the shadow of the canopy. Axonn, Avak and Lariska sweeped the area, pointing their guns at every leaf blowing in the hot desert wind. Gresh, however, was calm and relaxed. Out of the gloom ran a four-legged Agori, fleeing from something. "Gresh, they attacked... stole our findings... we couldn't fight back!" it gasped, panting for breath. "Bone Hunters?" asked Gresh. "No, Skrall." it responded, "Mmm!" groaned Gresh. "What're Skrall?" asked Avak, his gun darting from side to side. "Vicious creatures. You don't want to pick a fight with one." Gresh addressed the Agori. "We'll get your things back, but I need some help in return. This lot are looking for a mask. It looks like this" He held up Axonn's sketch "And flies. Someone may be wearing it." "Never seen it, but I'll look." It scurried back through the trees to its home, and we left the jungle. The ominous spiny black rocks where the Skrall live loomed over us, even from these many Kio away. That evening (as Maroo had us run) we reached the foot of the cliffs, and the gate of Roxtus. A Skrall stood guard, and as we approached, it barked at us. "This is Skrall teritory! What business do you have here?" It demanded. "See this hammer? It means I can have whatever business I like." Maroo retorted, in no mood for shrimps bossing him around. "No, Maroo." Gresh pretended to scold him. "Give him some credit. I'm surprised someone of his IQ could even get a job as a border guard." Gresh decided to reason with the Skrall. "Skrall, we have come to request an audience with one of Tuma's Leutenants. It seemes you've been stealing bits of old junk." I looked at the Skrall, he was maddened by Gresh and Maroo's Jibes. "I'll tell him to meet you tomorrow morning in that valley over there." The Skrall pointed and laughed maniacly. "If you can last the night..." We set up camp in the valley. As I was about to fall asleep, I heard something rustle the sparse desert flora. I sat bolt upright, staring in it's direction. Slowly, I crept towards it. The creature, the size of an Agori but a four-legged animal, rushed out of sight. I ran over to the group, and woke the two people with the best night vision and hunting skills. "Maroo, Axonn, get up! We've been set up. Something's watching us." "Wha?..." Axonn groggily got to his feet, Maroo was already up and holding his hammer. The creature had returned with a bipedal subspecies of some sort of Jaga. The larger creature roared at us, and drew a sword. "We don't want any trouble..." the cold, grating voice of an angry Vorsis, woken at two in the morning, is enough to scare off most things, myself included. He might have said he didn't want trouble, but he sounded bloodthirsty. It roared back an arguement, spurred on by three more Jaga. "They're Zesk and Vorox. They won't listen, and unless Malum is here, we don't have a translator." Gresh was alert and armed, though only awake for five seconds. It howled another earth-shaking roar in our direction, and I drew my thunderspear. "ENOUGH!" Lightning cracked down from the sky like a god's whip, scorching the ground beside the Vorox. They screeched in fear and fled, and I 'encouraged' them on if they fell behind the rest of their group. Once we were fairly sure that they were not coming back, we settled down once more for a rest. Maroo and I were on guard, and once everyone was asleep, he said "Takal, I think I'm being haunted." "By who?" "Ria. Day after day he's been appearing and talking to me. What should I do?" "Do I look like a medium to you?" "I say we should hold a seance" Avak interjected, not asleep as we had presumed. "Look, there he is now!" Maroo pointed. Sure enough, standing where the Zesk had been watching us from stood the ghost of our leader. "A... What? How?" I spluttered The ghost laughed, Avak stood up and pointed his gun at the spectre. "Go on, I dare you." It said. Avak slowly lowered the gun, and instead threw a rock. Ria dived at him. "My turn." He pulled back at the last second. "No, I don't want you dead. I'm trying everything to get back. Hold onto my kit. RIA's here. Look for hi-" The ghost faded away, slowly changing from a recognisable shape to thin air. "Well, that was freaky." Avak said, once again stating the blatantly obvious.
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Apr 7, 2009 14:48:21 GMT -5
NUARA
The guurahk's spear was helf in place by the air a third of a bio from me. "NO, I HAVE A MESSAGE FOR THE NUVA I NEED HER TO SEND." The voice eminated from everywhere, spoken by everything. Teridax's voice. A destroyed mask fell from the sky, I caught it as it fell. As I recognised what it was, I realised why Teridax had let me live. It was the remains of Brutaka's mask of dimensional gates, Maroo's ticket home. I fled from the colloseum, trying to escape the bitter truth of our fate, running to our hiding place in Onu-Metru. I did not get far before I was lost in the maze of streets, somewhere in Le-Metru. Kraata slid around in the cracks in the buildings, and rahkshii patrolled the roads. I ducked behind a building as I saw a group aproach, noticing how loud my breathing and their hissing was. I heard them pass close to my hiding place, but then veer off again. After a few endless minutes of gathering courage, I looked out. They were gone, but a toa in the street startled me. I nearly blasted him with plasma. "Sorry, brother, I thought you were a-" "A rahkshii, no. An enemy... Yes, unless you decide to join me." "You... You are infected?" there was a green patch on the side of his mask of strength. "Yes, sister. I have been told to infect others, and I need you to join us. I do not want to hurt you, and I will be punished if I do not infect you and let you get away." I pitied the toa, but as much as I wanted to help him, this was going a little too far. "No." "I am sorry, then." The toa drew a pair of daggers, and three infected matoran came from nowhere, wielding a brick, a metal pole and a disk launcher. I ran at the toa, intending to knock his mask off, but be stabbed me in the gut, and I fell to the ground. I was in unimaginable pain, and I will explain why: On Waru Sola, my home, Takal and I had escaped Mutran, but I had been savaged by a shadow hound. I had been sent to Karzahnii to have my torso mended, but he simply welded a sheet of metal on, and set me to work. When I became a toa, the armour fused to the sheet metal, and it became a brittle alloy. This toa had just smashed that alloy. The matoran with the brick raised it over my head, but he was hit with a blast of light that purified him and cleared the infection. "Brother, put down your weapons or face the concequences!" Jaller, Antroz and Lewa had suddenly materialised on top of one of the buildings, Lewa's Skyblaster had gone off. Jaller pointed his rusted zamor sphere launcher at the toa. "Jaller, don't shoot-fire! He's infected and can't help himself." Lewa pleaded. "Look closely, Lewa. The slime is on his face too. He is incureable." The toa leaped at Jaller, but the toa Mahrii had pulled out his sword. Jaller hit the toa in the chin with the hilt, and it snapped backwards with a loud crak! The limp body fell to the floor. "What happened to your no-kill rule?" demanded Antroz. "There are no toa anymore, no matoran, no titans, no Skakdi, no rahi and no Vortrixx. There are only us, Teridax and his rahkshii, and the dead." Jaller said cruelly. "I'm sorry, Nuara." I got up painfully. "For what?" He loaded a sky-blue zamor sphere into the launcher. "For this." He shot me, and I was enveloped in a cloud of tranqueliser, and it took an age for me to fall to the floor. The floor which seemed to be getting closer and farther away at the same time.
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Apr 28, 2009 14:25:49 GMT -5
Avak "You tricked us!" Maroo shouted, pinning the Skrall to a cliff with the handle of his hammer. "I... I didn't make the terms!" It replied, struggling to keep the shaft of the hammer from it's neck. "Give us the stolen goods!" he raged, pulling the hammer away. The Skrall fell to his knees, gasping for air. "I'll give them... them to you." it grunted, geting to it's feet and brushing off it's pride "I'll give one of you, of my choice, a duel. If you win, you get all the thing. If you lose-" Maroo shot it an angry glare "-then you get... half the thing." "Who? What is the thing?" Gresh asked. "I'll not tell you. I pick the skinny brown one." The Skrall answered. "Not again..." I moaned, loading my gun. He charged and I dived, firing a shot at him. It missed him, but shattered his shield. He spun at the end of his charge, flourished the sword and jumped at me. A short, sharp collision with a wall of rock saw to him. He bounced off, landing on his front. I fired another shot, destroying his sword. As he rose again, I kneed him in the chin. There was a click, and he span off. My gun came up, the last shot ready to be unloaded into the Skrall's skull. "Do you submit?" "Yes" he replied grudgingly. "Good, we'll have that thing then." I said in a cheery tone. It grunted again, tossing me a large, heavy bag then fled back to his hole in the hills. There were cheers of "Nice one, Avak!", "Well done", "Your a born Glatorian!" and various of other compliments along with a "You go, girl!" from Axonn, which got me a bit peeved. He didn't see any of the five, meter-thick, glass walls I made for him until he walked right into them. I tossed Lariska the pack once we reached the jungle again. "Your turn, it weighs a ton." She swung it over her shoulder like a rucksack, and we were coated with the darkness of the tree's shadows once again. None of us were ready this time. About thirty Skrall dropped from the trees, a giant red and silver one at the front. "Do we have to go through this again?" grumbled Axonn.
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Jun 4, 2009 13:21:19 GMT -5
RIA We stumbled through the sandstorm, heading in any direction other than the one we'd come from. We could hear Makuta voices pulled miles from their owners by this savage wind. The unnerving thing was that they were growing stronger, and far off in the distance I could see six orange eyes. How they had followed us, I didn't know. They might not be looking for us, just lost in the winds, channelled the same way we had been. "-see hi.... white armou... ...istance-" Sorrowix was saying. I had known it wasn't just bad luck, they were following us. "Kova, we need to find a place to hide!" I whispered urgently. "When we reach these stone features, we'll hide behind them." he replied. We ran for the rocks, getting battered by the sand in the air and pulled down by the sand on the ground. We dived behind the largest pillar and hid in an alcove, shovelling sand over ourselves. "-Saw him a minute ago." They were right above us. "Then where is he, you blundering fool?" They searched around the rocks, but were restricted from looking too deeply by the wind, and unable to move their wings from their sides, so after a few agonising minutes of Kova holding his breath, they passed on. We had, I realised, escaped by a microchip's breadth.
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Jun 9, 2009 13:55:10 GMT -5
Nuara Darkness became coloured clouds, ringing became voices. The clouds became the shape of a room containing Gali, Jaller and Turaga Onewa. "Why did you do that?" I asked Jaller groggily. "It was only tranquilizer." he said, "We had to be sure that they didn't get you too." My mind was starting to get clearer and sharper, I saw that I was on a hospital bed in the archives that must have been smuggled past the rahkshii by one of our teams. An assortment of implements lay beside my head and a discoloured bandage was covering Karzahnii's work. My arms and legs were tied down. It was, I realized with shock, like being in Mutran's lab again. The lab is gone, though, I reminded myself, Avak blew the place into its component atoms. "Why am I?..." I began. "Two reasons. One: If you were infected, we wouldn't want you running around." explained Onewa "Two: Gali needs you to hold still so she can heal you." Gali stood over me. "Hold still, this may feel a bit strange." A small sphere of water was placed on the old wound, and it grew to cover it. "You're right, it does feel- urgh?" my exodermis and armour was growing back over the metal plate, forcing it out and off. It didn't feel painfull, but it didn't feel good either. I felt stronger, but ill. "Can someone let me out?" I asked as the sphere faded away "I think I'm gonna -ugh!" I threw up, narrowly missing Onewa. Jaller burst out laughing, and I sat up as Gali let me out. "What's so funny?" "You... all over the floor... Onewa's face!" he managed to get out between fits. I stared down at the healed section, it seemed to match the slightly worn and dulled colour of the rest of my armour and exodermis. It was amazing, really. "Jaller, as you think this is so hilarious, why don't you show us how to clean it up?" Onewa scolded. Jaller's laughing stopped abruptly. "That's another joke, right?" "No, Jaller, that is not." Onewa left to get Kopaka and Vakama, and Jaller cleaned up the mess, grumbling. Jaller eventually got bored and just incinerated the liquid, the moment Vakama and Kopaka came in. "Nuara, another problem has arisen in your absence." Kopaka said, "The Order have lost their leader, and RIA's bohrok need orders." "How do I fit in? This doesn't sound like a job I could do." I asked. "Bohrok only take answers from high ranking members of Ria's - Maroo's army. Without Ria, RIA, Maroo, Axonn, Kova, Avak, Lariska, Takal or Maverick, this isn't going to be easy." "Where's Maverick? Why can't Jaller sort this out?" "Maverick has troubles of his own, and Jaller has a duty to serve his team, as I do to mine, so we cannot have any official say in what the Bohrok do, we are not part of the army. Takal's own position secures you a fairly high rank." "And the Order?" "The female touch. They won't mind taking orders from a veteran, and you're not so unlike Helry-" "Don't say that!" I snapped at him. "See?" "If I could stand up, I'd beat you to a pulp." I tried to stand up again, but the dizzyness from Jaller's sleep sphere forced me down again. "Nuara, we've also decided that all missions should be taken in pairs for safety. You should pick someone you know can hold their own." Vakama said, his tone trying to calm me down. "Do you think I can't look out for myself? There's a street full of dead rahkshii that says otherwise!" I replied angrily. I calmed down abruptly "Sorry Turaga. I know you're right, they did get me, after all." "Who then? The Nuva and Antroz are taken." "Well..." There was the toa of Duty, but she was useless. Thero was a hothead, Denza and the 'Doomtoran' were my friends, but only matoran. That only left "Jaller."
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Jun 16, 2009 13:57:24 GMT -5
Takal We fought and fought, but the Skrall, weak as they were compared to us, never seemed to stay down long. On the odd occasion that we did manage to make one stay down perminantly, another would drop from the trees or burst from the foliage to take it's place. Lariska was getting the worst of it. They wanted that bag, and would go to any lengths to prise it from her. This was Lariska, though. She wasn't going to budge. Axonn and Maroo gave up trying to melee the Skrall, and brought up their skycannons. Avak took this as a signal to drop his walls and fire at the Skrall instead. The battle became a massicre. The Skrall's shields were ripped apart as easily as their flesh and armour. One of Avak's shells was able to kill four or five in one shot. The Skrall reinforcements were now divebombing the gunners. They took out Avak, and that was it, really. The team fell apart as we were weakened, knocked out and dragged away. I was soon on my own, slicing through the air like the thunder I controlled, trying to stay above the Skrall so I could electrocute them, and they couldn't reach me. Something big, red-silver and caped burst out of the dense woodland, brought out a hammer and hit me without warning, and I fell like all the others... * * * "-Akal, Takal!" It was Avak, shaking me awake with a mad grin on his face (A grin from being excited, not being Skakdi). "Wha...?" I grunted. "Get up, you're missing the party!" We were in a cave - a cell - and Avak was cheering. "What party? Where are we?" "The prisons of Roxtus. You'll never guess who busted us out." "Who? Surprise me." "RIA and Kova. Maroo's on a killing spree." "Another one? I asked. "We found out what's in the bag!" "And...?" "Takal, it was a shouldermounted Skyblaster!" "How the Karzahnii did that get here?" "We don't know, but an Agori here says there's more. Lots more." "Right, I'm getting up now. I've got to see this for myself, and get my spear back." I got up slowly to see if anything was broken. Nothing was, luckily. Avak threw me my thunderspear. "I took the liberty while I got my own gun back." We marched down the prison block to the centre of the city where a good ten dead Skrall lay. "Maroo's been doing his job well." commented Avak. "I suppose he has." A mechanical voice agreed. "RIA? What a pleasant surprise!" Avak said, half jokingly. "Avak, Takal: Maroo has decided that now is the time for departure. I enlightened him to the fact that Sorrowix, Chirox and Vamprah are here." "I suppose all we need now is Ria." "The Commander is dead, Avak. All we need is the mask. I have located an eyewitness in the ice village. He is a water Glatorian by name of Tarix. He is in the village to combat their Glatorian in a friendly match. His Agori helper is a weaponsmith. We need to leave. Tuma is gathering the Skrall for conquest, and we need to get the mask and jump ship before he kills any of us."
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Jun 25, 2009 14:32:20 GMT -5
Avak The ice village was... cold. Their Glatorian, Strakk, had just finished fighting Tarix, and was approaching me. "I hear you beat every decent Glatorian except myself, Gresh and Tarix I'd like to see how good you are, while Tarix talks to your big friends and the robot." "Do you have an arena, or do we fight here?" If he was going to be blunt, so was I. "Headstrong, aren't you? Here will do, our arena is in use." He drew an icy axe, and spun it around, then charged. I fired a single shot, and he was sent, still upright, into a building. He slowly picked hiself up, admitting defeat. "You're good, you should become a Glatorian." "Really?" I said. This sounded like an honour in this place. "Yes. You're quick to the draw, and that gun is awesome!" Our meeing was cut short by RIA, who had finished talking to Tarix. "He says that he saw the mask near Volcanos. Someone sort of bronze was wearing it." the Bohrok stated. "Maybe the Ignika got sunburn?" I offered. "I think it is Mata Nui." "And where's that Agori who said he knew where our stuff was?" "He said it was en route to Volcanos, in a Thornax plantation." "What's Thornax?" "Your guess is as good as mine, now come. The others are waiting for you so we can move on." "Off again?" "Yes, off again." And so we set off again, with plenty of grumbling from myself and Takal, who weren't used to three-day marathons.
Nuara Sona Nui had been spared rahkshii presence, but the inhabitants were fearful none the less. Jaller and I left the Metru-Nui blimp on the outskirts, and moved towards Ria's fortress on foot. Some matoran houses had been abandoned, their occupants moved to safer inland areas. The heavily armed Bohrok who called this island home mainly had sentinel krana, and were keeping watch, staring out to sea. A grey Bohrok with a leader krana ushered us into a pillbox. "With the Commander gone, and RIA out of the picture, our second-in-command Bohrok has taken military control over the island." the squad-leader said, "He said that if anyone were to land on the island, they were to tell him of the power of rahkshii forces on their island of origin. He needs to know the extent of the damage, and how many rahkshii are massing near here, so he can protect his people." "Where is he?" Jaller asked, staring at the piles of ammo crates behind the Bohrok. "The fortress. I'd like to take you there, but my squad needs orders." The Bohrok opened the door to let us out. We continued down to the fortress, getting pointers from tired Bohrok as we went. The fortress itself was more heavily armed than I had ever seen it. Thudgun turrets, four Midak Skyblasters tied together, lined the battlements, Bohrok with snipers were in every window, sweeping the barrels of their weapons from side to side. Their message was clear: Mata Nui himself would never get through these walls. A guard of Bohrok and Matoran defended the gate, with yet more Thudguns, spears, swords, ballistas, even elemental weaponry. Jaller and I approached the gate, brandishing clearance krana that the Bohrok Captain had given us. "You are free to enter." a Galak (Mata-Nui -ok = Ria's army -ak, and vice versa) behind a thudgun said. We walked through the fortress to where a white Zahnok (the highest-ranking breed of Bohrok, RIA is technically Zahnok Kal) was sitting uneasily on a chair, an electronic map projected on the table in front of him. "Nuara, Jaller." He began "I am Zahnok-01, we met before, but you probbably don't recognise me. I'm in charge of the island until RIA or Maroo's return." "I don't think they will be returning." I said solemly, sitting down across the table. "Maroo is trapped in another universe, and RIA is stranded or dead on Waru-Sola." "Maroo isn't trapped, Brutaka has a mask of-" I slid the shards of mask out of my backpack, and put them on the table. Jaller and the Bohrok gasped. "This could not have come at a worse time. Xia is in ruin, our best are dead on the streets of Metru-Nui or Karda-Nui, our elite team is trapped in another world, and there are rahkshii running around everywhere!" he gestured to the map. In black blobs were the areas of rahkshii, in blue were us. Toa, Matoran, Makuta, Skakdi, Bohrok and sentient Rahi. We were hopelessly outnumbered. Jaller pointed to a deep blue-black area "What's that?" "The Maze of Shadows. It is where most of our deactivated Bohrok are stored, as well as half a million rahkshii and 'experiments' from Teridax, hundreds of bio below." "Why don't we reactivate the Bohrok and seal in the rahkshii. Double-whammy." Jaller advised. Before we knew it, we were on a troop-carrier to the Maze, and Zahnok was telling us about Krana. "...They're more like Kanohi, really. It gives you a certain databank, and raises your control over a certain skill. Order of Mata Nui krana only have the basic eight varieties: Leader, Commander, Clearance, Sentinel, Worker, Mole, Surveyor and Scout, and they attack your mind, but ours are different. Besides the basic eight, we have Pilot, Flight, Demolition and Marksman krana and... Well, see for yourself." He offered us each a flight Krana. I put mine on, but Jaller hesitated. "I've seen what these do to Matoran, and I had to fight them off." "Nuara, show Jaller how it's done." I jumped, and the mask showed me how to streamline my body so as to gain the most height- "-Whoa!" shouted Jaller. "That must have been eight bio!" I took off the krana and Zahnok put it back in the storage compartment. "You should see the tactical skills of a Leader or Surveyor krana." he said. "Ah, here we are. Everyone arm yourself, I have no idea what's down here." We passed through a complex cave system, found an underground lake, where it froze to crate stunning specticles. Jaller's hand was in his sword's hilt, and Zahnok's Marksman was activated. Sentinel and Flight were on his backpack. Rahi scurried into cracks and crevices ahead of us, and Jaller's index finger on his Zamor Sphere launcher started to twitch. "They're not running from us, are they?" he asked. As if in answer, a red, serpentine rahkshii flew at us. Jaller fired four light spheres at it, but the attacks were easily dodged. Zahnok and I took cover, and fired our weapons. My plasma melted it's armour, but it was too fast to sustain major damage. It swung towards us, smashing aside ice stalactites with it's tail. Zahnok fired his machine guns at it, but it drove headlong at us, melting the ice with it's vision powers. Just before it collided, Jaller sprung out of nowhere, a Flight krana on his face. He leapt over it, slashing at it's neck. The rahkshii's head clattered to the floor, and the body, now an aimless piece of metal with half a kraata in it, smashed into the icy wall beside the Bohrok. "What in Mata-Nui's name was that?" I asked as the head half of the kraata finally died. "The rahkshii presence here is far greater than I had presumed. There creatures must never see the light of day. Thank you, Jaller. If I had never come down here, these monstrosities would have been released to the surface. Countless lives would have been lost." "We still have to wake up the Bohrok and seal these wretched creatures in." I stated. A zamor launcher on a mechanical arm folded out of Zahnok's back. It had come from a groove present on all Zahnok, even RIA, though he never used it. "I think it time that we abandoned stealth."
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Jul 2, 2009 14:12:18 GMT -5
RIA The village of Volcanos, Maroo told me, had already been visited by our team once before. It was where Avak had rust-proofed their armour, and rebuilt his gun. I didn't need rust-proofing, but Kova agreed to have it done. Eager to see the technologies this culture posessed, and if they had any relevence to Wailing Doom (I had made that connection) I accompanied Avak. We approached the tools he had made by hand on his last visit, but an Agori called for help, climbing out of a cupboard, scared stiff. "Skrall... They're everywhere! We need your friends' help!" it protested, begging. "RIA, radio Maroo. I'll go on ahead. He loaded his gun, and rushed out in the direction the Agori was pointing. "Maroo? I need help. Skrall." "What, Skrall?" "Yes, many. The other side of the forge from your present location." "I'm coming, hold on." The line went dead, and I followed Avak's path into the fray. He had already been floored, so I had to hold out alone, a single Bohrok against fifty Skrall. I was nearly overwhelmed by the time Maroo and his team arived, charging in, brandishing skycannons and roaring battle-cries. THe team was pacified, myself included, in fourty seven seconds. A tall, black and green Skrall and Sorrowix climbed atop a house. "Welcome," The Skrall said, "To Bara Magna." Sorrowix jumped down, and took The Commander's sword from Maroo's back, kicking him down once the weapon was in the Makuta's skeletal grip. "Teridax will win, and you will be powerless to stop him!" He took the crystal The Commander had given Lariska in his dying moments. "Do you know what this is?" Lariska shook her head, spitting up dirt. "Then you will never know." He drew back his arm and threw the stone into the gaping mouth of the nearby volcano, and turned back to us, lowering the sword to beside Axonn's head. There was a crack of thunder by the volcano, and a bright flash of light. The prisoners, the Skrall and the Makuta stared up at the volcano in shock. Standing on the edge of the volcanic crater was the unmistakeable form of The Commander, in golden-red armour. He shot a beam of lightning at one of the Skrall squads, vaporising them where they stood, leapt down beside Sorrowix and said, solwly and clearly: "Give me back my sword, Makuta." Sorrowix dropped the sword and ran, the Skrall and their leader following after him. He drew his attention to us "I'm back." He said playfully, "Did you miss me?" "What an entrance!" exclaimed Takal. "Thanks. It's not every day you come back from the dead. I wanted to scare the armour off of Sorrowix. Anyway, who's got my wings?" Vorsis grudgingly pulled the wings from his back, and handed them over. Everyone but Gresh covered their earsas he swung the wings over his back. "Why is everyone-" There was a scream to wake what dead that were still sleeping. "Oh, I get it." Gresh blushed, as if a victim of a joke. "Did you get the guns I sent you?" The Commander enquired. "You sent them?" Avak looked surprised. "Things don't spontaneously teleport, Avak. Of course I sent them." "Well, no. We were on our way to get them when you showed up. We also think we've found Mata Nui." "Oh, good, good.. I think it's time we taught Sorrowix a lesson, and maybe he'll stay dead this time." Everyone laughed, bar Gresh. "He's probbably saying the exact same about you!" Maroo pointed out, drawing more laughter. "Which reminds me, we need more firepower. RIA, activate weapon 5-27." ACTIVATING WEAPON: WEAPON ACTIVE. Another targeting retecule appeared on my HUD. I heard whirring behind my head. "Wow, what's that?" "Weapon 5-27" The Commander stated. "Focused Light Emitting Mechanical Arm Mounted Elemental Projector." "In Agori, please." "Arm with a boomstick."
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Jul 8, 2009 11:24:53 GMT -5
Takal We followed Ria to the site where he had teleported the weapons to, struggling to believe he had returned from the dead. Lariska seemed to have a new lease of life, but as I liked my organs where I couldn't see them, I said nothing. The Thornax plantation was full of scraggly bushes covered in spikey fruit which, I assumed, was inedible. Avak brushed past a bush,and the fruit exploded violently, proving my theory. "Who grows explosive pot plants?" groaned Avak, pulling spines from his back. "An Avak from an alternate dimension who took to gardening." Axonn told him. "We're here." Ria stopped, pointing towards an ammunitions container that had landed on one of the bushes, setting off the fruit. I brushed some leaves from the crate, and revealed the word 'Karzahnii' etched on the side. Another one, a few bio on had 'Light of Sona Nui' on it. "These are ammunition drops from our gunships! How did you get them here?" I asked. "Another time, Takal." "Wait..." Avak had an idea, the first in a week "... If you could get a crate from a gunship here, you could..." "Yes I could get a gunship." There was a minute of silence as Avak looked up at the sky expectantly. "But you won't." "Exactly." Maroo gave up waiting, and tried the latch on the crate. "It's still locked, smarty. What use are locked crates?" "This one's open." "How did they do that without the key?" "Sometimes, Maroo, you don't need a key." Axonn's wrist-knife snapped out, and he sliced through the lock, leaving the other titan kicking himself for his stupidity. We leaned over the tops of the crates, peering in. "Now that's shiny." Avak said. Right, everyone. Take what you want. There's enough for all if we all-" Ria was cut off by a stampede of Piraka and Titans (though mainly Piraka). I stood back until the others had picked what they wanted, and then took my own kit. We lined up, ready for Ria's command: Avak held a heavy Midak Skyblaster in one hand (the type you hold in one hand, but rest on your shoulder) and his infamous gun in the other. Larska, Axonn Kova and Maroo discarded their old Midak Skycannons, and now had Spec-ops ones (scoped, bayonetted and sometimes with grenade launcher attachments). RIA took two new reels of machine-gun ammunition for his shields and clipped Bohrok grenade launchers onto his arms. Vorsis took a heavy Midak Skyblaster, and Ria and I took mini one-use lightning Suvas and heavy Midak Skyblasters. Gresh declined, saying he didn't know how to use them and he'd just end up shooting himself. "Everyone ready?" Ria asked. There was a collective "Yes, sir." "Then let's go get that mask and squish those Skrall!" We charged off towards the mountains, stopping once to draw up battle plans, but it seemed as though the most complicated one was "Aim for the big ones with pointier sticks first." But before we left, Maroo tapped Axonn on the shoulder. "You and I seem to be very alike in strength and intelligence. I do not, however, want to be shown up by a newbie. I'm going to have a little competition with you, the only thing on the line is pride. The goal is this: Whatever I do, you must do better to win, and vice-verca. But remember this, you have to do better in everything. You must kill more Skrall, save more Agori, throw bigger rocks. Do you understand?" "If you really want me to show you up, you only had to ask." this was Axonn's way of acceping. The same Skrall sat at the same outpost as we had seen before. He even shouted at us the same way. "This is Skrall land, be off with-" There was a sharp hiss as light was drawn into a weapon, a bright blast of light, and the Skrall was blown apart. "Now why did you do that, Avak?" Ria scolded him sarcasticly. "You'll never get in!" another Skrall jeered from behind a heavy, metal door. "Our defences have never been breached by Agori or Glatorian!" Maroo cracked his knuckles, walked over to the door and pinged it. It made a dull, quiet "onnnnnng." Maroo took two paces back, lunged forward and punched the door with all his strength. It was blown off of its hinges and into the laughing Skrall. A second defencive door was inside, an even stronger-looking one. "Not bad." admitted Axonn, "But I can do better." Maroo gestured to the other door. "Show me what you can do."
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Jul 14, 2009 10:21:47 GMT -5
Nuara The hive was larger than I had imagined. The walls were lined with honeycomb structures, each containing a Bohrok, and even a gukko bird would flinch at the height of the ceiling. It was a seemingly endless supply of Bohrok. Jaller, struggling to find words, could only say "I think we're going to need a bigger blimp." "No problem, we have enough blimps here that were also put into storage. I just need to find the controls to release th-" Zahnok was cut short by a movement behind him. His launcher flicked to attention, scanning the room for possible targets. "Come out!" I ordered "Show yourself!" The sound of my voice echoed around the cavernous hive. A Mata-Nui Tahnok guiltily removed itself from the shadows. "Chikt-chikt-chikt-chikt..." It tried to reply. "I know" Zahnok answered, obviously understanding what it was saying "We're here to get you out and seal them in. We need the control terminal, can you direct us to it?" "Chikt-chikt-chikt-chikt-chikt-chikt!" "Your welcome." Zahnok replied "Jaller, Nuara, meet Venosal. He's a malfunctional Mata-Nui Bohrok who has explained what is going on. Apparently some Mata-Nui bohrok from this hive were reactivated by products of Teridax's experiments and scared witless. The Toa Metru deactivated them, but he and a few others survived. He says that although he's not our size or strength, he'll help us beat Teridax. He is sure that the other Mata-Nui Bohrok will do the same." Zahnok followed Venosal to the control system. He typed in some codes, pressed a button and the hall was lit up with dazzling lights, and Bohrok symbols in the floor retracted, revealing the assault ships, which rose up on circular platforms to fill the holes. Each ship, although countless millenia old, looked brand new. The honeycomb formation on the walls began to move: The bottom row would open and release its cargo of bohrok, then it would move up to the top and the next would drop down. Shining protosteel Bohrok emerged, filing into the ships awaiting them. Ria's rarer Bohrok were here in abundance: The vibrant blue juggernauts on their caterpillar track with giant protosteel talons and heavy weapons, the Tahnak, Ria's personal favourite, who had flamethrowers instead of shields, even bohrok I had never seen before like gold ones with jetpacks. It was not just Bohrok, there were silver Exo-Toa by the thousand, wielding arc guns and rail guns and everything else Avak would like for Naming Day. Once this grand menagerie was aboard the blimps, Zahnok set to work again, this time equipment containers rose on pillars out of hatches in the floor you would never have noticed, loading themselves into the armada. A giant circular bohrok symbol in the roof, about the diameter of the Colosseum, slid back to reveal a vertical shaft to the outside world, its walls lined with the same blinding lightstones. The purity of these stones were amazing, an archivist would give all he owned for just one of these dazzling lights. I felt a surge of remorse when I remembered that we were here to seal it away for good. Jaller elbowed me gently to get my attention. "What do you think: this or the Codrex?" "This wins any day" I replied, still gasping at the sheer magnitude of this place. "All bohrok, proceed to the surface, then return home to Sona Nui." Zahnok told the waiting crowd. We (Zahnok, Jaller, Venosal and I) jumped onto the final gunship as it took off. Zahnok went to its armoury to find a suitable bomb. When he returned, we had just cleared the shaft, so we jumped the few bio to the ground, leaving Venosal aboard. As Jaller finished setting the charges, we heard a menacing hiss. Twenty or so rahkshii and a serpentine rahkshii had followed us out. We fled for Zahnok's blimp, but a barrage of Panrahk blasts brought it down before we reached it. In the distance, I saw the last assault ship fade into the distance. We were on our own, and I remembered how close we had come to defeat against a single serpent rahkshii so how could we- An explosion ripped the air and five rahkshii were scoured from Mata Nui's body. "Chikt-chikt-chikt-chikt!" shouted Venosal from the gundeck of one of the gunships. It had circled around to get a better shot instead of leaving with the others. "No, now we're even" Zahnok said back. "Hold on, we're coming aboard!" I grabbed the chain ladder, and Jaller gripped on behind me. I reached the deck, but the serpent sliced through the chain as easily as the other had sliced through the ice. Jaller fell back down with a crash. The bomb started to hum. "Bohrok, hold the ship for as long as you can!" I commanded the Levok in charge of the ship before grabbing a turret and helping Venosal take care of the serpent. Zahnok and Jaller put on their flight krana and jumped aboard, we all ran inside as the engines were turned on. As Jaller and I got indoors, the final rahkshii landed on the gundeck. Zahnok ran out and fired some shots from his mechanical-arm gun but without his marksman krana, he missed hopelessly. Zahnok recieved a blow to the face from the rahkshii's staff, warping one of his tusks. He grabbed the rahkshii's staff, speared it through the chest and kicked it overboard. Its final hisses of hate, pain and fear were drowned out by the explosion of the charges. Zahnok climbed indoors, and from his moment on the deck my image of Bohrok changed. His damaged tusk resembled that of a Mata Nui Bohrok, but he seemed stronger than those of both species, he seemed more dangerous than a Makuta or a rahkshii army. Jaller and I stared in awe as he sat down on the bench as if nothing had happened at all.
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Jul 22, 2009 8:50:43 GMT -5
Avak Axonn let fly with a roundhouse kick fuelled by his size, weight, momentum and the giant rocket on his flight pack. The doors burst inwards, splattering Skrall and Bone Hunters. "I guess..." muttered Maroo, looking at the destruction Axonn had caused. "What?!" roared Tuma from a stage in the centre of the city. "What is the meaning of this?" "You know about the mask, don't you?" Ria demanded. "I know of no masks. Voval, deal with them!" A giant silver-red Skrall climbed out of one of the training pits, clutching a spiny hammer/spear weapon. He was easily Maroo's height, but he had the bulky build of Axonn. It was clear that he hadn't got his decorative Arena Magna helmet by asking nicely. It flexed a clawed hand. "Them? They are just a warm up!" It roared. Axonn grabbed the creature's head in one of his giant hands, and pulled the other back for a punch, but Voval wrenched Axonn's hand off, squeezing the wrist until the Black and silver Titan fell to his knees, grunting with pain. A red, spiked knee caught him under his chin, and he crashed backwards, barely breathing. As more Skrall turned up to see us off, Maroo charged towards Voval, keen to fight him despite Ria's protests. "This is about your 'Macho-competition' isn't it?" Ria roared over the sword-strikes. "I have to beat Axonn, I need to draw even!" Maroo clubbed the weapon from Voval's claws, but his hammer was pulled with it. Maroo gripped Voval's helmet, and tore it off. Underneath was a head like his own or Axonn's, not a Glatorian's. "Not what you expected?" he asked sarcastically as he pulled the mask from Maroo's shock-slackened gip and put it back on. "Voval, Voval... I know that name." murmured Maroo as he blocked a spiny fist. "Maroo, I presume." Voval replied. "He is Axonn? He's changed. He pointed to Axonn with one hand while hitting with the other. "He's the Axonn you're thinking of, but not from the universe you're thinking of." "And Mata Nui?" "That's why we're here." Voval dropped his arms down, hands unclenched. "Tell me more, I'm interested." "After our universe had it's... incident..." Maroo began, copying Voval's alert but peaceful stance, "... Some new life turned up. Called themselves 'Makuta'. One overthrew Mata Nui, and trapped his mind in the Mask of Life." "If I see a Kanohi, I will tell it to find you. I do not want to damage old friendships, Maroo, but I do want to fight for the Skrall. Oppose me and I'll have to fight you. I'm sorry." Voval turned back to the pit he had come from, and jumped down. As we were herded out of the city by fearful but plucky Skrall, I asked Maroo who Voval was. His reply was "A friend. A very old friend."
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Jul 28, 2009 14:24:14 GMT -5
Takal Suddenly a door at the other end of the hall blew open, and our Skrall 'escort' turned their attention away from us - they'd take any excuse to get away from the people who'd scared their big new Makuta friend. The smoke cleared to reveal three Glatorians. Two I had seen before: Tarix and Strakk. The third seemed to scare the Skrall almost as much as we did. She was about Ria's size and build (taller than a toa, but not much. Strong-looking but not muscular.) and wore bluey silver armour. The Skrall didn't find any of this inportant, however. What they were looking at was a mace with a spiked end the size of one of Axonn's fists. "Tarix, when I said we needed help with the Skrall, I didn't mean this much help!" Gresh was startled. "I am Sistercia" She told us, bringing the attention to the helmet she was wearing - one identical to Voval's. She casually walked up to Tuma and pointed her mace at his head. "You have committed an act of war. Attacking the Arena Magna was the last straw. I have no choice but to rally the Glatorians against you." She said in a cold, brutal voice not dissimilar to Ria's while in conversation with Sorrowix. "The Glatorian? I have five Skrall for every one of them, and it takes ten of them to equal one Skrall!" "And every one of my soldiers is worth an army of Skrall. If you help us find the mask," Ria interjected "We'll help the Glatorians." "Thank you, stranger. Your team has already proved itself in the forest-village Jungles." "But we lost!" Axonn shouted. "You lasted longer than most could. An impressive feat, taking on thirty Skrall with six soldiers and beating twenty nine." "I was that close." I muttered. Tuma was silently hissing at the Skrall to fight us, but they were too fearful, prefering to stand at the doors and raise their shields meekly. "You are the Glatorian that an onlooking Agori called 'Dancing Thunder'? I thought you would be bigger." she repied. "Dancing Thunder? I like that." I decided to remember that. "Have you noticed that there are only ten Skrall here besides Tuma and that beast Voval? They don't seem to be the bravest of the Skrall, either." Sistercia's point unnerved us. Tuma caught our attention "I was wondering how long it would take you to realise. Special Operations - ATTACK!!" Heavily armoured Skrall with specialised weapons dropped from alcoves high in the city, surrounding us with a perfect circle of black armour. "Avak! Avak? Where's that Piraka when you need him?" grumbled Ria. "Over here!" Avak was standing in a far-off doorway, wearing an ill-fitting Glatorian helmet, wielding a spear with a thornax launcher welded on in one hand, with a skyblaster in the other. His gun and Zamor launcher were on his back. The light blasts were oddly ineffective against the Skrall, so the gun-lance did most of the work. We helped our Skakdi friend once the Skrall's attention was diverted. Sistercia was as fearsome in battle as Ria, but the two Glatorians were next to useless. They had to team up to beat Skrall whereas the Skrall had to team up on us to survive more than four seconds each. We decided to take pity on them, so only fought the ones between ourselves and the door Sistercia had come in through. Once outside, Ria rounded on Avak. "Take that idiotic thing off right now." "No, I like it!" Once Avak had laid claim to something, it would take more than Maroo to prise it out of his hands. The helmet stayed. We were heading for the Arena Magna, announced Ria. We were to meet up with a strike force of Glatorians and vehicles to take back the sandy centre of their world. Mata Nui was part of this team. Axonn and I lingered behind the rest of the group, looking at the unfamiliar stars. "No Red Star, no Spirit Stars, just... stars. Ordinary stars." Axonn observed. "Take a good look." Voval hissed from the mountain above us, his spear driven into the loose rocks. "They will be the last you see in this universe or any other." He tilted the staff back and twisted it so that the rocks slid down the mountain at us. The thin path was soon covered in boulders, and we were struggling to dodge them. One caught Axonn in the shoulder, and he fell. I grabbed his arm, but all that did was drag me after him. We smashed to the valley floor, countless bio below. Two Makuta loomed over us. Both should have been dead. Torix and Krihka. "The last hopes of Mata Nui, lying in a ditch. I could finish you off right now" Torix pointed her spear at me. "But I have one question: Are you going to let Teridax kill us all?" She put the spear away and replaced it with a hand and a smile. "Come on, I don't have all night."
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Aug 4, 2009 15:39:54 GMT -5
Nuara Zahnok told Sona Nui's new arrivals to blend in and hide their numbers. Venosal was sent to work in Ria's fortress. Zahnok gave me a radio. "If anything important happens, or you really need help, call. But remember, Teridax can hear all that you say, so use it in only the most dire of circumstances." He said. He gave us each a sentinel Krana to help us, and sent us on our way. We were headed for Odinia, but by the time we had reached it's borders it was in ruin. Jaller and I searched for survivors, but everyone had fled or died. As we turned downheartened back to the blimp, Jaller heard something approach us. We turned, fists raised, but it was Tahu, Onua and a Matoran. "Tahu, why arn't you in the city?" I asked. "The city has become Teridax's workhouse. A few have stayed either to fight or hide, but I don't value their chances... Not that I value ours either. Someone has to survive to tell Maroo that even if he comes back, there is no universe left to save." "You're not here to take in the sights, I see." Jaller looked at the equipment that they were carrying. It was an explosive payload worthy of Avak. "No, we need to shut down Odinia. The energised protodermis has to go." "And you are armed?" "There's four Exos, and Exo-toa, a Tuurahk, a Panrahk, three Guurahk and a Lehrak following us. At last count." Onua counted them off on his fingers. I decided to ask something usefull. "Where did they evacuate to?" "They took their stuff to Waru Sola. No rahkshii there after what Ria's lot did. Pity we don't still have him, he'd fight off Teridax himself if he had to. If you want to find them, go there, and take those rahkshii following us with you." Jaller and I waved our goodbyes and climbed back aboard the blimp. Almost as soon as we were at the right height, the six rahkshii gave chase, coming from nowhere like black bullets. Jaller ran up to the back of the ship, opened the door, ran back up and asked: "Where are the turrets?" "Jaller, this is a public transport blimp. It has no guns!" "Who made this thing?" "Not a crazed Skakdi with a bloodlust and a craving for explosions. We'll have to outrun them." And so began the only dogfight in history in which the bus beat shadow soldiers. Jaller fired shots from the back of the blimp, using his innacurate zamor-sphere launcher for lack of a larger gun. He managed to take down three with the light-spheres to our great surprise. I span the ship around and flew it at speed at the remaining three. I heard two collide with the metal hull, but the last stuck its spear into the roof. Jaller beat the end of the staff until it came out and the rahkshii was sucked into the jet engines (Zahnok's troops had made some improvements while we had been in the hive.). "Well, that was quick." Jaller observed. "The fight?" "No, the journey." And there it was. Home. A place of darkness, haunting memories and the hive of Mutran. The barren island looked small compared to Toa Metru, the giant in the west. As we arrived, there was a flash of lightning around Jaller, sending crates, instruments and myself flying around the cabin. When the lightning fizzed out, Jaller rose to his feet, knocked over by whatever supernatural force had struck him. The armour on his arms and legs had turned a dark grey, his shoulderpads had grown into rockets like Lewa's, his zamor sphere launcher, once rusted by seawater, was polished to a silvery luster. The most impressive display, however, was his face. It was glowing, and it wore a mask that rippled and moved. His sword and chestplate had only been polished. They were otherwise the same. "Jaller, what..." I struggled to find words. He inspected himself in the flat of his sword. "I never thought I'd see that mask again. -Hey what're these!" Jaller stared at the rockets. He turned around, revealing a Toa Nuva - Av Matoran connector. "Look!" He pointed out of the window to the Red Star "I think they need the Inika again." Unable to sit around and admire the rockets all day, we disembarked and headed for the camp, a series of tents with the order insignia stamped on the side. Hydraxon, and invisible being and a red toa were sitting outside one tent, covered in scrapes and bandages. "What happened?" Jaller asked. "'S just a flesh-wound." Hydraxon answered, as if Jaller was asking about him alone. "Toa Jaller and Toa Nuara. I expect you are here on Ria's orders?" the grey toa spoke painfully, a barb from a Torahk staff imbedded in his side. "Ria is dead. We are here on Axonn's orders. He is dead too." "Not Axonn!" "The other one..." The invisible titan groaned. "We're here... Well, I'm not sure what we're here for." "Take a look around the camp. We salvaged some stuff, but it's all useless to us. Take what you need, you're actually fighting. Not like us, we're just sitting on this rock licking our wounds." Hydraxon gestured to the crates of items behind him. We searched all of them, finding Hakann in a goldfish bowl, some staffs with unknown histories and dangerous traits and a whole lot of writing in languages we didn't know. Jaller found something big and metal curled up in one crate, taking up all the space. We wedged it out, and the invisible titan, seen only by his bandages, leaned over us and laughed. "You have some taste! That's a Sentinel. Ria made a few before the Bohrok, they only used one type of krana, the modern sentinel one. That's how it got it's name. Naturally we confiscated them and destroyed all but this one. We wanted to test it, but we never got a sentinel krana powerful enough to run it." "Oh, what luck." Jaller flourished the one Zahnok had given us and put it in the space on the metal monster's spine. Lights flashed, eyes lit up and the Sentinel unfurled, standing up to my height. It was like a giant silver Bohrok Va with three wheels and the business end of Panrahk staffs for arms. "SENTINEL 128 ACTIVE. AWAITING PROTOCALS." "Do anything a Zahnok or these two tell you to do." the titan ordered. "PROTOCALS ACCEPTED. AWAITING ORDERS." "Nuara, Jaller. Maveric is under attack. We wanted to tell you after you got some weapons so that you wouldn't get killed. With that Sentinel at your back, those rahkshii don't stand a chance." "What are we waiting for? Sentinel, follow me!" Jaller ran back the the blimp, I ran after him, and the Sentinel followed us, rolling along at speeds you would have thought impossible for something so bulky.
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Takal
Toa Nuva
Toa of Thunder
Posts: 211
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Post by Takal on Aug 11, 2009 15:07:09 GMT -5
RIA We heard the earth collapsing behind us, and all turned around, expecting a Panrahk. We saw Axonn and Takal go over, and Voval laughing at the top of the mountain. Maroo ran up and wrestled him to the ground. "Why did you do that, friend?" Maroo elbowed Voval in the stomach and Voval's breath exploded out of his face. Maroo stood up, picked up a stick and snapped it. Voval found some hidden meaning in this and limped away, clutching his gut. Maroo slid back down the hill to us. "Ria, what do we do now?" "We follow Sistercia to the Arena Magna. If Takal and Axonn are still alive, we'll rendezvouz there." "Maroo you are the strongest person I have ever seen, far stronger than anything I would have thought possible. What are you?" Sistercia requested. "Uh... um... ah..." Maroo stumbled over his words. "Maroo? Maroo? Mata Nui to Maroo!" Avak smacked Maroo with the barrel of his gun, but the titan was oblivious. "Big guy, snap out of it! MAROO!" he fired a clip into the sky, the three deafening shots echoing through the mountains. Maroo snapped to an alerl pose, one of his hands on his hammer's handle. "What?" he mumbled, looking sheepish. He walked nearer the front of the group as we came out of the mountains, standing just behind Sistercia. As the barren rocks were replaced with sand, Gresh and Avak decided to have another conversation with Avak. "So where do you come from?" Gresh asked. "An island called Zakaz inside a really big guy." "Seriously, Avak." "Seriously." "Fine. Were your parents important on Zakak?" "Zakaz." Avak corrected. "What's a parent?" "You don't know what a parent is? Do you just appear in full armour on some island?" "Yes, that is generally the done thing." he replied "So if you don't just appear, how do you do it?" One explanation later, he wished he hadn't asked. "That's sick!" I decided to tell this to Maroo, and see what he thought of Sistercis afterwards, but thought better of it. After all, we were no longer inside an all-powerful being, so ordinary rules obviously did not apply. Gresh and Kova squinted their eyes, looking at a shape in the distance. "Is that the Arena? What's going on down there?" Gresh wondered aloud. The three scopes on Kova's X-ray vision mask adjusted, and he muttered a curse. "Skrall, Hundreds of the vermin." "And I was having such a good day too." Ria said sarcasticly. "That explains the lack of them in Roxtus." Sistercia commented. "So what are we waiting for, let's go!" Strakk shouted enthusiasticly. "No!" Sistercia commanded sternly. "I have taken the liberty of calling ahead for backup. Tethir will be bringing the other Glatorians with him, and I've sent Sulrak and Genep to find Malum. Takal and Axonn will have to come this way anyway, so if we wait about half a day, we should have a force large enough to handle at least a few Skrall. I've instructed Tethir to bring the vehicles along. If the Skrall have attacked in the numbers and force I expect, they will have brought their own ones, and some Spec-ops. We'll camp here until then." The Commander reluctantly nodded, despite the danger to our world that half a day could bring. As the sun began to set, we sharpened our swords, adjusted our scopes and I rewired myself for faster reflexes. Once I'd put my cranial casing back on, Gresh and Tarix came over and decided to ask me some questions. "So what's your story, little tank?" Tarix queried. "I bet you didn't fal out of the sky like Avak." "I was built by the Commander and his engineers." "You mean wings and grin?" "No, Avak wasn't there at the time, I don't think that he'd 'fallen out of the sky' yet." This one-liner (a particularly significant achievment for a robot) sent Gresh and Tarix into fits of laughter. "Did the Stork drop him?" asked Tarix. "Stork? I've only just learned what a Strakk is!" "Never mind." Gresh was slill laughing. "Now, how- " Tarix began. "Lights out!" shouted the Commander. Everyone fell asleep but me. I watched as this planet's tiny moon arced through the black sky, wondering how we'd fare in the Arena.
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