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Starting Over


maletoaofwater

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Author's note: just a quick something i thought up and wanted to write. i figured the red star must have been functional at this point, right? what would that have been like, since i'm sure it was being used a lot...

 

I got logged out while typing this, so was only able to post this much. I'll either finish it later, or add it as another post. Currently having problems while editing on mobile, so that's fun too. Anyway... Here's what I managed to save. Is there a way to save draft posts manually?

 

For a while now, the city of Metru Nui had been at war. It had started as something petty between po-matoran and ta-matoran, but the other districts eventually got drawn into the conflict, and the fighting started to get more serious. today, that's why there was a ko-matoran sitting at the top of a knowledge tower in a sniper's nest with some new kind of launcher the city's matoran had recently been employing to great lethal effect, rumored to have been built on Xia. there was a small scope on top of a long cylinder, with a trigger mechanism at one end. when the trigger was pulled, a small explosive charge launched a tiny metal fragment out of the other end of the cylinder at a very high speed.

 

The ko-matoran willed the mechanical lens in his akaku to activate, sliding down in place over the right eyehole in his mask. it softly wirred as he inspected the landscape. if his intel was correct, the canal below him was about to allow a small squad of ga-matoran to sneak into the metru, and break into the knowledge tower he was in to steal or destroy some rather valuable documents detailing plans on ko-matoran war strategy. as the sniper on his team, it was his job to take them out as they arrived in the canal, before they could do anything to the researchers in the tower on the floors below him. nobody thought they'd be dumb enough to openly row in on a boat, but just as a precaution, all shipments to the area had been put on hold for the day.

 

Snow began to gently drift down from the grey skies above. the ko-matoran still sat in wait, peering out the open window. every once in a while, he'd check his weaponry, making sure everything was ready, even though he knew it was. a couple times, he almost reached for his radio to ask their leader if they were sure this was the tower the ga-matoran were after, but realized the noise could give away his position to anyone who might be watching - a relatively new tool, the radio he was using was not refined, and made a loud cackle whenever someone on the other end started talking, so it would have to stay off for now.

 

As the appointed time limit came and went, every ripple in the water made the ko-matoran jump. the gentle breeze moving between the towers made far more ripples than he could pay attention to, but some were larger than others, and drew his attention quickly, and increased his heart rate, which, he noted, was not good for someone who needed to be a good shot.

 

There.

 

That last one wasn't just a wind-created ripple, he was sure of it this time. once more employing the lens on his akaku, he zoomed in, and saw that, indeed, a small and discreet periscope had just surfaced in the canal, peering left, then right. with his heart pounding, he willed his mask's lens to move out of the way, and instead lined up his eye with the scope on his weapon. a blue mask came out of the water, and the matoran wearing it followed. as the ga-matoran silently climbed out of the canal, three others surfaced and followed. at the top of the tower, the ko-matoran made a mental note that their latest source of intel on ga-metru was one for one so far. still watching through his weapon's scope, he slipped his first finger over the safety switch, and disabled it. the ga-matoran who had climbed out of the canal first turned away from his teammates and began moving towards the tower, signaling for the others to follow. the ko-matoran had a perfect shot, but once one was down, the others would be harder to hit, and he'd likely be compromised. he exhaled all of his breath. it was a risk he'd have to take, since there wasn't anyone else on this mission with him today. maybe we ice matoran should reconsider working alone, he thought. his finger began to squeeze the trigger...

 

moments earlier...

 

A ga-matoran and her three ga-matoran teammates swam through the icy canals of ko-metru. over their kanohi masks, they had a breathing apparatus that would allow them to stay under water without surfacing for air. besides that, they did not have much else with them, for they were on a stealth mission - they aimed to steal valuable information on enemy positions, and more gear would just be noisy and slow them down, particularly in the typically quiet district of ko-metru.

 

when they reached the designated spot, their leader swam towards the surface of the canal, and pulled out a periscope to scout the area. the ga-matoran watched his head breach the surface, and then his signal for the rest to follow. the ga-matoran waited for her turn as the second of her team swam her way to the surface and climbed out, then she followed. as her head breached the surface, she felt the frigid air blow across her mask's eye and mouth holes, and the back of her head, chilling her. she climbed out of the canal, and turned to help her last teammate, who slipped a little as he climbed out. their leader nodded to them, turned and motioned for them to follow him to the knowledge tower he was pointing at.

 

CRACK.

 

The loud report of the rifle echoed a thousand times through the icy ko-metru air. up above, the ko-matoran took a breath, and reached to chamber another round in his weapon before realigning his eye with the scope. on the ground, it seemed like the next half second took an hour, and the following seconds ages. the ga-matoran saw her leader stiffen and jump backwards, then twist and collapse, supine on the ground before his team. the first thing they noticed was that his eyes and heartlight were dark. then their attention was drawn to the spiderweb of cracks on his mask, all drawing their origin back to a large hole where he'd been hit. blood began to seep from behind the mask and the back of his head, staining the many snowflakes that had begun to accumulate on the street. his second-in-command gestured sharply for the team to retreat, and they obeyed without questioning her order, although the ga-matoran couldn't help but steal a look back at their fallen leader. her teammate that she had helped out of the canal dove back in,  quickly resurfaced, and raised a smaller projectile weapon, aiming where he thought the attack had come from, covering for his two remaining teammates.

 

High in the tower, the ko-matoran took aim at the woman who was obviously the first man's lieutenant, and fired again. his first shot had been a bull's eye, but with his targets now on the move, his second shot missed, and barely clipped the arm of the other woman on the team. the last ga-matoran still standing, a man who had been carrying most of their minimal gear, was already back in the canal, and was returning fire, giving time for the lieutenant to go back for their fallen commander. as the matoran in the canal fired wildly, the ko-matoran was forced to pull  back for a moment as a stray shot came too close for comfort, even though it was obvious his opponent had no idea where he was.

 

Two of the ga-matoran were now back in the canal, and the last was on her way. the ko-matoran fired again, forcing her to drop the fallen first matoran as the ko-matoran missed and hit her hand. the ga-matoran tripped, and fell into the water. the ko-matoran leaned out the window just a little more to get a better shot - this was his last chance to hit another one of them before they got away, he was sure of it. his shoulder brushed up against something, but he payed no attention to it - he had to make this shot! unfortunately, that something started to fall out the window, and too late, he realized het'd made a fatal error - his radio! if that fell, then his position would be compromised, and beyond that, anyone who took the fallen item might be able to spy on ko-matoran communications. he took his hand off the barrel of his weapon to swipe at the falling object, and...

 

He caught it. just barely. inching himself back to safety inside the tower, he held the radio in one hand, and his weapon in his other. however, with only one hand to support the weapon, it was too heavy, and began to sag forward, and the stand he had it propped up on to steady it popped out from underneath it. the sudden motion pulled him forward, and with both hands full, he desperately grabbed at the window sill to no avail. he slipped from his perch, and watched the ground suddenly rush closer, with the wind whistling in his ears.

 

***

 

The body of the slain ga-matoran laid alone on the ground in streets of ko-metru. the snow was falling harder now, and the other three still living matoran had fled, under attack with no obvious source, and unable to defend themselves. were it not for the body and bloodstains, the scene would be peaceful, beautiful. as if to remind an onlooker that this scene was not in face peaceful nor beautiful, a second matoran, this one of ice, suddenly came falling from the sky and crashed to his death on the pavement next to the first matoran. his armor was cracked all over, and his blue eyes and heartlight flickered briefly for a second before going dark. his hands slackened, and the rifle and radio he was holding softly clattered as they laid on the pavement.

 

***

 

the ko-matoran woke up, or at least he was pretty sure he did. there were bright lights, bright enough to make it hard to see. he was laying on a slab, and someone or something, maybe many someones or somethings, were poking, pulling, and prodding at him. before he could figure out much more of what was going on around him, he fell painfully back asleep.

 

Edited by maletoaofwater
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Author's note: here's the rest of it... I think. Most of the rest of it, anyway. It's not quite what I originally had, but close enough.

 

***

 

The kestora standing above the ko-matoran, and the ga-matoran he'd arrived with, worked quickly. Matoran universe people's souls, for some reason, don't leave their bodies as soon as they're dead. Maybe it has to do with the kanohi for some - it's established that a kanohi maintains a link to its wearer's soul after they've died for a short while - but the soul eventually leaves the body, to wherever body-less spirits go, so the kestora had to work quickly. The ga-matoran wasn't as damaged as the ko-matoran, so it was decided that the same body could be used for that one. Aside from a few twisted joints, he'd need the hole in his head repaired, and a new kanohi, but nothing more. He was shipped off to the revival surgery unit. The ko-matoran, however, was badly damaged from his fall. All his armor was cracked, and the back of his skull casing and all the armor on his back was totally shattered. His organic components were riddled with internal bleeding as well, totally damaging his body. A new body would have to be made, and so he was shipped off to the cloning machine.

 

"The cloning machine" is really a misnomer. A clone is a mere copy of something, but it has its own identity and own soul. What the machine that dominated the room the kestora were now working in did however, was transfer the soul of the dead into a newly created body, effectively making the new a continuation of the old. As the ko-matoran was put in the machine, it first extracted his spirit, like a certain kanohi iden does. Then it began scanning the body, and growing and building a new one. When the process was finally complete, the soul was allowed to inhabit the body, and the ko-matoran was put on a bed, and wheeled towards the return teleporter. His old body was automatically moved deeper into the machine, to be broken down and used for future regenerations of other beings.

 

In a room not far away, the ga-matoran's revival surgery was taking much longer than expected. While the joint repair had been quick, and a new kanohi had been crafted easily enough, the head wound had damaged a critical connection in his organic brain. More than once the kestora had considering scrapping the procedure and using the cloning machine, but they pushed forward and eventually it turned out alright in the end. The ga-matoran was taken from the surgical table and placed on a bed, then wheeled after the ko-matoran to the return teleporter.

 

***

 

Far away, in a land to the south, there was a small island with a mountain. The mountain was capped with snow, and fur  trees grew among the virgin snow. As the moonlight shown down one night, a soft, short ripple in space appeared behind one of the trees and deposited a ko-matoran down in the snow. After a few moments, his eyes slowly came to life, and he sat up, taking in his surroundings. He tried to remember... He wasn't sure what it was he couldn't remember. He was certain of his name, and he had what felt like a half remembered dream of bright lights and pain. He thought he remembered a large city with lots of fighting, but that clearly wasn't right. He stood up, and noticed the lights shining in a village at the base of the mountain. Brushing the snow off himself, he started down the mountain towards the village.

 

***

 

Far away, in a land to the south, there was a short beach. The beach was surrounded by tall dark rocks and the sand was a dark brown. In the dark night, the water glowed blue occasionally with the bioluminescence of microscopic rahi. Beyond the sands was a plain of grass that stretched to the base of a tall snowcapped mountain. At the base of the mountain the lights of a small village could be seen. A blue matoran lay prone in the surf, looking as though the tide had brought him in, but in reality be had been teleported. When the next wave met his face, he awoke with a start, and quickly coughed up some seawater. Crawling on his hands and knees, he moved towards the drier warmer sand. He sat looking out at the water trying to remember how he'd gotten there. He'd lived in metru nui... And there was a lot of fighting. There had been a mission... then I died! he realized. Killed by an unseen sniper. Was he still dead, then? Was this the afterlife? Almost as if in answer, a small crab or snail like rahi crawled up and closed its metallic pincers on his foot, causing him to cry out in pain. He hoped an afterlife wouldn't have pain in it so soon. He was standing now, and looked to the lights of the village behind him, and began walking to what he hoped would be somewhere he could sleep. 

 

***

 

A few weeks later, a small village compromised mostly of bo-matoran was going about its normal business. Those who didn't have blue/green armor stood out from the grassy backgrounds more than those who did, and so perhaps that is why an onlooker's attention might have been drawn to the white armor of a ko-matoran carrying some goods to market. He was walking along the narrow path, and tripped over a stone in his way, spilling his cart all over. The noise distracted a nearby ga-matoran , whose distraction cost him the accidental destruction of the project he'd been working on. They both looked up, and met eyes. For a moment, there was a glimmer of recognition, but in the next, they both dismissed it - thinking it was probably because they were simply among the few different matoran here. The ga-matoran offered his help to the ko-matoran, who gladly accepted, and before long, the mess had been cleaned up nicely. They continued to talk after a brief introduction, and soon began to enjoy each other's company. In another life they wouldn't remember for a while, they had been enemies, but now after a rebirth of sorts, they were starting over, as friends.

Edited by maletoaofwater
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