The Dark Sides Of Us All

[Toatapio Nuva]

This is a short story based on the epic Forgotten Destiny. This story was actually written long ago, but this is the first time it's being published. It features events Henkka experienced just before the Prologue of Forgotten Destiny. The Dark Sides of Us All is also the last issue of a collection of stories known as The Noble Tasks.CharactersHoly Matoran – A special type of Matoran living only on Henkka Island. Each Holy Matoran has his or her own elemental power that can be activated upon becoming a Toa.Holy Toa – A special Toa team assembled from six Holy Matoran and transformed.

• [*]Taum – The Toa of Rubber, wears the Mask of Direction, which helps him track any moving target or to find a proper route to wherever he is going.[*]Lah – Toa of Insect Control. Wears the Mask of Adaption, which she can use to morph her armor and toold into whatever suits the situation best.[*]Jinu – Toa of Juice. Wears the Mask of Detail, which he can use to zoom and see details of far-away targets.[*]Newhu – Toa of Smoke. Wears the Mask of Statis, which he can use to put any foe into a statis field, whether on land or in the air.[*]Nowah – Toa of Wood. Wears the Mask of Rebounding, which he can use to send moving objects back to where they were launched from.[*]Leraj – Toa of Iron. Wears the Mask of Durability, which he can use to increase the amount of stress an object can stand.

Henkka – Toa of Protodermis. Wears a reshaped Kanohi Suletu, the Mask of Telepathy, which he can use to communicate with any other being through telepathy. Henkka has an adventurous past. He was created by Mata Nui to complete a series of important tasks in the world of the Matoran, as well as to preserve order.Toa Mahri – A group of Toa that tracked down the Mask of Life in the Pit and saved the life of Mata Nui. Summoned from Metru Nui, they help the Holy Toa defend Henkka Island.

• [*]Kongu – Toa of Air. Wears Kanohi Zatth, the Mask of Summoning, which can be used to summon Rahi.[*]Hahli – Toa of Water. Wears Kanohi Faxonn, the Mask of Kindred, which she can use to copy attributes of nearby creatures.[*]Nuparu – Toa of Earth. Wears Kanohi Volitak, the Mask of Stealth, which he can use to sneak unnoticed by his enemies.[*]Hewkii – Toa of Stone. Wears Kanohi Garai, the Mask of Gravity, which can be used for either increasing or decreasing the gravity of a target.[*]Jaller – Toa of Fire. Wears Kanohi Arthron, the Mask of Sonar, which can be used to detect obstacles.

Gezex – A dark and mysterious being who wants to capture and mutate all six Holy Toa in order to achieve an unknown goal of his.Gazotan – Strange insect-like creatures with one melee weapon and one blaster each. All can use their blasters to mutate the target into a dark, twisted version of itself.Hakka – A strange, small Rahi that can find Henkka Island from anywhere in the universe.Guardian of the Kowa Mountains – A mysterious being who lives in the Kowa MountainsLocationsHenkka Island – This small, floating island follows Henkka whenever he is away and obeys the commands of Henkka whenever he is present. The island is rich in flora and different types of Rahi. The Holy Matoran reside here, in a few separate villages. In the center of the island is a big castle which belongs to Henkka.Bio-Land – The big continent where Henkka has spent most of his life in.Kowa Mountains – Kowa Mountains are a part of Bio-Land, but some view them as an independent location. Chapter 1Jinu, Toa of Juice, awoke on the beach of Henkka Island. Waves coming from the Endless Ocean stroked the white beach gently as fresh air and wind filled Jinu’s lungs and gave him the strength to rise. Great cliffs with moss and other plants growing on them surrounded the beach. Jinu looked around and saw Lah and Taum, two of his teammates, also unconscious and lying nearby. The other three of their team were nowhere to be found.“Taum! Lah! Wake up!” Jinu shouted, shaking his friends. Slowly, both opened their eyes and regained consciousness.“Jinu!” Lah exclaimed and rose to hug him tightly. Taum woke up too, but decided to leave out the hugging.“What happened?” Taum asked, looking at their surroundings.“I-I don’t know”, Jinu answered. A strange piece of some kind of equipment washed ashore. It was the piece of a boat. Immediately upon seeing it, the three Toa remembered how they had gotten here.“Remember those odd cannons at Henkka Island when we returned? They... they shot us!” Lah said.“Our boat was blown to pieces”, Taum continued. “We lost consciousness.”“And now we’re here... but where are the others?” Jinu wondered aloud.*Leraj, Newhu and Nowah awoke, chained on the wall inside Henkka’s Castle. The being sitting on Henkka’s throne was not Henkka, however.“Greetings, Toa”, the large being said. Everything about him was disgusting and twisted. His face resembled that of a dragon, his were long, spiky and had some awful grease on them, and his voice was as deep and gloomy as Makuta’s lair. His body was rusted all over and his smile was something so terrible it could not be described.“Who are you? Where are he others?” Leraj asked, disgusted and worried.“I have no clue where your companions are”, the being said. “You are going to find and bring them to me.”“Into your claws? Never!” Newhu shouted defiantly. “And just who are you, anyway?”“My name is Gezex”, the being replied. “And soon you will gladly help me. Gazotan!”Three odd, insect-like creatures stepped into the room. They were very skinny with the eyes of Niazesk flies. They had two arms, each carrying some sort of a weapon in them, the other being a blaster. The creatures made odd sounds as they walked into the room.“These Toa want to help me find the missing Toa”, Gezex said. “Show them how.”The Gazotan fired the cannon-like weapons in their left arms at the Toa. Upon being struck, the Toa started to feel extreme pain, as their whole body seemd to twist and morph into something protesque and disgusting. They felt their energy being sapped away, only to be replaced by a sick feeling of darkness and decay.When it was over, the Toa tore the chains holding them from the walls. However, they didn’t proceed to attack Gezex. They felt no need to serve Mata Nui or to protect anyone. They only felt one need... find Jinu, Lah and Taum... and bring them to their destiny. Chapter 2The Toa Mahri looked out the window of the airship as they were being flown to an unknown destination. Few days earlier, Turaga Vakama of Ta-Metru had received an odd vision. It had told him to send the Toa Mahri to an island of a servant and help the beings in trouble there. Of course, Vakama didn’t know what this place was, but he had received information on how to get there.So Vakama had requested Whenua to get a Rahi named Hakka from the Archives. The strange creature looked a lot like a miniature Kikanalo, except that it had no horns. The Toa Mahri were then summoned and given an airship, where the Hakka was placed. Having experience of both flying and engineering, Nuparu was tasked with flying the ship. The Hakka started barking everytime the Toa Mahri needed to change direction.After a long flight, the Toa Mahri entered an area filled with fog. It was impossible to see the sky and only the guidance of the Hakka kept the Toa Mahri on the right route.“What is this?” Hewkii wondered. “I’ve never seen fog like this before.”Before anyone could answer, the fog was left behind by the airship. The six Toa Mahri looked in awe at the island they were being barked by the Hakka to land on. The island was filled with vegetation. There was a hill at the center of the island, with a castle built there. But that was not where the Hakka wanted the Toa Mahri to land. Instead, it guided them to a small plain surrounded by trees. After the airship landed, the Mahri got out and looked at the Hakka as it ran away into the woods.“Was it supposed to do that?” Hewkii asked.“I – I don’t know...”, Nuparu said. “But it didn’t seem to want us to follow. This is our destination. If only we could figure out why we’ve been summoned here...”*Meanwhile Jinu, Taum and Lah were walking up a hill. On that hill stood the castle of Henkka, the center of this whole island. It was possible that Henkka and the three missing Holy Toa had survived the crash and had gone there. In his heart, however, Jinu doubted this.Before they could reach the top, three figures suddenly emerged from the bushes nearby. They looked like horrible, dark versions of Toa.“So, Jinu... Lah... Taum. Here you are”, said one of the creatures, a dark red one.“Le... Leraj?” Lah knew this being’s voice, even if it was now much darker, deeper and filled with hatred.“Well, you recognized me fast”, Leraj responded. “Maybe this one will make me a little bit more distant to you.”Leraj picked up a rock from the ground and placed it into his mutated blaster. He then shot the rock at Lah’s face, knocking her mask off.Taum responded by trapping Leraj in vines with his Vine Gun. However, Leraj just swang his new, mutated sword lined with spikes, and cut the vines.“You are weak... as we once were too. But now... now we’re powerful”, Leraj said. “Powerful through the darkness.” Chapter 3Jinu shot Juice at Nowah’s eyes in an effort to distract his old friend. To his dismay, Nowah just wiped it all off with a swipe of his hand and swung Jinu with his spiked club. The club made impact and Jinu fell to the ground, badly damaged and hurting from the hit.Lah laying on the ground maskless and Jinu out of the fight temporarily, Taum was facing his old friends alone. He had no idea who had done whatever had been done to his friends and where Henkka might be, but he certainly wished for some assistance.Taum tried to wrap Newhu in a vine with his Vine Gun. Newhu sliced the vines into little pieces with his new, mutated Electric Harpoon. He then tried to harpoon Taum with it. Taum dodged and created some rubber beneath Newhu. Newhu bounced in the air and fell on his back.Leraj used his mutated blaster to shoot solidified air at Taum. It hit Taum and he fell. Nowah came to finish the job, but Taum jumped out of the way and took Lah’s dislosged mask of adaption, putting it on himself. Using the powers of that mask, Taum transformed into a being with very heavy armor. Now, when Leraj shot him again with solidified air, it didn’t do any damage.Taum then transformed into a flight mode of himself, a trick Lah had performed many times before with the mask. Taum then grabbed and attached the unconscious Lah onto his back and flew over his former teammates. On the way, he launched his Vine Gun at Jinu, grabbing him along as well. Taum then flew away with his friends, hoping to find a place of sanctuary for Jinu and Lah to heal in.“He’s escaping!” Nowah shouted.“After him!” Newhu screamed.“Calm down, fools! They cannot get far away. This island is small! And besides, we have the Gazotan aiding us! We’ll find them in no time!” Leraj exclaimed. Chapter 4The Toa Mahri were at the open area in the middle of a forest, trying to figure out what to do, when Taum arrived with his two fallen friends.“Look! Three other Toa!” Kongu shouted and pointed in the sky.Taum fell on the ground in front of the Toa Mahri, exhausted. Jinu and Lah were unconscious.“Who are you?” Jaller asked Taum even as Hahli tried to use her water powers to try and heal them.“The darkblue one doesn’t have a Kanohi”, Hahli remarked, looking at Lah’s maskless face.“Oh, of course. Here”, Taum said, putting the Mask of Adaption back on Lah’s face and the Mask of Direction on his. Lah woke up slowly.“Ohh... what happened... no... Leraj, Nowah and... Newhu... not the same.”“It’s allright”, Hahli said. “You’re safe now.”“No... we are not safe. Three of us have already fallen to darkness... and who knows what has happened to Henkka!” Lah exclaimed, desperacy in her voice.*Meanwhile, in the castle of Henkka, Gezex looked at a statis tube with delight. In this statis tube stood a silver and green Toa of Protodermis known as Henkka. Once the ruler of this island, protector of all of Mata Nui’s people, now a prisoner in his own castle. Gezex looked at him.“I now have you, and three of your precious little ‘Holy Toa’... and soon I’ll have the rest three.” Gezex walked closer to the tube, looking hard through the glass at Henkka’s unmoving eyes. “And when I do, the Matoran Universe will belong to me.” Chapter 5The Toa Mahri and three Holy Toa were in battle, on the open area surrounded by forest. Their opponents? Three darkly transformed Holy Toa and lots of Gazotan.While others fought, Nuparu used his Mask of Stealth to sneak behind Newhu. He then striked him with his Aqua Blaster Blade. Newhu fell to the ground with a yelp, but quickly turned and fired his Electric Harpoon at Nuparu. It struck and Nuparu fell down. Just then Taum wrapped Newhu in a vine and threw him on some Gazotan. The Gazotan shrieked in dismay.Leraj came to aid Newhu and fired some fireballs at Taum, which had been taken from Jaller’s elemental energies into his mutated blaster. Taum dodged them all, but had to quickly react to attacks made by the Gazotan. The strange creatures kept firing blasts from their launchers. Wherever they hit, things were corrupted with darkness. Taum, Jinu and Lah could already guess this had been how their friends had been turned evil. If a blast should hit one of them...The battle was furious. Even though there were eight Toa battling against three, it wasn’t easy. For the Gazotan were powerful... and there were many of them. And having to dodge their blasts made it even more hard.Kongu decided to summon a Rahi using his Mask of Summoning. Soon the ground beneath trembled and a gigantic Rahi rose. It was bigger than anything the Toa Mahri or the Holy Toa had ever seen. It growled, furiously.“Oh great... I’ll never use this mask again”, Kongu sighed.“Quick! Into the airship!” Hahli cried. The Toa Mahri and Holy Toa ran into the airship the Toa Mahri had used to come to Henkka Island. When the last of them, Hewkii, was about to enter, however, he was struck with a blast from one of the Gazotan. He morphed in front of the eyes of the other Toa Mahri and three Holy Toa, into a monstrous version of a Toa. Hewkii growled at his friends.“Hewkii!” Hahli cried. It was Lah who kicked Hewkii out of the airship. “Fly!” she shouted to Nuparu. The Toa took off, leaving Hewkii and the others evil beings behind.“What did you do that for?” Kongu snapped. “We should’ve tried to save him!”“We can’t heal him and if we stayed, we would have soon been history”, Lah said. “Maybe later we can find a chance to heal him, but this is not the time and pace to risk losing ourselves.”As hard as it was for the other Toa Mahri to accept this, they did so anyway.“Drive to the castle”, Taum said to Nuparu. Soon the whole team landed on the roof of the castle great castle. As the Toa got out of the ship and looked around, they could see the Rahi summoned by Kongu still in the forest, destroying everything in it’s way. Of Hewkii, the infected Holy Toa, or Gazotan, there was no sign.“Let’s get in the castle”, Jinu said. The Toa broke in through a hatch in the roof and found themselves in Henkka’s royal chamber. Decorating the room was a statis tube containing Henkka. Beside it was his former throne and in the middle of the room was the Henkka Suva, the thing that had turned the Holy Toa into Toa. In the Suva was a dark symbol, crackling with dark energy. Also, in the room, stood a scary, dark being. Gezex.“Ah, it seems I found you before the others did”, Gezex began.“Others?” Jaller asked.“Yes. Leraj, Newhu and Nowah.”“YOU turned them into... whatever they now are?!” Lah asked, readying her weapons.“No, not me. They did”, Gezex said, pointing to the door leading to the room. Suddenly, several Gazotan came in and started firing at the Toa. “And they will do it to you as well.” Chapter 6The battle was enormous. Right after the first Gazotan had entered the room, the infected Holy Toa also arrived with Hewkii and more Gazotan. It was a great struggle in one single room. Priceless artifacts were smashed and turned to dust in the heat of the battle. And all the while Gezex stood out of the battle, looking as his forces were winning.As soon as he got the chance, Jinu vaulted over several Gazotan and ran to the statis tube containing Henkka. He struck the glass with his propellers over and over again. But the glass would not even fracture. Gezex laughed.“It’s useless, Toa”, he said. “That glass is extremely durable, like solid stone. Your petty propellers are nothing. That tube cannot be broken.”“Oh yeah?” Jaller said mockingly, loading his Cordak Blaster and aiming it at the statis tube, just as Hahli, beside him, did the same. Then they both fired. Gezex shouted “NO!” as the two Cordak missles flew straight at the tube. When they hit, there was a loud explosion and the glass shattered, unleashing Henkka.“These things shattered rock when we were in the Pit”, Jaller said. “And on land, they can do the same to glass as strong as rock.”Henkka quickly glanced the situation and readied his powerful spear. To this, Gezex reacted, taking out his own blade, decorated with dark and mystical symbols. Plus, it was sharp. Really sharp.“It’s useless”, Gezex said to Henkka and his allies. “You’ll still lose. You would never kill your former friends and the Gazotan are in too great numbers for you!”Even as the Toa pondered the meaning of Gezex’s words, Lah saw the symbol in the Henkka Suva. She knew the dark artifact did not belong there. She used her Mask of Adaptation to adapt her weapon, changing it into a sonic blaster. Then, with a small sonic blast, she knocked the dark symbol off the Suva. Seeing this, Gezex ran to the symbol and tried to put it back. He was stopped by insects controlled by Lah and a wall of rubber created by Taum.With the symbol no longer in place, Leraj, Newhu and Nowah started to change again. But this time they didn’t feel pain at all. Instead, the feeling was wonderful, as they transformed back into their own selves. The same thing happened to Hewkii. Then the Gazotan started changing too. They got smaller and morphed into something else... into Matoran.“The Holy Matoran of Henkka Island!” Lah exclaimed.“You mean... for all the time... we’ve been battling our friends, our family?” Taum was shocked.Gezex still stood, however, with the symbol in his hands.“This isn’t the end!” he said and with a mighty heave, ripped the rubber wall and threw it into Jaller and Hahli. Then he began to place the symbol back to the Henkka Suva.“No!” Henkka shouted and attacked Gezex, knocking the symbol on the ground. He then concentrated with his powers of protodermis and sent a powerful beam of the stuff on the symbol in an attempt to break it. The symbol resisted his powers at first, but he was finally able to shatter the artifact.“NOOO!!” Gezex shouted as dark energy surrounded him. The darkness that had once fed him was now destroying him. Everyone watched in horror as Gezex was destroyed by darkness and turned into smoke, disappearing. It was over. Chapter 7“What happened today was foreseen in legend long ago”, Henkka told the Holy Toa. “That was why I wanted you to stay on this island when I left for Mabauto... you were to protect this island from Gezex.”“And since we left, we caused a lot of trouble and damge for this land...” Taum muttered, full of shame.“Yes... but we defeated him in the end”, Henkka continued. “Thanks for assistance, Toa Mahri. Now go back to Metru Nui and tell the Turaga that the legend of Vakama’s vision has been fulfilled. But there is more to come on your part. Be prepared for when the Toa Nuva have finally achieved their destiny.”“Yes, Henkka”, Jaller said and lead the Toa Mahri back into their airship. They then flew away, towards their city home.“Now, Holy Toa, I have my last request for you”, Henkka began. “All these Holy Matoran... all the Matoran of Henkka Island must be spread into different parts of this world. I’m asking you to do it.”Then Henkka took out a mask. “This mask is the Mask of Memory. I will use it to erase the Matoran’s memory of this island. They will awaken again, to a new life, as soon as you have taken them to their new lands.”The Holy Toa agreed, though they did feel a bit uncomfortable with this task. After all, the Matoran of Henkka Island were all their old friends. As Henkka erased the memories of the Holy Matoran, the Holy Toa spread them into different parts of the planet and the universe. This took weeks, after which they all assembled again in the Castle of Henkka, where Henkka was waiting for them.Henkka spoke to the assembled Holy Toa: “Now, prepare yourselves brothers... because now that these tasks have been fulfilled... we will leave Henkka Island... for all time.” EpilogueHenkka watched his step as he climbed the Kowa Mountains in Bio-Land. This ancient mountain range was known both for it’s dangerous gorges and crevices and the safety it provided from the outside world. Many beings in trouble had befriended these mountains in the past and found shelter.Henkka remembered the shock and resolve his news to the Holy Toa had caused. He had announced that the Holy Toa were to be separated across the universe as the Holy Matoran had been, each to protect a different domain. It had been an emotional moment when the Toa were forced to say goodbyes to each other. It was probable none of them would ever see each other again. It saddened Henkka that he had to be the one to oblige his friends to do something like that. But he knew well that there was no other option.After assigning each Toa to their new locations, Henkka had set off to the city of Metru Nui to retrieve an object from the Archives of Onu-Metru. He had searched for the artifact in secret and found the Kowa Stone, a stone known by few but important to the future of all.Now Henkka braved the Kowa Mountains in search for a wise being said to live here. Even Henkka, though wise, did not know this being’s name. Everyone who knew of his excistence called him the Guardian of the Kowa Mountains. Old tales told of magic and incredible power this being wielded, but he never used them for himself, but rather for those in trouble or lost in the Kowa Mountains.Henkka arrived on top of one of the mountains and saw the Guardian of the Kowa Mountains waiting for him. He looked much like a Matoran – or a Turaga – with a strange Kanohi and an old staff.“You’ve been expecting me, haven’t you?” Henkka asked.“I have been told”, the guradian replied and moved closer to Henkka.“Yes, well... here I have the stone”, Henkka continued. “I’m supposed to give it to you.”“That is right, Toa of Protodermis”, The guardian began. “You’ve walked a long road indeed, to come to this point.”“What point?” Henkka asked.“You have braved great danger to complete the tasks given to you by Mata Nui. Now you only have one task left. But beware, that task is the most difficult of all... it is the ultimate task... a sacrifice for the spirit and body of Mata Nui...”Henkka understood. For all his life he had known the tasks he was supposed to fulfill in order to find his destiny and help the Matoran. Only the last task had been unknown to him. But after all he’d been through, he could guess what it would involve.“I’m going to die, right?”“No”, the guardian replied. “Haven’t you already figured out that nothing comes easy for you? Your sacrifice will be a much greater one. Your life is nothing compared to the ultimate decision you must make.”“I – I don’t understand.””Only my brother understands”, the guardian continued. “But even he doesn’t know everything. Neither do I. A Great Spirit is not perfect although that is often believed.”“You mean you...”“I am not what you think, Henkka. But it doesn’t matter, who I am. Only your tasks matter... and the last one, especially.”The Guardian put his hand on Henkka’s shoulder.“All your tasks and all your decisions in life have lead to this, Henkka. There is a war raging in Bio-Land, and you know the one who is in charge for it. You must go there... and eventually you’ll find out your last and ultimate task.”Henkka nodded and turned away, activating his protodermic wings and flying towards Bio-Land. The Guardian of the Kowa Mountains sighed, he felt sorry for the one who, despite all the good he had done, would have to sacrifice everything to others.“Mata Nui protect you, Henkka of Mata Nui.”I appreciate comments and reviews very much.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Toatapio Nuva