"I've been ready," the Air-Toa huffed, twirling a bio-long arrow through his fingers.
"Shut up and ready weapon. Fire on my mark."
The Air-Toa grinned through his Sanok. "You know we've handled Rahi before, right, stranger? No need to be so tense. Ayha, the great Toa of Air, knows what to do."
The stranger did not reply. Ahead, the entire horizon was smoke and billowing ash. Behind them, the towers of Metru Nui were just visible over the surface of the sea. In the sooty light, they did not gleam.
Another bank of smoke drifted over the rocky island they had taken up position on.
"Clear it," the stranger ordered. Her face was grim.
Ayha obliged by letting loose a blast of wind from his lungs, shunting the smoke off to the east.
"I hate this waiting," he said, rocking on his heels. "Better to fly out and knock the thing out of the sky, eh? More fun too."
Behind her mask, the stranger's mouth curled slightly in an unseen sneer. She glanced silently over at the Ice-Toa.
"Range is 100 bio," he reported. "Closing fast."
"Ready weapon," the stranger repeated. The Air-Toa finally nocked arrow to bow.
"Alright, where's it coming out, Tylnen?" Ayha said. "It's all smoke out there."
Fire bloomed inside the black clouds. The Ice-Toa pointed.
"60 bio."
The stranger stepped up next to the Air-Toa.
"Remember: Clip the wings, close to the body," she said. "Bring it down in deep water."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
Ayha pulled back on the protosteel bowstring, eyes snapping between targets as his Sanok glowed to life. The fire brightened in the distance. A shape writhed at the heart of the smoke, high above, hurtling northward, toward the City.
"I see it!" he hissed.
"On my mark. Hold until—"
"There!"
The bow-string twanged metallically. The arrow needled upward into the clouds, straight into the silhouette of the massive Rahi….
A dull clang echoed over the sea as the dart splintered on one of the mask-like scales that covered the beast's hide. A miss. More flame belched from the dragon's mouth, and burning, intelligent eyes fixed upon the small rock.
"Zyg," the Air-Toa cursed, reaching for a second arrow. The dragon turned sharply into a spiral. Higher, higher….
"Range is increasing," said the Ice-Toa. "Now 75 bio—"
"Think I can still hit it," Ayha said.
The stranger ignored him.
"Signal the other Toa of Ice," she said to Tylnen. "Tell them to array along the shoreline."
"But…hey!" The Air-Toa recoiled as water washed over his shins. The sea had risen suddenly, submerging their rock. The stranger was already knee-deep. Her hands were stretched out, one toward the sky and one toward the surface of the ocean.
Ayha regained his balance, almost spoke, but then saw the slight shake of Tylnen's head and thought better.
Above them, higher even than the winged shape of the dragon, clouds were moving, spinning, darkening further…but not with smoke.
Below, the Silver Sea had also become restless. Strange waves crisscrossed its surface, resolving into a spiraling shape: a whirlpool to match the nascent vortex of storm above. Dragon-fire billowed and swirled as the beast passed over their position and flew onward.
"What's this all about, stranger?" Ayha blurted out at last. "Showing up out of nowhere and giving orders…You said you were no Toa!"
"I'm not."
"What is your plan?" Tylnen asked. "I've signaled the other Toa through my frost-wards. They are ready."
The stranger's hands were still outstretched, motionless. Her eyes were open. All focus.
"The plan is the same," she said quietly.
Clip its wings.
Fingers clenched, clawlike. In the distance, a mass of seawater flashed upward like steel, and a deluge of rain pierced downward, laced with lightning.
Liquid teeth closed upon the serpentine shape, and a wall of spray and mist obscured the horizon. Ayha's eyes went wide. Tylnen blinked once, very slowly.
"No Toa, eh? Zyga, I say." Ayha clapped his hands together, grinning.
The stranger turned halfway toward him.
"Then you'd better learn what a Toa is, and quick."
"Look there." Tylnen pointed.
A ragged shape was falling against the sky, tumbling, wingless, toward the City, trailing smoke.
Glittering glaciers of ice were already forming along the shoreline as the other Toa prepared to meet it.
The Air-Toa's smile widened further: "Hah! They'll make a legend out of this. All our names will be carved on the Walls of History. I'd bet on it. Now, stranger, how about you us give your own name—"
He stopped. The rock was empty. The sea was receding back to normal levels.
The stranger was gone.
"Well..." Ayha said after a moment, "maybe not all our names." He shook water from his armored feet. "No legend for you then..."
"...only for Toa," Tylnen replied.
"What's that?"
The Ice-Toa shook his head, turned and began to fashion a skiff from elemental ice. Ayha shrugged, started to twirl another arrow on his fingers as he waited.
Ok wait hang on. So as some of you who saw that one post know, I have been extracting textures from the DS version of Bionicle Heroes for a project I am still not going to reveal.
One of the textures is this crate:
Now, some of you might think this crate looks familiar. I certainly did. And then, I realised;
It's like. An extremely blatant reference/homage to the crate texture from Quake? Which adds more fuel to my theory that BHDS's developers were intentionally trying to make it feel like a '90s FPS. And it isn't just an edit where they removed two of the "feathers" from the wings and replaced the skull with Hakann's symbol; the wings are noticeably larger and spaced further apart, the holes on the pallet are thinner and more rounded, the rivets are much larger, and the overall proportions of things like the side-supports are noticeably different.
comfortably at home deep underground, when not defending matoran he often helps dig tunnels and catalogue ores and minerals. he has a strong sense of heroism and courage although he may not realize it, many around him often find his successes annoying.
the muppet joker coming back the same day that it comes out d*nald tr*mp blew bill clinton is really fucking funny to me actually. the muppet joker was summoned.
one thing i love about Gali’s MoL design: Her mask seems pretty different from the set until she goes underwater. Then, her cheek vent thingies pop out, and suddenly whoa its more set accurate and also a freakin cool concept
So walking along a trail a thought struck me. Did the Toa Metru not know their masks? They seem genuinely shocked (with one exception) about their mask powers, but I feel like some of them would at least have an idea.
Matau: This one is probably the least surprising. Why would he know at all?
Nuju: Not a part of his hyperfixation. He could have found it out, but why would he ever need that information?
Nokama: This is probably the weirdest one to me. She's a teacher actively imparting knowledge. I can't help but imagine using her mask as an example in like kanohi history. Best guess at this point is that it's not her area of expertise, but still seems odd.
Whenua: He knows. That man has probably cataloged the kanohi exhibit of the archives like 3 times. There's no way he doesn't know what a great Ruru looks like. My interpretation however is that he never thought it was useful, so why bring it up. The shock he got when it activated wasn't at its power, but at the actually utility.
Vakama: He knew everyone's mask power frame 1. You don't spend years forging masks and not knowing what a great Huna looks like. Of course though he was too nervous to mention this with the visions and everything.
Onewa: Similar to Nuju in that he could find out what it was if he wanted to, but why would he? Though most importantly he's the one who figures out that Vakama knew. I imagine either on the way to Mata Nui or back. The question gets asked. You're a mask maker, did you know? And from a nervous yes from Vakama, Onewa contemplates, not for the first time, throwing his leader overboard.
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