ALVIS

Chapter 20: In the Place of Shadow

 

Cutscene: Darkness

 

In a flash of light, three beings appeared where there were none before. Standing and surveying their surroundings, they found only darkness. Impenetrable shadows. Pitch-black.

 

Technically speaking, only Smiley did so; Gresh was bent over a rock, vomiting, and Toa Kualus was examining a nasty dent in his arm from an inter-dimensional collision. Shrugging, the minifigure turned back and helped ease Gresh's retchings.

 

"How - do - you - EVER - get used to that?!" Gresh asked, frenzied, as Smiley disintegrated his ejected lunch.

 

"Experience. Before long, you're hopping between worlds and stuffing your face at the same time. No sweat!" Smiley grinned.

 

"I don't think you understand," Gresh frowned. "In the past few hours, I've gone from fighting off a marauding sand dragon to seeing cracks form in the sky, battling mechanic monsters, and now teleportation - and you say you -"

 

"Never mind that. But trust me… the teleporting's not over, not by a long shot. I think we'll be hopping around the universe for the rest of this adventure, whether you like it or not," Smiley said. After a moment, he added, "If you want to stay behind and go about everything like a snail, though, fine by me."

 

"Less talking. More searching for the -" Kualus began, but stopped as… something… blasted past him. It hurtled down a side tunnel, a shapeless, black mass of matter… leaving a sizzling rut melted in the ground where it had run.

 

The three looked at each other.

 

"What… in the world… in all of these worlds… was that?" Gresh asked.

 

"Nothing good," Kualus frowned. "Not a Rahi - I could have sensed that. Something more powerful, more intelligent… more sinister."

 

Gresh whirled to Smiley. "What was it?" he demanded.

 

The minifigure sighed. "It's a demon… a thing… soaked in the blood of many a pure soul. It's all-powerful… armed to the teeth… and serves only the shadows."

 

Kualus raised an eyebrow. The minifigure was actually hanging his head.

 

"What is it? What aren't you telling us?" Kualus asked. "What about this thing affects you?"

 

Smiley didn't reply, not for a long time. But when he finally looked up at Toa Kualus, there was no happiness in his eternal smile.

 

"It came from me," he said, fear in his eyes.

 

*insert level: The Place of Shadow. Playable characters: Rahi Trainer, Smiley, Gresh. New enemies: None.*

 

Cutscene: Freedom of the Beast

 

Slowly, Gresh stalked forward, warily waving the torch he'd looted from a Skrall. But its light found nothing but stone and spiderwebs.

 

"There's nothing here," he said, confused.

 

"The shadow's tracks stop here," Kualus noted, pointing to the very center of the room. "But where did it…?"

 

The floor shattered, sending the three heroes hurtling down into the abyss. In the nick of time, Smiley's hand glowed with flames, and the air beneath them skyrocketed in temperature, forming a heat thermal to slow their fall. But as they fell, the flames flickered and dimmed… and their speed increased.

 

Luckily, Smiley saved them from a crashing death on the rocks below with a feeble force field - but it collapsed after a few moments. Then the power in Smiley's hand faded almost completely.

 

"What's wrong?" Gresh asked.

 

"It's him," Smiley whispered in terror, pointing a quivering hand at the shadow hovering above them. Then he collapsed backwards into a wall and said no more.

 

"Shadow creature!" Kualus cried. "Explain yourself!"

 

The faceless mass of black energy stared coldly at him. "I don't think I really have to," it cackled, and dissipated - just as the Rahi Nui burst through the wall, claws at the ready.

 

*insert standard brawl: Gresh and Rahi Trainer vs. Rahi Nui.*

 

Cutscene: The Shadow Finds a Steed

 

The Rahi Nui collapsed, defeated, and Kualus immediately seized control of its primitive brain. Grinning, he began to patch its wounds. Luckily, they were not deep.

 

Unluckily, the shadow was back, and shadowy tendrils were emanating from its chest. As the heroes watched, they curled together, forming one huge, boarlike mount. Its deep red eyes glowed with malice.

 

The shadow's laugh echoed through the cavern, shaking them to the core. Smiley's eyes snapped open, and a ball of flame formed in his hand.

 

*insert boss battle: Shadow Steed. Playable characters: Gresh, Rahi Trainer, Smiley.*

 

Cutscene: Short-Lived Victory

 

The shadow's mount dissipated, but no such luck with the entity himself. He shot into the air, looking down upon those servants of the light with disgust in his aura.

 

"You are fools to challenge the shadows!" he cried, and those dark tentacles sprang from the darkness of the room, grabbing both the Rahi Nui and Kualus. The Toa's struggling was not enough, and after a few moments, it ceased… and Kualus stared at Gresh and Smiley with hate-filled eyes.

 

"The Makuta's master plan will do wonders for me," the shadow taunted. "I think I ought to present him with a gift… don't you agree?"

 

Without letting Smiley reply, the shadow sucked his prizes into a portal and flew in after them. Gresh lunged, but the portal imploded and the Glatorian smacked into a rock instead.

 

Smiley was speechless. All of this… the shadow's very existence… was his fault. The shadow was a part of him… and that was the most frightening thing of all.

 

The only way to kill it was to bring it back into him. To absorb the murderous, dark urges of himself… could he ever bring himself to do that?

 

*STAGE CLEAR reward: Rahi Trainer leaves team.*

Chapter 19: The Scourge of Corruption

 

Cutscene: Stone Angel

 

Talos and Pohatu raced through Odina, Talos's built-in fans clearing the smoke and ash before them. All around, Dark Hunters lay dead. Those who weren't were even more pitiful: ripped to shreds and blackened, immobile and trapped in fits of coughing. But not just the air from their lungs came out… so did the interior lining, their lifeblood wires, and assorted sparks. It was horror like Pohatu had never before seen.

 

Talos paused, and Pohatu nearly smashed into him. The Dark Hunter pointed an emerald-plated arm into the smoke, towards a single silhouette still on its feet.

 

"Stone Angel," Talos called, "what information have you?"

 

Pohatu squinted, walking forwards towards the Dark Hunter. He stopped.

 

"That's… a statue," he called to Talos.

 

"I'm aware of that," Talos replied. "Shut up and listen."

 

A voice pierced Pohatu's mind, evidently coming from the immobile stone angel.

 

"I'm afraid there have been no survivors," Stone Angel said.

 

"Really?" Talos replied.

 

"Indeed… those that do not lie still experience a fate worse than death," the strange statue continued.

 

"Worse than death...? What do you mean?" Talos asked… but the Stone Angel was gone.

 

*insert level: Odina. Background is wrecked. Playable characters: Talos, Pohatu. New enemies: None.*

 

Cutscene: Mutant

 

The blast site was even worse. There wasn't a square inch of ground that didn't have the materials of some poor Dark Hunter, and a sootlike black substance covered each and every one of them.

 

"The bomb really tore this place up," Pohatu observed.

 

Talos began to say something in response, but they were cut short by a long, pitiful moan. Shocked and tense, they turned to see one of the Dark Hunters sitting up.

 

"Urgh," Talos whispered. The figure was caked in the sootlike dust, with spikes jutting up where no spikes had been before. His eyes, formerly such a vivid red, were now just empty, blackened pits.

 

Pohatu started for the mutant. "It's okay," he said, "I can help."

 

The corpselike Hunter turned its empty eyes towards Pohatu and stared at him for a long moment.

 

"That's right," Pohatu said, "I'm going to make it better."

 

The creature responded with a piercing bellow and a vicious dive towards Pohatu. Only Talos's lightning-fast reflexes saved the Toa from certain death at its claws.

 

"Thanks," Pohatu panted as the Dark Hunter dispatched the mutant.

 

Talos said, "You're welcome," but Pohatu never heard him. The Toa was more focused on the hordes of blackened, spiky corpses rising slowly from the masses of the dead.

 

*insert multiman brawl at the blast site. Maybe 20 enemies. Playable characters: Talos, Pohatu. New enemies: Mutants.*

 

Cutscene: Revelation

 

Once the attack ceased, Talos got a chance to think. "You know, a bomb that caused this much destruction would have to leave a crater," he said, "but I see none."

 

"And that still doesn't explain our punk-haired friends here," Pohatu said.

 

"Oh, but it does," Talos replied. "That was no bomb - it was a mutation capsule. Packed to the brim with mutating bacteria, they hurled it in so it could release its cargo and convert everyone in the blast zone. Sick, but effective. And that means we should find the shell."

 

"And why in Mata Nui's name would we want to do that?" Pohatu asked, slightly apprehensive.

 

"I could use that technology not only to further the Shadowed One's aims, but also to reverse the process," Talos explained. "And to track down the people who made it. Once I get into their factory, I can shut down all mutation capsules in existence."

 

"Ah," Pohatu nodded.

 

Suddenly, another portal tore through the sky and dropped a mutation capsule. As it hurtles towards the ground, Talos turned to Pohatu with a grim look on his face.

 

"We need to get there, and now."

 

"Gotcha."

 

The two ran at top speeds to the new site.

 

*insert level: Odina. Playable characters: Talos, Pohatu. New enemies: None.*

 

Cutscene: A True Hunter

 

The two came skidding to a halt in front of the smoking, ruined shell. Talos started towards it, but Pohatu stopped him.

 

"Look at all those," he whispered.

 

Fifty or so mutants stood idly by the shell, ready to kill. Piercing shrieks split the air as they sharpened their claws.

 

"Well, we're not going to get that thing by just standing here," Talos shrugged.

 

"Are you crazy? We can't take that many!" Pohatu yelled.

 

"Maybe not in this form," Talos grinned.

 

[play 0:00 to 0:27 of YANA (Excerpt) (see music post in Administrative Section)] as

 

Talos's form shifted and twisted. Compartments folded in, weapons out. [will insert more of a description once picture is up]

 

Pohatu could do nothing but stare at the new being next to him.

 

"Let's get these guys," Talos rumbled.

 

*insert multiman brawl of about 50 mutants. Playable characters: Talos (Final Form), Pohatu.*

 

Cutscene: Mission Complete

 

As the last mutant fell with a Cordak in his throat, Talos collapsed in a heap next to the capsule. His breath coming in ragged gasps, he choked out, "I've got to fix this stamina limit."

 

"Aren't we going to get the bomb?" Pohatu asked.

 

"Later…" Talos panted. "First, I think I'll take a nap."

 

The Dark Hunter's head lolled back onto the mutation capsule, and he sunk into a deep sleep.

 

*STAGE CLEAR reward: None.*