Aftermath 3: A New Chapter of Trials

[Voltex]

Looking good so far MT. I'm enjoying the buildup to whatever reveal we're going to get regarding whatever iBrow and JL did all those years ago. I will admit I'm still wondering if MT might still be alive spmewhere though....

[MT Zehvor]

Looking good so far MT. I'm enjoying the buildup to whatever reveal we're going to get regarding whatever iBrow and JL did all those years ago. I will admit I'm still wondering if MT might still be alive spmewhere though....

He was eaten by Omega and still lives to this day in his stomach.

 

Any chance that we could get a TvT update sometime soon?

 

-MT

[Voltex]

Due to the nature of my brief time here (it ends Friday), not really. However, check out the topic for some happy news.

[Mesonak]

Oh Lev, so much sneaking.

 

The last two chapters were very good. Vecolity and Lev's antics were very intriguing, and the conversation at the end was certainly ominous.

 

As far as Vardan and Hana's adventures are concerned, well, at least progress is getting made. I can't honestly say I expect this upcoming confrontation to go as planned, though. Nothing ever does.

 

Great job.

 

-Mesonak

[MT Zehvor]

Chapter 6, Planet Delarax: The Shadowy Skakdi

…this is really bad, Vecolity thought.

After assassinating his anticipated target, the Toa of Light had exited the room and slipped through the hallways, believing his presence to be unnoticed. Just when he had been a quick break from the door, he had felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around to find a rather angry looking Toa of Water staring at him. A moment later, he was surrounded.

"So…um…how can I help you today?" he asked.

"You can start by putting down that energy sword of yours and following us outside."

"…I, um…well…hmm."

The Toa of Water pointed her sword at the Toa of Light. "Move. Now."

Vecolity sighed and took a step forward.

Well…maybe if Mesonak accepted that invitation of mine…I can still get out of this mess.

Just then, another Toa ran through the door. "Leader!" he cried.

The Toa of Water turned towards her subordinate. "What is it?"

"We just caught another Toa!" he responded. "A black and white armored Toa with a skull for a head is now incapacitated and in custody!"

The Toa of Water smiled. "Excellent…if that's who I believe it is…then this plan has worked to perfection."

…or maybe this is just going to be the worst day of my life regardless.

Vecolity was shoved forward by the Water Toa. "Take him and the other Toa to the ship," she ordered. "Deliver these two to head quarters as quickly as possible."

======

Meanwhile, at a restaurant on another planet…

…why am I still doing this?

The Matoran sighed as he went over to clean the last group of tables in the establishment. He had been stuck in this job for who knew how long, doing little besides cleaning tables and serving customers who were generally ungrateful and almost never tipped. There was even a joke around the employees of the restaurant that this was where "careers go to die."

Not that there were any other particularly enjoyable opportunities. Ever since the Dark Lord had taken power, it was extremely difficult to obtain any sort of decent job with a level of security beyond not knowing whether you would be thrown into prison the next day. The Dark Lord had allowed a group of planets to remain free from Xenon under the condition that they serve him unconditionally and without hesitation…and so far, both sides had kept up their sides of the bargain. There hadn't been any sort of major uprising from a planet in the Delarax system in a couple hundred years, and the Dark Lord had yet to overrun any planet with Xenon.

…he had killed off quite a few people who he believed were potential threats, but hadn't done any planet conquering.

…course, if this resistance keeps up at their current pace…we might not even have that benefit for long, the Matoran thought as he set a couple of chairs up on a table.

With that done, he turned around and headed towards the door. He was the second to last person to leave every night, with the last person being the manager of the restaurant, a Matoran by the name of Klarex. Klarex hadn't exactly been a great boss, but he had at least been hiring…which was more than could be said for most other businesses around.

His musings were interrupted by a loud rapping on the door. The Matoran turned to look, and saw a tall, cloaked figure standing outside. Puzzled, he walked over and opened it up, peering into the darkness outside.

"Sorry, but we're closed for the night."

"…oh?"

"…yes. Do you know how late it is?"

"…your arbitrary standards of time aren't something I usually concern myself with."

"Way too late for anything to be open. You'll have to come back tomorrow if you're hungry."

"How about a hunger of a different kind? Would you be open in that case?"

The Matoran paused for a moment, wondering just what this…thing…was doing. "…what do you mean?" he asked.

The cloaked being shifted his weight onto one leg. "I simply want to ask a few questions of you. That's all."

"…and if I don't know the answer?"

"…then I suppose I'll have to ask elsewhere, won't I?"

The Matoran sighed. "Very well," he said, opening the door a little wider. "Come inside. I'll try and answer your questions."

…it'll probably be faster than trying to make him go away, he thought.

The cloaked figure ducked out of the rain and through the doorway. He pulled his hood down, revealing himself to be a Skadi with black/blue-ish armor. He pulled off a chair that the Matoran had placed carefully on the table, setting it down on the floor and taking a seat.

"So…what can I help you with…?" the Matoran asked.

The Skakdi grabbed a plastic straw from a container sitting on the table, and began to chew on it.

"…um…I do have to close up soon, so if you wouldn't mind hurrying along-"

"…ah. Of course," the Skakdi said. "My apologies. Here."

The Matoran reached out and grabbed a picture which the Skakdi was handing him. "…this…this is…a Matoran?"

"Indeed," the Skakdi said, placing both his feet on the table and leaning back. "He's…a friend of mine. I'm trying to find him."

"…"

"…has he, perchance…showed up around here sometime? Maybe just stopped in for a quick drink once?"

The Matoran took a look at the picture, which showed a grey armored Matoran walking down the street. His left hand appeared to be holding a plastic spoon, although it was a bit fuzzy. The photograph had obviously been rushed.

"…hmm…he does look a little familiar…but I can't say I'd swear on it."

"His name's iBrow," the Skakdi continued. "…you may have heard of him."

"…iBrow? Can't say I have…should I?"

"He was big news a few days back. Killed a politician…you may have heard of it."

…I really need to be paying more attention to the news, if that's the case, the Matoran thought.

"…yes…now that you mention it…I think I do remember him. He came in with an orange armored companion. They talked for a while, and then the orange one left."

"And you're sure of that?"

"Pretty sure."

"Would you happen to remember the name of his friend?"

"His friend wouldn't say. When he ordered a drink, he just said to call his name by the nickname 'Indexer.'"

"…hmm."

The Skakdi leaned back, thinking things through. His thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Klarex, the manager, who stormed into the room, clearly upset.

"Hey! Who is this! It's way past closing time!"

The Matoran quickly tried to explain. "He just came in to ask some questions. It's nothing big."

"I don't care!" the manager responded. "You get him out of here this moment, or I'll fire you so quickly, you won't even be able to-"

"Mister Manager…" the Skakdi interrupted.

"What do you want?!" he stormed.

"…I merely wanted to thank you."

The manager stopped for a moment, befuddled. "Thank me for what? The right to enter my store whenever you like and take advantage of-"

The next moment was a complete blur. In the span of less than a second, the Skakdi had disappeared from the relaxed position in his chair, picked up the manager by the throat, and slammed him into the wall he was standing by.

"…I wanted to thank you…for giving me an excuse to trash this miserable excuse of a restaurant you have here," the Skakdi said, his expression not changing a bit.

The employee stumbled back, trying to register what had just happened. The Skakdi had gone from completely calm and collected to violent in the span of less than a second. What was going on here?

"…now…" the Skakdi continued, holding up another picture, this one of iBrow's orange friend. "…I'll ask you a question as well. This being…purchased something at your pathetic excuse for a food service organization. I want his payment information. Now."

The manager looked terrified, and tried to choke out an answer. "It's…it's…it's all in the back! Please! I'll take you to it!"

The Skakdi smiled, and let the Matoran fall to the floor. "That's better," he said, returning to his calm state. "Let's have a look at those records…and I'll be on my way."

Klarex stumbled towards the back of the restaurant, trying to shake off the blow. The Skakdi turned to follow him, but paused briefly, and looked back at the Matoran employee.

"Here," he said, tossing him a chip that held a large amount of virtual currency. "That's for being cooperative."

And with that, he disappeared into the back of the shop, following Klarex. The employee dropped the money, still horrified at what had just happened, and fled through the door. He didn't stop running until he was miles away, and even then continually looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed.

======

"Ooooghhh…my head…"

Levacius pushed himself up into a sitting position, and looked around. "…what…happened?"

Then he remembered. He had been chased by two Toa, and had nearly made it back to his spaceship, but had been mauled by a giant bear that came out of nowhere at the last moment.

"…ow…" he said. "I guess that's what I get for sneaking around."

It wasn't all bad, though. The bear had seemingly taken care of the two Toa that had been chasing him…which would allow him to get on the ship and fly away to-

"…THE SHIP!!!" he yelled.

The spaceship was in ruins. Apparently, the ensuing battle between the bear and the two assassins had taken quite a toll on the ship, to the point of leaving it in ruins.

"…ugh…now how am I going to get out of here? I can't stick around…or I'll get mauled by a bear again."

That's when Levacius noticed another spaceship, a couple hundred meters away.

"Well…I'm sure it can't hurt to take a look," he said.

And with that, the Toa of Lightning headed for the spaceship…trying to think of ways to explain to Mesonak how his ship had been destroyed.

-MT

[MetaStriker]

...you sure it's not velocity?

 

Good last few chappys...though I haven't made much of an appearance on the comedy, it mirrors my appearance on the forums so it's fine.

 

And I feel like the Omega Shade is either MT or the turtle but I'm probably wrong with both guesses...we'll all find out soon though.

 

~MN~

[MT Zehvor]

...you sure it's not velocity?

Yep. Intentional misspelling...for reasons that I myself am still unaware of.

 

Maybe I was going for a name I could reuse for a Pokemon someday.

 

-MT

[MT Zehvor]

Going to try and get chapters up at a bit of a faster rate now. School's fast approaching *sob*, and I certainly need to set a pace for myself if I'm want to end up at a better rate than one chapter per semester.

======

Chapter 7, Planet Argnok: The Mad Ringleader

Vardan couldn't believe what had just happened.

A mere few seconds ago, the ringleader had strode confidently ahead, walking into a large room with two of his most trusted guards to confront this "Omega Shade." His first action had to blast the Omega Shade in the back. This first action also turned out to be his last.

Within the span of a few seconds, both of the guards had been incinerated and the ringleader Toa was sprawled out on the ground, covered in a pool of a purple liquid. With all three of his temporary Toa compatriots dispatched, Vardan found himself 30 feet away from a foe that outmatched him in nearly every way possible.

"Be brave, Vardan! Don't let him know you're nervous! Once he knows that, he'll have you right where he wants you!"

…I think he already has me right where he wants me…, Vardan thought.

The Omega Shade stared down Vardan for a few seconds, as if he was deciding whether to make a meal of him or not. Vardan slowly began to back up, towards the entrance of the room, but a quick hand motion from the Omega Shade caused a purple barrier to appear over the door, trapping Vardan and Hana inside.

"Augh! Hey! Let us out of here!" Hana yelled, banging on the barrier made of Xenon. "This is unwanted detainment! I'm going to call my lawyer, and when he gets down here, he'll sue you so hard that you'll…you'll…you'll be sorry!"

…I wonder how sticking this thing in court would turn out, Vardan thought.

The Omega Shade ignored Hana's protests and raised an arm towards the ceiling. A single blast of pure, concentrated Xenon flew out of his hand, blasting a hole in the roof. One incredible jump later…and he was gone.

"…well…I guess that takes care of that problem."

"…uh…Vardan? We…may not be quite finished yet."

Hana pointed behind her to the pile of purple liquid on the ground, from which a figure was arising. The ringleader Toa emerged, his armored darkened and muttering incoherent nonsense. An attempt from Hana to help him up was met with a blast of Xenon that nearly took her head off. Vardan quickly put himself between Hana and the Toa, and watched as it slowly picked itself off the ground, with a purple glow encompassing him.

"…what…what is that…thing?" Hana asked.

"…I have no idea. But it looks like whatever that thing did to him…it made him go crazy."

The ringleader pulled a large axe off the ground and held it in his hand, looking menacingly at Vardan.

…guess we're not getting out of here until we deal with this thing, Vardan thought.

With that, the corrupted ringleader led out a long yell and rushed at Vardan.

Vardan shoved Hana to one side quickly and dove out of the way himself. The ringleader sprinted right past them and ran straight into a wall, briefly dazing himself. Vardan quickly capitalized on his opponent's mistake, lunging forward with his sword and landing a few blows before the ringleader recovered.

"Hana! Find some place to hide! I'll deal with this!" Vardan yelled, diving underneath a swing from the large axe.

"But…if I hide…then I won't have a chance to sell my nail polish to any spectators who may come by!"

"JUST HIDE!" Vardan screamed back, trying his best to focus on the battle at hand and get Hana to safety.

"…oh…fine," Hana complained, crawling her way into a corner and ducking down.

Vardan ducked and weaved around the Toa's axes, striking quickly with his sword whenever possible. At one point, he managed to knock the ringleader into the air, at which point he leapt after him, landed several solid blows, and then sent him flying back down into the ground.

…that should do it, Vardan thought.

The ringleader let out a loud yell, pushing himself back to his feet.

…or not.

Vardan's opponent charged with even more fury now, swinging his oversized axe around like it was nothing. The Toa of Fire nimbly evaded his enemy's blows, but quickly found himself being backed into a corner against one of the walls.

Vardan let out a gulp as he found him back against a hard surface, letting him know that he had run out of room to backpedal. The ring leader raised his axe high above his head, preparing to slam it into Vardan's head, when all of a sudden…

*KLINK!*

The ringleader roared and whirled around. His head was now covered in some sort of pink liquid, and pieces of glass were scattered around the floor. Vardan had no idea where the projectile had come from, but he took advantage of the distraction. He dove out from the wall, whirled around, and sliced through his opponent's torso.

The ringleader collapsed on the ground, dissolving into the same purple goo from before.

"…that was…way too close…" Vardan said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"What'd ya think?" a voice from behind him asked. "I'm a pretty good aim, aren't I?"

Vardan turned around to find a way-too-happy Hana, smiling as always. "…you mean…that pink stuff…"

"It was fingernail polish!" she said, glowing. "It looked like you could use some help, so I decided to heave a bottle over there. Turned out these guys go nuts when they get hit by this stuff."

"…I am…literally speechless."

"Let me help you out then," Hana said. "Try: thank you."

"…ah…er…thanks. Probably would have ended up a lot worse if it wasn't for that throw."

"Any time!"

"Just…don't expect that to work on anyone else."

"Ha! Doubt the power of fingernail polish at your own risk."

…I also somewhat doubt the idea of anyone believing this story when we get back, Vardan

thought.

"…well…we've still got one problem we need to solve," Vardan said, after a while.

"…what's that?"

"…how to get out of here."

"Hmm…how about…something like this?" Hana asked, holding a complex mechanical attachment in her hand."

"…what in the world…is this?"

"No clue. Looks handy, though. I think it's supposed to go on your arm. Way too big for me, though."

"Let me try it," Vardan said, taking the device from Hana. It attached to his left arm fairly easily.

"…well…give it a shot!" Hana said, excitedly.

"I'm trying too…" Vardan said. "It's just a bit of trouble figuring out what exactly I have to do in order to get it to FFIIIIIIRRRRRRREEEEEEEE-"

The attachment clicked loudly, and sent a long rope like material shooting upwards, through the hole the Omega Shade blasted in the ceiling. It grabbed onto something and pulled Vardan up, sending the Toa flying through the space in the roof and slamming into something hard above.

*WHAM!*

Hana looked upwards, and called out after a second. "Vardan? …are…are you all right?"

"…I'm…ooooghhh…"

"Great!" she said excitedly. "That was cool! Now let me try!"

"You can have this thing," Vardan responded, looking back at Hana through the hole he flew through. "It's a device designed to give you concussions."

"Ha ha. You just don't know how to use it, yet!"

…that seems to be the case with quite a few things, Vardan thought.

"Well…time's a-wasting!" Hana said. "Get me up there!"

"…huh? Get you up there? How?"

"Use that thingy of yours to pull me up there!"

"…um…"

"I mean, if it pulled you up…I'd bet it would pull me up to you!"

"…is that safe?"

"Safe? Who cares? It's adventurous! Plus it's a lot better than being stuck down here forever."

…I guess she's right…at least about the last part.

"Right then…stay still for a second…and…"

The cord shot out of Vardan's arm attachment again, latching onto a part of Hana's armor and pulling her up through the hole in the roof. Hana flew through and landed smoothly on the ground, then detached herself from the cord.

"Ha! That's what I call a landing!"

…why does the fingernail polish salesmatoran know more about acrobatics than I do?

"Well…let's hurry up and get out of this place. We had the time to alert some of the local authorities to what's going on here now that the Omega Shade is gone," Hana said. "With any luck…this silly operation will be shut down within a few hours."

"…right…" Vardan said. "Let's get out of here indeed."

…and maybe get a few courses on how to use this stupid thing before we go out adventuring again.

And with that, the two partners set off, ending the first of many adventures to come.

-MT

[Mesonak]

The last two chapters were very well done.

 

Vardan's fight with the ringleader was pretty cool, and its ending was quite... odd. Fingernail polish saves the day.

 

I wonder what the deal is with this Omega Shade, though... You're doing a very good job of presenting enough mysteries to keep interest alive. The plot of this comedy is very gripping.

-Mesonak

[Rahkshi Guurahk]

Out of curiosity, was there a member of the Zehvor named the indexer ever?

[- JL -]

No, but there was a Hubert.

[MT Zehvor]

We'll have a great Zehvor reunion someday.

 

 

Chapter 7, Planet Delarax: The crazy antics of Levacius

"Hurry it up. The loving arms of the Dark Lord await you."

…loving arms? Are we thinking about the same guy here?

Vecolity was given a shove in the back and forced to walk towards the ship. Beside him was the unconscious form of Mesonak, being dragged along by one of the bounty hunters who had recently taken him captive. 5 other hunters were walking alongside him, which made any sort of combat imitation a near suicidal proposition. The spaceship that Vecolity was being forced towards was a one way ticket to a meeting with the Dark Lord, one that would bring an execution sentence with it. The distance between him and captivity without hope of escape was closing rapidly.

======

Meta was busy.

For the first time in a while.

Mesonak and Levacius had left to watch some silly execution or something that they had been invited to…and Meta hadn't really felt like getting out of bed early just to watch someone die. People died all the time. What was one more Makuta worth, really? Not like it was the first Makuta to do so…or the last…or even close to either end.

So he had been left in charge of holding down the office while the the other two were out. Office work wasn't particularly his thing…but it was preferable to traveling halfway across the galaxy to watch someone get killed.

…or so he thought.

"Hey, Mesonak. Mesonak!" a voice came from the doorway.

"Not here," Meta replied, not bothering to look up from the funnies section of the newspaper he was reading.

"…not…here?" came the reply, as a Matoran walked into the doorway.

"Nope."

"…where'd he go?"

"Out for a bit. What do you need?"

"…someone's…missing."

"…missing?" Meta asked, his curiosity piqued enough to put his newspaper down. Across from him stood iBrow, a Matoran he had met a very long time ago on a certain mission, and hadn't seen much of since. "…and who might this be?"

"Ah. Meta. It's you."

"The one and only."

"…one of my friends who provides my intel didn't show up for a meeting this morning."

"…and that's led you to believe he's missing?"

"He never misses a meeting. He hasn't answered a single attempt to contact him, either."

"…well…what do you want me to do about it?"

"…I need your help to track him down."

"…track him down?"

"I don't think I need to spell this out, but…if he's disappeared for the reason I think he has…then he's not the last one who's going to disappear."

"…you think he was kidnapped."

"…"

"…and you think whoever kidnapped him is going to use him as a stepping stone to find out information on you."

"…pretty much."

Meta sighed, and set the funnies down. "Let's go over the facts before we jump to any hasty conclusions, shall we?"

"We were supposed to meet at the Fe-Matoran Diner this morning for breakfast, at which point he was going to hand me some intel on a new group of bounty hunters that have appeared on the scene…but he didn't make it."

"…and when you tried to get in touch with him, he didn't show?"

"I waited about half an hour…and then gave him a call. Nothing. I decided to leave in case someone was using that to track my location. He still hasn't responded."

"…so then…I guess the best place to start would be that diner."

"…going back there?"

"If you're right, and someone's kidnapped him, then they're likely using that call as a way to track you. Perhaps someone involved who's trying to catch you will be there…and we can go from there."

"…hmm. Worth a shot, I suppose."

Meta got up from the desk and put a ridiculous looking trench coat and hat on. "Come on," he said. "It's time for the Metatective to do some work."

"…you've been stuck in this office for way too long," iBrow replied.

======

Meanwhile, aboard a certain spaceship, Levacius was a bit confused.

He had stolen his way aboard in order to avoid another attack from the bear that had mugged him earlier, and was trying to figure out how to fly it. Unfortunately, technology had never been his strong suite, and this ship wasn't making things easy at all.

The sound of voices from outside alerted Lev to someone's presence. He looked out through the cockpit, and noticed a group of 7 Toa walking in the yard, with one more, who he couldn't make out, being dragged along the ground.

"…oh! There's some people! Maybe if I get their attention…they can help me figure this out!"

Lev quickly looked around for the button to sound the ship's horn. Something like that would easily draw their attention, and maybe even convince them to come aboard.

…it's worth a shot, Levacius thought. Not like I figured out how to get out of this stupid thing anyway.

A large button popped out at Lev as he scanned the dashboard. "Hmm," he said. "Something like that must be the horn. If it's that predominant…what else could it be?"

So he pressed the button…and watched as a laser beam flew out of the ship's cannon and scorched the spot where one of the bounty hunters was standing, leaving only a pile of ashes.

"…oh…oh my…" Levacius thought. "…that's…um…a rather deadly horn."

The blast had sent the rest of the Toa into a panic. They scattered towards various spots in the yard, running away from the range of the laser.

"Wait…wait!" Lev yelled. "Come back! I need you to help me start this ship!"

But Lev's yell wasn't audible through the soundproof glass.

"I've gotta find that horn…before they all run out of hearing range! Where is it?!"

Lev pressed another button, and a large panel popped up on the ship's display. It showed 5 dots quickly moving away from the center of the screen, and two more directly in front of it.

"…oh! This must be a map of the nearby area!" Lev said, excitedly. "And…maybe this panel will let me sound the horn at them!"

Lev touched the 5 dots that were running away, intending to call them back towards the ship with the siren song of the ship's horn. Instead of a horn, however, 5 missiles shot out of the ship's cannons, flying into the air and descending towards the ground below. Lev watched in horror as 5 piles of smoke rose from the ground in the distance…and the blips on the map disappeared.

"…oops."

Lev watched as the two Toa on the ground stood up, one in white armor helping the other to his feet. The other Toa managed to stand up…and looked just like Mesonak.

"Oh! Meso! Come save me!" Lev yelled. "Don't leave me in this ship!"

The white armored Toa pointed at the ship and said something to Mesonak, at which point, the two took off running, obviously in fear of having more destruction rained down upon them.

"NOOOOOO!! MESO!! COME BACK TO ME!!! WWWWWHHHHHYYYYYYYY!!!" Lev yelled. Then after a moment, he decided on a different plan of action.

"Forget this ship," he muttered, punching a hole through the glass in the cockpit and jumping out. "I'll just get Mesonak to pay for a taxi or something."

-MT

Edited August 12, 2013 by MT Zehvor

[MT Zehvor]

Chapter 8, Planet Argnok: Boring Meetings

Several days later…

"So you are the one responsible for exposing that fraud of a mining observation."

"Yes…I am," Vardan replied.

The Toa of Fire had been summoned to a meeting with Turaga JL after returning from his…adventure, to put it lightly…and had spent the past few hours going through layer upon layer of mind numbing security measures that were there in order to protect the Turaga. Or at least, that's what he thought originally. After about the fourth checkpoint, he started to get the feeling that they were also there so a few guards could get the chance to pickpocket some of his items.

…and maybe this meeting is here so I can end up getting bored into falling asleep, and then the guards who didn't get a chance to steal can take whatever they like off my unconscious body, Vardan thought.

"…this report is quite impressive," JL said after a long read through. "You and your partner will be thoroughly rewarded for your efforts, I want you to know. You two undertook a lot of risks to save Matoran lives."

"Thank you, Turaga," Vardan responded.

…and if you really wanted to thank me…you could have let me out of this meeting before instead of making me wait here half an hour while you read through the entire report!

"There is…one more part I'm particularly interested in…," JL continued.

"What is that?"

"The part at the end here…it mentions that these…miners…were drilling for some purple like substance…of which you found in abundance at the bottom of the mine?"

"That is correct."

"…hmm."

"…"

"…"

"…how…willing would you be to set out on another adventure, Toa?" JL asked.

"…how willing would I be? I suppose if I was asked to, I would easily go out-"

"I'd like you to do a follow up search into this, if you don't mind," JL continued, not letting Vardan finish. "This substance…is likely nothing…but in case it is, we need to know about it."

"…all right..."

…guess I'm not getting that vacation after all, Vardan thought.

"I'll have a ship prepared for you and Hana to set sail tomorrow," JL continued.

"Very well."

…hopefully she'll have restocked on some of that deadly fingernail polish by then.

======

Later that day…

"…ah…you finally showed up."

"At your request, correct?"

Toa Garu smiled at Vardan and nodded. "Of course. And to think you were once afraid of being sent out on a little adventure."

"…to be honest…I think I still am, sir."

"Oh?"

"Turaga JL requested another adventure, sir."

"…ah. Where to?"

"…he said he wanted me to look more deeply into a purple substance of some sort that was left behind in the mine. Xenon, I believe, was the name."

Garu's expression briefly switched from his usual calm self to one of something far different, but he quickly recovered and recomposed himself. "…hmm. Perhaps I'll have to talk with JL about that one."

"…talk, sir?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"…"

"…just…be careful out there. Xenon's known to be rather dangerous."

"…oh. All right, then…I'll make sure to be careful…"

======

Meanwhile, elsewhere, a Toa-like figure walked up towards the entrance of a large cave, on top of an island floating in the quicksand. It was dark and foreboding, and yet, that didn't seem to scare the Toa at all. He stepped quietly into the cave, the floor of which was covered in Xenon.

"…it's been far too long since I've come here," he thought aloud.

The Toa looked around the room briefly, and then got down on one knee, looking towards the pool below. After a brief moment of silence, he got back up, and left the cave.

…there was someone he needed to talk to. Two people, actually.

-MT

[MetaStriker]

Ch. 7: Metatective? Oh boy, I've lost it...

 

Ch. 8: ARGH A CLIFFHANGER WHYYYYY

 

JL sure loves torturing people these days. Hopefully Garo Garu can put a stop to this.

 

We shall see, I suppose...

 

~MN~

[- JL -]

 

 

JL sure loves torturing people these days. Hopefully Garo Garu can put a stop to this.

 

Actually, he secretly is trying to get people away from his chambers so he can catch up on some anime and games and shows from 2000 or so years ago.

 

KUTGW, MT. Lev......probably should've pressed some more buttons. Or knobs.

 

 

Edit: series finale of arby 'n' the chief

Edited August 18, 2013 by JL v2

[MT Zehvor]

Welp, in trying to keep up with my chappy a week pace (which is a lot slower than I had originally intended when I started this), here's chapter...er...technically 16...but part two of chappy 8.

 

This way of counting is confusing.

 

Ch. 7: Metatective? Oh boy, I've lost it...

Ch. 8: ARGH A CLIFFHANGER WHYYYYY

 

CLIFFHANGERS ARE GOOD.

 

KUTGW, MT. Lev......probably should've pressed some more buttons. Or knobs.

 

Pressing buttons gets you places in life.

 

Bit of a more serious chapter here, as there wasn't a ton of dialogue that left much open for humor...but that'll change in the next few chapters, promise.

 

 

Chapter 8, Planet Delarax: The Hunt for the Indexer, Part 1

 

"You certainly have an interesting way of fixing things."

"Hey man. When in doubt, press all the buttons."

"...and blow up all of society around you. I'm never letting you touch my ship's control panel again."

"Not like you let me fly anything to begin with."

 

Mesonak sighed and leaned back in his chair. The conversation between him and Levacius was taking place six or so hours after the assassination of D'Qaron the Makuta. After Mesonak had been captured and rendered unconscious by a group of bounty hunters, Levacius had managed to save him by infiltrating the hunters' ship and smashing buttons until his captors were either all dead or unconscious. After Lev's rescue, the ship had been in such bad state that the two of them were forced to track down their old ship, which had been stolen by a very large bear. After one battle and a multitude of animal rights' violations, the two had finally returned to the base of the Resistance, where they started conversing about the recent happenings.

 

"Still," Mesonak said, "You did manage to rescue the pair of us...and for that, I do need to thank you."

"I thought you'd never come around," Levacius replied.

"Yeah, well...if it wasn't for you, the two of us would likely have been executed or imprisoned by now...and the only thing that's scarier than death is the possibility of you having to run this place in my stead."

"Oh, silly me," Lev commented. "Here I thought I was actually going to get a full fledged thanks out of you instead of a backhanded compliment. I guess that was expecting way too much."

 

Mesonak laughed, and then stood up. "Well, I think I'm going to go check on the rest of the Resistance. Make sure that no one's been picking any fights or something."

"Speaking of which...we got a few new members...what exactly does that bring our number to, again?"

"I think...it's 150, or so?" Mesonak responded. "Something like that. I'm not entirely sure."

"How in the world did we manage to hide all of these people again?" Lev asked.

"By finding a cave system and hiding in there," Mesonak replied, walking out of the room. "The Space Pirates had the right idea."

"...let's hope the Dark Lord doesn't find a Samus anywhere in that case," Lev muttered.

 

======

 

"That's the restaurant down there?"

"Indeed it is."

 

Meta nodded, and pulled out a pair of highly refined binoculars, looking down from his spot on top of a building across the street. He focused in on the restaurant, which seemed to be perfectly calm.

 

"...and you were going to meet there earlier today?"

"Yes. For breakfast, as I mentioned earlier," iBrow answered.

"...hmm."

"...we often meet at restaurants, so...this wasn't exactly anything out of the ordinary."

"...how often, exactly?"

"Er...usually once a week. Sometimes more. This week we were going to meet two days in a row."

"...so you met with him yesterday, or were you going to meet tomorrow?"

"Yesterday."

"...well, nothing looks out of the ordinary here. Perhaps we should take a look at the restaurant you two met at yesterday."

 

=====

 

15 minutes later...

 

"...here we are," iBrow announced, gesturing to a restaurant in front of him.

"...this place is hovering with police..."

"Yeah, but from what I picked up, they're focusing on a completely unrelated incident. Some burglar tried to rob the place last night."

"...a robbery?" Meta asked.

"Yeah."

"What was stolen?"

"I don't know that for sure...the police are being rather tight lipped with information."

"...Hmm."

 

iBrow watched Meta think for a second, and then finally got tired of waiting. "Can we, possibly, not wait out in the open like this? If I get spotted-"

"You're a bounty hunter who operates in the shadows, correct?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then no one should have any idea as to what you look like."

"...no one would...but now that my friend has disappeared...someone very well might."

 

Meta mulled this over for a moment, and then responded. "Very well. Go and find somewhere to hide for the time being. I'll give you a call when I'm done."

"...what are you going to do?"

 

Meta laughed, and then pulled out a badge from his coat, which he placed on his lapel. "There's a reason Mesonak's kept me around for as long as he has."

"Is that a...police badge?"

"A detective's, to be more precise."

"..."

"You know that terrible pun I made earlier about being a 'Metatective?' Yeah, that wasn't a joke."

 

And with that, Meta slipped inside the building, flashing his badge to a guard in order to gain access. iBrow watched for a moment, before realizing that he needed to hide. The Matoran ducked inside an ally and leapt into a trash bin, waiting for a call from Meta."

 

=====

 

"...oooogghh...where...where am I?"

 

The Indexer shook his head, and tried to regain his senses. He was in a cave of some sort, with the only source of light coming from a cluster of glowing plants in the distance. His head throbbed horribly as he struggled to get some idea of what was going on.

 

...argh! Why does my head hurt so badly! he thought.

 

"It hurts because I hit it."

 

The Indexer immediately whirled towards the direction of the voice. "...wh...who...?"

"Oh? Even the great collector of information doesn't know who I am? I'm hurt."

"...wh..where am I?"

"That's not all that important at the moment," came the reply from the figure, who was cloaked to avoid revealing his features.

"...who's to say it's not important?!"

"Well, if you truly are as skilled of an information gatherer as you're made out to be, you should have already figured out what the important question is."

 

It's a lot harder to figure anything out when you've been whacked over the head! the Indexer thought.

 

"Yes, yes it is," came the reply. "Which is why I'll even give you a hint here."

"...how do you keep doing that?!"

"Doing what?"

"Replying to what I'm thinking! I never said that out loud!"

 

The voice laughed for a brief second, and then quieted down. "People use the dark to hide secrets," he responded. "But when you spend your entire life in the dark...you become adjusted to it. And then no one can hide anything from you there."

"..."

"...to answer your previous concern...the question you should be trying to answer at the moment is not 'where am I?' Instead, you should be worrying about 'where will I be if I don't start moving quickly?'"

"...huh?"

 

A loud roar interrupted the conversation, and a loud sloshing noise picked up where it left off.

 

"The rest...I leave to you to figure out," the cloaked figure said, before turning around and walking away.

"...hey! Wait!" the Indexer called out.

 

No response.

 

...I knew I should've stayed in bed yesterday, the Indexer thought, as the sound of footsteps faded away, leaving the loud sloshing as the only sound punctuating the otherwise quiet room.

 

And it was getting louder.

 

And louder.

 

-MT

[- JL -]

2 months, gone.

 

Well.....

 

Let us celebrate us being back!

[MT Zehvor]

Well...

 

...that was certainly interesting.

 

Thankfully, unlike a certain time beforehand, I did backup everything. So here's all the old A3. Er...well...older...

 

 

Chapter 9, Planet Argnok: Sailing the Sand Sea

"Hey Vardan! Wake up! Wake up!"

"Mmpphhh….thubbo….wubba…noooooo…"

Vardan's dreams were punctuated by an unusually high pitch squeal, along with an aggressive amount of shaking that knocked him out of bed and onto the floor.

"…that…was…I was having a wonderful dream, too…"

"Dreams?! Ha! Who cares about dreams! We've got so many wonderful things to do in real life! Who needs to hang out in imaginary world?"

…I would have preferred to stay there just a bit longer, myself...

Vardan managed to push himself up, and then quickly surveyed the room. His bed was unkept, as usual. Nothing had been disturbed on his table, and his stack of papers was seemingly in perfect condition as well. Even his pet blue Matoran was where it should be, happily rummaging through his fridge.

The last one made him do a double take.

"Hana?!" he yelled. "What in the world are you doing?!"

"Waking you up, silly!" she responded.

"Why are you…how did you even get into my apartment?!"

"Oh, I climbed."

"…you…climbed?"

"Yeah! Just climbed on in through the window."

"…my room is 9 stories up."

"I know!"

"…you…climbed…nine stories…on the outside of a-"

"Well, you were sleeping in!" Hana said, annoyed. "How do you expect to ever be known as a great adventurer if you're asleep all the time!"

"…but I don't want to be a great adventurer."

"Hmph. It's talk like that that makes you Toa all so boring."

…boring? Are you sure the term you're looking for isn't "responsible?" Vardan thought.

"…I guess you've made up your mind to come along, then?"

"Of course!" Hana said. "There's could be so many new people to sell fingernail polish to where you're going!"

…she does realize that we're going to the middle of a wasteland…right?

"Well…come on, then. My boat's down at the 5th Southside dock."

"Hooray!" Hana cheered gleefully, before following Vardan out of the room, snacks from his refrigerator in hand.

======

Garu frowned. The current news was too troubling for even him to keep a fake smile going.

For someone who had been a Toa for as long as he had, the fact that this situation had been an annoyance for as long as it had was almost ridiculous.

…Toa Brenmac…, he thought. What in the world is it you're after?

From the first day they had met, roughly 1,900 years ago…Brenmac had held some sort of grudge against him. He wasn't sure what it was over, but the Toa had made no efforts to hide his disdain for Garu. Since Turaga JL had apparently known Brenmac well beforehand, he had appointed him, along with Garu, to high level positions in the government ruling over the colony named "Zehvor." Brenmac begrudgingly worked alongside Garu for a few weeks, until one day, Garu had caught Brenmac going through documents in his own private desk. Brenmac had disappeared after that, and only recently showed up again…

…and now…he was acting like a terrorist for some reason.

Normally, Garu would have just written this off as pure craziness…perhaps Brenmac had simply gone insane from being stuck on this planet for too long. And if that's what it had been…Garu certainly wouldn't have blamed him. But…his actions didn't seem like just that of a terrorist. There was a certain method to them. Information seemed to always be his target above all else; even in the cases where he put others' lives at risk, he would never kill anyone so long as he got the information he was searching for.

…is he perhaps looking for the history behind something? Garu thought. Was there some event in the past where I did something he didn't approve of? I certainly don't remember doing anything to him…but…

The issue was beyond the point of reasoning, Garu figured. Brenmac was a terrorist, and trying to reason with terrorists was an act that rarely benefitted anyone. The only thing to do was to bring him to justice…something that Toa should theoretically be good at.

…it just becomes a little harder than usual when the target you're trying to bring to justice is one of those supposed justice-keepers himself.

=====

"And…off we go!" Hana shouted, as the boat drifted into the sea of sand.

"…that may very well have been the shortest vacation I've ever had," Vardan said, still not fully awake.

"Aw…you can have a vacation later! We've still got more adventuring to do!"

…why can't the "adventuring" wait for later? Vardan thought.

"…so…what exactly are we heading for?" Hana asked.

"We're heading towards an almost entirely unpopulated island, far south of Zehvor," Vardan responded. "Turaga JL specifically assigned us the task of looking into a rumor about the purple liquid we encountered the other day."

"…you mean…that Xenon stuff?" Hana asked.

"Yes, that."

"Ha! I bet it would make for a really good ingredient in fingernail polish!" Hana announced. "I bet people would be all over a neon purple coating!"

…if they can get over the fact that it'll melt their fingernails off…maybe.

"…so…any potential dangers I should know about?"

"…none really," Vardan replied. "According to Turaga JL, he contacted a friend of his that lives on the island, and who will be waiting for us when we arrive."

"…ooh. A friend? Who is it?"

"He's a Toa of Magic, from what the Turaga told me."

"…a Toa…of Magic?"

"Yes. I've never actually met one of them myself, but I've been told that they're quite rare."

"What does a Toa of Magic actually control?"

"…well…magic, I suppose…although I'm not entirely sure myself what that entails."

"…hmm…I guess I'll look forward to finding out when we get there!"

"Yeah," Vardan sighed, thinking about the long sail ahead. "…when we get there indeed."

-MT

=========================================================

Chapter 9, Planet Delarax: The Hunt for the Indexer, Part 2

"…that was short."

"Wasn't a whole lot to learn. Last night, someone broke into the restaurant after hours, and roughed up the owner and one of the employees looking for information on somebody."

"…the somebody presumably being my friend?"

"Possibly. The boss is nowhere to be found, and the employee won't say anything for fear that whoever came by will kill him. Anyway, without knowing the direct identity of who the perpetrator was searching for information on, we can't know for sure. The Dark Lord's got a lot of hits out for a lot of people, and if he was the one who scheduled this, it's likely the police are never going to actually release the information."

iBrow sighed, frustrated with the information (or lack thereof) that his investigation partner had been able to obtain so far. Meta was right, though. Since the Dark Lord had struck deals with most of the planetary governments in the galaxy, exchanging safety for materials and control over political procedures, the authorities didn't dare release any information that could be detrimental to the Dark Lord.

"…it makes it…somewhat difficult to track anyone who disappeared recently…"

"Well…" iBrow began, "…if we don't have any other leads, it'd at least be worth following this one, right? Not like we gain anything from standing around."

"…true…although I'm not entirely sure how far this will lead us."

"…"

"All that the employee was willing to say was that the one who stopped by was a dark armored individual wearing a cloak…and we had to trick him into revealing that much."

"…trick him?"

"Detective's secrets n' such," Meta responded, waving his finger.

"…you're not even a real detective!"

"I can be anything I want to be," Meta said, confidently, placing a pair of sunglasses on top of his mask.

iBrow sighed and stepped out of the alley that he had been hiding in. "Well…where to now?"

"Well, assuming that this…certain nefarious individual showed up last night…he would have to have done the kidnapping in-between last night and this morning."

"…uh huh…"

"So…where would your friend have been between last night and this morning?"

"…he really could have been anywhere."

"Anywhere?"

"…well…I suppose not anywhere," iBrow said, thoughtfully. "He couldn't have been lying on top of me in bed last night…because I'm pretty sure I would have noticed him…and he couldn't have been hiding in my freezer, because he couldn't fit in there…"

"………so anywhere besides your house."

"Well…unless you've got a pretty big freezer, he couldn't have fit in yours, either."

Meta sighed and crossed his arms, trying to think of where to begin. It appeared that this Indexer character wasn't one to keep many people informed of where he would be…and he certainly hadn't let iBrow in the loop. It would be nearly impossible to track him down without any lead at all as to where he would have been.

…then again, Meta thought, if we're going by the theory that this cloaked individual from the other night is responsible for his disappearance, this poses a very big question.

"…perhaps there was some clue that we overlooked…" Meta said, finally.

"…like what?"

"You have absolutely no clue where your friend is, and yet you know him pretty well."

"…well…"

"…decently well?"

"…er…"

"…you at least know him, right?"

"Yeah. I'll put it that way," iBrow said.

"Right. Well, you know him, and you have no idea where he is. Yet this complete stranger was not only able to find out where he was, but he was also able to get there and at least encounter him within the span of a night."

"…that's…true."

"This would imply that one of the two Matoran this criminal interrogated had at least some idea as to where the Indexer could be found…"

"…"

"…I'm heading back in to that building. There should be some security camera footage. Perhaps that can tell us whether it was the owner or the employee who divulged that information to the criminal."

"…and what if it was the owner?"

"…then we'll have to find out where he went…"

iBrow sighed and crawled back into the alley he had been hiding in. "I'm beginning to realize why those stupid Phoenix Wright games took so long to complete…"

======

"…those hunters were a complete waste of resources."

"Of course they were. Every single one of them, taken out by a single Toa who managed to sneak inside their own ship. Was their own ship really so poorly designed that an outsider could stowaway inside and even use their own weaponry?"

"…almost certainly not. But…as you know full well yourself, this is no ordinary band of rebels that we're dealing with here."

The Dark Lord looked at his newest hire for a moment. "…what are you insinuating?"

"That Mesonak had this entire situation planned out from the beginning. He almost certainly knew about this trap ahead of time, and likely used himself as a distraction while his partner stole onboard their ship, using some form of hacking technology to crack the security measures. From there, it was easy to pick them off."

"…but…how could he possibly have known about that ahead of time?"

"…a certain Matoran bounty hunter, who seems to know much more than he should, was likely responsible for the information."

"…that…iBrow character?"

"Indeed. And, as I promised…I've already made plans to deal with him."

The Skakdi then turned around, and left the room without so much as a closure on his report. With any luck…his newest target would be walking right into his trap any day now.

-MT

=========================================================

Chapter 10, Planet Argnok: The Turaga Warrior

"…er…is this…it?"

"…kind of a depressing villager, if you ask me."

Vardan looked up from beyond the pier where the two adventures had just docked their boat. A large amount of deserted houses and sand had shown up to greet them.

"…sand on the sea…sand on the land…is there anywhere without sand on this stupid planet?" Hana complained.

"I thought you would have gotten used to it by now."

"No! This stuff ruins nail polish! You have to work so hard to avoid it getting on your fingers, and if it does, it'll tear at the paint until it all falls right off!"

"…oh…that's why it annoys you…"

"Yeah…what were you thinking?"

Right about now, I'm thinking that I could use a new partner. One less focused on her aesthetics in the middle of a desert.

"…well…whatever," Hana said. "Let's check out this village."

"Yeah…we should. Turaga JL said that there was a settlement here…but this is just a ghost town."

"Hmm…"

Hana stepped out of the boat and began to walk down the streets of the city. "Hello?" she called out. "Anyone here? Hellllooooo?"

"…"

"…HHEELLLLLOOOOO??"

Vardan got out of the boat himself, adjusting the grappling hook attachment on his left arm. "Looks like it's totally empty after all."

"…what in the world could have happened here?"

"…I…don't know. Let's take a look around…"

The two partners set out, walking down the main street of the old settlement. Some of the houses were starting to crumble due to constant erosion by sand, suggesting that none of them had undergone any sort of upkeep in a ling time.

"…this one's got some sort of hole in it," Hana announced after a while, pointing to a large gap in a wall.

"…maybe this place was raided?" Vardan hypothesized.

"…could be…hey, didn't the Turaga say that there was some of that deadly purple substance we found back in the mine on this island, too?"

"…er…yeah, actually. I believe he did."

…like I'm actually paying attention in any of those mission briefings…

"…maybe that's what's caused all this?"

"Only if it somehow has the ability to knock holes in walls," Vardan responded.

"…well…it could be that it was an evil substance created solely for vandalism…"

"…that seems…somewhat inefficient…if all you wanted to do was break a few walls."

"Well, do you have any better ideas as to what it does?"

"…I personally prefer the "observe first, draw conclusions later approach myself," Vardan replied.

"…well…I do too! But there's no harm in sketching some conclusions before you completely draw them in!"

…what is she even talking about?

"…perhaps we should go take a look at whatever's beyond this village, and maybe we can find something else that would give us a-"

*BANG!*

Vardan's words were interrupted by a sharp crack, which sent the Toa and the Matoran whirling around towards the direction of the noise.

"…wh-what was that?" Hana asked.

"…I don't know…but it came from over there," Vardan responded, pointing in the direction of another part of the village.

"Well…let's hurry up then!"

"Hurry up?"

"Yeah! Let's go check it out!"

"…why?"

"Why?! Because it's adventure, that's why?!" Hana shouted excitedly.

"…so is jumping off of a 2000 foot cliff…adventure is not always good."

"Come on! It could be something important!" Hana responded, ignoring Vardan and running towards the sound of the explosion.

"…w-wait! Hey! Come back!" Vardan yelled, running to catch up with Hana.

…arch…that Matoran…if we die, she's paying for my funeral service…

======

The trip was a short one, and the two found themselves in the middle of the town square after a quick run.

"…the explosion…came from here, right?"

"Keep your voice down, "Vardan ordered. "This could potentially be-"

"BLUH BLUH BLUH BLUH BLUH BLUH!" interrupted a loud, deep voice.

"…"

"…why do I have to keep my voice down if that guy doesn't?!?" Hana companied.

The "guy" that Hana was referring to was a Turaga, kneeling in the middle of a ruined fountain, a short ways away. He was also screaming uncontrollably. Something Vardan's ears wished would stop.

"Excuse me!" Hana yelled, walking over to him. "Excuse me! Hey, you!"

The Turaga immediately stopped bawling and whirled around. "Who are you?!" he demanded.

"Just some passerbys. That's all."

"Ha! A likely story! As if you could fool me into believing such a pathetic excuse."

"…but…it isn't a pathetic excuse…it's the truth!"

"Well then, 'passerbys,' prepare to experience the wrath of the Turaga of the North Isles!"

And with that, the Turaga charged at Hana, screaming and waving his staff uncontrollably.

Until he tripped.

On a rock.

At which point he fell down and hit the ground hard.

*WHUMP!*

"…"

"…maybe you could give him some nail polish to cheer him up after that wonderful display of fighting technique?"

-MT

=========================================================

Chapter 10, Planet Delarax: The Hunt for the Indexer, Part 3

"…this is…but this…this can't be…"

"You recognize it?"

"Of course I do…it belongs to him…but…what exactly does this mean?"

Meta put the piece of metal in his coat pocket. "It means you're in danger now."

"What?"

"Come on. I'll tell you while we walk. But we need to move. Fast."

iBrow ducked out from behind the ally, following Meta as the pair moved quickly across the street and into another alleyway.

"I found that piece of metal in the back room of the building…that employee wasn't willing to say much about anything, but he was willing to confirm that he found this in the back of that restaurant."

"…but…that…that's part of the Indexer's armor. Why would it be in there?"

"There's two possibilities. Either your friend has gotten into a fight in the back of that restaurant before, and the manager kept it for himself."

"…that sounds…incredibly unlikely…"

"I thought so as well. So the the other option must be the correct one."

"…and that is?"

"If the store manager didn't drop that piece of armor…then there's only one other person who could have."

"…the criminal."

Meta nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

"…so…what, then?"

"That piece of armor was likely caught on the criminal, and fell off during whatever interrogation went on last night."

"…but…that means that…"

"Exactly," Meta said, his train of thought coming to a close. "By the time the criminal broke into the restaurant last night…he had already encountered the Indexer."

======

"You're back."

Mesonak nodded and stepped back into the room. "Everything's quiet."

"Generally the way things are at nighttime."

"Yeah…any word back from our friend?"

"That Toa of Light? None at all."

"Hmm. Well…that's a shame."

"I guess…though honestly, considering how close he got us to getting captured, I think I wouldn't mind not hearing from him for a while."

Mesonak laughed and sat down in a chair, picking up a video game controller. "Want to play?" he asked.

Lev looked up with a confused expression. "…you're…asking me to play video games?"

"Yeah."

"…since when do you try to have fun?"

"I dunno. I don't really have anything else to do for the moment."

"No complicated plans to take down the Dark Lord? No top secret strategies to formalize?"

"Not tonight. Even I get caught up on my work occasionally."

"…hmm. So you get caught up once every 2,400 years. I should probably remember this day."

"Look, are you going to play or not?"

"Yeah, of course. I already saved your life…might as well beat you at a fighting game while I'm at it."

"…fighting game?"

"Yeah. Just got it the other day. It's the newest release…let's give it a shot."

Levacius got up from his chair, grabbed his copy of "Superb Smashing Brethern Donnybrook," and moved towards the game console. Now that he thought about it, the title of game sounded familiar somehow…maybe the gaming companies were taking hints from older games or something?

…nah…, he thought, staring at the cover art. This game looks too ridiculous. I'm sure it would have died out if it had ever been done before.

The next thirty minutes were a span of crazy fun and salty screams. Levacius had a pretty good streak going with Spamus, a long range character who relied mostly on projectiles, but eventually Mesonak found a way around that due to excessive spam of some horribly broken character named Knightly Meta. This in turn lead to even more salt, until the "Meta" in the character's name ruined the fun.

"…hang on…" Mesonak said.

"…what?"

"Knightly Meta…Meta…where in the world is Meta?"

"Probably out, like he usually is."

"He always checks in…and it's really late…"

"…"

"…this is too weird. Let's pause this game until we can figure out where he is."

"Fine," Levacius grumbled, setting his controller down.

Mesonak reached for his intercom, and tried to make connection with Meta, who was, at the moment…having problems of his own.

======

"…so…you haven't actually stated yet…what danger are we in, after all?"

Meta slipped into another alleyway and walked quickly through. "Let me ask you a question in return, and maybe it'll answer yours. Why, if this criminal had already attacked and either captured or killed the Indexer, do you think that he would go and ask about the Indexer at a restaurant? And then ruin said restaurant as well?"

"…if he already knew…"

"To draw attention. Your attention, most likely."

"…this was a trap?"

"Almost certainly," Meta replied, hastily moving across a street and through yet another alley, desperately trying to remain out of sight. "Likely set by whoever this criminal is. I just hope that he didn't notice us before, or else this could lead to some real trouble…"

"…"

"…trouble that a bounty hunter like yourself is surely familiar with, right, iBrow?" Meta asked.

"…"

"…iBrow?" Meta called out, turning around.

The Matoran bounty hunter was nowhere in sight.

"…great…"

-MT

=========================================================

Chapter 11, Planet Argnok: The Unconscious Turaga Warrior

"…he's knocked out."

"Cold."

"…I wonder if we're liable for an assault on a senior citizen lawsuit or something after this," Hana wondered aloud.

"…I'm not entirely sure that 'middle of nowhere' falls under Turaga JL's jurisdiction," Vardan replied.

"Well…whew."

"In the meantime, what in the world caused this guy to go nuts? And what happened here?"

"Let's take a look around. Maybe we can find some clues or something."

"Good thinking. I'll try and get this Turaga to wake up."

Hana walked around the nearby area, leaving Vardan to fail miserably at resuscitating an unconscious Turaga in the meantime. It wasn't long before something caught her attention.

"Hey…what's this?"

"…what's what?

"Look," Hana said.

"I've got an unconscious nine hundred year old in my lap," Vardan responded. "I can't 'look.'"

"…old people…always holding us back."

Hana walked over to where Vardan was doing a terrible job at medical procedures, and held out a stone.

"…it's a rock."

"Not just any rock. Look what's on the backside."

"…I can't when you're holding it that way."

"…oh. Right. Forgot about that whole lack of X-Ray vision thing."

Hana turned the stone towards Vardan, revealing its backside, which was covered in a purple substance.

"Aaaahh!" Vardan yelled in response.

"Stop yelling. It's not going to bite you."

"…it's…just…I'm really getting sick of that…stuff."

"…well, at least we know what's responsible for all this. Guess we better go find the culprit responsible."

"…the…culprit?"

"Yeah. Whoever brought all the Xenon here in the first place. My money's on the Omega Shade."

"Ah, yes…" Vardan said. "Cause we were in such a hurry to meet him again.

"Well, you never get past your fears without tackling them head on."

…I suppose death is one way to take care of a phobia, yes…, Vardan thought.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's get to looking!" Hana shouted, finishing her pep speech of sorts.

And with that, the Matoran headed for the village exit, a grumbling Toa following her.

======

Garu moved through the doorway and into the street. He was frustrated, to say the least. Why was JL so fixated on what had happened so long ago? Couldn't he just move past it and look towards improving the quality of the island in the future?

The Toa of Earth frowned. He had just finished a meeting in which JL had announced that he intended to probe deeper into this substance which he dubbed "Xenon," which had apparently been appearing all over the various islands that made up the habitable part of the planet's service.

What was the point in this expedition? How would it help the island of Zehvor? What would it do?

The only connection that Garu could think of was the glaring one between JL and Brenmac. Brenmac had always seemed crazy to Garu, but particularly so when the topic of Xenon had been brought up. And he had always held a grudge of sorts against Garu as well. Could the two potentially be related?

…now that he thought about it…there was…

No, no it couldn't be, Garu thought. What happened then was far too long, and there's no way Brenmac could be the same Toa as the one back then.

With that out of his mind, Garu moved down the street at a quicker pace, trying to get his mind off of JL's decision to pursue Xenon and tried to figure how he was going to go about protecting Zehvor without extra resources.

-MT

EDIT: Couldn't fit all of it into one post, so I'll post the rest once BZP's double post limit times out.

Edited November 2, 2013 by MT Zehvor

[Toa Zehvor Brenmac]

Well, what do you know? I'm off the grid for over a year and yet you keep me around. I don't think "thanks" perfectly describes how I feel about that.

 

Still, this story is turning out great with lots of suspense. It feels much more like I'm reading a Bionicle mystery novel. I was amused at some parts and laughed out loud when Lev accidentally killed all of Vecolity's and Mesonak's captors. Besides that, this story seems to take itself much more seriously than every other entry in the TBTTRAH Series, but that's a good thing.

 

Now onto my thoughts about my character. Dang. Am I an anti-hero now? Either way, the past 2,400 years have definitely changed me, but in a world like this, it almost feels like you have to be out for yourself in order to survive, even though that may not be the case, but that's the vibe I get. I want to think that I'm performing such illegal actions and killing so many lives so that more can be saved in the long run...but I'm probably wrong. Most likely I'm doing what's right in my mind, but everyone else sees me as the bad guy. Eh, I'll learn more as I read along.

 

That said, I'll be sticking around this time now that I feel I have a reason to. Reading this makes me want to get back to writing those Bionicle stories of mine (not Almost There, though, unless you really want me to).

 

 

Maybe I was going for a name I could reuse for a Pokémon some day.

 

Wait, you play Pokémon (which is the reason I've lost 500+ hours of my life) too?

 

Glad to be back.

 

-Zehvor Brenmac

Edited November 3, 2013 by Toa Zehvor Brenmac

[Voltex]

Well... at least iBrow is still in it right now and not missing or something.

[MT Zehvor]

Well, there was only one other chapter that didn't fit, so ._.

 

So close but so far.

 

Anyways, glad to have everyone back. Thanks probably doesn't do enough justice to people for still reading this considering how inactive I've been.

 

As for Brenmac's character change...well...some 2400 years are longer than others.

 

 

Chapter 11, Planet Delarax: The Disappearing Act

"Any luck?"

Mesonak shook his head. "None at all. I wish I had some clue what was going on."

"…hmm. Well, maybe he's busy or something."

"Busy with what?"

"…well…um…"

"It's not like Meta has any friends or anything."

"…that's…harsh…but true, I suppose."

"…I'm getting worried about this. People going missing when a tyrannical leader is essentially holding an entire planet in his grip…something's not right."

"Well…there isn't much we can do about it now, is there?" asked Levacius. "It's not like we can make contact with him."

"…I…suppose not."

Mesonak sat down in his chair and started shuffling through a series of papers, apparently fed up with Capcom fighting games. "I hope he gets back to us soon…"

======

"Quit calling me, Mesonak!" Meta yelled in frustration as he dashed down the street.

He was in the midst of tailing a shadowy figure through streets and alleyways, one who had apparently grabbed iBrow and was now fleeing the scene.

Running wasn't particularly my thing back in my freelancer days either, he thought, as he planted his foot in the ground and changed directions quickly. The figure was faster than him, but Meta had the advantage of knowing this section of the city very well. An advantage that became very evident when the figure ran into an alleyway without an exit, allowing Meta to corner him against a wall.

"That's far enough," Meta declared, pointing his weapon at his pursuee. Now, hand over the iBrow."

The only response was a laugh. The figure turned around, revealing himself to be a Skakdi wearing a long, black cloak, embroidered with several logos which Meta didn't recognize.

"Give it back?" the Skakdi asked in a voice that Meta thought should either have been in a horror movie or in a Halloween episode of Teletubbies. "Why, I would love to…but how can I give back what I don't have?"

"…what?"

"Here, search me," said the Skakdi, opening up his cloak. "I have nothing to hide. Nothing is here."

"…wait…what?" Meta stammered in shock. "What did you do?"

"Do? I've done lots of things…none of which happen to be holding your friend here."

"…what happened to him, then?"

"…he…is on vacation. Permanently. Care to join him?

"…what?"

At that move Skakdi sent a blast of energy forward. Meta dodged it with ease, but the energy was simply a distraction for the real blow. The Skakdi rushed forward, and grazed Meta's shoulder. The Toa managed to avoid the majority of the attack, rolling out of the way. Meta quickly regained his balance and whirled towards his foe.

…except his foe wasn't there.

Meta looked around him, wondering where the Skakdi had disappeared to. Except…everything else had disappeared as well. His surroundings were completely different. He was in a completely different place than he had been moments before.

…well…that's a neat trick, Meta thought. Haven't come across that one before.

Another call from Mesonak interrupted his thoughts. This time, he accepted.

"Hey, Mesonak."

"Meta?! Is that you? Where in the world are you?"

"…funny you should ask…I have no idea."

-MT

Edited November 4, 2013 by MT Zehvor

[Mesonak]

Never you fear, MT. We shall never abandon you no matter how long the delays are between chapters.

 

'cuz that's what friends do ()

 

-Mesonak

[MT Zehvor]

Chapter 12, Planet Argnok: The Magical Toa

"This is really bad. As in…horribly bad."

The complaint came from Vardan, who, at the moment, was spending his time dodging flashing bolts from a newfound opponent.

It hadn't taken long for Vardan and Hana to track down the source of the village's destruction. As they headed for the village's exit, they had run straight into a blue armored Toa, who seemed to be staring at something. Hana guessed that this was the Toa of Magic that Turaga JL mentioned, and tried to say hello in her usual way i.e. trying to sell him a bottle of fingernail polish. At that point, he suddenly turned violent, backhanding her straight into a wall and flinging bolts of energy at Vardan.

Now, the Toa of Fire wasn't even sure if his partner was alive. What he did know, though, was that he was sure he wouldn't be unless something changed fast.

…this is nuts. What kind of an energy is "magic" anyway? And how do I go about getting him to stop shooting whatever it is at me?

As another pillar of bright energy erupted by Vardan, the Toa of Fire returned fire while leaping out of the way. The blast seemed to have some effect, but it didn't appear to actually hurt the Toa at all.

…well…whatever. At least it's something.

Vardan ducked behind a building, intending to simply use it as cover in order to blast away at his opponent. That plan lasted for roughly two seconds, as a blast of energy came up from the ground and knocked him into the sky

…this is REALLY not my day, Vardan thought, as he crashed back into the ground.

======

"…hmm…nothing out of the ordinary here."

"…odd. He came this way for sure. Are you sure there's nothing?"

"…course I'm sure. If I wasn't sure…then…well…"

The Toa's voice trailed off, as she inspected the ground below her again. "…wait…there actually…does look like…oh."

"Found something?" her partner said, smiling.

"…yeah…it looks like there was something here after all."

"Well…a careful inspection always helps."

"…are you saying I'm not careful?!"

The Toa's partner, a black and grey armored Toa, laughed. "Ha ha ha…no, of course not. But…I am saying it's always useful to look around twice."

"…well…so long as that's all you're implying."

The other Toa ignored her and looked at the tracks in the ground, which pointed to the north east. "Looks like whoever this was headed that way."

"…so that's where we're headed?"

"…well…it is if you want to catch your friend's murderer. Course, if you plan on letting him get away..."

"…of course I want to catch him!"

"Ha ha. Calm down, it was only a joke. Besides, I owe this guy a bit of lost time as well."

"…oh, yeah. You think he was the one who stuck you in that dimensional rift or whatever, don't you?"

The conversation was interrupted when a large flash in the distance shot up,

"…something like that. Come on, let's get going. Looks like someone may have found that phony for us."

=====

"…this…really…couldn't be getting any worse…"

The Toa of Magic had taken advantage of Vardan's inability to move quickly and used it to pummel him continuously with magical energy. The repeated blows had exhausted Vardan to the point of not being able to fight back.

The Toa of Fire dove behind a building, hoping to find some sort of protection, only to have his cover smashed to bits by another golden blast.

…this just won't work…he thought. I've got to try something…even if it's a long shot…it's better than just staying here and waiting to get incinerated.

And with that, Vardan rushed out, swinging his sword wildly. He charged towards his adversary, fully expecting to be incinerated at any second.

*BAM!*

A blast of energy rang out and flew through the air, connecting solidly with the Toa's head and killing him instantly. The Magical Toa dropped to the ground just as Vardan reached him.

Vardan looked up, and saw a pair of Toa approaching him from the hillside. And that was the last thing he saw before he fainted from exhaustion.

-MT

Edited November 9, 2013 by MT Zehvor

[- JL -]

Yes

 

kutgw MT

Edited November 11, 2013 by JL v2

[MT Zehvor]

So it's no secret that this server has had a horrible lack of activity in recent...foreverness. With Bionicle's death has come a lack of activity, and that slow but steady decline has almost finally reached its apex...much sooner than I anticipated, in fact.

 

With that said, I kind of regret dragging this out into A3, but, as mentioned, I didn't expect things to fall out as quickly as they have. At the very least, I thought things would last long enough for me to give the series a bit of a rushed ending if necessary, but...unfortunately, the amount of time a Bionicle site could survive without Bionicle was incredibly short.

 

So the comedy forum has all but completely died out, due to a perfect storm of people leaving, school being awful for nearly all active writers, and no new writers coming to pick up the slack. To that end, I'm not going to drag this out any longer. I wish I had the time to try and resuscitate the comedy forum, but I've been trying to do that for the last year or so with consistently lessening degrees of success.

 

Much as I hate to do it, Aftermath 3 is ending here. Since it's so short into its lifetime, I'm going to avoid ending it in some rushed way and simply use an "it never happened" excuse. Incredibly lame, but there isn't enough activity, and I don't really have the time or the desire to drag things out as far as I had originally intended. So pretend none of this ever happened.

 

What happened then at the end of A2? The Dark Lord was sealed off and Deus was defeated, at the cost of the Zehvor as a team and the majority of their members. The few surviving members went into hiding, at least until JL and iBrow completed their plan. After that? It's up to your imagination.

 

Sorry for ending things in such a rushed, half baked way. I really wish I had the time and desire to finish things off in the right way, but that would take a long time...and sadly, I don't have that.

 

Thanks for the ride everyone, it's been great. If anyone would care to keep up after BZPower, there's a number of ways you can contact me below. I'd love to keep in touch.

 

Skype: mtzehvor

Minecraft: TheBlarghMan

Wii U: ChocolateMetroid

Steam: ChocolateMetroid

Youtube: MT Zehvor

 

-MT

[Rahkshi Guurahk]

Sorry to hear you go. Will you be on BZP much anymore?

[Voltex]

I'll add you on skype; to be honest, I'm not surprised to see you go, having already left myself... but it's been fun.

[- JL -]

Up to our imagination? Someday, maybe I'll post something about that. :3

 

 

I'll add you on skype; to be honest, I'm not surprised to see you go, having already left myself... but it's been fun.

....Pretty much. I'll add you on youtube as well.

 

Good luck on your future endeavours, MT!

[Voltex]

Although I think iBrow would have ended up much the same as he did in A3 - become the best mercenary in the universe and then eventually get himself kidnapped, tortured and killed by some evil bad guy who's mad at him.

[MetaStriker]

Though I saw this day coming, I dreaded it more than anything...

 

...we'll miss you, MT. I'll add you somewhere, I guess. If you see anyone in your requests that's Zelda-related, it's probably and most likely me.

 

And with that...

 

~LTW