Pirates: The Regathering

The Regathering is the first story serial in the Pirates Universe and is the introduction to its world and mythos. After two years of seperation, Captain Vakama of the Lhikan seeks to reunite his crew.

Chapter I
The two Skakdi eyed the ship in front of them as they stood in the large cave-like trophy room. The ship in front of them was a glorious vessel, with a hull tough enough to withstand several Cordak rounds before giving away. On the deck, there were ten Cordak cannons on each side and ten more on each side below deck. Its bow was like a battering ram, ready to tip over any ship it came across, and had its own pair of Cordak cannons sticking out, ready to attack any enemy directly in front.

The ship was still in waters, as it floated on the river that ran into the cavern that the Skakdi were guarding. It was tied to a post as it was made to get ready to be taken off the water and onto the solid dry cave floor, in preparation to be made into a display for all to see. At least all that General Nektann was going to brag to. The Skakdi guards spat the floor, chuckling over the proof of victory right in front of their ugly sneering faces. The Lhikan was taken from a band of renegade Toa that were committing crimes of piracy against the Skakdi Kingdom established ten years ago after the Great Flood.

Some reckless Makuta in Metru Nui had somehow forced the Great Spirit into a deep sleep, and this somehow resulted in the whole universe flooding. Cities were underwater and many drowned in the process. Luckily for the Skakdi in Zakaz, they had a vastly superior naval fleet, allowing them to survive the flooding of their small island. For the first time, Skakdi were officially superior to everyone else in the universe, leading to the establishment of a naval based Kingdom that spread throughout the Matoran Universe. Of course, there were foolish rebels and anarchists, going about attack Skakdi warships in the vain hope of toppling their regime, but these ended in victoy, for the Skakdi at least.

One of these criminals to roam the seas was a group of idiotic Toa, whose behavior exposed them as being from the drowned city of Metru Nui. They try to pirate from their overlords, but eventually, after many years, they were captured and jailed for their crimes. Seperately to avoid any cooperation between them. Alas, but the only one that escaped capture was their captain. Their leader had shown his cowardly ways and avoided the imprisonment his mates had to endure. Where he is, only Karzahni knew.

There were rumors flying around the oceans, about a Toa of Fire that had made a name for himself in bars and the makeshift islands the Matoran built to survive above water. "Maskbreaker". The two Skakdi felt like breaking out into laughter in the middle of their discussion over this silly name.

"No one's seen him in, how long has it been, two years?" The red Skakdi snorted. His partner, a golden Skakdi, nodded. Both readjusted their weapons to be more comfortable standing.

"The better," the golden one said. "The last thing we need is a group of Toa inspiring revolution among the Matoran and Karzahni knows who else that survived the Flood. Ironic, how they became pirates to live in this world now, isn't it?"

"Very," the red Skakdi grinned. "Say, speaking of pirates, have you heard of what happened with the Piraka?"

"Ugh, don't get me started on those rodents. No, why?"

"Exactly," the red Skakdi cracked his neck. "Those six have just vanished into thin air. Sure, there are reports of our troops and Matoran spotting them, but nothing's been confirmed yet."

"I hope they got eaten by a giant squid or something. I just despise them so much."

"What's your problem?"

"Well, first of all, they were the reasons why I ended up with this guard duty crap. Just stand around and stare at a ship I can't even climb aboard and weapons I can't even take for myself."

"Actually, you could."

"Yeah, but General Nektann's really possessive of his trophies. One tiny clue of a handprint and your head is in a basket."

"Oh, right," the red Skakdi cleared his throat. "Wait, I forget, why 'Maskbreaker'?"

"Some kind of play on the Toa's old job. I heard he was a maskmaker when he was a Matoran. Get it?"

"Heh, yeah, actually, I get it. It's kind of, uh, kind of neat."

"'Neat'? What are you, an infant?" the golden Skakdi snarled. The red Skakdi shrugged, not so subtly pointing his weapon at his partner. If the golden Skakdi got the hint, he ignored it.

The golden one's head suddenly turned rapidly. The red Skakdi noticed this movement and turned towards him and his partner looked around the cavern. "What?"

"I thought I heard something. Like a door closing."

"It's probably the wind. You know how spacey these caves are."

"No, it sounded like a creak of the wooden door to this room and a small thud. I'm telling you, I heard someone enter." The red Skakdi looked around, raising an eyebrow as his red eyes searched for an unfamiliar sight.

"Sorry to tell you, but no one's here. It's just the wind."

The sound of a pistol being touched rang through the cave and the Skakdi turned towards it, the red one hearing it for sure this time. When they aimed their weapons at the source of the noise, they slightly lowered them in both confusion and shock.

Before them was a red being, sporting a tattered black cloak and whose face was covered by a black hood that was attached to the cloak. He was holding a Cordak pistol and examining it. The two Skakdi looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Who are you?" the red one asked. The cloaked being simply finished eyeing the pistol and took a holster from one of the many stands in the room, tying it around his waist and placing the pistol inside. He took a multi-holster that was worn across his chest and equipped it as well, placing more pistols into the holes.

"He asked you a question, intruder," the golden Skakdi growled, trying to sound intimidating. The cloaked being, once he finished placing the final pistol into the final holster, finally turned towards the two guards.

"You know," he said. "Guards protecting these kinds of places would shoot on sight and ask questions later." It then hit the two guards like a stray Kohlii ball. They HAD been ordered to shoot intruders on sight, and yet they didn't. They're holding a conversation with one right now, in fact.

"As for who I am," the being said whilst scratching his mask with his hook hand. "I've got a thousand names, last time I counted. Nine hundred and ninety eight of them were insults. One's my real name and the other's a nickname I picked up in the past two years." The two Skakdi's faces frowned and lost all color. They had just figured out who they were talking to, but any small hope they held on to felt the need to wait for the being to complete his introduction. "They call me 'Maskbreaker'."

The being pulled out a disk launcher and shot the loaded disk at the golden Skakdi's head. The disk bounced off and hit the red one's head as well. Both Skakdi crumbled and fell into unconsciousness. The intruder put his disk launcher away. "But I prefer being called Vakama," he finished.

Vakama has had a rough two years. Roughly twenty five years ago, he had become a Toa. For some reason, he was thought to be the perfect candidate for leader, and it was only until it was nearly too late did he fullfill that belief. He had taken charge of his Toa team directly before the Makuta Teridax, who was considered the Great Spirit's "brother", had betrayed his spiritual sibling by putting him to sleep. In the aftermath, a great earthquak erupted throughout the universe. Afterwards, a large flood arrived to drown the world, leaving tons of beings and cities underwater.

Vakama found the transition to constant sailing to be difficult, especially since he had thousands of Matoran Spheres to find and retrieve. Teridax, after putting the Great Spirit to sleep, had absorbed the life forces of the Matoran to escape his Turaga disguise, putting those poor workers into a mass coma. As the flood came rushing in, the spheres were all washed away from Metru Nui. It was highly likely that they were underwater, making things all the more difficult.

Vakama and his team were forced to become pirates when the Skakdi, who had a famous hatred of Toa, came into power and formed a kingdom. Vakama was captain of the ship, and the team started to become known across the seas and what little land there was. However, the Skakdi general Nektann had them surrounded, capturing the Toa. Vakama managed to make it out himself, leaving his team behind. For the next two years, Vakama had to deal with the guilt of abandoning his friends, and became more aggressive that he had in years.

He travelled from pub to pub, as the last pub would kick him out for misconduct. He became a drunkard, starting brawls for the sole purpose of feeling like part of something. At the final pub he was kicked out of, Vakama had spent hours lying outside the building in the rain, holding an empty bottle that he had finished. For hours, he recalled the moments before his crew's capture, before the Flood. He remembered fondly of his career as a maskmaker. Ironically, he was now referred to as the "Maskbreaker", both because of his past life, and his violent tendencies in recent days. For hours, Vakama thought about the past, letting the rain fall on him like a shower that couldn't wash away his sins.

Vakama thought long and hard, about his guilt, about his predicament. Finally, in a moment of clarity, Vakama decided he wasn't going to live like this. He won't live like a poor nobody that could be easily ignored on a street. With anger and determination, Vakama threw the bottle away, with it landing in the water near the pub. Vakama stole a hood and cloak, in case some Skakdi idiots might recognize him.

First order of business was to find the Lhikan, which Vakama did by eavesdropping on some Skakdi patrollers who were so arrogant and careless that they had the gall to talk about the Lhikan's transport to Nektann's trophy room within a cavern. Using his Kanohi, Vakama made himself invisible and stowed away on a Skakdi ship to Nektann's stronghold, which rested on top of a rocky formation, the caverns within serving as rooms. From what he heard, Vakama knew that the trophy room had an exit a ship could fit through, as Nektann would collect ships of his fallen enemies to put on display.

Using his Kanohi, Vakama snuck into the stronghold and made his way to the trophy room, which was practically a huge basement with water flowing through. He found two Skakdi, discussing their lives and laughing at Vakama and his team's misfortune. Vakama ignored most of these and focused on the Lhikan. It was still afloat in the water, and has yet to be taken out of the water and put on display. This was good, as Vakama can sail it out into the oceans more easily.

Vakama pondered his options. He could take the Skakdi out while invisible, but he wanted Nektann and the Skakdi kingdom to know who the culprit was. Thus, Vakama decided to go the theatric route. He made himself visible as he loaded himself with the Cordak pistols Nektann kept in the room. He revealed his identity after he holstered all the pistols on his person before knocking the guards out with his disk launcher. There was no doubt these two morons would report who hit them.

Vakama sliced the rope holding the Lhikan in place. To move it, Vakama hanged off the back of the ship with his hook, which allowed holding on to be much easier. He aimed his disk launcher out and activated its jetpack function. The ship moved. Slowly, but it was moving.

Once it was out the trophy room and into the open waters, Vakama climbed aboard and raised the sails. The ship properly forwarded. Vakama waited until he was far, but any loud sounds from the ship could be heard. When he reached an appropriate distance, Vakama went to one of the Cordak cannons on deck. He used his elemental powers over fire to create a spark in the cannon. The spark caused the cannon to fire an explosive round at the stronghold. The round missed, but hit the rocky wall underneath the actual facility. A few seconds later, the stronghold's alarms went off.

Bells rang and Vakama could hear clamors from possibly the Skakdi troops within. Vakama smiled as he took off the hood that covered his face. He breathed in the salty air, enjoying the wind in his face. He exhaled as he took out the manifest and map he stole from one of the offices in the stronghold. Reading the list, Vakama recognized the names of his crew. Nearest was Nokama and Nuju. Satisfied, Vakama put away the information and headed to the wheel.

He took pleasure in taking hold of it and started steering towards Nokama's and Nuju's location. Luckily, both were held in the same place. Vakama steered the Lhikan towards them. Though alone, Vakama gave a triumphant cry as he sailed to rescue his crew.

Chapter II
To be written...

Story Notes

 * The Great Flood hit right before the moment Vakama defeated Makuta Teridax, meaning the Kanohi Vahi he created was lost and Teridax escaped.
 * Most of the airships and flying machines are underwater and are destroyed, meaning the technological status of the naval ships have slightly decreased.

Trivia

 * The two year hiatus of Vakama's pirating activities is similar to the two year gap in One Piece's storyline. This was unintentional and accidental.