The Shadowed One's New Toy
"I thank you, Ethazoid," said the Shadowed One as the Toa knelt before him. "You have done well to retrieve the Spear of Fusion. Dweller and Devastator will continue to lend you training and advice, but from this moment forth, you may consider yourself a true Dark Hunter."
He looked down at the Toa of Psionics. "Retrieve Prototype. Do not tell him that I possess the spear. He is to know nothing."
When he had gone, the Shadowed One took up the ancient, withered Spear of Fusion. He looked over it with a kind of reverence. The spear was extremely fragile; it felt almost like an artifact made of distinct particles of dust. He recalled what Vezon had said about the spear, that Jaller had burnt it to ashes in a battle some years back. Someone, somewhere, did me the favor of reconstructing it, the Shadowed One realized. Whoever did so must be very powerful, very mad, or both. I will have to send them a messenger with my thanks... and a dagger to the back.
The chamber door opened, and Ethazoid entered, accompanied by a hulking mass of pistons and armor. Behind his fused mask, Prototype blinked his weary eyes. "I am here," he pronounced, in his blend of two voices.
"So you are. Thank you, Ethazoid; you may leave us," said the Shadowed One.
Holding the Spear of Fusion, he rose from his throne and walked towards Prototype. The armored titan stared blankly at the spear for several long moments. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "I -- I remember that," he said, astonished.
"Do you? How peculiar. I thought you remembered nothing of your life before," the Shadowed One commented. "Perhaps your old minds are not so dead within you as I had thought."
Before Prototype could react, the Shadowed One thrust the spear forward, and a bolt of crimson energy leapt from its ashen blade. The red glow sank into Prototype's armored bulk and bore its way through his being, wriggling as it went. A bright light began to emanate from Prototype's torso, and he screamed as his body began to tear itself apart.
When the light faded, two ancient, misshapen Toa lay on the ground before the Shadowed One. The Toa of Fire groaned in pain as his legs tried to remember what their shape was meant to be. Next to him, the Toa of Earth ignored his twisted arms and glared up at the leader of the Dark Hunters. "What are we... What has happened to us?"
The Shadowed One looked down at them with some curiosity. So, the Spear still works... to an extent. This is heartening news.
He leveled the spear at the Toa. "Don't worry yourself about it, little Toa. Your moment of individuality was only an experiment, one which is now concluded."
Crimson energy roped around the two prone Toa and pulled them together, atom by atom. Two tortured screams rang out, and then Prototype once again lay in the chamber: twisted, bulky, and completely insane.
He blinked. "What happened?"
"An experiment," replied the Shadowed One. "Now get on your feet and get back to your post. I am expecting a visit from the Toa soon, and how would we be able to welcome them without a sentinel on duty?"