Kaleidoscope Tekulo

"J-Jet!" Nia stuttered, caught off guard. The field around her was completely silent, she noticed. Insects had stopped their buzzing and the birds had hushed their songs. Everything seemed to be so still in this meadow. No, it wasn't that everything was frozen in time, but instead everything was strict. Birds would only chirp when it was time for them to chirp, insects would buzz when they were needed. Despite the afternoon star burning proudly in the sky, it always felt cold here, or at least it did to Nia. "I apologize, Jet. I just saw the reflection of this pod and I was curious because I had never seen it before. Nothing ever really changes in the meadow, so it's only natural that I would want to investigate." Nia explained nervously. Jet always intimidated her. Then again, Jet intimidated a lot of people. "…This does not belong here either," Jet said, eyeing the transfer pod, "Take it with you." "But, it doesn't belong to m-" She attempted to explain. "Take it with you." Jet repeated, his voice monotone. Nia knew arguing with Jet wasn't an easy task. Reluctantly and still with a bit of curiosity, she concentrated and lifted the metal pod into the air as she had done with her vase. She turned to leave. "Wait," Jet called out to her. Nia turned. She didn't want to spend any more time in this meadow than she could help. "You're forgetting something." Jet extended a finger of his left hand and gestured towards the shards of the vase on the ground. You know, you were the one who broke it in the first place… Nia thought to herself a little agitated. Nevertheless, she merely concentrated on the shards and carried them alongside the pod as she left. Focusing on several objects at once did cause her some stress, but she could handle it. So long as she could leave this place sooner, she would put up with it. Before she went back onto the road, she looked back. Jet had already disappeared. *** Tetak waited in his prison. He felt safe there, no voices, no monstrous water and no strange atmosphere. It gave him some time to gather his thoughts. Where am I? How did I get here? Think… Tetak recalled waking up. Then he'd gone to the cart towards the village of lightning. That's where he met that aggressive matoran. Blueprints- he'd taken blueprints with him. Slowly the scenes meshed together until he recalled up to jumping outside. That's right. I landed in the snow of the mountain and when I looked up- Tetak remembered. The rahi pulling the cart up the mountain had collapsed. We… We were attacked… But by what? He couldn't remember anything after that. Whatever the case, I don't want to leave this place anytime soon. What kind of place is this? Being spied on like that out in the open… And then I was attacked, by water of all things… Tetak didn't want to think about it. I'll just stay in here… It's suitable, right? I could always try hibernating. After all, in here there aren't any strange voices or peculiarities, no monsters or strange things that want to kill me. After all, in here there's- Tetak looked around. What exactly would a place like this have to offer. He suddenly remembered the hallway in his apartment building; being alone in the world and sighing. No Great Spirit, no three virtues, no matoran or toa… could that really become a reality? Tetak let out a large sigh. No sooner than the sigh escaped his breath did his prison open to reveal a world filled with light outside. Tetak shielded his eyes. Review

Tetak's eyes opened. He felt as if he had been asleep for years. He looked around. Tetak was on a white-sand beach next to what appeared to be an endless sea. Behind him was a wall of lush forest. Where in the name of Mata Nui…? "Who is he?" a soft whisper seemed to echo from nowhere. "An outsider?" came a second whisper, a little softer than the first. "What should we do?" came yet another voice. Suddenly, the area seemed to be filled with soft whispers. Tetak couldn't pinpoint how many beings were talking. He frantically looked around at the forested belt, trying to scan for signs of movement. He couldn't see anyone no matter which direction he turned his head. "Water. He should go to the tribe of water." "No, you fool! Earth would provide more stability, more structure! We could use more of that." "You're both fools! He should become air; we have very few of those." "I wonder why." Tetak couldn't see the owner of this voice, but he pictured the speaker to be rolling his eyes. "It would be easier just to kill it." Tetak froze. "Don't say that! You're scaring it!" Tetak slowly started to step towards the ocean. The voices didn't seem to take much notice, and he decided on an attempt to flee. "Perhaps light may do some good," began another voice. Turning around, Tetak sprinted towards the waters. His luck, however, would not hold out. "Stop it! We can't let it get away!" Suddenly, five tentacles made of water grabbed Tetak around his waist and dragged him under. Everything around him turned pitch black, but he remained conscious. Tetak held his breath for as long as he could, trying to free himself. He gasped and his lungs filled suddenly with… air? Tetak couldn't feel the arm of water around his waist anymore, and he seemed perfectly fine with that. He was now in, he guessed, a metallic shell or storage pod of some kind. Feeling around for walls, Tetak realized that was the most likely conclusion. At least they were nice enough to give me an air supply Tetak grumbled optimistically. The voices were gone now, and he thought that he was unwatched. His hands grew cold on a metallic surface while he felt around for an opening of some sort to free himself. Despite being a prisoner, Tetak did not mind the solitude of his new prison. … … … Nothing… Tetak grew worried, nearly frantic in his mind. Trying to cool off, he decided to sit in his own little bubble secluded from the world. And now he would wait. *** Nia was walking back to her village, a large and levitating vase of water followed behind her on the dirt road. She didn't need much concentration for such a task, though. Her training had rewarded her well indeed. All around her birds could be heard chirping. The afternoon star was high in the sky now- where it had always been. Various creatures wriggled this way and that. Incects were always flying and every now and then they could be seen fighting or scavenging among the other things they would do. The grass was green and the trees nearby, lush. To her left, a forest blooming with life glowed radiantly. To her right, a splendid meadow, far as the eye could see greeted her with its noble charm. A blinding light caught Nia's eye in the meadow. At first glance she thought it might be a puddle of water that caught the light of day. Then she remembered that such an event would be unlikely; it never rained. Not here. Nia stopped and in turn, her vase of water came to a screeching halt. The glare in her yellow eyes prevented her from deciphering what it was, exactly, that she was looking at. Taking a few steps into the field- an act that was, in its own way, dangerous- she started to make out a form. A chrome sphere emerged, then a doorway made itself known, and finally she could see what it was. "A… transfer pod?" Nia had heard of such things, but had never had the pleasure of seeing one for herself. Curiosity getting the better of her, she soon forgot her duties and her vase fell to the ground with a tremendous thump! Luckily for Nia, her vase had not shattered from impact. Unluckily for Nia, a whirlpool of blinding light soon arrived kicking up darkness; her actions had not gone unnoticed. Nia shielded her eyes until the light faded. Nia looked up at the newly emerged creature. He was yellow in color with a visor covering his eyes. He had small, black wings with propellers at the tips. His arms were long and each hand contained three long, bionic fingers. He carried discs as weapons. One swift movement of his arm struck with brilliant force. Nia's vase was no more. "You do not belong here." His voice was cold.Review

So, over the downtime I spent more focus on my little project: Learn how to draw. I have a lot of Bionicle works I could share, but I don't want to flood the forums, so I'll post a little at a time (and only really the ones I think look good enough to share. XP). Anyway, onto my drawing. Laza Laza is an original character of mine from my epic, Dare to Dream. This is my first time drawing her, but I liked her design, generally. I may tweak things a bit in the future. This one was a more recent sketch done around a month ago.

Very nice, Tohkann! I like the crab-like body design you gave Nidhiki, and the contrast in size compared to Lhikan is a very nice dramatic effect. He looks good compared the reds in the background. Now, the broken pipe is really the only issue I have with this. It looks too straight and clean to me. I'd think the metal would branch out a bit and be more twisted (a very nitpicky technicality, but it still got my attention. ^^; ) Anyway, this is still a really great piece of artwork! Loving the colors and shading. ^^

Laza was groggy. She had never been a morning person, and today was no exception. Arg… What happened? She thought to herself, her memory fogged. The day had started off normally enough. She had woken up, gathered her things and headed to work. The Turaga had assigned her to a new work schedule that worked into the wee hours of the night. She had been a messenger between the villages of ice and lightning involving technological advances. She was supposed to share new discoveries and new inventions, however, the only ones showing up had been to accommodate ko-matoran to a lightning environment and vice versa. The two villages had separate ideals of importance (ko-matoran only thinking of new advances while Laza and her sisters focused on sustaining the city with the energy it currently demanded). They had generally not been working well together, Laza thought. She'd even heard rumors of entire factories shutting down; not only within the two villages, but throughout the entire city. Apparently the Turaga had merged other koro together, and the results, rumor had it, had not been the best. Though, who could blame the Turaga? The merging of cities was unifying the matoran… Wasn't it? It did follow the three virtues… Did it not? The city had lost their toa recently. Well, not lost per se- it was more that their toa had ventured away to other areas in the universe that needed help. Of course their absence had been upsetting at first. There were always matoran who claimed the sky was falling; worrying that the Turaga had been secretly sending the matoran away or that the city was being evacuated and garbage of the like. Laza didn't like that type of nonsense. Laza thought back to earlier in the day. Where had she been? … Snow… There was a light snow and it was cold. She'd boarded the kart to take her home… There was a matoran with blueprints which sadly turned out to be the ones she'd seen far too often… but then what? Laza had not yet opened her eyes. Am… Am I back home? She fancied the idea, but dismissed it. Wherever she was now, it was all too quiet. She listened more intently. It was faint but she could hear muffled voices in the distance. She opened her eyes. It was dark. She was in a dimly lit room on top of a large metal table. Tools were scattered around here and there; some on the walls and others on shelves near the walls. She slowly sat up. There was little light in the room; it was dimly lit with a sickly green glow. A doorway to her left seemed to emit a slightly stronger glow, though it was difficult to really tell. Her eyes adjusted slowly. More and more she could see the room was a mess. There were blobs of Mata Nui knew what lying around in the corners and it looked like there were machine parts scrambled in the mess. A few stasis tubes appeared to be lined on the walls here and there, but Laza could not recognize their contents. Whatever they were, they seemed to have some nice spikes to them. Laza heard a mumble right next to her. A chill ran up her spine as she darted around to see the ko-matoran she shared the kart with on her way home. Suddenly she remembered a thud. Then the lights in the kart had gone out… She managed to jump out of the door and after she had landed in the snow of the mountain, she looked up and saw- Laza grew tense. She quickly, yet quietly, jumped from the table and checked the room ahead. There was a pool of a liquid of some sort in the room, though that was all there appeared to be. It looked to be large enough to bathe a Muaka, with a little room to spare. Laza did not have time to question this further, however. She felt something hit her back and she went flying forward. The last thing she would remember; a flash of light… Well, that would be true if Laza were to ever wake up again… Review

Thanks so much for reading! ^^ I have done more chapters since BZP went down, but they're posted on a site that contains forums (so I can't link to the full story, unfortunately ><). Up to chapter four has been posted in the BZP archives, however. Link

Tetak was on a cart, heading to the village of lightning. It was a small transport that could only fit a handful of matoran. It was pulled by rahi that were known for scaling mountains. Inside the cart were three sections. Each section was at a different height of around five feet apart while the base of the cart matched the incline of the mountain path. This allowed everything to remain level on the inside. In the section with Tetak was another passenger; a matoran of lightning. When he first got on, Tetak did not say a word, but merely greeted her with a small smile and a nod. Trying to stay awake, Tetak pulled out his blueprints and started to look over them. The whole while, he couldn't help notice that the matoran of lightning was giving him a strange look. He couldn't help but slightly glance in her direction. The second their eyes matched, he quickly darted back to his blueprints. "…It's crooked" She said, her facial expression seemed to be set to a glare. "E-Excuse me?" Tetak said, looking up from his blueprints. He couldn't help but stutter when he spoke. After all, he rarely ever seemed to talk with others. "Your Iden, it's crooked." She said flatly. Tetak felt his mask and found that she was right. He tried to fix it, but his traveling companion had little patience. A few moments after Tetak had made several slight adjustments, she got up, moved right in front of him and forcefully moved his mask back in place. "O-Ouch! Easy!" Tetak said, wincing for a split second. "I believe the proper wording is 'Thank you.' I swear there must be something wrong with the Turaga…" She was referring to Tetak's new job. Ko-matoran in his city were skilled with technology and worked to improve the day-to-day lives of the matoran among other things. matoran of lightning worked in energy. Their tolerance to electrical shocks made them perfect for working with wires in power plants. The Turaga had an idea to unify the two koro as their work seemed to go hand-in-hand with one another. But our personalities, thought Tetak, clearly do not. Tetak just held his tongue (something he was used to) and went back to his blueprints. "… What is that?" The Matoran of Lightning grumbled. "They're just some blueprints." "I already know that. I'm not a po-matoran; I actually know what blueprints are." Tetak hated matoran like this. It wasn't just limited to lightning either; he had seen this sort of attitude amongst his fellow ko-matoran as well and even throughout his brief travels around the city. He always seemed to be surrounded by pessimism. It's the reason why he'd decided to hold his tongue about everything. The universe didn't need any more negativity. Tetak was glad that his female co-workers were not all like this one. "Do you think you could work on your attitude a little?" was what Tetak would like to say, but he didn't want to start an argument. He hated squabbles over trivial matters. "They're for a new machine to help test energy levels in certain equipment." "Hrmf, that's useless. Just use your hands and feel the shock." She retorted, clearly bored. "Well, a lot of the other ko-matoran workers aren't used to shocks like you are. We-" Before Tetak could finish and before the matoran of lightning had time to retort, the cart stopped. "What's going on? We're not even close to the village…" Tetak's companion said more annoyed than concerned. Tetak didn't budge. He suddenly got the chills. Outside, there was a large thump as if something heavy had dropped. The lights in the cart started going out, one by one. The only available light came from the matoran's eyes and heartlights. "Run! Now!" The matoran demanded of Tetak. She had managed to get the side door opened. She beckoned to Tetak to follow and then jumped out of the cart. Tetak hesitated, but decided to follow. He grabbed the frame of the door and jumped.Review

Epic: Dare to Dream Okay, so I've written a lot more chapters since BZP went down. Of course, since it's only one chapter per day, I'll have to upload everything one-at-a-time (not that I had any real readers on here to begin with. XD). Edit: Thank you Hahli Husky for letting us post old chapters all at once! Of course, now that I have chapter four up (and chapter four was the last that was on BZP before it went down) it's all kinda moot... But still, that means I can post chapter five up sometime today as well! ^^ Edit edit: Chapter five is now posted. Since I'm all caught up now, chapters will be uploaded once per day. Happy reading! So, look forward to some more chapters. ;D Once I hit around Chapter ten or eleven updates will most likely slow down to around one chapter per week, so enjoy the speed updates while you can. ^^' Edit again: Okay, I've reached chapter ten! Chapter updates will now be slowed down. I'll try to write one chapter per week, but no promises (as things can get busy for me and that I have other projects I would like to work on).

Tetak woke up. It was another morning, the same as the rest. He didn't mind the monotony, though. At least, he didn't think so… Tetak's room was small; he lived in a sort of apartment-like complex. It wasn't so bad, after all, ko-matoran generally keep to themselves. There were never any major fights to be had and no noisy neighbors. If one were to listen closely enough, the only sounds that could normally be heard were clicks and clacks of writing as the scholars stayed up, lost in thought about the latest technological breakthrough and whatnot. Matoran here rarely think of anything other than the future. Tetak thought to himself. By now, he had gotten out of his bed and was on his way to his work. Tetak's work was special compared to his brothers'. He quickly stopped at the desk next to his bed to pick up blueprint ideas. I'd be dead if I showed up without these. He thought to himself, still half-asleep. With a sigh, Tetak placed them into his backpack. It was a handy little device that organized not just papers, but also small tools for his work. Without a word, he swung his pack on and left his room. The hallway outside was empty. Nobody else was up at this hour, so everything was perfectly silent. It always amazed Tetak how a place like this; a place that was, at times, filled with matoran running back and forth to and from their work, could also be so calm. It was almost as if he was alone in the world. No bothers, no friends, no Great Spirit, no virtues or turaga; it was almost sad in a way. Another sigh escaped Tetak's breath as he boarded the elevator. Empty as usual, but he was used to his solitude. With a click of a button, the elevator lowered five floors total. He could hear the gears rustle and creak all too well. For some reason, it always made him think of what it might be like to be underground. Listening to Onu-matoran as their tools picked and chipped away at the rocks, the heavy machinery buzzing in the distance while the carts went rolling back and forth. Sure, the work was far different than what Tetak was used to, but he would often fantasize on a whim. And he knew that was all it was; a whim. There was no lobby in his building. The elevator led directly outside-it was located on the very side of the building and was made specifically for residents on the upper-story. Looking directly at the building, one would see a cylindrical bulge on the right side which stretched from the ground to one floor above the roof for those who star-gazed. There was, of course, a main entrance to allow access to the first floor, and stairs in case of an emergency. Tetak started to head east, noting that it was still dark out. A slight wind blew in the air with a few flakes of snow dropping down. The mountain that they lived on was fairly large, and the location was generally an overlook of their city. As high up as his village was, however, there was one village that was up even higher: the village of lightning.Review

BZPocolypse: The Troll Face of Hapori Tohu.XP