Bionicle: Legacy- Chapter 14- Preparation

    “WHAT?!” Tamina stared at Twilis with a combination of shock, dismay, and anger. The two of them were outside of Twilis’ room, standing on the patio. The two Toa had a lovely view of Zorrin Nui, but Tamina wasn’t interested in that at the moment. “Are you not coming because of-”

    “No, Tamina,” Twilis groaned. “It’s not because of that demon. At least, not the full reason. Someone needs to keep watch over this city while the other Toa are gone.”

    Tamina continued to glare at her leader, unsure of how to respond. On one hand, he was right. What if something attacked Zorrin Nui? It would be a disaster if the Agoran died in their absence. On the other hand, she could tell Twilis was only using it as an excuse to stay away from Lucarian. But…if she tried arguing against him, it would look like she cared more about a loner Toa than hundreds of innocent Agoran.

    Tamina slowly walked out of the room in silence, her glaring eyes speaking to Twilis for her as she walked away, leaving the Toa of Light alone in the room.

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    Vengen looked at the sun through the barred windows of the prison cell, watching the sun pass over two bare, black trees on the right. “It will be Knockout’s shift soon,” he whispered, turning towards the other Agoran. “He isn’t as observant as some of the other Hunters, so you should be able to discuss your plan without the others catching on. If it even works,” he muttered.

    “It will, don’t worry,” Dharen nodded.

    “Will it?” Dongru whispered into his ear.

    “This guy’s such a downer,” Dharen whispered back. “Giving him the slightest chance of failure will just make him more miserable.”

    “Let’s just hope it does work, then.”

    “Alright Turbo,” a loud voice groaned as the sound of his footsteps grew louder and louder, “I’m here. You don’t have to be bored anymore.”

    “It’s hard for me to keep still, Knockout,” Turbo muttered as he paced from one side of the room to the other. “Guard duty is practically torture for me!”

    “Well, the burden has been passed to me now,” Knockout sighed unenthusiastically. “You’re welcome.”

    Before he had finished speaking, Turbo flew up the stairs as fast as a Nui-Rama that had caught itself on fire. Knockout muttered to himself as he walked over to the prison door and looked through the barred window. “Don’t try anything funny, ya hear? Then again,” he smirked, “Agoran can’t really do jack in combat.” With that, he turned around and sat on the metallic bench outside of the prison.

    “Hey!” he shouted at me. “Change the material of this bench! It’s uncomfortable to sit on.”

    “Or else you’ll threaten to leave this story?” I sighed. “You’ve given me similar threats before.”

    “Hey, if you want happy employees, sometimes you gotta given ‘em what they want.”

    “Fine…” I muttered. With that, I made an edit so the bench was now made of wood.

    “Could you at least add some sort of pillow?” Knockout grumbled.

    “Would you rather I made your armor hot-pink instead of gold?”

    “No…”

    “Then shut up and do your job.”

    “Alright, alright,” he muttered, trying to get comfortable on the bench.

    “Well that was an odd exchange,” Thenos noted as he scratched his head.

    “Anyway,” Dharen sighed, gesturing the other Agoran to gather around him. As his three fellow prisoners kneeled on the floor and formed a circle with him, he pulled out a small rock. It was faint, but there appeared to be a fiery energy swirling and pulsating around it, like a beating heart.  “The Dark Hunters took most of my trinkets and gear,” he smiled, “but they missed this one. This is a Combustion Stone. It will make a large fire when activated.”

    “So we commit suicide by burning ourselves alive?” Vengen sighed, cocking his head towards the side. He seemed almost pleased at that statement.

    “W-What-no!” Dharen hissed, trying to stay calm so their stocky guard wouldn’t overhear their plotting. “The Dark Hunters need Dongru, so if he burns, then they can’t use him. They’ll have to open the doors and try to get him out.”

    “What about the rest of us?” Vengen muttered, almost saddened that the response wasn’t what he was looking for.

    “The stone will also create a lot of smoke, so when the doors are open, we’ll make a break for it.”

    Thenos’s eyes seemed to gleam from the idea of fire and explosions. “I like where this is going,” he giggled happily.

    Dongru shot the Ta-Agoran a strange look, wondering about his kooky ally. “Well, he is right. This might work.”

    “What’s the use?” Vengen sighed. “We’ll never escape.”

    “Not with that attitude,” Dongru frowned.

    “I’ve been here for nearly two years, Dongru,” Vengen huffed. “I’ve learned to accept my condition. Either that, or I die in the fire that stone creates. Death would have a better chance of freeing me from this prison.”

    “Not on our watch,” Dharen growled. “Anyway,” he sighed, “it’s three against one, so it’s settled.” Dongru and Thenos nodded before the group split up.

    Now away from the group, Dongru pulled out two of the Great Discs, one with a red symbol, and one with a black symbol, and stared at them with a puzzled expression on his face. “What am I supposed to do with these?” he wondered.

    “What are you doing?” Dongru turned around to face a confused Dharen. “You part of this plan or theirs?”

    “If it doesn’t look like I’m working, then the Hunters will get suspicious. Remember, the guards can peak through the windows if they want too. And if I’m not working, they might kill one of you to get me back on track.”

    “You make a fair point,” Dharen sighed as he leaned against the prison wall, folding his arms in front of his chest.

    Dongru looked down at the Discs, eyeing them as if he had a magnifying glass. He shook them a bit in frustration. “Come on…How is this supposed to work anyway?” All the sudden, he caught a faint white glow coming from the corners of his eyes. He looked down and noticed that it was coming from the Discs. The two also almost seemed to be emitting a magnetic pull towards one another. Without much though, the Onu-Agoran let the two Discs come towards one another, causing the room to illuminate with a bright white light, almost blinding him. When the light was cleared, it revealed one fused, silver Disc. There was no icon on this one, but it seemed to radiate an invisible, yet noticeable aura, as if an ancient power was slowly growing, yet hadn’t reached its full potential.

    The other Agoran looked at the Disc in surprise and awe. “W-What in Spherus Magna was that?”

    “I don’t know,” Dongru replied, looking at the Disc in wonder. “But I think we’re getting somewhere.”

    “Nice to see you finally makin’ progress”. The Agoran whirled around in surprise to see Knockout peering through the prison window. “Yeah, I saw that light. Well, now that you’ve figured out the next step, better move on. For your sake and your friends.” Knockout then turned back around and sat on the bench.

    “We’re gonna need to get out of here before Dongru ‘finishes’ making the Vahi,” Thenos whispered from the corner of his mouth.

    Dongru nodded. The clock was ticking. They had one shot at this.

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    Neither Tamina, nor Poldren knew what to say to Kratos. The two of them had gone to his room to ask him to come with them on the rescue mission, but he was the same as when Tamina last saw him. And the sight was truly pathetic. The Toa of Fire just sat on his bed, staring at his bright red wall with an empty, expressionless look on his face. It looked like his soul had been drained from his body, leaving nothing but an empty husk.

    As the Toa of Water and Stone stood in the doorway, Poldren looked down at Tamina. “Should one of us go and let the other talk with him? I can always speak with him if you want.”

    “No,” Tamina sighed. “He’ll have a better chance of listening to me.”

    “Well…” Poldren replied. “Just…Just let us know if he needs more emotional support, alright?” Tamina nodded and with that, Poldren walked away, leaving Tamina with the shell of the Toa of Fire.

    Even though she offered to speak with him, she really wasn’t sure how to help. He did technically deserve the beating Lucarian gave him, so to knock him down a few pegs, but she didn’t want it to emotionally scar him. But…being embarrassed from defeat in front of nearly all the Agoran in the city…If Tamina was in his shoes, she would likely feel hurt and uncomfortable too. She sighed and knocked on the doorframe. Kratos didn’t answer. After a few moments, Tamina walked into Kratos’s room and set on the bed right next to him. Still no response. “You know we’re worried about you, right?” Again, no response. Tamina was starting to get annoyed. “If you want to help, you’re gonna have to cooperate, alright?”

    Kratos finally let out a weak sigh. “When I first became a Toa,” he groaned weakly, barely loud enough for Tamina to hear, “it felt like the greatest moment in my life. I felt so powerful…even invincible. Now I feel like a helpless Agoran, back to square one.”

    “What? Just because of one loss? Compared to how many fights you’ve participated in?” Tamina sighed. She was here to help Kratos, not berate him. “Listen,” she continued, trying to make her voice more reassuring, “Sometimes we need to be knocked down a little before we can consider ourselves true heroes. We have to pick ourselves back up. We lose sometimes, yes, but that’s part of life. We need to learn from them. Improve upon ourselves.” Kratos only responded with another sigh.

    “Well…” Tamina sighed. “If you want to get out of your slump and do something about yourself, we need to save Dongru and the other Agoran. You did hear about them after the battle, right?” Kratos, gave a slow nod. “You have time to make up your mind. We…We could really use your help.” No answer. Tamina groaned and slowly got up from the bed and walked out of the room, her eyes staying on Kratos until the walls blocked her vision, leaving the Toa of Fire alone with his thoughts, with only the walls to keep him company.

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    Sparks flew everywhere around Orgrul’s workbench as he cut through a piece of steel with a hand-held chain saw. Once he managed to split the piece in two, he looked at some blueprints on another table. “The proportions of the cut seem right,” he muttered, looking over the dimensions of the next piece.

    “Orgrul!” The cycloptic Makuta turned his head to see another figure approach him, carrying several more sheets of metal. This Makuta was slightly shorter than Orgrul, with a stockier build. He wore black and orange armor all over his body, as well as an orange Kanohi Taunto on his face. He wasn’t as imposing as the other Makuta, leaving much to be desired. “I got you the metal you requested,” speaking in a low, slow, rumbling voice.

    Orgrul seemed please at the other Makuta’s gesture and took the pieces out from his hands, placing them on his table. “Good work, Hortixx.”

    Hortix frowned. “You say that like I did something exceptional.”

    “Are you saying that I can’t appreciate a job well done? Anyway, I believe I left some of my tools upstairs. Go grab them.”

    Hortix didn’t seemed too pleased with this request. “You know, I am a Makuta too. I am on the same level as you. You don’t boss me around.”

    “Consider this a partnership, then,” Orgrul replied, turning around to face the shorter Makuta. “Besides, I might even let you test this out when I’m done.”

    “You better,” Hortix growled, as he slowly walked out of the room.

    With a sigh, Orgrul turned back towards his work and read the blueprints once more.

    “You do like ordering him around, don’t you?” This caused Orgrul to jump in shock. He turned around to see Warlox, who appeared to have materialized out of thin air.

    Panting, Orgrul responded. “So do you. And I’ve told you about scaring me like that.”

    “Scaring you?” Warlox smirked. “The big, bad, Orgrul scared?”

    “With your witchcraft, maybe a little,” Orgrul huffed. “And I am not afraid to admit it. Even Zelcron is.”

    Warlox just shook her head in disappointment. She leaned over towards the other table, where the blueprints laid. “I see you’re trying to use the plans I stole from the stronghold.”

    “I already thanked you for that,” Orgrul muttered, trying hard to concentrate on his work.

    “I was just curious on how the progress was,” Warlox grinned slyly. “You know, if I did enough studying, I could learn how to do the same thing that you are trying to replicate with that machine.”

    “But until then, we can use this,” Orgrul growled, becoming increasingly annoyed with the Makuta witch. “You won’t be by the side of every Makuta anyway. Besides, you needed my help to even help with your magic staff.” Warlox’s smile slowly dropped, becoming replaced with an annoyed look on her face as her eyes moved to her staff before going back to Orgrul.

    “Well if that’s how you’re going to be,” she growled, “I’ll be leaving.”

    “Good,” Orgrul huffed. “I can finally concentrate on my work.”

    All this time, Zelcron was watching the exchange through his crystal ball, taking in every word that was spoken. Right beside him, Morath watched the very same scene. He grunted in disapproval as he watched Warlox leave the room. “I never trusted her. She could use that sorcery against us. We don’t even know how much power she holds.”

    “That is why I am keeping my eye on her, Morath,” Zelcron answered, keeping his eyes upon the crystal ball.

    Morath looked at Zelcron with a puzzled look on his face. “I understand her. What about the others though? Why watch them?”

    Zelcron sighed as he diverted his eyes towards the squid-like Makuta. “Krattix.”

    Morath only responded by lowering his head, the name bringing back bitter memories.

    “We can’t have another incident happen again,” Zelcron continued. “Especially after we have waited for so long for this plan. One of the most important things in life you learn is to trust no one.” He looked back up at Morath. “Except, of course, you, old friend,” a small, warm smile coming over his face.

    “Lord Zelcron!”

    Both Makuta turned around to see a thin, silver and grey-armored Makuta run up to them. He had a hunched back, covered by rows of spikes, and held a gauntlet in each hand with multiple claw-like blades extending from them. He wore a Kanohi Ompute, with bright red eyes appearing from underneath it.

    “What is it, Scizkor?” Zelcron asked, crushing his crystal ball before the spikey Makuta could see it.

    “Orgrul just saw the Toa leaving the city,” Scizkor answered.

    “The ones you mentioned yesterday?” Morath asked, turning his head towards Zelcron.

    “Yes,” Zelcron responded. “They have prepared; and so should we. You two, gather the others. We’re going hunting.”

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    “I see Twilis didn’t want to come with us,” Lucarian noted with a small scowl.

    “Well, we do need someone to look over the city,” Poldren explained.

    “For once, he has a point,” Lucarian sighed.

    “He has made good points before,” Vancus replied, placing multiple Kanoka Discs into his knapsack. “When he’s angry though, it’s kinda hard for him to make them.”

    “I see…” Lucarian noted. “Why is he so bitter? Especially for a Toa of Light?”

    “I guess because he never really got the chance to be the leader like he was chosen to be,” Poldren sighed. “Kratos often stole his thunder, and anything Twilis did, what Kratos could still overshadowed him.”

    Lucarian didn’t respond, but his expression did show a slight bit of sympathy for the Toa of Light. “Perhaps now that Kratos has learned a bit of humility, he and Twilis can share the glory.”

    “IF he gets back into the swing of things.” The Toa turned around to see Tamina slowly walk up to them. It was clear by the disappointed look on her face that her talk didn’t exactly work.

    “So he’s not coming?” Poldren groaned.

    “Well, I tried giving him a bit of time, to think, enough for me to purchase some supplies, but I see he’s not here.”

    “I guess it is the four of us then,” Vancus noted.

    “Seven.” The Toa turned around to see Teluca, Shina, and Livef running up to them. Well, Shina and Livef were running. Teluca was flying on his jet pack.

    Immediately, Vancus got worried. “Get down!” he yelled, diving for cover behind a confused Poldren. Thankfully, Teluca simply landed on the ground in front of them with a pleased expression on his face. “Looks like the improvements I made are working out.”

    “Are you three here to wish us farewell and the best of luck?” Tamina asked, still keeping her eyes on Teluca’s jetpack in case it went haywire again.

    “Nope,” Shina replied, pulling out a small dagger. “We’re coming with you.” The Toa were shocked at this statement.

    “How long have you had that dagger?” Poldren asked.

    “Five years maybe. I have more.”

    “Hold on,” Tamina huffed. “You don’t have the combative experience, nor the powers that we Toa do.”

    “Doesn’t matter to us,” Teluca replied.

    “It will when you’re faced with whatever we’re fighting,” Tamina answered back. “Could be a small army.”

    “Listen,” Lucarian sighed, “I already had to be convinced to let your Toa come with me to find the others. I don’t want you three to somehow get murdered as well.”

    Shina looked up at Lucarian. “But you did tell me that I shouldn’t be afraid to find excitement.”

    “He did?” Vancus asked, turning towards the Toa of Shadow.

    “Yes…” Lucarian muttered, “but not this one, Shina. Not when I have to worry about more possible blood on my hand.”

    “Listen, how do you know that you Toa will be enough?” Teluca asked. “There could be a lot more of these creeps where you’re going. If you teach us, and let us go with you, we can help.”

    Shina seemed to get excited at that thought. “Oh yes!”

    “But you don’t have Toa powers,” Vancus answered.

    “I think she means hand-to-hand combat,” Poldren replied. He looked at his fellow Toa, all of them looking very uncomfortable.

    “Their small size could be useful.” The group turned towards the left to see a familiar face walk towards them, emerging form the shadows.

    “Kratos!” Tamina gasped in joy. As the Toa of Fire slowly approached the others, there seemed to be a different aura surrounding him, a different feel. Even the way he walked seemed less cocky.

    “Besides, as they said, more firepower could help. I’ll even help train them myself.” He then shot a glance at Lucarian. “Of course, I think more teachers could help too.” Lucarian simply lowered his head without a response. While he was happy to see Kratos back on his feet, he wasn’t too pleased with seeing him approve of the Agoran’s actions.

    Kratos then looked down and noticed Teluca’s jetpack. “Just…” he winced, “just don’t use that too often, please?” Teluca opened his mouth to argue, but a glare from Shina told him to be quiet. He only responded with a groan and a few curses under his breath.

    “Well…” Poldren sighed, “if you keep yourself safe, I guess we can allow you to come…If the others say so.” The other Toa were silent for a moment.

    “Well, I guess we won’t be able to convince you three otherwise…” Vancus groaned.

    Tamina looked back at Kratos who simply nodded. She sighed and looked at the three Agoran. “I will also train you.”

    “Well that’s majority vote, I guess,” Kratos nodded, looking at Lucarian. The Toa of Shadow looked extremely annoyed. But…he sensed an energy; a spark within Teluca and Shina. Livef, not so much, who seemed more nervous than anything. And…he was outnumbered.

    “Fine…” he muttered. “Now let’s head out.” With that, he walked towards the exit of the city, with the others soon following after, off towards the expansive lands of Spherus Magna.