Big Trouble in Southern Stelt.
Date: Twenty-five hundred years prior to the evacuation the GSR.
The mission was simple all things considered; travel to Stelt and find that trader who knew about the location of Artakha, and, assuming it could be located, destroy the map containing the islands’ location. All things considered, Varkaan should have had no problem completing this task, except for one issue; the Sakdi was currently trapped in the gladiatorial-slave pits. Now he didn’t do anything to warrant this, except for talking back to the wrong clan leader, and punching out said clan leaders favorite lacky, and accidentally setting free a Kane-Ra meant for the pits, but it still didn’t change the fact that people were overreacting.
Now here Varkaan was, sitting in the musty, torch lit dungeons that held within their walls all manner of degenerates, savages, and mutant abominations itching to slaughter one another. For any other of his kind, this would be a brilliant opportunity, a chance to further perfect their skills in combat and wanton destruction. Unfortunately, Varkaan was not like most Skakdi, true he had the winning smile and brilliant scarlet eyes like most Skakdi, but that appetite for violence was never something he possessed. In terms of temperament, Varkaan might just be the least Skakdi-like Skakdi in the universe. But that was besides the point, for Varkaan had only one thing on his mind; I’ve got to get off of this Mata-Nui forsaken island.
“Hey. Hey you…. Bruiser.”
“WHAT!” The Bruiser shouted as he turned to face the Skakdi.
“Why don’t you come here, maybe we can play some cards.”
The Bruiser waddled over to the cell and grimaced at Varkaan, or at least the Skakdi figured that was grimacing, Bruiser faces aren’t exactly the best at showing emotion, though they could be read just like a knowledge tablet written by a Ko-Matoran.
“Oh please,” the Bruiser said smugly “we all know your kind are too stupid for anything like that.”
You’re one to talk you illiterate pile of Muaka leavings.
“Oh, come now friend, you’re already over here, why make it a wasted trip?” Upon hearing these words, the Bruiser reached through the bars and grabbed Varkaan by the throat, pulling him close. “Now listen here, we are not friends, so shut up or I’ll tear that fancy claw of yours off and beat you with it.
“Of. Course,” Varkaan said through the struggle of having his wind pipe compressed “just. One. Thing.”
“What?”
Varkaan looked at the Bruiser, now with eyes glowing a soft magenta color. “Relax,” the Skakdi said in a voice which sounded like dozens talking at once. The Bruiser suddenly loosened his grip, a wave of calmness overtaking his mind.
“Now,” Varkaan stated, “what say you come in and we enjoy that game of cards like I suggested?”
“Gladly,” the bruiser gently replied. He reached for the keys which hung from his waste, unlocked the cell door and opened it, blissfully walking into the small dungeon room and leaving the door wide open. “Very good,” Varkaan uttered before a pair or brilliant red beams flew from his eyes, striking the Bruiser, who quickly found his body transforming into stone, leaving only his eyes in their natural state. As suddenly as the feeling of bliss came upon him, an intense mixture of panic and rage overtook the bruiser’s mind, but only the rapid movement of his eyes were able to convey that. “Don’t worry friend,” Varkaan stated in his normal voice, “you should return to normal in an hour or so, provided nobody smashes you into building material first.” With that Varkaan patted the Bruiser on the shoulder and exited his cell.
The Skakdi hurried down the dusty halls, surely the exit won’t be too hard to locate. “Hey!” a bellowing voice from the other end of the hall shouted. Of course, I went the wrong way . Varkaan turned to see two Bruisers and a wheel of glowing energy careening through the air toward him, forcing the Skakdi to drop on the ground. And they have Rhotuka, what a surprise . At that, Varkaan began focusing on his right arm, the pincered claw starting to light up with the same magenta glow as his eyes. He pointed his artificial hand at the two guards as the headed towards him and unleashed the energy, striking the ground and bathing the two in a swirl of energy, depriving both of consciousness.
Varkaan stepped over the two and made his way to the exit where he was greeted by the fresh air of, well, the air wasn’t fresh but it was still better than the dungeons. Varkaan made his way across the city, weaving through the alleyways to avoid a run in with the local authorities, slowly making his way to his target. The Skakdi turned the corner, then suddenly found himself on the floor, a Bruiser standing over him. The Bruiser turned around and the feeling of anger radiating from him quickly erupted into pure rage. He grabbed at Varkaan’s neck. Not again .
“You cost me a lot of widgets Skakdi,”
“How. So?”
“That Kane-Ra was supposed to fight a pair of Tarakava, but thanks to you they had to put it down.” The Bruiser threw Varkaan to the ground. “I had so much riding on that fight, and now I’m going to take it out on your skull!”
The Bruiser locked his hand together and raised them up, ready to smash in Varkaan’s torso, only to quickly see the Skakdi’s eyes flash red, and suddenly lose all feeling throughout his body. Thank Mata-Nui I have that power . Varkaan turned only to realize that there were witnesses to what just occurred. Varkaan saw quick to backtrack, if his lead was correct, the target was only a few more blocks away.
“Attention citizens of Stelt,” a raspy voice from a creaking loud speaker stated, “be on the lookout for a Skakdi who has escaped from the gladiatorial pits, assaulted some of our finest citizens including the head general of our clan’s militia, unleashed a dangerous rahi on the civilian population, and has repeatedly disturbed the peace. The perpetrator is clad in sapphire and gold armor and is sporting a large claw in place of his right arm. Our glorious clan leader Tyhmet has placed a 10,000 widget bounty on his head.”
Well, isn’t this fantastic . Just two more blocks to go, Varkaan could eliminate his target, and get off of this horrendous Island. Suddenly, a stream of various projectiles came flying overhead, and the ones who unleashed them were quickly closing the gap. The skakdi once again turned around, making his way back to and then moving around the Bruiser who he caused to lose widgets. Forget the stealth approach, at least on the street it’ll be easier to dodge all these attacks . There it was, the building which his target called home. Varkaan raced to the building and began scaling the ladder. He reached the roof and began descending the stairs. Eighth floor, twenty-third room, our informants placed the target as living there. Varkaan opened the door; sitting at a desk across from him, a Steltian, clad in emerald armor was looking over different tablets, looked up and over his shoulder.
“You’re that Skakdi they put a bounty on.”
“News travels fast, doesn’t it?”
“Well, they did announce it on the cities loud speakers,” the Steltian said snidely, “You must have angered some pretty powerful people if they made an announcement like that.”
“You could say something like that, anyhow let’s get down to business, shall we?”
“And just what kind of business do you have with me?”
Varkaan heard a rustling noise, footsteps and shouts, it was then he knew what had to be done. The Skakdi looked at his target, his eyes glowing a vibrant magenta color, his voice becoming like that of dozens. “You like me, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” the Steltian said, his mind warming up to his visitor.
“You’d call me your friend, correct?”
“I suppose I would.”
“And friends wouldn’t let friends get hurt now, would they?”
“No,” the Steltian said with a tinge of concern, “who wants to hurt you?”
“Some nasty individuals,” Varkaan said, “they want to do terrible things to me and I would certainly appreciate it if you would try and stop them.”
“Of course, friend!” The Steltian rose from his chair, grabbed his rhotuka launcher and headed out the door. Varkaan meanwhile went to work tearing apart the room, looking for the tablet with Artakha’s location. There were shouts coming from the hall, and the faint smell of ash; he had a disintegration rhotuka, good thing he didn’t use that on me .
After overturning everything, Varkaan failed to find what he needed. It has to be hidden somewhere . Varkaan bent down, placing his good hand on the floor; he focused on his surrounding, and suddenly, a kinetic wave, weak enough to go unnoticed by most erupted from the Skakdi’s hand and radiated out. Just as quickly it returned to Varkaan. He did this multiple times over, building a mental map of the surrounding area. Varkaan smirked, he had found it. The Skakdi moved to the corner of the room and grabbed at the floor tile, lifting it up and turning it over, a map depicting the route one would need to take to reach Artakha. Varkaan quickly threw the tablet to the ground, smashing it into dozens of pieces before sweeping up different shards and throwing them out the window, where they were further reduced to rubble.
A sharp scream suddenly erupted from the hallway. Varkaan looked out and saw the emerald clad Steltian on the floor, a Vortixx standing over with large axe plunged in the Steltians chest while another Skakdi swung his sword down into the Steltians head. The pair then realized that the source of all this fighting was watching them and they began making their way to the room. Varkaan looked around and it suddenly dawned on him what he needed to do. I’m going to hate myself if this doesn’t work .
Varkaan ran to the window and jumped out towards the building across the alley. The Skakdi’s artificial arm quickly reconfigured itself, where there used to be a pincer claw was now a large hook which plunged into the brick ledge of the building, allowing Varkaan to hoist himself onto the roof.
The Skakdi looked down at the street, dozens of mercenaries and bruisers were crowding the street, trying to get into the building he was last seen entering. Varkaan quickly noticed a glow coming from his left, and quickly fell to the ground as a rhotuka flew past him. Another rhotuka flew overhead, this one seemingly alerting those looking for the Skakdi to his presence, as he soon heard the distant sound of a door being forced open. Varkaan sprinted across the roof to a ladder and slid down to the alley.
“There he is!” A particularly ugly mercenary shouted.
With that Varkaan made his way down the alley.
“I hate Stelt I hate Stelt I hate Stelt I hate Stelt!”
Varkaan found himself suddenly halted when a large dagger flew into the fence in front of him. Three mercenaries walked toward thee Skakdi, another two coming from the alley Varkaan had been sprinting through. As the group edged closer followed by a tall sixth member, Varkaan began channeling energy into his claw, ready to go down fighting. Before he could do anything else, energy tendrils wrapped around the five mercenaries, crushing one against the floor, throwing two of them through a building and slamming the remaining two into one another.
“Well, you took your sweet time Botar.”
“I didn’t take my time; I was only wondering how long it would take you to get somewhere I could fit.”
“What about when I was on the roof of that building?”
“Did you see how easily those two went through the wall, there’s no way it could hold me,” Botar declared, “Also Helryx is going to have a field day when she finds out how much damage you’ve done.”
“Hey,” Varkaan shouted angerly, “it’s not my fault they overreacted!”
“Perhaps, want to see how much more trouble we can cause?”
“Botar, I never want to set foot on this island again, not get me out of here!”
“Consider it done.”
The two then vanished, leaving the various mercenaries and Bruisers hunting a bounty they’ll never have the opportunity to claim.
I figured I’d be better of just making a single thread to post any short stories I might write in the future instead of making multiple threads and causing clutter. Expect this to be mainly Bionicle related.
