Aaaah, life is good, fun times, climbed mountains, swam waterfalls colder than a corpse… errr… not that I know how cold that is… and had a pretty fun summer… now onwards to the story of our protagonist GB: Kalnur
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own BIONICLE, Nidhiki or Varia
"Awkward encounters"
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(Ta-Metru)
Nidhiki exited the –recently used- crumbling warehouse in the outskirts of the district; up until now, the worst thing he had dealt with was that makuta, but it had sent some serious thoughts through his mind; for if one being could find him with his Volitak activated, then surely others would be able to do the same.
This meant starpan training was the only viable option to prevent this from happening further, which in turn meant only one place for training: the icy deserted regions in Ko-Metru, specifically the caves near the ocean, lots of dangerous rahi inhabited those places… or training fodder, it was all pretty much the same.
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(Ga-Metru)
Kalnur strode through the beach, his armored feet making splashy sounds on the water. This was all too strange, even for his now-expanded mind; the Dark Hunter war was over, there was even a new team of Toa on the streets… Hell, even Varia was in Metru Nui! Then how could everything feel like it would soon go down the Kane-Ra bull's stomach and into places best left un-described?
It was in this metru that he had first found out about the Great Beings "infiltrating" this world, here that he had talked with something only Mata Nui would know what was, and also here that Lycher used to swim around and hunt… it was here that Lhikan chose to start his mission to create new Toa sacrificing his power.
It was also here that Varia's house was located, and so, it was a good time to pay her a visit for old time's sake; Kalnur raised a small energy shield around him just in case. Knocking on the door, he got only an empty silence as an answer; he tried again and then another time… the door coming down was the fourth one. Inside was nothing but an empty bed, a desk and some tablets strewn on the floor. "Damn it Varia! Why do you always go around journeying when people are looking for you?"
That's when the squad of bordahk broke into the house. "Oh crap"
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(Ko-Metru)
Nidhiki was hunting an ice bat through the deep chasms that opened between the tops of the Knowledge Towers; every toa worth his mask knew that it was both a dangerous and rewarding sport, because catching one was always more or lays equivalent to a day of non-stop physical training.
That's when he saw the lumbering figure down below; it looked too big and weird to be a vahki, but moved too normally to be a rahi of any sort; deciding the ice bat could wait for later, he jumped down and use his scythes to slow the fall; just before hitting ground level a sudden gust propelled him forward and into a direct shoulder slam to the thing's torso. Nidhiki was sent flying backwards and landed non-too-gracefully on his back armor.
"Uuuh, why did the green toa hit me?" The lumbering figure, also known as Krekka, asked out loud as he picked up Nidhiki by the neck. "And why do you look like Nidhiki before he got spidery? Wait! Where is my Nidhiki!" He yelled as he tested how flexible the toa's neck was. Not nice.
"Ok, you have three seconds to let go of me before I make you, whatever-your-name-is" Nidhiki answered as the fire claws began to heat up. "Or don't, I never pass up a good chance for constant and unnecessary violence, especially against Dark Hunters" He added with the wickedest grin he could show with his mask and kneed Krekka in the chin.
"Ow!" The brute roared as he let go. "Uh… the Shadowed One said to crush puny toa, Nidhiki says to crush puny toa….. KREKKA SMASH!" He added as both his enormous fists tore the floor beneath the toa of air and sent him flying for the second time in the day.
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(Ga-Metru)
Kalnur blasted one of the bordahk with an energy sphere before jumping out the window; as much as he would like to simply blow them up there and then, he knew that Varia would kill him for the state her house would be left in; thus, he jumped out the window and into the wide channels of Ga-metru, hoping they would chase.
Several splashes in the water and some disks nearly hitting him confirmed that, but Kalnur was now in the water... those bordahk would never know what hit them… or maybe they would, but takea sharks had a nasty tendency to be fast and sneaky, especially against clumsy vahki. Thus, he shimmered into the lithe form of the water predator and charged at the swimming squad of prey… er… enforcers.
Three fell to the first strike, their bodies emitting sparks as the sank in the channel, with two more following swiftly behind, but that's when the disks started flying everywhere and, by the looks of the turtle one of them just hit, they were freeze disks from Ko-metru: Not. Good.
Kalnur circled around what was left of the squad, thinking his next attack; the bordahk had formed a defensive perimeter of sorts, all staffs and disk launchers pointing outwards into the water, seemingly ready to repel attacks coming in that direction… so an attack from above should finish them off.
It was during the dive –for the purpose of gathering more speed- that three of the disks managed to hit him fair and square, leaving the surprised great being a very frozen block of ice to be retrieved by the vahi.
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(Ko-Metru)
Nidhiki walked along the blue giant known as Krekka; who was dumber than a sculpture from Po-metru and twice as dense; it had taken a while to convince him that he was the Nidhiki he was looking for, only a disk had hit him and he looked like a toa for now, but it was totally him and he should remind him the job they were doing in the fabled City of Legends, as the Shadowed One had called it.
"Well, Shadowed One says we got hired to get Toa Lhikan and throw him into jail, and now we have to get rid of pesky toa with the Great Disks because they could ruin our client's plans and then we get no pay" Krekka answered as if remembering all that took a considerable effort for him. "He says we have to keep the toa alive and not kill them unless necessary"
"I see" Nidhiki answered as he memorized the precious enemy intel he had gotten his hands on. "So the plan is to give the six-" He was cut by Krekka saying "seven". "Right, seven toa to our client and then take them back to the Shadowed One in Odina?" He added with a hint of mirth to make it look as if he was the one reviewing the plan to Krekka and not the other way around. "Yes" Was the answer by the Steltian.
"Krekka!" The clicking voice of the arachnoid Nidhiki bellowed as he emerged from a nearby alley. "How many times have I told you not to get lo-" The toa-turned-Dark-Hunter stopped mid-sentence as he looked at the green toa next to his dumb partner. But it could not be, he had been changed, and he was there! So how could a toa look remarkably like his old form –plus some added toys- be standing in front of him?
"You! You're not supposed to exist!" He added as he charged at the emerald toa.
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Kalnur was partialy unfrozen and thrown into a dark cell in the middle of a place only Mata Nui would know; his head and hands were free enough to hit the floor with a rather unhealthy crunch and not be able to do anything about it. "Damn those tin cans and their stupid homing disks" He said out loud as he began heating his body like a lava eel to thaw himself. "I would destroy all of them if I could" He added angrily.
After escaping his icy confinement, he finally started taking in his surroundings. He was in an ample cell with a solid protodermis door as the only official way out; the floor was uneven and hard, with four large figures lying on it –sleeping, by the looks of it- and a fifth, smaller one propped against the corner, his mask features concealed by a strange helmet. The mood was generally dark, gloomy and with a slight scent of defeat in the air.
"Tell me toa, how did they capture you?" The smaller figure said as it stood up and walked, with the aid of a funny-looking staff, towards Kalnur. "You don't seem to be here by will… or accident" He added as he took a good look at the multi-colored toa. "You know, you remind me of an old teammate of mine… well, at least before he disappeared; we never knew what happened to him" He said with a sad shook of his head.
"I'm sorry for the disappearance of your friend, turaga; I'm sure you will find him someday, or maybe he will find you" Kalnur replied as he knelt down to the elder's eye level. "Destiny works in mysterious ways… now step aside" He added as his right hand started glowing with Light; just as he was about to punch a hole in the protodermis door the size of a kanoka disk, the turaga spoke again. "Kalnur? Is that you?"
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(Ko-Metru)
Nidhiki jumped out of the way in time to avoid getting trampled by the huge insectoid Dark Hunter; unlimbering his scythes, he whirled around in mid-air and landed to face both Dark Huners. Kalnur had warned him about them, but he had never mentioned anything about one of them also calling himself "Nidhiki".
"I have no quarrel with you… or maybe I do; you know, you being a Dark Hunter and all, so get out of my sight before I make you get out" His fire claws flared up with that last statement. "The hard way"
"Uh, Nidhiki" Krekka's voice managing to make it through all of his partner's rage at what he thought was a mockery of him. "Shadowed One said to crush squishy toa… he knows" The look on the emerald hunter's face was priceless as he realized the full depths of what the idiot he was paired with had just said; this meant the toa in front of them, be who he might be, could not get away. "Krekka you imbecile! The Shadowed One will kill us now! Unless we bring this piece of kikanalo droppings that calls itself toa with us" He yelled as he shot energy web after energy web at his foe.
Nidhiki cut through the webs like a proto drake through liquid protodermis, much to the panic and fury of his assailant and Krekka, who seemed to be taking some important decision inside his big, empty head. And if what he had heard was right, escaping with the information he had gotten out of the guy was more than valuable to them, enough to cause the anger of the Shadowed One. Opting for the old matoran proverb of "Run and fight another day, but run fast", Nidhiki whipped up a whirlwind with snow and threw it at the two dark hunters to make his escape.
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Kalnur stopped right there, fist still glowing with Light. "How do you know my name, turaga?" He asked befuddled at the elder's knowledge. "The only turaga I ever met was Dume, and he seems to have gone cuckoo as of late" The great being added as he knelt down to his eye level.
"Well, you knew me under another body and attitude, brother" He answered with a chuckle. "Or have you forgotten the Dark Hunter war and the Toa Mangaia?" The turaga said as he slowly removed his helmet to reveal a golden, noble Hau underneath. "You got smaller, Kalnur"
"L-Lhikan? Well, you've gotten smaller too" Kalnur replied as he hugged the toa he had come to respect and call brother. "Wait! Is this because you gave your power to the toa metru?" He added as he looked closely at the four figures lying asleep on the ground. "Four of which are captured and asleep in this cell"
"Actually, only three of them are toa Metru, Kalnur" Lhikan answered pointing at a white toa, a black one and a brown one too. "I take you remember your old rivalry with Varia? Because she's right there" He added pointing at a black and silver figure that looked really uncomfortable sleeping on the floor. "And she's been a bit cranky for some reason" The toa-turned-turaga said as he took his helmet and donned it again.
"Damn…"
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(Ko-Metru)
Nidhiki ran through the maze of alleys created by the Knowledge Towers; if he could lose the pair of dark hunters a little more, he'd be able to take refuge in the Ko-metru base, where the information he acquired would be then safely –and quickly- released to allies across the city. That, of course, if he managed two avoid said dark hunters and the vahki patrols their ruckus was attracting.
"Hurry up Krehka! If we lose him, the Shadowed One will have our heads on a platter by nightfall!" Nidhiki howled as he swatted matoran and machine alike in a mad charge toward the speeding emerald toa. "We. Need. Him. Dead. NOW!"
Krekka nodded and started smashing the towers aside –much to the annoyance of the working ko-matoran on them- in an effort to speed up their process and that of the vahki behind them, who were obviously paying more attention to avoiding said buildings falling like dominoes instead. "Puny little green toa will PAY!"
Nidhiki kept running, the map to the safe-house clear in his mind's eye; two more turns to the left and then straight for a dozen more towers before the concealed entrance became visible and he lost these two nuts and their robots for the day. As he turned a sharp corner, the border of his shoulder pad caught a poster of sorts; not wanting to get distracted, he kept running towards the base, leaving whirlwinds in his wake to deter his pursuers.
Krekka smashed into a knowledge tower when he tried to clear through the sudden snowstorm between two towers, the sheer force of the impact making a large crack appear on its side; as Nidhiki turned around to see what happened, a chunk of ice fired off his fellow dark hunter's net launcher, which proceeded to smack the ex-toa right on the kisser (A/N: I'll go throw up now, that's not something I wanted to imagine), bringing him down hard on the rock-hard ice. "I hate you so much"
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(Po-Metru)
"Lhikan" Kalnur whispered softly as he sat down on a rock. "Doesn't it sometimes seem unfair to have the power to change things gone horribly wrong and not being able to?" He asked. "Because destiny gets in the way…"
"Kalnur, remember when we fought the Dark Hunters in the canyons of this metru?" Lhikan replied as he took a seat next to the seemingly troubled 'toa'. "You got lost shortly before it happened, but Nidhiki betrayed us to the Shadowed One's army… few of us handled it well, but it had been Nidhiki's choice to turn on his brothers and not destiny's doing" The turaga stopped for a moment at the painful memory. "We choose what we do, brother, and Mata Nui chooses not to change things because he knows what's best"
Kalnur half smiled through his kanohi; he might look like a turaga now, but Lhikan was still the determined and competent leader he knew from all those years ago. Time may pass and makutas could take over (A/N: yeah, like that'll happen), but Lhikan would always know how to get out of a tight spot.
"Very well brother" The great being said as he stood up and walked over to Varia. "I know this looks selfish of me, but I must take Varia oout of here first –she'd kill you if she finds out who you are-; I promise I'll come back for you" He added as he picked her up and slung her carefully over his shoulder. "You can count on it"
"I understand Kalnur, or t least I think I do" The turaga answered with a pat to the back. "There's something different in both of you now, and it may have to do with what's going on in the city of legends" He added grimly. "I'll train these toa on their powers while you return, now scram before the vahki come"
"Yes sir" Was the only reply before Shadow covered the jailbreak.
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And well, that's all now that work and school have finally given me a rest… getting ideas about a fic of Atero as a glatorian doesn't help either xD
Thanks go to Adeira (formerly Rusty Red Raptor and dragontiger12 before that), Scar 211 (formerly Jamester211), Dan the Wireman and The Rahkshi Writer for their reviews support and tips; sorry that I kept your stories on hiatus for so long. ^^u
Enjoy it, Read it and Review it.
Small note: the Starpan are a race of matoran living on the southern islands, they make the finest weapons in the matanuiverse and are known for their excessively strict rules for combat; every inhabitant in the island must be able to –at the very least- take on three visorak by his 200th birth date. The starpans are also famous for their interpretation of prophecies from the red star and for being the only multiracial village, with matoran of any gender and element walking freely inside.