(So yeah, this is a draft of the into to that Hapori story I mentioned a while ago. I know it's long, but if you have some free time, I would be eternally grateful for your feedback. Also, for Hapori Tohu I used the model that won BBC Contest #44: Tohu is Pleased!, created by member Darth Vader.)

He awoke in a pitch-black chamber. He could see nothing. All he could feel was the soft mattress beneath him. For a moment he felt panicked, as he was unsure of where he was, but this quickly subsided as he got to his feet. Lights flashed on instantly—he was blind for a moment, but then his eyes adjusted and he got a good look at his surroundings.

The chamber had spacious dimensions and tan stone walls. The bed the youth sat on was nestled into one corner of the room—it was a simple piece of furniture, but it served its purpose of comfort well. The only other piece of furniture was a round wooden table set in another corner of the room. A steel door that had been left slightly ajar broke the monotony of one of the walls, and as the youth moved towards it he spotted something else opposite the bed.

It was an image—a portrait, perhaps?—that started at the floor and rose a few feet up the wall. The image portrayed a seven-foot-tall figure with brown and yellow armor that reminded the viewer of Bionicles: the feet of a Panrahk, the legs of Avak (with yellow claw-like decorations on the shins), the body of a Toa Metru (brown mostly, with yellow hips) with a Pahrak shield over the chest, brown Toa Metru shoulder armor, brown Bohrok limbs for lower arms (that sported odd gold decorations on the outer sides) leading to large yellow hands, a brown cape that elegantly flowed behind the being…and, strangest of all, the head of a Vahki Zadakh.

Seems whoever brought me here is a fan of MoCing, the youth thought.

He turned back towards the door, but then he froze. The image had moved as well, copying his exact movements. Logic provided a solution, but it was cut down by disbelief—the youth could not accept a conclusion such as that. What he thought it was…that was impossible. He knew it could not be true. Still, he had to test his hypothesis—he took several more steps forward. The image copied him. He reached out his hand. The image did the same. At last, the youth looked down at his arm, and logic made its victorious retaliation.

The image was not a portrait. It was a full-length mirror, and it was displaying his reflection.

Panic followed logic’s lead and emerged with new life. Confusion and horror surged through the youth—why did he have this strange Bionicle body?! He was human, not whatever nightmarish creature this was. It must be a dream—no, it couldn’t be. Something so terrifying surely would have shocked him to consciousness.

He rushed at the door, and, in his hurry, collided with it, tearing the metal hatch off its hinges and, effectively, tackling it to the ground. When he looked up, he saw a massive figure looming over him. This being also seemed about seven feet in height, and he wore sleek white armor with a few red plates on the ankles, wrists, and chest. He also wore a red belt and had two large, half-ring shaped plates of red armor that rose from his shoulders at a gentle angle. A light gray cape hung from his back, and in one hand he carried some sort of spear. The most striking feature, however, was the unmasked Toa Mata face with burning red eyes, behind which rested two large metal gears.

“You are awake.” The stranger’s voice boomed with unquestionable authority. “My name is Tohu, and I—“

The confused one lunged at Tohu, but in one swift movement, Tohu sidestepped, grabbed the youth’s cape, and yanked on it. The youth was pulled off his feet and hit the ground hard. Pain shot out from his back and paralyzed him for the moment.

“Don’t worry, Zadakh,” Tohu said. “You are among friends.”

“What are you talking about?! That’s not even my name! My name is…”

Suddenly the youth realized: he could not remember his name. When he tried to think of it, he encountered a thick mental fog that proved utterly impenetrable. So, as far as he knew…maybe his name actually was Zadakh.

“…My name is…Zadakh…?”

“Yes,” Tohu said. He helped Zadakh up before adding, “Please, come with me. Everything will make sense soon.”

Zadakh hesitated—after all, he had no reason to trust Tohu. Then again…he also had no reason to distrust him. With nothing else to go on, Zadakh nodded, and Tohu began walking.

The hallway they proceeded down was poorly-lit—a few yellow lightstones were implanted in the gray rock walls, but they were a bit too sparsely distributed to contribute any real help. However, from what Zadakh could make out, there was not much to see anyway. The walls were as barren as the floor his feet clattered against, and the only attempts to make the architecture interesting were a few arches and pillars along each side of the wide hall.

Zadakh had only been following Tohu for a few seconds when the leader spoke up, although he did not turn to face the one he addressed: “The Great Beings have never been able to quell their curiosity. Long ago, they developed a process for creating an entirely new kind of life form with virtually unrivaled power. Using their strange abilities, they drew in the energy given off by every living being within a single universe, and then they pooled all of this energy to animate one being…an entity which bore the powers and abilities of every living being from which it borrowed energy. They called it a ‘Hapori’, which in their language is a word for a collection or a group. The experiment was successful…so they made more.”

The hallway ended, giving way to an enormous chamber made of stone of a much lighter shade than what Zadakh had seen so far. High, high above was a massive lightstone that bathed the entire room in light, allowing Zadakh to see the elaborate carvings in the walls—dozens, perhaps hundreds of figures who appeared to be engaged in battle, some of which he recognized, and some he did not. The hallway he and Tohu had emerged from was one of ten, all equally spaced along the edge of the circular room, and above each one was carved a word—a name—in Matoran lettering. In the middle of the table, a round stone table rose up from the ground, and around this table were ten ornate chairs that almost looked like thrones. Of these ten chairs, eight were filled; in them sat beings with extremely varied appearances, although they all wore some sort of armor. Zadakh was quickly able to guess who they were.

“These are the Hapori?” he whispered to Tohu. All eight were staring at him, something that made him quite nervous.

Tohu nodded and extended his arm towards one of the empty seats, which lined up with the hallway they had emerged from. “Please, sit down.”

Zadakh nervously strode forward and eased into the chair. As he did so, Tohu made his way to the other side of the table, the location of the only chair that remained empty. However, Tohu remained standing when he reached his destination; he planted his spear in the floor beside him and faced Zadakh.

“My full name is Hapori Tohu,” he revealed. Zadakh couldn’t exactly say he was surprised. “I was created with the energies of the Bionicle universe.”

On Tohu’s right sat a being who had the body of a weakened Mata Nui Matoran—black armor, gray feet—but a golden, elongated head that displayed a narrow yellow face with slit-like green eyes. This being stood up on his chair and cheerfully introduced himself: “I’m Hapori Slizer. Bet you can guess what universe my energy comes from.”

On Tohu’s left was a very tall being that was very slender—almost eerily so. His body was entirely covered in gray and black armor, and his face was a chrome mask with pipe-like designs and a shining red visor. He had large black wheels where his feet should have been, but he kept his balance just fine as he stood up. Very quickly, he said, “Hapori RoboRider, Rider for short.”

To the right of Slizer was someone who appeared to be human, someone who wore a suit of knight’s armor that was a light blue color with healthy amounts of gold added to the color scheme. Behind him was a dark blue cape with gold trim, and this cape proudly displayed a gold hawk-shaped emblem. A pointed gold crown sat atop his thin black hair, and that hair rolled around the lower part of his face in the form of a beard. He stood, bowed, and politely stated, “Hapori Jayko of the Knights’ Kingdom, at your service.”

The next one to stand up was on Rider’s left—another human-like figure with black body armor that covered him from neck to toe. Two spikes sharply curved up from his shoulders, and he had blue plates of armor around his waist, around where his arms connected to his torso, and on his wrist, in addition to some blue designs on his chest. He looked to be wearing a black Kanohi Hau, although his mask had four mandible-like spikes on the inner edge of the oval indentation on the lower front. This one casually sighed, “I’m Hapori Bluetooth; my power comes from the Galidor world.”

To Jayko’s right was a being who appeared mostly if not entirely mechanical in nature. The robot had a heavy build, with white-armored legs that sprouted small fins on the outer thighs and thick red arms that ended in oversized hands. His torso was mostly white, as was his rectangular, vaguely bird-like head, which sat between two large plates of red shoulder armor. Two sharp white fins jutted out from his back, about where his shoulder blades might have been, and as far as Zadakh could tell, they existed only to make the machine look more menacing. However, the robot’s voice was completely calm, although it did have a metallic echo to it: “I came from the Exo-Force dimension. You can call me Hapori Mecha.”

At Bluetooth’s left was a large, bulky man in very simple black and green body armor. Brown hair rested on top of his head, but his eyes could not be seen through the green visor he wore over them. On his chest was a round emblem divided into four parts—two green, two black—and a black cape flowed behind him. With a slight scowl, he stood up and muttered, “I’ve got a bit of power from the Ben 10 Alien Force universe, though I didn’t get near as much power as most of these guys. Still, they call me Hapori Omnitrix anyway…”

To Zadakh’s immediate left was a Hero Factory hero, built using a 2.0+ body with mostly white armor. This hero wore Preston Stormer’s original helmet, and from the back of his shoulders extended two large, rectangular ‘fins’ that blue spears sprouted from. On his right forearm was an odd gray box-like apparatus, and on his left was a white multi-tool ice shield that sported twin spears and a curved, jagged blade. From the rear of this blade extended a translucent blue tube that connected to the hero’s back, and on each thigh he bore a Hero Badge—one forest green, the other dark gray. He didn’t even turn to face Zadakh as he dutifully said, “Hapori Stormer, from Hero Factory.”

On Zadakh’s immediate right was a man with black hair and yellow eyes, and he wore a suit of armor similar to the one worn by Iron Man. In truth, the only differences were the lack of a helmet, the color blue replacing Iron Man’s gold color, and blue lines that traced angular patterns on the chest plate. With a friendly smile, this man eagerly shook Zadakh’s hand and said, “Pleased to meet you! I’ve got a little bit of energy from the Marvel and DC Universes, so I’m going by ‘Hapori Comic’.”

With the introductions behind him, Zadakh finally had a moment of pause. It was a few seconds before he felt the information had been adequately processed, although it still left him struggling to comprehend everything. He scratched his head and attempted to fit together a few of the puzzle pieces he had…

“So…why am I here?” he asked at last. “I mean…am I…?”

“You are also a Hapori…Hapori Zadakh,” Tohu answered. “But you are a very special Hapori. From what we understand, the Great Beings gathered energy from the Bionicle universe once again, but this time they planted it in a life form that already existed…a human.”

Even with his question answered, it didn’t make sense to Zadakh. Logic had taken its earlier victory and abandoned him, leaving only anarchy in its wake.

“…But…why?” was all he could muster.

“The Great Beings probably wanted to test a new variable,” Slizer said. “They’re never turned a pre-existing being into a Hapori before.”

“But what’s the point?” Zadakh asked, his voice rising in volume. “Why did they create us? What purpose are we supposed to serve?”

“We don’t have a purpose,” Stormer replied. “They created us just because they could. It’s up to us to decide how we spend our time.”

The utter madness of this statement sent Zadakh reeling. “…What? They just…made a bunch of living beings for no reason? There’s no point to our existence at all?!”

“You’ll get used to it,” Omnitrix said with a shrug.

“NO!” Zadakh yelled. He shot up out of his seat and slammed his hands down on the table. “I refuse to ‘get used’ to being purposeless!! I had a life! I…”

Zadakh trailed off and put a hand to his head—he had once again encountered the invincible fog. Had he indeed possessed a life as he believed? He couldn’t remember any details about his time as a human…so how could be sure? In fact, how could he be sure that he had even been human? Was it all just a lie? Some cruel dream that haunted the edge of his recollection?

Zadakh leaned over the table and growled, “No…I was human…! Why can’t I…”

A pressure began to press down upon the other Hapori—it was nothing they could not handle, but it did grab their attention. Jayko quietly said, “Zadakh, please try to calm down. Your power could run wild if you become too emotional.”

“WELL I AM EMOTIONAL!!” Zadakh screamed.

As he spoke, a pulse of yellow energy radiated outward from him, knocking back the other Hapori. Bluetooth, however, was quick to recover, and he leapt through the air directly at Zadakh. While airborne, Bluetooth’s right hand twisted and morphed, transforming into a large needle in a matter of seconds. As he came close, he thrust the needle into Zadakh’s neck, causing the youth to come to a complete halt. Zadakh’s eyes flickered a few times, and soon his body went limp and the ethereal pressure ceased to exist.

Bluetooth withdrew; his hand reverted to normal as he walked back towards his seat. Zadakh collapsed into his own seat, and Bluetooth said, “Dume got pretty worked up too.”

“Go easy on the kid,” Mecha said. “Do you really think he’ll be the same as Dume?”

“Silence,” Tohu ordered. He tone was far stricter than usual. “We are not to discuss him. I shall have that law enforced.”

“Poor kid,” Comic mused. “Accepting a lack of purpose was tough enough for us, but to have your whole life stolen on top of that…”

“It is not our place to question the Great Beings,” Tohu said. “Zadakh will come to learn that in time. For now, we must do all we can to help him. He is our brother now.”

“I’m not getting attached,” Omnitrix said. “The Great Beings botched this one. He’ll be gone soon enough.”

“Quiet!” Rider snapped.

The lithe Hapori ‘skated’ around the table and pulled Zadakh out of his chair, slinging his comatose comrade over his shoulder. Rider slowly rolled down the hall that Zadakh and Tohu had emerged from, and the other Hapori fell silent for the time being. Zadakh remained locked in his miserable slumber.