Vezon breaks the universe…
Then he brings all the great beings from each one to fix the Red Star after he “dies”.
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Hey there. I feel I need to explain some stuff real quick.
Shortly after I started posting this story, some stuff has been going on IRL that has been really draining, hence why the chapters have been more inconsistent. This Chapter in particular required a rewrite – nothing major, but enough that I just didn’t have the mental capability to get it ready to post until now.
So yeah, I really didn’t mean to leave it on such a mean cliffhanger for so long. I’m going to try and push myself to post the rest in the next couple of days, because there is still some big stuff left to get to.
Chapter 9
Kopaka stared down at Pohatu, lying crooked in the remains of one of the machines. If the metal rods sticking through his torso didn’t make it clear enough, the darkened heartlight sealed the deal – the Toa Nuva of Stone was dead.
Kopaka’s mind raced. Could the Star still save him, bring him back? Would he want that, after seeing what had happened to some of the other inhabitants?
Ivohku slammed his fist into the wall of the Red Star. He couldn’t help feeling responsible. Maybe if he’d been able to hold the six-armed monster, Pohatu wouldn’t have over-exerted his powers. Maybe if he’d been able to stop Delara, the Star wouldn’t have crashed. Maybe if he hadn’t led the Toa in a foolish revolution against the Kestora, none of this would have happened. Everything he’d done since he died had been a complete failure.
“This… this can’t be,” Takanuva said. “We can save him, right?” Kopaka didn’t respond.
“Well, we have to try!” Quilha’s voice cut in. “He wouldn’t give up on us. Come on, let’s at least get him out of there. Mavrah, Ruhko, help me here.”
The two other Matoran were staring shell-shocked at the sight of the dead Toa, but at Quilha’s demanding tone, they moved into action. Kopaka watched as the three Matoran managed to wrestle the Stone Toa free from the machinery, and lowered him to the floor.
“I guess we bring him to the revival rooms and… see what we can do?” Ruhko said.
“Quiet,” Hydraxon said. “Someone’s coming.”
The group fell into silence, listening. Indeed, footsteps were rapidly approaching, coming from the opposite direction the group had came – it wasn’t someone from Fierah’s group. Grimly, Kopaka prepared for another fight.
But the person who came around the corner was the last being he expected to see…
The minutes before the Star’s crash…
Sytem reboot. A mind that had been dormant for centuries came back online. The mind of the Star – but also the mind of the Fe-Matoran inside it.
Years ago, when the Star first broke, the Kestora had brought one of the recently deceased Nynrah ghosts to fix it. the Fe-Matoran Nynrah Ghost had figured out how to connect his mind to the “mind” of the Star, but before he could figure out what was wrong, the Kestora had become paranoid that he was trying to sabotage the Star. They’d shut him down, and after that they prevented anyone who wasn’t a Kestora from inspecting the machines that controlled the Star. Until Ruhko, ironically once one of the Fe-Matoran’s friends, rebooted the system in an effort to get it to work.
The Nynrah Ghost didn’t know about all that. For him, it felt like only moments ago that he’d been linked into the Star, when the one known as Makuta walked in and flipped the switch that shut him down. As soon as he awoke again, he was bombarded with information. Someone was messing with the send-back systems, trying to get them operational – that was nothing new.
Error signals started appearing, ringing in his “ears”. The scanners were trying to reconnect, but for some reason the Robot wasn’t responding. He boosted the signal – maybe the Robot was out of reach for some reason? He found a small signal from the surface of a nearby planet. Too small to be the Robot, but maybe – wait, through the signal, he picked up a group of Toa. If there were Toa there, maybe that meant the Robot was nearby? Moments after he picked up the Toa’s presence, he felt one of them die. Fortunately, he’d been just in time to get a scan; the Star would be able to bring him back.
Before he could do anything else, he “felt” the Star beginning to move. Someone had activated the engines manually, driving the Star down to the surface of the planet below. It was closer to the signal he’d detected, so maybe that would mean it was closer to the Robot? But then, suddenly, more alarms went off. Something had been wrecked, and now the Star had no engine controls.
No manual controls, anyway. Stuck in the computer, the Fe-Matoran worked frantically to shut off the engines… and succeeded! He felt a moment of triumph – before realizing the Star hadn’t stopped. It had been caught in the gravity of the planet, and was plunging towards the surface. Quickly, he tried to get the engines back on, but it was too late: there was a crash, and everything went dark…
No! Somehow, he held on to consciousness. Well, awareness, considering he was in the mind of a machine. He began scanning the damage. Lights – offline. Engines – offline. Scanners – offli-- online? It seemed to be flickering, like the machinery was dying but still clinging to a spark of life. An alert had been sent, but none of the Kestora seemed to be responding; probably stunned or killed by the crash.
Teleporters – operational. The Fe-Matoran forced them to skip the typical wait period and retrieve the Toa who’d died on-planet. The way things were going, the Star might not be operational much longer, and he wanted to save as many people as he could. There was some sort of safeguard that prevented the teleport from being immediate, but the wait period could be turned down. Half an hour. That would have to do
Send-back – still inoperational. Something had been jammed into the machines by the impact, a body. A quick check of the scanners told him it was a Toa of Stone, and that he was alive – but not for long. Then the scanner went offline, and this time it didn’t come back. Had it gotten enough to revive him? He had to hope… that it… was…
This time, when he went black, he didn’t awaken again.
The “mind” of the Red Star – offline.
When the Toa came around the corner, Kopaka thought for sure he must be losing it. Because the person running toward them looked exactly like the body behind him. “Pohatu?”
The Toa Nuva of Stone met his gaze. The look in his friend’s eyes sent chills through the Toa Nuva of Ice as he replied.
“What’s a Pohatu?”
Author’s notes: a quick point of clarification, because someone might remember from the last Chapter of Hunted that Chiara points out Lesovikk’s death after the Star’s crash. Lesovikk actually dies before the Star crash, but Chiara doesn’t notice it until after.
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nooooo!!
ooh, interesting.
WHAAAAAAAAAT??
…
this is very confusing. nice job though, I’ll be happy to see more chapters.
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I was about to sue you for killing Pohatu, but I’m glad he’s still around.
Now, the Star didn’t create new bodies, as I recall, that’s why it teleported the dead bodies to the Star.
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Two Hydraxons, now two Pohatus (kind of), and I’m still holding out hope that there’s a second Jaller out there as well. This is getting interesting.
I’m curious as to what this explanation will be as well.
A good question, one of those things I assume is clearer than it is.
In some cases, a new body needs to be made. Pohatu’s body wasn’t that badly damaged, but the Starbrain put it down as “new body” since he wasn’t sure if anyone would be there to bring the body to the revival machines.
I would have stated it more directly in the story, but I wanted it to be more of a reveal when New-Pohatu shows up.
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…eeenteresting.
I suppose that makes sense, especially with the reveal that the Red Star is sapient (or it least it was when it made that decision).
Although I was under the impression that the Red Star still had to teleport the body up to recover the mind to put in a new body; it doesn’t just scan the mind.
Either way, that suggests to me that Pohatu’s original body could still be brought back.
Maybe it does, and that’s why Pohatu isn’t fully back?
Chapter 10
“Who are you?”
The Kestora known as Makuta retreated backwards, just staying out of reach of her attacker’s glowing blades. He wasn’t one of the ones meant to visit this place, that much she knew. He looked more like one of the ones who had made this place.
Whoever he was, he was obviously a threat, and Makuta had a way to deal with threats. She raised her staff, preparing to call upon her army of Toa…
The attacker moved impossibly fast, his sword slamming against her wrist; she yelped and dropped the staff. Then, the other blade came down toward her head, and the last thing she heard before she went black was the sound of her mask cracking.
Atakus stared down at the Kestora leader. Without a heartlight, it was hard to tell for sure, but Atakus doubted he’d killed her. Should he finish her off now?
Then he glanced down at the staff she’d dropped, with the strange crystal atop it. Hesitantly, he bent down and picked it up.
As soon as he did so, he felt power coming from it. The power to control an army. And it had one, an army of… Toa.
Atakus realized he was shaking, though not from the power he felt from the staff. No, he was shaking with excitement. This wouldn’t just make up for his last mistake. With this, there was nothing stopping him and his master from achieving–
Suddenly, there was a loud groan, and the floor beneath him shifted abruptly.
Orde stared intently at the Toa of Stone in front of him, focusing his powers. The Toa of Stone stared back curiously at first, then lost interest and turned to pay attention to the other conversation going on. He wasn’t skilled enough to feel Orde’s psionic investigation, so to him, it just felt like Orde was staring at him.
Finally, Orde stopped and shook his head. “He still… seems like the same person I met three days ago,” he said. “But he has no memories of… well, anything before waking up on the star.”
“Can you fix him?” Kopaka said. “Like you did with Delara?”
“You don’t understand,” Orde said. “His memories aren’t just suppressed, or jumbled. They’re gone. At best, maybe I could plant some memories in there, but…” Orde slumped his shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
“What about his body?” Takanuva asked. “Maybe we could–”
That was when the floor began to shift
“So she just… disappeared?” Hydraxon said. Once the two groups had reunited, Kopaka had taken Orde aside to analyze the new Pohatu, while Zaria and Chiara explained what had happened to their Great Being ally.
“And now the only person who knew how to stop this Marendar thing is gone,” Zaria said.
“Does her buddy know where she went?” Hydraxon said, staring accusingly at Strakk.
The Ice Glatorian raised his hands. “Mind reader guy already asked that, and probed me to be sure. I’ve got nothing.”
“All right,” Hydraxon said. “Well, we need to get out of here, so we can–”
The rest of was cut off when the floor abruptly shifted, and everyone but Hydraxon stumbled.
Mountains are supposed to be immovable. But under the massive weight of the Red Star, even stone would give.
Ever since the Star had landed, the earth and rock holding it in its upright position had been shifting, breaking, crumbling. Until, finally, one of them gave way, and the Star began to tilt toward its final impact, where it would inevitably collapse under its own weight.
And then, suddenly, it stopped.
Kopaka scrambled to his feet.
Ivohku was standing in the center of the room, his arms raised, his eyes closed, face clenched in concentration. He was using his elemental power.
“Can’t… hold…” he groaned. “Get… out… now…”
It took Kopaka only a second to realize what was happening. “We need to go, now!” he barked. “The Star’s about to fall over!”
“No!” Hydraxon said. “We’re not leaving everyone else here again. This time, we’re getting everyone out!”
“There’s no way we can get everyone out of a place this big!” Chiara protested.
“Than we get as many as we can,” Orde said. “We’re Toa. We’ll be the last ones to leave if we have to.”
Kopaka’s mind raced. He had an idea, but it would require everyone to pull off. “Zaria, I need you to open us up a lot of exits in the same area. Delara, I need you to boost my voice, make it so everyone can hear me at once. Takanuva, go with Zaria. Use your power to make the brightest light you can. I’m talking as bright as Matoro with the Ignika.” Kopaka hadn’t seen that bright flash of light, but he’d heard of it from the Av-Matoran Solek.
He turned to Hydraxon. “Go with Zaria. Use your weapons, blast those walls open. Now!” Hydraxon nodded and took off, following Zaria and Takanuva.
Kopaka turned to Delara, and the Sound Toa nodded. “Attention, everyone! The Star is about to collapse. The Toa are here to guide you. Follow the light and get to safety.” With Delara’s power, Kopaka’s voice could be heard everywhere on the Star.
Kopaka turned to the Glatorian. “Gelu, Stra–” but Strakk had already took off, no doubt running for safety as soon as he realized what was happening. “Gelu, get the Matoran to safety.”
He turned to Pohatu. “Do you have your mask power back?”
Pohatu stared blankly at him. “What does my mask do again?”
His words were like an ice dagger to Kopaka’s heart, but one he’d have to think about later. “Never mind, go with Gelu and the Matoran. If you can figure it out, use your power to make sure the escapees can get to the ground. Orde, Chiara, you’re with me.” Then Kopaka shifted over to the Nuva Mask of Speed, and ran off to save as many people he could.
Left behind by the rest of the group, Ivohku stood, concentrating.
He’d gotten lucky, unleashing his power right as the Star began to tip over. It was just barely balanced, just enough for him to hold it up. But that wouldn’t last long. Bit by bit, he could feel it moving, growing heavier as it did so. In less than a minute, it would be too much for him to hold up.
Ivohku couldn’t move, couldn’t breath, couldn’t do anything except exert his power. It he let up, for even a fraction of a second, it would be over. The Star would tip past the point where he could hold it up. He had to hold on, long enough for Kopaka to get everyone out.
There was no way he could make it out. He was sure of it, and he didn’t care. He’d failed everything else since he’d died the first time. He wouldn’t fail here.
6 Likes
ooo interesting!
The end of this chapter is quite interesting, I’ll be excited to see what happens next!
Nice! I need to keep reading this!
Chapter 11
“I don’t know what they were,” Gali said. “But whatever they were, if they survived that, they’re now here on this planet. We should at least go check it out.” Gali was one of the few people who knew about beings living on the Star. After hearing about the Star’s crash, Gali had called a council among the other Toa.
“I agree,” Tahu said. “The Red Star was made by the Great Beings just like the Robot, but we know so little about it. What if those people are like the Matoran?”
Toa Helryx, leader of the Order of Mata Nui, was also present. Gali’s news troubled her. She remembered some ancient legends about the Star having some other purpose, though she couldn’t recall what it was, as she’d never verified the legends. “I have someone who can get you to the Star’s location quickly,” she said. “Nuukor, one of Botar’s kind.”
“Garan’s Matoran salvage and rescue crew already came to me and asked if they should go to the Star,” Onua said. “I told them it might be dangerous. We shouldn’t send them alone.”
“I’ll go,” Gali said.
Lesovikk almost passed by the horde of Toa, until he saw her. He turned, about to shout her name…
It was a Toa of Lightning, wielding a trident, wearing an angular mask; but it wasn’t her. The mask was different, as was the trident, and the armor was unfamiliar.
Of course it isn’t, he thought to himself. She’s dead. They all are. But then, so was he, wasn’t he? He’d died and been brought back by this place. That was what that small purple thing had claimed when he’d interrogated her. He hadn’t believed her, but now… some of these Toa looked ancient, and there were more here than there had been at the battle of Bara Magna.
It didn’t make sense, but if there was even a chance that Nikila and the others were alive, he had to take it. He slipped into the horde of Toa; none of them paid him any mind. He didn’t know where they were going, but he’d find out. And he’d find out if his team was there.
In the woods of Spherus Magna, two Turaga sat, waiting. They had nowhere to go, no familiarity with these woods. Botar stood, dutifully watching them, ready to teleport away at the first sign of danger.
He wasn’t expecting someone else to teleport straight to him, however. All of a sudden, several people appeared next to him, and he jumped back, startled. He was just about to teleport away with the Turaga when he heard a familiar voice say his name.
Lesovikk followed the Toa out one of the exits. None of them had spoken, none of them had reacted to him, even when he tried getting their attention. He’d even tried tripping one at one point, but the Toa had just gotten back to his feet and continued walking. What was with them?
Finally, they reached their exit. Strakk was there, staring befuddled at the horde of Toa going by. Nearby, he could see Zaria and Hydraxon working on opening up the walls of the Star, with a group of Matoran, Gelu, and Pohatu nearby. One of the Matoran called out something upon seeing the Toa, but none of the Toa reacted. Lesovikk followed the Toa into the woods.
It was at that point that night began to turn into day.
“What should we do?” Quilha asked. “Should I follow them?”
“You want to follow a horde of mind-controlled Toa into unfamiliar woods, in the middle of the night?” Mavrah said. “And you say the Toa are reckless.”
Quilha realized he had a point; she was still in the mindset of being trapped on the Star.
“Besides, a group that big is sure to leave a trail,” Ruhko pointed out. “We can worry about that later.”
Takanuva had never done anything like this before.
He hadn’t been there when Matoro used the Ignika, but he’d heard about if from the Av-Matoran: a bright flash of light, so bright it could be seen through solid walls, so bright it could be seen even when you closed your eyes. Takanuva doubted that he could’ve made a light nearly that bright as a Toa. But as a Toa Nuva, maybe there was a chance.
He held his twin staffs up. Like his old Power Lance, they amplified his power. “I suggest you guys avert your eyes when it starts getting bright,” he said to the rest of his companions.
And then, he began to unleash his power.
“Turaga Jovan?”
“Turaga Lhikan?”
“Botar?!”
Almost all at once, Garan, Gali, and Nuukor all spoke, incredulous at the sight of one they thought was dead.
“I-if Lhikan is – and Botar are th-the other two,” the grey Turaga said, “then I g-guess Jovan must be me?”
Turaga Lhikan nodded. “It seems you know me, but I don’t know you,” he said to the Toa Nuva of water.
“But… they told me you were killed?” Nuukor said.
“I KNOW Jovan was killed,” Garan said, suspicion creeping into his voice. “I saw his body, after the Great Earthquake.”
“It seems they don’t know about the Star’s true purpose either,” Lhikan said. “It would appear that we have much to discuss. But first–”
“What’s that?!” one of the other Matoran cried, pointing up into the sky. Lhikan turned and looked up. Next to the Red Monolith, a light had appeared in the sky, growing brighter by the second…
The light could be seen for miles around. It wasn’t nearly as bright as the Ignika flash had been, but it was bright enough to be seen all throughout the star, in the darkest hallways. As Kopaka had ordered, those who could move began to head towards it. Those who could not sometimes found aid from those who could; others suddenly vanished, sped away by Kopaka, Chiara and Orde.
Finally, the Star began to tip faster and faster, and Kopaka knew they’d done all they could. The three Toa raced to the nearest exit, realizing too late that the exit was far over the ground, but Kopaka was able to switch to the mask of Levitation in time to catch them and lower them safely to the ground.
Just as they landed, the Star slammed down onto the ground, and there was an impossibly loud groaning of metal as it collapsed. No one inside could have survived.
The Toa had done all they could.
Quilha gazed around at the sea of faces, some familiar, many more unfamiliar. It was nowhere near everyone who’d been trapped on the Star. There was simply no way to evacuate such a massive space station in the time they had. Were it not for Ivohku, they wouldn’t even have gotten this many out.
“I estimate maybe ten percent – no, less than ten percent of the people made it out,” Ruhko said.
“Don’t forget about the Toa,” Mavrah added. By now, the horde of Toa had long gone.
“I took them into account,” Ruhko said. “There were probably three hundred Toa in that group, maybe a little less.”
Scanning the escapees, Quilha spotted a group of Kestora, looking very lost and confused. The one known as Makuta didn’t seem to be among them. Had she taken the Toa and left? Where would she go?
Finally, she spotted them: Kopaka, Chiara and Orde, walking away from the wreckage of the Star. Kopaka was carrying one last escapee, an unfamiliar Ta-Matoran. “Ivohku?” she asked, and the Toa of Ice shook his head. The Toa of Gravity hadn’t made it out.
Orde looked around at all the people they managed to rescue. “Well, now what?” he said. “What shall we do with all of these people?”
Before Kopaka could answer, he saw someone else appear suddenly, teleporting into view. It was Botar, along with the two Turaga. With him was another being who looked almost just like Botar, a group of Matoran, and a familiar Toa of Water.
Gali glanced around at all the people surrounding her brother. Among them was Hydraxon, who she’d just spoken to at the villages, looking like he’d lost a few fights since she’d last seen him. Then there was the team that she, Tahu, and Onua had assembled to look for the Great Beings. And… was that Takanuva? The Toa of Light looked different from the last time she saw him. He had a bad habit of doing that.
“Well,” she said when she finally found her voice again. “Something tells me there’s a very long story behind all of this.”
A few minutes later, Gali stood with Kopaka, Takanuva, and a few others in a temporary structure made out of the ruins of the Star. Outside, the revived people were milling about, not sure what to do or where to go. Fortunately, most of them seemed willing to listen to the Toa Nuva, seeing as they had been the ones to rescue everyone from a place they’d been trapped for so long. Garan’s crew was digging through the Star to see what they could manage to salvage.
“Even with Botar and I working together, it’ll take us two, maybe three days to take everyone back to the villages,” Nuukor said quietly. His teleportation power was great, but it had its limits.
“And then there’s the matter of reintegrating them into society,” Chiara added. “Everyone back home thinks all these people are dead. And none of these people know about what happened to Mata Nui and the old world. It’s gonna be rough for everyone.”
“We’ll have everyone stay here by the remains of the Star for now,” Gali said. Zaria had already gotten to work making shelters for the survivors with the metal of the Star.
Takanuva sighed. Not long ago, he’d been in charge of overseeing the evacuation of everyone from the old Matoran Universe to this new world. And now, he had a similar momentous task before him. And there were new troubles as well – the body of the Kestora known as Makuta had been found, without her staff. The horde of Toa had left a trail into the woods, but no one had followed them yet, though Strakk claimed he’d seen Lesovikk among them. There was no sign of what had happened to Fierah. They no longer had any way of stopping Marendar.
And he couldn’t get his mind off of the Toa Nuva of Stone standing outside. Pohatu, but with none of the memories of his time with the other Toa Nuva.
The trouble on the Star was over… but it seemed that just like Makuta’s defeat, this ending was only another beginning.
To be continued…
9 Likes
Ooh the next part is gonna be awesome!! This chapter was pretty good.
I’m not sure how I missed Chapter 10 being posted. Before I read Chapter 11, it still seemed like Pohatu’s original body (and memories) could be brought back, but after the collapse of the Star, I’m not so sure. I’ll be interested to see how Pohatu redevelops his friendships, especially with Kopaka.
When would Jovan have met Botar?
This means that The Monolith is done, right?
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Whoops, that’s supposed to be Nuukor (Botar’s replacement) saying Botar’s name.
(I rearranged the order of the names at the last minute to match who was speaking, so that slipped past editing)
Yep. The next story is probably going to go back to Lewa.
3 Likes
Ooh interesting…
Nice try, but everybody knows that Botar’s replacement’s name is Botar’s replacement
5 Likes
Finished to read this yesterday.
And because life keeps getting in my way, I wasn’t able to write much, but I always wanted to, so here are my thoughts on the whole thing pretty briefly:
- Nice Character/Backstory development for Ivohku, albeit short. Will miss the guy, I kind of liked him=(.
- Always imagined the Star being the same “rusty metal” color as the GSR, and then you described it as that huge red thing and it just blew my mind somehow. As if the Death Star was all stadard Lego Red instead of grey. I probably sound funny.
- Delara is sane again - cool (Also, gee, how many Toa with “someone died/was captured because of me” backstory we have… not a minus to the story, as it all comes together, but a fun fact).
- Good explanation for Inika
- Cool uasge of Atakus’ glowing blades (oh, I am so sure that he has escaped the Star…)
- I see what a pain it is to explain everything that happenned in different stories to every character to keep everyone up to date - you did great.
- Star being sentient is a very elegant way to explain stuff.
- The final destruction of the Star seems a bit forced, but absolutely necesary, because reviving everyone isn’t the way. Probably it makes some sense - just like GSR didn’t totally crash immediately, but was dismantling slowly, the Star survived the impact and was slowly collapsing under its own weight (but for a rather short time, because it is smaller).
- So sad =(, but the number seems kinda belivable and story-compatible.
Maybe they will find someone in the debris? - It’s great to have even more different groups of characters joining together. 3 (4?) Toa Nuva in one place (and maybe the next story is about Lewa) seems like getting back to a Toa team-specific story, which I kinda miss after several “miscellaneous characters”-oriented books.
Overall, I am just happy that this Project lives and I totally wait for the next book!
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