Happy Bionicle Day!
Running up the stairs, the armored warrior could only hope he wasn't too late. He made it to the top, entering a circle-shaped room where he saw a being matching the description he'd been given: tall, skinny, and blue with red eyes. There was a pedestal in the center of the room, and judging by the sack slung over his shoulder, he'd already stolen the artifact. "Takadox!" he called out, making the figure turn to face him.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Takadox asked, holding the artifact behind his back with both hands.
"I'm Lesovikk," the warrior answered as he drew his sword. "And I'm not letting you take that."
Takadox lashed out with one arm and threw a small handful of knives, which Lesovikk deflected with a small gust, courtesy of his Air powers. As the warrior moved in for close combat, the blue fiend growled, "I didn't come this far to be stopped by one single Toa!"
Lesovikk slashed his blade again. "Sorry, but that title doesn't fit me anymore!"
Hearing footsteps, both fighters turned to the entrance to see four newcomers. Before any of them could do anything, the entire room sparked with energy, engulfing everyone.
Lesovikk groaned as he woke. He got to his feet and looked around. "A jungle?" he observed, "How did I get here?"
Swinging his sword, the green, armored warrior generated a twister, sucking both the jet and cycle into it.
Both vehicles complained in the same voice, "you and that cursed wind of yours!"
The warrior ran into the tornado like it wasn't there, standing directly beneath his orange-and-black foes. He leapt straight up and cut them both in half with one clean swipe of his blade.
"I-If it weren't for you, I w-would've c-conquered all-" that was all the two machines could get out before they exploded, ending the fight for good.
Hearing engines rumbling nearby, the warrior turned around to see multiple high-tech motorcycles emerge from behind a barren hill. The cycles were all different colors and had various weapons attached to them.
"You did it," the red bike muttered. "You actually did it!"
"It took all six of us to come close, but he did it all on his own!" the white bike yelled excitedly.
The other motorcycles did wheelies as they cheered, "Le-so-vikk! Le-so-vikk!"
The now-named warrior stowed his sword on his back and waved his hand. "Calm down," he chuckled, "I simply honored our deal. No need to praise me or celebrate."
"After all the trouble The Boss gave us, how could we not celebrate!?" the tan bike asked rhetorically. "Anyway, a deal's a deal. Ready, guys?"
The other motorcycles all "nodded" and their front wheel glowed in their respective colors: red, green, yellow, black, white, and tan. Their front wheels all shot off toward one spot, converging and creating a swirling vortex.
"There's your way home. We'll never forget you," the yellow bike said in a regretful but happy tone.
"Thank you." Lesovikk nodded. He stepped toward the portal but right before passing through, he turned around and spoke, "One more time. What riders are you!?"
The bikes all wheelied, "The RoboRiders!"
Nodding, Lesovikk took his leave and stepped through the portal. He would've been happy, but the jolt of lightning before his eyes told him that maybe something wasn't working right. Next thing he knew, he was in the air, 20 feet off the ground. But more surprising than that, he had company. Everyone landed on their feet, and Lesovikk took a second to observe these two new beings.
The first one was a mix of red, black, and gray with a gold head. His gray arms were a bit spindly and ended in three-fingered hands, and he had two black protrusions sticking out from behind his shoulders. His legs, on the other hand, were oddly built: the feet and shins were armored and thick, but the thighs were short and skinny.
The second one had a yellow and black color scheme and a strange design of his own. He had short, yellow arms, but the right arm branched into two long, black arms partway. In his left arm, he held a blaster that resembled a black plate of armor. Most bizarrely, the only thing connecting his upper and lower halves were a pair of segmented pipes.
Lesovikk pointed at the two of them while they both pointed at him, all of them yelling "Who are you!?"
The yellow and black being took his focus off Lesovikk, "Forget that! Let's finish what we started!"
Disks materialized in both beings' hands but before they could throw them, Lesovikk created a large gust of wind, making them both stumble back a bit.
"Before you gentlemen continue, would you kindly explain to me what's going on?" Lesovikk asked. He held up his hands, hoping they would listen.
"Mind your own business!" the yellow and black one yelled. "We don't-"
"Calm down, Blaster," the big-footed one said, "We've had plenty of interruptions already. One more won't make a difference." Dematerializing his disk, he began, "We are Slizers. I'm Millennium and this is Blaster. We-"
"Hold on a minute," the now-named Blaster cut in. "If you explain it, we'll be here all day. You ready for this?" Lesovikk nodded, so he continued, "We were having a battle, but the battle generated a lot of energy, and then the second meteor hit. And now we're here, right now."
"…You're a terrible storyteller," Millennium commented.
"I have to agree," Lesovikk sighed, shaking his head at the amount of information he knew he was missing. "Anyway, I think that phenomenon that brought you here may have interfered with my transport, so-"
"Hyaaaaaah!"
And then everything went black.
"Wake up."
Lesovikk's eyes cracked open and he slowly sat up. As he did, he realized two things: 1. His hands were bound with cuffs and 2. He couldn't feel his sword on his back, which meant it was probably taken by whoever knocked him out. He looked around to see Blaster and Millennium cramped with him in big metal box which, from the vibrations he could feel, appeared to be moving.
"What happened?" Lesovikk asked.
"You got knocked out by some squishy beings," Blaster answered. "Then they pinned us down with their numbers."
"What do you mean by 'squishy beings?'" Lesovikk repeated.
Millennium took over the explanation. "They weren't made of metal at all. That's what we mean." Seeing Lesovikk gasp, he continued, "We could break out if we really tried, but since we know nothing of this new world, I say we play along and observe for now."
Blaster and Lessovikk nodded. And so they sat and waited. Once they stopped, two of the beings that had captured them opened the back of the box they were in.
The beings aimed rifles at them.
"Alright, all of you, get out," one of them ordered.
The trio unpacked themselves, with Lesovikk asking, "Where are we?"
That made the two riflemen chuckled.
"The only slave trade in the East Blue, and that's all you need to know," one of them said. "Welcome to your new lives. I bet you guys'll fetch a high price." They gestured with their guns, prompting their prisoners to turn around.
Now paying more attention to their surroundings, the three otherworlders saw that they were at a harbor, with other prisoners being loaded onto a wooden ship.
"I think that's our cue to break out of here," Millennium commented. As he began struggling to break his cuffs, Lesovikk put a hand of his shoulder. "What do you want?"
"Just wait a minute. I want to see inside the ship," Lesovikk whispered.
Blaster wasn't amused by that choice. "What for?"
"Enough talking," one of the guards growled. He jabbed them one by one with his gun, "Get onboard already."
Entering the ship as instructed, the three were led into a prison section. All eyes were instantly on them. It wasn't surprising considering how they looked. Taking a seat, Lesovikk asked the prisoner to his right, "What are you in for?"
The man was dumbfounded by the question. "Are you an idiot or something? This is a slave ship. We're not criminals. They just kidnapped anyone they could grab."
Lesovikk nodded. "That's all I needed to hear." He looked at Millennium and held up his cuffed hands. "Let's break out."
"It's about time," the red and black robot snarked.
A disk materialized in his hand, the energy discharged destroying his cuffs. As Blaster freed himself the same way, Millennium swung the disk downward, smashing Lesovikk's cuffs.
The two Slizers busted the bars of the cage and made for the exit, but the green hero addressed the prisoners in the other cells, "How would all of you like to escape?"
Some of the prisoners looked excited at the thought of freedom, but one of them didn't seem too happy. "What good would that do? There's at least a hundred armed guards out there, plus whoever's still on the ship." He pointed out, "Your pals seem strong, but even they can't handle that. If you fail, then we're all going right back in these cells."
His words had a strong effect, with about half of the prisoners around him losing the spark to escape.
"I've actually only just met them, but I'm willing to take that chance," Lesovikk said as he grabbed the cell door, trying to force it open.
Having no luck there, he instead punched the spots where the bars were attached, smashing the wood. This allowed him to rip the cell open one bar at a time, freeing the people inside.
One of them, a little boy, scratched his cheek. "Uh, that was cool and all, mister, but…Why didn't you just use the cell keys?" He pointed to the end of the hall, which had a whole rack of keys on the wall.
"…That's not important," the green warrior said awkwardly, embarrassed he'd missed something like that. He took a deep breath and spoke more confidently, "You can't be afraid to act. I hesitated once and I've regretted it ever since. Keep that in mind."
With that, he left the group and climbed out onto the deck. There, he saw his two acquaintances battling the ship guards and crushing them with ease. Blaster had retrieved his namesake from their captors and was firing with reckless abandon while Millennium took advantage of his thick legs and threw devasting kicks. In addition to that, both of them spawned disks in their hands and were throwing them about with expert aim.
One guard took his focus off the Slizers and aimed a pistol at Lesovikk. "Get back in the brig, you!"
Lesovikk didn't respond, so the guard pulled the trigger. To the guard's shock, the green alien front-flipped over the shot and nailed him in the head with an axe kick.
With the guard now unconscious, Lesovikk quickly glanced at the entrance to the brig and saw that several prisoners had come out and were watching him with wide eyes. Satisfied he was making an impact, he called out to the Slizers, "One of you, throw me a disk!"
"Only if you ask nicely!" Blaster shouted back.
Lesovikk sighed, annoyed, "Please throw me a disk!"
Thankfully, Blaster complied this time and tossed him one. Now with a weapon in hand, the green warrior alternated between using the disk to block swords and bullets and just smacking enemies with it. In just 30 more seconds, the three fighters had taken out all the men on the ship.
"Uh, mister?" Turning around, Lesovikk saw the boy from earlier, the one who'd corrected him about his questionable breakout tactics. Much to his surprise, the boy was holding his air sword. "We were searching the ship for weapons, and this looked like it belonged to you."
Lesovikk glanced up and saw the prisoners pouring out onto the deck. Chairs, stools, bottles, if it could be used as a weapon, they were holding it. Nodding, he took his sword from the boy. He then walked up to edge of the ship along with Blaster and Millennium.
The hundred men that that one prisoner had mentioned were standing right next to the ship, all armed with swords and guns.
"I have a plan," Lesovikk stated as he turned back to his allies. "I'll scatter them, then you advance while they're recovering."
"Whatever works," Millennium shrugged.
Not wasting anymore time, the green warrior leapt into the air, his jump aided by a burst of wind generated from his feet. Looming over the crowd, he spun in place, gathering wind around himself and forming a tornado in the middle of the crowd of enemies. To ensure his allies didn't get caught up in it, he stopped the tornado almost as soon as he'd started it. Fortunately, he'd done what he'd intended; the slavers had been tossed about by the winds and were now in the process of picking themselves up.
Landing back on the deck of the ship, he pointed his sword at the would-be captors, "Now's our chance! Charge!"
The former prisoners let out a battle cry and poured off the ship, attacking in full force.
"First, I'm in a fight with Millennium, then I'm captured by a bunch of squishy guys, then I'm leading a mini revolution," Blaster summarized while counting his fingers. "This whole day has been ridiculous."
"Finally, we agree on something," Millennium said, crossing his arms. Peering into the ship's cabin, he asked, "Does anyone have a map? We'd like to know where we are and where we can go from here."
As soon as he'd spoken, the boy from before squeezed through the door, holding a map, plus a compass to go with it. "Here you go!"
Millennium plucked the map from the boy's hand without a word.
The prisoner who'd initially objected to escaping nodded to the Transponder Snail on the table. The slavers had thankfully kept one onboard, likely to keep in touch with others in their business, and now it was helping the would-be victims contact the authorities.
The prisoner stood up to face the Slizer. "That settles it. The Marines are going to come and pick us up. You and your alien buddies can take this ship and find your way."
The humans exited the cabin and began leaving the ship. As they did, they passed Lesovikk, who was getting an explanation from a woman on what humans were and what the Marine Corps was.
"Fascinating," he muttered.
Once the humans were all off the ship, the three otherworldly beings shoved off.
Blaster quickly asked, "Does anyone know how to sail?"
Lesovikk chuckled, "We don't need to. One of you, get to the steering wheel." When he saw Blaster raise a finger, he quickly added "Please." Once Blaster took the wheel, Lesovikk got into position and raised a hand, firing a steady stream of wind into the sails and propelling the ship forward. "Onward!"