BIONICLE Legacy: Darkness Falls

Chapter 1: Warriors in the Making
''Clang! Clang! Whirrr-Clang! ''Steel clashed against steel in the small training room in the United Spherus Military Complex. The once-all mighty Takanuva sat on a small bench in the well lit room, gazing onto the battle in front of him. There were two Toa Novices under his tutelage in this hour, the quiet and thougthful Axoras and the brash and headstrong Zataka. How these two were friends was still a mystery to the USM.

Axoras was a rare Toa of Spirit, and he was colored with black and silver armor. He had out his trusted weapon, his Retractable Protosteel Sword. Zataka had taken a practice sword of the rack on the far wall, but he seemed to perfer more ranged weapons. Like that blasted Midak Skyrifle he has spent months working on. His orange and gray armor was still shining in the light.

Axoras rolled forward on the floor, using the momentum to fuel his stab towards Zataka's right leg. Jumping over the strike, Zataka slashed behind him to catch Axoras off guard. Axoras blocked the attack easily, whipping around and sweeping Zataka's legs out from underneath him. With a a yelp, Zataka hit the floor. Axoras brought up the blade for a killing blow, but Zataka rolled away and the blade crashed into hard ground.

Rolling back up to his knees, Zataka whipped around and held out his hand. Orange liquid gushed out of his hand and hurled toward Axoras. Spinning away from the geyser of plasma, Axoras ran forward and brough his sword up. Zataka stood and raised his sword to defend, but was caught off guard when Axoras retraced his sword and slid on the floor in between Zataka's legs.

Standing behind Zataka, Axoras extended his blade and brought it down over his head. Zataka blocked and turned around, their blades locked together. The two grinned at each other in their struggle, their faces merely inches apart. Finally, Axoras jumped back and began to glow. Then, he thrust out a hand, and spirit of Nui Rama shot out and barreled toward Zataka. It hit him square in the chest, carrying him up in the air and then releasing him to crash into the ground. Axoras rushed forward and held Zataka by the tip of his blade and ending the match.

Takanuva stood from his bench, clapping his hands, "Very good, both of you.  A well fought match."

Axoras retracted his sword and offered Zataka a hand. Zataka took it in earnest, "Yeah, I didn't know you were practicing while I wasn't looking Cloud Head."

Axoras grinned lightly, "Only because you have you head stuck in a Midak barrel."

As Zataka blushed with embarrassement, Takanuva cleared his throat, "Anyways, you two have both come a long way in a short few months."

Axoras and Zataka both bowed, "Thank you, Turaga."

Takanuva smiled, "Now I'm a pleased to see you both controlling your elements so well.  This is a good sign, for it means you are becoming more at one with yourselves.  The sign of a true Toa."

Zataka raised his head, "Does that mean...?"

Takanuva shook his head, "Not yet, you are not ready to join a Toa Team yet, or a Glatorian-Toa Hybrid Team.  Perhaps by the end of the year."

"A whole year?" Zataka groaned.

"You and your Toa Brother have made impressive progress since joining the USM, but you are not ready," Takanuva said firmly.

Zataka was about to continue on with his argument when Axoras placed a hand on his shoulder. Zataka looked at Axoras and saw the calm warning in his eyes. Sighing, Zataka grumbled, "Yes, Turaga."

Takanuva looked at the two Novice Toa and nodded, "You are dismissed."

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In Zataka's Room

"Stupid Turaga.... thinks he knows everything," Zataka grumbled as he was fiddling with an energy mechanism at his desk, "I'll show him, I'll show them all..."

The Midak components on his desk were scattered around, save for the base structure for the rifle. By Zataka's calculations, the narrower desgin and longer barrel would make for a 35.7% increase in effecientcy and accuracy. He had all the parts to build the design, but the blasted energy mechanism was still having trouble acclamating to the design. It would either fire a blank shot, or explode. And Zataka was running low on widgets.

Taking up his tuning tool, Zataka went back at his work. Ever since he was a Matoran back in the old days, he had always loved tinkering. He was always coming up with new tools and inventions, but some would blow up in his face. But, hey, even the almighty Artahka would have failures once in a while, eh? So, Zataka would just keep on trying until he got it right. Much like the Midak Skyrifle.

The energy mechanism was a small little box, filled with supercharged lightstones and electrical wiring. It was truly beautiful, a masterful artwork of machine and nature all wrapped up into a powerful weapon for the Toa to use. But the mechanism was so fine turned to the larger design that the smaller design seemed to be near impossible. Zataka had still persisted through this setback, however, and kept pushing through with his design. With this, the United Spherus Military will be even more prepared for threats like Teridax or the Skrall... if there were still any hostile Skrall alive. Now, the world's biggest problems were the Vorox attacks and raiders and even they were easy to handle.

TO BE FINISHED