Flash Quest

[Master Inika]

Spherus Magna, 100,005 years after the Shattering

 

Toa Sabiun was bored. The streets of New Atero were safe as Matoran and Agori lived their lives. Airships, both Matoran-built and in the pre-Shattering Spherus Magna style, soared in the skies, carrying goods and passengers to and from other cities and lands. In the Great Hall, Turaga and aged Agori sat together discussing the issues of the day. It was the worst time to be a Toa.

 

Sabiun looked longingly at the mural at the center of the Toa headquarters, depicting the epic battle between Mata Nui and the Makuta. During that harrowing duel, he had been a mere Matoran, running away and hiding as the universe around him crumbled. It was in that climactic final standoff that Sabiun’s local Toa team gave their lives to guarantee his safety. In her dying moments, the last Toa pressed into his hands a Toa stone, granting him the power and responsibility of a hero.

 

The following years had been uneventful ones. He was now the youngest Toa in existence, and aside from the occasional skirmish with the Skrall or Dark Hunters, his powers were going totally wasted.

 

At least he had the Toa headquarters computer to play on. Even in the throes of unrelenting boredom, the nostalgic and comforting atmosphere of Mata Nui Online Game, its simple yet captivating landscapes, its soothing yet vaguely foreboding tribal/techno musical blend, warmed his inner circuitry. He logged on and headed over to biomediaproject.com to start a brand new game.

 

 

What? Toa Sabiun thought. How could this have happened? He was horrified. He felt nauseous. What was he going to do? It took a moment for the full weight of this revelation to strike him: the Huai Snowball Sling, MNOG II, Piraka Attack, even Agori Defender… they were all Flash games.

 

Toa Sabiun rushed to the window and focused on an open space he saw outside. The power of his Kanohi Kualsi transported him from where he stood to where he wished to be. For times of crisis such as this, he had trained himself to traverse long distances through a series of rapid short-range teleports. It was a skill he had almost completely perfected.

 

Materializing in the middle of a normally quiet street, a vehicle veered by, nearly flattening him.

 

“Watch where you’re teleporting!” an angry Skakdi shouted.

 

“Sorry!” Sabiun said before teleporting away.

 

He finally reached the home of his friend, Tarduk. The green-armored Agori had been eager to learn about the Matoran, and for that matter Sabiun had been equally excited to learn about the Agori. The mutual interest had made them fast friends, and Sabiun soon learned that, if you needed a problem solved, Tarduk’s expertise on ancient, forbidden knowledge made him the Agori to see. He explained the situation to Tarduk, and Tarduk smiled.

 

“My friend, I have been waiting for an opportunity to show you this.”

 

Tarduk led Sabiun to his subterranean workshop, where an enormous behemoth of a spacecraft rested.

 

“It hasn’t been tested yet, but hypothetically it should be fully functional,” Tarduk explained. “I designed it to explore the stars. This planet will soon be fully excavated, and I knew it wouldn’t be long until there was need to look beyond.”

 

Sabiun was confused. “Is there something in space that will let me play Mata Nui Online Game?” he asked.

 

“There is a legend,” Tarduk began, “of a magical place beyond this world, where not only Bionicle Flash games but all Flash games can be played. But I must warn you: the journey will be perilous and fraught with unimaginable… perils.” He added under his breath, “I need to work on my expositions.” He then returned his attention to his friend. “So, if you will accompany me, I will be honored to embark on this quest with you.”

 

It was all so much. Instinctively, Sabiun looked out the window at the top of the secret workshop, where the safe, familiar sunlight of Solis Magna peered in. But then, he remembered the boredom. The horrible, horrible boredom. He could not return to it. He would not.

 

“I will accompany you,” he declared.

 

Tarduk’s smile grew larger and more emotional. “Excellent, my friend. Return here at this time tomorrow. I must assemble more crewmates to join us on this expedition. Forget neither your weapons nor your wits.”

 

Next Week: New faces! Old faces! The journey of a lifetime begins! …or I forget or lose interest and disappear for another six months, one of the two. But the journey of a lifetime potentially begins!

Edited September 2, 2021 by Master Inika