Part 10 - "THE TOA MODA"
The Tunneler-Brute had traveled far and fast to bring the Toa to the city. It had left its home and went straight into the burning storm, just to help them. Shynali wished she could give it more than words, but her thanks was all she had at the time.
My friend, she told it. You have done a great thing for us. I thank you, and hope that we meet again.
The Tunneler-Brute let out a solemn sound, a mix between a chirp and a grunt. Did it want to stay? Was it concerned? It was so ancient, its emotions seemed archaic and unreadable.
Shynali pointed south and gave a sharp, “Go!,” and the Brute reluctantly scrambled away, vanishing between the shattered frames of the buildings. “How are they looking?” Shynali asked as she rejoined the others.
Kidoma chuckled nervously. “Like they want to tear us to scraps and screws.”
Shynali unsheathed her twin blades. The bent one had mostly been straightened, though it had a slight dent she would need to have repaired. First, though, they had three angry elemental ghosts to deal with.
“Give up your masks,” the Dark Wind said, in a voice that both howled in the air and whispered in their receptors. “And we’ll give up your friend.” She gestured towards Orano, who was wrapped in thorny vines and pulled to his knees.
“Ooh, I would be more careful.” Kidoma tapped the side of his mask. “The jerk who tried to take this power did not end up well.”
“You’re a little behind,” said Thistle, his green and watery shape pulsing with might. “We aren’t taking your masks for their power. We already have power! We are taking your masks from you.”
“You will have to do more than threaten us, Elemental Lords.” Auru pointed at the foes with such resolve Shynali saw Thistle flinch. “For we outnumber you.”
Ignira hissed. “What do you mean? You don’t-”
A blast of fire struck the ground, causing the Lords to scatter like Fikou Spiders. When they regained their stances, they turned and saw Vosala, Toa of Fire, standing with Narale, Toa of Ice, on the opposite side of the city square.
“So…” The storm picked up as the Wind spoke, and even in its eye, lightning crashed and rain began to fall. “That is how the stage is set.” She swung her arms, and the wind whipped and whirled as two bright glowing orbs were picked up and carried through the air. One, a frosty, cool white in color, and the other a dusty and clouded gray. “My siblings! You are reborn!” She thrust either orb towards one of the other Lords. As they hit the ground before them, they shattered into fragments that blew upon the Lords as if by the wind. Ignira’s fiery shape was reformed under a cast of earthen armor, and Thistle’s thorns were joined by thin, icy spindles to create a thick hide of spikes.
“Let us fight fiercely, Toa. Not merely with blades and fists, but with courage,” said Shynali, closing her eyes. She could feel the ancient roots beneath her feet. They were listening, waiting to be called.
“First, we must save Orano,” said Auru, but as he did, they watched as Orano suddenly burst from his vine restraints, blasting upwards with rockets that were affixed to his arms.
The Toa of Air flew over the Dark Wind, who began to chase him with relentless pursuit. When Shynali squinted, she noticed something glinting between his knuckles—a coin? He dropped it, and the object was sucked up by the Dark Wind’s whirling form. Orano suddenly cut off his rockets and began to plummet. As the Wind moved to follow, her shape was devoured in a sudden explosion.
“What?” Kidoma exclaimed as Orano landed next to them. “That was awesome!”
Auru patted the little Toa’s shoulder and laughed heartily. “How many more surprises do you have in store?”
“H-h-hopefully a f-f-few m-more.” Orano turned back to the Lords and crouched, ready for battle, but then paused. “I m-m-missed you g-guys.”
Shynali beamed. “Not any more than we missed you.” Before them, Ignira and Thistle were cracking their fists, and the Dark Wind had reappeared in a sudden dark vortex. Anticipation clung to her core like dew, ready to drop. “Remember, Toa; we cannot just fight together, as we have before. We must fight as one if we are to see the star rise over a free Moda Nui.”
“Yeah, what she said.” Kidoma whirled his staff in wide circles, splitting it in half and forming speartips of water on the end of either rod. “Let’s brave the elements.”
Thistle charged towards them. Shynali rushed at him with her blades at her side, and the fight began. With every sword swipe, water blast, earth tremor, or explosive coin, Thistle reformed himself with vines and icicles. He showed no sign of wearing down, though the Toa did increasingly. Only a minute into the fight, Shynali was too slow to dodge a tendril that flung her into the sky. Before she fell, something reached under her shoulders and pulled upwards.
“I’v-ve g-g-got you!” Orano said, pushing with his rockets.
“Thank you!” Shynali looked down as they rose into the air and watched Kidoma and Auru battle Thistle. “It’s not going to be enough.”
“P-p-perhap-ps we need-d t-t-to red-distrb-bute ours-selves?”
“That’s a good idea,” Shynali said, and pointed towards Narale and Vosala, who were facing a violently powerful Ignira. The Elemental Lord of Fire and now Earth fought with immense blasts of lava, able to cause the stone streets beneath them to melt and light up with furious heat.
Just as Orano turned to head towards them, the wind suddenly began to whistle in Shynali’s receptors. Oh, no.
“Do you realize how much of an insult this is?” the Dark Wind growled. “This is a waste of everyone’s time!”
And then there she was, right before them, blazing with lightning. A concussive blast of air struck Orano and Shynali, causing the former to drop the latter.
Shynali began to panic as she fell. Remember the jungle. You’ve jumped from plenty of Gukko Birds before. Remember your home. She branched her swords out as if they were wings. Twisting them, she directed her fall, and the moment she hit the ground, she went into a roll, ending on her feet and her swords raised high.
Before her stood Vosala, his mouth agape. “Okay, wow! That was-”
A lopsided pillar of earth jutted out and struck him in the face.
“Stop ignoring me!” shouted Ignira. Her voice was low and mighty, enhanced by the shaking of the ground as she ran at Shynali. “You will respect my might! You will respect me!”
Vosala struggled to keep balance as he wobbled. “Someone’s got confidence issues. She’s sounding a lot like Narale.”
The Toa of Ice, who was initially running to his side to help him regain his footing, paused to allow him to fall on his back.
“They’ve divided us according to our elements,” said Shynali, pointing back towards Thistle and the others. “We cannot fight like this.”
Shynali reached deep with her powers and summoned a wave of roots to reach up and snag Ignira, but they lit up in a blaze the moment they touched her.
“Are you suggesting we trade antagonists?” asked Narale. She summoned a wall of ice in front of Ignira.
Shynali did not dare to look away from the ice. “I’m suggesting we join each other.”
Just as the ice melted and Ignira broke through, a ball of fire struck her back as Vosala sheathed his sword on his back. “Ladies, could I have you run in that direction-” He pointed towards Kidoma and Auru. “-and count to three. Then, jump high. And far.”
Narale looked between them. “What about Orano?”
When Shynali looked up, she was amazed to see Orano strike the Dark Wind away with an air-powered punch. “I think he’s doing well on his own.”
“On three!” Vosala shouted. “Go!” Shynali ran, Narale alongside her.
On the other side of the square, Kidoma was half-frozen in ice, and Auru was trapped within the crimson petals of some dark flower. The Toa of Earth was attempting to rip his way through with his gauntlets, but every time he got close to breaking free, another petal grew up and overlapped his attempt.
Three! Shynali counted, and leapt. Heat suddenly erupted behind her, and an explosive force pushed up her up and forwards at great speed. She kept her momentum as she hit the ground and kept running. She sliced at Thistle’s ankles as she sped by, severing the vines there. Thistle stumbled, but was easily able to regrow and regain his footing.
“You pest!” He swung a brambled fist down at her. Shynali cut through that as well.
“You claim to have power over the jungle,” Shynali said as she continued to slice. Everything she cut just grew back. “…but have you lived in it?”
Thistle chuckled softly, like a hoarse whisper. “You do not know me, Toa.”
“But I know who you aren’t.” Shynali scraped one of her swords against the other, creating a wave of sparks. “You aren’t a Toa. You aren’t a hero. And you aren’t winning.”
It was then that Thistle noticed he was surrounded by Narale, Kidoma, and Auru, freed from their prisons.
“You think that this changes-”
Kidoma drew his arms sharply back, pulling with it a gush of water from Thistle’s form. He then stopped it and directed it back, shouting, “Narale!” The moment Thistle was drenched in water, Narale created an icy wind that froze the Elemental Lord. Before Thistle could reshape the rime into armor, Auru rushed at him with a storm of punches, shattering the ice again and again until it was gone, and Thistle was a skeleton of vines and brambles.
“Everything you do to me,” he snarled, “I can just undo! Every punch, every slice, every blast, I can just-”
“Incoming!” Vosala shouted from behind them. The Toa of Fire was sprinting from a pursuing Ignira, whose hands were aglow as she prepared to fling a glob of lava.
Shynali was quick. The moment Ignira prepared to attack, she called a vine from the earth and had it trip Vosala. He hit the ground hard, but the lava flew directly over him. It sprayed, instead, onto a very startled Thistle. In an instant, the vines were burned away, and all that was left were three telltale orbs.
Vosala scrambled to his feet and drew his shield and sword hilt, igniting the blade and turning it on the remaining Elemental Lord. “Are we ready for this?”
Kidoma, Narale, Auru, and Shynali each jumped to his side, weapons brandished and powers alight.
“Fight as one,” remarked Auru, and the five each lunged.
“Pitiful! Weak! Insignificant!”
“Y-y-y-you know, at-t-t some p-point you ar-re going-g t-to run out-t-t of word-ds.” Orano performed a sharp barrel roll to avert a sharp gust of wind from sending him into a skyscraper.
“Loathsome! Useless! Meager! Intoler-”
Orano created a pad of wind from his hands and grabbed the Dark Wind by the ankle. He swung around and threw her directly downwards. Then, he began to rocket up, straight up, and did not look back. He needed to return to the Toa. The cityscape below was covered by fog and storm, but… Was that the star beginning to pierce through the storm, gleaming across the towers and aero chutes… The aero chutes! They would still be automatic, as long as nothing had damaged their interior systems! Orano flew towards one. He did not need to turn to see the Dark Wind following him, as her howling sliced in his receptors.
Orano weaved into the entrance to the station and barreled towards the chute. The moment he was in the current, he cut the rockets and let the airflow take him.
It was difficult to separate the rush of the chute and the roar of Dark Wind’s fury as she chased after him.
“S-s-stop this-s!” he called over the current’s hum. “You are acc-complishing nothing-g but havoc-c!”
The Dark Wind shrieked.
Orano took another one of the Twinventors’ explosives and flicked it at the chute wall. The glass exploded in a blast of orange, and its fragments hailed down to the streets below. Now, the pressure was interrupted, the current thankful for earlier release. It blew out of the new exit, taking a screaming Dark Wind with it.
But the wind carrying Orano lost strength, and he dropped to the floor of the chute. He ran the rest of the way as the Dark Wind, outside the chute, pounded and snarled at the glass like an animal. She was losing herself to her frenzy.
Orano spilt out of the chute, out of the station, and onto the square. He heaved out coarse breaths as he stumbled. That was where the Dark Wind found him. She grabbed him by the wrist and lifted him up.
“Is this all you are, Toa? A windbag with tricks and gimmicks?” The Dark Wind’s voice was drained and somber, the gentlest it had ever been. “I have seen my home city bombarded by flame. I have seen flooded homes and ravaged streets. I have seen war, little Toa. You will try to bring peace. You will succeed for a while. But you will fade, and then…”
“M-m-my n-name is Oran-n-no. And-d look-k d-d-down.”
Beneath them, Ignira was fending off against five Toa. She used her power to primarily target Kidoma and Narale, but the others defended them fiercely. Ignira would fire a ball of flame towards Narale, but Auru would summon a barrier of rock to block it. She would turn to Kidoma with a blast of earth, but Vosala would place his shield in its path.
Auru shouted something, and Kidoma squatted, as if preparing to leap. His hands began to glow as watery formations coalesced around them. Then, the earth beneath Kidoma’s feet shot upwards, and the Toa of Water shot with it. He released the water he was holding in a beam. It drowned the Elemental Lord, and her screech echoed over the storm.
“What have they done?” Dark Wind lowered towards the fight.
When the steam cleared, Ignira was nothing more than a pool of mud and a twin set of orbs on the street.
The Dark Wind flipped Orano around, now holding him by his wrist. She held up up, so that their eyes met. “Fools! All of you, fools!” She let go of the squirming Toa and descended to the street. From the ground, the five spherical remains of the Elemental Lords were lifted into the air. The Dark Wind then thrust each one back down. They shattered into glass and elements, turning into a lively cloud of storms and energy. Into this cloud, the Dark Wind dove.
“G-g-guys!” Orano flew towards them. For the first time since the Kini Center, the Toa were reunited. Or, perhaps more accurately; for the first time ever, they were united.
“What is she doing?” Vosala’s jaw was dropped.
“She’s taking their power,” said Narale. “She’s transforming herself.”
It was true; the Dark Wind was no more. What remained was a being of cloud, ocean, blaze, thorn, rock, and rime. The elements twisted around each other, ever-shifting, ever-reshaping. Emerald lightning raced around its being, firing into the sky. It stared at its hands in sheer awe of itself.
“TOA…” It said, its voice thundering through the air, rumbling from the earth, and whispering in their minds all at once. “…YOU WILL NOT WIN! YOU WILL NOT TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!” It lifted four arms to the sky, mighty claws of lightning and fire sharp and splayed.
Orano stepped out from the huddle and approached the being. Somehow, he wasn’t afraid. Perhaps it was something new about himself. Perhaps it was the five Toa standing behind him. “Th-that’s the b-b-biggest difference b-between us-s. We aren’t-t alone. You are. You al-always have b-b-been. Ev-v-ven with the oth-ther Lords-s, you f-f-fought for-r no one b-b-but yourself-f.”
The world trembled as the elemental being snarled. It launched a beam of elements at Orano, but a wall of ice appeared before him, blocking it off.
“Kidoma! Vosala!” Narale shouted, straining to keep her creation together with her power.
“On it!” Kidoma drew slashes of water from the air, launching them at the Dark Wind with ferocious speed. Vosala followed after with small bursts of flame. Shynali swung her arms, calling forth a great array of plants, driving them up and out of the ground, into the being. Auru stomped against the ground, launching up chunks of earth which he flung at the being.
“INSULTS! THAT’S ALL YOU ARE! THAT’S ALL YOU EVER WERE!” Through the onslaught of blasts, the being drew its arms inwards, gathering power in its core. The power grew and grew, and the world exploded in light.
Shynali opened her eyes. Something had happened. She knew something was different. Had they won? Had they lost?
The Aero City Square was a skeleton of what it had once been. Entire buildings were now ash, or had strange alien plants spliced through them, or were frozen solid. The ground had been replaced with a peculiar emerald glass that was shaped like a star, grown outwards from where she believed the elemental being had just been. The Lords were all gone. It was all quiet now.
“Miss?” a voice called. It was a Matoran, a thin one wearing an apron still covered in flour. “Is it over?”
The sky was clear and blue. From every entrance to the square, Matoran were gathering. The Toa, each accounted for, were just waking up, unsure of what had happened. Only Orano was standing.
“Orano!” called Shynali. “What happened?”
The Toa of Air turned and saw her, his eyes gleaming with tears. “W-w-we did-d it-t.”
He held in his arms several orbs from the Lords. Shynali counted them. “Only five?”
“She’s-s st-till out-t-t there.” Orano glanced up. “I d-don’t kn-n-now where, but-t I hop-pe she’ll c-c-come b-back.”
“I don’t!” groaned Vosala, pushing a chunk of debris off of his leg. “I’m so sore, dude. No colosseum matches for the next week, at least.”
“We should all take a week off,” suggested Kidoma. “The Great White Shores are perfect this time of - Is that Elder Saane?”
“What happened?” Shynali asked Orano. “You did something, didn’t you?”
Orano winked. “I-I-I’ll t-tell you all-l lat-ter.”
“Is it over?” Auru asked. “Are we finished? Did we do it?”
Vosala yawned. “We did somethin’.”
“Narale?” Kidoma approached the Toa of Ice, who was standing alone in the wreckage. With her pale armor and drifting cloak, there was something ghostly about her. Kidoma stood next to her. He muttered something that Shynali thought might have been, “I’m sorry.” Narale said something back, and they stood there, turned away, and at peace.
“We un-n-nit-ted,” Orano said.
“What?”
“Aur-r-ru’s quest-tion. We d-d-d-id it-t. We unit-t-ted.”
Shynali, somehow, knew it was true. Not only had they one, but they had reached an understanding of some sort. There was not only peace in the sky or in the city, but between one another.
“Are we done being Toa?” asked Vosala. “Is that it for us?”
Auru placed his hand on Vosala’s shoulder, and Vosala hunched under the weight. “I don’t think so. We have more to do, and more to grow. But for now, let us know peace and celebrate it.”
The Matoran raced through the streets to assess the damage or to gawk at the Toa. A blue-plated Matoran, out of place among the others, hobbled to Kidoma’s side and began to speak with the Toa. Orano sought out a pair of Matoran who poked at his mounted rockets and talked about mechanisms and designs. Vosala played with a young Matoran on a pile of debris, and Narale watched.
“This is new for me,” Shynali said softly, feeling the warmth in her core that did not come from the star above.
Auru, however, heard. “What is?”
“Friends.” The world felt off, likely because it was so new. She had been in packs before, but those were animals. She never had had something like this. “It’ll be an adjustment.”
“It will,” said the old Toa of Earth, chuckling to himself. “But we are more than friends. We are the Toa Moda. We are family.”
Shynali thought of her father. He was so kind and selfless that she had imagined all people were like that. She was disappointed to learn she was wrong. But her father was family, and that was a word that meant something to her.
“Family,” Shynali said, placing her hand on Auru’s shoulder as she had seen him do to Vosala, “is something I know of.”
END OF CHAPTER 2, “UNITY”
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