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The Biological Chronicle: 2010


TNTOS

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Welcome to the tenth and final installment of my new series of Bionicle flash fics, The Biological Chronicle. If you want to read the other stories in this series, you can find links to them in my signature at the end of this post.

 

If you don't know what this is, allow me to quote from the first fic's introduction:

 

The Biological Chronicle is a series of flash fics written by me. Like my earlier Glatorian Chronicles series of short stories/short epics, each story in The Biological Chronicle is a standalone and can be read in any order you please.

 

What connects these story is the basic theme. I gave myself the challenge of writing ten flash fics based on the ten years of Bionicle (one for 2001, another for 2002, yet another for 2003, etc.). The result is a mixture of my interpretation of scenes from canon, scenes from canon that were mentioned but never shown, and a few scenes that were never mentioned nor shown but which I nonetheless believe could have/probably did happen at some point in canon. I tried to stick to canon as closely as possible, however, so don't expect to see any new characters or locations or anything like that that weren't in canon.

 

They are all quite short (the longest is a little over 700 words), but of course that is to be expected from flash fiction. Fair warning: I've had little practice with flash fiction, so if these aren't as good as my usual work, it's because I'm not used to forcing myself to keep the word count under 800 words (although you are of course still free to criticize them however you usually criticize stories).

With that out of the way, enjoy:

 

2010

“What do we do if the Makuta go astray?”

 

The Great Being known as Angonce looked up from his workbench at his fellow Great Being, Velika. A half-finished mask lay on the table before him, but Angonce didn't pay much attention to it, distracted as he was by his brother's question.

 

“Why would that ever happen, Velika?” said Angonce. “The Makuta are supposed to aid Mata Nui. They would never even think of rebelling against him.”

 

“You said the same thing about the Element Lords,” Velika pointed out. “And we both know how well that turned out.”

 

Angonce sighed and put down his mask-making tools. “All right. What do you suggest we do?”

 

“We need to design a weapon that can combat the Makuta,” said Velika. “Something that can destroy solid antidermis quickly and efficiently.”

 

Angonce quirked an eyebrow. “A bomb of some sort?”

 

“No,” said Velika, shaking his head. He was clearly deep in thought now, like he always got whenever he was on a roll. “There would always be the danger of the bomb being set off too early and thus failing to destroy any antidermis at all. We need something better. But what?”

 

Angonce thought about that for a moment. He glanced at the mask on his table, which was colored gold, and an idea occurred to him. “Maybe a set of golden armor?”

 

Velika looked at Angonce in surprise. “Golden armor?”

 

“Yes,” said Angonce, nodding. “Golden armor that can instantly destroy all solid antidermis within its vicinity. Not only that, but it could also absorb all the powers of the Makuta that are killed.”

 

Now it was Velika's turn to quirk an eyebrow. “And why would that be necessary? It sounds to me like it would only make the user go mad with power.”

 

“Not if the user is a Toa,” said Angonce. “One of the Toa Mata, perhaps the leader, Toa Tahu. As for why it would be necessary . . . well, I just thought what a shame it would be to lose all of our work if the user of the golden armor managed to destroy all the Makuta. At least we can save the powers, if nothing else.”

 

“Yes,” said Velika, though he did not sound entirely convinced by that. “Yes, of course. But where would we keep the golden armor? After all, while it may never be used, we don't want to put it where anyone could get their hands on it, at least not easily.”

 

Angonce stroked his chin and looked at the half-finished mask before him. Then an idea struck him like lightning.

 

“I know,” said Angonce. “We can put it inside the Mask of Life. After all, we already plan to put the Ignika out of the reach of most beings. Not even the Makuta will be able to get it if we do that.”

 

Velika smiled. “I like your way of thinking, brother. Let's get to it.”

 

-

 

And that's a wrap (unless Bionicle comes back next year, in which case I might write The Biological Chronicle: 2015 as the real finale, but we'll see what will happen, I suppose).

 

Comments, criticism, questions, etc. are all welcome :) .

 

-TNTOS-

Edited by TNTOS
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

A Writerly Blog

The Tasty Library of Sugary Goodness

(My Little BIONICLE: Friendship is Explosive Completed 01/05/14)

{The Shika Trilogy Omnibus Completed 03/31/14) (Review Topic)

(In the End Completed 09/01/14) (Review Topic)

The Biological Chronicle: (2001) (2002) (2003) (2004) (2005) (2006) (2007) (2008) (2009) (2010)

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I really like this. The dynamic between the two Great Beings is really well done, but some of the casual dialogue seems a bit out of place ("And we both know how well that turned out"; "All right. What do you suggest we do?")

 

This is a fun little series you've written. I typically don't enjoy short stories, but you've impressed me.

 

 

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Greg Farshtey first stated at http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/6596-update-920-disguised-great-being-revealed/ "The Great Being was already named Velika before inhabiting the Matoran body." Then, in chat, he contradicted himself: "He assumed it [the name] as a Matoran." So we'll never know whether the name in this story is valid.

 

I'm sad to see this series end. You could produce infinitely many flash fictions like these, because there's so much character from which to draw in Bionicle.

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I really like this. The dynamic between the two Great Beings is really well done, but some of the casual dialogue seems a bit out of place ("And we both know how well that turned out"; "All right. What do you suggest we do?")

 

This is a fun little series you've written. I typically don't enjoy short stories, but you've impressed me.

Thanks :) .

 

Greg Farshtey first stated at http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/6596-update-920-disguised-great-being-revealed/ "The Great Being was already named Velika before inhabiting the Matoran body." Then, in chat, he contradicted himself: "He assumed it [the name] as a Matoran." So we'll never know whether the name in this story is valid.

 

I'm sad to see this series end. You could produce infinitely many flash fictions like these, because there's so much character from which to draw in Bionicle.

*Shrugs* If Greg's not sure, then I don't see any reason to worry about it. Nor would I change it if Greg ever does give a final answer on the question. Although I tried to adhere as strictly to canon in this series as I could, I'm not interested in going back and doing a lot of rewriting or editing if it turns out I got something wrong.

 

Yeah, I could definitely write more flash fics like these, but right now I don't want to. Currently I'm focusing entirely on my original fiction; but hey, flash fics don't take very much time to write at all, so maybe I'll do another series like this at some point. Not sure what the theme would be, though, or if there would any sort of theme to it at all. Maybe I could do a series based on the Dark Hunters or Order of Mata Nui or the Brotherhood of Makuta or just continue this series somehow. Lots of different options.

 

Thanks for enjoying the series, though. Really appreciate it.

 

-TNTOS-

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

A Writerly Blog

The Tasty Library of Sugary Goodness

(My Little BIONICLE: Friendship is Explosive Completed 01/05/14)

{The Shika Trilogy Omnibus Completed 03/31/14) (Review Topic)

(In the End Completed 09/01/14) (Review Topic)

The Biological Chronicle: (2001) (2002) (2003) (2004) (2005) (2006) (2007) (2008) (2009) (2010)

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