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ctrl-alt-tahu · 3 months

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Piraka by Sea

"Stay out of sight until I signal," said Voriki to Tahu and the others as they left the crumbling Ko-Metru tower to confront the intruders. "They think I am the only Toa in Metru Nui, so the sight of you all will hopefully surprise them and make them think twice about a battle. I don't know how badly you want to face a real foe with those powerless masks and no tools."

"The masks may be powerless, but we are not," said Tahu. "We have spent a long time helpless. We are ready to use ourselves again."

"Who are these enemies?" asked Pohatu. "You called them Piraka? Dark Stalkers?"

"Dark Hunters," said Voriki, though his eyes were on the shadows ahead of them, near the water that stretched from the city to the edge of the dome far beyond, a still, unmoving sea.

"The Dark Hunters are thugs and criminals," said Voriki. "They seek power and pleasure and would rule by fear. I don't know which piraka"--he spat the word out disdainfully--"they've sent, but whomever it is, I'll deal with them as I always have: without mercy."

Onua and Kopaka shared a glance, walking together at the rear of the group. Voriki stopped them just before the last pier, and they lurked in the shadows of a roofless building as Voriki stepped down to the edge of the water, conspicuously visible.

They had arrived just in time: even as Voriki stepped ahead of them, a boat of some kind had become visible in the darkness ahead, propelled by some kind of mechanical motor, which growled softly, its sound carried to them on the waveless sea. The seacraft, whether you called it a boat or something else, was larger than a Ga-Koronan fishing boat, large enough to have held the six Toa of the island with some room to spare, though it was shallow-bottomed, and did not look quite steady on the water, rocking a bit side to side as though driven by a turbulent wind, though the still sea beneath the dome was calm. Perhaps the rocking came from its passengers: and, indeed, not only could it have held six Toa, it was six Toa-sized figures that came into view as it drew nearer: Toa-sized, or even a bit larger--hulking, gangling figures with spiked spines down their backs. Their eyes glowed red in the darkness.

Even as the strangers were becoming clear enough to see, they themselves noted Voriki, and there was a loud muttering across the water, sharply cut when one of them barked at the others. Then there was silence until the boat pulled up near the pier, only a dozen feet from Voriki.

"They said you were gone, Toa," the leader of the hulking creatures said, his voice deep as he spat out the final word. He was the heaviest-set of the six figures, and in the dim light near the shore, his colour was hard to discern. There were protrusions like horns on either side of his head, and his wide teeth were set in a permanent scowl. Without a Kanohi, even his speech and bipedal stature couldn't remove the impression to the hiding Toa that he was alien, like a Rahi imitating a Toa.

"Your spies are too hasty," said Voriki. "Metru Nui is not unprotected."

"You are one, Toa," said the other, now looming directly above Voriki, his red eyes menacing in the darkness. "We have delayed this encounter long enough. The Shadowed One extends but one chance to surrender peacefully. You have already rejected that chance."

Light sparked around Voriki, especially about his mask and the head of his staff, as he drew in power, electricity crackling around him.

"You will leave Metru Nui," said Voriki, his voice tense as he held in the growing power. "While I live, this city shall never submit to your dark master."

"Then die, Toa." The Piraka's voice was flat, save for, again, the final word, from which distain dripped. He swiped across the last few feet of water with a long, golden weapon that scythed across the water, just missing Voriki, who stepped back. Neither the leader nor the others on the boat got a second attempt, as Voriki swung his staff and released the lightning. The bolt did not travel straight, but bent up in an enormous arc. The brutes had all instinctively flinched away, but they would not have been fast enough had Voriki been aiming for them--but he had not. Instead, the lightning bolt struck the very tip of the ship's bow and the kinetic force, which would otherwise have shattered it, spun it end over end. The hulking brutes were flung into the sea, flailing angrily, but quickly making for shore.

"He missed!" breathed Lewa to the others in dismay.

"No," said Tahu quietly. "He's leaving them a way out."

On the pier, Voriki turned and nodded at the shadows.

"Did you see their weapons?" asked Gali. "And they are strong."

"We are strong too," said Onua.

"Come," said Tahu, and he stepped out of the shadows. The other Toa gathered behind him, a semi-circle behind Voriki even as the half-drowned enemies climbed out of the water.

"No," Voriki stepped over the prone body of the first body, the butt of his staff jammed into its shoulder. "Go back to your master and tell him that Metru Nui remains free. Whomever opened the sea-gates, take them with you."

But Voriki had been too confident, and the prone figure glared at him, and the glowing red eyes released a blast. Voriki stumbled backward, surprised. His armour sizzled and hissed on his forearm, where the brute's heat vision had struck.

"Necro nui," he swore to himself, regaining his composure, striking the brute hard with his staff, but the other five were coming ashore, hulking and red-eyed.

"Toa!" the leader spat again, and he seemed wary of the six of them. "You should have come bearing stiffer arms!"

"Fire is the only arm I need," said Tahu evenly, even as he raised a ball of fire in his outstretched hand. The wind whipped behind him as Lewa drew near, and the previously-still sea began to churn as Gali raised her arms. The three others stood menacingly behind, but there was a groan in land as Pohatu tapped his foot.

The five brutes surged ashore heedlessly, searing heat blasting from their eyes, long weapons raking ahead of them. Voriki dealt another blow to the one prone figure, but backed away carefully toward the others, his staff pointed toward the oncomers, already crackling as he prepared for another strike of lightning.

As Voriki moved out of the way, Tahu allowed his fireball to grow, and Lewa caught it on the wind, blasting it forward in a billowing flame toward the enemy, who had not emerged quite far enough from the sea, which Gali raised in waves and drove into them, knocking them forward right into the blazing fireball. Onua and Pohatu nodded to each other, and in a matching, sweeping motion, they tensed and clenched their hands, leaning away from each other, each pulling the land out from beneath the stumbling enemies.

It was only a lucky, stray bolt from one of the brute's eyes that struck Gali in the upper arm, but it was enough for her to wince and lose control of the waves--hard enough to control without tools anyway. The waves behind the enemy ceased, but Voriki chose this moment to unleash lightning again, which struck the leader directly, knocking him over completely. He sizzled as he lay on the roiling ground.

Tahu let his fire cease for a moment.

"Your boat is next, unless you board it immediately."

"Seven is more than we reckoned for," grumbled one of the brutes, starting toward the shore. He paused to look at Voriki.

"The Shadowed One will send more next time," he said. "We were all that was handy when the gates opened. Now that he knows they DO open, he will take your city."

"Take him with you," Voriki pointed at their leader, who lay prone in the divot caused by Onua and Pohatu. "Your master can taste the same fate, if he comes." Two of the brutes glanced at each other, shrugged, and each grabbed a foot. They dragged their leader behind them, tossing him onto the boat that Gali had wafted back toward them.

"This isn't over, Toa," leered the one who had spoken last. "We would not be so merciful to you."

Voriki said nothing in reply, but electricity sparkled around his mask. The boat pushed away, moving lazily out toward the far-off edge of the dome.

"I need to get up to the top of a tower to watch them," said Voriki.

"Take out your glider," said Kopaka. "Lewa can give you a boost." Voriki nodded, unfolded his gliding wing, and stretched it out. Lewa took a deep breath, and then a gale erupted as he exhaled, and he twisted his hands, Voriki soaring up from the ground, gliding on the wind until he came to rest at the top of the seaward-most tower that had not collapsed. He landed, and Lewa gasped, bent over from the exertion.

"We're still far from full form," noted Onua, putting a steadying hand on Lewa's shoulder.

It was a long wait as Voriki remained at the top of the tower; hours passed. The enemy wasn't putting my effort into their return voyage, but were only slowly drifting away into darkness. "Morning," when the wan lights over the dome glowed a little brighter, covering the fallen city in a grey twilight, dawned as they waited, and Jaller appeared with Tephrys.

"We watched with Skori," he told Tahu. "We saw you drive them off. You did well."

Tahu nodded to the Matoran's praise.

"We should get you home," he said. "Alas, but I do not wish to return without the Golden Kanohi."

"I do not like leaving my post," said Jaller, "and I don't know how things fare against the Rahkshi."

"He's getting ready to strike," said Tephrys quietly. The Po-Matoran had kept an eye on Voriki, and, indeed, the distant figure atop the tower had tensed and now thrust with his staff, and lightning arced across the sea, for a split second lighting it as though it were truly day.

"What is he doing?" asked Pohatu. "I can't see that far."

"None of us can," said Kopaka. "He's destroying their ship."

Above them, Voriki was gliding down from the tower.

"But were the enemy still aboard?" asked Gali. Tahu shrugged.

Voriki landed not far away.

"I gave them something else to think about and to tell their master, but destroying their vessel won't be nearly enough. Forget my bravado: if the Shadowed One comes in person, Metru Nui needs every defence." He looked at Tephrys first. "Find Tehutti. We need to reseal the Sea-Gates." Tephrys nodded, and turned to jog away.

"Coming?" he asked Jaller, who looked to Tahu. Tahu nodded.

"Do as you wish, captain--we certainly won't leave without you."

Jaller chased after Tephrys. Then Voriki turned to the others.

"You fight like no Toa I've known, though perhaps that's few enough. The control you have over your elements--it would have been impressive if you had your tools, but without them…" he shook his head. "Six Piraka would have been a handful by myself, but you made short work of them. If the Shadowed One really does send any force against us, we will need you."

"We have a duty to our own villages," said Tahu. "We can make few promises, but we are not quite ready to return yet."

"First," said Kopaka. "It is your turn to tell us a story. We told you of our island, how we came there, how we have fought the Makuta. Now you need to tell us your story."

"It is a long story," warned Voriki.

#bionicle #alt-canon #Voriki #Tahu #Kopaka #Onua #Gali #Lewa #Piraka #Jaller #Pohatu #this literally took weeks--worst case of writer's block in forever #still not sure I like it--I kind of wanted dire straits #But the Toa were like “no we're not getting pwned by Piraka”#Maybe they still hold that imprisonment against me?

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