BIONICLE: Hand.
As you might have noticed, the title has changed. I'll try and make future chapters longer than the last one, as that was just a warm up to get me comfortable with writing about the world of BIONICLE. The main Toa team will be introduced during this chapter, but feel free to put forward ideas for other Toa or Hand members.
So, here we go. Listen to a legend of the BIONICLE.
"You know, you take us to the nicest places, Daikii," remarked Toa Purian. The Toa of Magnetism laughed at his own joke.
Daikii wasn't laughing. He was pondering the situation.
Ever since the Hand of Artakha had rescued them and brought them to their base, Daikii and his team had been on the mend. Kahlo's condition had meant that they were still waiting for the Toa of Plasma to recover, as he didn't have Daikii's mysterious gift for enduring damage. The long battle with the pair of Colossus had ended in his defeat.
Right now, the two Toa were watching a mock battle between Nikila, and the Toa of Water that Daikii's stray axe had hit during his first fight with Shadow Stealer. He'd been surprised to learn that she was Toa Helryx, the first Toa created in the entire universe. Now, she blocked a strike from Nikila's trident with her shield, and thrust back with her spiked mace, stunning Nikila. The Toa of Lightning stumbled backwards, and Helryx stowed her weapons.
"This fight is done," said Helryx.
Daikii frowned. One thing that he'd noticed was the arrogance of all the Hand members. Shadow Stealer had actually been polite for a Hand, but Helryx was downright rude. She could back up her point – being one of the strongest Toa in existence, but it still troubled Daikii that a Toa would treat her fellow brothers and sisters in such a manner.
Purian walked forward, and helped Nikila up. She had only just fully recovered from the Hunter battle, and wasn't up to her full prowess yet. As he walked back with Nikila, Daikii walked over to Helryx.
"Listen," he said. "I don't care about your agenda. You treat my friends with respect, or you'll answer to me."
Helryx gave him a cold smile. "And in turn, I don't care about your feelings. So get out of my face."
Before Daikii could retort a colder voice cut across his.
"He said, treat us with respect. If I have to earn it, then so be it. I'll fight you tomorrow."
The voice came from Dez, a Toa of Sonics that had linked up with Daikii and the other Toa before the Remnant attack. Dez kept to himself – as a Toa of Sonics, he was especially vulnerable to sound, with acute hearing, and thus a dislike of conversation.
Helryx smiled. "Fine," she said. "Don't be late."
As she walked away, Purian turned to Dez. "Are you crazy?" he asked. "No offense, but she'll slaughter you," said the normally cheerful Toa.
Dez just shrugged. "So be it. But I shall earn her respect by the end of tomorrow."
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The word that Helryx was going to battle Dez spread through the base like wildfire. Daikii half expected whoever was in charge to shut the training centre down, but when they arrived the next day, the centre was open, and it was business as usual.
Helryx was fighting three Skakdi; all armed with the explosive 30 foot weapons called devastators. She dropped to the ground, causing one of the Skakdi to nearly impale the other. The third was taken down by a leg sweep, and Helryx smacked them soundly with her mace, knocking them out.
Purian turned to Dez. "You really think you can beat her?" he asked.
Dez shrugged, and pulled out his vibro blade, holding it in his favourite reverse grip style. "I think that I stand a very good chance of doing so," he replied. He walked over to Helryx. "Are you prepared?" he asked.
Helryx dropped into a crouch. "You should be asking yourself that," she replied.
Then, Helryx lunged, swinging her mace. Dez caught the blow on his sword, and then swept it back behind him, catching her shield and turning it aside. Then, he leapt from foot to foot, before diving straight for Helryx. She twisted aside quickly, and slapped at him with her mace, but Dez had kicked out and pushed off Helryx's legs, dodging the blow and knocking her off balance.
Helryx charged forward again, but Dez slipped out of the way, and struck back with the armoured pommel of his sword.
The two of them circled each other for a few minutes, neither showing any advantage. It was Dez who lost his patience, and lunged, sword extended.
Helryx turned it aside, and threw him to the ground, but Dez twisted to land on his hands, and then leapt up and slashed, driving Helryx back. She counterattacked, but Dez had jumped up, and over, landing behind her, and striking at the small of her back.
Pain shot through Helryx, and she collapsed to the ground.
Dez kept an eye on her, checking that she wasn't faking, but she struggled to her feet, ready to continue.
Suddenly, a squealing alarm went off. Caught off guard, Dez staggered, his sensitive hearing bombarded by the noise. Helryx seized her chance, and knocked the Toa of Sonics to the ground. The weakened Toa didn't even protest, covering his audio receptors in pain.
"Helryx!" bellowed Axonn, the silver and red armoured being that had greeted Daikii in the raining hall on the first day. "Save your rage for the Remnants! The base is under attack!" Seeing Dez sprawled on the ground, he added. "And someone shut that thing up!"
The alarm shut down, and Dez sighed. "Sometimes I wish that I had a Mask of Silence," he remarked. "No wonder our Matoran don't like the Hand."
"Save your wishes for after the fight," remarked Axonn, hefting his mighty protosteel axe, and heading for the door. "Prepare for battle."
Soon, Toa Nikila stood beside Axonn on the walls of the Hand base. Below, an army of Remnant forces, almost one thousand strong, was marching towards the gates. A driving rainstorm impaired their progress, but they were moving steadily for the base.
"Have they done this before?" asked Nikila. "Is this routine for you guys?"
Axonn shook his head. "It's not routine anywhere. The Remnants show up when they find any artefacts of the Great Beings that they deem advantageous to them." He tightened his grip on the rampart. "You should link up with the rest of your team."
As Nikila went down below, Axonn surveyed the Remnant forces. Most of them were Matoran, the poor mutations that they were, and Sahnlei, but a few Colossus pairs stood out among the ranks, as did the knots of bird-like beings, nicknamed "Spears," by the Hand. They were rumoured to have joined the Alliance to gain profit, a trait that the Skakdi among the Hand understood, but still loathed.
At the bottom of the wall, Nikila joined the Toa from her group that were fit for battle. With Dez newly injured, and Kahlo still out like a lightstone, there was only her, Daikii, hefting his gravity axe and shield, Purian, grasping his magna sword, a blade that was as large as he was, and Rahnkii, a Toa of the Green, with the ability to control plant life. He twirled his leaf blades, looking almost bored.
Nikila pulled out her trident, and gave it a few swings, checking that she hadn't been unnerved by the fight with Helryx.
"Need a hand?" asked a curiously accented voice.
The Toa turned to see two beings from the same species approaching. Both were colossal four armed giants carrying massive hand weapons. One remained silent, though he seemed to be in a constant rage, with large horns and a multi-bladed axe. The other, garbed in black and gold armour, looked more like a Toa, with a Kanohi mask, and no horns, carrying two massive larger swords, and two smaller ones that even a Toa could wield easily. His weapons were sheathed, and his larger pair of arms folded into spheres.
"Axonn sent us to supplement your downed team members," remarked the black armoured giant. "I'm Sahnok. This talkative one is Kryant," he said, nodded to his companion, who just nodded.
Daikii nodded. "Thanks," he said. "I think that we're going to need you."
Sahnok laughed. "Too right. We have merely three hundred at the most in the base. A thousand might be a bit of a problem."
"They're charging!" yelled the voice of Axonn from above.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Down below, the Sahnlei commander bellowed a single command.
"Rend them asunder!" he bellowed, the rain bouncing off his yellow and black armour. As his forces bellowed in agreement, and started to run for the gates, the Sahnlei unlimbered his sword and followed, leading his warriors for the most easily scaled walls.
A surge of Skakdi and other assorted beings poured out of the gates, and ran for the Remnant army.
The two forces met with a mighty crash of metal. The Mutants were either slain in an instant, or shot themselves in the feet with their plasma launchers and collapsed, pretending to be unconscious. Their tough hides would survive the trampling of the battle, but if a stray Hand member looked too closely, they could see the Matoran breathing in terror.
Of course, the Hand forces had other problems. The Spears were taking down Hand members left and right, picking off their foes with their laser harpoons. A knot of them went into panic after a Toa of Ice froze several in an artificial blizzard, but for the most part, they remained undaunted by the battle in front of them.
The Skakdi made straight for the Sahnlei, clashing against their fibre swords with their assorted weapons, but the Sahnlei were such skilled fighters, that many Skakdi met their ends at the hands of an Sahnlei's weapon, with only those wielding spears having any real success. The few that wielded devastators turned the tide of Sahnlei back, sweeping the thirty foot weapons through their ranks.
Then, there was a yell of agony, and a Kerulen from Stelt, nicknamed a bruiser, fell at the hands of an enraged Colossus, whose mate he'd just slain. The massive blue armoured being crushed allies and foes alike, seeking revenge. Then, it seemed to wilt, and fell to the ground, the axe of Kryant buried in his back.
A cry of shock went up from the Remnant forces.
Then there was a yell of fury, and the main Toa force of the base thundered out, firing blast after blast of elemental energy. A massive tidal wave came out of nowhere, and flattened the remaining Spears, who fled as soon as they recovered. Any Mutants that were still standing had lost their nerve and did likewise. But the Colossus' and Sahnlei remained, slashing at the ranks of the Hand.
At the gates, Axonn felled one Hunter with a single blow from his mighty axe. Its mate charged, only to fall victim to Hydraxon's wrist blades.
The Toa team of the Northern fringes joined the battle, and instantly realised how different this was from an ordinary fight. As soon as they felled one foe, another took its place.
Daikii slammed his shield into the face of one of the Sahnlei, knocking the warrior unconscious, while Nikila electrified two that were aiming a mobile cannon of sorts at the gates. Shadow Stealer slipped out of an Sahnlei's shadow, striking before it could fight back, and felling it. Purian swept his massive magna sword through the air, dispatching another two.
Then, Rahnkii fell with a cry of pain. The Sahnlei he'd been fighting slashed in anticipation of a killing blow, but the Toa of the Green triggered his mask power to turn intangible, then caused vines to erupt from the ground and strangle the surprised Sahnlei until it hit the floor, passed out.
Behind them, Sahnok crushed a Colossus with all four of his swords, then slammed the larger two weapons together to form an even more massive blade, and took down an Sahnlei and a Matoran playing dead with a single swing.
Kryant bellowed in rage as he made a berserker charge through the ranks of the Elites, sending them flying.
Then, a cry of alarm went up as a band of Elites scaled the walls of the base, throwing the defenders over the ramparts and cutting down those that remained.
.
The Sahnlei commander parried an attack from a Toa of Stone, and struck back, with the Toa's natural resistance to damage saving him from certain death, but still taking him out of the fight. The Sahnlei smiled. These Toa were good fighters, but no match for an Sanhlei warrior.
Behind him, he heard a deep growl of pain, and turned to see one of his warriors fall at the hands of a Toa of Water carrying a mace and a shield. The Toa grinned at him with surprising ferocity, and charged, swinging her mace.
The Sahnlei caught the blow and turned it aside easily, and then struck out with his fist, catching the Toa off guard, and stunning her. He followed up with an upward swing from his sword, but the Toa blocked the blow with her shield and landed a glancing blow on the Sahnlei's sword hand. He snarled, dropping his weapon and nursing his fingers, and Helryx saw her chance. She bashed him in the face with her shield, and was about to strike with her mace, when he rose up to his full height, grabbing her shield, and forcing her down with sheer strength. Helryx's muscles screamed in pain as she was driven to the floor, and she blacked out through sheer pressure.
The last thing she heard before darkness claimed her was the words of the Sahnlei commander.
"You fought well, Toa."
The Sahnlei tossed the shield aside, and retrieved his blade, then he caught a glimpse of a familiar form running towards him. At last, it was the warrior that he'd been seeking – finally out of his hidey-hole.
Toa Dez stared at the Sahnlei that stood over the fallen form of Helryx. The Sahnlei watched him, grasping his sword.
Then, without warning, he sprang at the Toa of Sonics. Dez swept his vibro blade upwards, catching the blow between the blades, and the Sahnlei smiled, wrenching the weapon from Dez's grasp. Dez gasped in pain and jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding a swing from the Sahnlei. The Sahnlei swung again, only to bet met with a devastating blast of sound. Dez retrieved his vibro blade while the Sahnlei growled in discomfort, and fell to his knees.
Before he could react, Dez placed the tip of his blade against the Sahnlei's throat. "It's over, Sahnlei," he said. "Now climb back down that wall – or I could throw you off – and get out of here."
The Sahnlei was about to snap back that he was a warrior, not a coward, but he could see that the battle wasn't going well down below. Of course, when most of your fighting force was made up of Matoran Mutants, even sheer numbers wouldn't have saved them from the wrath of the Hand members, and the few Sahnlei that were still standing were on their last limbs.
Snarling, the Sahnlei bellowed, a deep cry that signified a retreat. The other Sahnlei promptly stopped fighting, and walked away, ignoring the members of the Hand. After a few seconds, more began to retreat, extracting themselves from the ground and limping away.
Dez jerked his thumb at the rampart. "You too," he warned the Sahnlei commander.
The Sahnlei snarled. "We shall meet again," he warned, and climbed over the wall, vanishing from sight.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Hydraxon sighed and collapsed on his sleep couch. He was exhausted; the day had taken a heavy toll on him. But he knew that he still had tasks to carry out, and dragged himself to the door after a few minutes rest.
He limped down the corridor, where Toa Purian was waiting outside Kahlo's room. The Toa of Plasma was still unresponsive, having not moved a finger since he had fallen into a coma. Toa Dez, weary from his battle with the Sahnlei commander, lay sprawled out on his own sleep couch, while Nikila attended to him. Rahnkii was causing healing plants to grow from the cracks in the floor, nursing the injuries that the Hunters had inflicted. Daikii alone was unhurt, slumped against the wall. Out of all the Toa, he'd used his elemental powers the most during the battle, cancelling the gravity around a few Colossus and dropping them on a squad of Spears repetitively.
Hydraxon entered cautiously. "How are you holding up?" he asked.
"Been better," replied Daikii weakly.
Hydraxon beckoned him aside. "This is not the time, but the people upstairs took note of your team's prowess in battle today. I presume that you'll be staying until Kahlo is recovered?" he asked.
Daikii sighed. "I don't know. Kahlo was the one who made most of the decisions." He absentmindedly scratched his armour. "I guess so."
Hydraxon nodded in understanding. "The leaders of the Hand would like to make an offer," he explained. "We'd like you and your team to join the Hand of Artakha,' he said. Before Daikii could respond, Hydraxon got up. "Take some time to make your decision," he said. "I know it might seem like a lot, but you don't have to make your decision overnight."
With that, the black armoured being stalked out of the room.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
At the Remnant base the Sahnlei commander walked down the hallways, mulling the day's events over. If the Hand possessed an artefact of such power, surely they would have used it during the battle, he thought to himself. Then he shrugged as he reached his quarters. It didn't really matter, now that he had met the warrior again. These Toa, he thought. They could possibly match us in power.
Suddenly the voice of a Shadow echoed through the base. "Members of the Alliance rejoice," it said. "Our defeat today was not a defeat, but a victory for us." It paused dramatically, before continuing. "Today, our scouts happened upon an artefact of immense power, unlike nothing we have ever encountered. It will be the duty of our strongest warriors to claim this Artefact, and retrieve it for the good of the Alliance." The voice of the Shadow grew in volume. "For we shall burn the infidels until they are but glass! We shall rend asunder all that would break our bonds. Hear me now, brothers and sisters, we stand on the peak of our progress!"
I made this all up as I wrote it, so excuse the disjointed style.
Yeah, I kinda nicked a bit of one of Truth's speeches. But still, it sounds cool.
And again, I'm out of things to say. I'm always open to suggestions, but make them quick!