The inhabitants of Amenbo Island were in for a surprise as they awoke that morning.
Three colossal metal structures, each one several miles tall and across, had emerged out of the ground overnight, somehow without causing earthquakes or damaging the land around it at all. One of them had even overlapped Papaya Town itself, but the land around it seemed to simply bend around the metal mountain leaving the surrounding buildings unharmed.
Their sudden appearance hadn't even awakened the townsfolk from their sleep, though it had brought a fair share of other sightseers.
"Wow, those things are huge!" said a young man in a bright orange martial arts gi. "Where do you think they came from?"
He looked back at his companions. Two of them were wearing similar gi to his own – a short bald man called Krillin and a long-haired man with a few scars on his face called Yamcha. They, along with Goku's eight-year-old son Gohan looked just as puzzled as he was. Piccolo, a tall green alien with pointed ears and antennae dressed in a purple gi and a white turban and cape, was staring intently at the three structures with his arms crossed while Bulma, the woman who had informed them all of these strange structures' appearance, was setting up devices of some kind. Finally, Vegeta, a man dressed in a blue combat suit, was scowling in a corner, clearly thinking this trip was a waste of his time.
"Maybe Doctor Gero has something to do with this?" suggested Krillin. "I mean, this IS the island the androids were supposed to appear on, right?"
One year ago, Goku and his friends had met a traveller from the future with a terrible warning for them - two Androids created by Doctor Gero, a scientist formerly working for Goku's old enemies the Red Ribbon Army, would rise up and lay waste to the world in two years time. They had been training to stop these Androids ever since.
"Weeeeeell... this is definitely where the Androids were supposed to appear, but it's still way too early"
"Maybe Gero caught wind of what happened to Frieza", growled Piccolo. "Maybe he moved his plans ahead after seeing our friend from the future"
"You think he was watching us?" asked Goku.
Before the Namekian could answer, the ground started to shake. The team all assumed fighting stances as something burst from the ground in front of them.
Four robotic-looking humanoids landed. Leading the group was a red one in slightly-glowing golden armour, a flaming sword in one hand and a golden shield in the other. To its left was a blue figure with silver armour on its chest and shoulders, two large double-bladed axes on its back and what looked like small propellers on its wrists. On the other side was a white "android" in golden armour that seemed to radiate light from its whole body. Finally at the back was a pitch-black figure in similar silver armour to the blue one. It had a more hunched-over stance and was carrying a pair of what looked like... chainsaws?
"Wait, there's four of them?" said Yamcha incredulously. "Didn't you say there only supposed to be two?"
"Yeah, maybe these aren't our Androids?" said Goku. "This is still much earlier than they were supposed to arrive..."
"Oh come on!" snarled Vegeta. "Use your eyes, Kakarot! What other Androids could these possibly be?"
And with that, he flew at the mysterious beings. The red "Android" stepped in front of the others and some kind of force field appeared around it, surrounding the four. It pulled out its sword in time to block Vegeta's incoming punch, but the impact still threw it far into the air.
"Vegeta, wait!" shouted Goku, but Vegeta was already rocketing away after his opponent.
"Forget him, we still have the others to worry about..." said Piccolo.
The other three had drawn their weapons and seemed to be taking to each other in another language, their glowing eyes fixed on the team.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, the black "android" held up a hand, took out a grey oval-shaped mask and switched it with the one on its face.
"Easy now! We aren't here to fight!", it said in a deep voice, the mask glowing as it did. "We're only looking for some friends of ours that went missing".
"Wait, so you aren't the Androids Tru... we were warned about?" asked Goku, catching himself. "The ones made by Doctor Gero?"
The "android" shook his head. "Can't say I've heard of this "Doctor Gero". I'm Onua, and these are Gali and Takanuva. The red Toa your friend picked a fight with is Tahu".
"Oh, sorry about that then!" said Goku apologetically.
"You're just taking their word for it?" said Yamcha.
"Well it's not like anything else about this lined up anyway", said Krillin.
Piccolo wasn't convinced. "If you really aren't the Androids we're looking for then just what the hell are you? And what are these metal mountains that just appeared from nowhere?"
"We're Toa", Onua said simply, then, upon seeing the confusion on the locals' faces, went on. "Protectors of a race called Matoran and masters of the elements. And as for those "mountains", they're fingers..."
Everyone except the Toa's jaws dropped. "FINGERS?!"
"Fingers of what?" asked Gohan.
"Well it's sort of a long story...", began Onua.
Tahu crashed down atop the finger of the Great Spirit, the barrier created by his Mask of Shielding protecting him from the impact.
His attacker landed about twenty feet away, a mocking smirk on his face. "What's wrong, tin can?" he said, though Tahu didn't understand his words. "Afraid to face me outside your little bubble?"
Tahu drew his sword. Whatever this creature wanted, it had attacked him without hesitation, with an attack that had to be at least somewhere close to as fast as Pohatu and as strong as Onua (at least). One attack had launched him miles through the air! And now it was saying something in a language he didn't understand.
Tahu's Golden Armour began to glow as he called upon the Rahkshi Powers it held. If he couldn't understand what his opponent was saying, he would have to read his mind instead...
The creature's name was Vegeta, and he was a prince of a species known as Saiyans. Vegeta was on the hunt for some kind of cyborgs (interestingly, his race and the others on this planet were 100% organic) that were prophesied to bring widespread destruction in the near future if not stopped.
Though that didn't seem to be Vegeta's primary motivation. It seemed that Vegeta was more interested in a good fight and proving himself superior to someone called Kakarot (or, by everyone except Vegeta, Goku) than actually protecting the planet.
Well, if it was a fight he wanted, Tahu would give him one. Tahu hadn't really had a chance to test drive the Golden Armour's powers yet...
Vegeta rushed in for another attack, already within Tahu's shielding mask's radius. But instead, Tahu activated the armour's Dodge power, instinctively dodging around every attack seemingly effortlessly as Vegeta threw countless punches and kicks at supersonic speed.
In Vegeta's mind, Tahu had seen what the prince was capable of. Not long ago Vegeta had fought against a tyrant called Frieza who had destroyed multiple planets under his own power alone. Vegeta may even have been capable of similar feats himself (the Saiyan certainly believed he was, though that could have just been his ego)
One hit could well spell the end for the Toa of Fire.
But that didn't matter in the least if Vegeta couldn't hit him...
Vegeta was clearly growing angry. "Fight back, damn it!"
Tahu leapt back and sent a blast of fire at Vegeta, but the Saiyan prince jumped to the side and was back at him before he could touch the ground.
Tahu needed to finish this soon – he didn't know how long he could keep this dodge power up. Channelling another of the armour's powers into his sword, he took a swing at the Saiyan...
Too late, he realised that he wasn't dodging any more, and Vegeta delivered a mighty punch to the gut.
Tahu crumpled to the ground, dropping his sword. He tried to get up again, but Vegeta walked over and stomped him into the ground.
"You're certainly full of tricks, I'll give you that", said Vegeta with a smirk. He raised a hand and a ball of energy began to glow in his palm. "But let's see you dodge out of this!"
Tahu just managed to reach out and grab Vegeta's leg. Before the Saiyan prince could react, Tahu's armour glowed again. Vegeta immediately fell into a deep sleep.
The glow in his hand, however, didn't dissipate, and the ball of energy flew wild, carving a deep gash into the fingertip they were standing on.
"Seems I can only use one of the armour's powers at a time for now", said Tahu to himself, his injuries quickly repairing themselves as he activated the armour's quick healing abilities.
There had been a lot to process in what Onua had told them, more than some of them (Goku in particular) could keep track of.
Tahu, Gali, Onua and three other Toa called Pohatu, Lewa and Kopaka had been the protectors of a small island of "Matoran", later joined by Takanuva. After defending the Matoran from various monsters and enemies, eventually they had defeated a terrifying demon called Makuta and found the Matoran's lost city, Metru Nui.
Which was apparently inside the head of a continent-sized robotic body once controlled by the "Great Spirit", Mata Nui. The mountainous metal domes that had appeared were apparently the fingertips of that same robot. Apparently there was a whole world inside the robot, but the population had recently had to evacuate it as it had been possessed by Makuta and subsequently destroyed.
How its lifeless hand was now phasing into this world, creating an opening between Earth and their planet Spherus Magna, Onua had no idea.
They had also mentioned a second group of Toa who had joined them on a mission to recover Mata Nui's Mask of Life and fought a band of ruffians called the Piraka. These "Toa Mahri" had ventured on to retrieve the mask from an underwater pit, where one of them had sacrificed himself to save the others and Mata Nui.
Along the way, Bulma had brought out an experimental translator she had been working on, and set it up to learn the alien language Onua spoke by comparing it with the translation, which they later learned was courtesy of the oval-shaped mask he was wearing. By the end of Onua's stories, it had enough of a grasp of the language that the other Toa could join in as well.
"Lewa, Pohatu, Kopaka and the Toa Mahri are all missing", said Gali. "Tahu and I had been trying to find a new home for all the denizens of the Great Spirit's body, but we couldn't stand by while our comrades were lost..."
"So these "Androids" you were looking for..." said Takanuva. "And their creator, Doctor Gero, who are they?"
"We heard that they were going to attack this island. It's not supposed to happen just yet, but when these giant robot fingers appeared around the same area, we thought he might have started early or something".
"Hence why you thought we were them..." said Onua.
Before the Toa could ask any more questions, Tahu blinked into existence.
"Where's Vegeta?" asked Bulma.
"He's up there, asleep", said Tahu, pointing to the top of one of the fingers. "I can't imagine he'll be pleased when he wakes up though..."
"Then maybe we should make our exit", said Onua.
"What if Pohatu, Kopaka and Lewa got lost on this world?" asked Takanuva.
Gali shook her head. "The Great Spirit's fingers only appeared here this morning. Lewa at least was missing before that".
"What about Pohatu and Kopaka?" asked Tahu. "They were looking for whoever killed Karzanhi. What if the killer escaped to this world and they followed after?"
"Hey, wait, I have an idea!" said Goku. "What if I helped you find your friends?"
The Toa looked round at the Saiyan. "How?", asked Takanuva.
"Me and my friends can sense energy from miles away!" said Goku. "And you guys all have a pretty distinct feel to you. If I came with you, I bet you could find them way faster!"
"Goku, don't be reckless" said Piccolo.
"Relax Piccolo, the Androids aren't supposed to be here for another year! And it shouldn't take too long to find these guys..."
"And what if this strange gateway to their planet doesn't hold until you get back?"
"That's not a problem!", said Goku. "I know Instant Transmission, remember? I can just teleport back!"
"If you could help us find them, it'd be a huge help", said Onua. "And in return, how about we help you take care of those Androids you're worried about? If this portal's still there of course"
"Well in that case, I'm coming too", said Krillin. "We'll get the search done twice as fast this way..."
"Yeah, I'll come too", said Yamcha. "You guys all got to go to Namek, but this'll be my first time seeing an alien planet! Can't let you guys have all the fun!"
"Well you can count me out!" said Bulma. "I'm not in any hurry to get stranded on an alien world again!"
"I'd like to come too Dad!" said Gohan.
"What about you, Piccolo? Wanna come along?" asked Goku.
"I'll pass", said the Namekian. "I've got some other matters to take care of".
"Suit yourself", said Goku as he, Gohan, Krillin and Yamcha followed the four Toa down the tunnel they had emerged out of. As they departed, Piccolo took off, flying away on his own mission...
It wasn't long before he reached his destination.
Piccolo landed on a circular platform much wider than the impossibly tall pillar it stood on, where an older Namekian was already standing.
"I don't have time to chat, Kami", said Piccolo brusquely. "Last night the robotic hand of an alien deity forced itself into our world. I need to know whatever you can tell me".
"I'm afraid their isn't much I can tell you", said Kami sadly. "The portals that opened last night seem to lead to many different places. Some are alien worlds, others seem almost like our Earth"
"There's more than one?!" said Piccolo.
"Indeed", said Kami. "And they aren't confined to our living plane either. I've just heard from King Kai that some sort of white-masked monsters have started appearing in Otherworld..."
"Any idea what's causing them?" asked Piccolo.
"I'm afraid I can't say", said Kami.
"Fine", said Piccolo. "Can you at least tell me where they are?"
So here we have the first chapter of a new collaborative story! I have big plans for this one.
This first chapter was by myself, but a few other writers have offered to lend their input and pen their own chapters. We'll see more of them later on.
NEXT TIME: The Mortal Kombat Tournament is about to be shaken up with the arrival of an unexpected guest! Spawnzilla014 will be our guest writer for this next chapter!