HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! (Super Smash Bros./Kirby=win) Sorry if you've read this already but missed this new update; I forgot to do the author's note again. Bad habit of mine. By the way, you may notice that in the upcoming chapter (yes, Chapter Ten is on the way...hopefully...) I portray Romcron as a Toa of Iron. This is not a mistake; I wanted him to be a Toa of Iron from when I first conceived him, I just screwed up when Brulaz introduced him. Or perhaps Brulaz screwed up! Yeah, that's totally it. It's totally Brulaz's fault.
Brulaz: It was not!...Well, maybe it was a slick-slip of the tongue...
I think I also mentioned him doing something with iron in one of the previous chapters anyway. Ah well. I'm going to fix that anyway, I just wanted to clear it with everybody who actually reads this. How many of you are there exactly? ^-^* (that's supposed to be a sweat drop face.) If you haven't read this already, enjoy!
Chapter Nine: Avast, Ye Seabeast
"GRAAAAAAAAR!" shouted Kavin, who was, once again, rushing into the battle without giving any thought to a plan. The Tokea barely noticed him, backhanding him into ocean while still keeping its eyes trained on Ximtar, who seemed to be posing more of a threat to the Tokea's primitive mind.
Ximtar stared warily at the black sea-beast standing before him. In his mind, he went over strategies, a move that had won him many a spar in training.
If I just rush it blindly, I'll end up knocked flat like Kavin. I guess he's not as good as I thought he was, thought Ximtar. The Tokea growled loudly and dropped to all fours. Damn it, no time for strategy now, move, move, move!
The Tokea charged straight at him, snarling and baring razor sharp shark fangs. As he jumped out of the way, his Kanohi adding an extra seven feet to the jump, he thought, Since when do either Toa or Takea charge like Kane-Ra? As he landed, far away from the Tokea, the Tokea swivelled its hindquarters around so it was now facing in his direction and charged again. Ximtar just dodged again, and the mass of muscle tissue barrelled past him. This isn't good, thought Ximtar. With Kavin splayed out in the ocean, I'm on my own over here! I can't get a hit in edgewise! I could really use some help right now...(Give him a hand folks, that was probably extremely hard to accept.)
Just then, a Rahkshi rushed in.
...
"What the hell is that thing?" Wildr shouted as she and Ciox ran up the beach. Looking ahead, Ciox saw a giant black monster fighting two of his fellow Toa. From the colour of their armour, it was Kavin and Ximtar. Ciox watched as the monstrosity casually backhanded Kavin, sending him flying into the ocean. It then charged at Ximtar, who jumped about ten feet backward.
"What was that?" said Ciox, doubling his pace.
"Probably something to do with his mask or something!" called Wildr, who had been left behind and was now struggling to catch up. The beast charged Ximtar again, making Ciox's heart leap, but Ximtar dodged again.
Ciox rushed forward.
"What the hell? Now there's a Rahkshi, too?" Ximtar yelled in disbelief. He hefted his club and threw it straight at Ciox's head. Lucky for Ciox, he ducked under it, but it still grazed his back spines. From where it landed in the sand, he grabbed it in his free hand. Ximtar, meanwhile, dodged another charge.
"Ximtar! That's Ciox! It's just his mask power that makes him like this!" Wildr shouted, running up beside Ciox. Ximtar somersaulted out of harm's way again, and rolled to a stop in front of Wildr. The Tokea took a moment to catch its breath.
"Well, then why don't you change back to being a Toa again? Although, you look a lot more handsome in this form," Ximtar couldn't resist a jab.
"I don't know how," said Ciox lamely, tossing Ximtar his club.
"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but what are you going to do about Mr. Big and Ugly over there?" shouted Ximtar.
"I'll distract him. Ximtar, you get around behind him and try to bash his head with your club." Before anyone could argue with Wildr's plan, she ran off.
"Okay, then," said Ximtar, not very happy to be taking orders from a rookie, but he snuck around behind the Tokea anyway. Ciox took this moment to try and figure out how to shut off his mask.
"Hey, pond scum!" shouted Wildr, and the Tokea's gaze immediately shot over to her. "Yeah, your, um, mother's so ugly, that, uh..." Wildr wasn't very good at insults. Luckily she didn't have to be. The monster roared angrily, interpreting the insulting tone, and was about to charge when a mask-propelled Ximtar shot up and over its back, and landed a good solid blow right on the sea-beast's crown. Ximtar fell back onto the sand with a pluff.
Then something rather unexpected occurred. The dent in the Tokea's skull almost immediately healed up.
"Oh, that can't be good," murmured Wildr.
...
Ciox closed his eyes and concentrated on his mask, willing it to switch off. Nothing happened. He concentrated on his current form, trying to force it out. Again with the nothing.
Then he tried something new. He focussed on trying to transform into himself, instead of trying to switch the mask off or get rid of his current form. A small jolt flowed through his body.
When he opened his eyes again, he felt taller and more powerful. He looked down at his body, and his own silver armour winked at him in the beach sunlight.
He reserved a moment for a victory dance.
"Ciox! Little help here?" said Wildr, who was defending herself with her shield from the Tokea's onslaught of attacks. Ximtar seemed to be trying to assess the situation. "Kavin's still stuck in the ocean! Go help him!" The Tokea pounded another blow on her shield, then decided to grab it in its shark teeth. With a quick yank, Wildr was shield-less.
Ciox scurried over to the edge of the water. He spotted Kavin lying a few feet away, his head thankfully out of the water, but still unconscious. He dragged Kavin out of the way and began trying different things to bring him around. He slapped his face, splashed water at him, and poked his fingers through his eyeholes, but Kavin was dead to the world.
Don't think that, thought Ciox. He's just unconscious, that's all.
Kavin coughed. Ciox perked up.
Kavin opened his eyes and sat up. He opened his mouth to say something, but ending up coughing water instead. He continued coughing for a moment, then wiped his mouth and said, "What are you doing here, Ciox?"
"I was just in the neighbourhood and I figured you might want the company," Ciox said, pointing over to where Ximtar and Wildr were fighting the Tokea. Kavin looked surprised like he had forgotten, then scrambled to his feet. Ciox noticed that his arm was dangling at his side. "Something wrong with that arm?" he asked.
"Tokea bashed it," Kavin said, then rushed in to help with the fight. Ciox unlimbered his trident and hurried in too.
...
"Wait," said Icras, listening intently. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Singva asked.
A faint roar was heard from somewhere to their right.
"That. It sounds like a wild Rahi-beast." Icras said.
Then, soon after, a shout of pain was heard.
"That sounds like one of our brothers," said Singva. "Come on, this way. We've got to help!"
Icras didn't say anything. He just folded his arms and looked in Singva's direction with a look on his mask that said, You should know this by know.
"Oh. Right. Here." Singva took Icras' hand and pulled him along behind her.
...
"We need help!" shouted Wildr, snatching up her shield and blocking an incoming punch in one swift movement.
"That's just wonderful!" cried Ximtar, rolling away from the Tokea. "Even the back-up needs back-up! We're screwed!"
Ciox jabbed with his trident, but it bounced harmlessly off the Tokea's skin with a bong. The Tokea bashed him in the gut, sending him flying backward, but he managed to right himself in mid-air and land on both feet. He grinned at that. It was nice to have his old body back. Then the Tokea swiped his legs out from under him and he fell to the sand hard.
"Okay, that wasn't as fun as I'd hoped," he said, spitting out sand.
"Ciox, watch out!" cried Wildr. The Tokea leaped on top of him, pinning him to the ground with its foot. It raised its arm to smash his mask to pieces. Ciox's trident had rolled out of reach, and he still wasn't totally sure how to turn his mask on and off. He struggled, but that only seemed to amuse his captor. It's fist sped down.
Suddenly, a blue arrow shot forward, hitting the Tokea's arm so that it knocked it off its course. The fist slammed into the sand beside Ciox's head.
"The back-up's back-up is here," said Wildr, shooting Ximtar a grin.
Singva lowered her aqua crossbow and unlimbered her scimitar. Icras already had his daggers drawn and charged forward, slashing like a mad-man. The Tokea, intimidated by this sudden turn of events, began backing away. Singva started in to help Icras, but was forced to circle around because of his slashes. Ximtar and Wildr ran in to help. Ciox ran around behind the Tokea, and suddenly a thought struck him. He closed his eyes and focussed on the monster. He imagined himself transforming into it, like something he remembered seeing on a carving once, and suddenly he became extremely woozy for a moment. He opened his eyes to see that he was covered in black sleek scales, his arms were the size of cows, and he had a long, powerful tail. When he smiled, he could feel that his teeth were sharp, and there were dual rows of them. He was an exact copy of the Tokea. That, and he'd figured out the trick to shape-shifting. This, he liked.
The little creatures were scuttling around the Tokea's feet, angering it. Now and then, they would prick it with their pins and needles, but it barely hurt. It was that white one. His pin was heaving and left a mark. That head blow hurt. It swiped its hand at them, knocking the green one backward. He was so much easier to hit.
A tap on its shoulder made the Tokea turn around. When it did, it seemed to be looking at itself. The copy grinned, and swung a fist. The blow caught the Tokea in the cheek, smashing out a few teeth and stunning it momentarily. The teeth would grow back–they always did–but that hit hurt!
Down on the ground, Kavin cheered. "Yeah, Ciox! Woohoo! You go! Kick that thing's butt!"
Ciox's voice boomed out. It was still his voice, but with his huge body, it was magnified twice or three times over. "Thanks, but shouldn't you be helping too?"
Kavin eyed his lance, lying in the sand. His arm was still hurt, and he was therefore useless. He tried to pick it up, but the pain was greater than he'd expected and he dropped it again. Singva ran over to him.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
Kavin nodded. "My arm hurts. It's rather painful. Agony, as a matter of fact."
Singva stared at his arm and concentrated. The glow that had fixed Icras' body surrounded her mask, then Kavin's arm, then it spread to his whole body, like a wave crashing over him. The blue light faded from his arm, then faded across his body, making it like a glow had just washed through him. He swung his arm back and forth. It felt perfectly fine. Even better, his strength was back, and he felt good enough to run around the island a couple times. He snatched up his lance and jabbed it around. "Hm. That's a useful little trick. Should come in handy, eh?" he smiled and flexed his fingers to punctuate the pun. Singva groaned.
Meanwhile, the Tokea was recovering from its hit. It struggled to it's feet, growling. Then it spun around to face Ciox and roared with all the lung-power it could muster. Ciox looked at it in surprise. "Man, you need to see a dentist," he said. "Those are some yellowed teeth you've got there. And some are knocked out."
Ciox ate those words as the Tokea suddenly grew new teeth from the bleeding gums.
"Hm. Guess you're your own dentist." And he hit it again. The Tokea, this time expecting the hit, retaliated with its own punch, catching Ciox in the chin. Ciox' head reeled with the pain, but he managed to stay on his feet and kick at the Tokea's stomach. The Tokea jumped out of the way, landing on the ground with a thoom, and bit Ciox' shoulder. He couldn't help but scream.
Ximtar spun around between the Tokea's feet and swung his club into it's unprotected soft underbelly. The beast released it's chomp on Ciox and gasped for air. As it's mouth hung open, daring the Toa to shoot at it, Wildr and Singva took the dare and pumped lightning bolts and aqua arrows (respectively) into the gaping hole. The lightning traversed the length of the Tokea's body, helped by the aqua arrows. The Tokea could not heal wounds made deep inside the body, causing it to panic. It roared and began to stumble away as fast as it could, making a break for the ocean. Apparently these little creatures were more trouble than they were worth.
"No, you don't!" shouted Kavin, charging at the hulking black sea-beast. Suddenly, the trees along the coast began to writhe, as if to some strange rhythm. Then their branches shot out and entwined around the Tokea's limbs.
Then, seaweed shot out from under the ocean's surface and slithered into the Tokea's mouth. It roared, but all that did was let more seaweed in. The Tokea roared again, this time out of sheer agony. The sound traumatized the Toa for months. The seaweed then started to show coming out of the Tokea's eye sockets, and the scream grew louder, before suddenly, the scream faded abruptly and the seaweed shrank back, as did the trees. The Tokea's eyes were gone, probably popped, and, what Ciox assumed, the seaweed had somehow strangled it's brain. The Tokea slumped over, blood trickling from it's now-empty eye sockets.
Kavin looked at what he'd done, speechless. When the trees had wrapped up the Tokea, he had thought that was awesome. But the seaweed...that was just plain cruelty. And it was disgusting to boot.
No one could say anything, except for Icras, who had figured they'd just defeated it. He didn't know how grotesquely they'd done it. He was cheering like mad.
"Yeah! We did it! Woo-hoo! Yeah!...Hey, why isn't anyone else happy-cheering?" For once, no one explained anything to him, making him a little nervous. "Hello? Guys? You're all still there, right?"
Ciox focussed on the image of the Tokea turning back into himself, and when he opened his eyes, thought was truth. He walked over to Kavin and put his hand on his shoulder. No words were spoken. All words were exchanged simply through looks. Kavin began to walk off back to the camp.
Wildr walked over to Ciox. "What was that?"
Ciox looked at the sand. "Kavin's power went wild. This time, it shut off before it did any more damage, like, to us, but Kavin doesn't want to use his power again in case he can't control it."
Wildr frowned and shook her head. "That's not smart. I learned how to control my power. It can't be that hard."
Ciox shrugged. "Think about it. Your powers are over lightning. You can draw that from the air around you. His powers are much more focussed, into trees and grass and seaweed. More power gets used up trying to control more plants, until eventually, the output of power is greater than he can take." He paused. "How do I know that?"
"We need to get back to the camp," Wildr said. "None of us have found out both our mask and elemental powers, but I think we made some breakthroughs today."
Ciox nodded, and they began to trudge through the sand towards the camp, leaving the wet, black carcass behind.
