A/N- Hello and welcome back to Toa Assemble!
Now we will see what happened to Emma with her adventures in the Bionicle universe!
Pohaku glanced at the staring Avengers, before jerking his head in the direction of the bridge. "C'mon."
Shaking out of their stupor, the Avengers followed the Toa back through the ground bridge, leaving the ruined city behind them.
As the vortex opened into the hidden base, Turaga Nuju hobbled over as Kasai and Kori carried a weakened Thundara in.
"This way!" He hissed, guiding the Toa over to one of the couches.
The rest of the Toa appeared from the ground bridge, followed by the Avengers. As the last person, Steve, exited the bridge, it snapped shut behind him with a small clap.
Thundara was gently sat on the middle couch, eyes dim and drooping as she fought off rest.
"Here." Nuju held a glass of discoloured water up to her lips, and the Toa eagerly drank it down. Nuju gently took back the glass, a sad smile on his face.
A powerful urge to sleep overcame her. Thundara continued to try to fight the now stronger urge to sleep, which proved to be in vain. Her eyes closed involuntarily, and Thundara slumped against Kori. The Toa of Ice gently lay her slumbering sister on the couch, and Kasai pulled a blanket over top of her.
"Excuse me, Nuju," the Turaga turned to see Tony come up behind him, "but what was in that water?"
Nuju chuckled. "A special herb mixture Nokama made from syrach leaves and mertril berries. Seeing as she refused to rest, I had to make her."
"Oh." Tony stared slightly, before shrugging. "When's she gonna wake up?"
Nuju hummed. "From the amount I had put in, an earth-hour at most."
"Oh."
An hour passed, the Toa surprisingly had not left their Bionicle forms. The two teams had split up, leaving Thundara to rest.
Kasai and Pohaku had taken the Avengers back to their van so that they could recover their weapons. They were now back. The Avengers were conversing in a corner of the cavern, most likely discussing the day's events so far (it was almost one in the afternoon!). The Toa of Fire was currently in the kitchen area with the Toa of Stone, probably making lunch.
Mizu and Nuju were keeping a close watch on Thundara's sleeping form. The Toa of Storms thankfully was only bruised, Weather Warrior not having enough strength to break her back or severely injure her like the Makuta could.
Kuki had disappeared somewhere (Nuju suspected the rafters that lined the ceiling), and Kori was reading a book on mechanics. Honua had the TV's volume turned down, the football game not disrupting the others.
A groan sounded from the couch, and two pairs of eyes, one pair lilac/lavender colour, the other red and blue, darted towards her. Thundara shifted, before her eyes blinked open. The Toa mumbled something, showing that she was not fully awake.
"Nig… ma-cho?" She murmured, not realizing that she was not speaking English.
"Te'orh na sie." Nuju replied fluently.
Thundara blinked, her arctic blue and white bioluminescent eyes brightening as she woke up. "Eh…?"
Mizu chuckled. "Welcome back to the land of the awake ara-gi."
"Cre te'su." Thundara grumbled.
From the other side of the room, the Avengers watched with surprise. The words Thundara was speaking were strange to their ears.
Clint blinked. "What'd she say?"
"She's speak-talking our native language."
The five yelped at the voice, and turned to see a grinning Kuki behind them.
"Where-?!"
"Rafters." She grinned, cutting off Tony.
The billionaire blinked, before clearing his throat. Tony's face was red as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I knew that."
Clint coughed, gaining the emerald Toa's attention. "Yes?"
"You said native language," Hawkeye clarified, "what do you mean?"
The Toa of Air cocked her hear to the side. "You forgot-think that we Bionicle have our own native language-speak, right?"
"Uh… yeah." Clint blinked, not sure of what to make of the strange way Kuki spoke.
The Toa of Air seemed to pick up the unspoken question, and she grinned. "Tree-speak." She simply said, before bouncing off towards the now fully awake Thundara.
"Thanks." Thundara smiled, passing back the empty cup that had once held just water.
Mizu gently took the glass back, a smile on her face. The glass was then passed to the newly-arrived Kuki, who headed off to put it back in the kitchen. By the time the Toa of Air returned, the other Toa, as well as the Avengers, gathered around the now awake Thundara.
"Are you sure that you're alright?" Nuju pressed, concern filling his voice.
Thundara rolled her bioluminescent eyes in response. "Besides being drugged with a sleeping mixture, great." The sarcasm rolled off her tongue, and crossing her arms, she muttered something along the lines of "Ko-ani de'wasu man'tru gy jee Tahu…"
The other Toa either snorted or shook their heads in amusement at the foreign words. Nuju simply raised his staff and lightly bonked Thundara in the head with it, electing a yelp from the Toa of Storms.
"I am not a worser worrier than Tahu! I simply care for your safety ara-gi!" The Turaga cried indignantly.
Thundara merely rubbed the now sore part of her head, scowling. "Are too…" she muttered, only to yelp as the ice Turaga swung at her lightly with his staff again.
"Oy!"
The Avengers watched the exchange silently. Clint was snickering at the two's interaction, when the offending object nearly clipped his head.
"Hey!" The archer yelped, ducking as his hands covered his head.
The others laughed as Nuju huffed, slightly smug. After the laughter died down, the Turaga cleared his throat. The Toa all looked attentively at the Turaga of Ice, much like students looking at a teacher.
Nuju chuckled mentally. At least they were more well behaved then the Nuva. Clearing his throat again, the Turaga said "You can leave your Toa forms now."
There was a silence, and the Toa glanced at each other with expressions that said 'Uhh…' and 'Um…'. It was kinda funny, especially when looks of 'Oh…whoops/oops…' crossed their masked faces.
The Turaga merely shook his head at their reactions. "You forgot didn't you?"
The Toa meekly nodded, before they each started glowing. The Avengers yelped in surprise at the white light, and then blinked when the lights dimmed, revealing the seven 'normal' teenagers. Each had a sheepish expression on their faces.
Apparently, they had forgotten about their human forms. Again.
After some adjusting and explanations (it was not the first time the Terra had forgotten about being human), the eight Bionicle and five humans were settled. Emma was of course going to continue from where she had left off, before they had been interrupted.
Emma cleared her throat. "Ready?"
Five nods answered her question.
Emma sighed. "Alrighty…"
"As I said before," the blonde/brunette began, "my adventures in Metru Nui with the Toa Metru was merely the beginning of my journeys into their universe. But I would not know that for another year.
"It started as I was walking home from school. And just like the last time, the ground beneath myself opened up, and I fell through.
"Meanwhile, on the tropical island of Mata Nui, a shadow had fallen. The Matoran had been living in fear of the Makuta, who was alleged to have cast the Great Spirit Mata Nui into a deep sleep. Back then, Makuta had taken control of the the island's fauna to attack the Matoran and their villages. One Matoran, Takua, banished due to his lack of work ethic, had begun his travels on the island looking for stories to tell, earning him the nickname "The Chronicler".
"Takua had been traveling through Le-wahi when I, uh, 'dropped in'." Emma rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.
"Ahem. Anyways, Takua was rather startled by my appearance, and hid in the bushes."
Takua looked up as the ground-no… the air began to shake. A rift opened in the air above the Matoran, and something fell through. Letting out a startled yelp, Takua dove into the bushes for safety.
"…Ow…" fourteen year old Emma groaned, rubbing her now sore bottom. "The heck…"
Looking around, Emma saw tall, extremely large trees on all sides of her. A gauku bird darted overhead, letting out a shrill cry.
Emma blinked dumbly at the bird, before groaning in realization. "Don't tell me…"
The bushes in front of the girl rustled slightly, causing the human to tense. "W-who's th-there?! S-show your-yourself!" Panic lined her voice, even though she tried to remain brave.
The bushes rustled again, before a short, red and blue form darted out of the bushes. Letting out a yell of surprise, Emma stumbled backwards, only to trip over a rock.
"OW!"
The form poked it's head out of the bushes it had darted into, revealing a blue Pakari. The two stared at each other, before Emma yelped. "Takua?!"
The Ta-Matoran yelped in surprise at his name, stumbling back only to trip. He yelled, expecting to meet the ground. Instead, a pair of organic hands wrapped around his middle, stopping his fall. The Chronicler opened his eyes, and they widened at the sight of the human gently setting him upright.
"Sorry for scaring you." She apologized. "I didn't know you were there."
Takua shook off his shock, before replying, "It's… alright." He started hesitantly, glancing up at Emma, who was over twice his two-and-a-half foot height when standing.
"Who-er-what are you?!" He spluttered out.
Emma sighed, expecting the question. At least I still have the translation stone Nuju had given me. "My name is Emma. I'm a human."
"It took a while for both our stories to be straightened out. I didn't tell Takua what I knew of the future or the past, before their amnesia was set in. Once things had been sorted out, Takua offered me a chance to explore the island with him. Not having any other options, I agreed.
"On one of our journeys, we found six ancient power stones and brought them to Kini Nui, the heart of island. There, we joins them together and unknowingly to Takua, triggered a beacon for six canisters floating in the ocean to wash up on Mata Nui.
"Once ashore, these canisters then burst open to reveal six powerful beings, destined to save the island and the Great Spirit: Tahu - Toa of Fire; Gali - Toa of Water; Lewa - Toa of Air; Onua - Toa of Earth; Pohatu - Toa of Stone; and Kopaka - Toa of Ice. Carrying formidable tools to channel their elemental energies and donning their masks, the Toa remembered nothing of their former lives except for their names. Prior to meeting each other, they traveled to one of the six villages on the island where they learned of the Matoran's war against the Rahi.
"Takua and I actually ran into Tahu, and followed him to the village of Ta-Koro. It was more of Takua almost walking into Tahu." Emma chuckled at the memory.
Takua whistled as he skipped (though it looked more like an awkward hop) down one of the many side trails that lead to Ta-Koro. Behind him came Emma, who was rolling her eyes but smiling all the same at his actions. The Chronicler was currently leading the human to the main path that lead to the fire village.
Takua was about to leap onto the path, when he was grabbed by the bar just behind his neck, nicknamed 'the scruff bar'. An organic hand covered his mouth, preventing him from screaming.
"Shh!" Emma hissed in his ear, holding the Ta-Matoran close to her as she hid in the bushes.
Footsteps, louder and heavier than a Matoran's or Turaga's sounded just down the path Takua had almost jumped onto. The Chronicler's eyes buldged as a large, eight foot figure came into view. It's armour was as red as fire, and it had large blades resting on it's back.
"Tahu…" Emma whispered under her breath.
Takua looked up at the girl in surprise. Did she know who that was?
Emma gave no response, silently watched the tall figure of 'Tahu' disappear up the path.
"C'mon!" She whisper-yelled, dragging the confused Matoran with her as they followed behind the Toa of Fire.
"Anyways, the Toa soon joined the conflict, and with the aid of the Matoran and the Turaga," Emma shot a pointed glance at Nuju, "began searching for more Kanohi masks, each of which possessed a different ability.
"Collecting six each, they exchanged their masks for Golden Kanohi and descended underground to face the Makuta. Before arriving at the villain's lair, Takua and I watched as they formed two Toa Kaita, giant beings created when Toa fuse together, to challenge the Makuta's Manas crabs, and as they battled dark manifestations of themselves dubbed 'Shadow Toa'. When the Toa arrived at their destination, Makuta appeared in the form of a Matoran to try and trick them.
"Not falling for the deception, the Toa Mata bravely stood up against him. Makuta then transformed into a swirling vortex of tentacles and rusty machine parts in retaliation. The Toa then battled and defeated the Makuta by combining their elemental powers onto him. Triumphant, the heroes return to the surface. But Takua and I discovered a large hive of cocoons hidden away from the battle site, revealing a new threat to the island. We saw one of the cocoons begin to hatch, and we both fled back towards the surface.
"When the Toa emerged from Makuta's lair victorious, us following behind them, we quickly discovered that the villain had unleashed a new threat to the island: the Bohrok Swarms; six breeds of robotic bug-like drones designed to "cleanse" the island to its former barren state. The Bohrok began to rampage across Mata Nui and tear down the regions of each village, forcing the Turaga and Matoran to flee. While many Matoran were placed under the influence of the Krana, the Bohrok's brain-like substances, others found new ways to retaliate against the swarms. The Toa collected all eight of the varieties of Krana from each breed while simultaneously engaging in combat.
"Takua and I followed the Toa. Takua wanted to record each and every event, and I followed along. To defend ourselves during this time, Takua gave me an abnormally long Kohlii stick, while he used his own shorter one. The Bohrok did not like being whacked on the head with the sticks hammer end, but it gave us time to get away."
"Ha!" Emma yelled, swinging her kohlii stick around. "Leave Takua alone you overgrown fruit-fly!"
The Bohrok took insult to that, and preceded to turn on the girl. Takua, who had been pressed against a wall by the bug, took the opportunity to scramble out of the way.
Emma swung her kohlii stick with all her might. The Bohrok, mid turn, was thwacked on the side of it's head. Normally, the bug could have just shook it off, but this hit was very powerful, leaving a sizeable dent in its head. The bug stumbled, the Krana inside disoriented from being thrown about.
Seeing that the bug was busy, Emma grabbed the stunned Takua's hand. "Move!"
And wonders to wonders, he moved.
"The Toa later reunited to travel down to the Bohrok's underground nests. Takua of course dragged me along as he followed them. There, the Toa placed the collected Krana in niches located in each breed's hive, but this alone failed to stop the swarms. The Toa, as well as Takua and I, later discovered powerful, sentient battle armor called Exo-Toa. Donning them, the Toa were directed to the chamber of the true Bohrok commanders; the Bahrag twins Cahdok and Gahdok.
"As the Toa battled the queens, they quickly discovered that the Exo-Toa were hampering their elemental powers. Taking the robotic armor off, the Toa were able to re-access them and trap the Bahrag in a cage of solid protodermis. On the surface, the swarms stopped in mid-action, and the Matoran began the process of rebuilding their villages with help from the Bohrok robots now that their Krana were powerless.
"The Toa's victory was short-lived when the ground beneath them had opened up. The holes plunged each of them into tubes filled with energized protodermis, transforming them into more powerful beings with new armor, masks and weapons and created the Toa Nuva.
"At the same time, a set of new Kanohi masks were placed in secret hiding places all over Mata Nui for the heroes to find, six symbol plaques connected to the Toa's elemental abilities appeared in each village, and a cube that can fit all the plaques together was formed near the Bahrag's prison.
"Emerging from the tubes and returning to the surface, the Toa Nuva engaged in battle against one another to test their new powers, but their actions led to anger amongst them and Takua and I watched them go their separate ways."
Emma stopped for a moment, before smiling. "Takua and myself took the time following the defeat of the Bahrag to visit Takua's once home village of Ta-Koro again. Takua took me to Vakama's hut with the intention of introducing me, not expecting that I already was acquainted with the Turaga of Fire."
"Turaga Vakama!" Takua knocked feverently on the huts wooden door, excitement radiating off his body.
Emma stood behind the Chronicler, passing Ta-Matoran taking double takes as they passed by. They were unsure of the strange organic Toa-like creature, who was growing exasperated with Takua's actions.
Rolling her eyes, Emma finally grabbed Takua by the scruff bar. Takua began to flail in surprise, not expecting the action. Passing and watching Matoran snickered as the Chronicler dangled from the human's hand. Emma was growing more and more amused at his childish actions. In the three eight-days, or the Bionicle equivalent of a week, as they were called, that she had been traveling with Takua, she honestly expected him to act more mature.
"Honestly Takua!" Emma admonished at last, "Be more mature! Vakama clearly isn't here, so knocking on his door like that isn't going to do squat!"
Some of the Matoran were surprised that the human was intelligent. It showed as they stumbled at her voice, before staring at her in shock. Emma ignored them at first, focusing on chewing out the Ta-Matoran who was trying, in vain, to escape her grasp.
Finally rolling her eyes, she called out "Don't you have something better to do then spy?"
Watching Matoran jumped, before darting off back to their tasks. The area cleared rather quickly, much to Emma's amusement.
"Emma?"
The fourteen year old girl turned at the voice, and a big grin broke out on her face.
"Vakama!" She laughed, dropping poor Takua on his bottom.
The Turaga of Fire laughed, hobbling forward as fast as his body allowed. Emma opened her arms, crouching down as she pulled the elder into a hug. Vakama happily returned it.
As they parted, Emma grinned. "It's been so long since I've seen you! A whole year in fact! How are you?"
Vakama chuckled. "I am fine, as are my siblings. Though it has been a thousand years since we last met."
Emma rolled her eyes. "Of course. Stupid time-space difference…" the last part was muttered to herself, but both Bionicle still heard it.
Vakama snorted as Takua gaped at her. Emma only raised a brow at the Ta-Matoran's expression. "What?"
"HOW DO YOU KNOW TURAGA VAKAMA?!"
"After explaining without revealing the past about how Vakama, and the other Turaga, met myself, Takua calmed down. Somewhat." Emma said sheepishly.
Takua stuttered as he stared at Emma and Vakama. The Turaga of Fire looked amused, while Emma only sighed in exasperation.
"Wha-how-when-why-what-?!" Were some of the gibberish Takua was yelling. In the three eight-days that he had known the human, she had never mentioned knowing the elders!
"Takua-" Emma started.
"Why didn't you tell me?!"
Emma groaned as Vakama snorted. "You never asked."
Takua's face was priceless.
"Anyways, after that, the Toa Nuva returned to their villages and helped the Matoran in the reconstruction after all of the damage the swarms caused." Emma paused, allowing the new information to sink in before continuing.
"However, six new elite Bohrok, the Bohrok-Kal, appeared with the intention of releasing the Bahrag. Each of the Kal stole a Nuva symbol, robbing the Toa of their command of the elements. And thus Takua and I ended up following them, again.
"Vakama had given me the Kanohi Vahi, the legendary Mask of Time that Vakama had crafted when he had been a Toa and had watched over, to give to the Toa. We managed to deliver it to Tahu before they started chasing after those bugs.
"Relying solely on their mask powers and combat skills, the Toa Nuva chased the Bohrok-Kal all over Mata Nui and eventually found them in the Bahrag's underground nest. The Kal defeated the Exo-Toa guards with ease before they attempted to fit all six plaques onto the Nuva cube in order to re-awake the swarm queens.
"Before the tablets joined, Tahu unleashed the Kanohi Vahi to slow down time around them. Though unable to directly attack the Kal, the gambit bought the Toa time to devise a new strategy.
"Using their connections to their tablets, they feeded energy into the elite Bohrok, making them believe that their power alone could cleanse the island. However, the Kal's powers soon ran wild and destroyed them. The Toa Nuva then hid their symbols in secret locations, enjoying a new time of peace on Mata Nui."
Emma stopped her narration, before sighing. "The Toa were curious about myself, seeing as they had never seen a human before, so I ended up explaining a bit about me. After that, the ground once again opened up beneath me. I remember dropping my kohlii stick in surprise, before I was sucked back into my world. And just like the last time, only a few hours had passed in this world."
Emma was about to continue, when there were two shouts. A brown haired Emily streaked past, followed by an unhappy Rebecca.
Emily had gotten bored hearing Emma tell about her adventures, since she had already told the Terra them. So, being her typical self, Emily had started bugging one of her teammates. That unfortunate teammate happened to be Rebecca.
After getting distracted from the tale, which the disguised Toa of Ice liked to hear, by Emily, Rebecca had simply shoved a handful of snow in the disguised Toa of Air's face. Emily, not liking that, had used a blast of wind and messed up Rebecca's hair. The girl had taken offence to that, thus resulting in their current chase.
Emma groaned, burying her face in her hands as the Avengers looked at her in surprise. "Not again…"
A/N- I'm going to stop here, seeing this as the perfect time to leave you guys with a cliffhanger.
I probably won't get the next chapter out until Christmas, but hopefully before the new year. So incase I don't post again till after the 25th, Merry Early Christmas! Again…
I think I said the same time last chapter. Oops…
And happy holidays to those who don't celebrate Christmas!
So fair warning, updates will be erratic. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Again thank you to all those that have fav/followed/reviewed! Your support is very much appreciated.
Until then!
Next Chapter- Legends of the Past: Part 4; The Light in the Shadow