Six Kingdoms: Apocalypse -- Gameplay Topic (IC)

[Kal the Guardian]

IC: Cravious - Skakdi of Lightning, Mind Reading and Quick Healing

Location - Ash Barrens

With - Whira

 

Asperity floated the engine over the access hatch. Cravious was working his Improbable Machine and hooking up belts, cogs, and small metal boxes with hidden contents to the propulsion engine. He slotted in several protosteel bars that stuck out at odd angles. Any sane engineer would tell you this abomination wouldn’t work.

But Cravious just reached down into the sea of churning gears, pistons, and tubes. He pulled on something, then brought up a clear tube, securing it to a receiver on the engine. He stepped back as the engine slowly lowered down through the access hatch. The sea of protosteel parts rose to meet the engine, then enveloped it.

Cravious threw the maintenance doors closed and went for the elemental handle he had just wired up. He worked his element and sent a single surge of electricity through the wires. In quick succession several thunks rang out around the Cube, and suddenly gravity felt heavier for a moment.

Cravious yelled at Clash, “Turn on the backup power!”

Clash sounded confused and a little shaky, “But-”

Rage filled Cravious’ voice, “JUST DO IT!”

Clash leaned over and wound the primer. Then he spun a nob until it clicked loudly and fastened in place. The view on the thermal imaging cameras somehow showed the trees getting rapidly shorter, and now it seemed like there had been a major increase in speed. Clash felt the sensation too. Whatever Cravious had done, it had worked.

Sagacious felt the increase in speed and switched off the overdrive, the vibrations caused by it disappearing. She took off her hand from the elemental handle and realized it hurt. She had been holding the handle with all the force she could.

She came over to where Cravious was, a little dazed as she flexed her hand. She had been close to death many times, as was the way of life on Zakaz, but having your very being warped and twisted… The memory of it haunted her. She looked to Cravious, who seemed to be silently fuming. “What did you just do?”

Cravious scowled at the interruption of his calculations as he tried to figure out the next best thing to accomplish to keep them all safe so that they could make more money. He vaguely motioned to the metal boxes now set up around the Cube’s walls, “Those boxes have Levitation and Weight Increase Kanoka in them. The Cube is currently flying. Well…” he turned to the boxes and ran some more calculations in his head, “more like floating. They aren’t evenly distributed enough for real flight, and there aren’t enough of them, but as you can tell, we’re going much faster than our old speed limit.”

Clash listened in best he could, then checked the gauges before him. Incredible! They really were floating! And going faster than the Cube had ever gone before, just like Cravious had said.

Cravious barked out, “Voracious, update!” When he didn’t get an immediate reply, he looked around and spotted Voracious asleep on the floor, partially covered in all the loose parts scattered everywhere. Cravious cursed him and chucked a particularly heavy tool at him. The tool impacted the hibernating Skakdi with a painful sounding thud, but it did not wake him.

Asperity’s chilling voice spoke up. Cravious jumped at the sound. She had been right next to him, when had she gotten over to the gun controls?

“The Zivon is engaging a giant. We have no pursuit.”

A giant? It didn’t matter, they were close to freedom. Surprisingly, he didn't feel any better from the news. Cravious responded, “Alright, Clash, take us west. Sagacious, clean up what you can. Just make piles, it doesn’t matter.”

Sagacious frowned at that. Organization always mattered.

Cravious continued, “Asperity, watch our flanks and rear from the guns. Whira-” he turned to the Aspect, “-keep up the cloaking. I have an idea.”

The Cube hovered around 15 feet up, rapidly covering ground with a singular propulsion engine sticking out of the center of its bottom side. It was cloaked as a massive shadow flitting through the charcoal trees and hills of ash, now silent except for the rushing of air.

It moved like that for some time, Cravious hurriedly getting things ready as Sagacious cleaned in an organized fashion.
 

OOC: @~Xemnas~

Edited June 1, 2021 by Kal the Guardian
Formatting.

[~Xemnas~]

IC, Whira: Ruins of Fire

Whira nodded grimly and continued shrouding the Cube in shadow.

OOC: @Kal the Guardian

IC, Atamai: Ruins of Fire

The rubble smacked against Malhukuraia, barely putting a scratch on the ancient machine's metal. The ACR moved its hand slightly, and, using Atamai's power over metal, caught the chakram that had been clumsily tossed back at it. With an annoyed snort, the mech threw the chakram again, but this time threw it up over the Zivon. Atamai then used his elemental power once more to send the spinning disc straight down at the Rahi's head.

OOC: @Gecko Greavesy

[EmperorWhenua]

IC Stannis & Whisper & Korruhn & Grime | IE Docent |  Uhuraz' Plane

"I guess we just... wait for the next weirdo to show up?" Whisper mused, drifting back the way she'd come to more closely inspect the artifacts she'd passed on her way in. She held her kraata and the roving electric bug still clinging to her tendrils close, not wanting to accidentally breach the 'no touching' rule.

“I’m not one for staying still,” Stannis admitted with a sigh.

Korruhn couldn’t help as his mind kept returning to the suit of armour seated at the throne. He recalled Icarax, the empty, motionless vessel that seemed to represent his spirit. Perhaps this was a similar case? Korruhn stepped toward the throne, intent to inspect the armour more closely.
“Who owns this armour?” Korruhn called to seemingly no one.

“Considering it’s on a throne and looks very embellished I would imagine it belongs to Uhuraz,” Stannis opined. 

The armor in question was ornate and kingly in appearance, all blood reds and black with some few shiny gold components. The helmet was particularly well crafted with two golden horns and a similarly bright upturned visor. It seemed to be in very good condition despite its clear disuse, likely as a result of The Armourer’s tending to it. As Korruhn came close to it he also realized this was not Toa-sized—it was large, a full Exo-Toa in scale and built to be imposing on the fields of battle, but also missing things and not functional at the moment. An equally gigantic nodachi rested on a stand at its side, a companion weapon to the armor. It was clear this armor was not like Icarax’s, a mere shell of a former self, but instead was an ARC. A plaque on the dais said it’s name: The Triumph.

“Well yeah, that’s pretty clear,” Korruhn shot back. “I was hoping he would answer.” Korruhn looked over the hulking armour; it was unlike anything he’s ever seen. Massive, hulking and destructive, and yet beautifully ornate and artful at the same time. It reminded him of the Ambling Alp. A plaque at the bottom; although vague, alluded to a significant role this armour—and perhaps Uhuraz himself—played in these Cycles.

“Does Uhuraz bring an end to all cycles, or was it just the last one? I mean, you should know. It sounds like every one of you was there.”

"Whatever cycle I was here for, I don't remember it," Whisper spoke up.  She tried to sound casual about it, but her tentative tone betrayed her unease. She was still coming to terms with what the hallucinatory lizard had told her earlier, and to have its words confirmed so suddenly and strangely unnerved her in a way nothing had before. What purpose had brought her here in the past, and what had she done to earn the ire of this plane's strange inhabitants?

“Convenient, I suppose,” came his reply. Whisper may have forgotten, but it seems that some others hadn’t. Why nobody thought to divulge this to the millions of now-dead innocents was beyond Korruhn’s comprehension. All he knew at this point was that he didn’t like the way this thread was unraveling.

“Convenient?” A note of venom crept into Whisper’s voice. “There is nothing convenient about learning that at some point in the past my existence was so awful that I decided it was better to destroy myself and be reborn anew, rather than continue to exist.”

“How do you reach that conclusion, Whisper?” Stannis asked.

It was at that moment both Grime and Korruhn felt a knotting twist in their chests. The kraata they bore shivered, and suddenly the two followers of Miserix were without a connection to the maker of their burdens. "We're running out of time," Grime mumbled to himself as his hand touched against his chest. The crack in his heartlight felt fresh, and breathing suddenly became a task in its own right.

"What other conclusion is there?" She replied. "I've been here before, I don't remember it, which means I've been... remade since then."

“I find it hard to imagine a way you’d forget a world-ending war, is all. Especially for elevated folks like you Aspects.” Korruhn felt a sharp pang in between his shoulders, that spread like a wave of spasm through his nervous system. Before Grime even spoke, he felt the urgency in his own right.

“We forget many things, Korruhn,” Stannis said. “A great deal has been lost to memory and is slowly being recovered. Uhuraz is perhaps exempt from this in the sanctity of his domain, which means he is ancient indeed.”

“Alternatively,” he went on, “Whisper may have been destroyed by another at some point in the past. We are able to be destroyed but the ideas we represent always bring us back if there is enough wish.”

"Our memories and knowledge perish with our past selves when we're reclaimed by the Caldera," she said, to Korruhn. "I may share the name and nature of the Aspect that was here before, but what she knew ended with her."

“Then are we, the Matoran People, not more than pawns in some sick war games, with no stakes for the orchestrators?” Korruhn was incensed. “We were all destined to die in this cycle. That’s why destiny never called me; there was none!” Korruhn clutched his right hand into a fist. He could feel the rage surging. The eye on his arm fluttered wildly. The temptation to take the Stone and leave for the Far Shore tugged at him like a magnet. Helplessness swelled in his throat.

“Be calm, and learn from serenity as you always have,” Stannis said soothingly. “The truth is often not what we think.” He then asked of both Korruhn and Grime. “Errm. Are you two quite alright?”

"What are you talking about?" Whisper snapped. "You're not the pawns, you're the perpetrators. You're the ones who wish us into being. These cycles are your will."

“Just peachy, Stannis,” Korruhn replied. “How are we the perpetrators? Everyone I know is dead. My home is annihiliated. I have given life and limb since the League showed up trying to prevent that.”

"Then maybe you should have been more careful about what you wished for."

“If I had what I wished for, I’d still be in Metru Nui right now.”

“Think of us as fans,” Stannis tried to explain, “powered by people and their desires and you, like many others, are caught in between the air currents. Sometimes one fan overtakes the others in the room, one wish dominates the cycle over all the others. That is not your fault, or your failing. That is another’s prevailing. Loss breeds in every passing cycle, Korruhn, and it is the desire of some people and their patrons as Miserix to continue that ouroboros of painful death and rebirth. And some others wish for something very different.”

Korruhn mulled the words of the Aspects, chewing them like gristle between his teeth. He hoped, not wished, for nothing more but an end to this insanity. But he wouldn’t get it here, at least it seemed. He thumbed the Makoki stone in his pocket, his hand brushing to ensure the small vial of energized protodermis was still in its place as well. He didn’t know what to expect anymore, or even who to trust. Would Uhuraz even show up? Korruhn stepped closer to the throne, he was practically breathing on the armour now.

“Hello,” a new voice said and a little Ta-Matoran came from the door marked with the red EXIT sign. “Yes that is Uhuraz’ power armor. And thank you for not fighting in the war room.”

“A Matoran! Is this where all of my kind have come to ride out existence?” Korruhn asked, rhetorically. “And who might you be?”

“Oh I’m the docent—the one Velox referred to? At least he said he referenced me. He did, right? And I don’t know what you’re talking about riding out existence because I’m the only one here. Well, and him, I guess.” He pointed to Grime.

“Ah, yea, of course. Pardon me, my mind was elsewhere.” Korruhn nodded to the Matoran. “I was once a Matoran myself. Not that often I see one of my kind anymore. Not on the world we came here from, anyway.”

"What are you talking about this time?" She said, glancing at Korruhn, "There's more than a thousand Matoran living in Kini-Nui and its outposts. My kraata have empowered nearly a hundred of them."

“What?” Korruhn turned to the Aspect. “I watched the League burn the camp at Metru Koro. I saw the survivors welcoming the terrorists into the village. Those that didn’t die, tread on the sanctity of the lives of the rest for their own survival.”

“But this is a conversation for another time,” Korruhn said. “It would be quite rude if we don’t let our host proceed.”

The Toa’s comments were troubling, to say the least. The attack on Metru-Koro had been more than a month ago, yet Korruhn claimed to have not seen another of his kind since then. Where had he been all that time? What other misconceptions was he clinging to? Whisper wondered... But she begrudgingly kept her questions to herself, and turned her attention back to the docent.

"You all have questions. This temple has answers. You want to know about our Lord Uhuraz? And about yourselves? I can show you what there is," the docent said. "Come, come with me, and see."

@Unreliable Narrator @Crimson Jester @Gecko Greavesy

Edited June 1, 2021 by EmperorWhenua

[Unreliable Narrator]

IC: Reliable Narrator | Fau Swamps/Ambling Alp

The winds of change blew through where Irna, Keitara, Skorm, Waveahk, Ostrox, and Leklo met. Something was happening, although some were more aware than others. For Waveahk, he felt the squirm of the kraata in his arm, and then the whispering words of a voice that plagued him since the elevator in the Coliseum of Metru-Nui;

Korruhn has allied himself with Miserix and travels with her only weakness. You must destroy this weakness, or she will prevail. They have hidden within a temple in the Kumu Peninsula. Now is the time to strike.

For Keitara, she felt a warm tingle as the kraata hidden in her spine wiggled. Something was looking though her eyes, seeing the world from her perspective. 

You are doing well, said that voice that beckoned her South; but you must make haste. The agents of our enemy grow bold. 

OOC: @TL01 NUVA, @Toru Nui, @EmperorWhenua, @Keeper of Kraata, @Void Emissary a little bump for you all in case you're looking for some direction.

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by Unreliable Narrator

[Kal the Guardian]

IC: Cravious - Skakdi of Lightning, Mind Reading and Quick Healing

Location - Ash Barrens

With - Whira

 

Cravious put the finishing touches on the large iron vat, angrily banging a stubborn part into place.

Clash called from above at the controls, “We’re almost there.”

Cravious threw away his tools, which went clanging off into some random pile Sagacious had created. He grabbed his equipment, then paused for a moment, staring at his hands. He could still feel them warping, even now that they were free of the temple. The memory haunted him and anger filled him even more. That place would pay for what it had done to him. He would strip it of its secrets.

He grabbed the elemental weapon the Kaita Credence no longer needed. As he gripped the Harpoon Hacksaw, he felt his element open up to him in a way he didn’t normally feel. Power surged through him, but he knew it wasn’t enough. Not even close to enough.

Cravious lifted up his radio to show it off, “Clash, once we drop, keep yourself at a safe distance. I’ll radio for pickup. Sagacious, every time Clash says you’re losing altitude, send a single jolt through this handle.” Cravious pointed to the elemental handle wired to all the Levitation Kanoka striker boxes. “Asperity, keep on the guns. Kill anyone who looks threatening.”

Voracious stirred and Cravious pulled him to his feet. The Ga-Skakdi flexed his hands and groaned, the sound seemingly muffled. Cravious shoved a briefcase into his hands, “Keep this safe. You’re coming with Whira and I. I need you to make sure that even if I don’t make it, the Heartlights do.”

Voracious opened his mouth to shoot down the ludicrous idea, but Cravious continued, “And I’ll make it worth your while, don’t you worry.”

Voracious sneered and grabbed the briefcase. Fine.

Cravious moved to a side door, one not near the garage ramp, “Whira, it’s time.”

 

=---------=

 

The rivers of lava and pools of obsidian were both stark to the optics and yet lost to the dark of an encroaching evening. Shadows flickered and flitted to and fro like a large, slowly seething mass. There were dark purples, blues, and reds. All were equally hard to discern.

The lava gave off its noxious fumes, further obscuring the air with distortions and bits of smoke. The air sometimes seemed to shimmer and sometimes seemed to be moving in waves. Despite being so open, the whole region felt like it was chopped up into smaller parts.

So it made sense that the Cube remained hidden despite its size, cloaked in shadow as it was. And it was only once the shadows were stripped away and the Cube jumped into view with the light of the lava glinting off of it that it became apparent the vehicle had been there the whole time.

All who saw the Cube knew it meant five things: weapons, vehicles, ACRs, Aspect bodies, and repairs. And they also knew that the Cube was a land vehicle. Few were the ones that knew it could be submerged in water. For it to be floating… that was impossible. It was far too heavy. And yet, it was. And moving quickly away at that.

In the Cube’s sudden appearance and departure, it was easy to miss the three shadows that had flitted down from the shadowy mass before it had been revealed. And even harder to see as they slipped into the mountain entrance that was clothed in shadow as the lowering sun lit up the opposite side of the mountain.

 

OOC: @~Xemnas~

[Void Emissary]

IC: Irna / Parnassus | The Fau Swamps

It was a motley company that had formed itself -- the skeleton crew of the Ambling Alp meeting with the first Builders to reach the Fau Swamp. 

"What do you all happen to be doing here?" Parnassus asked once the Ambling Alp had settled on the marshy ground -- they saw the landing struts wobble on the soft earth and knew that these rendezvous would need to be quick. "These swamps aren't the place for tourists and sightseers, you know that?"

Irna, for her part, took a surprising amount of comfort in the sight of Ostrox among this company. A familiar face was welcome, particularly with the arrival of this strange Parnassus individual, around whom the shadows of the swamp seemed to deepen and darken. She tried to catch Ostrox's gaze, but she did not leave the side of Keitara to do so. With Apex gone, she had little enough protection from whatever other beings called this place home.

OOC: @Toru Nui @EmperorWhenua @TL01 NUVA @Keeper of Kraata

-Void

[Kal the Guardian]

IC: Cravious - Skakdi of Lightning, Mind Reading and Quick Healing

Location - Irnakk’s Tooth

With - Whira

 

Cravious strode down the tunnel with purpose, fueled by hate and rage. Voracious was by his side, sticking close in the unfamiliar terrain.

Cravious had originally never wanted to set foot in Irnakk’s domain again. It had seriously messed with his mind the first time, even with mental training. He had spent a month trying to forget his experience here. When Whira had told him of her need for a Zivon, all the emotions from Irnakk’s Tooth had come rushing back to him.

But there was no longer any fear of Irnakk in his mind. And when the nightmares came, they were just more of the same. His body twisted and warped, as did his surroundings. He felt like he was melting, like he would collapse in upon himself. He was afraid beyond belief to lose everything. He had lost all control.

He was mortal.

That… that suggestion of mortality gnawed away at his mind like a Stone Rat through rock. That was unacceptable. He would live forever. He would own the world. He would rule the economy with a protosteel fist.

Those few, horrible moments in the Fire Ruins as it started to come apart played over and over in his head, as it had since it happened. It was consuming him and he let it. It only fueled him more. The anger that sprung up because of it was bubbling like lava, waiting to spew up and out of the volcano like when the Rite-born had arrived. Cravious grabbed a hold of it with both hands and was hanging on, taking it for a ride.

Voracious meanwhile was tormented with visions of always being under Cravious’ heel and never making something for himself. He saw himself as coming number two in all aspects of his life. He saw it with certainty, as if the vision had not just come true but had always been true. It crushed him as negative emotions swarmed him.

He slumped to the ground, no longer able to function, let alone walk.

Cravious growled and grabbed him by the back of the neck, dragging along his hireling.

To Cravious, the walls of the tunnel were swimming and swirling. Everything was melting. His hands were down at his sides, yet stretched up beside his head as the floor became the wall. Gravity was all wrong and tugged on his insides, yet each anger-fueled step still brought him closer to his destination.

Time was meaningless. There was simply doing and not doing. There were no breaks, no rest times, no meals. There was a task to accomplish and time was something to use up to get the task done.

The tunnel ended, opening up into the cavern. Cravious’ nightmare did not end. It was simply joined by the presence of Irnakk as he breathed on Cravious’ neck, as his hand rested on his shoulder. The Pit Witches cackled off in some unseen corner, the noise echoing around the chamber and seeming to only get louder. The spare parts of dead Skakdi rattled, the hollow metallic noise invoking thoughts of doom should Cravious focus on them.

Cravious threw down Voracious on the edge of the drop-off. He landed with a thud, optics dancing around to stare at the nightmares that kept him from reality. Whira could have her way with him now. The briefcase Voracious clutched in his fear was a fraud. The real one was still hooked at Cravious’ waist.

Cravious looked at the ground, whispering to the presence he felt next to him, in his own way crying out to his god, “Irnakk, we have brought you an offering. Last time we were here, you gave Whira a way to create Great Discs. But I got nothing.” His voice was filled with hate and spite, though the feelings were directed at himself and his lack of ability, “I can’t use Taboos, and so here I am. I ask of you to show me a way to create Great Discs without a Taboo. To be able to kill those set against me and send them back to you.”

 

OOC: @~Xemnas~ @Unreliable Narrator

[Snelly]

IC: Vashni - Kini-nui -

Vashni smiled and waved back at Jutori, finding him hadn't taken long at all. "Jutori, just the Toa we were wanting to see!" She say as he came within hearing range. 

@Tarn @pokemonlover360 

[BULiK]

IC: Knichou, Legend

Knichou swam deeper, passing by detritus from the endless wars of countless cycles as he delved deeper and deeper. Despite having no direction, the ex-Ghost drifted to a path he could not have foreseen. The Fe-Toa's endurance helped him last longer than another Toa might have, but nonetheless eventually his internals screamed as his strength dwindled.

As the shadows of despair began to consume the edges of his vision, constricting Knichou's world to a sliver of what he could observe before, there was a glimmer of hope at the bottom of the sea. The darkness within encroached on him, threatening to squeeze the last light out of the commander, but through the tunnel vision, Knichou could see a warm glow.

He continued to swim further and further down, survival instincts overridden by curiosity and desperation. No starlight penetrated this deep beneath the still waters, this was something else.

Knichou pierced the veil of the place between places, and began to fall.

Coughing up water, the Nynran struggled to breathe. He was no longer surrounded by water, with that danger being replaced by the howling winds which made it nearly as difficult to fill his lungs.

The Nynran squinted his optics, as without his adaptive armor's protective visor they felt the full brunt of the sunlight and rushing air. After a few moments of regaining his faculties, Knichou finally began to see his predicament.

Below Knichou was Zakaz, but not the Xa-Kaz he had seen from the Taku. The entire island was vibrant, teeming with life, and surrounded by the mists of a forgetful fog. Mata Nui's head was nowhere to be seen, but even from so high above, the ex-Ghost could see signs of civilization. Knichou recognized he was closest to the southern islets, although these appeared to have mostly sunken beneath the waves.

The Fe-Toa spread his limbs out wide to slow his fall as he considered his options. The ocean grew ever closer.

Knichou closed his optics and thought to the designs he knew. He tried to conjure new sets of adaptive armor, but each time while he felt they were completed, they were never in his plane when he opened his eyes to use them. Three slabs of nanites in standby mode stacked atop Nale's adaptive armor like a set of flattened, chestplate-shaped building blocks.

The Nynran opened his optics. He was much closer. Close enough to see a familiar Ta-Toa sailing towards the island in the same ship from earlier. Knichou screamed for help and the Ta-Toa looked upwards to see Knichou hurtling towards his boat.

Foreseeing the collision based on Knichou's trajectory, the Ta-Toa frantically tried to paddle the dinghy out of the way, utilizing his Kakama to perform the task with cartoonish speed. 

Meanwhile, Knichou had refocused on his solution. One of the many designs he was keenly familiar with from both his inventing days and his short airship commanding career, Knichou remembered the levitation kanoka backpacks that were stocked on the Taku and Kahu for emergency evacuations. Using his Kanohi, Knichou materialized the high tech parachute and slipped it over his back, activating it as soon as he could.

With a clang, the levitation kanoka hit the device's frame, making it counteract Knichou's weight to slow his fall. Unfortunately, it didn't slow it enough for a perfect landing. Knichou hurtled into the side of the boat's hull, just a few feet short of a safe landing on the deck. There was a crack of wood at the impact, but a dazed Knichou didn't care about the vessel's new leak. The ex-Ghost was struggling to unlatch his parachute, which had activated its weight increase kanoka automatically to prevent him from floating off on landing. Unfortunately in his haste to create the parachute, Knichou didn't realize the weight increase disk had a much stronger power than it's corresponding levitation disk. Until it was pulling him under the waves, that is.

A panicked Knichou rid himself of the parachute, which abruptly sank out of sight. He tried to swim, but as his arms flailed the other Toa grabbed onto him, quickly pulling him inside of the boat.

"Dor?!?"

After glancing at Knichou for longer than a moment during the rescue, the Ta-Toa looked almost disappointed. Even without taking into account the Fe-Toa's strange new Kanohi, it was imminently clear from physique alone the unarmored Knichou was not who the Ta-Toa expected to be falling from the sky towards him on his return. For a start, all of Knichou's golden, runic tattoos were different. There were some scars, but in all the wrong places, and Knichou's fingers were still all attached.

"Who?" Knichou sputtered, coughing up water. and struggling to stay upright on the swaying deck. 

"Nothing, you just remind me of a friend of mine I'm trying to find," the sailor corrected with a wave. After a moment, his eyes peered at the familiar kanohi. "Wait, are you that Gatekeeper I saw earlier on my way back?"

"Gatekeeper? No, I'm Knichou."

"Who?" The Ta-Toa instictively responded, puzzled. "Waaaaaaait, I think I remember Stannis mentioning a Ni-"

"You know Stannis?" Knichou interrupted, curious. Who was this Toa? 

"You could say that," the Ta-Toa chuckled, crossing his arms. "For a split second I thought your fancy mask was his. Nice Kanohi, by the way. Whatever it let you do, it clearly saved your skin."

"Thanks. Not that first time that's helped me think my way out of a deadly fall..."

"It's a gift and a curse. Bit haughty for my taste, too." Knichou said with a shrug. "Wish I could go back to a Kakama," he added, shooting a finger gun at the other Toa's crimson and gold Kanohi. "But, style points only get you so far."

"You'd be surprised..."

Knichou smirked. Somehow, he felt like he knew this new Toa more than he should have. Normally, Knichou would be concerned with how utterly lost and confused he was, having entirely forgotten that he wasn't where his mind should be. At least, until he got an interruption that brought him back on track.

YO BOSSMAN! Knichou heard in his mind. The Toa of fire reached out to steady Knichou as the Toa winced from the dissociation, his posture wavering.

"I hear Skyra... she must be here to bring me back."

"Commander Skyra? She? Must have hit your head pretty hard there, buddy."

"Commander Skyra? What? No, I'm the comm-"

Blip.

Knichou awoke on the bridge of the Taku, startled. The four sets of nanodermis plating that were resting in his lap clanged to the floor loudly.

"huuuhhhmmm?"

Those who entered would recognize a different Toa. Knichou's Mask of Creation, once crimson with golden carvings, had reversed coloration and shape. Instead of a distinctive appearance with crownlike protrusions near the top, the Kanohi had conformed to the tactical, sleek lines of his original kakama. There weren't the spikes of a crown atop his head, but the shapes of the leaves of a dark green laurel wreath that brought out the color in his optics. There were still a variety of carvings across it's surface, however there appeared to be space left for a legend that was not yet complete.

Knichou's gauntlets were golden instead of crimson, and many of the gunmetal and silver components around the rest of the Fe-Toa's armor were now a similar golden sheen to his kanohi. His greaves were a dark green, with the same color and gold sharing parts of his chestplate.

There was no longer a branding colored into the surface of the Toa's armor above his heartlight. Knichou was who he was, no more, no less.

OOC: Shark: jumped. Personally, I blame Kughii for bringing Joske into this earlier... but I go where my sleep deprivation tells me. I'll update the profile's description later.

IC: Exuze, Kini-Nui, Templeside

Exuze watched carefully as the Toa seemed to recognize something and quickened his pace towards the Temple island. Had Exuze been spotted? How could this Toa have -

"Greetings citizen."

Exuze whirled around to see a strange robot accompanying a Toa he hadn't met before. How the Karz did they get here? His mouth was agape and his eyes darted between the two, still utterly astonished and frightened.

IC: Berys, Ko-Pou, The Taku

Berys gave Niidak a nod and headed to the bridge, where he found his barely-conscious commander. Berys ignored the apparent outfit change, and went over to the pilot's seat to begin a full pre-flight check.

Edited June 4, 2021 by BULiK
italics on 'she', minor punctuation, and final edit, colors

[Tarn]

IC: Rose (MC) - The Taku (Bridge)

The large Toa of Fire didn't recognize, for a moment, whoever was on the bridge. She drew her revolvers and pointed them at the chair Knichou was seated in. "IDENTIFY YOURSE--oh, bossman. Cool new duds."

Rose lowered her weapons, doing a distinctive, flashy twirl before holstering them. She had been practicing that.

@BULiK@Snelly

IC: Jutori - Kini-Nui

"Vashni! Kilo!" he called out, smiling. When Jutori reached them he was panting, and he then brought his hammer down close to where Exuze was hidden and began resting against it. He'd yet to notice the Lesterin. "What are you two doing here? Vashni, it's been some time...it's good to see you again."

@pokemonlover360

Edited June 2, 2021 by Tarn

[BULiK]

IC: Knichou, Ko-Pou, The Taku, Bridge

"Whaaa?" the Fe-Toa hoarsely mumbled as he looked at himself, blinking rapidly. Whaaa?

The commander stood up from his chair, but clearly did so too fast, as he immediately fell over onto the nearby couch, yet another new addition to the bridge since he had fallen asleep.

"ngnafnaadminkoki"

IC: Exuze, Kini-Nui, Templeside

Exuze jumped backwards with animalistic reflexes as the Toa's hammer thumped against the dirt frighteningly close nearby.

"WHO ARE YA? WHADDYA WANT?" he shouted, standing upright with his real and robot fist raised in front of him in a boxer's stance, ready to defend himself with fisticuffs if necessary.

Edited June 4, 2021 by BULiK
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[Snelly]

IC:  Skyra Daring - The Taku (Bridge) -

Skyra looked over Knichou's new look curiously. "So, no judgement or anything, but are you compensating for something boss?" She didn't seem too bothered he had fallen over. "Also I have stuff to tell you." 

IC: Vashni - Kini-nui -

"We were looking for you actually. We need you for..." Vashni looked towards Excuse as he screamed and panicked a bit. "Are you okay sir? Do you need help?"

@Tarn @pokemonlover360 @BULiK

[BULiK]

IC: Knichou, Ko-Pou, The Taku, Bridge

Knichou slowly shifted around on the couch until he was sitting upright.

"No, nononono, this is a physical manifestation of a larger philosophical and existential shift!" he protested, moving his hands in a gesture that suggested picking something up and moving it somewhere else as if that made his point make sense without context. "I've done this a couple times before, Nale understands, ask her."

IC: Exuze, Kini-Nui, Templeside

"Dunno, do I?"

Edited June 4, 2021 by BULiK
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[Tarn]

IC: Jutori - Kini-Nui

Jutori took hold of his hammer, surprised. He reflexively took on a stance like he was going to Whack-A-Blade Burrower the Lesterin. What was this guy's deal? "Woah there," he said. "We're just having a reunion, here. Were you there the entire time?"

IC: Rose (MC) - The Taku (Bridge)

Rose clicked her tongue. "Mask envy again. Don't mention it out loud, Sky, you'll make him more self-conscious."

@BULiK@Snelly

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Tarn

[Snelly]

IC:  Skyra Daring - The Taku (Bridge) -

"Isn't his mask like legendary though? The heck would he be envious for...actually nevermind, doesn't matter." Skyra figured she should actually tell him the important stuff. "So, I teamed up with Kilo in his mech and helped him and the other NUVA kill that monster, so no need to worry about that. Also I'm gonna be getting NUVA myself in a bit, Kilo teleported away with Vashni to get Jutori so he can get Proxima." 

IC: Vashni - Kini-nui -

"I think this is just a simple misunderstanding."

@Tarn @pokemonlover360 @BULiK

[BULiK]

IC: Knichou, Ko-Pou, The Taku, Bridge

"Yeah, what Sky said - I don't have anything to be envious about," Knichou agreed, putting the last nail in that idea's coffin. He began to stand up, nodding along to Skyra's exposition. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-whatnow."

"Grea-great that you killed the riteborn. Did you get the other one? You're getting NUVA? You're giving NUVA Proxima to Jutori?"

IC: Exuze, Kini-Nui, Templeside

"Don't sneak up on a guy, then! How didja get 'ere?"

Edited June 4, 2021 by BULiK
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[Tarn]

IC: Rose (MC) - The Taku (Bridge)

Rose rolled her optics.

IC: Jutori - Kini-Nui

"Sneak-? You were the one hiding there!" Jutori exclaimed. He lowered his hammer and ran a palm along his face. "Let's start over from the beginning."

The Toa of Gravity extended a hand to the Lesterin. "Hi, I'm Toa Jutori," he said, gesturing to himself with his other hand. "This is Vashni and Kilo. We're a...I guess you could call us odd company to keep, but we've known eachother since before the crash."

"And you're...?"

@BULiK@Snelly

[Nato G]

IC: Sidra - Kumu Peninsula

The sizzling cinders of a dwindling campfire flared faintly as a great gust of air brushed over it, caused by the sudden appearance of Wairuha beside it. The mighty mech stood out as a vibrant spire of white amidst the dour darkness of the land of shadows as it turned in a slow circle, inspecting its surroundings. 

Seeing through the mech's multitude of eyes, Sidra saw no sign of the beings she'd set out to find, but she hadn't expected it to be that easy. Allowing the mech to amplify her powers, she reached out across the peninsula with her mind, searching for those she sought...

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IC: Opal - Ash Barrens

The monstrous scorpion was far from a master tactician, but she understood gravity easily enough.

In this moment, it posed both problem - the strange bladed projectile flying up above her - and the solution - a means for her to avoid it without having to rely on her strangely-sluggish movement. She threw all of her considerable weight to one side, causing herself to tumble haphazardly down the side of the clump of rubble that had once been the Ziggurat. Her attacker's blade clipped her carapace as she fell, causing a gout of blistering brightness to splash across her body, stinging and scorching before being smothered by her rolling form. 

She landed sprawled on her belly, struggling to pick herself up off the ground. Her tail was unimpeded though, and it flicked weakly in the direction of the mech, flinging a globule of virulent venom towards its torso. 

@~Xemnas~

[Snelly]

IC:  Skyra Daring - The Taku (Bridge) -

"What other riteborn?" 

IC: Vashni - Kini-nui -

Well, this newcomer was unexpected. But Vashni figured what they had to tell Jutori could wait a moment longer. 

@Tarn @pokemonlover360 @BULiK

[BULiK]

IC: Knichou, Ko-Pou, The Taku, Bridge

Knichou took note of the crewwoman's actions but decided to not push the issue any further. The commander turned to Skyra.

"Uh oh... did the NUVA not get my message? Radio reported one inside of Kini-Nui while we were fighting the first. Pretty sure everyone evacuated."

IC: Exuze, Kini-Nui, Templeside

Exuze lowered his guard slightly. It was clear he wasn't looking for a fight, but was just scared. The camoflauge dropped as he focused on other powers.

"Exuze," he replied, nervously taking the handshake, still visibly tense as if waiting for it to be a trap. "Second of all, I was 'iding 'ere first ta keep watch fer Tuyet, so you snuck up on me."

Checkmate.

Edited June 4, 2021 by BULiK
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[Unreliable Narrator]

IC: Kas | Mi-Kiri, Elemental Temple of Light 

"Excuse me what?"

Kas coughed on the tea he'd been served within the shared dream of Sorilax's making. While being in a dream came with some simple assumptions and the benefit of the doubt, Kas found it hard to believe he was being killed in a dream. One of his dreams, no less. Dreams were places where he celebrated his incredible financial success, not get axed by some saucy spirit with a sense of moral superiority.

Meanwhile, his unconscious and very soaked body lay flat out on the floor of the temple sanctum. Two easily removed the bandolier of ammunition and pulled away the firework shotgun. Then Two's illumination took hold, and Kas' mask began to glow with a soft pearlescent light. In the dream, Kas felt his feet grow rather damp as tea began to cover the floor.

"I''m sorry, but are you trying to drown me," Kas asked in dumbfounded shock. While ignorant to the fact that his unconscious body was, in fact, drowning, the dream quickly became one of swimming through deep waters of heavily steeped tea. Kas tried to breath, but only air bubbles escaped his lips.

OOC: @Kal the Guardian, @Harvali... New NPC profile for Kas coming soon. 

 

IC: Grime | Temple of Uhuraz

Grime followed behind the docent doing his best to suppress the need to cough. The pain in his chest wasn't dulling, and that worried him. Had she gone too soon? He pushed the thought aside and continued with the group, but his mind began to consider the possible options. He needed two things.

But what were the odds of Uhuraz bestowing a toa stone?
 

OOC: @EmperorWhenua, @Crimson Jester, @Gecko Greavesy

 

IC: Tuyet | Kini-Nui, field by the lake

She'd wrapped up the work as best she could. Now they just needed to find a source of liquid protodermis for fuel.

"Now, where'd Handy go," she grumbled to herself as she stepped on the ramp and looked out from the hatch towards the surrounding fields. 

OOC: @BULiK, @Tarn, @pokemonlover360, @Snelly

Edited June 2, 2021 by Unreliable Narrator

[EmperorWhenua]

IC Yumiwak & Korio | Irnakk's Tooth

Korio was baffled. Baffled, and slightly terrified. He was no expert on these rituals, but something had clearly gone wrong. Wasn't Zataka supposed to be under Yumiwak's control? Instead, she had returned with a form like the night sky, and what seemed a will of her own. With a pair of chittering scorpion-rahi to boot--he guessed that was what a Z...Zemo...Zivon was. Once Miss Yumi had given up the satchel Zataka had almost left behind (which Korio was certainly curious as to the contents of), the titan and the beasts disappeared into the aether.

The Vo-Skakdi swore out loud, then looked to Yumiwak. "What was that?"

For a long moment the princess remained wordless, choking on her words and swimming in a wash of thoughts. Away from anyone's prying eyes that could bear witness to her shifting facial queues she went through all the stages of loss in the span of a few seconds, until finally she settled on her default face again and came to accept what had transpired. "That," Yumiwak said with a stern tone, perhaps employed to prop up her own determination, "was a riteborn. But it was not mine to have. Zataka belongs to Irnakk now."

Korio was slack-jawed, the gears in his mind turning as he tried to comprehend anything happening. Irnakk himself had intervened here, and stolen away his princess' glory. The Vo-Skakdi felt slighted on her behalf, almost. "But...she was all yours," he said, trying to reaffirm Yumiwak. Still trying to make sense of it. "Ya brought that warrior woman to her knees. And she was a bloody proud one."

Kor stepped closer to Yumiwak, and the precipice leading to the heart of the volcano. "I mean...what are we gonna do now?"

"My family's old tomes put it best, I think. There's a proverb in their pages that says, The Lord giveth," the princess said, slowly, carefully, as though trying to pray truth into the words she exhaled in the hope of making it all true as she slowly turned her body around to look at Korio straight on, "and the Lord taketh away. It's not our place to wonder why, only to do... and die." 

She let the thought linger a moment in the front of her mind and tilted her head slightly. Contemplatively, she dropped her eyes off to the side, toying with ideas like baubles on her table. "I've often wondered what that all meant..."

...and die, Korio repeated in his thoughts, his optics traveling from his princess to his feet. He thought often a question that had plagued him since first joining up with Miss Yumi. A question posed by his deep loyalty to her. He had wanted to help lift Yumiwak high above Zakaz, to look down on an island that respected her name. Her power.

Would he ever go as far as to die for her?

If you had asked him before today, he would have answered with an emphatic yes. Maybe a salute, too. But as he stood here in Irnakk's Tooth, as it rumbled and churned, he was finding himself reflecting on it harder. Yumiwak was upset. Korio would do anything to make her happy. To help her get what she wanted. "Well...I haven't read these tomes, or really know much," he admitted, shrugging slightly. "But, maybe this is one of those giveth moments and not the...taketh." His optics rose again to meet Yumiwak's. "Is there anything else we can do?"

"Don't even bloody think about it," came a voice that sliced through the religious tension of the moment.

Zai.

"If either of us deserves to die for Yumi's glory, it's me, so get lost, Kor." And then, as though goading the her familial nemesis, the fire Skakdi flexed her wiry shoulders and stood square against Korio.

The Vo-Skakdi's gaze was broken from Yumiwak like he'd been in a trance. He bared what little of his teeth that weren't already showing at her, circling around Zai like they were a pair of fighting hapaka. Even hunched over, with the damage done to his armor, he was still more visibly burly than the firespitter Skakdi. "Ya wanna fight here, Zai?" Korio asked, fingers twitching for his knives. "It's Miss Yumi's say, not ours."

"You want to fight me, Kor," she fired back with a roar of unhinged laughter. "You've been wanting this as much as I have for a loooong time, haven't'cha?" She prowled in mirror form to Korio, keeping her distance from him but clearly not backing down either. She wanted this.

Standing at center between them was Yumiwak who looked at her two remaining crew with uncertainty. She valued both of them as family, but even she was keenly aware of the delusions they all lived and that their bonds were all borne of trauma. Their attachments had love but it was a tarnished sort, and Yumiwak—intentionally or not—had done nothing to help them heal. Instead of recovering from their traumas and sealing the scars of life she'd let the blood from the wounds mingle until they scarified as one, breeding the ugly, dysfunctional family they lived in by then. Of all of them, only Ysocla remained stronger than before, and even then only barely. 

And so Yumiwak, for all her power of will, did nothing to stop her two opposing kin and let them square off. She was angry at herself and knew she had to leave the Tooth with a dragon, and yet when given the choice of who she wanted to be her champion... she did not know. In the moment she could best be an agent of change and mercy, she abstained, too self-absorbed to mitigate the pain her indecision caused.

Truth be told, Korio didn't want to have to do this. Not after everything they'd fought through to get here, only to tear eachother apart because Zai couldn't leave well enough alone... But at the same time, he would have been lying if he responded to her challenge with "no." The two had been at eachother's throats since Miss Yumi had brought them together. Korio had always done his part to intentionally upset the Ta-Skakdi, goading her into acting out in Yumiwak's presence. Make her look foolish in front of their--no, his--princess. A sibling rivalry that became more toxic by the day. What should have been a shared love was grounds for a war played out behind Yumi's back. There was no other natural conclusion, he thought. No other way this would end for them. His right hand quickly took hold of one of his combat knives. The other raised towards Zai, making a "bring it on" motion at her.

"Then let's get on with it, sister."

Zai stared at Korio long and hard as she slowly pulled her kukri out from its leg sheath and flourished its shiny blade. The big knife hadn't seen action in a long time, the last thing it had cut was rigging, and she relished in the opportunity to make good use of it now. Images of cutting her household nemesis from sternum to groin flooded to mind as she embraced the idea of exerting her dominance over Korio once and for all.

But this wasn't allowed in Yumi's house. Despite her unhinged and psychotic rage boiling up inside her she knew it was still disallowed to strike at another crewmate. That was Yumi's rule, of course. And so in the last moment of clarity before insanity fully took over the firespitter Skakdi's eyes, she darted a look at her matriarch one last time. 

Purity, Power, and Skill were the three virtues that Yumiwak's clan embraced and she would not interfere with their implementation, and trials of violence provided the most perfect of tests for these principles as emotions in their purest form often came to a boil thence. Only the strongest and most cunning prevailed in them. To the dragon princess it was obvious what was taking place: A ritual combat of a different sort than what she had with Marrow the Mesi, a trial of adoration and devotion with her as the central object. She knew well what Zai wanted to do—Yumiwak was no fool, she saw the dangerous looks in the eyes of her ensigns ever since they first met—and out of understanding for their needs and religion of blood and survival she gave her consent. 

Yumiwak nodded to Zai, giving her consent and order to shed familial blood. 
 
Zai reacted with animalistic fury, letting out a snarl before she broke her formation and charged at Korio. She angled her kukri like a punch, hoping to disembowel him from the start.

The Vo-Skakdi had long-fantasized something like this moment, on the days when Zai tested his patience and will to not attack her, especially in Yumiwak's presence. But here, there was no such need to hold back. Here they had been given her blessing, even, to finally act out their fantasies of violence on eachother. Prove once and for all who was the most loyal to Miss Yumi.

So loyal that they would kill one of their only family.

Korio had allowed Zai to move first, knowing her eagerness. Her bloodlust. His combat knives were no match for a kukri in size, but it was all in how you used them. He also lacked much agility, but the Vo-Skakdi had his own fighting methods he'd developed in his time on the Rig, and avoiding a blade was one of the earliest things he'd learned from nights spent nursing wounds. Korio barely dodged to the left, feeling the breeze against his frills as the blade went past, then jabbed towards Zai's abdomen knowing she could not come to a complete stop in her rage-fueled charge. He would spill her guts, not his.

Zai was caught off guard—had her bloodlusting rage truly softened her reflexes so? she wondered—and she took the dagger in her thorax. Korio's blade was sharp and sliced neatly and she barely even felt the knife's presence. She blinked, unsure what to make of it; the weapon had simply become a part of her chest, finding its place neatly among her organs for the briefest of liminal moments. How fitting that a tool of iron should meld with the blood in her body so seamlessly. 

And then the firebrand seethed, her rage coming back to the fore with a snarling grimace. She was not defeated yet even though her kukri hung limply and uselessly on Korio's side. She could not strike him with it as it was held, but the could still stab him, and she placed her free hand on his shoulder to hold him close to her. With the scarcest of thoughts she summoned her ethereal blade from inside her chest and a sword of pure energy shunted out like the most vicious of barbs. It passed through Korio effortlessly and emerged at his spine, dropping fizzling red energy to the black ground like a ghost's blood, and Korio... Zai watched with delight as Korio felt the most incredible pain he could scarcely even fathom.

The Vo-Skakdi threw his head back and his rictus grin parted into a roar that echoed off the walls of the cavern. The blade that passed through him wasn't real, but the unimaginable pain it caused surely was.

But they were up close and personal now, this is what Korio liked in his fights. If he had not been in excruciating pain at the moment, he would have quipped about how this was the closest the pair of Skakdi had ever gotten to hugging, just to annoy Zai.

He had still managed to harm her, and with his blade still inside her and what seemed like a tightening of grip caused by a reaction to the pain he felt, Korio twisted the knife in Zai's chest. His left hand and arm twitched as he slowly forced himself to reach for his other combat knife, still sheathed away, but the aethereal weapon in his body and the throbbing red in the corners of his optics was making it difficult. He couldn't do it.

But they were face to face, and he managed to bring his head down so the combatants were at optic level. He hated that face. He hated that it was taking up so much of his vision. And that hatred was giving Korio strength. The Vo-Skakdi was grimacing, but to Zai's surprise, it almost appeared like he was trying to smile.

Korio's optics began to glow brighter, wisps of red energy coming off of them like steam. He hated her face. He would remove it. The next thing the firespitter saw was a flash of crimson and intense heat as Korio unleashed his laser vision on her at point-blank range.

But beyond Korio's red-veiled vision and mixed in with the crimson in his eyes, Zai's powers were also burgeoning in her sockets. Just as one Skakdi fired his lasers into her, she shot back with her own power, embracing Korio as tightly as she could to make the punishment most severe. She would obliterate her foe, even if it was the last thing she ever did.

The Vo-Skakdi hadn't expected Zai to retaliate like this, putting them into a struggle of vision power. Korio intensified his lasers, wanting to bore into the firespitter Skakdi's sockets until her optics were no more. Zai might have appreciated not having to see him again, anyway. Meanwhile, the knife kept twisting, Korio's fingers wrapped around it tightly. 

The heat from their respective vision powers was like the fires of the volcano, enough that even Yumiwak might have felt it from where she was standing.  Korio had never seen Skakdi use their optic weaponry this close before, and he was becoming increasingly concerned that Zai's would win out.

Korio saw nothing but red, it filled his vision like a million capillaries flush with blood, and the red flowed from his eyes as though it had reached critical pressure and had no other choice but to flood out in a deluge of rage, passion, and pain.

They both had one thought, so consumed by their passionate feud's ending that they had only one obsessive, compulsive thought that rang like a song over their guttural grunts and screams: Yumiwak would be proud.

And she was. By Irnakk, she was. The skakdi princess watched the performance with enthralled excitement, interpreting—and rightfully so—it to be wholly in her honor. Power and Purity were on full display and it was for her. In her name. The passion that was kindled within the two rivals turned ablaze in her honor.

Laserbeams sliced through Zai's flesh like hot knives through butter, turning her shoulder to slag and severed her right hand clear off. Her kukri fell to the ground unceremoniously, still firmly clutched by her lost hand with a thin wispy trail of smoke from the cauterized bicep. Her actual shoulder billowed more smoke, still subjected to the intensity of Korio's angry sight power. Still, Zai held on, shoving her psionic blade harder into her nemesis' heart, hoping against everything that he knew, finally understood, just how much she despised him. And she punished his head directly with her impact vision, almost succeeding in knocking his head straight off between her vicegrip and the sheer force of her powers that drove into his neck like an incessant battering ram. 

They were destroying each other, literally pulling themselves apart body part by body part, all in a sick, macabre dance of misguided devotion. In that instant, Zai's whole body caught aflame, combusted by the intensity of the heat from Korio's eyebeams and lack of surrender. She tried to hang on longer, tried to fight further, but she could not any more. Her energy flagged suddenly, and she stumbled back.

Her other arm fell to her side and she crumbled to her knees. It was impressive how tall Zai had been—even prostrated in defeat as she was her head still hovered at Korio's chest. Blood and ash covered her whole body and even her wicked smile was pulled taught, revealing blackened teeth that hung precariously in burned gums that still sizzled from Korio's display of power. She breathed, haggardly, regurgitating soot from her lungs even as they were being toasted to a cinder within. The flames seared her organic flesh; she was veritably melting before Korio's eyes.

"You would die for me?" Yumiwak said, her voice steely and cool in the wake of their self-destructive immolations. "You would both... die in fire for me?" she asked again.

Zai nodded. She spoke, though her words sounded muffled, like spoken underwater and coming up in the bubbles. "I offer... myself... for you."

Korio's breath was haggard. His opponent's impact vision had given him a headache like he'd never had before, and even now he felt the pain in his chest like the firespitter had truly pierced his heartlight. But his success...Zai's injuries, and her deteriorating state. His absolute hatred towards her, and his revelry in being allowed to shed her blood. It had kept the Vo-Skakdi together for as long as possible. To win.

To kill her.

"Yes... Miss Yumiwak," Korio said. His goggles had long been shattered by Zai's vision power and hung limply from his neck. "I'd... burn a thousand times over, love... for you..."

He fought to stand tall before the much worse off Zai. So that, even now, she would see the truth. He was better. And he had beat her. Korio raised his chin, a weak laugh rising from his grin. It hurt to laugh.

"Look at you... bloody witch, melting..."

"Then you both shall." The princess' movements were swift as she at once rushed up and thrust Zai into Korio. "Take this flame, and die for me—both of you." The firespitter's flames quickly spread from her body onto the other's, turning Korio alight with the most foul of flames. Before either of them has so much as a chance to think what was happening, their princess had stepped away and shot her own eye beams at the floor beneath Zai and Korio, dissolving the ground to dust and casting the two opposing lovers off and into the fiery caldera of Irnakk's Tooth. They both had no other choice but to throw themselves to the depths. 

For a moment, Yumiwak stood on ceremonial ground. Time seemed unimportant for a good long while, and she could do little else but while away in respectful silence. She realized suddenly she'd been holding her breath ever since her two most fervent followers had cast themselves down on her behalf. She hoped it was a good death. 

Yumiwak walked away back to her ship, broken inside as a shattered china shop, but never before more powerful to impose her family's power and will upon the face of this land called Zakaz. Was it worth it? She hoped so. 

She had barely made it halfway back that two new psychic links connected to her will.

Edited June 2, 2021 by EmperorWhenua

[~Xemnas~]

IC, Atamai: Ruins of Fire

Seeing the glob of venom coming at him, Atamai urged Malhukuraia forward in a mad dash. Drawing its sword, the mech leapt low at the Rahi, blade outstreched in a thrust.

OOC: @Gecko Greavesy

IC, Whira: Irnakk's Tooth

As Whira made her way down the path into the heart of Irnakk's Tooth, the same fears rose up within her as they did a month prior. She saw visions of herself failing her quest, being returned to the antidermis pool. She hated it.

And a new fear was shown. The feeling of being ripped apart, like she had felt while she was in the temple. The Aspect closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. 

Whira made her way to where Voracious was cowering in fear. Suddenly, his shadow began to move, until Voracious's arms and legs were being held by his own shadow. 

"Irnakk! I come to you with an offering. As is the Rite of the Zivon, I cast this one into your fires so that he may be reborn in a new form!"

Whira looked down one last time at Voracious, and with a swift kick to the stomach, the Skakdi was thrown into the pit.

Now she had to wait.

OOC: @Kal the Guardian @Unreliable Narrator the Rite of the Zivon has been invoked

[Nato G]

IC: Opal - Ash Barrens

From the moment her mysterious foe had first engaged her, distance had been Opal's most dire detriment. Her opponent had ranged capabilities, and whatever force was slowing her movements made charging at her attacker a suicidal strategy. Now the mech had solved that concern by charging at her instead.

She raised up her front legs, unleashing twin streams of webbing towards her attacker's lower legs, intending to trip the mech up before its blade could reach her. 

@~Xemnas~

[Harvali]

IC Kanohi - Tobduk-Koro

Kanohi shook his head as another disk was hammered into shape, “The truth of Stannis is not the priority right now, first we need to help the poisoned refugees. But we will need to learn more. If Stannis is like Ulkarr, w-we need to be aware that Matoran could sacrifice people to him for additional power. I … don’t want to believe he would accept those deals, but we need to know what he is capable of. Especially because for anyone he desecrates he would become their master.”

OOC: @Sparticus147 @Toru Nui

…

IC “Komisti” - Kini-Koro

Komisti nodded, “I … I suppose you are right.” They were still a bit dizzy from the poison. They did not believe the toxin was directly lethal, just physically draining and exhausting. And if Komisti was going to try to … prevent more gigantic beasts from being created, they would need to be at their peak.

OOC: @Unreliable Narrator @Sparticus147 @Toru Nui

…

IC Mahrika - Aqua-Sphere

The Desecrated Ga-Matoran dropped her disk as Two infected Kas. She … she knew Sorilax was strong, but he and his children could desecrate at will? Without consent? That … she did not know about illuminating masks, but she had assumed it was same rules as Desecration. Could … could Sorilax illuminate anyone he chose?

And he had asked her permission. And given her such a wonderful shimmering mask too. She smiled and bent over to pick up her disk. As she held it she remembered what Sorilax had said. If they need to depower Kas, the Disk of Remove Poison he gave her could do it. Not that illumination was poison, it was a gift. It must be like how medicine and poison can be the same substance, just in different doses.

Mahrika shook her head, Sorilax was asleep as was Kas, apparently now in a psychic duel. She would need to guard them with two. Gripping her Kanoka she readied herself to fight, should the Vahki or any other threat approach.

OOC: @Kal the Guardian @Unreliable Narrator @Burnmad @Eyru just to check, do we have elemental powers back? Because otherwise, Kas’s new upgrade won’t affect all that much 

…

IC Kardaka - Ko-Pou

The Turaga of Stone winced, “I know I would likely not survive, but I … I should still try. Too many have died on this island, we should not lose more.” They closed their optics and shuddered, she cannot, should not abandon her duty to the living. 

OOC: @Tarn @Snelly @Onaku @Toru Nui @Vezok's Friend

…

IC Minions Avka and The Big Bruiser - Tobduk-Koro

Avka hurried away, they had to find more help. In the meantime the Big Bruiser approached Ulkarr, “Um, hi, is something the matter?”

OOC: @Toru Nui

Edited June 2, 2021 by Harvali

[~Xemnas~]

IC, Atamai: Ruins of Fire

The webbing grabbed ahold of Malhukuraia's legs. The mech began to fall foward; as it did, Atamai used his elemental power to hurl the sword straight at the Zivon's mouth. The ACR then fell flat on its face.

OOC: @Gecko Greavesy

[Tarn]

IC: Jutori - Kini-Nui

"Tu...yet?" Jutori repeated, looking confused. Surely he didn't mean Tuyet of the Mangai? "Frankly, you must be pretty bad at hiding if people can just sneak up on you like that," he said, then shrugged. There was no point in continuing to argue it. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

IC: Rose (MC) - The Taku (Bridge)

"Only saw the one, bossman. Then again, I was kinda busy getting thrown around my turret."

@BULiK@Snelly

[Snelly]

IC:  Skyra Daring - The Taku (Bridge) -

Skyra shrugged. "Well, Atamai NUVA is still out there somewhere in his mech I think, he's probably taking care of it. This is exactly why I'm getting NUVA though, if more of those riteborn keep popping up we'll need more mechs to stop them." 

IC: Vashni - Kini-nui -

"Tuyet you say? Is she nearby?" Vashni was well aware of who that was.

@Tarn @pokemonlover360 @BULiK

[Kal the Guardian]

IC: Sorilax Life Seeker - Aspect of Light and Silence

Location - Elemental Temple of Light

With - Mahrika, Bellicus Kastus, Two

 

Two snapped his spine casing closed and quickly backed up. He tried to put on the bandolier, but it wouldn’t fit around his hunched neck and spine blades. So he settled for placing it over his left shoulder with the sack of Kanohi. Then he held the firework shotgun in the same way he had seen Kas do it, oblivious to the fact that he had to pull the trigger to get the weapon to fire.

=---------=

The dream moved back into Sorilax’s control as he felt a new Desecration connection form in his mind, and to the one he shared this dream with. That was… absolutely unexpected.

They were suddenly on old Zakaz, far before there were elemental temples. The island was lush and bursting with life. The air was clean and pure. Tall tan grasses moved in a slight breeze.

They were on a small cliff, looking down at a natural Tahtorak as it foraged for food. It took a step and the ground vibrated. It was a light green that was more reminiscent of a beetle than a predator. Sorilax was in his ancient, heavily armored body just like the one he had seen at the Mangaia. A stone tablet was in his hand with several observations about the Rahi before him chiseled into it. Beside him sat several scientific instruments that he did not remember ever using, let alone owning.

Sorilax scanned the tablet, then looked around at his surroundings. He mumbled to himself in awe, “This is one of my forgotten memories.” Yet even now he had no recollection of the event ever taking place, only a feeling that this was real and had actually happened to him. He had known there were non-Rite-born Tahtoraks, but to think that he had been able to actually study them. How stupendous! He wished he remembered it at all.

The sound of Kas drowning on dry land brought him back to the present. Sorilax regretfully tore his attention away from his memory and to the matter at hand. “It seems you shall pay a different type of penalty than I had originally intended.”

And he shut off the Rite of Repose.

=---------=

Back in the server room, both One and Kas’ bodies started to stir in the water covering the floor. One got to his feet, droplets dripping down his sleek blue and green form. Kas sat up, coughing and hacking. Water spilled out of his throat and ran down his mask and chin. His breathing was raspy and pained. He too slowly got to his feet, cringing at his injuries.

Two looked between One and Kas rapidly, unsure which one was Sorilax. Were they all still in danger?

Kas stood up straight and rigid, then looked down at his hands like he had never seen them before. He opened his mouth, and Sorilax’s voice emerged, “Great jumping Mahi! This is what pain feels like?! I say I do not like that at all. No, not one smidgen!”

Sorilax had never possessed someone with a true feeling body. Even the Rahkshi were mostly armor. So all these sensations were new to him and he was not sure how to process them. And on top of it all was the Life Kraata. It was momentarily overwhelming as Life vibrated through the room. So he took a moment to try to attune to it and he realized that all the abundant Life energy was calling to him. Waiting for him to rightfully claim it. It was with that realization that the surge of Life seemed to abate from overwhelming him and he also felt slightly less pain in his injuries. Perhaps the increased healing factor from the Life Kraata?

Sorilax’s thoughts moved back to the body he now shared. Speaking of sharing, sharing a mind with someone was odd as well. His Kraata were so subservient as to be near non-existent while he possessed them. But Kas could actually talk and potentially fight back. It was very distracting.

Sorilax took a step forward and yelped in pain, falling to his right knee. One teleported to his side and helped him up. He brushed himself off after getting back to a standing position, groaning as his left shoulder moved. What exactly had happened to Kas on the way here? He supposed he could just ask the Toa. They shared the same mind space. But he doubted he would get a straight answer after his forced possession of the Toa.

Not to mention there was still a matter of the wires plugged into the pillars. Something was still afoot in this place. They were not entirely safe just yet.

Two mentally spoke to his father, explaining his actions.

Sorilax nodded, right hand stroking the middle of his Illuminated mask, which he left glowing.

After his creation was finished talking to him, Sorilax looked to Mahrika, who was probably confused by all this, and mentally spoke to her, I have forcefully Illuminated and possessed Kas to keep him from harming us. I hope you see I had no choice. Well, no choice other than killing him in self defense, of course. A choice which I was informed that the Administrator said was a very bad idea considering our surroundings.

Sorilax looked around the room, What I need is here most definitely. Now we just need to find it.

Out loud, he said, “Administrator, define the purpose of everything important in the room, please.”

 

OOC: @Unreliable Narrator @Harvali

[Tarn]

IC: Korio, Kanohi Dragon of Loyalty - Irnakk's Tooth

.....

....

...

A roar echoed from the mouth of Irnakk's Tooth.

From its fires arose the massive dragon, Yumiwak's favored beast. His mask-like scales glittered in the night sky, a temptation for the greedy, his form so impressive in length that he coiled on himself. He was made new. Made better, stronger than ever. He craved destruction. Riches. Nipping at his sister as he climbed from the volcano, Korio took flight, slithering through the air like a great snake. He felt freedom there. But he didn't understand...why did he despise the other dragon so? He lacked the answer--all that came to him were faint flashes of a before. A rivalry spanning one life, and the next. It did not matter, his mind soon became preoccupied with his desires. Korio's frills fluttered as he looked down on the island, crimson eyes scanning for structures to destroy. Things to take.

Near the base of the volcano he observed an airship that felt familiar to him. That may have been home, once. She was there. He circled overhead, awaiting Miss Yumiwak's word.

He was hers.

@EmperorWhenua

[Vezok's Friend]

IC: [Scarrow - Observing the Ruins of Fire]

The veiled Zivon kept pace with the battle at the temple ruins, like an unseen referee at a wrestling match. Scarrow felt conflicted. Zataka had assigned them here, this was their territory. But there was also the strange familiar feeling when they saw the other riteborn. And then there was their actual task: Everything about this massive was information Zataka would want to know.

They followed the fight downhill as Opal fell back and Atamai faceplanted. But just then, the ground shook and twin roars echoed forth from the tooth. Scarrow’s head snapped back around to their birthplace to watch the twin dragons rise on their nascent flight. 

Zataka…

Scarrow reached out toward their liege.

IC [Zataka - Kini-Nui]
The warlord waited for the strange Matoran to reply, when she observed, in short succession: One of the massive structures nearby opened with an emerging golden glow from within, an airship landing with little grace just beyond the temple grounds and several beings materialized out of thin air. None of those things were particularly shocking by themselves - there’s not a lot that does that once you’ve been thrown into a volcano against your will. But all together, it was a rather sudden increase in activity in a place that had up until a moment ago been rather quiet, with only her and Nuju present. Having Weaver circling the temple on their own plane was greatly reassuring under these circumstances.

“You usually this busy?” she asked Nuju, glancing at the nearby group of Toa, Lesterin and - was that a suped-up Krahli?

Before the elder Matoran could reply, the shadowy titan suddenly looked up and towards the west as she felt Scarrow’s mental nudge and Weaver's excitement. Their communication was wordless yet again, but the Zivon relayed the image of the ongoing fight - and the emerging Kanohi dragons.

:Yumiwak...she actually did it.:

She was impressed and saddened in equal measure. Despite everything, she’d grown somewhat fond of the Skakdi crew aboard the Panda. Whom had Yumiwak chosen in the end to be her sacrifices? Judging by the mental image, she had an idea…

A moment later, her eyes returned to Nuju. She wanted to ask him about mask makers and forges - but he was also literally the first person she’d come across and was giving off all sorts of strange vibes. It was still too soon to decide whether she’d trust him or not.

OOC: @Unreliable Narrator
 

[Toru Nui]

IC: Tekmo, Waveahk and Ostrox (Fau Swamp, The Ambling Alp, Exterior) - This Is the Voice of the Mystery

"We are NOT 'sightseeing' sir, we are on an important mission." Tekmo clarified, addressing Parnassus. "We've come here to investigate the race known as the Aspects of Makuta and their territory. I am Toa Tekmo, this is Toa Skorm, Toa Keitara, Zyglak Irna and you've already met Waveahk. I apologize for that last one."

Taken aback, Waveahk clutched the skin where his Kraata was with his other hand as he heard the voice. He had almost forgotten what it had sounded like. Yet again, it gave instructions, but not details. Who WAS Korruhn, anyway? Who was 'Miserix' for that matter? Why would eliminating her weakness prevent her victory? And how was he supposed to get into that blasted temple without Apex?

It was times like this that cutting off his own arm seemed to appeal.

Irna would indeed catch Ostrox's gaze. His smile seemed more forced than usual.

"Skorm. Irna. What a wonderful surprise - I was certain one of you would have killed the other by now. So, how are things on the other side of the fence, fighting for the subjugation of all living things?"

@Void Emissary@Keeper of Kraata@TL01 NUVA@EmperorWhenua

 

IC: Ulkarr and Lawful (Tobduk-Koro, Ruins of Stone) - Lining Up

"Yes. Giant creatures of great destructive power are rampaging across the land. This troubles me."

Lawful applied the disks to those in line, before eventually reaching Ulkarr and Komisti. "Thank you for your patience. Have a nice day. Please refrain from being poisoned in the future."

"I will have to remember that advice. Where is Akiri Kanohi?"

"In the Forge of Vakama, I believe."

"Excellent. Thank you." Ulkarr then turned to Big Bruiser. "I am going to request permission from the Akiri to lead an expedition to the source of these giant creatures and prevent more from being created. Would you be interested if he permits this?"

@Harvali

 

IC: NU-8020S and Klawne (Ko-Pou, The Taku, Exterior) - Blast From the Past

"Alright... well... good luck." Klawne said. "I think I have to stay here. Achro is... another one of us. Another survivor. I remember him from the time before... you know. Skakdi."

NU-8020S simply did a motion akin to shrugging her shoulders.

@Vezok's Friend@Harvali

 

IC: Gnabol and Reckless (Tobduk-Koro, Ruins of Stone, Exterior) - Get Good Scrubs

Gnabol really wasn't feeling his best self at the moment. As drops of the green contagion dripped off his body, he had to psionically reattach them, lest the Skaklets touch them. He also had to back away from them whenever they got near, the movement making more poison drip off him, necessitating more use of his psionic power, which he needed to concentrate to use. Which, considering his state of nausea, was rather difficult.

Another Vahki showed up - not the same one as before, this one was silver and red instead of silver and purple. It - no, he - handed him a disk. Gnabol didn't want to mentally refer to anything capable of speech an 'it'. He had bad memories of being referred to as such himself.

"Take this. Apply directly to skin."

"Uh-"

"Never mind, I'll do it myself." Reckless then started aggressively rubbing Gnabol's body with the Remove Poison Kanoka, which did exactly as advertised and made Gnabol feel things he didn't want to feel in public.

"UH... HRM."

 

IC: Obedient, Impressionable and Wayward (Tobduk-Koro, Forge of Vakama) - Crisis Averted

"I do not think he would need to. Everyone seems to practically worship him already."

"Why can you not take this seriously-"

Obedient scampered inside the forge. "I report good news - the Remove Poison Kanoka appear to be working at optimal efficiency." He felt the urge to perform a short celebratory dance, but did not act upon it.

@Harvali

Edited June 5, 2021 by Toru Nui
Added formatting.

[BULiK]

IC: Exuze, Kini-Nui, Templeside

"Frankly, you must be pretty bad at lookin' if you didn't see me when ya putcher 'amma down!" Exuze snapped back to Jutori. "I'm 'ere to survive, Toa, so drop tha attitude."

"Tuyet you say? Is she nearby?"

"Tuyet? Who said anything about Tuyet?" the Lesterin replied, glancing over his shoulder for a moment as he realized his mistake. "She's probably not here... I was sayin... I'm  'ere to watch fer a, uhhhhh, two yetis. It's tha accent that's gotcha confused."

IC: Knichou, Ko-Pou, The Taku

"Well of course you didn't, none of us could have seen it, Vulimai reported it over the radio," Knichou absolved Rose, not that she needed him to. His face turned to Skyra. "Great... yeah, sure, Skyra... anything to fight those things, since whatever the NUVA were doing, it seemed to work where all my artillery couldn't."

The Fe-Toa stretched for a moment while looking around at the mess he had created. Four identical silver slabs with a raised edges on the front surface that vaguely resembled the shape of body armor were scattered on the floor next to the commander's rotating chair.

"So that's where those went..."

With a wave of his hand the four nanodermis slabs floated in the air and neatly stacked themselves on one of the new couch's cushions.

"Uh... Rose, Skyra, make sure nobody steals those," Knichou said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the pristine objects in queston.  "They're important and we have a lot of... unknown factors on the ship now. I've got to go to the outpost to talk with an AI, I'll be back soon."

Edited June 4, 2021 by BULiK
color

[Tarn]

IC: Jutori - Kini-Nui

Jutori glanced to Vashni and Kilo. This guy was weird, and perhaps not very bright. "You definitely said Tuyet. Do you want to keep going around in circles like this?"

IC: Rose (MC) - The Taku (Bridge)

"Aye aye, bossman," Rose said with a quick salute. Maybe leaving her and Skyra alone with the bridge was a poor choice, but at least Berys was there to keep them in line.

@BULiK@Snelly

[Snelly]

IC:  Skyra Daring - The Taku (Bridge) -

Skyra sat down on the couch next to the nanodermis slabs as Knichou took his leave. "Well I guess I'll just chill here till Kilo gets back." 

IC: Vashni - Kini-nui -

Vashni briefly thought about forcibly read Exuze's mind, or start turning one of his limbs into something else till he talked. Thankfully for Exuze, Vashni would never act on such thoughts, unless he proved to be an enemy of course. 

"I believe we're all on the same side here, there's no reason to be evasive with us." 

@Tarn @pokemonlover360 @BULiK

[BULiK]

IC: Knichou & Berys, Ko-Pou, The Taku

Knichou casually replied to rose with a salute of his own. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure if that was a thing or not, but it felt like the right thing to do at the time.

He then opened the door out of the bridge and exited into the the crowd of those having dinner. The newly-gold Toa tried to not focus on any of the optics that followed his movements as he walked past the table, attempting to reach the stairs to descend the stairs to the lower deck without interruption.

~~~

Back on the bridge, Skyra and Rose could tell that Berys was pressing buttons and flipping switches. They didn't understand what they did, perhaps, but some did make noises or make tiny lights change colors.

IC: Exuze, Kini-Nui, Templeside

The Lesterin crossed his arms.

"Well I don't like getting snuck up on is all - still dunno how you could get up to me so silently. What're you here for, anyways?"

Edited June 2, 2021 by BULiK

[Unreliable Narrator]

IC: Tuyet | Kini-Nui

"Handy?" Tuyet shouted from the airship. "Handy where'd you go?"

OOC: @BULiK, @Tarn, @Snelly, @pokemonlover360

[Tarn]

IC: Jutori - Kini-Nui

"Well, I was just taking a walk," he replied. Vashni hadn't gotten the chance yet to explain why her and Kilo were there. This would have been a good time, Jutori thought.

He could hear a woman's voice calling. Handy? Who was handy? He looked down and realized one of Exuze's arms appeared to be a prosthetic. 

The Ba-Toa then looked towards the airship. "Is that...?"

@BULiK@Snelly@Unreliable Narrator

[Nato G]

5 hours ago, ~Xemnas~ said:

IC, Atamai: Ruins of Fire

The webbing grabbed ahold of Malhukuraia's legs. The mech began to fall foward; as it did, Atamai used his elemental power to hurl the sword straight at the Zivon's mouth. The ACR then fell flat on its face.

OOC: @Gecko Greavesy

IC: Opal - Ash Barrens

Opal hadn't expected her attacker's weapon to keep coming her way, and was ill-prepared to evade it when it did. She struggled sluggishly to raise her head out of the sword's path, and its blade skittered across her lower jaw, shearing off a couple of her inner mandibles, before embedding itself in the carapace of her torso, near where her neck met her shoulder. 

It hurt. 

A spray of pungent ichor spurted from the wound and spattered the ground below her. 

The pain surprised her. She hadn't expected it, hadn't thought such a sensation was even possible for her. 

Snarling, she unleashed more webbing from her legs, intent on ensnaring her assailant's head and shoulders. 

@~Xemnas~

Edited June 2, 2021 by Gecko Greavesy

[Vezok's Friend]

IC [Zataka - Kini-Nui]

A name kept getting repeated nearby, by many different voices. A name she knew. And there was another voice - one that belonged to that name. And was calling out for ‘Handy’ - a name she decidedly did not know. A mobile communicator perhaps? No.

The titan once again pulled her eyes off of Nuju to turn in the direction the call had come from - roughly where the airship had touched down. At last, a familiar face.

“:It really must be the end times again if you’re here!:” she called out to the approaching Toa Tuyet, both physically and mentally.

 

OOC: @Unreliable Narrator