The Water Among Rock

[aldero]

The Water Among Rock

 

"You really did put up a fight back there. I really do hope I can see you again, but I suppose you did it for countless others. You always seemed so special, from what I've heard from this small elder who calls herself Nokama." muttered Kiina.

 

Kiina was in a large, decorated chamber, and it was filled with other Matoran, Toa, Turaga, Glatorian and Agori who came to mourn this one's leave. Most of the people mourning were gazing at the Ignika, and were sad that Mata Nui had left them, whilst some others were reading the tall, vast walls of writing that told Mata Nui's story. 

 

"I guess I'll see you soon." said Kiina.

 

This chamber was surrounded by what was known as a Kini-Nui in the Matoran Universe, as many Agori and Matoran had gathered around the circles outside the sacred chamber. The location itself was a vast mix of many elements. Waterfalls and lakes pooled around flourishing jungles, large spikes of protodermis jutted out of mountains, and small hills of stone were scattered around a vast desert. Kiina had taken the path to Tajun, her home village before Mata Nui's life completion, but Tajun was still a functioning village. Only now they had a few more residents.

 

Kiina had parked her Thornatus outside the chamber, and rode off to Tajun to accept any errands the elders might need help with. As she drove to her faraway village, she observed the changes that the planet of Spherus Magna had seen in the past five years. Somewhere in the rocky desert, a massive field of metal was deemed the Rahkshi Field, as hundreds of thousands of empty Rahkshi shells were spread across the dunes from when Tahu made quick work of the Makuta's sons. The Sea of Liquid Sand was no longer liquid, but was rather the main bay to a massive ocean of the planet. The Black Spike Mountains were now teeming with Onu-Matoran and vast mines rather than Skrall, an previously rare jungle was now the residence of Plantlife and Air villages, and many more things were introduced. Kiina had also heard of a gigantic fortress somewhere on the planet.

 

She eventually arrived at Tajun, and went up to the Turaga to accept any jobs. After all, the planet had been quite peaceful after a few squabbles were settled between the worlds after about a year or so. Kiina had walked up to the Turaga's temple, and found that many other Toa of Water were gathered there. The Toa known as Gaaki, Gali and Hahli were gathered here. Even Tarix was there, even though no one had ever called him a Toa. 

 

"Wait, what are you all doing here? Unless it's another one of your stories, Nokama, why are we here?" asked Kiina.

 

"We have a crisis in the Black Spike Mountains, apparently. And for some reason, we are called upon. Willing to join us, Kiina?" interrupted Hahli.

 

"Well, yes. Who is causing the problem, though?" said Kiina.

 

"Nokama says there has been an overthrow of the Onu-Matoran in the Black Spike Mountains. She thinks some rogue Dark Hunters are behind this." replied Gaaki.

 

"We don't have to time to jump to assumptions, but we should just go if you ask me." said Hahli.

 

"Let us go to the Black Spike Mountains, noble Toa. Quickly." said Nokama.

 

With the Turaga's word, Kiina and Tarix once again started up their Thornatus vehicles, Gali flew away with her Adaptive Armour, and everyone else hopped on the Glatorian's vehicles. The Black Spike Mountains were quite a way's away, and took a rather long trip. When the sun of Solis Magna started to set, the Toa and Glatorian stopped at the Ice Tribe to rest. The icy mountains and settlement were about the same as they were five years ago, but not in terms of population. Most of the Ice Agori had moved away to the larger mountains and glaciers, where most of the Matoran, Toa and Turaga moved to. This mountain range gradually had it's ice melted, and it gradually became just another mountain in the Black Spike range.

 

The company of heroes had rested in a cave just near the desert sands, but getting light wasn't too easy, as, needless to say, these warriors of water weren't very good with fire. Fortunately, Tarix always carried around a lightstone, which he was given by a Matoran called Taipu. The lightstone had a small radius of illumination, but the company gathered around it anyway. With that, the company had a chat.

 

"Dark Hunters, eh? Wouldn't they just slavishly follow their leader? Or move to a better hiding spot? The Black Spike Mountains are bustling with Matoran and resources! Not a very good hideout." said Hahli.

 

"The Mountains do have many caves and resources, so it could actually be an ideal Dark Hunter spot once they clear out all the Onu-Matoran. They might as well follow in the footsteps of the Skrall. They used to live there, from what I've heard." replied Gali.

 

"You would be right. These Matoran would have added some kinks into the mountains, so that would probably attract these Hunters." said Tarix.

 

"In case you will be wondering where I am, I'm going to scout out the mountain. Don't worry about me." stated Kiina.

 

The mountain that was once the Ice Tribe was quite tall and expansive. But once Kiina had finally reached the summit, she looked over the landscape and saw the location that her company would soon reach - The Black Spike Mountains. The Mountains appeared to be bustling with Matoran, but this was mostly due to the large amount of huts, lights and mines. As she climbed down a little bit from the summit, she squinted her eyes and scanned the area. Then, she saw what seemed to be a hulking brute with four arms, who was walking behind a imposing, armoured figure. She didn't recognise it, so she climbed back down to the camp and notified the company.

 

"Excuse me, but we have some activity in the Black Spikes. There seems to be a big shell with four arms accompanying a rather menacing figure. Have any idea how this might be?" asked Kiina.

 

"Nokama was right. There are Dark Hunters in the Black Spike Mountains. This 'big shell' is The Shadowed One's main bodyguard. But from what I've heard, this brute was sent to Voya Nui to find the Piraka. It's quite unlikely that he has found his way back to his master though." said Hahli.

 

"May be, Hahli. With that, I guess we won't have time for resting. Let's go find these Hunters." replied Gaaki.

 

After Gaaki's word of action, the company were off to the Mountains in a few seconds. Tarix and Kiina started up their Thornatus vehicles, Hahli and Gaaki hopped on, and before Gali soared away, she said: 

 

"I'm going to scout out the area. If there's any trouble, you'll hear flash floods."

 

"Ugh. Wish I had jetpack armour..." groaned Kiina.

 

A quick trip to the Black Spike Mountains followed, and Kiina rushed foward in front of Tarix's vehicle, and without a word, smirked at Tarix. Right as she parked her Thornatus, however, a bolt of energy had struck the ground, previously on a course for the vehicle. Kiina had managed to quickly swerve the Thornatus away. Another energy bolt was launched at the Thornatus, which was similarly dodged, until another was on an exact course for the vehicle, and Kiina shouted at her passenger to exit the Thornatus. It turns out exiting the vehicle was a good idea, as once the bolt of energy had struck the Thornatus, it was engulfed in energy, and dematerialised. Gaaki lay in the sand and saw the diminishing Thornatus, and knew exactly what this was. 

 

A Dematerialisation Rhotuka. 

 

With this realisation, Gaaki shouted: "Tarix! Hahli! Get off your vehicles! Now! Dematerialisation Rhotuka!" 

 

Confused, Tarix jumped out of the driver's seat anyway, but Hahli was aware of this threat, and promptly jumped onto the sand. Hahli quickly scanned the rocks above, and saw what Kiina had vaguely described. A big shell with four arms. Except now, she saw it was yellow, had several weapons in it's hands, and stood rather tall. It was Sentrakh. With the Dark Hunter in sight, Gaaki charged up her Tidal Spear, and hit Sentrakh with a powerful torrent of water. 

 

Suddenly, Gaaki's Mask of Clairvoyance activated, without any intent from Gaaki. In the resulting vision, she saw herself fighting against strange Dark Hunters, coming in the forms of fusions, mutations, and beast-like beings. Also in the vision, she saw a massive wave flooding the tunnels, destroying all light. Intrigued, Gaaki wanted to know more, but the vision abruptly stopped. She snapped back to her senses, and went into the Black Spike Mountains to catch up with the rest of the company.

 

Meanwhile, Gali had landed on the sharp peak of a nearby spike to make her job of scouting out a bit more secretive. She looked into the Mountains, and saw an odd clawed Dark Hunter pacing around an entrance, guarding it from intruders.

 

"Looks like I'm going to catch a guard off-guard..." whispered Gali.

 

She aimed her Nynrah Ghostblaster at the guard, setting it to the lowest level, and silently fired at the Hunter. The Hunter fell down from the shock, and fell unconscious. With the guard out of the way, she covertly flew into the fortress and looked around. There were very few guards around the other entrances, and actually not very many in the Black Spike Mountains. Gali flew back up to the top of the mountains, and saw a rather large group of Dark Hunters leading a charge against what seemed to be the rest of the Toa. With this sight, she flew in closer and starting creating a flood.

 

Hahli had walked up a dune and saw the charging of Dark Hunters, and prepared to fight. Gaaki charged up her Rhotuka, Kiina powered up her weapon, and Tarix got into a defense position. Once the Dark Hunters had just about reached the Toa, an intense amount of Water energy was fired at the oncoming enemy. Water had defeated many of the Hunters, and were overwhelmed by the power of the waves. However, some of the Hunters stood, not at all wavered. Firedracax, in particular had a firm grip on his staff, as he heated any of the water being fired at him into steam in an instant. 

 

"Alright, maybe we should have brought along a Toa of Ice. We can't douse this fiery Hunter..." said Kiina.

 

"Maybe we can!" shouted Gali from a distance.

 

Maybe the Toa Nuva could. The flood she created was indeed huge, rivaled only by a Nova Blast. The wave had rushed out of the mountains in seconds, and the intense force made any surrounding spikes collapse from the loss of support. As it came down on Firedracax, he yet again focused his Fire powers to turn the flood into steam. He used his power with immense effort, until his Fire powers slightly diminished from the use, allowing the waves to crash down on him. 

 

"Impressive, Gali. Maybe we're fine against Fire after all." said Gaaki.

 

"We might be. But The Shadowed One is still in that fortress, and that army we just saw couldn't be all of the Dark Hunters he has." replied Gali.

 

"Okay, keep unleashing floods if you want, but we still have Onu-Matoran to save, right? We might want to prioritise here." queried Kiina.

 

"Well, we've got to get The Shadowed One out of the mountains. It would be essential to do that first, don't you think?" said Hahli.

 

"Alright... let's get this shadowed guy out of here." mumbled Kiina.

 

The company then went inside the Black Spike Mountains to meet The Shadowed One, and fought the occasional guard among the entrances. Kiina and Tarix, however, were not accompanying the rest. They were looking around the vast caves that the Onu-Matoran left when they were living in the mountains, hoping to find the presumably captured Matoran. Most of the searches yielding nothing, as they were mainly abandoned mines. But during the search of yet another cave, they saw something rather interesting.

 

A Toa of Earth in a stasis tube.

 

"What's he doing here? Wouldn't they just kill him? said Tarix confusingly.

 

"I'm not sure. Maybe holding him for ransom?" replied Kiina.

 

The two looked around the chamber a little more, they saw a Dark Hunter guard, and quickly hid behind a wall. However this was useless. The Dark Hunter called "Dweller" had seen the two looking at the stasis field, and tracked them down. He proceeded to destroy the wall next to them, revealing the two to him.

 

"Ahhh... so there you are. Like mental blasts?" said Dweller.

 

"Dweller" had focused his mental blast into Kiina, sending her reeling to the back wall, screaming in pain. Before "Dweller" was able to kill her, Tarix quickly slashed at his armour and claws, destroying his claws and damaging his armour. This was enough to distract him, and Tarix managed to pick him up and throw him into another empty stasis tube, keeping him in suspended animation.

 

"Uggghh... that really hurt. That could have killed me..." mumbled Kiina, trying to recover.

 

"It didn't this time. We would want to get this Toa of Earth out, but how? He's in a stasis field." said Tarix.

 

"Ummm... smash it? said Kiina.

 

After Kiina had mentioned smashing the tube, she did indeed smash it. With a quick slice of the glass that held the Toa, the Toa fell down limply, and started breathing again. He stood up, and was confused about why he was here.

 

"Hello there, Toa of Earth. Who are you? Do you know why you're here?" asked Kiina.

 

"My name is Toa Nuparu. And I was in the Black Spike Mountains, but I'm here now for some reason." replied Nuparu.

 

"We'll find out soon, I suppose. For now, you can help us. By the way. I'm Tarix." he said.

 

"Well, Tarix, what's the problem?" said Nuparu.

 

"I'll answer that. The Dark Hunters have taken over the Black Spike Mountains, and we currently leading a charge against "The Shadowed One" along with some other Toa. Will you help us?" said Kiina.

 

"Dark Hunters? Toa? Taking over? I'll certainly help." responded Nuparu.

 

The three then went back up the stairs and back on the surface, where they ran along a tunnel, presumably leading to another chamber. Nuparu had led the way, as he was inhabiting the Black Spike Mountains prior to his capture, and he knew the tunnels and the way around quite well. This eventually led them to the rest of the Toa, who were fighting against a few more Dark Hunters in a hallway outside of a conference room. The Toa were struggling to fight a powerful four-legged Dark Hunter and Sentrakh. This fight was interrupted when Nuparu shot up two stalagmites in front of the Hunters, and encased them in a thick coat of rock. He then proceeded to throw them across the room.

 

"Nuparu! Where have you been?!" asked Hahli.

 

"Well... I've been a protector of the Onu-Matoran here, but I soon woke up in a stasis tube." replied Nuparu.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Professor Turnip

[Chro]

I know you've started other topics with a small portion of your intended post, and added in more later. Is this one such case?

 

EDIT: Ah. I see that was indeed the case.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Chro

[Wiriamu]

Interesting story...were you planning on finishing?