Hello everyone and welcome back to Masters of Remnant. For those who haven't already noticed on my profile, I have set up an ongoing poll for you to decide on two horde enemies from BIONICLE G1 to be 'revived' within the world of Remnant for the much later portions of the story. It will be available until I get around around midway of the events of Volume 2 which means you'll have plenty of time to vote over the course of the updates. Aside from that, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
In a vast open expanse of the continent of Vale, surrounded only by several trees and rocks leaving quite the large plain in open view and sight for him, the short armoured figure continued his trek throughout the open countryside of the kingdom. His small silver feet, which seemed somewhat bare much like Onua's, had managed to carry him across wherever it was that he was in for many miles throughout the day. The figure was mostly clad in gold armour with hints of light blue across the chest and torso and in his silver hands, he wielded two tools that were necessary for his defensive purposes on his journey through this most strange and unfamiliar of places. In his right hand, he wielded a small, but reasonably sized hammer with two light blue drums, one of which that held six open holds at the frontmost face that would normally impact into whatever the figure would swing it into.
In his left hand, the figure wielded a large silver shield with a circular look to it, evidenced by the sharp spikes that protuded around the edge and the gold crested patterns carved into the face of the defensive tool. Like all six of the Toa that had arrived on Remnant as a result of the golden mask that the Skull Warriors had unearthed in the midst of their sudden ambush in the City of the Mask Makers, this figure also bore one of that colour, his being much more regal in appearance compared to the others. The top half of the mask held five vertical rectangular columns that curved near the top with three of them being engraved with strange symbols inside various square like carvings. This seemed to almost give off the impression of a crown worn by a noble king to those that were unfamiliar with this particular mask.
On the lower half of the mask were two eyeholes and five more points protuding outwards, albeit much smaller than the points on the top half. Much like said top half, all but of the points had several squares embedded with strange runes carved into each and every one of them. The figure had been keeping a careful watch of his surroundings with his yellowish eyes as he continued to walk across the open plain, his gaze focused on an all too familiar tower that was in the distance. Though it was somewhat tiny in appearance from the distance that he was at from the location, he knew that if there was some semblance of civilization nearby from where he had regained consciousness, that would be the place to start searching.
At the same time though, he had felt somewhat cautious ever since he took his first steps into the world of Remnant, having felt some kind of dark presence from all around him as he journeyed onwards towards the tower that was within sight from where he was currently standing. All that he knew was that the sooner that he could reunite with the Toa, provided that he could find them first, the sooner that he could explain the whole situation of how they came to be on this very world from outside of Okoto and the sooner that they could discuss a course of action to find their own way back to the island, where whatever other threats that Makuta still posed to both the Protectors and the villagers were still unacounted for.
He suddenly stopped as he heard a rustle of grass from nearby as he carefully gazed around his surroundings before his eyes landed upon two figures that were much taller than him, their faces and bodies with the exceptions of their arms being obscured by the pitch black cloth that covered them. Seemingly, only one of them was armed with what appeared to be a pair of sickles that were present in their hands.
"I must say, for this being the strange person we had to go after," the first figure spoke, her voice although female had the vocals seemingly altered to outside hearing "He is a lot shorter than I expected."
"Who are you?" the gold armoured figure asked, his voice sounding almost elderly to the ear.
"Who we are is of no concern to you," the second figure answered, his voice much like the first cloaked figure, also having his vocals altered to anyone hearing him. "For now, our interest is taking that mask that you have. Our 'associate' has a great deal of interest in its use."
"I will not hand over the Mask of Creation to this 'associate'," he replied "In the wrong hands, it can also become a mask of destruction and I have a feeling from your words that may be the intention."
At first, both of the cloaked figures remained silent as did the short gold figure who remained tense as to what could arise from this confrontation. He was sure that there was something very off about the way they spoke, as if they were hiding the intent that their 'associate' had for the Mask of Creation that he wore. Then, the female that had spoken out earlier pulled back her left arm before clicking something in the sickle as she thrust her arm forwards, the sharp front end of the weapon having soared across the plain towards him across a chain that extended out from the hilt. With quick thinking and perfect timing, he raised up his shield in front of his face to prevent the sickle from hooking onto the mask.
As the cloaked female reeled back her launched sickle's 'hook' back to the hilt via the chain that it was attached to, her associate immediately ran towards him before leaping up onto his hands and performing a series of kicks in mid air as projectiles suddenly fired from his boots towards the gold armoured figure, who used his shield to deflect the many energy bolts that were about to strike him, the impact of each blow having knocking him backwards a few steps. He looked forwards just in time to see his attacker jump up high into the air, preparing to land a hard kick on him. The gold figure responded by instead raising up his hammer and firing light bluish energy bolts from the face of the hammer in response.
The cloaked male, having not anticipated this sudden manuver, tried to weave through the barrage of projectiles, only for one to strike his left foot causing him to lose his balance in mid air and fall straight to the ground. Recovering quickly, he leaped clear to avoid being shot at by the energy bolts that were being shot out of the figure's hammer and charged towards him once again. The gold figure this time rammed the front of his shield into the foot that his attacker was attempting to kick him with, causing the blast that erupted from the boot to recoil from the sudden close proximity, severely damaging it in the result. As the cloaked male then attempt to kick with his other foot, his target spun the spiked edges of his shield almost like a buzzsaw and slashed across the boot.
This had causing not just the weaponized footwear, but the entire foot as a whole to fall off as he had somehow slashed through the limb with ease. The cloaked male fell backwards to the ground as he once again lost his balance as he glanced over towards the severed limb, now revealed to be almost metallic much like the figure that he had just attempted to attack and then to the bottom of the leg it was seperated from, sparks now leaking out from the lack of a foot. As the gold armored figure walked towards him, he looked down upon the assailant, his gaze remaining stern and somewhat unwavering.
"I do not know why you had chosen to attack me," he spoke "But I will not stand for whatever intention you and your partner has for using the Mask of Creation. My name is Ekimu and I will only give you one chance to stop this fight immediately."
Whilst the cloaked male said nothing in reply, the Mask Maker turned just in time to see the female launch another sickle towards him. Much like before, he raised his shield in response, but this time, the chain and the 'hook' ended up wrapping itself onto the gold engraving of the protective item. She clicked onto the hilt of the launched sickle as she attempted to pull him closer towards her as she prepared to launch another sickle to latch onto the Mask of Creation. This time however, Ekimu had already thought out his own means of counter-offensive from the way things had played out. The Mask Maker clutched the handle of his shield tightly, a small but noticable click being heard as he did so.
Then the shield suddenly began spinning rapidly in an anticlockwise direction as the cloaked female suddenly lost her balance for brief moment and felt herself being dragged forwards, realizing that Ekimu was now using his defensive tool to reel her towards him rather than the other way around as she had intended. Muttering under her breath for a brief moment, not loudly enough for the Mask Maker or her downed partner to hear, she clicked her other sickle as the front blade folded to change the weapon's shape completely into some kind of projectile based weapon, almost like a gun of some kind. Almost immediately, she began firing green bullets upon the Mask Maker who was quick to leap to the side, also resulting in the first sickle being yanked out of the shield and back to the female.
She immediately changed that sickle to match the mode that the other one was presently in, resulting in both her and Ekimu locked in a shootout of desperate wits, with the gold figure being on the defensive thanks to his shield and the fact that although he could shoot back with his hammer, he knew that the rate of fire for the moment was only half of what the assailant was already throwing his way. He also knew that with the fact that her weapons could switch modes could also mean that if he were to let his guard down, then she would be able to latch on to the Mask of Creation by switching her 'guns' back to sickle form and snatching it from his face when he least expected it. For now, until he could find an opening to catch her unaware, remaining on the defensive was all that he could do.
Whilst the Mask Maker and the cloaked female continued to exchange shots at one another, the first assailant had managed to crawl over to his metal foot before holding it up in the air and triggering the mechanism that shot out projectiles whenever he would perform a kick whilst it was still attached to his leg. After Ekimu had blocked another volley of shots from his female attacker, he turned to his left too late as the blast knocked him backwards, followed by another two that had disarmed him of both his hammer and shield. He fell to the ground on his back before she had come up and laid down her right foot firmly on top of his chest armour, preventing him from standing back up.
The Mask Maker could only look on as the cloaked female reached out with her medium-brown coloured right hand, having put one of her sickles away prior, intending to reach out for the Mask of Creation. Before he could respond or even know what was coming next, a white coloured projectile suddenly struck her hand, encasing it and part of her arm in ice as she suddenly stepped backwards in shock. Ekimu noticing that she was distracted, pushed himself off the ground and knocking his attacker backwards as he turned around, just in time to see Gali and Kopaka racing towards the battle that had been ongoing between him and his two attackers. The cloaked female leaped backwards to avoid being frozen by the Master of Ice's icy projectiles that were shot her way from the Toa's spear.
The cloaked male who still had held on to his severed limb attempted to swing it to shoot more projectiles from the boot, only for Gali to charge at him with her trident head on, knocking him backwards with the boot falling to the ground, far out of reach from him. A noticable growl was heard from him as he stared at the two Toa who had regrouped with the Mask Maker as did his female partner as she stood beside him.
"Are you alright Ekimu?" asked Gali.
"Brave Toa, I am relieved to have been found by you," Ekimu replied "Both of my attackers have been looking to steal the Mask of Creation for an associate of theirs."
"And you have been fighting off both of them on your own?" Kopaka spoke.
"Indeed," he answered "I do not know how they have already known about this mask's existence, given that we are no longer on Okoto, but I can only assume from their actions that it does not bode well for the inhabitants of where we are now."
The Toa and the Mask Maker then looked towards the two cloaked figures, the female having hauled her partner onto her right shoulder due to him being unable to stand back onto his only remaining foot, much to her annoyance. Before the three of them could advance forwards, a tall wall of fire suddenly erupted in front of them, obscuring all view of the cloaked figures from sight. Gali in response held out her trident in front and using her golden mask, channeled a large jet of water through the blades towards the inferno in front of her, dowsing the flames with slow, but efficient ease. When the fire was extinguished, the two cloaked figures were now out of sight from the Master of Water and those beside her.
With them now gone from their vicinity, the three of them could now let out a sigh of relief that they were no longer in danger for the time being. What did now know was that someone in Remnant had known of the Mask of Creation and was looking to obtain it as their own through any means necessary. For what purpose they intended to use it for was however a mystery that would no doubt reveal itself when the right opportunity arose for them.
"Have you found any of the others yet?" asked Ekimu.
"Not yet," Kopaka replied "But we believe that Pohatu is at a place called Beacon Academy. We were walking there from some directions given to us until we found you."
"Then it has been good fortune that we were not scattered as far as I had thought," the Mask Maker replied "I believe I know what may have brought us here. It was a mask that I knew was spoken about in myth long ago, but I never thought it would have actually existed."
"What mask would that be?" asked Gali.
"It was something that would come to be known in legend as the Mask of Dimensional Gates," he spoke "All I know now is that myth is now be confirmed to be a reality and that Makuta was not the first Mask Maker to break the sacred law in the creation of Masks of Power. But that is a story that must wait as for now, we must find the other Toa and quickly. I can sense an evergrowing darkness all around us."
Deciding not to argue with the wise Mask Maker, both the Masters of Ice and Water nodded with each other in agreement and led the way for Ekimu towards the tower that was in the distance, now confirmed to be where Beacon Academy was stationed. The two of them shared their own adventures in Vale with Gali meeting Penny and the three of them getting into scuffles with the White Fang, allowing Ekimu to take note that the beings in this world were humans and faunus. Some that were clearly more friendlier than others, given all of the fights that they had been involved with thus far. Part of him was intrigued to meet this 'Ruby' that the Master of Water had mentioned in their conversation, with Penny having brought up that she was the leader of her own team.
And with that, the two Toa and the Mask Maker strode forth towards their destination in mind, keeping their attention focused towards the tower in the distance that seemed to grow larger with every mile that they traveled for. All they knew was that the sooner that they could find the Master of Stone, the sooner they could discuss a plan of action in regards to the other Toa and the Mask of Dimensional Gates that Ekimu had brought up.
"Ugh. If you hadn't had your foot cut off or for me being kind after using my Semblance on three figures at once, I wouldn't be hauling your ass back to Cinder, Mercury."
The two figures, now uncloaked since they were out of sight from both Ekimu and the Toa, were walking through the forest back towards wherever they had come from, presumably to meet this Cinder that the female had just mentioned. The female whose lower right arm had remained frozen as a result of Kopaka's surprise attack, was using said arm's shoulder to 'haul' back her male partner through the trees as water continued to drip from the ice as time went on. Her skin matched the colour of the frozen arm and she also had dark-red eyes. Her hair was a light, mint-green cut with a straight fringe and bangs, as well as two long locks on each side in the back. Her attire consisted of an intricate, exotic-looking white top and olive undershirt, on the back of which was what appeared to be her own personal emblem.
She also wore white pants and brown chaps that end at her calves and an overlong belt, twice-wrapped which was where she kept her weapons in addition to a single pouch. The girl's expression was giving off a hint of annoyance to say the least, not from having her right arm encased in a block of solid ice, but from having to carry back Mercury, who seemed to take no notice of her current dismay. His hair and eyes were a silvery-gray and he wore a grey and black two-tone partial-zip jacket, that covered his upper body whilst he had black pants covering down his whole legs down to his feet, an exposed metal joint being present from where Ekimu's shield had severed the boot from.
"If I were you, I would relax a little Emerald," he spoke bemusedly "We did what she asked for and drew out the Toa to confirm their existence. Grabbing the Mask of Creation immediately before the final plan was simply an optional bonus."
"Well one thing's for certain, getting you a spare foot doesn't come easy," Emerald muttered under breath.
Mercury simply ignored her annoyed tone and heaved himself with aid from her shoulder across the forest glade towards the city of Vale where they would meet up with Cinder to discuss about what had happened in the ambush that they had set off today. As they did so, an icy chill suddenly ran up both of their spines as they turned their heads around to see if someone or something was following them. But all they saw was their own shadows cast by the sunlight through the tops of the tress that towered above them. Glancing around them, they expressions quickly changed as they were determined to find out what had cast that sudden suspicion of doubt around them at this very instant.
"We know you're here!" Emerald called "Quit hiding in the shadows!"
In response however, their own shadows suddenly began to seemingly take up a life of their own as they merged into one black puddle like wisp as two dark red eyes flashed out from the abyss that was plastered on the ground before them. When it spoke, it almost felt as if it was somehow rocking the very earth that they were standing upon at this very moment.
"Shadows are everywhere... and where they are... so am I..."
Both Emerald and Mercury suddenly tensed up as they heard every single word the omnious voice from amongst the darkness that lay before them had spoken out and although it wasn't obvious from their expressions, deep inside, they couldn't help but feel somewhat spooked from all of this. From what they could make out, it was male to say the least with a slow and somewhat bold tone to it. The 'shadow' then suddenly rose up to reach around their height as the cold red eyes from amongst the pitch black that 'stood' in front them stared right into the two humans, as if it was somehow observing their next course of action, not saying another word as it did so.
"Just who or what are you?" Mercury asked, scowling at the thought of being intimidated by whatever was in front of him.
"I am the very shape of the darkness you see around you..." the shadow spoke "Your fears are rather... noticable from this perspective."
"There's no way you could be the actual darkness itself," he muttered "You don't even have a body to back that up."
"Even without a physical being of my own..." it continued, his presence suddenly reappearing on the shadow that was cast upon a nearby tree "Your limited understanding of the concepts before you leave much to be desired..."
"How about a name or something?!" Emerald demanded, clearly somewhat unnerved by everything that was happening because of this one 'shadow'.
"You may know of me... as Makuta," it answered, his tone sounding as if he was unfazed by the questions that he had been asked by this point. "We shall meet again soon..."
And with that, 'Makuta' seemingly into nothingless as the red eyes faded from the shadow that was cast on the tree also vanished with his ever ominous presence. Emerald and Mercury looked down at their own shadows to see that they had gone back to normal, now that he had vanished from the forest altogether. They looked at one another and shrugged as the girl continued onwards back to Cinder as she 'hauled' the 'crippled' boy on her shoulder. The two of them couldn't help but wonder what had exactly played out before their eyes just now in the 'conversation' that had briefly unfolded. All that they knew was that they felt they needed to be cautious about this Makuta and that it would be of their best interest to inform their 'associate' about this turn of events immediately.
Meanwhile at Beacon Academy, near the top of the tower that stood within the campus, Tahu and the other Toa stood alongside both teams RWBY and JPNR as they gazed around the office of Ozpin. Surrounding them were several pillars with windows of glass between each one and above their heads was a large circular sheet of glass, through which they could see a large mechanism of some kind, consisting mostly of cogs and gears as they kept on turning. Turnng their attention towards the headmaster who was seated at the desk in front of a window that seemed to have a clock face of some kind embedded on the outside, they could see that he was carefully looking upon the four Toa, taking note of their expressions from their eyes alone before he stood up.
"So you wished to see me?" he spoke.
"Yes," Onua answered "We were wondering if you had heard any news in regards to where the other Toa are."
"So far, we haven't heard anything as to their whereabouts," Ozpin replied "But we do have some news regarding to the mask that you 'lost' during the scuffle with the Skull Warriors from earlier."
"What news would that be?" asked Yang.
"Before Glynda and I had come to observe the aftermath of the fight," he continued "We noticed a bright golden glow from nearby and saw that it had seperated into six smaller lights which rocketed off in seperate directions across Remnant. The only conclusion we could draw up from what you told us was that the mask wasn't destroyed, but had seperated into smaller fragments."
"So then Ozpin," Lewa interrupted "We just have to find those fragments as you have theorized and put the mask back together. Then we can get back to Okoto to help Ekimu and the villagers."
"From your perspective, that may be the case," Ozpin spoke "But for now, until we can pinpoint the locations of where those lights landed, putting the mask back together will be a challenge that will have to wait."
The Toa remained unanimously silent, knowing for an iron clad fact that they along with anyone present at Beacon Academy had no idea of where the six fragments of the Mask of Dimensional Gates could have landed and that until the headmaster of Beacon Academy could determine where they were, calling on a search for them was out of the question. Everyone from both RWBY and JPNR looked at them, with most of them feeling sorry for the fact that they remained stranded in a world that wasn't their own whilst two of their teammates were still missing from the group. Ruby was the first to break the long silence that had fallen between them.
"In any case, we should at least make a start on helping you find the other two Toa!" she proclaimed.
"Agreed," Tahu replied boldly.
"Actually, we don't need to do any searching," Lewa bemusedly spoke.
"Why not?" asked Pyrrha.
"Look," Pohatu interrupted, pointing to the window.
The remaining Toa and the teams all rushed to the window that the Masters of Stone and Jungle were standing beside and looked down through some of the clouds, just in time to see Gali, Kopaka and Ekimu walking down the pathway that led towards the front doors of Beacon Academy. Ozpin eventually joined them, gazing down upon the three figures, most notably the Mask Maker himself, presumably due to the Mask of Creation that he wore. He then turned towards the large group of students and otherworldly metallic heroes.
"It would seem fortune has fallen in your favor," he spoke "Perhaps it would be in our best interest to go and greet them."
Everyone else nodded as they all left the office into the elevator, much to the discomfort of a few as they had previously experienced on the first elevator trip on the way up to Ozpin, with Weiss having previously noted that aloud in an annoyed fashion, much to Lewa's amusement at the time. When they were all 'settled' in the elevator, the doors eventually closed allowing it to descend to the base of the tower, where the Toa would finally be reunited with both their missing comrades and Ekimu. With the six heroes and the Mask Maker now moments away from rejoining at this very moment, who knew what lay in store for the future of them and all of the denizens of Remnant, human and faunus alike.
And there we go! Whilst heading towards Beacon Academy, Gali and Kopaka save Ekimu from being overwhelmed by Emerald and Mercury, who were sent by Cinder to draw out the Toa to confirm their existence, whilst also aiming to retrieve the Mask of Creation for her. On their way back to their associate, the two of them are briefly confronted by Makuta who seems to have also arrived to Remnant with his own plans already forged for its denizens and the world itself. Back at Beacon Academy, the Toa see their missing comrades and the Mask Maker from Ozpin's office and hurry down with the headmaster and both teams RWBY and JPNR to greet them. What will happen from this reunion and what is the myth that Ekimu had briefly brought up? Find out next time on Masters of Remnant. Please share your thoughts/critiques in the reviews and I'll see you all next time. Until then!