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Thoughts on War for the Planet of the Apes Trailer
Toa Smoke Monster posted a blog entry in The Island
Man, a LOT of trailers have come out in the past week. Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Transformers: The Last Knight, Fast and Furious 8, etc. And along with those came this trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes. I've enjoyed the first two movies of this rebooted franchise. In fact, I think Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the movie before this one, is one of the best sequels ever made in a trilogy. The ending of that movie left me excited for WftPotA, and this trailer only fuels that excitement. I think that the tone and music in this are great. I'm also really excited to see Woody Harrelson in this, as I think he's a good actor and will make an interesting opponent for Caesar and his fellow Apes. Overall, this movie is high on my list of movies that I want to see in 2017. I just hope it lives up to its predecessors. What do you all think of this trailer? Will you be seeing War for the Planet of the Apes? -
Great Beings were ruling their people peacefully for thousands of years. But as population was growing, they were unable to control everything. Last straw was chaos created by plague, which struck Spherus Magna. They decided to create eight powerful Element Lords, each ruling their assigned tribe. Soon after creation of Element Lords, Energized Protodermis started escaping planet’s core, due to building of Giant Robot, later known as Mata Nui. In hunger for power, Element Lords started wars between tribes to get each other’s Protodermis. As so began the long and cruel Core War. Become one of eight Element Lords in ongoing Core War. Train your troops and conquer adjacent lands to get Energized Protodermis. Think strategically and create alliances with other tribes to become more powerful. Beware the Skrall, dangerous species, which may strike suddenly without warning. Claim whole area of Spherus Magna before the Shattering happens! Setup On the very beginning of the game, you take role of random Element Lord (Fire, Water, Ice, Sand, Earth, Jungle, Rock or Iron) and are assigned to your corresponding Tribe. Your place on Spherus Magna is chosen randomly. There are 9 positions, aligned to 3x3 grid with Skrall area in center. Three positions have advantages. South-west (bottom-left) area can’t be attacked until it lost its immunity by attacking other tribe. This immunity falls automatically at start of round 10. East (center-right) area has permanent defense bonus +1. At start you get 2 defense units, increasing defense by +2. When Skrall (center) area is controlled by player, it receives permanent attack bonus +1. Round Game is turn-based and divided into rounds with each player having one turn. In odd rounds (1st, 3rd...), order of player’s is generated randomly and in following rounds, order is reversed. Each round, player chooses between three different actions: training troops, increasing your attack value by +1, training defense units, increasing your defense by +1 and attacking adjacent tribe. You perform one action for each area you have. Additionaly you can use your Glatorian or Legend (not both in one turn). Using them don’t counts as action (you can for example use Glatorian and train troops in the same turn) and most of effects are applied before action. Game definitely ends at the end of round 30 by the Shattering (if the game will be running smoothly, I can extend it). Player with highest amount of tribes conquered wins. Game can have 2 or more winners in case of draw. Taking over all 9 areas also makes you win. Attacking If all other conditions are met, you can attack ever since round 6. When you choose to attack, all of your troops are sent to attack chosen tribe. You can’t choose to send only part of your troops (This is also where defense units get useful). Each tribe’s troops work independently, even if they are owned by same player. I tried to make attack as simple as possible, but it is still too complicated. I have made a calculator (it works 99.9% right) to ease the things. You don’t really have to read attack mechanics below, but that’s up to you. Skrall Skrall perform one action on end of each round, starting by round 6. They can’t be attacked, but can attack. Their attack is performed in same way player attack is performed, but if they win, they left area without single defense unit or troop, making it vulnerable to other tribes. Their attack is controlled by me (or random.org). I randomly generate number between 1 and 12. There is 1 in 12 chance for each tribe to be attacked by them, and 1 in 12 chance for each +1, +2 and +3 attack boost for next round. Basic attack is 4 and permanently increases every 5 rounds with first increase in round 10 (r9 = 4, r10 = 5, r15 = 6). Their current attack will be always announced on start of each round. Whoever is first to have three tribes will automatically claim Skrall area, making it work as normal area (with +1 attack bonus). It can attack every area on Spherus Magna (including corners), but also can be attacked by every area (including corners). That makes it strategically important and vulnerable at the same time. Glatorian Glatorian and Legends gives each tribe special ability. Glatorian’s ability can be used more times (each have different cooldown) and is bound to area, so you can use different abilities for each of your owned areas. Legends can be used only one time and their effect applies for all your owned areas. If you conquer new area, you cannot use it’s Legend, even if it wasn’t used by previous owner. Fire Tribe Legend: Ackar - Increase your attack power by +2 for next turn (all areas) Glatorian: Perditus - Train 1 troop unit immediately (once per 4 rounds) Water Tribe Legend: Tarix - Increase your defense power by +1 for next 3 rounds (up to 4 chosen tribes) Glatorian: Kiina - You can’t attack and can’t be attacked in next round (once per 5 rounds) Ice Tribe Legend: Strakk - You can’t be attacked in this and next round. You also can’t attack this round (all tribes) Glatorian: Gelu - Choose one adjacent tribe. It can’t perform any actions, but Glatorian and Legends (once per 5 rounds) Sand Tribe Legend: Malum - All enemies have defense power decreased by -1 for next 2 rounds (all other tribes) Glatorian: Vorox - Increase attack by +1 for next 2 rounds (once per 7 rounds) Earth Tribe Legend: Nuhviix - Control one adjacent area’s actions in next round, making it able to attack even on it’s own tribe’s area. Everything goes as in regular attack. Glatorian: Ontaru - Disable (NPC or player controlled) Skrall area for it’s next turn (once per 5 rounds) Rock Tribe Legend: Stronius - Increase your attack power by +1 permanently. Can’t be used until round 15. (all owned areas) Glatorian: Branar - Destroy 2 defense units of chosen adjacent area. (once per 6 rounds) Jungle Tribe Legend: Vastus - Increase your defense power by +3 for next turn (all areas) Glatorian: Gresh - You can attack any area adjacent to your adjacent areas (excluding Skrall area) (once per 8 rounds) Iron Tribe Legend: Telluris - Choose one tribe to have -1 defense for 3 rounds. Can’t be used until round 12. (all areas of one tribe) Glatorian: Skorpoku - Train 2 defense units immediately (once per 7 rounds) Rules 1. All BZPower rules applies. That’s an obvious one. 2. Post your actions (including Glatorian and Legends activation) here, not in PM. 3. In order to speed things up, do not wait for your turn, but instead post as soon as possible (if it is not necessary for your strategy to know what other person will do). All turns will be performed when everybody does their turn. 4. Limit for each round is 24 hours. It might be extended on special occasions. (It is an upper limit, 6-hours round would be great!) 5. If you don’t respond in 24 hours limit for first time in row, you will automatically train troops. Second time is idle (no action). 6. If it happens 3 times in row, all your areas will be deserted with 2 defense units and 0 attack units, leaving them vulnerable to your neighbors. You can’t ever come back then. Your areas are also deserted if you miss 6 turns totally. There might be very special exempts, but don’t rely on them. Feedback Before game starts, I don’t have problem with any suggestions. It took me a while to write this down, but I would like to hear, if something can be better. Same goes for questions. If you misunderstood something, ask me. Remember that stupid questions are better than stupid playing. Or something like that. Lovely picture on top was made by me with Inkscape and GIMP. Share your hype by posting this 200x200 version of it in your signature! http://i.imgur.com/C12GKBJ.png Players 1. ToaKapura 2. Portalfig 3. empty 4. Jed1ndy 5. empty 6. empty 7. empty 8. Fishers64
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- Spherus Magna
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Chapter 1 Turaga Vakama’s eyes snapped open and his right hand instinctively shot for his Firestaff. It was still there; that was a good sign. He lit the end of his tool and checked the grey fieldstone-bricked walls of the room for anything out of place. Seeing nothing, he sat up in his bed and checked the wooden rafters above as well. After five minutes of searching had turned up no assassins, Vakama felt it was safe to get up and start the day. To the outsider, it might seem as though Vakama was paranoid, but you never can be too cautious– especially when you are at war. Vakama hobbled across the room using his Firestaff to support himself, unbarred the shutters on his window, and opened them so that he could watch the sun rise above the eastern horizon of the island of Mata Nui. The familiar scent of sea water and volcano smoke made the Turaga feel at ease. When the complete golden orb of the sun had become fully visible, he closed and barred the shutters and then left his chamber. It was at this time that the Ta-Matoran would awakening in their bunkers and then prepare themselves for their morning meal and begin either training or work in the forges. This was their daily schedule and had been this way for centuries. The only time it ever deviated from this was during an attack. There had not been an attack for several weeks so Vakama took this opportunity to get the troops ready. In any case, he was developing a military strategy that would certainly give them the upper hand. Even so, a little extra preparation could not hurt. Vakama made his way to Captain Jaller’s office so they could discuss the captain’s recent report. He arrived outside Jaller’s door and knocked on it. A sleepy groan from inside indicated that the door would be answered shortly. While waiting patiently, Vakama’s eyes wandered towards the sign above the door indicating that this was the office of Captain Jaller. The sign itself, although quite old, was still newer than the wall upon which it hung. This was because of the Naming Day ceremony in Jaller’s honour when he was promoted to captain not long after the beginning of the war. A new name meant a new sign and since Jaller was captain, he got one. Vakama’s train of thought was abruptly halted as the yawning figure of Jaller opened the door for him. Suddenly noticing who was at his door, Jaller leapt to attention. His right hand whizzed up to his yellow Great Hau and hit it with a soft ping. "At ease, Captain," said Vakama emotionlessly "What is this I hear of a rebellion?" "Well sir, I’ve hear rumours that a Ta-Matoran named Vohon may be trying to get the troops to desert." "Indeed..." said Vakama thoughtfully. "Order all the Ta-Matoran to assemble in the main courtyard. I have an announcement to make." "And what about Vohon, sir?" asked Jaller. "I will deal with him," said Vakama coldly "You are dismissed, Captain." Jaller gave a slight bow and left to gather the troops. While he did this, Vakama returned to his chamber. With a little difficulty, he pushed his bed aside and revealed a small trap door beneath it. Checking to see no one was watching, Vakama lifted the door and descended the stone steps which it concealed into darkness. He ignited his Firestaff for illumination and surveyed his secret chamber. The room was small with only three walls and the staircase which led back up to the trapdoor. It was completely bare except for a large dome which lay on the ground. It was roughly twice the size of Turaga Vakama and seemed to be made of a substance that was a like metallic form of sandstone. Into the dome’s gleaming, red edge, six life- sized faces were carved. Vakama knew that someday those faces would all hold masks of power– much like the way his own face held an orange Noble Huna. When that day came, he was certain that the war would end not long after. After running an aged hand over the dome’s smooth surface to see that it was still as perfect as the day he had carved it, Vakama turned to leave. "Soon" he muttered to himself as he extinguished his Firestaff and closed the trap door on the secret room. Once his bed had been pushed back in place, it seemed as though nothing had happened. Checking his room one last time for spies, Vakama left and headed towards the main courtyard. Turaga Vakama arrived to see well over one hundred Ta-Matoran assembled before a podium. He ascended three stairs to get to the stage upon which the podium sat. To his right stood Captain Jaller who was standing at attention with unnaturally straight posture. To Vakama’s left was the Le-Matoran ambassador, Tamaru, who gazed upon the crowd mildly. With a small tap of his Firestaff on the stage to indicate he was ready to speak, Vakama addressed the crowd. "Fellow Ta-Matoran, I have assembled you here to discuss a grave matter. It has come to my attention that one amongst you is a traitor. This individual seeks to destroy all we have fought for during these many years of war. This individual wishes to throw it all away for, as I suspect, personal gain. If any of you have any information about this particular Matoran, please come forward now." The crowd fell silent. "Of course," he continued in a gravely voice barely above a whisper "Not only would such a person be betraying Ta-Koro, but they would also be betraying the Great Spirit." Murmuring broke out in the crowd and Vakama began to speak a little louder. "For did not he grant us the three virtues long ago? Have you, perhaps, forgotten them? If you wish to win this war then you must follow them! Unity, duty, manifest destiny!" he cried boldly. "Unity, duty, manifest destiny!" the crowd echoed. Vakama stepped down from the podium and summoned Jaller close to his side to give him a quick command. "Double Vohon’s wood collection quota from the Charred Forest for today; if he protests, switch his food rations with the wood he collects." "Yes sir" said Jaller without hesitation. After saluting, Jaller went back to his office to plan the next battle strategy with Tamaru. As the crowd slowly dispersed with the Ta-Matoran setting off to do their duties, Vakama could not help smiling malevolently to himself. 1 000 years earlier... Whenua’s hands were shaking in excitement. All he needed to do was to win this disk flip and he would be one rich Matoran. If he lost, well, he would have to give up quite a bit of money he did not have which would result in quite a bit of trouble. In any case, Whenua was feeling confident tonight– he could not possibly lose. The Le-Matoran sitting opposite of him was named Tuuli and he was in charge of this secret gambling ring located near the Notch at the edge of Le-Metru. The game he and Whenua were playing was a very simple one– this was because Whenua was not very good at understanding Chutespeak so he could not understand the rules of the more complicated games. All Whenua had to do was to fire a modified Kanoka out of a modified disk launcher; if it landed with the side showing the symbol of Le-Metru on it facing up, he won. The Kanoka had been modified so that it was equally likely to land on either side and the launcher was modified to slow down the disk so it did not gain enough speed to unleash its power. Tuuli handed the disk and launcher to Whenua who took a deep breath and fired the disk. It bounced all around the small hut and then landed on the table and began to spin around so fast it appeared to have formed a sphere. Soon it lost momentum and slowly spun to a stop. When the ordeal was over, Whenua saw that it had landed blank side up. That meant he had lost. The Onu-Matoran tried to explain to Tuuli that he would pay him later, but Tuuli had learned from years of experience that ‘later’ often took quite a while. Whenua fell out of his chair and backed into a corner as Tuuli angrily demanded the money from him in rapid Chutespeak. Whenua tried explaining his situation one last time, but his pleas fell upon deaf ears. The last thing he remembered was a green fist coming uncomfortably close to his mask which was shortly followed by unconsciousness. Review Topic
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- Alternate Universe
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This is my first fantasy epic so I apologize for the slow future updates as I am trying my best to make it work The Legend of Xian Bei Call to Dragon’s Roost Xian BeiThe Stench of burning flesh, hundreds upon thousands of corpses,rats and other scavengers gathering for a feast. Many times throughout this march across this battlefield had I stepped on a carcass for my foot to break through its charred flesh and be consumed by its rotten innards. Despite the many bodies there appeared to be only one crest; the Gold Dragon on a field of green, the crest of the Rensford Family. “What the ###### happened here? there isn’t a single Tarly banner insight”, whispered Cheng, “It seems that the Tarlys have access to a new weapon”, I whispered back, “What kind of weapon could do this kind of damage?”, “I don’t know; but we shouldn’t stay here any longer, there could men of Tarly still lingering”, “You’re right let’s head back”. Cheng stood up and gave a quick glance around then suddenly dropped onto his chest, he pointed directly in front of us, right at three riders donned in black robes decorated with a strange crest; a red three headed snake on a black field. “Don’t move”, I whispered. I strained my ears to hear their faint voices but to no avail; they were too far from us. The lead horseman scanned the area, his eyes hidden by his large plate helmet. Satisfied by what he had observed he turned abruptly and rode back into the fog as fast and silent as they came. “Who do you reckon they were?”, asked Cheng, “Perhaps the owners of this new weapon, come on let’s head back”, I replied. Rising in unison we moved slowly back across the field we had came avoiding bodies and scavengers alike, slowly the land began to incline as we entered the hilly terrain in which our camp was hidden. “Only half a league north from here then we’re home”, I said, “Good! after seeing that massacre I could do with some wine”, said Cheng, “You drink too much”, “And you don’t drink enough my friend”. Cheng began to laugh to himself as he walked ahead of me, “Remember Nene? From Xia?”, he asked, “Yea, the one with the green eyes?”, I replied, “She’s the one”, “What about her?”, “When we get home I’m gonna marry her”, Cheng proclaimed. Cheng pressed out his chest and stretched up to his full height, if I had not known him for the past ten years I might have mistaken him for a great warrior. “Didn’t her father kick you off her balcony?”, I asked, “Ah yes there is the matter of her father”, He replied. Cheng laughed to himself again, he really was carefree. I had no such luxury. Several days later…“Curse you Bei! You mercenary, may you dwell in the Circle of ###### Fire for all eternity”, yelled the young noble. “Now, now my young lord Regis, you are making quite a show of yourself”, I replied, mocking the dark haired youth. “There is no other way to talk to those who use trickery to attack an unwary foe!”, “Ah! That! Yes I would be inclined to agree with you, but you see we had no time to waste on a foolish little boy like you”, “Hah! So it’s true? The Hi Band was crushed? I thought they were just rumours, tales spun by the women on the street, but it’s true! The mighty band of eastern mercenaries reduced to nothing in a single night!”, Bloody kid, He was well informed. “What happened to that fool Mou? Did he die? He DID?! The mighty Bird of The East fell in a RAID! Hahaha!”, Shut it kid. “And what of the woman? Aoki? I bet her attackers had fun that ni…”. My glaive glided through the air and when it reached the noble’s neck it reacted as if nothing was there and passed straight through and continued on its flight. The noble’s head rolled forwards off his neck, contorted into a grim smile with the body slumping soon after. Bloody kid. “KIMURA!!!”, I bellowed, summoning the young squad leader. Kimura came running through the thickets and panting a little, straight to me. “Yes sir?”, He asked struggling to hold his posture. “What are losses and kills?”, I asked in turn. We lost thirty-two from the first unit, twenty-four in the second, thirty-seven in the third and one from your guard, ninety-five in total. Our kills are around three hundred, we were lucky they were militia”, Kimura relayed perfectly. “Who was it? The one from my guard?”, “Sir...It was Cheng”, CHENG?! “Are you sure?” “He’s nowhere to be found, We think he fell in the forest”, “Don’t count me dead just yet you cool dudes!”, Came a voice from behind. I turn instinctively to face the familiar figure and face of Cheng, bloodied and with two arrows sticking from his chest and countless more in his back. The shaking man came forward perhaps two, no three steps before collapsing to his knees and doubling over to cough out an inhuman amount of blood. “Go get a medic!”, I ordered KImura, who give his full compliance and ran off at top speed. I turned Cheng onto his side and gave him a hard slap in the face. “The ###### Bei? I’m dying here”, He cried. “Shut up or I’ll kill you myself”, I replied. “With your glaive it would be a lot less painful, heh?”, “Quit joking! What happened?”, “My bloody horse stepped in a rabbit hole and flung me into a tree, when I came around the enemy was all around me in a full a retreat. I was about to get out of there when two crossbow men spotted me, they had that weird crest y’know the red serpent? Well their first two arrows hit me in the chest, they weren’t that powerful and my armour slowed them and I could still stand but when I turned to run…” Cheng paused to cough up even more blood. “Then?”, I pressed on. “They shot again and again and again! ###### it they didn’t even reload they just kept firing! It was impossible !”, Cheng finished. Impossible eh? A lot of impossible things had happened recently. “The Medic’s here! An outrider too!”, Kimura came running up the road with a the medic and an old man garbed in a green coat and black trousers, the uniform of the Imperial Rangers. The three men halted almost at the same time and set about their purpose, Kimura left after a quick salute, the right fist on the heart and a short bow. The medic opened his large leather satchel to reveal an array of blades, needles, vial containing concoctions that I could only imagine their purpose. However the old man remained standing, I took this time to get a good look at him, he was a few inches shorter than me and shoulders were not as wide but his face was covered in brutal scars half covered by the short beard he had. “Are you Captain of this Band?”, The old man suddenly asked, his eyes fixed on mine. “Yes, I am Xian Bei”, I answered, Straightening up to my full height and looking down on the old man. “I am 300-man Commander; Garth Woods of his majesty’s rangers, that is the Imperial Rangers”, “Greetings Commander Woods”, “Likewise- I apologise Sir but we have no time for formalities, I bring orders from General Rensford, He requests you join his force south of Dragon’s Roost”, The old man called out. “South of Dragon’s Roost? Why not at the city?”, I asked. “The city Sir, it’s outer level is over run by the Tarly’s, only the keep remains free as of when I was dispatched”, “And what of the Lord and Lady?”, “Trapped, in the keep”. I looked up and down the road at my men resting on it’s sides, at best I had eight-hundred men, one-hundred mounted and seven-hundred foot. We were in no state for a large battle especially Cheng. But I might just find one of those red serpent guys. “We’ll gladly respond to his General’s request, Commander”, I said. “Thank you Sir, here are your orders”, He replied. Garth fumbled around in the small leather bag on his belt before finally pulling out a scroll. I took the scroll from his out stretched hand, broke the the red wax seal and unravelled it. The fine yet rough handwriting read: To the Captain of the Hi Unit I request your aid in taking command of the right army now gathering east of the main camp, which I command. If you choose to accept my call your orders are as follows: To follow the river north, To engage the force guarding the North bridge, To take position north of the city, To prevent any enemy forces from escaping. All recon reports were collected by Commander Woods and he shall serve as you require. Regards, Gerard Rensford. “I see…”, I whispered to myself. By this time old man Woods had fallen down against a tree and pulled his cloak over himself for warmth, a few other soldiers had down the same at other trees an array of black cloaks, long beards and ever longer hair of all shades, some slept, some were enjoying the delights of stale bread and water and finally there were those who were relieving themselves of nature’s call. A lovely bunch; all in all. Meanwhile at Rensford main camp. Gerard Rensford “Sir Do you think it wise to hand over an army to an eastern brigand?”, Asked the Steward. “You know of the Sleeper Fish Rebellion, don’t you?”, Returned the General. “Yes Sir, from three years ago? It was a total failure for the rebels”, “Correct! But what I’m talking about is the legend of the Black Cloaks”, “Sir?”, “The legendary fifty-two men that defended the bridge to allow the rebels to escape, horde after horde of enemies came at them but the stood firm, that was until they’re leader Mou, was struck by an arrow in the neck and falling into the river”, “Sir what does this have to do with Bei?”, “Well- After the soldiers saw Mou fall they broke and ran, but he stayed. Bei then fought for three hours straight as story tells before he was finally cut down and left for dead”, “Left for dead?”, “Yes! Of course he survived, he was found by his sister who brought him to the city of Xia”, “You gave him command because he is hard to kill?”, “No, Did you ever wonder how the rebels were able to get that close to the city undetected and then escape when the time called for it?”, “N-no Sir?”, “I’m not giving him command ‘cause he’s hard to kill, I’m giving him command because he is a genius at war”.
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I'll answer any questions you may have and I'll take all constructive criticism,advice and even a review is gladly accepted!!!
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Hello, and welcome to Cloud 9. This story tells of Humanity's struggle against an expansionist alien race called the Blagh'ai. The story begins with a prologue outlining Humanity's path from 2013 to the 2680s when society nearly falls apart after its foundations are shaken by sudden and violent attack by the Blagh'ai on the outer colony worlds and the subsequent war that followed. Cloud 9 A Story by: Kazi the Matoran Table of Contents: Prologue Part 1 – Earth Before the Chaos Prologue Part 2 – The Chaos Prologue Part 3 – The War Part 1: Chapter 1 – Recruits Chapter 2 – This Ain't Your Mom's Place Chapter 3 – Trial By Survival Chapter 4 – Cloud 9 Chapter 5 – New Guys Chapter 6 – Surprise Attack Chapter 7 – Mobilization Chapter 8 – The Blagh'ai Part 2: Chapter 9 – To The Ends of the Universe and Beyond, There Is No Escape Chapter 10 – Pursuit Chapter 11 – The Planet Killer Chapter 12 – Hopeless Endeavours Chapter 13 – Separated Chapter 14 – For Those We Left Behind, We Go Once More To Battle Chapter 15 – The Costs Of Victory Chapter 16 – Broken World Part 3: Chapter 17 – The Path To Glory Chapter 18 – The End Of All Things Chapter 19 – We Lucky Few Chapter 20 – Boldly, They Rode Epilogue – We Will Not Go Quietly Into The Night Star Charts Time Line of Events New chapters will come whenever I finish them. See the following posts for parts 1 and 2 of the prologue! Enjoy! NOTE: After the prologue, please read at your discretion, as this story will have some language, but according to guidelines, I will edit it to be as G, PG, or PG-13 as possible, and descriptions of brutal violence, which will, again, be edited down to an appropriate level for this forum. I'll keep the 14A/R language to myself and for my friends on the Book of Faces. Prologue Part 1 – Earth Before the Chaos - Years: 2013 – 2683 In the year 2013, Earth was in a troubled place. The economy was in a constant state of flux, and the environment was well on its way to becoming uninhabitable. Politically, things were not much better. North Korea was on its way to a functional nuclear program, but it was laughably decades behind other nations, such as the United States or Russia who in the previous century, had been threatening nuclear war with each other for roughly forty years. Iran was also doing the same thing, which, what with the crisis in Syria and the generally unstable political climate of the Middle East, was something the world did not need. In April of that year, science was making rapid progress in the area of ion and fusion propulsion drives. The first successful tests yielded promising travel times for NASA's planned mission to Mars in coming years. Indeed this was a huge step toward humanity's great dream of exploring the cosmos. Finally, something people could look forward to! In 2023, the Mars One program sent four individuals to the Red Planet; essentially, the farthest any man had ever gone before. On Mars, these people gathered information previously unknown due to the limitations of remote controlled probes, such as the Curiosity rover launched in December of 2012. Twenty years after the Mars One mission, in 2033, and colony was established on Mars. Advances in fusion propulsion drive technology had now cut the journey down to fourteen days. The colony thrived, and by 2096, a space station was in orbit, along with ship building facilities on the surface as Earth was now looking to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. In 2107, catastrophe broke out on Earth as North Korea, now surrounded by American, Chinese, Russian, and Japanese military forces after annexing South Korea, launched thirty nuclear missiles aimed at Australia, the United States, Canada, China, and Russia. Many of the missiles were shot down before they even reached their targets, but five of them hit their mark. Los Angeles, Beijing, Seattle, Melbourne, and San Francisco were all vaporized by 90 megaton explosions. America retaliated by wiping North Korea off the map in the same manner, but with a new 1000 megaton bomb no one in the US government or military had ever hoped to use. Due to the fallout that followed, China, Japan, Russia, and Mongolia had to move people within the fallout radius to safe distances. Japan, with help from aid organizations and the US military, was evacuated. The populations of Eastern Russia and Mongolia had to be moved west to get out of the fallout radius. China suffered the worst, what with the government gone, and people migrating to the southern and western edges of the nation. Over crowding became an even bigger issue, and because of the lack of jobs, China's economy disintegrated causing the largest global economic crisis in recorded history. On top of that, the world was in the midst of the biggest humanitarian crisis ever due to the billions of recently displaced people. The depression and the humanitarian crisis lasted for fifty years. During this time, however, science had once again been busy. By 2157, colonies had already been on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn for thirty-six years, and during those thirty-six years, scientists had been working on a new kind of propulsion: the jump drive. If it worked, it would allow ships to travel beyond the solar system to other worlds within the local cluster. In Mach of 2153, the first successful test of the new jump technology enabled a ship and a crew of twenty to travel to the Alpha Centauri system, the closest system to our own. The planets in Alpha Centauri's Goldilocks Zone were not habitable for human life due to the presence of Krypton, which if breathed in excess can induce a state of narcosis. Without it though, that atmosphere would be pure Oxygen/Nitrogen, and therefore habitable. A research station was established in 2155 to try and find a way to remove the Krypton from the atmosphere, and in May 2157, a solution was found and atmospheric processors were brought from Earth to purify the atmosphere of the planet, now known as Centauri-B2. In September of that year, people displaced by the fallout of 2107 were given the choice of leaving Earth to start anew on Centauri-B2. Three billion people decided to go, and so, the first colonists, 250 000 souls, arrived on Centauri-B2 on December 31, 2157 on the eve of a new year. 250 000 more came every week for the next twenty-three years. Over the course of the next 400 years or so, humanity spread throughout the cosmos, establishing colonies on every habitable world from Mars in 2033, to Tau Ceti in 2609. All throughout the area, space stations were set up to act as supply chains for the sometimes 2 year journeys to the outer colonies. Sometimes, depending on where one was headed, one wouldn't see a station for six months due to a nebula, which had to be navigated at sub-light speeds to avoid any accidents. One such station was the Cloud 9 Station floating in the M-Class atmosphere of a gas giant in the 61 Cygni system. Each colony was independent of Earth, economically, but politically, they were still under Earth control, though everything was fair, as over the past few centuries, corruption, greed, and anything considered below the new standards for humanity, were abolished in favour of a utopian society where crime was almost unheard of, and currency was uniform and and tax collection was a thing of the past, having been discontinued in the 2200s. Cloud 9 Station was a model example of this new utopian system. It's inhabitants, some 237 000 people of various Terran nationalities, ran the station very efficiently. Cloud 9 even had business, shopping, theatre, and industrial sections, all of which were under the most efficient control, guaranteeing fair wages and good hours, and in the industrial facilities where water was collected and purified before being sent to either the station's reserves, or exported to desert worlds, most of the equipment was automated, allowing only for supervisors to monitor the machinery and make sure everything is running at peak efficiency, and technicians in the event of a system failure. Again, a model example of how far Humanity had advanced since the 21st Century. Then, one day in the year 2683, out of nowhere, the Terror came and threw everything off balance. What was this “Terror”, you may ask? The Terror was a horribly violent alien species called the Blagh'ai. They came and annihilated the outer colonies and didn't stop until they reached Tau Ceti. Those who managed to escape brought word to other worlds in the United Terran Republic, and eventually, word reached Earth. Twelve billion dead in the attacks on the outer colonies. Earth sent an envoy to Tau Ceti to try and broker a peace with the Blagh'ai. The mission was expected to take 5 years, but when no word came after 6 years, it was feared something had gone wrong. On August 15, 2690, a message was sent from Tau Ceti to Earth, and those fears were confirmed. The message stated the envoy had been destroyed when it jumped into the Tau Ceti system by a long-range warhead. War was declared on the invading Blagh'ai the following week, after several days of intense debate in the United Terran Senate in Geneva, Switzerland. In December of 2690, the first fleet of 150 United Terran Republic warships was completed and launched from Earth. Many more fleets followed from shipyards orbiting Earth and the colony worlds unaffected by the Blagh'ai threat. By July of 2691, the first battle had been fought, and the whole local cluster was plunged into a state of war that was new for humanity, and far more destructive than any that had been fought in previous centuries. Prologue Part 2 – The Chaos - Years: 2683 - 2691 When The Chaos began in 2683, and word of the Blagh'ai Terror spread throughout the Terran Republic, panic gripped the systems closest to those that were attacked. People began packing up and fleeing to worlds closer to Earth. Places such as Ross 614, Struve 2398, and Ross 154 opened they're proverbial doors to the refugees, and stations like Cloud 9 and Station Sigma 27-K, located half way between Earth and Tau Ceti, opened relief stations in their cargo bays and other non-essential areas. As more and more people began leaving the outer colonies, space to put them became an issue on the stations, and on the planetary colonies providing aid, refugee camps became breeding grounds for disease causing a widespread epidemic on some worlds. On GJ 1245's Pi Cannaris IV, a plague broke out on a scale not seen since the Black Death of the 14th Century. Death rates were much higher due to the hurriedly put together accommodations and substandard living conditions that accompanied them. One third of the refugee population, roughly 133 000 000 people, were gone within three years. One quarter of Pi Cannaris IV's colonist population died withing four years of the outbreak. With this new humanitarian crisis came mass hysteria. Attacks such as those committed on the outer worlds around Tau Ceti had not been seen for centuries; not since the destruction of North Korea in the 22nd Century. People on all the colony worlds were scared that there was going to be an all-out Blagh'ai invasion of the Terran Republic resulting in the decimation of Earth and the end of Humanity. Apocalyptic fanatics, such as those seen during the Y2K crisis at the start of the 21st Century, and the End of the World conspirators who believed the world would end on December 21st, 2012, suddenly made a reappearance en-mass, and religious bickering over the subject of The End once again, after hundreds of years, became the topic of debate among the general public. All throughout this though, many worlds, including Earth, managed to maintain a utopian degree of collected calm, though all was not well. As disease and in-fighting gripped some of the worlds helping with the humanitarian crisis, the United Terran Senate in Geneva, Switzerland on Earth became locked in a seven year political quagmire as senators from the colonies met and debated what should be done about the crisis. Many wanted to create an army to destroy the Blagh'ai threat and better organize the humanitarian effort, while others wanted to try a diplomatic solution to try and talk with the Blagh'ai to get them to either leave Terran Republic space or to peacefully co-exist with Humanity. A vote was taken in the spring of 2684, a vote was taken, and the diplomatic solution was chosen. An envoy was sent, but as we already know, they were destroyed and in 2690, the United Terran Empire declared war on the Blagh'ai. The fear and disorder that gripped the Terran Republic during The Chaos was very akin the that which gripped the United States after the 2001 terrorist attacks on September 11th of that year in New York City. Once war was declared, however, the people were only too willing to come together and support the war effort. In 2691 alone, weapons, munitions, equipment, and uniform production quadrupled from what it was in 2690 when the war began. Fleet shipyard production was also at an all-time high in 2691 with fleets of battle-ready, quality made, top-of-the-line command ships, assault cruisers, transport frigates, and patrol-gunships being turned out at shipyards across the Republic every month. One might say the war gave Humanity something to be positive about. Refugees joined the war effort with great enthusiasm, and made up almost 40% of the new United Terran Military's recruits that signed up to fight. And really, why not? They'd lost their homes in the attacks, so to them, it only seemed reasonable to join the fight to regain them. With The Chaos over, and the war well on its way, things were once again looking up, though only slightly.
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Alright, so last night I had an urge to use the Pohatu Protosteel boots for something creative, and I came up with this. I think it's probably the most advanced and creative weapon I've made so far, and uses several unique connection points as you can probably see. I haven't built a character yet for it, and I'm not sure when I'll get around to that.EDIT: Updated model based off ideas. Added more silver and armor to the handle, added a piece on the back end to balance it more, as well as some spikes up towards the top end to make it blend in with the other end more.Front: http://www.brickshel...ammer_front.jpgTop: http://www.brickshel...rhammer_top.jpgBottom: http://www.brickshel...mmer_bottom.jpgFront Closeup: http://www.brickshel...hammer_side.jpgBreakdown: http://www.brickshel...r_breakdown.jpg
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So, after a long abscence, I come vack with the erst fo the Horsemen! Thsi is War, as you may have noticed. With him I went for a more knighlty design, experimenting with a little different aesthetic from what I'm used to.I myself am pretty satisfied with it, hope you be as well.And yes, before anyone get asking, pictures are edited, and I know it might be a bit hard to see, but it was intentional, in order to give it kinda of an ancient, outwordly look.Pics on Flickr: http-~~-//www.flickr.com/photos/johanndakitsch/sets/72157628395282373/and MOCpages: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/299426Some bigger pictures, juts in case you want to seem them here:http://images.mocpages.com/user_images/7968/1323734389m_DISPLAY.jpghttp://images.mocpages.com/user_images/7968/1323751312m_DISPLAY.jpghttp://images.mocpages.com/user_images/7968/1323734448m_DISPLAY.jpghttp://images.mocpages.com/user_images/7968/1323734472m_DISPLAY.jpghttp://images.mocpages.com/user_images/7968/1323734479m_DISPLAY.jpghttp://images.mocpages.com/user_images/7968/1323751319m_DISPLAY.jpgAnd thats it, folks! Hope you like it!Do not post images larger than 100 kB in BBC. -B6
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Scars of War Ackar glanced nervously around, expecting to find Skrall hiding in the rocks nearby. He had expected to run into a patrol of them by now, however, there had been no sign of them so far, and no evidence that they had recently been there. Ackar had been ordered to rally some of the Glatorian troops from his fire tribe who weren't already out on missions or anything else, and go to a Skrall outpost in the northeastern part of the Bara Magna desert. They were to perform a recon mission, steal some equipment, weapons and sabotage other things in their outpost without allowing the Skrall to discover that the fire tribe was behind the mission. Ackar knew he shouldn't allow his suspicions to endanger his mission or troops. "Come on," he ordered, his commanding voice entwined with a sigh. He turned back toward the rocks ahead. It was not long before he turned his head back to face the area behind them, still searching for signs of Skrall, wary of an ambush. He noticed something a little ways to the left of the direction he and his troops had taken in order to reach the place they were currently at. "Halt!" he commanded, his voice slightly betraying his suspicion. His troops stopped, and turned to view the area he was interested in. What Ackar had noticed was a Skrall shield, sticking up out of the ground in an area that was not visible to them earlier due to the angle they had been at. The shield had slash marks through it and was dented and bent, a small chunk had been torn out of the outside edge, and some of the blades on the edge were dulled and ruined. The design on the shield was hardly recognizable. Ackar silently motioned for his eight troops to go out and move toward the place from either side, while he silently walked straight toward the spot. As Ackar approached the site, he noticed Skrall blades and armor lying about, a battered arm lying out at full length from behind a rock. Ackar wondered about how horrible it would be to have one’s arm chopped off. As Ackar attempted to determine what would have the ability to do such a thing to the Skrall while he was still approaching, he caught sight of a Skrall foot lying on the ground near a bush, he now also observed Skrall armor and weapons lying around, scorch marks from overripe Thornax fruit, and a battered and twisted blade sticking up from the other side of the small sand dune he was climbing up which separated him from the site. Ackar finally reached the top of the sand dune, and before him lay a sight that even a Rock Steed would have found revolting. He now observed that the blade which he had assumed was sticking up out of the ground, was, in truth, protruding from the marred, battered, and somewhat shredded body of a Skrall. He understood now that the arm stretched out was still connected to the devastated body of its Skrall owner. The foot, which was lying near a bush, obviously belonged to the hardly recognizable body of a Skrall, which was barely discernible from the bush in which it was buried. Ackar, out of the corners of his eyes, spied the two squads of his troops approaching, they, too, appeared shocked. Suddenly, Ackar realized that there was no sign of any armor belonging to any other tribe. Now Ackar was beyond suspicious, he knew something was up, Skrall just didn't die this way. That was a fact, they would have at least damaged their attackers enough for there to be signs that the enemy had been hurt. Ackar knew that even if the enemy had attacked from a distance, with bows and arrows or Thornax launchers, there would still be signs of the Skrall's enemy. Besides, Ackar rationalized, the scene laid out before him suggested that the enemy had attacked from close range. He peered at the area surrounding the site for footprints. It was not long before he found footprints, several sets of them, leading away from the battle site. The footprints were all Skrall's, Ackar knew that Skrall cared little for the corpses of their own kind, and he wondered if the footprints meant that remaining Skrall had gone after their enemy, however, he found only Skrall footprints, no others, which would indicate that no enemy of the Skrall had left, yet he saw no sign of any still here. Ackar considered whether or not to endanger the mission and his troops to find out what this all meant and what had gone on here. He made his decision. Ackar knew the importance of following orders, he also knew that the one who had given him orders-the Element Lord of Fire-was a power-hungry dictator. Besides that, he knew that to always follow orders to the letter was to not think for one's self, to be a mindless soldier, and, in some cases, to be the loser of the battle, or the loser of one’s life. There were always variables, and one could not always make orders which would successfully deal with each of those variables. He motioned for his troops to come over to him. "Listen," Ackar began, "I am unsure of how to tell you, but I'll do my best to be clear, I am about to disobey orders," The troops were visibly surprised, they had not expected this, not from Ackar, not in this situation. “There is something very strange going on here," Ackar began, "and I intend to learn what it is, if you want a reason for my decision which will benefit our tribe, I have come up with one, it is this; whoever, or whatever, has the ability to do this to the Skrall, would be an invaluable assistance to our tribe, or an unbelievably dangerous foe. So what do you say?" The troops appeared hesitant for a moment, then, slowly at first, they each began to agree to his proposal. Ackar was pleased, and relieved, he was unsure of what would have happened had all his troops not agreed, he only hoped none of them were planning to turn him in for his decision. He quickly led his troops forward, following the plain and obvious trail of footprints. Ackar realized that the Skrall must have left here recently, if their footprints were showing up as well as they were in the rapidly shifting sands of the desert part of Spherus Magna. The trail of footprints led straight away from the site of... of whatever had happened, and did not turn where the Skrall border did a few kio away. Ackar traveled with his troops trailing behind for almost an hour, he was beginning to believe that he should have stuck to following the orders outlined for the mission. He had decided to go on a little farther before giving up, when he heard first one of his troops shouting, "What the-" and as he turned to find what was going on, heard one of his troops murmur in awe, "Great Beings, what is th-" then out of the corner of his eye he spied a quick blur of motion, too large to be a projectile, he barely managed to notice, and a metallic clang rang out, interrupting the speaker, who immediately let forth an unnatural screech of surprise and pain. Ackar drew and swung his sword, with almost impossible speed, toward the troop who had been interrupted, to his right and behind him, knowing that from the angle he was at, he would strike whatever had impacted his fellow Glatorian. When he struck the thing, on what appeared to be its back, it went sprawling into the sand, while his troop, recovering, struggled to return to his feet. Ackar quickly placed his Thornax launcher in the hand he was holding his sword with, holding both in his right hand as he reached down with his left hand, and grabbed his fellow Glatorian by the right arm, pulling him to his feet. The thing he struck was not something he recognized, but he had no time to wonder about what it was, he heard more sounds from behind him, his other troops being attacked, he assumed, and turned to find his troops doing battle with the, things. He watched as the troop closest to him was lunged at and knocked down, by, seemingly, sand. As he gazed on with confusion, he watched the “sand” shimmer and change into another of the silver things. Their color caused him to suspect them of being ice tribe, as the Ice tribe warriors used silver as their main armor color more often than any other tribe. They had spikes all over their armor, and large claws at the end of each arm. There were four of these unknown attackers. Although their color caused him to suspect them of being ice tribe, he was unsure of whether they were or not, he didn’t believe that the ice tribe had the ability to shapeshift that way, he could tell that they hadn’t just sprung out of the sand. All this flashed through Ackar’s mind in an instant, but he had no time to consider any of it more, for his legs were knocked out from under him, sending his weapons flying away from him, and almost before he hit the ground, one of the attackers landed on his chest, its feet close together as it crouched on him, its arms held high as it prepared to bring its wickedly sharp claws down on him. He used his arms to push himself over and begin a roll sideways, knocking the attacker off of his chest. His foe quickly returned to its feet after falling onto its side in the sand. Ackar used the momentum from his roll to launch himself to his feet, and stood in a battle stance facing his opponent. His opponent did not hesitate even a second before charging at him, claws slashing. Ackar dove to his left for his sword, grabbed it, and rolled onto his back, correctly anticipating that his attacker would jump on him. His foe landed directly on the point of the blade, which pierced through a weak part of its left chest armor and slid through its body, disabling some of its inner parts before penetrating the back of its armor and protruding from its back. Ackar began to breathe deeply, regretting that yet another life had been lost in this war. Ackar glanced at the fighting around him, and realized that he should help his warriors. Curious, though, Ackar thought, that he-or she-didn’t cry out, or even speak at all, even once. Ackar knew, though, that there would be time to study these strange new foes and contemplate their strange behavior later. Suddenly, the eyes of his enemy, which he had thought dead, snapped open. Ackar was startled, and it raised its clawed hands to bring them down upon his face. Its left arm only raised about halfway up, though, then halted abruptly. When its arm stopped, Ackar felt his blade twist in his hand, and heard metal scraping on metal. That was when Ackar realized that the thing wasn’t alive, of course, that explained everything, no blood, no speaking or crying out in pain, it wasn’t dead after being stabbed through, the arm had stopped halfway up because his sword had wedged into some of its internal workings, and now it was going to kill him. The thing turned its head to look at its arm, and although it was a robot, it seemed almost confused. Ackar made use of the delay and punched the thing in the face while grabbing its right arm with his left hand. The robots head whirled to face him, and Ackar saw in its eyes only blackness, with an occasional flicker of light. Ackar had only a moment to see its eyes, because it brought its left arm down on his right shoulder, at one of the only few angles still available to it with that arm, knocking his arm back to the ground. He grunted as it struck his shoulder, then tightened his grip on its arm. It pulled its arm as far back as Ackar’s reach would allow, and Ackar began to try to pull it back toward him with all his strength, trying to stop the robot from freeing its arm. Suddenly, the robots arm shot down towards him like lightning, all he saw was a flash then gave a gurgling gasp as he felt the dual claws pierce his upper chest and neck. The Creature withdrew its claws from his body, and Ackar immediately grabbed at his own neck, gasping for breath. The robot, noticing the movement, instantly slashed his face, and he managed to restrain a cry of pain, though he dropped his sword. As soon as Ackar dropped his sword, the robot turned away and leaped at one of his Glatorian ten feet away. Amazingly, the thing cleared the distance, and knocked the fighter over into the sand. Ackar was confused about the things’ strange behavior, but he wasn’t about to complain. He remained still for a moment, to ensure that it was gone, staring straight up into the bright, hot sky, and thinking, It won’t be long until this isn’t just an act. Ackar gave quick, gurgling gasps and held his neck wound closed while pulling himself away from the fighting with his right arm. One of his troops, a fighter called Perditus, who was not very skilled at hand to hand fighting as he was training to use vehicles in battle, rushed over to him. “Fighting these things is worse than getting cornered by a pack of Iron Wolves in a blizzard!” he exclaimed, panting. Ackar didn’t even try to reply, and Perditus noticed his wounds. “No…. you…. Here! Have these.” Hurriedly, Perditus pulled some bandages from the pack he wore on his back, and handed them to Ackar. Ackar applied some of the smaller ones to his face and also bandaged his chest, but continued to hold his neck. Ackar managed to rasp out, “Neck… too bad… bandage, useless.” Perditus reached into his pack again, and retrieved some tools. “Let go,” Perditus ordered, “I may not have been trained as a medic, but I know a bit about Glatorian anatomy.” Upon finishing, Perditus glanced around to ensure that they were still relatively safe, only three Glatorian remained standing, and only the robot Ackar had fought appeared to have been downed, which left three still fighting. Perditus decided not to break this news to Ackar, and turned back to him, waiting for an answer. Ackar hesitated for a moment, then released his neck. Perditus could see that the damage was bad, and that Ackar would be out of the war for at least a month, maybe two, but for Ackar’s sake, he tried not to show it. He leaned down toward Ackar and moved some of the organic tissue under the armor with one of his tools, one shaped rather like a small metal stick, with the end bent diagonally. Ackar winced but did not cry out, besides, it would have been painful and difficult to do so. Perditus finished, then smeared some adhesive onto a small metal plate he had retrieved from his pack, and pushed it gently onto Ackar’s neck. He held it there for a second, then let go of it, and wrapped a bandage around Ackars neck. “I moved some of the internal parts of your neck so that you won’t die, but the damage is bad enough that in about one day, the parts I moved will have been pushed back and you will be dying again, at which time you will have a little less than an hour to live.” Perditus explained, “However, you have a day before that happens, and until then, while it may hurt, your neck should remain in survivable condition.” “Great.” Ackar croaked. Perditus then glanced around at what was left while helping Ackar to his feet. “They’re… robots.” Ackar gasped out. Perditus did not question him, he trusted Ackar, even if sometimes he wasn’t sure how he knew things. One of the three Glatorian he had noticed earlier had been killed, while none of the three robots he had watched appeared to have been stopped, and were now pursuing the other two Glatorian, who were fleeing toward himself and Ackar. Perditus worried that his efforts to save Ackar would be pointless, and that they would all die. One of the troops had no weapons, apparently believing that he stood a better chance of surviving if he ran instead of fought. The other soldier, however, still held a Thornax launcher; he fired it now, back at his wordless pursuers, then threw it at them, apparently having no more ammunition. Strangely, indeed, one of the strangest and most unusual things Perditus had ever seen, or ever would see was that, immediately after the Glatorian released his weapon, the things stopped, just stopped short, and began wandering about, walking off into the distance. Perditus, Ackar, and the other two Glatorian stared after them in bewilderment. “Well,” Began Ackar, “I suppose there is no end of surprise, and death, as long as this war plagues us.” Perditus nodded in agreement. Ackar turned and began trudging toward Vulcanus. Ackar stumbled and fell. Perditus helped him to his knees. “I can make it,” Ackar rasped out. “No,” Perditus ordered, “Don’t push yourself too hard, we won’t let you,” Perditus finished, glancing at both of the other Glatorian, who nodded in approval. “But I-“ “No,” interjected Perditus, cutting off Ackar. Ackar sighed, nodding. Ackar knew he was in no position to argue, and besides, Perditus was right. Ackar lay back in the sand, falling deep into sleep. Perditus took charge. “Alright,” He began, “We can’t go towards Skrall territory, he wouldn’t survive, none of us would. The Skrall would be glad we came, they would be grateful for such an easy chance to kill some of their foes, and especially Ackar, one of the Fire Tribe’s best field commanders.” “Then what do we do?” inquired one of the other Glatorian. “Well,” Perditus thought a moment before continuing, “The Skrall might follow the footsteps away from the site where we found the Skrall bodies, which would lead them here, so we can’t stay here. Hmmm, well, we’ll have to stay the night out here, that’s for sure, we’ll never make it back to the village in time, so I suggest we get as far as we can toward Vulcanus as possible before dark.” “What about him?” questioned one of the Glatorian, gesturing toward Ackar. “We’ll take turns carrying him,” answered Perditus, “two of us will carry him at a time.” The other two troops nodded their assent, then they both picked up Ackar and began following Perditus through the desert. Perditus led them towards the Fire Tribe village for hours, staying kios away from the Skrall borderline. Darkness began to envelop the desert, and Perditus began to help carry Ackar, giving one of the Glatorian a break. Suddenly, the sand around them erupted, this time, however, it wasn’t the sand that lunged at them, but the beings hidden beneath it. Six Sand Tribe warriors flung themselves at the group, and Perditus barked out, “Set down Ackar!” The Glatorian helping carry Ackar obeyed, and Perditus and the other two Glatorian formed a defensive triangle around Ackar’s sleeping form. The Sand Tribe warriors began slowly walking around the triangle. Perditus knew that they couldn’t survive this fight; they had no weapons, and were hopelessly outnumbered. He knew that their only chance of survival was to outwit their foes. Perditus raised his hands in surrender, and when the other Fire Tribe Glatorian glanced at him quizzically, he motioned for them to do the same. Slowly, both the other Glatorian raised their hands in surrender. “Halt!” one of the Sand Tribe warriors, obviously the leader, shouted. His troops immediately stopped walking around Perditus and the other Fire Tribe Glatorian, and stood, weapons ready, surrounding them. The Sand Tribe warrior who seemed to be the commander strode over to Perditus, assuming, because he had ordered other Fire tribe warriors to surrender, that he was their commander. “Are you the commander of these Glatorian?” he questioned Perditus. “No, he is,” Perditus replied, gesturing to the sleeping Ackar. “He needs medical attention within the next 19 hours.” The Sand Tribe commander answered, “That could be true, or it could not, we don’t like this war any more than you or anyone else, but I can’t just allow you to leave on your word alone.” “So what are you going to do with us?” Perditus inquired nervously. “Hmmm,” the Sand Tribe commander contemplated the situation for a moment, then continued “we will escort you to our camp, it is nearby, there, your friend can be looked over by our medic, and you will be our captives. I think that while you are enjoying our hospitality, you can repay us with information, whether you like it or not.” Perditus glared at the commander, however, he didn’t object, he was in no position to make requests, but he had no intention of betraying his tribe, whether this Sand Tribe commander liked it or not. “You two!” the Sand Tribe commander shouted, pointing at two of his warriors, “you walk behind us, keep an eye on our prisoners. And you!” he called, this time gesturing to one of his remaining Glatorian, “you walk on the right of the prisoners, while you!” he ordered, gesturing to yet another Sand Tribe warrior, “walk on the prisoners left. And you,” he pointed toward his only remaining troop, “will have the privilege of accompanying me in leading the prisoners.” Perditus could already tell that this commander was very self confident, thought a lot of himself, and was making sure that everyone knew who was in charge. Perditus imagined that it was likely that the Elemental Lord of sand and this Sand Tribe commander would have leadership issues, they probably already had. “Oh, pardon my manners,” the Sand Tribe warrior began, turning to face Perditus as his troops moved into position, “I’m already taking you captive and I haven’t even introduced myself, my name’s Kabrua, now move it!” Perditus and one of the other Fire Tribe Glatorian lifted Ackar and began to walk forward, following the remaining Fire Tribe warrior. A few minutes later, Ackar stirred, and Perditus quietly warned him not move, as that would let the Sand Tribe troops know that he was awake. Ackar waited silently for a minute, turning his eyes to check the situation. After a few minutes, Ackar whispered to Perditus, “Tell the Glatorian holding my feet to launch me up and over you on my signal.” Perditus nodded, then whispered to the Glatorian ahead of him, “I want you to carry Ackar’s feet now, and, on his signal, throw him up and over me.” The warrior’s eyes widened, but he didn’t question Perditus. The troop stepped back to take the other Glatorian’s place holding Ackar’s feet. Ackar then quietly questioned Perditus, “What are you doing?” Perditus responded in a whisper,“I thought this would be less suspicious.” Ackar waited silently for a moment, then shouted in a voice cracked because of his wound, “Now!” The warrior holding his feet then launched him up and forward, he spun in the air and landed on the face of the Sand Tribe Glatorian accompanying Kabrura in the lead, just as he was turning around. The Sand Tribe warrior he had landed on was knocked unconscious, and Ackar snatched his weapons, a Thornax Launcher and a sword. Kabrura, however, was not so easily downed, as Ackar grabbed the fallen troop’s weapons, he swung his blade at Ackar, catching him in the chest and sending him stumbling backward. Perditus and the other Fire Tribe warriors acted instantly, catching the Sand Tribe troops off guard. Perditus tackled the Glatorian on the left side of the group, while the Glatorian who had thrown Ackar attacked the one on the right. The remaining Fire Tribe Glatorian fought hard to defend against the Sand Tribe warriors in the rear, but couldn’t hold out for long. Perditus had knocked the Glatorian he had tackled to the ground, and they now struggled in the sand. Perditus grappled for the Glatorian’s hatchet, both he and his foe knew that they were at too close range to even try to use the Thornax Launcher, neither of them would be able to get in a good shot, and even if they could, they would hurt themselves as well, being so close. Perditus had broken the Thornax Launcher, however, not wanting his enemy to try to stand and get some distance then take a shot. Perditus pulled at the hatchet, and the Glatorian kicked him in the chest. Perditus had the wind knocked out of him, lost his grip on the hatchet, and the warrior drew back for the strike. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Ackar stumbled back and tripped over Perditus, the Sand Tribe troop had only a moment to glance upward at Ackar before Ackar landed on him, knocking the hatchet from his hand. Perditus grabbed the hatchet. Ackar stood, and the soldier he had fallen on turned to look up only to find the handle of the hatchet flying down toward his face before a sharp pain and then only blackness. The Glatorian who had thrown Ackar was struggling to face his combatant. He had charged his opponent, however, the warrior he had attacked had great reflexes, and he was now on the losing end of a debate with frighteningly sharp axe blade. He ducked under another swing of the axe, hearing it whistle through the air as it passed over him. He came up then, trying to give his foe a strong uppercut, only to receive a knee in the stomach, an elbow to the face, then a punch that sent him sprawling in the sand. After landing hard in the sand, he opened his eyes to find the double-bladed axe streaking down toward him. He tried to scramble out of the way, but he was out of breath and weak, the axe blade sliced through his armor, digging into his left thigh, and he let out a cry of pain. The Glatorian lay stretched out on the ground, as the Sand Tribe warrior raised his axe for the final blow. Ackar turned to find Kabrura running toward the Fire Tribe troop who was taking on two other fighters, and was just about to go and help, when he noticed one of his fellow soldiers laying on the ground, an axe cut on his leg, with his opponent raising an axe over him. Ackar sprung forward, arms outstretched, ready to tackle the Sand Tribe warrior. He shouted, “Stop!” as he sprinted forward. The Sand Tribe Glatorian heard Ackar’s shout, but didn’t even glance up, he swung down with all his might, as the troop he swung his axe at cried out for mercy. The axe blade crashed into the Fire Tribe warrior’s chest with a “Clang!” then a sickening “Crunch!” and the warrior’s cries died along with him. Ackar crashed into the Sand Tribe warrior, but not very effectively, he seemed to have lost speed. Ackar had just witnessed the death of one of the soldiers under his command, the war had not been going on for long, and he was unused to the death of his troops. He was especially unused to trying to save his warriors, and failing. He blamed himself for the death of that Glatorian, he had been too slow, and now the death of that troop was on him. He stopped for a moment, too late to save the warrior, then, suddenly, he was knocked back to reality, and onto the ground, by the fist of the Sand Tribe Glatorian he had attacked.Perditus, meanwhile, had watched Ackar leap forward and had wanted to follow, but knew that the Fire Tribe warrior Kabrua was advancing on needed help. He struggled to his feet and charged after Kabrua. As he neared the Sand Tribe Commander, he raised his weapon. Suddenly, Kabrua, hearing Perditus, spun around and gave him a slash to the face with his sword. Perditus’s feet kept running forward even after he had been sliced in the face, and he fell onto his back. He was gasping for breath, his face was torn up, his metal armor fragmented, even shredded in some areas. Kabrua towered over him, holding his sword at the ready. Perditus, his left hand on his face, blocking his left eye, struggled to his feet. Kabrua laughed, and kneed him in the chin, knocking him back to the ground. Kabrua raised his sword to stab it into Perditus. Perditus realized that, although he usually preferred to fight honorably, his life was on the line, and honor wasn’t worth his life. He flung sand up into the face of his enemy, while scrambling to stand. But, unfortunately, Kabrua was used to such tricks, and brought the blade down without hesitation. Perditus felt an immense pain shoot through his right thigh, and cried out. He could no longer feel his leg. He dropped to the ground in a heap, pinned down by Kabrua’s blade, which had pierced straight through his leg and stabbed into the ground. The world began to darken, and Perditus turned to look at Kabrua as everything began to spin. He managed to find him standing, chuckling, just before the world went black. Ackar found himself in a very difficult situation, he was going to die. After being knocked to the ground, he had managed to trip his opponent, and now they both lay on the ground. His disadvantage was that his opponent was holding an axe, and he wasn’t. He quickly scrambled back, away from the Sand Tribe warrior, and his foe stood to his feet and followed. Ackar, noticing the Sand tribe Glatorian coming, leaped to his feet and stood ready. His enemy swung his axe horizontally, and Ackar ducked, then punched his opponent in the stomach, followed by a swift right-handed uppercut to the Glatorian’s jaw. His adversary was knocked to the ground and Ackar took advantage of the chance, seizing the axe while his enemy fell. Ackar moved like lightning, swinging the axe as his enemy hit the ground, and knocking him unconscious with a strong smack with the eye of the axe. He spun around, surveying the battle. Perditus had apparently just been knocked to the ground by the brutal Kabrua, and the other Fire Glatorian was being beaten by the remaining two Sand Tribe troops. Ackar made the quick decision that Perditus’ need was the least urgent, and rushed toward the other Fire Tribe Glatorian. He tackled one of the Sand Tribe Glatorian from behind, knocking him to the ground. He began to sit upright on the Glatorian, but received a strong bash in the face from the shield that the other Sand Tribe warrior held. He was knocked to the ground, but the Fire Tribe Soldier, regardless of his wounds, leapt into the legs of the Sand Tribe Troop who had hit him, knocking him down. Ackar sat back up, and the Glatorian he had tackled leaped toward him, sword at the ready. Ackar saw what he had to do, as his enemy flew through the air. He didn’t want to, but he wasn’t going to let himself be killed. As his enemy flew toward him, Ackar waited a split second until his foe was so close he wouldn’t have time to react, then, he flung his foot out like lighting, turning his head away at the same time. He heard the clang of his foot impacting the fighters’ face, the snap of the warriors’ neck, and the thud of his carcass falling to the ground. Ackar then turned to the left, toward the other Sand Tribe soldier, not looking toward the body of the warrior he had just killed. The soldier he had turned towards had an expression of rage on his face, because one of his fellow soldiers had just been killed, Ackar guessed. The Sand Tribe warrior kicked the weak and wounded Fire Tribe troop away, then stood, and advanced on Ackar. Ackar scrambled up, but it was too late, the warrior stood over him, hatchet in his left hand, shield in his right. He glared at Ackar for a moment, as Ackar waited for him to make the first move, then slammed the bottom of his shield into the ground so hard it dug in, while at the same time falling into a crouch behind the shield and swinging his hatchet down toward Ackar. Ackar, surprised by this move, scrambled awkwardly away, and was caught in the left arm by the hatchet. He cried out, and grabbed the hatchet with his right hand. He pulled the weapon, but his enemy was stronger, as he discovered when he was roughly jerked face first into the shield. He pushed himself away from the shield, but his foe ripped the shield out of the ground and kicked Ackar in the face. Ackar scrambled back, struggling back to his feet. As he stood, he saw the blur of the hatchet flying toward his neck, there was no time to move, but an object already in motion suddenly appeared in front of his neck, and the hatchet hit it. Ackar heard the object emit a cry, and watched as the object, to fast a moment ago to recognize, fell to the ground. It was the Fire Tribe warrior, he had sacrificed himself for Ackar. The hatchet protruded from the right side of his head, and Ackar stood for a moment, realizing what had just happened. Ackar then realized that the fight wasn’t over, and decided to ensure that the warrior hadn’t died in vain. The Sand Tribe soldier was also standing in shock at what had happened, about three feet from Ackar. He kicked the warrior in the left side of the head, knocking him to the ground. Ackar lunged toward him, but he raised his shield, and Ackar went sliding off of it, over the Sand Tribe troop and onto the ground. He stood and spun around, as his combatant did the same. They circled each other, then Ackar, near the fallen Fire Tribe Glatorian, pulled the hatchet out of his helmet, which it was still embedded in. His foes’ eyes narrowed at this action, and Ackar readied himself. His enemy charged forward, shield ready. Ackar dropped to the ground as his enemy was about to impact him, tripping him, then he leaped to his feet, and jumped and landed on the back of his enemy, knocking the wind out of him. As he drew back the knife, about to knock his foe unconscious with the handle, the warrior rolled over, and he was knocked to the ground. He landed roughly in the hot sand. His enemy smacked him with the shield, and he was momentarily stunned as his enemy reached for the hatchet. He recovered as the knife was snatched from his hand, and brought his left leg around, delivering a strong kick to the back of his combatants’ head. The Sand Tribe warrior was knocked unconscious, and fell to the ground. Ackar breathed heavily, then, remembering Perditus, grabbed the hatchet and shield. He stood to his feet, turning back toward Kabrua and Perditus. Perditus was lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious, and Kabrua was surveying the outcome of the battle. Ackar knew that Kabrua would win if they fought. Kabrua was visibly stronger, and Ackar had become tired and wounded from fighting, while Kabrua appeared to have been effected very little by the battle, and Ackar wondered if he had even fought anyone besides Perditus. Kabrua spotted him and grinned, standing ready for the impending battle. Ackar groaned inwardly. He wasn’t ready for this, he knew he would lose, he had to find an advantage. He quickly scanned the area, trying to find something that would give him an overwhelming advantage over Kabrua. He suddenly spotted a loaded Thornax launcher near where Perditus had been fighting before he battled Kabrua. He realized, disappointedly, that the Thornax launcher was broken. Kabrua relaxed his stance, and Ackar focused his attention on him, wondering what he was doing. Kabrua turned around, bent over, and lifted Perditus’ unconscious form off the ground, and held him up, with his sword pressed to his neck. Ackar realized that Kabrua wasn’t even going to fight, he was just going to force him to surrender by threatening Perditus. Kabrua shouted, “I’ve heard about you, Ackar, a rising general, constantly improving your skills, well, improve them now! Drop your weapons, or your friend will die!” Ackar sighed, and dropped his weapons in resignation. Kabrua smiled, and called, “Now go and rouse the surviving Sand Tribe warriors.” Ackar turned toward the closest living Sand Tribe soldier, unconscious in the sand, and began walking toward him. As he began tapping lightly on the Glatorian, he glanced over at Kabrua, and noticed Perditus’s eyes light up, as he regained consciousness. Ackar hid the emotion of hope and excitement that exploded within him as he turned back to the Glatorian he was awakening. Ackar began tapping the sand behind the soldier, hoping Kabrua wouldn’t notice his treachery, until it was too late.Perditus awoke with cold, sharp steel pressed against his throat. He didn’t move for a minute, trying to understand what was going on and why he was no longer on the ground. “Hurry up” he heard Kabrua shout from right above his head. He realized he would have to act fast if he was going to get out of this situation. He lifted his arms and threw Kabrua over his shoulder, and as Kabrua flew over him, he snatched the sword from his hand. Kabrua landed in the sand, winded, and before he could react, Perditus had brought down the pommel of the sword down on his forehead, knocking him unconscious. Ackar rushed over to him, calling, “Yes! Now let’s get out of here, before they wake up!” Perditus nodded, and they ran away, in the direction of Vulcanus. A few hours later, Perditus and Ackar, who had begun so enthusiastically on their journey back to Vulcanus, were struggling just to remain on their feet. Ackar stopped walking, and collapsed into the sand. Perditus collapsed next to him, wheezing, “We- we can’t stop now, we don’t have far to go.” “I know,” Ackar responded between gasps, “reach into my pack, I brought an extra Thornax in case we ran into trouble and our troops needed more ammunition. Perditus pulled out the Thornax, then asked, “What do I do with it?” Ackar replied, “You still have Kabrua’s sword, right?” “Yeah.”“Throw the Thornax into the sky as high as you can, then, throw the sword up and hit it, setting it off, which should signal a Fire Tribe patrol.”Perditus, too weary to respond, readied himself, then threw the Thornax into the air, he quickly threw the sword up after it. Unfortunately, he missed the Thornax, and he scrambled to catch it before it impacted the ground, as that would probably set it off. He remembered just in time to dodge the sword, and stepped out of the way as it stabbed into the ground. He tried once more, and this time it worked, and he collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Ackar managed to retain consciousness long enough to see a Fire Tribe patrol come hurrying over moments later, then he fell into the black pit of unconsciousness. Days later, Ackar and Perditus were sitting outside a military hospital in Vulcanus, their wounds bandaged. Ackar had learned much from his experience, disobeying orders was only to done to save a life, and, unfortuneatly, his actions had not been done to save any lives, and had eventually led to the loss of some. Ackar would always remember this experience, and applied to himself from then on, which made him a better warrior, leader, and being overall. “These are some pretty serious wounds,” Perditus remarked, “The scars of war everyone who survives will bear.”“No,” Ackar replied, staring off into the distance. Ackar had learned much from his experience, disobeying orders should only be done to save a life, and, unfortuneatly, his actions had not been done to save any lives, and had eventually led to the loss of some. Ackar would always remember this experience, and applied it to himself from then on, which made him a better warrior, leader, and being overall. Perditus turned and looked at him quizzically.“No, Perditus, these will heal, even if they leave marks. The true scars of war, are the memories.” ____________________________________________________________________________________Did you enjoy it? What were the good things about it and the bad? How could it be improved? Feedback is appreciated, and thank you for reading.
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Bionicle: The Shadows Inside By Ignacis I feel fine and I can smileBut I feel the anger coming.It's underneath I don't know whyIt's always overflowing.It's a constant fight deep insideAnd I want to forget it.I confess I’m always afraid,Always ashamed of what's inside me.I confess I’m always afraid,Always ashamed of what's inside my head.REDInnocents and InstinctCopyright 2009 The Toa Nuva, accompanied by their leader Toa Mata Tahu, struggled against their chain bonds as the Shadowed One examined each of them with the utmost care. Their Kanohi had been stripped from them, as well as their weapons. Even their Toa Symbols had been taken from their makeshift villages in the newly formed Matoran settlement on Spherus Magna. It had started off as any other day, but without warning, the Dark Hunters had appeared, taken the Toa Nuva and Tahu captive and brought them to their newly built fortress on the outskirts of Bara Magna. After they had been beaten and battered by a variety of the Shadow One's cronies, and each of the Toa was strapped to a large pillar in the fortress's dungeon, where the Shadowed One now paced, as if waiting for someone to arrive. "You are probably wondering why I brought you here," he said, stopping in front of Tahu. "Well, if you must know, I am here to become the next great hero of this world." "What in the name of Karzanhi are you talking about?" exclaimed Gali, lifting her head high enough to meet the Shadowed One's gaze. "Silence you pathetic waste of Protodermis!" said the Dark Hunter Amphibax, who was standing next to Gali. There was a loud thud as the Dark Hunter punched Gali in the stomach, causing her to lost her breath and keel over, help up only by her bonds. The Shadowed One snickered. "Foolish Toa. You think your insults phase me? I have your powers, your precious Kanohi and even your Toa Symbols. I could incinerate you right now, but fortunately for you, I have bigger plans than just destroying the most powerful Toa in the universe." His back was to them now, and Tahu could see the Shadowed One's third leg. He then turn to gaze at the Toa out of the corner of his eye, an evil sneer across his face. "You see, I am the one who is going to destroy Teridax one and for all, but I will need your 'help' to do so." "Then why did you feel the need to kidnap us? And what makes you think Makuta is still alive?" asked Tahu, struggling against his bonds. "It's quite simple, Toa of Embers. Teridax cannot die unless all of his antidermis is destroyed," said the Shadowed One, his voice barely above a whisper. There was a loud bang, followed by a serious of grunts and clang of footsteps on the cold, stone floor of the dungeon. Tahu strained his eyes to see what was causing the commotion, but whatever it was, it was making sure to stay out of a sight. When the footsteps stopped, the grunts increased, as well as the rustle of what sounded like fabric. There was a loud thud, the sound of a small scuffle, and then two Dark Hunters appeared, dragging something behind them. Tahu recognized them as Gladiator and Minion, two of the organization's strongest members. After they slammed and fastened what they were dragging onto a rack of some kind, Minion began to shift and almost pace as if irritated by being in the room. The Shadowed One approached him and spoke softly. "He's here, isn't he?" Minion spoke, in a garbled voice, like he was speaking with a mouth full of water. It chilled Tahu to the core as it echoed eerily in the room, thought it was barley over a whisper. "Yes…he is here…I sense him…all over…like…he is…them!" "Then your usefulness has ended," he said, and blasted Minion with his laser vision. There was an explosion of energy, and the massive Dark Hunter fell to the ground and lay there in a pile, unmoving. The Shadowed One turned around and pointed at the rack. "Remove the shield!" Gladiator nodded and ripped something off the rack, holding it high in the air for all to see. Tahu thought it looked like a Kanohi of some kind, but it was solid protosteel and shapeless, with no slits for eyes or any other notable features on its surface. "Bring him forward," said the Shadowed One, stepping to the side. Gladiator pushed the rack forward into the low light from the various candles that filled the room. Strapped spread eagle to the rack was a Toa with dark silver and white armor. He gasped and coughed as he tried to lift his head up to see his surrounding. Tahu felt helpless as he stared at the battered Toa. As a moan escaped the Toa's mouth, and he gasped under his breathe, his voice almost cracking. "Takua…no…" The Shadowed One rapped his staff three times on the ground, and another Dark Hunter, one called Airwatcher, appeared with a two, small bundles to the Shadowed One's left. He gave one to the Shadowed One, and emptied the contents of the other onto the floor near him. Tahu heard a loud clatter as what seemed like Kanohi of some kind hit the floor, though he could not tell which ones they were in the dim light. The Shadowed One removed the cloth from his bundle, and revealed a golden Kanohi, which lit up the cavern and nearly blinded the Toa as its bright light fell on them. The Shadowed One then placed the Kanohi on Takanuva, which made his body lurch as if he had been electrocuted. The Tahu and the others cried out in utter helplessness as the golden armor of Takanuva, the Toa of Light, now shone in the dimly lit dungeon. The Shadowed One leaned in, his face just inches from Takanuva's mask and spoke to him in a chilling voice. "Now, just as we discussed," he said, pointing to the Toa. "I…can't…I…won't…" he gasped, laying his head back against the rack. "Then I'll make you!" said the Shadowed One. With blinding speed, he grabbed a Kanohi from the ground and slammed it onto Takanuva's face, banging his head against the back of the rack with a loud thud. Takanuva seemed to be filled with energy now, and began to fight against his bonds. The Shadowed One picked up another Kanohi and slammed it on Takanuva's face, causing the Toa of Light to start to glow more brightly, and once again bang his head on the back of the wooden rack. "How long can you hold all this energy, Toa of Light?" cried the Shadowed One, slamming yet another mask onto Takanuva's face. "If you release too much, you'll incinerate all of your fellow Toa. Release too little, and you'll destroy yourself. Is that a gamble you honestly want to take?" He slammed yet another Kanohi onto Takanuva's face, causing him to glow even brighter. As the Shadowed One raised another Kanohi from the ground, Tahu gasped as he caught the mask's outline in the dim light. He's giving him Masks of Elemental Energy! Thought Tahu. But if he isn’t more careful, he's going to knock Takanuva unconscious! Doesn't the Shadowed One realize that he could kill us all if he keeps doing that? The Shadowed One slammed another Kanohi onto the Toa of Light's face, causing the Av-Toa's head to bounce violently off the back of the rack yet again. Even as the leader of the Dark Hunter's raised another Kanohi up, the Toa of Light did not utter a sound of protest or pain. This seem to anger the Shadowed One even more as he screamed at Takanuva, his voice echoing several times over in the large, empty chamber. "Release your powers Toa of Light! Do it now!" The Toa of Light looked up and gazed into the eyes of the Tahu's team. "I'm…sorry,” he whispered, and as his head collapsed back onto the rack, he let out a shout of pain. Tahu closed his eyes as an explosion of light came from Takanuva, and washed over the Toa's bodies. Maybe it was his body shutting down, or his mind blocking it out, but Tahu felt no pain from the light. Instead, he felt like something was coursing through out his body, causing him to writhe and struggle to get away. Then, the pain hit him. It was pain like he had never known before. It was like his very soul was being torn from his body, and then torn in two. Memories flashed before his eyes, blurring and stirring his thoughts into a confusing swarm of consciousness, preventing him from distinguishing reality from his memories. Suddenly, the scattered fragments of his psyche then began to focus on one event. It was fuzzy at first, but eventually stabilized and he could now see a figure before him, black as soot and battling against him, a rusted Kanohi Hau on his face. He fought off several blows before his attacker spoke to him. "Take care, Tahu," said his attacker, his voice crackling like fire. "Lest the fire of your anger blaze out of control." "We'll see how you like my fire now," he said and unleashed a wave of fire that melted the very rock between them. He continued to battle his attacker, matching him blow for blow. Tahu felt like his mind was caught between the past and present, melding into some strange time paradox. Around him, the other Toa were battling versions of themselves, with little success. Then, his memories began to shutter, like his vision was trying to correct itself. There was a sudden blast and he saw Gali's attacker vanish in a cloud storm of fire, only to have his vision shift to the shadowy attackers regrouping to face the Toa as a group. "We can't beat them, they are just too powerful!" exclaimed Gali. His vision shifted again, showing Gali washing away Onua's attacker with a massive flood. As Onua went to attack Lewa's opponent, his vision shifted back to their enemies closing in on them as a group as he had seen before. "They match us move for move, as if they know what we are going to do next!" said Pohatu. Tahu's vision shifted again to see Pohatu suddenly fighting his attacker in the corner of the room. "Guys?" he called breathlessly. "Um, hey- anyone want to give me a hand here?" As Kopaka turned towards the Toa of Stone, Tahu's vision shifted again to see Kopaka and the other standing in a line around him, preparing to attack the Shadow Toa who were closing in on them. "It's because they are us!" said Kopaka, unleashing a snowstorm against their attackers. The Shadow Tahu released a torrent of energy, and Kopaka quickly created a wall of ice all around the Shadow Toa, allowing the Toa Mata to retreat to another section of the cavern while they tried to escape from. "What do you mean, brother?" asked Onua, summoning a massive dome of earth over their attackers as they huddled up, still facing the spot where their attackers were imprisoned. "Remember that Matoran was selling the infected Koli balls to the Matoran? The one Takua told us about?" "Yeah, he disappeared. What does that have to do with these Toa we are fighting now?" asked Pohatu, adding another wall of defense to hold their opponents captive. "Everything! Don't you see? We see the Matoran as faithful servants of Mata Nui, but then why would Ahkmou purposely sell those Koli balls to the Matoran?" said Kopaka. The Toa looked at him perplexed, but then Gali seemed to understand. "It is because we all have the choice to do great good or great evil," said Gali. "What is to stop us from now from ending this battle by offering our service to the Makuta? Nothing but our free will, and our heartfelt destiny to reawaken Mata Nui. It is our choices that make us Toa Heroes, instead of tyrants like Makuta." An explosion rocked the room, sending ice, earth and stone flying through the air. The Toa each summoned the power of their Kanohi Hau's, and shielded themselves from the onslaught of debris. As the Shadow Toa emerged from a cloud of dust, Lewa jumped in front of the other Toa and crouched into a battle ready stance. "Well, this has been a great deep-thought conversation, brothers," said Lewa, unleashing a blast of air at their attackers. "But how does that help us stop those things from making us Rahi-bones?" Tahu thought about Lewa's words carefully as he summoned a wall of fire to help impede their steady march towards his team. He thought about how he had nearly lost control of his anger not long after he had landed on the shores of Mata Nui and how tempting it had been to give into his anger and unleash all of his power on that beach, and even the world. It had made him realized just how close he came to giving into his inner darkness, even though he fought for justice and freedom of his Matoran friends. Tahu knew what he had to do and looked around at his fellow Toa. "If those things truly are reflections of us," he said, preparing his sword. "Then perhaps it's time we had a heartlight to heartlight talk with ourselves!" The others understood and readied their weapons as well. Giving a battle cry, Tahu charged, and the other Toa followed suit, yelling at the top of their lungs. The Shadow Toa charged as well, and the two forces met in the middle of the chamber. Locking weapons with his attacker, Tahu pressed his mask up to his shadow version's mask. "So, you say we are one in the same, monster?" "Of course I am you, foolish Toa! Do you finally see the truth?" "Yes I do, and it is time we see how alike we really are!" With a sudden burst of strength, Tahu broke free from his attacker and slammed his body into his Shadow self. As the being seemed to disperse into the air, he found himself engulfed in pain as the Shadow Tahu began to swirl and mass of shadow energy around him. To his left and right, his fellow Toa were also crying out as their enemies were covering them in a whirling mass of darkness. As the darkness continued to whirl around them, the voice of his enemy filled his head, and seemed to break apart as if being cut off by another voice trying to communicate with him as well. "This is not the end, Toa! I shall return!" Tahu suddenly felt his head fly back and he gazed up at the cavern's ceiling, as the dark mass seemed to enter his body from his mouth. As the dark mass seemed to fill his body, his vision once again began flash back and forth between his current battle and the images of the Toa destroying the other's Toa's shadow doubles with their various elemental attacks. Then the world began to swirl, almost blending together in a chaotic mixture of past and present, fact and fiction and light and darkness. With a final convulsion, Tahu found himself gasping for air and staring up at the ceiling of a dark room, pinned to a massive pillar by metallic bonds. As the Toa Nuva came out of their daze, they all looked up to see the Shadowed One getting into a battle stance and shouting at a large, greenish mass that was now floating in the middle of the chamber. "Get his body ready! He won't last long without something to house him!" "What is the meaning of this? What is going on?" said a deep, raspy voice in Tahu's head. He knew that voice. It was the voice of Makuta Teridax communicating through telepathy. The voice made even Tahu cringe, and he now knew what the greenish cloud must be. It was the last remaining portion of Teridax's antidermis, which had housed itself inside the bodies of the Toa Nuva, like they had taken him hostage. Our souls must have kept Makuta pinned down inside of us, knowing what great evil he would have committed should he have escaped! Thought Tahu, as he stared at the swirling cloud above them. But why is the Shadowed One giving him a body? He will only grow stronger if he finds something to house his spirit! "I have freed you from your Toa captures to finish what we started on Metru Nui over 1,000 years ago, Teridax! And today, you will not be able to escape!" "Foolish, Shadowed One. You claim to the all knowing leader of a powerful organization, but you do not realize how clueless you really are!" "What do you mean? I was the one who discovered the full layout of your plan to take over the universe! Did you really think I would not consider you would have a backup plan in case you failed even after your greatest victory? Surely even you cannot be so headstrong you would have an oversight like that? No, I know you have schemes within schemes and plans within plans so that even if you fail, you still keep yourself five steps ahead of your enemies! Well, I have learned from your treachery and I did some scheming of my own! And now, I will be the one who will finally destroy you, and claim my rightful place as the rightful ruler of this universe!" "Against my knowledge, you are nothing more than a Hoto bug in terms of intelligence, Shadowed One. Which is why I will not fight you today. Instead I will leave you now, and let you rethink your glorious plan." The mass suddenly dove towards the ground, and dissipated into Minion through the small gaps in his indestructible armor plating. The massive Dark Hunter then rose from the ground writhing and squirming as if in massive amounts of pain. After Minion rose to his full height, he writhed for several more seconds, and then suddenly roared in the voice of Teridax, raising a massive clawed hand high into the air. Before he could counter the attack, Teridax struck the Shadowed One with a massive blow to his face. The other Dark Hunters sprang into action to subdue him, but Teridax struck them with a blast of laser vision, combined with his chain lightening power from one hand and sonic power from his other. As the various Dark Hunters collapsed to the ground, Teridax turned and unleashed a similar attack on the Shadowed One that sent him flying through the air and through a nearby wall. When the dust settled, Makuta had vanished from view leaving Tahu and his fellow Toa chained to the wall. As the Shadowed One began to stir and recover from the massive blast, Tahu suddenly felt himself being freed. He turned to see Takanuva, using small beams of light to break the Toa's bonds. As soon as he was free, Tahu helped free his fellow Toa. The two Toa worked quickly and as soon as Kopaka's bonds were destroyed, they ran up the flight of stairs that lead out of the dungeon toward the main level of the fortress. As Tahu collected his Kanohi and weapons from a room just to the left of the stairs, he turned and unleashed a torrent of fire at the doorway, blocking any pursuit from the Dark Hunters. The Toa continued to run out of the Dark Hunter's fortress, battling its various members as they went. When they finally reached the exit, the Toa hijacked several of the Hunter's vehicles from the fortresses courtyard and took off towards the Matoran settlement.
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THE EPIC UP TO CHAPTER THIRTY TWO MAY BE FOUND AT THIS LINK. THIS TOPIC WILL BE USED FOR NEW CHAPTERS. The BZPower StoryAn Original Epic By Snoopy82This epic does not represent the views of the staff that the author holds. The Staff work very hard to keep this website running and should be respected. This work is completely fictional. All portrayals of members are fictional and are in no way a portrayal of them in real life. --- Prologue.Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.--Hesiod, Greek didactic poet (~800 BC) --- This was the end. Ninjo was about to die.Just three years earlier he had stood on the beach, sword in hand, training at the side of Dimensioneer. They had been friends, sworn to protect. Now they were enemies, sworn to kill.Ninjo lay on the ground outside of BZ-Metru, sword just out of reach. His legs were broken, his arms bloodied and bruised, and head swimming. Dimensioneer stood over him. His blade was at Ninjo's neck, poised to run through."First you deceive the other admins, then you try and pollute the minds of the moderators with that fiend Hapori Dume. And now, now you try to destroy the site altogether with that "KimPower" nonsense. You're truly a madman."Dimensioneer smiled. "It is all part of a bigger plan, my friend.""Don't call me a friend.""Very well, Ninjo. You know you can't win. Join me, and you will have fame. Fortune. Glory. Anything you could ever desire.""What I desire is the exact opposite of what you want.""So you will not side with me?""Never.""Then you must die, so you cannot reveal my plans."Dimensioneer started to push the sword toward Ninjo's neck. Then, he stopped. A thoughtful look appeared on his face, and he withdrew his sword."I have a better idea... much better indeed."He dropped his sword."I, Dimensioneer, as the founder and Forum Administrator of BZ-Metru, restrict this member known as Ninjo from entering the forums for 5 years."Ninjo gasped."After which he will be allowed to return and will aid me in my conquest."Ninjo's face conveyed nothing but fear. "You can't do that! There's no way you can make me help you!"Dimensioneer smiled again, this time with a cruel twist. "There is one way... a virus."He took a pill containing a virus from his belt and before Ninjo could react, Dimensioneer shoved it down his throat. Ninjo started to twist and turn, as the virus slowly started to infect his mind. Soon, the virus would be in full control of his body, and Ninjo would be helpless against it."I'll leave you now, Ninjo, to writhe in the pain accompanying the virus. I'll see you again in five years... when you will help me achieve ultimate power."He started to walk away, but turned to say one last thing."Good bye... friend."
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Hello comic readers, Verniahk here.Since my last comic bombed, I decided to run a new one. This is about one Matoran's struggle to survive in an endless war. There will be new comics every week or so. I will sometimes put in more than one a week, but I will try to put in at least one comic per week, consistently. The drawing style is inspired by that of one of Tapika's comics. IF you wish to guest star, I am willing to oblige, but please no more than ten at a time. You do not need to give me a sprite sheet, only body color, eye color, and mask. I will sometimes include comic makers in comics, perhaps fighting in the background, or as a minor nonrecurring character. If you see yourself give me a holler and I will make a special comic for you.COMICSScalladrax part 1Scalladrax part 2Scalladrax part 3Scalladrax part 4GUEST STARS (me no likey that term) TEMPORARY SOLDIERS1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.PERMANENT GUEST STARS (me no likey that term either) HONORED SOLDIERS1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.I hope that you all enjoy the comics, and I hope that they shall have some longevity. To all, happy reading!