Turning Tides

 Turning Tides is a short story written by Jahoan17 for Vorred's Writing Contest, and details the Patriots just before their appearance in Uprising

Story
“ROOOAAARRRRRRRGGG!” The Forgotten Warrior yelled. The Undead Toa swung its flail, and Andron barely dodged. The Toa of Lightning rolled as he hit the ground, thrusting his sword up. The Infected Toa of Ice fell onto the blade, and lay still. Andron threw the corpse to the side, stood up, and decapitated an Undead Toa of Plantlife. The Forgotten Warrior's whip fell out of its black claw as he fell, the gaseous form of the infection spilling from the open wound. As Andron breathed a sigh of relief, he felt a chill on his shoulder, and turned to see another of the Infected monsters. This one was orange, the foul black virus distorting his stance into something akin to failed experiment of the Makuta. Its dull red eyes still seemed to blaze with madness.



Suddenly, the Undead's eyes went completely blank, and it fell to ground with a hole in his chest, virus spilling from the wound. Andron looked up, and said, “Thanks Falecia, I owe you one.” The Toa of Shadow silently nodded, before turning back to the fight at hand.





Solunus yelled a battle-cry, his Kakama twisting into a face of rage, before slamming his Impulse Blaster into the face of an Infected Toa of Earth. Pressing the trigger, a bolt of green energy tore through the Undead's mask, ripping its blackened brain to shreds, and shattering its skull. The Forgotten Warrior collapsed, steam rising from what was left of its head.



“BANG!” Solunus struck the ground as an explosion rocked the clearing. When the Toa of Air looked up, he saw his Patriots  laying on the ground, knocked out by the force of the blast. The Undead began closing in on them, and his own blaster was just out of reach. Without warning, Solunus was yanked into the air by his neck, and he found himself starring into the face of a skeletal, Undead, its dull red eyes slanted into triangles with malice, burning into The Toa's soul. Suddenly, the Undead spoke, highly unusual for an Undead, especially one that looked as though it had died near the beginning of time. The Undead said, “Well, well, well, Solunus, Toa of Air, leader of the Patriots. So you're the one whose been fouling up my plans.” Solunus gasped, “Nuva, bu-but how? How can you turn proud warriors into your slaves? How can you desecrate their bodies, turn them against their friends? How can you, a Toa, do all this to your own kind?”



 The Undead merely laughed, “ 'Little Toa, I am above you as you are above a fireflyer. My power is a hundred times greater than your petty little team, and especially above yours. You cannot even summon a light breeze to shake my soldiers, or outrun your own doom, and in a few minutes my soldiers will have the Kanohi you seek, and all your hopes will be gone. This, Solunus, is my power play, and no being in the Universe will be able to stop me' .” The Undead then let out a foul, unworldly laugh, followed by the rest of the Undead in the clearing, even those who had been defeated. “ 'Solunus. It. Is. Time. For. You. To. DIE!' ” The Undead raised a fist, and shot it toward his face. Solunus took one last breath, and, nothing. The Undead had stopped, inches before its fist would have driven through his skull.



 The Undead dropped Solunus to the ground, and clutched its head in pain. This was his chance. The Toa of Air rolled to his blaster, his hand landing on the barrel. He curled his hand around the weapon, and lifted it to point directly at the Infected Toa's head. He pressed the trigger, and the beam of devastation shot toward Nuva's minion.



 The blast sent shock-waves through the creature's skull, shaking it apart at the atomic level. The waves of energy continued on, fissures appearing on the Undead's metallic structure, and the virus was vibrating. Within seconds, the Undead was barely holding itself together, and by the time a minute had elapsed, the Undead was little more than a small pile of dust, and the virus was wisps of smoke in the wind.





<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%"> With the leader of the undead destroyed, The Patriots had no trouble disabling the other Forgotten Warriors. As the Toa finished off the last attacked, a red and silver clad figure walked into the clearing.

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<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ Pirai, did you find anything on your scouting mission?” Solunus asked.

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<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ Well, I witnessed a battle between a group of villagers and a horde of Undead, with six Toa involved, and I saw Nuva, who used some kind of mechanical worm to kill the Toa, but then a Bohrok/Toa hybrid used a Mask to revive everyone.” The Toa of Iron reported.

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<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ These Toa, what did they look like?” Solunus questioned.

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<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ There was a Toa of Fire who wore a Miru Nuva; a Male Toa of Water wearing a Hau Nuva; a Female Toa of Stone wearing a Kaukau Nuva; a Toa of Earth who wore a Akaku Nuva, and was infected and killed; A Toa of Ice wearing a Kakama Nuva; and a Toa of Air who wore a Pakari Nuva, but was killed when the Bohrok-Toa used the Mask. There was also a Komou-wearing Toa of Stone, who went up against Nuva and survived.” Pirai told him.

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ Six Toa, twisted versions of heroes in a far-away land, would be their harbingers.” Solunus muttered under his breath.

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ What's that you said about harbingers?” Andron asked.

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<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ An old legend, the one that involves Nuva and the Kanohi Tilira.”

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<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ The Tilira? Would it happen to look like the Ignika, but with the cheek-plates hollowed out?” Pirai asked with intrigue.

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ Yes, what of it?” The Toa of Air replied.

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ That was the mask the Toa used! It had been buried under the village and the Undead were digging it up!” The Toa of Iron said excitedly.

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ You know where the Tilira is?” The Kakama-wearer asked.

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">

<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ Yes, I'll led the way.” Pirai said.

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<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">“ Falecia, go back to the base, and prepare for new arrivals; Andron, with me, go to Nuva's base and see if there are any survivors; Pirai, go to the village; I'll look for survivors between the two.

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<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: transparent; line-height: 150%">To be continued in Uprising.

Characters

 * Andron
 * Falecia
 * Solunus
 * Nuva (Through an Undead)
 * Pirai
 * Theran(Mentioned only)
 * Range(Mentioned only)
 * Merall(Mentioned only)
 * Chaeus(Mentioned only)
 * Brorag(Mentioned only)
 * Dorvan(Mentioned only)
 * Multiple Forgotten Warriors