Koey found Takan months later, in a cave dug by Takan on the side of the Great Mountain, a colloquial term for the Great Volcano. A small stream of lava fell from the ceiling into a hole in the floor. Takan was sitting, staring blankly when Koey entered the cave. His foot touched the ground and immediately pulled back when he felt his foot dissolve. Takan had flooded the floor with his corrosive poison.
"Funny, huh? I surrounded myself with evil and now no help can come." Takan's eyes never moved from the lava. It poured slowly, the heat radiating off.
"You don't have to hide yourself Takan," Koey stepped into the poison, his ankles sinking into it.
Takan quickly scrambled up to his feet and gestured towards Koey for him to get out of the poison "What are you doing? Don't die for a monster, Koey!"
"The fact you say you're a monster means you can save yourself," Koey said, trying to appeal to Takan.
"You still see me as a Toa. I don't, and I doubt the matoran do either. LOOK AT ME!" Takan turned his disfigured face towards his old friend. The once bright and shiny red mask had grown spikes from the front and was a sickly sand color. "I'M A RAHI KOEY! YOU CAN'T FIX THAT!"
"I can't. Not even Witchdoctor can."
"Good. I won't let that scum near me again."
"You ARE a Toa though Takan. The fact that you recognize you are evil means you can redeem yourself!"
"What makes you think I want to!" Takan stared at the Toa of Ice, "Maybe I can't go back to being a Toa! Maybe you should kill me like Ikatakk!"
"You are nothing like Ikatakk! Takan you know that!"
"Then why am I a walking Rahi? Why am I a threat even in this little cave?" Takan was shouting at Koey.
"You aren't!"
"I'm not? Then count how many matoran I've killed. COUNT!"
"... a lot…." Koey said begrudgingly.
"You see? There is nothing to redeem with me. Now leave me alone."
"Leaving you alone would be the same as killing the Toa inside you. I won't do that. The rest of the Toa won't either. Don't you get it Takan? Not a single matoran or Turaga would lift a sword against you!"
"Because they're scared."
"No!"
"They're scared of us Koey! They fear our power! They KNOW they can't beat any of us in a fight." Takan was in a flurry. While yelling at Koey he swung his sword. Koey took a step back and nearly dodged the sword of flame dancing past his neck.
"They would still try if they wanted to. I would've come here with a closed fist and pummeled you on sight had we all wanted to kill you. We would've killed you before we tried to cure you. But we didn't! We all know you can redeem yourself! The Island of Barordak needs you Takan. Your village of Ta-Kyla needs you. You know what's beneath us! A cesspool hive of Bohrok. We can't defeat them without you Takan!"
"You need me to kill," Takan said slowly, glaring his eyes at Koey.
"WE NEED YOU TO BE A HERO!"
"Hmph. What's a hero anyways?"
"What's a hero? YOU! A hero is YOU! Who got the final blow on Ikatakk? Who has outsmarted Witchdoctor each time he tried to doublecross us? Who remembers the Three Virtues and lives them as if they were a part of their very being? Who is an inspiration for every matoran? WHO TAKAN? THINK! IT'S YOU! Heroes don't always have easy battles. Sometimes they seem perfectly impossible. Sometimes they kick you to the ground and stab you when you're unprotected. But you always overcome them."
Takan looked at Koey. It was a rousing speech and Takan's mind was ablaze with thoughts. Fire coursed through Takan and burned away the poison. Takan looked down at the puddle of poison he was in. His new reflection stared back at him. A pointy pincer came out from his mask and was threatening all life. Takan also noticed the pain. The poison was eating away at his legs, slowly deteriorating his armor.
"GRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Takan screamed as hard as he could, summoning each ounce of Toa he had left in him, and grabbed his pincer. He quickly stood up, splashing the poison around him as his guttural scream continued. His hands strained against the pincer as he tried to rip them off. Koey came over and grabbed Takan's hands. Together they pulled with all their might and ripped the pincer off Takan.
"GAH….. ugh…. That hurts! A lot!" Takan rushed over to the entrance and rested on the solid ground. As Takan spat out blood and gasped for strength, Koey picked up the pincer and examined it. The points and sides were sharp and they had a curved shape to them, like a miniature scimitar.
"I think these would make good daggers." Koey showed them to Takan.
"A trophy weapon… signifying the defeat of Rahikan… I like it."
"Then it's settled. I'll get a Ta-Matoran to smith these into daggers. I've always wondered what weapon I should use."
Months passed before Evil Takan, or aself put it, Rahikan would emerge. It seemed that Rahikan returned to Takan slowly. First with a bit more brutality and voraciousness in his work than before. Maybe it was just a drive or a better effort to keep Barordak safe. No one knows for certain other than Takan himself. What everyone did know was that the Toa Nebula of Water turned up dead after leaving on a supposedly easy solo mission.
After the grieving, the Toa remembered they had a job to do. To protect Barordak. The Toa agreed to only leave on missions in twos or more. This worked well, no Toa died but suspicions grew. The Toas of Air and Stone came to Koey with an idea. The killer might have been Takan. No one wanted to believe that, especially Koey who trusted that his friend had redeemed himself but he caved in. Precautions were taken to make sure no other Toa died.
Takan and the Toa of Air were sent on a mission to find a Bohrok nest by the ocean. That is when Takan attacked the Toa of Air and murdered him. During the struggle, the Toa of Air dove into the ocean to escape Takan's flame sword. That's where the Toa of Air wanted to be when they used their mask to spin themselves, creating a massive whirlpool, and to signal Koey who was far away, spying on the two.
Takan dove into the whirlpool, circling nearer and nearer to the Toa of Air. When close enough, Takan decapitated the Toa of Air. It wasn't long before Koey and the others, Stohn and the Toa of Stone found Takan by the burned and decapitated body. Chaos broke out. Koey tried to freeze Takan but he dismissed the blast with a swing of his sword. The Toa of Stone tried to trap Takan in a cage of stone, but that was melted to lava.
Stohn summoned a whirlwind of sand to blind Takan while the others shot elemental blasts. Even while blind Takan blocked and dodged the shots. Takan stood still as the whirlwind raged around him, but eventually darted out and attacked the closest Toa to him. That was the Toa of Stone who was gutted by flame.
Stohn used his hammer against Takan who shielded it away with his mask. Koey teleported right behind Takan and stabbed him with the pincer daggers. Takan yelled and attacked Koey who pulled the daggers out of Takan. As Takan dripped liquid he furiously slashed at Koey. While Koey teleported in and out of Takan's reach, Stohn crept up behind and used all his force to knock Takan out.
Takan woke up, mask ripped off and tied to a chair in Stohn's pocket realm. The only other one in there was Stohn.
"Get me out of here!" Takan roared and struggled against the ice and dirt holding him.
"No can do. Koey is asking the matoran what we should do."
"Heh, you know the answer to that already. Death. Those tiny Rahi are scared of us. Those who are scared should not live."
"Alright then Takan. What are you scared of?"
"Nothing."
"I'm talking to the real Takan. The hero. Not you, filth." Stohn glared at Takan's soul.
"That loser? Oh, he's gone. Dead. Just like the Toa of Water. Or Air. Or Stone. And soon Earth will join those ranks."
Stohn knocked out Takan after that. Or at least he thought he did. The shock of Stohn's hammer against Takan had broken the chair and Takan faked his concussion so Stohn would get near. That's when Takan slammed into Stohn. Takan floored Stohn and started to pound his fist into Stohn's head until he was knocked out.
When that happened, Takan found himself by the Great Volcano where the Toa had previously melted Makuta Ikatakk. The lava was only a few yards beneath the rim and the heat was extremely noticeable. Looking down into the boiling lake of death, Takan saw something. His death. He was right! The matoran were going to kill him. Koey and Stohn would push Takan into the Volcano and kill him right then and there. Koey had to be nearby, waiting to strike.
Takan had a plan. He took a bit of rock and soldered Stohn's leg to the inside of the Volcano. Koey came by a few hours later by teleportation and saw Takan, out in the real world.
"Takan…. The matoran-"
"Will kill me. So I'm going to finish killing the Toa Nebula first!"
"They want you to-"
"Burn alive in this volcano!"
"LIVE TAKAN! That's what the matoran want! It's what I want!"
Takan didn't accept that answer and shot fire at Koey. Koey rolled out of the way and trapped Takan in ice. When Takan broke out, Koey was gone. Looking over the edge, Stohn was free and attacked. Takan was slapped by Stohn and set spinning around, only to be stopped by Koey's dagger, ripping through Takan and tearing his armor to pieces.
Koey's fury was imprecise, simply wailing around his daggers, tearing off non-vital parts of Takan's armor. Takan kicked Koey to the ground and blocked a rear attack by Stohn.
"Try harder, Toa. I can do this all day." Takan gloated and shot balls of fire at the two Toa
Koey blocked them and Stohn dodged and rolled his way up to Takan where their weapons collided. The hammer was holding back the sword of pure flame.
Takan swept his leg beneath Stohn and nearly tripped him over before sand came up and held Stohn's feet down. With his feet planted, Stohn exerted more force onto his hammer, trying to break Takan's guard. It worked and Takan dropped his sword. As Stohn's hammer flew towards Takan's head, he used his Mask of Shielding and blocked the impact. After that Takan stabbed Stohn and torched his insides.
Stohn flopped down to the ground in pain and Koey bolted up. Takan slashed blades of fire at Koey who froze them in the air. Once Koey was near he faked an attack on Takan's head and instead slid beneath his sword. Koey slid right into Takan's shins, knocking him over. With Takan on the ground, Koey jumped onto his back and slashed away.
Takan used his Mask but Koey teleported his daggers past the shield, right into Takan's chest. Koey did this multiple times before Takan shot up sending Koey flying. Takan jumped after Koey and got a direct hit on him, burning a slash into his chest piece. When they landed they charged forward at each other.
Koey front-flipped over Takan and stabbed the top of Takan's head with his daggers. On the way down Koey held onto the handles and pushed them from the top of Takan's head through the back to his neck and the lower back. With protodermis spewing out, Takan stumbled around and fell to the ground.
Koey walked over to Takan's corpse. Takan with the last of his power swept Koey's legs into a burning mess. Koey without dousing the flames watched Takan slowly stand up from his puddle of protodermis.
"You're one stubborn Toa."
"Et Tu,'' Takan sloppily swung his sword at Koey who ducked under and tackled Takan to the ground.
Koey punched Takan while rolling around in the dirt. As Takan kept taking hits he tried his hardest to roll around, trying to get Koey off him and to have a little reprieve. Stohn opened his eyes from the pain and saw the two rolling ever so closer to the edge. Stohn shouted to Koey and fell back into unconsciousness.
But it was too late. Takan and Koey had rolled off the side of the volcano, right into the fiery pit of death. Koey let go immediately and dug his fingers into the side. Takan on the other hand flailed himself around and grabbed Koey's foot. Koey was holding on for dear life and Takan too, his feet were being burned by the immense heat of the lava. Fire… a familiar feeling. His element talking to him.
"Koey…." Takan looked up at his friend who looked back. "Sorry."
And Takan let go.
