Co-Authored by Dragon Claw92 and Omicron the IceQueen

Heroes of Spherus Magna

Power of Three

"Alright Heroes, we're entering atmosphere now."

Surge looked toward the cockpit when he heard his team leader speak, and he fidgeted a little with his fingers, forgetting his previous conversation with Stringer about video games. He wasn't overly certain about how far out into the universe this mission was taking them, and while he could easily chalk it up to just being jumpy, he had a feeling this wasn't going to be an easy run.

His fears were confirmed when the ship they were on gave a violent shudder, the rivets clattering noisily in their sockets while the hull gave a loud and worrying groan. "W-was that supposed to happen?!" Surge yelped, looking around with wide, nervous optics. The answer he got wasn't exactly comforting either.

"Hang onto something."

Without warning, the cockpit of the vessel broke off, the rush of air blasting him right off his seat as he watched, horrified, as Stormer vanished from sight. Letting out a yell of shock and alarm, Surge scrambled to try and get up, Bulk's voice booming over the noise. "Get into the escape pods, hurry!"

Surge barely knew what he was doing as he reacted to the order on impulse alone, throwing himself into the doorway that soon had him sealed in a hero pod and launching away from the ship... just in time to see it explode. The rookie could only stare in horror as he watched shrapnel and what he hoped were his comrades scattering in different directions, though just where they ended up he had no idea. His processors were only able to finish sorting out what happened as the hero pod landed with a squelch in what appeared to be a swamp.

Shuddering, Surge clambered out of the pod, staggered, and looked around in alarm. "O-oh man... oh man, oh man, oh man what am I gonna do!?" He spun frantically on the spot, trying to get a sense of direction and failing. "This is not good, this is so no-no-not good!"

He paused to shake his head. "Think Surge, think... what would Furno and Stormer do? ... um..." He ended up pacing while he thought on it, his hands alternating from fidgeting with each other to holding his helmet. This really wasn't going well, and he wasn't getting an ideas. Eventually, he just gave up and cried out loudly. "Heeeeelp!?"

A golden head popped up in the semi-distance. Only for a light blue hand to reach up and push the head down behind the line of bush like growth of the swamp.

This didn't go unnoticed, because at once Surge turned towards it, electric blue optics wide as his hands shakily moved, ready to draw his shock blasters at a moment's notice. "Wh-who's there?" He spluttered, scanning the general vicinity of the golden head's previous location. "Sh-show yourself!"

There was movement in the plants, and the sounds of footsteps coming closer through the swamp with squelching sounds. Then female voices, not sounding aggressive or too worried, but they were lacking a metallic edge to the voices.

The blue-clad Hero tilted his head slightly, his hands still at the ready, but not drawing his weapons. "Wh-where are you?" He asked shakily, keeping his gaze directed towards the sounds, and his nervousness maintaining a higher pitch to his voice.

"Ki'cra?" A soft female voice called back, the mover, or movers seemed to use his voice to correct their path, and head back to him.

"...what?" That was really all Surge could say in response, his expression showing more confusion than fear now. "Uh... say again? I missed that."

"Era!" The voice called again.

"Ga-gi?" A second one called before the golden colored head popped up to look around, spotting Surge and seemed to perk up.

The Hero blinked again, looking utterly bewildered before spotting the golden head and jumping backwards in surprise, stumbling over his own feet and landing in a shallow puddle with a squelchy splash. "Eeuug!" He moaned loudly, getting up and frowning down at his now rather muddy frame. "Gross!" He then seemed to remember he was being watched and looked back to the golden face again.

He hadn't seen anyone like that before.

There was something femme like in the face, and the pale blue one that popped up a few feet away. The first chirped a worried tone and pushed through the bushes, only to loose there support and fall forward. The second blue native yipped and tried to catch the first, getting pulled with to the ring of muck around the Hero-pod's landing spot.

There was a pause, and a universal, "Eeeeeeee!" From grossed out and defeated sounding females drifted up to Surge.

Needless to say, Surge wasn't quite ready for that to happen, and after shaking himself out of his surprise, sloshed his way closer and offered them a hand getting up. "Uh... you two alright?" He asked awkwardly, not having a clue what he was doing or if they could even understand what he was saying. He knew he certainly couldn't understand what was coming out of their mouths, other than a squeal of disgust at falling into the swampy mess he'd landed in.

The nearer girl looked up, seeming surprised, "Agori?" she hummed after taking the offered hand and then peering into Surge's face.

"A whati?" The hero asked in confusion as he helped her get up before moving to aid the second female. "Uh, do you two have names or something? Anything?"

The blue female took a deep breath and sighed, the response to the sound the gold and silver girl, though just as covered in much so the colors where that bright. She helped her friend up and then rubbed her masked face as clean as possible. Then both looked confused at Surge, the blue and silver female echoed the 'Agori' word before trying to speak what sounded like a different language, another that wasn't like the smoother words, but had a harsher edge to it that didn't seem to suit the girls.

Again, the only sound that the Hero found himself capable of making was a rather unintelligent sounding 'uhh' before remembering something. Snapping his fingers, he- rather clumsily- clambered back into the hero pod, digging under the seat before grinning. "Found it!" He quickly had the odd device on and hooked to his armor, climbing back down out of the pod and looking at the two - to him - unusual females. "There, let's try that, shall we?" With any luck, the translation device would still be fully functional; after all, his pod hadn't crashed. That had to bode well for at least something, right?

"What is that?" One of the girls asked, tilting her head, orange, white and red eyes peering back up at Surge again. The gold armor peeking through the muk.

Upon hearing words he actually understood, Surge grinned even more, looking highly pleased with himself, and more likely, his luck. "It's a translation unit." He replied, almost proudly. "Now we actually can tell what each other are saying."

The two blinked again.

Then the blue girl bonked her friend, "I said we would need a translation stone Bomana!"

"Ow..." The golden armored native, Bomana, pointed and rubbed the side of her mask, "Sorry.."

"H-hey now let's not get too mad at each other." Surge spluttered awkwardly, looking between the two and not seeming sure quite how to handle the situation he was presently in. "I mean, at least it's not like we're totally out of luck, right?"

"We've been lost for three days looking for Ga-Koro!" The blue female tossed her arms up, but there wasn't any malice in her, just exasperation.

"We'll get there Ari." Bomana assured before looking at Surge with interest. "What happened to you though? We saw that ship fall about and this land- but that and this," she looked at pod as she tilted her head. "Are not Matoran style Air ships, and Agori don't have any"

"I'm... uh... not from around here?" Surge confessed, sounding a bit lame, and as such deciding to try and explain a little better. "I'm kinda from a different planet a loooooong ways away from here." He offered an awkward grin. "I'm Surge."

"I'm Bomana, Av-Matoran." Bomana said, quiet friendly at least. "This is my friend Ari, she's a Vo-Matoran."

"Okay... uh..." The hero grimaced a little. "...what's a Matoran? I... man this is awkward..." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he glanced around. "I really have no idea where we are, and I have no clue where the rest of my team ended up, so I'm super lost."

"'Ma-an?'" Ari echoed, confused as she tried to say one of the new words that weren't translating.

"Oh, calm down," Bomana crooned in a reassuring tone to get the mech to calm down and not talk to fast for the device to work.

Surge shuddered slightly, but nodded at Bomana's words. "Sorry, just still trying to get my bearings." He said, deliberately trying to make himself talk a bit more slowly. "Did I need to repeat anything?

"A lot," Bomana gave what seemed like her own kind's smile, "You should take a few deep breaths," She offered, not knowing he was completely robotic yet. "Its not going to do you, or whoever, any good if you're dancing in the swamp until the moons come up."

The mech blinked at her suggestion before smiling awkwardly. "I... uh... I don't actually breathe, Miss. But you're right about cooling my circuits down before I blow a fuse." He took a moment or two to try and collect himself a little more, and then asked. "You didn't happen to see anyone else sorta like me, did you? Or any blowing up ships or something?"

"You don't?" Bomana puzzled as she eyed the mech. Surely not, he was acting- if a bit hyper, more like the techno-organic races of her world.

"We saw some things fall from the main mass of the air ship, but it was a ways away." Ari spoke up, and then added, "And we're Matoran, that's our people of the Bionicle kind."

The blue hero thought it over a bit more, grimacing and fidgeting his fingers absently. "I don't, no. I'm a Hero; I was made in Hero Factory." He explained to Bomana, not realizing just how odd this might sound. He then turned his gaze to Ari, looking both glad for the news, and worried. "So... y-you didn't see anyone like me, but in different colors? Not that you could tell? Nothing green, or white? Or silver or black or red?"

"No, it was too far." Ari shook her head with her friend as they both tried to make sense of what Surge had explain, "It's not easy seeing things outside a swamp when stuck inside it."

"Darn..." He mumbled, seeming disheartened again. "Wonder if they're okay..." Panic soon flashed across his face again as he seemed to forget they were even there. "What if I can't even get back? What if my core loses its charge and I just die here? I don't even know if I can recharge here!" Pacing ensued, though a few seconds later he seemed to clue in that he wasn't alone, and gave an awkward, shaky laugh. "A-ah, right... um... well maybe I can help you try to find where you were trying to go, at least?"

Bomana's eyes softened and she reached out a silver hand, with five fingers, to pat the mech's shoulder, "Maybe it would be better for all of us to get out of the swamp first."

"Can that air ship you came down in work again or is it like a life boat or Toa canister?" Ari asked as she came closer too, fallowing her friend's friendly lead.

"Uh... it's like a life boat, I think." Surge said awkwardly, seeming a little soothed by Bomana touching him. "Anyway... yeah, we... we should probably just find our way outta here for now... that's what Stormer would say." He got a look on his face as though he were mimicking someone. "Don't lose your head, Rookie; take it one step at a time and stay frosty." He then sighed and shook his head. "Wonder if he... no, no just gotta focus... right, gotta get out of here..." He looked around, trying to remember if he'd seen any land marks or particular areas he could use for some sort of navigation.

"Yes," The blue female nodded, "And that's good advice. But is seems silly to just leave it, are you sure it can't go anywhere?"

"Pretty sure." He replied grimly. "But I can check. It... it wouldn't hurt, really..." He turned back to the pod and moved over, clambering back in and taking a look around. "Hm..."

"I don't think I've ever seen tech like this," The gold female said to her friend, who agreed.

"Probably not." Surge's voice came from inside the pod. "Hero Factory's pretty hush-hush about our technology, and we're from an entirely different planet as it is." There was scuffling sounds from inside, and then a rather triumphant 'aha!' from the hero. "Alright, it's working!" His head popped into view. "We're in business, ladies." He piped gleefully.

"Mata Nui that is good to hear." Ari sighed, and then tilted her head and to be practical asked, "How far will it take us?"

"Uh... probably anywhere we want to go actually." Surge responded cheerfully. "These things have a lot of fuel reserve."

"How about out of the swamp first," both females said as one.

"Well that works for me!" He piped, moving to give them a hand getting into the pod. "Let's load up and take off."

"Where do we sit?" Bomana asked.

"There's seating compartments in there. Might be a little tight but it'll fit us all."

"We can compact," Ari assured, and with some help from the mech was settled first, the other Matoran fallowing. The two natives were slim for having armor, giving Surge more room than expected.

Surge was rather surprised about the room that was left, and couldn't help but grin as he closed the pod, took his place, and fired it up. "Alright, you two comfortable, ladies?"

"What's a... 'ladies'...?" Ari asked, slowly saying the untranslated, for them, word of 'ladies,' and trying to mimic Surge's accent over it.

"Ladies." Surge repeated. "You know, girls. Women? Females? It's a polite way of saying one of those three."

"'Women'?" Bomana echoed puzzled.

"Oh, female." Ari brightened, making the connection, "Only we say," and she said a word that sounded like 'gama,' "And there's normally a few different ways to say some words in Matoran."

"Uh..." Was all Surge really seemed able to say. "...let's just stick to names for now and call it easy? Maybe?"

"Its not hard to learn different dialects." Bomana smiled in the Bionicle way from where she sat.

"I... I don't have the programming for that." Surge said awkwardly. "That was more of Breez's thing. I'm just the tech...kind of."

"Don't cut your widgits small Surge-friend." Ari said as she looked up at the mech. "Its always good for the mind, and the heatlight," the native lowered her hand over the softly glowing and pulsing light in the middle of her chest. "To keep learning in life. Not just dialects but that applies other things in one's lifetime journey."

"Widgets?" Surge asked. "...and ...I'm not really equipped with language skills." He tapped the translation device. "That's why I've got this actually. Breez is testing the language tech actually. Anyway..." The pod took off now and was soon above the swamp. "Which direction?"

Bomana edged forward to see out the view screen, "umm, that way." She pointed, "I think the edge of the swamp is in that direction."

"At least one edge." Ari mused.

Surge seemed half amused, half unsure about this answer. "And... how do we know it's the right edge?"

"If its out of the swamp," Ari said amused as she re-settled down and looked at her frame before adding, "Maybe somewhere that has clean water. Swamp mud, even in a new swamp like this is...stinky." Both females were trying not to make that much of a mess in Surge's craft.

"That's a true point. Alright then, onward to water! ...hopefully." With that, Surge set the pod's course, and they were off. "Just let me know if it's going too fast or anything, alright? Don't want to scare anyone or anything."

"Its not all that different form our crafts...just a bit smaller." Bomana assured, both of the natives weren't afraid in the least.

A small grin tugged on the hero's face. "Glad to hear nothin's a problem then." He piped as he briefly glanced back at them. "Just let me know if you need me to stop this thing at any point, alright? I'm just the driver."

"We're fine, but we will let you know." Bomana assured.

"Excellent." Surge responded, his grin broadening. He was starting to see his misfortune as a rather lucky turn. He had his hero pod, he had two very friendly companions, and as far as he knew, nothing was broken. Now all he had to fuss about was figuring out if his team was alive, and at the present time he was happy enough to focus on his present companions more than the others. He didn't need to have a freak out while he was piloting.

"What is your home like?" Ari asked after a surprisingly peaceful time, before the pod started to descend.

Surge blinked. "Huh? Oh, my home planet? Or the factory? Because technically I could call both my home."

"Both, you're home and your magna." Bomana decided, eyeing the visible clean water out the view screen and perking up.

"Ah." He responded. "Well... Makuhero is a beautiful place, really. It's pretty well urbanized, but there's still spots of wilderness, or something like it at least. Like city parks and such. Nature in not nature and all that. As for Hero Factory itself... it's really big, and really, really cool. We've got training spheres that let us review missions, and there's big hallways that we sometimes race through even though we're not supposed to, and there's the villain storage facility, where we lock up all the bad guys we catch, and... and... well basically it's just really cool."

"Sounds sort of like Metru Nui or the bigger Koros," Bomana said, then turned and added, "Or Karda Nui."

"No idea what those are like, but sure." Surge responded with a small shrug of sorts. By now he was focusing most of his attention on where he was going to land. Sure they had lowered altitude, but landing still needed to happen.

"Karda Nui is where I'm from," Bomana said with a smile, rubbing the muk around on one gold arm. But not scraping it off just yet, waiting eagerly for the water and a fast bath to get it all off.

"Not sure what that is either, but I'd be happy to hear about it once we're all cleaned up." Surge offered cheerfully, finally figuring out a good spot to land and parking the pod. It hissed quietly as it opened and he got up before offering to help the two Matoran get out. "We've landed!" He piped in a sing-song sort of voice.

The two girls weren't that far behind, having produced soup and cloths from subspace. Bomana was soon a vibrated golden shade herself, with highlights of silver and undertones of bronze colored hide, with a bronze mask. Ari's armor was not as bright as the other too, but still had a metallic like shine, and colored a mix of blue and purple, the hide was a darker brown and her mask was purple. Though the armor was integrated into a balance of mechanical and organic, as well as not being painted, but the armor itself was colored.

Surge was definitely intrigued by this as he watched them clean themselves off, studying their bio-mechanical make up with obvious curiosity and interest. "Wow... don't have anyone like you two back at home..." He said in awe struck curiosity, though perhaps it could have been mistaken for accidental flirting.

"And you're completely new too!" Bomana giggled as she took a final rinse and came out.

Surge, oblivious to his potential blunder, grinned at her. "Pretty much, yeah. All bright and shiny again!" He playfully flexed in a 'showing off to be goofy' sort of way before stretching and glancing around to get a better look at the surroundings. He'd forgotten to do that before, so he deemed it a wise option to do so now.

Ari joined her friend in another set of giggles, and then the two came back over. When Surge had finished his scans they had already finished cleaning the inside of the pod too.

"It's going to get dark in a few cycles," Ari said as she looked up at the sky, more so the height of the mini-moons.

"Oh?" Surge asked, glancing up at the sky and seeming as though all the giggling was keeping him quite amused. "I take it things get pretty wild out here at night?"

"Not really...just cold." Ari admitted.

Bomana rolled her glowing eyes, "Everything is cold to you Ari."

"I'm from a Ta-Wahi!" Ari protested, crossing her arms, "Everything is cold when you're used to living inside a volcano."

Surge blinked at that. "Wait, wait, wait, you lived in a volcano? Wow, that sounds really hot. I don't think my armor's heat resistant enough to last in a volcano long, and I know I've got some armor upgrading."

"Not like in the lava or anything, but yes," The purple Matron started to explain, "Before Aqua and Bara Manga were rejoined into Bara," Ari pointed down at the ground, "And my home region was reformed here, but it's just like before the dark Makuta!"

"I don't think Surge would know who and what the Makuta are." Bomana pointed out.

"Oh... yeah."

Sure enough, the mech's expression proved Bomana was right. "A... Makuta?" He repeated, seeming rather confused. "Yeah I haven't got a clue."

"It's a bit of a long story," Bomana said, thinking how to explain. She knew she wasn't a story keeper, "There's good and bad Makuta... or there were bad Makuta. Their gone now except for three."

"So... there's three bad Makuta left? ... And... Are there good ones or not?" He asked. "You kinda lost me again."

"No, there's only three Makuta left in the world, and their good." Bomana corrected him and herself, shaking her head. "They're the ones that help make Rahi-beasts to fill the new lands. They haven't worked in the Wahis around here, it's why its empty."

"Oooh... Rahi-beasts? ... Oh! Animals, right? That's what those are?" It seemed he was catching on a bit.

"Rahi," Bomana nodded and smiled, "That's what we call them."

Surge nodded a little, thinking that through to make sure he had it in his memory banks. "Okay got it! ... I think. Ah well either way I know for now." He grinned cheerily as he said this. "So... um... now what?"

"Well... you said you had some friends," Bomana started, looking at Ari.

"I do... did... do." Surge responded, reminding himself that he had to try and keep it on the positive side. "I just haven't got a clue where they'd have ended up. I kinda wound up flying a ways away from the crash... I think?" He pouted faintly. "I have no idea. I already don't know which direction I came from."

"..." Ari looked up with her friend, and the two Matoran had a rapid discussion in their native language that the translation device couldn't keep up with as they judged angle and distance between the visible moons. Then they pointed, "You came from that way."

The blue Hero raised an optic ridge at their rapid talking, inclining his head just slightly to the side as though implying confusion. "You're sure I came from that way?" He asked curiously. "Did you see me fly past or something?"

"We saw your craft come down to," She made a motion with her left hand as the translation box in Surge only gave a rough 'left side,' "...of Bota. The green moon." Bomana came over and turned the taller Surge around to look up at sky and the sight of the green moon, the other blue moon starting its rise up.

He blinked in surprise as she turned him, but soon his gaze was fixed on the moons. "Whoa... You've got two moons?"

"Yes, Bota and Aqua magna," Ari nodded as she smiled, "Maybe we can set up a grid search. If your other craft was crashing there will be a trail of some sort."

Surge thought about that a bit, considering the situation before nodding. "That could work. Could probably see it from up above too, actually. Blowing up ships leave a real mess."

"Does your craft log positions?" Bomana asked, "It seemed logical to start the search from where you got into your...pod thing?"

The Hero nodded right away. "Now that you mention it, I think it does. I actually hadn't thought of that. It'll probably have some sort of vague indicator at the very least."

"Did you hear something?" Ari asked suddenly, her attention diverted to beyond the water way that they had all cleaned up in.

"Huh?" Surge looked around as soon as Ari spoke, frame tense and ready for any sign of attack as he quickly scanned around in search of anything that could pose as a potential threat to them. His 'Hero instincts' had kicked in, and it wouldn't have been hard for them to see it.

The Vo Matoran was listening and Bomana paused to focus in on the same spot her friend was looking at. The natives had the advantage of knowing what was and wasn't normal sounds of their world.

"Was...was that Ronoku?" Bomana asked after tilting her head one way and then another as she stepped away from Surge's Hero pod. "What is she doing away from Metru Nui? And it's still day time..."

"Eh?" Surge looked towards where his companions were staring right away, seeming quite confused. "Who's Ronoku? And why would she not come out during the day?" He seemed very confused.

"To put it simple, she's a Makuta, and sun light hurts her eyes," Bomana said as the Av-Matoran shifted, a little uncomfortable, "And she wouldn't be as strong in light then she would at night, or underground. And Ronoku has said she doesn't want to leave her home in Metru Nui."

"... Huh." The rookie remarked, frowning a bit in contemplation. "Well that sounds like a sign of bad news. Here, gimme a sec." He cautiously started toward where the two Matoran were staring, ready for attack if it came his way. At least, he hoped he was. He wasn't about to draw his own weapons if this wasn't a hostile situation, but he had to be honest; if it came to blows he wasn't sure if he could go toe-to-toe with a Makuta, and he was guessing by what had been said that they were likely a lot bigger and stronger than he was. Most things he ended up fighting were that way, after all.

Back behind him, Bomana was shifting and glancing nervously around. Then after a look at Ari to see the other female understood, crept after Surge. They caught up with him on the other side of the water way, though stayed behind him as the underground entrance to a cave system was almost missed. The ground beneath their feet grew harder under the moss and sod-grasses, leading to the hole in the ground that was just about covered. Big enough for a Matoran, or a Hero to go down by the looks of it, and voices were drifting up. Faint and echo-y.

Surge grimaced, seeming a bit nervous himself now. "... Should we go down?" He asked his companions quietly. "Because I dunno if I like this or not..." He knew he should probably investigate anyway, but he wanted to get an outside opinion before doing so.

"...we should find out," Ari said softly, keeping her voice low as she tried to hear what was being said in the echoes.

The Hero gave a small nod, looking back down the hole and hoping he didn't seem as uneasy as he felt. "Right... well, let's go then." With that, he pulled out his shock blasters and cautiously proceeded down the tunnel, watching for any sign of danger.

"Be careful, its sand stone," Ari said as she moved to go before Bomana, rubbing fingers against the sloping stone below the moss.

"What will that do?" Surge inquired, not seeming sure if it was going to drop out on him or not as he carefully proceeded.

"It doesn't have traction." The Vo-Matoran explained, still speaking softly. "Keep your feet side ways to get as much as you can on the slope."

"If someone slips, try not to yell like an insane Le-Matoran." Bomana put in from the back of the line after they had ventured into the dark.

Surge seemed confused, though he kept his watch on his footing rather than look back at her. "I take it they're kind of loud?"

"Very," Both native females said, and at least with Bomana she seemed to have the whole being sneaky thing down. Not making a sound other than her whispers, Ari wasn't bad but enough that Surge could tell where she was when not looking back to see the glowing eyes. At least until both females closed their inner lids.

Surge, however, had no such luxury as dimming his optics, but so far he had no issues with it. "I'll keep that in mind for if we meet one." He remarked faintly, peering ahead of them with increasing curiosity and uncertainty. His hands were still tightly gripping his shock blasters, though he was careful to keep his fingers off the triggers; the last thing they needed was for him to fire one off by accident.

The mecha had the advantage of enhanced night vision though, different than what the Matoran had. Biomechanical or not they didn't have those enhancements, so they stayed close to the Hero for guidance. Bomana finally stopped as they came to what looked like a warn water passage, making a path like shelf that had a raised edge to their right, but it was the roar like sound that made the Av-Matoran cringe and hide.

Surge looked over at Bomana with concern, and though he didn't really talk it wasn't too hard just judging by his optics that he was concerned about her. He had to be honest; he wasn't too fond of the noise either, though he didn't mind that it provided reasonable cover in case one of them tripped or made some other noise.

Ari tugged on Surge's armor for his attention to stop, pointing to the other side of the sandstone ridge where the voices were becoming clearer.

The rookie blinked, or gave the impression of it, and looked over when he noticed she was pointing, squinting a little as he tried to see what was up ahead of them.