Running from Death

Prologue
Tehktra Nui, once thought by the Matoran to be an island of the Endless ocean planet. They were wrong. Tehktra Nui was never an island, rather a space vessel.

53 billion years ago a being known as Makura created a new advanced form for a species based on an earlier creation; the Makuta. That was the biggest mistake of his life. The being revolted. Makura had given him too much intelligence and he captured him and mutated him into a beast. The Master was born.

Over time he watched the universe, all the different planets and galaxies around him and he was intrigued. He found the urge to see all the species created, in one place, for him to over watch. So he created the planet Jadax Magna. To get to each and every corner of the universe, he needed transport. That's were Tehktra Nui comes in. The Master slaved for nearly 56 years, by himself, to create a huge space ship; aka Tehktra Nui. His plan; let the creatures of the galaxy walk into the trap.

He would land his ship onto a planet's surface and would cloak the visual machinery and mechanisms. And he would wait. And wait. And wait. He would wait, on each planet, for 10,000 years. Sooner or later vegetation would grow and the sapient species' of each planet would eventually colonize his ship, which they believed was an unconquered land mass, and build their civilizations. Eventually the beasts, the Rahi and the others would follow too. After he was sure he would have at least one of each species he would take off and return to Jadax Magna and dump the load.

He did this from planet to planet continuously until only a few remained. He rested on Jadax Magna for many a year and soon realized that his little hobby wasn't as exciting as he thought it would be. So he eventually found out something exciting: hunting. Killing, slaughtering and mutilating. That was fun!

He then made Jadax Magna his own hunting reserve. He would hunt for pleasure and would watch the different species fighting each other for survival. Eventually he set out for the last few planets, The Endless Ocean Planet included.

But that would be his last.

He was defeated, just before his departure, by a huge robotic being known simply as Magneon. He knew what The Master was up to, and he wanted in on it. He had already been a dictator and he wanted more.

As you read this Tehktra Nui (well, that's the Matoran name for it) nears it destination landing site: Jadax Magna

Chapter 1
Toa Imydrex, and his companion Toa Ganon, lay silent in a Stasis tube filled room located near the base of Tehktra nui. They had heard footsteps and had hidden themselves. A Stone rat scurried across the floor in front of the two.

"Phew, false alarm."

"Ganon, come here!"

Ganon walked up to Imydrex who was peering out a small porthole sized window. What they looked upon was the wall of stars, a long chain of stars most prominently seen from the Endless Ocean Planet. The lights glimmered and twinkled in the most enchanting fashion.

"Beautiful isn't it. Ganon?"

Toa Ganon was too frustrated to even bother about the cosmic light show.

"What does it matter?????!!! We're never gonna be able to back to where we belong. We weren't created to see the stars upclose or the the wonders of our universe!!!. We were meant to be firmly on our home planet protecting Matoran!!!"

Ganon began hammering on the wall in anger.

"There's gotta be a way off this thing!!!!"

He began hammering harder till he felt a panel come loose.

"Aha!"

"I really think you shouldn't..."

He started tugging at the panel and began pulling it off.

"Nearly done it....WHOA!!!"

The panel ripped off, with quite some force, and Ganon was thrown backwards. He landed face down on one of the Stasis tubes and looked straight into the eyes of the creature in suspended animation.

"Awwagh!!"

He quickly got up and stepped back, his heart throbbing with fear at the hideous sight.

"Told you so!"

Imydrex went over to the tube and wiped the condensation from Ganon's breath off. Suddenly the room began to shake wildly.

"Whoa geeeez, wha...wha..whats happening????"

Imydrex darted to the window and peered out. Tehktra nui was headed for a rust coloured planet, and it wasn't slowing down.

"Quickly grab onto something solid that won't move!!!!!"

Ganon grabbed onto the Stasis tube he had fallen on earlier.

"Eeep"

Tehktra nui kept getting faster and faster, each yard it gained more and more speed. The edges of the planet began burning up and Tehktra Nuians on the surface near the edge were frazzled. The ship hit the planet with immense force, creating a colossal crater about the three time the size of it, propelling tonnes of rock, dust and debris from the collision, straight into the atmosphere partially blocking out its sunlight.

Ganon got to his feet, he been thrown across the room in the collision. He went up to the window, still clutching his head in pain, to see a wall of rock.

"Imydrex, we're under ground again!"

He too got to his feet.

"That was one rough landing!"

Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

"What was that???"

"Oh no!!!! The Stasis tubes, they're opening!!!!!"

Chapter 2
Magneon grabbed The Master and threw him to the wall.

"Today is your lucky day; you get to live!"

"Why, Kill me now!!!!"

"No, I still require you..... for a while anyway. I do not fully know the workings and functions of this joint, and you shall be my guide."

"And what if I refuse?"

"I will pull those those pathetic wings through your eye sockets and ride your bony back-side to the darkest pits of hell!!!!"

"I see..."

The Master pushed himself off the wall with his hand and the bone stump of his other and limped toward a hatch in the floor. It led deep into the planet and eventually into a large room full of alien tech and telescreens with a small prison cell to the left of the room.

"This is the planetary control room."

"Excellent!!!"

****

Hissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

"Quick, we gotta do something!! I know activate your mask!!!"

The two faded out of visibility and lay flat against the wall. The tubes opened and several different species, of all sizes, all emerged still drowsy from the stasis gas. The wall of the room slid up and the dry desert like heat, came in from the planet. All the creatures ran out onto the planet's surface, desperate for freedom. Ganon stuck his head away from the wall to see the stampede, and much to his surprise, his head was clipped by one the creature's tail, and he was dragged out of the room along with the others.

"GANON!!!!" Imydrex yelled out. He sprinted after the beast dragging him with all his power, the heat wave against him, and Grabbed onto Ganon's feet.

"Gaak....gaak...gaak" Ganon choked as the beast tail was around his neck and Imydrex's weight pulled him down. The extra weight caught the attention of the creature and it stopped in its tracks. It began thrashing wildly throwing Ganon and Imydrex out onto the planet's dry unforgettable surface. The two could see the beings run of into the distance, the dust trail behind them ever fading. Imydrex looked up at the three suns high up in the sky. He felt the unbearable heat swirling around him and realized he and Ganon may be stuck there forever. It made him remember of earlier times. He glanced down at Ganon, who was face down in the sand.

"Ganon?"

No answer.

"Ganon?? Ganon???? GANON????!!!??"

Chapter 3
The city on the surface, of what was once believed to be an island, lay in ruins. Rubble and Matoran bodies lay scattered around as if a natural disaster had happened. Well, technically one did. In the shattered remains of what was once an apartment building lay the body of a Toa. He was once a mere Matoran, tormented and abused but turned into a living nightmare due to the mask attached to his face. This Toa was Katron. He was supposed to be dead. Long dead, killed at the hands of one of Zoruxx's minions, the Mechanical Rahkshi. But thanks to the piece of Protodermis on his face, he had avoided the grasp of death. He had been resurrected by the mask's lust of hatred and jealousy. Katron was back and better than ever!!!

Katron finally opened his eyes, still groggy from what should have been death. He looked around at the pile of rubble he was ankle deep in. He then glanced up at the suns beating down on him.

"Where am I?? Surely this isn't Tehktra nui!"

He looked down on himself. His armour was changed, upgraded even. The mask had improved the very essence of his body. He then looked around in the rubble for any signs of life. Instead he found a staff fresh with blood. His own blood. It was the very staff that had killed him and was still warm from its last usage; separating Jessaco from her alternate counterpart*. He ran his finger along the blood lines, pushing harder with his finger the further down it went. His mind filled with anger and, as it had done it the past, his mask began to glow. But instead of filling him with uncontrollable rage, it transformed the staff into a much larger and more powerful staff.

"Wow!"

Engraved in the side were the words;' Staff of Jaxok '.

"I guess this is mine then."

He looked of the rubble and realised the desert like landscape in the distance, off what was Tehktra Nui. He decided he would head off and try and find some fellow Tehktranuians. He picked up his new staff and mounted his Hoverboard and flew into the distance of the desert.

****

"Cough, cough"

Poxxu too had just woken up. He had been trapped in a sandstorm when Tehktra Nui took off and had been buried in sand. The sand kinda helped soften some of the jolts and blows of the ascent. He hacked and then spat out some sand, he had got a lot of it down his throat. He surveyed his location. He had been in the desert before Tehktra Nui's take off and didn't notice the desert landscape of Jadax Magna and believed he was still on The Endless Ocean Planet.

"I'd better get to the city and stop those Red Dragons!!!"

****

"The Fool!!!!"

Magneon was in the planetary control room watching Poxxu on one of the telescreens.

"The poor misguided fool!!!"


 * (see Matoran Adventures).

Chapter 4
Magneon rose from his seat and a machine gun morphed atop his wrist. He was going out onto the surface for some 'game'. A glint of metal from the corner of the room caught his eye.

"What this then???!!!"

the glint was actually a small metal gauze built into the wall. Magneon kicked his foot into it and the wire ripped around his foot. Of course, being a robotic shell, Magneon felt no pain. He shook his foot and the gauze went flying across the room. Much to Magneon's surprise a small creature ran out at full speed and began whimpering by the cell at the end of the room.

"Oh ho, a small creature ripe for dissection I see!!!"

Magneon grabbed one of his black blades and began approaching the creature He spun his blade down toward the creature, only for it to be deflected by a blue force field.

"Leave it alone!"

The Master stepped forward out of the shadows of the cell; he had been placed there by Magneon.

"Hide your ugly face in the shadows again, fool!!!"

He fired a small energy blast from his shoulder throwing The Master back, at full force against the wall, knocking him out cold.

"Ah, the pathetic creature ain't worth it; there are bigger fish to fry!!!"

Magneon left the control room and headed out onto the surface of the planet.

The little creature was in fact a Zesk. A mutant Zesk to be precise. Captured at birth by The Master and experimented on like a lab stone rat. The Master grew fond of the little creature and eventually kept him as a pet. He was very protective of it and the Zesk, known as Keilo, obeyed his master as a loyal pet would.

Keilo ran back into where the gauze was. Behind it was a vent and the Zesk ran in through a series of other vents until it found its way into a vent shaft above The Master's cell. He ripped through the vent cover using his claws and landed by The Master. Keilo began vigorously licking the master's face in a desperate attempt to revive him.

''This part of the chapter happens immediately after Chapter 2. ''

Imydrex flipped Ganon onto his chest.

"Phew!"

He was still breathing but obviously severely dehydrated. Imydrex noticed some crude notches in the desert earth. He knew what this meant. A dried up stream; perhaps there was water nearby. Imydrex hauled Ganon onto his back and began walking in the direction of the marks.

****

Eventually Imydrex reached a small oasis, and no it wasn't a mirage contrary to his initial belief. He took a drink for himself and gave Ganon enough to revive him.

"Imydrex??? What happened??

"Don't worry, we're okay now!"

"Are you sure?"

"Why??"

"Because of that guy!"

A being slightly taller than a Toa but with a much stronger physique and a thick shell stood before them. And he didn't look happy with them drinking from his property.

Chapter 5
Kopek woke up, face down in rubble, of what was once KMES headquarters. He looked around and other members too were arising from the building shattered beyond repair. The other KMES members were still home on the Endless Ocean Planet. But more than half were here. And Kopek was the only Toa. A Toa leading a large group of Matoran into the unknown, into dangers they could not even imagine. Kopek had to find their leader; Turaga Keyme. Kopek momentarily looked up at the daunting, almost yellow, sky and the three suns beating down on him.

What is this place??? He thought to himself

He began filing through the fragments of building and debris to find the Turaga huddled up under a metal girder.

"Guys come over here!!!"

The other surviving KMES members gathered around.

"Keyme, speak to me???"

No answer.

"Keyme? Keyme!?"

Kopek turned him over. He had a huge flesh wound on the back of his head which made the members cringe. What was worse was that the desert dust was getting into the disfiguring scar.

"I'm sorry to say this boys but, our leader's dead."

The squad all bowed their heads in respect.

"Wait a minute," asked a Matoran named Jav, "Whose our leader then???"

Kopek stopped to think

"The member with the next highest rank.....Kopak!"

"But Kopak's back on our home planet. He may be the official leader but we need a leader here!"

"I guess that would be me."

Kopek looked around. Sure there was a large amount of Matoran here, but in a world unknown Matoran can't do very much. He looked up at the orange-yellow sky and sighed. ''What would a real hero do? What all great Toa heroes do.'' He knelt down on the dry earth and picked up as many stones as there were Matoran around him.

"KMES members, find any living Matoran in the rubble!"

"What are you going to do???"

"Don't worry about that."

Kopek began channeling his Toa energy into the stones to make Toa Stones. Several Toa are better than just one.

"We've found one!!" yelled out Jav.

They brought up a Matoran of Lightning.

"Jessaco?" asked Kopek, "How come you're a Matoran again?"

"I don't know..."

In fact she wasn't the true Jessaco, rather the Alternate, accidently created by Myto.

Kopek picked up one more stone and channeled his last ounce of Toa Energy into it and instantly became a Turaga. He fell over weak from the energy drain. Two KMES members immediately ran to his assistance.

"Take these stones. Use them to become terrific Toa fighters. You have been trained over the years to fight as Toa despite the fact you were Matoran."

"What about you sir?" Yeq asked.

"Leave me here to die. I will just be dead weight."

The team would not let their leader die.

"But..."

"JUST GO!!!That's an order!!"

Chapter 6
The thickly armoured being began charging at the two Toa, Ganon and Imydrex, making strange clicking noises much like the clutter of Bohrok. It brought down two of its appendages down on Ganon but he back flipped out of the way.

"You're mine beast!!!" Ganon yelled

He ran toward it and punched it full force into its chest. The two lay silent for a few seconds.

"Owie!"

Ganon fell to his knees in pain, his arm crippled, whilst the being remained unhurt.

"GANON!!! Now your gonna get it!!!"

Using his Elemental Powers, he produced a solid girder of iron. He lifted it and swung the piece of metal toward the creature. The beam made contact but simply bent around the creatures armour.

"Holy Muaka, that things tough!!!!"

Suddenly another one of them rushed out from behind the reeds of the water hole and ran up to it.

It began cluttering as well to the other one. Suddenly a small light shone on Imydrex's ankle giving him a small electrical shock. Much to his surprise he could suddenly understand the beings' language.

"What are you doing???? These Placetoids were only trying to survive just like the rest of us. Anyway we don't need all that water do we???"

"But you know me, sometimes all that testosterone makes me edgy, and I can't help eliminating the next being I see!"

Imydrex decided he'd make his move now. He grabbed the knocked out Ganon and slowly began making his way away from the scene.

"Placetoid!" The being was addressing Imydrex.

"Stay away from me!!!" He said brandishing one of his Twin razor laser blades.

"We don't mean any harm. My brother on the other hand may harm you, but it isn't his fault. Anyway, if we wanted to cause harm wouldn't we have done already."

"I suppose..."

"We could even help fix your friend over there."

"Sorry about that!" The other one said.

"Please join our wandering tribe. On this planet, safety is really in numbers."

"Alright," Imydrex reluctantly said. He didn't really trust them. One of the beings approached the other.

"Are you sure you want an outsider among us?"

"Come on, I believe their species is new to the planet, and we have a duty to help them!"

"That's what you said about those Zekonda."

"Oh. Well they were different. Just give them a chance."

"Fine, but if something goes wrong, we know who to blame!!"

Chapter 7
Ganon and Imydrex were taken by the two Crustainax to the rest of their tribe which consisted of four other Crustainax.

"Alright, now that we have all re-grouped we can retreat to the burrows."

"Yes, but why are there Placetoids with you?" inquired the leader.

"They're friends."

"Very well."

The leader of the pack walked away from the rest, his glossy shell glistening in the desert suns, and then stopped. Imydrex and Ganon, who had recently woken up, were most confused. Unexpectedly the being began charging toward the group, stopping only inches away, and used the momentum of the run to cause a crack to emerge in the earth. He then dug his claws into the earth and ripped off a large chunk. This revealed a tunnel, protruding deep into the planet. The tribe began filing in along with the two Toa. The walls of the tunnel were coated in a phosphorous like substance and gave the cavern some faint light. The troop made them self down deeper into, what seemed like a never ending, tunnel.

****

Eventually they emerged into a large cavernous like pocket into the earth.

"Welcome Placetoids," Bellowed the leader, "To the current Crustainax residence, humble as it is. Please make yourselves at home!"

"I believe we are in your good hands." Replied Ganon to the leader.

Ganon and Imydrex headed of into the corner of the cave and dropped their weapons.

"Man, I'm tired Ganon.Yawn I haven't slept since...........I don't even know!"

"Well I guess that the life of a Toa; Constant action!"

One of the Crustainax made their way over to the Toa's corner and approached them.

"Your armour looks in a right state!! When was the last time you got it replaced or buffed?"

"Hmmm....I have to admit we do look a little weather beaten." Ganon replied

"I can fix that for you if you want."

"No thanks!" Imydrex butted in

"No I insist!" The Crustainax got out two needles and injected the two. They began feeling dizzy and nausea until they passed out.

****

"What-W-W-what happened??? HOLY MUAKA!!!! MY ARMOUR IT'S, IT'S.....AMAZING!!! Yours too, Ganon!!!"

Ganon was too busy looking at his reflection in his armour to bother replying to Imydrex. One of the Crustainax came up to the Toa.

"Gather, the leader has something to say!"

Chapter 8
Magneon emerged from the dark murky depths of what was once the Fire Kingdom and headed out onto the surface. He surveyed his new realm, the desert light reflecting of his sleek black armour. A wandering tribe of raptor like creatures headed in a northwesterly direction caught his eye.

"Finally!!" He muttered under his breath, "The hunt is on!!!"

He raised his arm and launched his massive death rocket, disintegrating one of the creature upon impact. He creatures turned toward him, filled with rage at the demise of their brother, yet aloof to the stranger standing before him. The alpha male of the pack, in order to preserve the dignity of the pack, charged toward Magneon in an attempt to maim him. That was a mistake it would sure regret.

The beast kept running toward Magneon, who hadn't even flinched. He erected a large blade from his wrist and lodged it into the creature's abdomen and sliced it up, spilling its internal organs. The rest of the pack decided it was time to flee.

"Oh no you don't..." Magneon muttered in a grainy voice

He ripped out the disemboweled creature's intestines as a lasso to snag one of the other creatures and began dragging it towards him. The other beast desperately tried to free their brother but Magneon wasn't pleased. He immediately blasted one of the creatures heads off and began raining bullets down on the others leaving them brutally injured. He approached the near corpses once more. He torn a hole in each of the creature's stomachs and slowly threaded the ends of their digestive tracts out, whilst the creatures being still alive. He then tied the guts to a ballistic rocket and launched the rocket high into the planet's stratosphere, simultaneous ripping out the insides of the beasts with unimaginable pain and gore.

"Ahh...The smell of a gruesome slaughtering. I think I'm gonna like it here!!!"

He walked off through the dust and sand, blood raining down on him, off for more senseless violence.

****

Drip....Drip..Drip...Drip...Drip

Ice. Melting ice to be exact. Melting in the unbearable desert heat. Even underground the heat is to the max. A grey hand emerges from the softened ice. A Matoran hand. The only part of a Matoran, now thawed, in a chamber of ice. The hand, and part of an arm, begins thumping the ice, trying to break itself out of its icy prison. CRACK!!! The ice begins to fracture. Another arm breaks free, except this one yellow; another Matoran trapped in the ice cocoon. It too starts thumping the ice. Finally the two Matoran escape their seal falling to their knees. The yellow being begin climbing the stairs onto the first floor of what was once a bar now shattered beyond recognition. The 3 suns, like flaming sphere of hatred burned down onto the land scorching all in the beings view. The being descended the stairs once more to find its companion.

"Leresh, where are we????"

Chapter 9
"You're going down dirt-bag!!!!!"

ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two wandering Glatorian, Dericks and Brun, of the planet Bara Magna, had crossed paths with a immensely protective Brobam. It seemed the pair had gotten a little too close to the beast's young and it wasn't happy. It was going on a rage fueled rampage and Glatorian were its target. The agile Iconox Gatorian flipped onto its back and the beast began thrashing like a mad Muaka.

"HOLY this things mental!!! Get of yer lazy but and help me out Fire Spitter!!!!"

"Fine then, If you insist!"

The Vulcanus Glatorian launched one of his explosion Thornax into the creature's eye, blinding it on impact. The bucked the Glatorian over its head and he landed face first into the crumbled desert rocks. At the feet of a being, immensely armoured in glistening black armour.

"Oh, my achin'....Who the heck are you???"

"Oh don't worry; you're just about to find out!!!!"

****

Ganon,Imydrex and the other Crustainax gather around the leader of the group. He mounted a, what seemed to be a, lump of gore to raise himself above the others.

"My Bretherin, tonight we must abandon our temporary burrow And head north of here. It has been noted that a group of hunting Rock Steeds are headed toward us. But first me need to inaugurate and inform our newest arrivals."

He held out two of his four arms to Imydrex and Ganon. The two shook his hand, Ganon noticeably worried by the tight grasp of the being before him.

"I am Kinex; alpha male and leader of the last surviving pack of the species Crustainax. I'm sure you want answers to yours and our current dilemma. My friends, we are on the planet Jadax Magna, approximately 1 billion light years away from your home planet."

"WHAT?!!?" Yelled out the two Toa confounded by the information just given

"You have The Master and his partner Magneon to thank for that..."

"Partner???" interrupted Ganon,"No way!!!! We saw The Master get his butt kicked to the point of near death before our very eyes. The Master's in pieces!!!!"

"That may be so but that doesn't excuse the fact that we will be stuck here forever being hunted for the rest of eternity. The Master has ruined our past and our future. We were an intelligent race of creatures of the the water planet Aqualia. We lived our lives learning about our fellow races and living peacefully. Eventually we turned to the stars. We began constructing telescopes to learn about the starts and our galaxy. One fateful day one of our people realised a meteorite headed straight for the planet. News quickly spread around the planet and soon a colossal rocket, created to destroy the hurling piece of rock, was constructed. As the rock neared it was realised, using the telescopes, that this was no meteorite; rather a huge spaceship which would ultimately lead to our demise. Suddenly the ship began blasting the planet, destroying masses of settlements across the planet. In defense we fired our rocket. There was no effect other than the fact that we loosened part of the ship from the rest. A week later all but 30 of the Crustainax were dead. The remaining of us we thrown in stasis and taken to this godforsaken place. Now due to the dangers of this land only the six of us remain."

"That's terrible!"

"The image of the millions slaughtered haunts me to this day..."

"Bu--but how can we understand you??? I mean you do originate from a totally different planet!" Imydrex inquired.

"Whenever any being steps foot on what you call, Tehktra Nui, a small chip which acts as a universal translator is burned onto their ankle unnoticeably, see."

He looked down and there it was engraved in his flesh as a permanent reminder that his fate was sealed. A female Crustainax with a blue shell, who the Toa had previously been saved by, approached us bearing news of distress.

"Kinex, dire trouble approaches, the Rock Steeds....they've found us!"

"You guys," Kinex said referring to Ganon and Imydrex, "Are you used to fighting???"

"You betcha!"

"We get ready then, 'cause here they come!!!!!"

Chapter 10
A cloud of acid green mist hovers above the cracked dehydrated desert earth, slowly wafting in the breeze searching. Searching for a body. A host. Dead or alive. This, in actuality, is the living essence of Makuta Akatax. After being brutally attacked by The Master on Tehktra nui and being thrown in stasis his armour was damaged beyond repair. After finally being released from stasis he leaked out to the state in which he is now.

Threw the dirt and dusty breeze floating in the desert environment the mist weaves and slithers on its journey. Suddenly a wind picks up. The wind current too strong for this essence to fight it is slowly dragged toward its source. The tail breeze of a raging pack of Rock steeds.

****

On the horizon, a huge dust cloud rises from the ever nearing pack of the Rock Steeds. The Crustainax, Ganon and Imydrex emerged from a cavern which too lead to the underground burrow to witness the approaching hell. Kinex was a just a fair ruler of his people. He knew running from death would be pointless and that they would have to stand a fight.

"Fetch the weapons Jynex!" He commanded "We will stand and fight for our lives. Bring some for the Placetoids too. This is going to be one fierce battle, my brethren!"

The Crustainax a Kinex addressed reentered the burrow. Imydrex approached Ganon.

"What the heck is a Rock Steed????"

"I dunno, but judging by Kinex's actions they must be pretty bad. What, don't you think you can handle them???"

"What are you saying?!!??!"

"Nothing, Nothing..."

"No What???!!"

"Well, its just..."

"Just what?????!!!"

"Guys??" Kinex interrupted, "This is not the time for bickering; the pack is nearing, please prepare for your own good!!!"

"Just wait a sec. What then Ganon, what is it??!!!"

"Its just that...well..you are the more amateur fighter out of the two of us and...well I have had to pull you out of trouble more than a handful of times..."

"WHAT???!?!???!?!?? WHAT ABOUT YOU TOO!!!! When you initially attacked our friends here you passed out. I had to watch you're back then."

"PPFT!!! One measly incident!"

Imydrex filled with anger that he had not felt since the time he had been betrayed by his fellow people. He could feel blood pulsating behind his eyes and his chest tight and uncomfortable. He knew unleashing his anger now would be foolish and knew his fury would be best utilized in battle. Kinex arched down, two massive jagged blades in hand.

"Our peoples massacre will stop now....no longer will we be hunted. ARRGH!!!!! WE FIGHT NOW!!!"

He charged forward toward the crowd of beasts, his blades crossed above his head and his people just behind. A bloody battle was soon to be.

Chapter 11
Xakhol, a massive longsword in hand, swung with all his might into the neck of one of the oncoming beasts. The glistening blade of fury found itself wedged into one of the Steed's vertebrae and in its unimaginable pain began sprawling on the floor. Xakhol was a fair slayer and did not enjoy seeing life in pain so put the deranged beast out of its misery.

"One down.........another 50 to go!"

He looked around at the bloody mist of battle surrounding him; making him realize that survival is truly of the fittest. His moment of thought was shattered as he was ploughed down by another oncoming creature. He was the only one fighting the battle though. The last remaining members of his very species and the two Toa we have gotten so familiar with.

Imydrex leaped forward; his two blades in hand, sun's rays glistened on the ridges of the jagged edges, as a trio of the beasts began gallivanting toward him.

"Alright, time for my moment of glory...What the???!!"

He looked up to see the three wrapped by the neck and on the floor dying.

WHA-CRACK!!

The chain binding the beasts, and in turn suffocating them to death, was whipped off by none other than Ganon.

"Well lookie who saved your butt...Me and my amazing nun-chucks!"

"Saved my...GRRRRRRRR!!!"

Imydrex decided to ignore the remark and turned his attention to another beast charging toward Kinex who was already occupied with another. He began sprinting to war him but before he knew it, Ganon was already on the scene and defeating the beast.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR..."

A ominous shadow emerged behind Imydrex. Imydrex flip back and blasted the shadow, which was another rock steed.

"Umm...Why isn't it, like, dying?"

"Cause I already killed it!!"

It was Ganon again.

"Imydrex my foolish friend, every time you just keep proving what a terrible fighter you are!!! Ha Ha!!"

He once again ran off back into battle.

"GRRRRR!!!!!! THAT GUY IS REALLY STARTING TO TICK ME OFF NOW!!!"

ROOOAR!!!!!!

A beast had unexpectedly ran up behind had thrown his several metres.

"Finally some action!!!"

All of a sudden the creatures face started melting, killing it.

"What the heck???"

"You've got searing hot plasma to thank for that. Oh I'm sorry Imy-dork, I'm afraid you'll never learn to fight..."

"THAT IS IT!!!!!! AAARGH!!!!"

Imydrex's anger had reached a point where it was too much. He kicked Ganon full force in the jaw causing him to stumble backwards into a narrow crevasse in the desert earth. As Ganon fell, already overpowered with pain from the blow to his jaw, he banged and collided with the jagged rocks either side of the gorge tearing a huge gash in the side of his armour before falling into a small underground pocket and landing on solid bedrock rendering him presumably deceased.

Chapter 12
The battle between the Crustainax resistance force and the ferocious Rock Steeds raged on. Yexol was pinned down by two of the creatures and she was already too injured to fight back.

"Guys!!! I need back up!! Where's Ganon?"

Imydrex, after attacking Ganon now filled with a sense of self-confidence, skidded in between Yexol and the beasts.

"Don't worry, I'll help!"

ROAAAR!!

One of the creature swung its tail throwing Imydrex several yards away, with great ease.

"Ow, my arm!!! I think its sprained fer Mata Nui's sake!"

The Creatures closed in on Yexol and violently began slaughtering her. Imydrex ran to, once again, assist the endangered Crustainax. He drew his blades and brought them down on the creature's puny arm amputating them. The beast in a mad rampage, ploughed Imydrex down, completely obliterated one of his blades, and then proceeded to begin using the Toa of Iron as a large chew-toy. Luckily for Imydrex and Yexol, Kinex quickly arrived at the scene and narrowly saved the two.

"That was close. Already several of us are injured and we need to retreat. Where's Ganon????"

Imydrex didn't want to tell but he could feel guilt building up within him about the possible murder of Ganon. He broke out in a sweat and began twitching.

"Umm...Umm...I haven't a clue."

****

In the midst of the furious battle, the defenseless essence of Akatax weaved through the conflict witnessing the events of the battle. The green mist, delicately being lighter than air, was easily overpowered by the strength of the wind and was being thrown about much to it's mind's discontent. Akatax, the once mighty Makuta, would not be treated much longer in this matter. Already had he been over shadowed for the good part of his life by The Master. He needed a host. A good host. But first he would need to find a wind break to keep in one place. He immediately, with all the power that a cloud of gas can have, made his way into a deep crack in the desert earth. As the cloud descended into the crevasse a body came into view. Not a dead body, but a body none the less. A body with the perfect opening that a makuta could harness; a gaping hole right in the armour. Akatax knew a mental battle with the body's previous host would be a waste, Akatax being one of the smarter Makuta, so decided that a corrupted influence to twist the host's actions to his own would be better suited. He immediately took the opportunity and began fusing with the being's mind; slowly repairing the body wounds, including the massive gash and slowly, but surely, increasing his control of the body. The armour slowly patched itself up and the being rose again.

''' "Ganon's back baby!!!!!" '''

Chapter 13
The beasts had regrouped to face their only opponent; Kinex, last man standing. Everybody had retreated to the burrow, too badly injured to continue fighting. Kinex was a caring a protective leader and would fight to his death to protect his fellow people. And that's what would ultimately have to do. He slowly backed up. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight these blood-thirsty creatures by himself and was having second thoughts about going it alone. He edged his way further back before stumbling over a lump in the ground. The beasts began closing in. Kinex, thinking quickly dusted the sand off the lump to reveal part of a long pipe stretching across the planet.

"Om my god, this must be one of The Master's pipelines!!!! I gotta think fast! My shell is good enough protection; a leaders gotta do what a leader's gotta do!!"

He sliced the pipe with his massive extra clawed appendages causing a massive explosion followed by a colossal crescendo of fire and flames. Most beings; sentient and primitive, would never have survived such a hellish inferno such as that. Possibly not even a certain Crustainax.

****

Ganon began slowly began climbing up the crevasse thought to have been his grave, under a dark influence, anger flowing through his veins and pulsing through his head. Finally he made it up, after a while of struggling, to be able to raise his head to surface level. And surface level at the current moment was very different than when Ganon had fallen to his almost certain doom. The once rusty orange-yellow sand was now scorched beyond recognition with a few glowing embers and a few sparkles here and there. Among the ashes lay the dismembered remains of the rock steed; defeated by. the hands of the devastation befallen to the land. Ganon Dragged himself up onto the surface and scrambled to his feet. He searched around for any signs of life around him; rather just entrails of rock steed and a blackened, charred ,nearly circular lump.

"Wait a minute???"

Ganon rubbed his thumb across the lump removing the soot to reveal a reddened shell beneath.

"*GROAN*"

"Kinex???"

"You did this!!!!"

Ganon turned around to see the rest of the Crustainax as well as Imydrex who had just emerged from the burrows to see Ganon with their injured leader at their feet. Xakhol Spoke again.

"First you ditch us in battle; then you nearly kill our leader!!!! Imydrex explain your companion!!!"

Imydrex, though partially relieved for him to be alive, knew that now was his moment of revenge. He could now turn on Ganon and show one does not need to be an excellent fighter to survive.

"IT WAS HIM!!!! He had planned to doom your people all a long!!!"

"Gasp!"

"What the heck are you talking about!!!!! That fool who stands among you nearly killed me!!!!"

"Why would I attempt to injure a comrade??"

"Why you little!!!!!...You gotta listen to me!!! I didn't do this, I only just gained consciousness!"

"It's plainly obvious that he is lying!"

Ganon gritted his teeth. His new darker side was kicking in. He wasn't going to let that fool make a mockery of him and let him live to tell the tale.

"I'LL KILL YOU YOU BACK STABBIN' TRAITOR!!!"

He ran and him ,his eyes a blaze, a brought his fists down on Imydrex. In mid air suddenly three huge blades shot out of his knuckles, causing him some pain, and narrowly missed Imydrex who had just managed to flip back.

"Wow!!! What the heck are these????"

Yexol, the one who built in the Toa's armour stepped in.

"When I gave you two the special armour, your skeletons were laced with an alloy called Bisnethium Alloy. These are also what the spikes jutting from your chest and shoulders are made of. When you experience stress or tension your hand spikes are first revealed. After that they are retractable at will. It's made of some of the toughest stuff around."

Ganon retracted them back into his arm.

"Hmm...all the better to kill with!" he chuckled

He once again ran at Imydrex, blades retracted and glistening in the sun, ready to kill when suddenly Xakhol stepped in front causing the blades to strike him instead. The tough shell of Xakhol forced the blades back into Ganon's hands causing him immense pain. Ganon fell to the ground, suffering.

****

After a recovery of Kinex and Ganon, Ganon had made his mind up. He had felt betrayed by Imydrex and felt outcast by the Crustainax. He, with a little push from his dark-side, decided he would leave the Crustainax at sundown.

****

400px

Ganon had finally began his journey of survival. He would now be a lone wolf roaming the deserts. He didn't need help to to fend for himself. He was an Elite Toa. Hired by Krall and enlisted in one of the most prestigious Toa teams; the Toa Protectorate. Only now under a dark influence, he could reveal his true potential, without the restrictions of decency and goodwill. He knew now that nothing would stand in his way. Maybe not even the greatest evil of the land; Magneon.

Chapter 14
Katron, after ages of searching in the desert, was completely exhausted. The heat had fried his Hoverboard's circuitry many hours ago rendering it useless and he had to resort to walking. He collapsed with fatigue, face down in the sand. Jaxok, his mask of course, didn't want its host vulnerable and helpless in the sands of a foreign land so began pumping thousands of volts of electricity into Katron's nervous system. A few wild spasms and involuntary jolts later Katron regained consciousness once again. He once again looked to the horizon. Bleak nothingness as far as the eye could see. He was beginning to wonder whether he had be teleported to another dimension of an empty void. He looked down at he useless bored. Now travel about the empty void would be a lot more difficult. The Jaxok wouldn't settle for something as petty as this. It began glowly wildly until it ripped of Katron's face and latched onto the Hoverboard. Once agin using its morphing powers, it set about into transforming the useless board into a large vehicle.

"Alright!!! This is what I'm talking about!!!!!"

He mounted his vehicle and shot off in the skies.

400px

Before Katron could respond Ganon had jumped off the higher ground the two had been fighting on and was soon out of sight.

****

Ganon continued walking, now thirst had begun kicking in. His throat was running dry and he began feeling very light headed. He fell to his knees, breathing heavily. He looked up at the three suns glaring sown at him. His vision began splitting and soon it appeared there were twelve suns. His head felt it was spiraling as his brain began losing water and extreme dehydration was imminent. He lay flat on his front, weakened and struggling. His fight with Katron had only made him more tired. He reached his hand out desperately trying to pull himself forward; with no luck. Then, out of the blue, a flask dropped in front of him. He didn't believe this at first. Obviously a mirage he thought. But in his desperate state any hope would do. He reached out and much to his dismay the flask was real! He quickly screwed of the top and chugged it all at once.

"Heh, heh, I see I came to the rescue eh?"

Ganon spun round; he had not realised he had been followed.

"A Crustainax!!! What the heck do you possibly want??"

"To help you to help me."

"??????? Up yours!!! I despise your scum-bag species now. You, Kinex, the others; you're all the same!"

"I hate Kinex too."

"Yeah but.....wait! What???!!!"

"I hate Kinex. Are you Placetoids dumber than I think??"

"I understood!!!! But wh..Ahh I don't care about your pathetic ideals!"

He snatched the flask from Ganon's grasp and crushed it in his claws. All the remaining liquid within soaked into the crackled earth below.

"*Growl* You have my attention."

"He is the alpha male in the pack. The dominant male. The prime..."

"Shut up you over grown Ussal, get on with it!!!!"

"I choose to ignore that foul comment. I once was of that position. It was customary of our race to fight for dominance. It prevented petty squabbles and disturbances."

"You are starting to bore me; Get to the point!"

"When our proud and valiant civilization was brought to their knees by The Master and transported here I helped create a refuge for our survivors. We were brought here after a recent wave of hunting so population around our area was scarce. We were pushed to the point of starvation. That's when I brought in a factor, which if not had been enforced we would be extinct; cannibalism!"

"You are one depraved sicko..."

"Let me continue. I could easily crush your weak bones if need be. As I was saying; In the end a few remained; it was eat or be eaten. That's where Kinex comes in."

Snarled his lip. The Crustainax had already destroyed the only thing keeping him listening to his ramblings and his thirst had still not been quenched.

"Oy!!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you want!"

From a satchel on his back he brought out another flask and chucked it at Ganon; striking him in the face.

"Grrr.."

"Kinex didn't feel the same way I did about our new eating habits. So he challenged me in battle for dominance. The others helped and I was soundly beaten, now a beta-male and outcast to the deserts."

"What do you want with me then??"

"I see potential in you. You and i and maybe a few others freelancers could band together; you know overthrown our tyrannical leader!"

Ganon guzzled the water from the flask, wiped his lips with his arm and began walking off in the other direction.

"Not interested."

"Atleast take this."

He threw a small device to Ganon.

"What is it?"

"Its a communicator, if you change your mind. Just remember the name Corruptax."

Ganon turned away once again.

"Oh yeah one more thing."

He threw the satchel to Ganon as well. He opened it and inside was several flasks.

"You may need those."

And the Crustainax began making his way in the other direction.

Chapter 15
In the shattered remains of what was the KMES HQ sat Turaga Kopek. He had sent away the other KMES members with Toa Stones, increasing their chance of survival; and depleting his. He knew he would die soon so just sat on what was once a girder supporting the roof, reminiscing upon his life. He felt vibrations in the earth. He looked up and saw several pieces of rubble shaking beneath him. He cautiously stood up off the girder and began making an exit. Suddenly a large structure rose from beneath the ground, throwing Kopek and several pieces of shrapnel and rubble.

"Wh..wh..wh..what the heck is that?!!!??"

From higher up the structure a huge row of teeth emerged.

"Holy...."

The teeth opened up into a huge mouth and the being relinquished a mighty roar. The being, in a more sitting up position, began rising to a stand which in turn began launching more rocks and remains. Kopek began losing his balance again.

"That's it...I'M OUTTA HERE!!"

He grabbed a nearby Hoverboard and shot off into the desert. The being finally arose, pieces of rubble still crumbling off it. Suddenly something clicked in its mind and the being fell to its knees.

"Finally. The mental barrier...i..its broken!"

A sharp pain pulsed through its head

"Temporarily anyway..groan.."

It looked down upon itself and realised his body was changing

"Urrrrr!!!! I'm becoming more bestial. The Master's gonna pay for this now that my minds back if my name is Makura!!!"



He picked up a large axe from the KMES inventory and wandered off into the desert.

Chapter 16
"Groan!!!"

The Master finally awoke from his slumber thanks to the faithful Keilo. His injuries inflicted upon him by Magneon had worsened ten-fold and we beginning to become infected. The master was so frustrated. His planetary kingdom ripped away from him, just like the flesh and armour also ripped from him. He had never planned for such an occurrence and now his plans were dashed. The Master looked across his chest from one badly damaged arm, then the battered chest, and then the bone stump of which his arm one was. In a bout of rage The Master ripped the bone off its socket causing him a tremendous amount of pain in the process. He fell to his knees, much to the distress of Keilo who deeply cared for his master. Keilo ran up the vent once again and back out into the control room. He began rummaging in a pile of armour and weapons in the corner and pulled out a bio-mechanical arm. With the arm in its jaw, Keilo ran up back into the vent and dropped the arm at The Master's feet. The Master now in tears from his pain looked down at the arm and his loving pet beside him. The Master was created by a certain great being before the original Makuta species evolved into gas clouds so he was created as a bio-mechanical being. The Master picked up the limb and clicked it into his shoulder blade. He immediately gained all motor control of the limb. But there was one problem. The limb was far too short, almost Toa sized. He looked down upon the ravaged state of his armoured body. He kneeled down to Keilo's level.

"Listen boy, can you do me a favour. Your master needs you to return to the pile of junk over there and retrieve as much Toa-sized intact body pieces as possible. Do you think you can do that for me??? Good boy!!!!"

Keilo scurried back into the vent once again

****

The shattered, almost post-apocalyptic, streets of the city of Tehktra Nui lay silent. This stench of rotting corpses and burning petrol was heavy in the air. A Stone Rat emerges from its shelter; the eye of a dead Matoran's skull. The small Rahi scurried down across a pipe, which was once part of the sewage system which haboured the killer Infection. The small creature made its way down into a crack in the earth into a underground bunker where two Matoran survivors were sheltering. The stone rat stealthy made its way between the two matoran to a corpse of a Matoran, possibly weeks or months old. The smell was so strong it was almost visible, much to the discomfort of the sheltering pair.

"I can't stay down here much longer ya here????"

"But we don't know whether its safe or not Jex!"

He reluctantly glanced at the corpse, its lifeless eye sockets glaring back. He cringed at the sight of it and wretched.

"A few more hours tops, Pakera. I can't take much more of this!"

He turned around once again to see the stone rat feasting on the gore within the corpse's head. He barfed up a little in his mouth and then retreated into a corner. Pakera went over to comfort him. Suddenly Pakera broke out in a sweat.

"Is it me or is it getting extremely hot in here????"

She spun around invertedly to see the wall behind her melting into molten sludge.

"Holy Muaka, HIT THE DECK!!!!" She said throwing Jex and herself to the ground. After expelling a fair amount of vomit unto Pakera Jex interjected.

"Whats difference would jumping to the floor make"

"You know, you have a point"

The two backed up against the wall, tensed with fear of whats was about to happen.

"Pakera, if we don't make it out of here alive, I want you to know that I love you"

"Really?"

"Nah!!!!!! You fell for ......... HOLY KARZAHNI!!!!" The wall exploded with flaming shrapnel being propelled in every direction giving Jex quite a shock

Four Toa in glistening, new armour stepped out. A Toa bearing flashy white and red stepped toward the two frightened Matoran.

"I am Toa Pyrex. We are here to help."

Chapter 17
"We are unit 36.X of KMES, with some company!!!" He pointed to a Toa in orange and yellow armour.

Pakera ran up to the Toa.

"Jessaco?? Is that you??"

"Sure is!! Pakera I though you were a goner!!!"

The two embraced each other. In actuality this was Alternate Jessaco, in new Toa armour, paired with other surviving KMES operatives; Pyrex, Jav and Yeq.

"Isn't that sweet, Yeq??"

"Yeah that's great Jav....Could you say it again, I wasn't listening. Sorry I'm too enthralled with my new and improved vision!!!"

Yeq's Toa state had finally allowed him to access his mask's power and he could finally create the organic tissue allowing him to see, in the form of a scope.

"Never mind."

Pyrex approached Jex.

"Do you know where we can find any more survivours???"

"No, sorry sir. Me and Pakera have been down here for the last two days."

"Oh, we have to find as many survivours as possible. And the other member of our unit; Kero. He went missing on our search."

"Hey, if you're a Toa of Ice how come you're red and had fire powers????"

"It's all in the mask little one, all in the mask."

Pyrex turned to the other Toa.

"This bunker seems like a suitable base for any survivours. Jessaco remain here with the matoran. Yeq, Jav and I will continue searching for survivours."

He brought you a flame in his hand and welded the hole in the wall the caused earlier. He and the other Toa about to leave when Jex stopped Pyrex.

"Wait!!!"

"What?"

"Before you leave, could you please, please, please, get rid of that corpse???"

"Fine!!"

Pyrex burnt the body till it was only recognizable as ashes. He and the rest of his unit emerged on the surface of the planet via a hatch on the ceiling of the bunker. The red eye-piece of Yeq's Sensoral System began flashing wildly.

"Wait a seconds guys, I gotta reading here. The system's located Kero!"

"Move out team!!!"

Chapter 18
The Master was done. With help from Keilo he had fully constructed himself a full body. He climbed through the vent which Keilo had been using. From the pile of parts and weapons he picked up a small sythe and a long red staff. He also picked up a battle mask and placed it upon his face. He looked around the huge telescreen in the room, searching for the one being standing in his way of planetary control. Magneon.

"Holy Muaka!!! He's heading through the fire kingdom"

Keilo looked up confused.

"I'm dead meat!!! Unless......."

****

Magneon ripped through the entrance the the room, drooping two helmets to the ground.

"Those foolish, swine were too damn easy!!! Where the heck's my punching bag"

He heat scanned the cell, with no results. He retracted two colossal galting guns from his shoulders and anhialated the cell wall and tore himself in.

"That frickin' piece a crap escaped!!!!!Graaaagh!!!!!!!!!"

His single eye went ablaze and the ion laser built within shredded the ceiling of the room causing it to cave in on itself. In a mighty explosion Magneon emerged from the shattered remains of what was once the planetary control room. Magneon looked up. The huge blast he had created had created such a harrowing chasm that he was looking straight into the fire kingdom. His armour spontaneously shapeshifted and he rocketed up-ways. He wandered through the centre of the palace-esque building. He remmebered upon arriving on Tehktra nui before his clash with The Master, this was the first place he had arrived. And he had brought friends. He raised his machine gun and began obliterating a large, solid protosteel gate. Easy work. The gate, dented collased backward, with a almighty resonance. From the rear of the gate several vicious hound like creatures lunged toward Magneon. Magneon, with one swoosh of one of his blades, struck them to the ground.

"Starved and vicious....just how I like them"

He picked up a fragment of a wing, belonging to The Master. The hounds would have eaten the organic chunk if it wasn't for the sleek black armoured being before them.

"I want you to find this freak. Take as much meat off his bones as you want but bring him back alive. I want to do the honours. Go my Shada-hounds find my prey!!!!! Or you may become it"

****

Nearly a mile away from the fire kingdom, lumbers a ta-matoran by the name of Skrecks. A massive claw, obviously too heavy for the matoran, fused to his hand and flames arising from it and his armour. his back sported wings and his feet were clawed too; obviously experimented on several times over. He was aimlesslely wandering through and came upon some of The Master's pipelines, stretching across the desert.

"*Grunt*"

He just stepped over the several pipes and continued on.

"Huh?"

He turned around. He could have swore he had heard a rattling.

"Hrmmm...."

He continued on.

Clunk..Clunk..Clunk

The matoran was sure he had heard the noise this time and rushed back to the pipe.

"What the heck???"

The pipe was shaking wildly and was denting at several points.

"Oh god!!! Its gonna blow!!!"

Before the matoran could flee the pipe burst, covering him and the surroundings in thick, semi-solid sewage and various bits of metal shrapnel. The matoran wiped his face clean of the ick after expelling quite a load of the gunk from his mouth, in the form of vomit. Behind him a figure of toa-like stature rose from the muck.

"The Master's back!!!!"

The ta-matoran, being one of The Master's matoran of the fire kingdom, looked up at the diminished version of his almighty ruler. He fell on his winged back laughing his flaming head off.

The Master, using his mental energies, telekineticly lifted the matoran into the air and slammed him back to earth and tremendous speed, damaging his left shoulder badly.

"Something funny??"

"*Groan*"

Suddenly some more rattling emerged from the pipe and the zesk, Keilo ran out. The Master kneeled down beside him.

"After what you have done today; with the rebuild and the escape; I have come to the decsion to let you go."

Keilo glanced back as if he did not want to leave.

"Go on now. You've recieved your well deserved freedom"

Keilo did not budge. The Master raised his blade, ablaze with energy

"I SAID GO GODDAMIT!!!"

Keilo sprinted away in fear. The master turned to the matoran, who was still recovering.

"What the heck is wrong with your face"

"*Groan*....If you are who you claim you are....*urg*... then you should know. I am in pain every minute of every day because of you. You have no idea how it feels to be forever...*Argh* ..embelished with hurt. One of your crazy experiments did this to me. I am always ablaze and it is always your fault"

"Boo, hoo" He said sarcastically,"Get up. You're coming with me"

"Why??? Why don't you just kill me??!! Just put me out of my misery!!"

"Nah, suffering is discipline. Anyway I need company. Wandering the deserts alone can drive one to insanity. Now come here before I amplify that suffering of yours"

Reluctantly the matoran scrambled to his feet and followed.

Chapter 19
"What have I done. WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!! I drove him away like some common rahi.*Sob* My close friend and one of the only people who accepted me and I blew it. Am I still worthy of life??? WHY!!!!"

Kinex rested his hand unto the disgrutled Imydrex's shoulder.

"It's ok man. I too lost a friend. But I had to sacrifice our friendship for the security of our people. Hmmmm......and his name didn't do him any justice either"

The Crustainax and Imydrex were searching for new underground caverns to reside within. On Jadax Magna remaining in one location was essentially a death sentence.

"Oy Kiny!!!! I think we've found one!!!" Yelled out Xakhol from up ahead. Kinex and Imydrex ran up to the three others who had been scouting ahead. Before them stood a very jagged looking black rock formation standing several yards tall.

"Looks very menacing but.....it looks like a solid rock wall. How can we shelter in that??" Inquired a baffled Kinex

"It looks like a solid wall....Because it is a solid wall!! But if you look over here...."

Xakhol walked over to the base of the formation where some rough shrubbery was growing and brushed it to the side.

"....Beneath is a large cavern which will fits us all in with room to spare!!.....I think"

"Good work guys. And good timing too; its getting late now"

Later on....

"My greatest concern about the armour upgrade came true, Kinex"

"Hmmm...what happened was most unfortnuate Yexol. The Placetoid was most upset"

"The armour laces their skeleton with the bysyntheium alloy and requires a lot of hormonal dependance for the body to accept the change. Stress and anger caused Ganon's hormonal balance to let the spikes retract from his wrists, like his shoulders. The new projections affect the balance even more allowing him to enrage at a much higher rate"

"Was this a worst-case senario??"

"No. His hole being could be riddled with spikes, spines and other jagged protrusions, and his mental state could be very volatile. He could be happy one moment and slaughtering the guy next to him the next"

"Oh"

A depressed Imydrex walked up to the two.

"I'm going outside. I need some air"

"Don't stray too far. You haven't a clue of the dangers of this world"

"*Sigh*....like it matters to me"

Imydrex emerged onto the planet surface. It was dark. And cold. Very cold. Desert nights are always the coldest. Imydrex began clambering his way up the formation. The rock was jagged and sharp and torn Imydrex's hands raw, but he was too annoyed to notice. The chilling desert air worsened the wounds too. He eventually reached the summit of the rock formation and sat down.

The air up there was crisp and chilled and the view was spectacular. He sighed. In his whole life as a toa he had never ever had a quite place just to reflect. And reflect he did. All of a sudden something caught his eye. He wasn't quite sure what it was in the darkness of the night but, in the distance he could swear he could see two humanoid, toa-like beings walking in the distance.

"Survivours!!!"

He began waving wildly and shouting to try and get their attention. Suddenly behind the two a colossal tube like beast emerged from the sand, tearing through the earth like a solid tornado with swirling dust flying around it, with a a diameter of easily over 50 metres, with a circular mouth atop it lined with razor blade-esque teeth.The creature lunged at the two humanoids causing masses of sand to rise like a dust-storm and causing the earth to tremour. The beings narrowly dodged and the megolith creature tore, once again, into the earth only for it to dissapear into the planet again. The land began thrashing in a cataclysmic fashion. The beast was tunneling underground preparing to attack once again. Suddenly the earth fell still. Imydrex froze with baited breath. Was the behemoth going to strike???



KRA-KOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

The earth exploded with rock fragments and sand as the monstrocity ripped it's segmented, tubular body out of the earth and toward the two humaniods.

"Holy mukau, those guys are in danger!!!!"

Naw, ya don't think???!! his conscience replied

"I gotta get down there!!"

He leaped off the craggy rock face into the soft sand below, his blade at the ready and ran into battle

Chapter 20
"You just messed with the wrong toa, you over-grown earth worm!!!!!"

Imydrex sprinted to the scene, sand flaring behind him as he ran, his blade now in its laser like configuration. He skidded to a hlat a few yards away and relinquished a mighty blast of lethal laser into one of the large circular nodes on its body. The beast faltered and began shrieking, obviously in pain.

"Oh yeah!! Score one for Imydrex!!! I've blinded it!!!"

One of the humanoids approached Imydrex.

"Um...not to rain on your parade but..... I'm pretty sure that's not its eye"

The node began pulsating and undulating in a rather sickly manner. SPLORGE!!! The node burst raining thick, brown viscous liquids all over the three of them. The colossal creature, though in pain, was not even close to defeat. It bellowed a mighty roar and forced itself, once again, deep into the ground. The earth lay still for several minutes. Imydrex regurgitated a large amount of the gunk.

"Well glad thats oveRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!"

The Creature erupted from the earth flinging Imydrex high into the air, along with a huge amount of debris. The creature began tearing the rest of its torso out of the earth and dislocated its massive jaws backward.

"What the heck is it doing???" Yelled out one of the beings

The creature began coughing as the segmented areas of his neck began inflating. Gallons of saliva began dripping from its gaping hole of a mouth. A large pulsing, veiny sack like ball of skin emegered before falling, at tremendous speed ,toward the desert floor. Upon landing the sack began tearing much to the disgust of the two humaniod by-standers. Meanwhile Imydrex began descending from his flight and began plummeting toward the creature once more. Before the creature couls get a grip of him with its circular row of teeth, Imydrex falls down its gullet into in the beast innards. The megolith creature was not satisfied. It relinquished a almight shriek and began whrithing violently causing large tremours. Down below the sack had been shredded and two smaller, though still massive compared to the adult, ravenous worms had emerged. The additional creatures grounded one of the humaniod and began tearing him into shrapnel, whilst the other being began to run for its life. As its ran it turned back to see the colossal mother beast and noticed it was undulating in a awkard manner. It was no longer aggresive but in pain. All of a sudden one of the ridged sections of the creature began faintly glowing red, and slowly but steadily the light began getting stronger. Then suddenly the abdomen of the creature exploded with a blood red laser blasting through. Imydrex backflipped out of the masive gash created in the beast and landed in the sand below. The dismembered remains of the colossal body collapsed, like a massive pillar of stone, crushing its young below in the process.

"And thats why you don't mess with Imydrex!!" he proudly said looking upon the huge gory, bloody mess which was once the huge behemoth

The only surviving humaniod ran up to Imydrex. Imydrex turned to see the female toa standing before him. He was speechless. Suddenly his knees felt as if they had turned to rubber and his head a balloon. He began mumbling randomly and suddenly lost his balance and tumbled into the sand below.

"Um....are you ok?"

"j..hui..okp...hase...lfrgr...rgrguigi....giodh.."

She picked him up and slapped him.

"Urrr...thanks...I needed that"

"Your welcome. You like totally owned that thing man!!!! You're a great fighter!!! The name's Raichelle. I just joined KMES so I'm not a confident fighter just yet"

"Raichelle...Like music to my ears!!! She thinks I'm a great fighter too!! Screw Ganon!!!," Imydrex muttered to himself.

"The name's Imydrex, toa of iron" He said tensing and flexing his right arm.

"Umm...what are you doing?"

"Oh, um, er....I hurt my arm during the fight..yeah"

"Ok..."

"I have a question ; How come you're a toa if you're part of KMES? I thought Kopek and Kopak were the only toa members of the organization"

"Well Kopek said we were ready to fight so gave us toa stones.....but I only just joined so I still suck!!!"

"I'm sure you don't suck"

"You shoulda seen me runnin' during the fight we just had! I'll prove it," she kneeled down and picked up a stone ," Here, throw this at me"

"What?"

"Throw it at me. I'll try and dodge it"

"Ok, If you say so"

He took the stone from her hand and took a few steps back

"Alright, go easy on her" he whispered to himself

He threw the stone with minimal force toward Raichelle. He leant backward to dodge the rock but ended up falling backwards. Upon impact she accidentally activated her freeze ray instantly coating Imydrex in an ice block.

"Whoops"

Chapter 21
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Kero began breathing heavily and broke out in a sweat as his life flashed before his eyes. Ganon rose to his feet.

"Oy, thin, black and ugly!!!! If anyone's gonna brutally slaughter that guy its gonna be me!!!!!"

The Skrall hadn't eaten for days and was ravaged with starvation. An opportunity for meat was too precious to pass off.

"Whose gonna stop me?!"

"Drop the living corpse you pointy headed freak!"

"Who you calling a living..."

Kero was interrupted by the Skrall bringing his blade closer to his jugular vein.

"*Gasps*...Help..."

"I said, Drop him!!!!!!!"

"And I said make m......!!!!"

Before the Skrall could say a word, Ganon had erected a wall of solid Protodermis between the two throwing the Skrall face-first into the sand. The Skrall rose to his feet only to receive a flying kicked to the face and then a knee to the groin. The Skrall fell to his knees in pain and Ganon approached him and pulled him up to face level.

"Nobody, stands in the way of my will!"

"Let's see about that then, eh!!!"

The Skrall skewered Ganon's torso with his tribal blade and in quick succession ripped it out a again with a substantial amount of trailing gore. Ganon, clinging on to life, began stumbling backward, dizzy and losing control. His eyes began going blurry and looked down on the gaping hole ripped in his abdomen. The Skrall began laughing and began walking off. Kero saw the Skrall approaching and lay on the floor, playing dead and retracted his swords into their sheaths.

"Heh Heh heh, there's gonna be such a mess!!" The Skrall said whilst lifting his blade into the air.

Suddenly skin began grafting across Ganon's gap and blood once more began circulating around the area. He had cheated death, once again, thanks to his new influence.

"I'll teach you to mess with my will..." He muttered

The Skrall was about to put his foot down Kero released his blade severing the Skrall's foot ripping the ligament and doing serious muscle damaged. Now one footed the Skrall lost balance falling backward into the claws of Ganon which penetrated its skull and head. Ganon dragged the blades down the Skrall's body, through bones, tissue, flesh and armour.

"Whose making the mess now???"

He picked up the remains of the Skrall's face and crushed with his foot into the sand. He scraped the trailing flesh from his foot onto Kero's back, who was still laying on the ground before him. Ganon picked up the sharp ended Skrall helmet.

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Chapter 22
Poxxu drew to a halt. As anyone with common sense would, he had realised this wasn't the desert of Tehktra nui anymore. In frustration he began kicking himself. The Red Dragons were out there and he had no idea what to do. He sat down in the warm sand; the dry desert air was blustering through the eyeholes of his mask. He raised his arm above his face and sand was getting into his eyes. All of sudden he felt warm air on the back of his neck. With a slow double take he was face to face with a large canine beast.

"Holy mukau dung!!!" He exclaimed and he desperately began scrambling to his feet. Before he knew it the beast had leaped ahead of him and blocked him from the front. Poxxu looked around; more beasts had surrounded him.

"No problem......just handling with death on a plate and a side order of pain....No problem at all"

The creatures, foaming at their razor filled mouths, began slowly closing in. Poxxu closed his hands together, in a praying position, and took a deep breath in. He threw his arms away from his body and with them stone shards from the earth toward the creatures. Upon impact the creatures were in turn thrown back. Poxxu taking advantage of the time erected stone walls around him as a form of protection.

"heh, heh, dumb rahi-brains!!!"

Poxxu knew he would have to use boredom to trump the creatures. Lingering within his stone safehold till the beasts realised it wasn't worth it. How long it would take; he didn't know. He could hear the beasts circling, their teeth gnashing together and he could smell their rage.

"Aslong as those jerks don't have lead skulls, I'm safe in here.......What the???"

Much to his suprise one of the walls had developed a fracture, and the creatures hadn't even made contact.

"What's happeni....Groan"

He fell to his knees within the walls; which had further begun to crack

"I'm losing control of my element! I can't hold up the structure!!"

He looked down upon his hands. Before his very eyes, they began to fade in colour and wrinkle.

"Nooooo" he struggled as the walls before him crumbled

Within seconds the pack of hounds, no longer restrained by the stone boundary, had began feasting upon his bio-mechanical flesh and Poxxu, toa of stone, was no longer.

****

Turaga Lome limped through the desert sands; obviously injured, in search for an oasis of some sort. Frankly he didn't need water. Just a place to wash his gore-drenched hands. Apparently shadow matoran blood is alot more sticky than other types.

He, and the shadow matoran he had to bring to death, had not arrived here on the the less than hospitable lands of Jadax Magna with the help of The Master, oh no. He had been teleported, quite by accident, here by the actions of a mal-fuctioning olmak.

He continued on with his serach before stumbling upon an unexpected object beneath the sand. Lome cursed to himself before getting up. Much to his shock the ruins of a mighty city stood before him.

"Whoa....."

He began making his way toward the ruins

****

Meanwhile deep underground in a bunker Jex lay curled up in the corner. He had given up to exhaustion. The heat of the planet was something the onu-matoran couldn't handle. Also he could really take the constant blabbering of Pakera and toa Jessaco. Jex, drowsily, forced himself to his feet. The stuffy air and the stench of the corpse in the room was a trifle unbearable.

"Guys, I going out to the surface. I need air"

Jex slowly made his way up the tunnel until before him were the shattered remains of the once proud city of Tehktra nui

"Sigh....there went the neighbourhood. Wait a minute..."

In the distance he saw a figure; a matoran or maybe a turaga.

"Turaga!!!! Matoran!!! Whatever, OY!!!"

In the distance the turaga glanced back at him and soon began approaching him

Chapter 23
The next morning, Yeq and Jav informed the others about the source of unimaginable power. Retsam was most intrigued.

"So.......how are we gonna find this, so-called power source then Pyrex??"

"Hmmm....We'll cover more ground if we split up. If we don't find it by tonight we reunite here. Split up team!!"

Retsam grabbed the Ta-Matoran by the wings and dragged him along.

"*Grunt* What so great about that stupid energy then??

"Oho, you'll see naive one, you'll see!!!"

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Ganon hit the bottom of the gorge with a splatter of guts and gore. But this was no obstacle for Ganon's new-found powers and he almost instantaneously healed.

"I have cheated death three times in the past few hours and without even one disfiguring scar. My god, I am invincible!!!! But I do not have the Upgrade Disks or the information about the power source that I seek. No matter, my will will be unbroken. I will simply find their other member. There I will not be outnumbered"

Ganon began clawing his way up the crevass chuckling evily as he did.

****

Pyrex fell to the ground. Hard. Battle scars lay all over his mask and armour and a large gash inflicted upon his left arm. His search for the power source hadn't been going so well. The four legged being responsible advanced toward its prey.

"You were foolish to ever cross my path frail one" the being said with a chilly voice which had a strange mechanical echo which sounded like two voices at once.

Pyrex spat at the floor, blood swirled around in his saliva staining the sand beneath, and then coughed up a tooth or two.

"What the heck do you what from me??!! All I did was pass you by and....."

"SILENCE!!!"

The being stabbed its razor blade-esque tail into his already damaged arm and threw him into the air. Upon his descent the creature blasted him with a mental ray, lauching Pyrex into a rock formation.

Pyrex was not going to lose this easily. He was damaged all right but his determination remained strong. Being part of KMES wasn't a badge to boss and opress other weaker than him. It was a duty. A universal duty of protection, valour and to put a stop to evil whatever the cause. And he wasn't going to let some four-legged freak show to destroy everything he believed in. He sprung to his feet, causing him some considerable pain, activated his mask to the fullest extent of his ability creating a colossal, swirling, blazing inferno of heat and flame to consume the being.

Pyrex dusted himself off and rubbed his hands together.

"That guy's toast.Literally."

All of a sudden a sharp pain struck in the back of his head. He began stumbling in a state of confusion and his vision began blurring. He tried calling for help but his words began slurring and turned to nonsense. He turned back and saw the dissapating flame storm he had conjured up but no sign of the being. Much to his suprise the being came back into view in front of him.

"Huna-Eliki hybrid. It comes in handy when squashing vermin such as yourself. You thought you little torch back there would stop me???!!! I have a un-matched skill of the element of fire you pathetic fool!!"

He raised his axe.

"Now prepare for your demise cretan!!!"

SMASH!!!!

****

The being lay bleeding in the sand and the feet of Pyrex, who was still under the spell of the Eliki.

"Groan...Ugh what happened. All I remember was a strange orange blur"

"OY!!!!"

The being turned to see Ganon standing with his axe in hand.

"A Kakama. It comes in handy when squashing vermin such as yourself!!"

"Relinquish my axe you primitive scum!!! You have soiled it with your unholy grasp!!!"

"Get off ya four legged lazy ass and get it then ya jerk-wad!!!"

"You taunt me with your childish games orange one. You are just making your final demise more excrucuiatingly painful"

"Aaaaaaaaahhshut up!!" Ganon yelled mockingly hurling a ball of searing hot plasma, striking the being in the face.

The burning hot liquid melted partially through his kanohi hybrid and caused a huge amount of anguish to the being who collapsed in pain, and probably a lot of rage too.

"You are going to pay..." He said grimly

Cavdon rose up, his hands ablaze with fire and his half charred face riddled with fury. Be began lauching fireballs at Ganon at an unstoppable rate, whilst laughing manically.

Ganon began a series of seemingly impossibly manuovers involving a series of backflips and twist before landing in front of Cavdon himself.

"That all you got??" He smirked sarcastically

Chapter 24
Raichelle stood before the block of ice encasing Imydrex. She hadn't quite mastered her element and didn't want to accidently do more damage. Anyway the heat would thaw him eventually

"How the heck am I gonna get him out??"

A voice came out from behind her.

"Raichelle!!! Raichelle!!!"

A fellow toa of ice ran up to her; his arm hanging limp, obviously injured. She ran up to him and embraced him. He had been a brotherly figure for her all her life, and to see him injured was most upsetting.

"Takau! What happened???!! Are you hurt??" she put his arm around her to support his arm.

"I am ok sister. I had some trouble with some tribe members. They definately have done a number on this arm. Groan"

"Takau" She said lifting his head slightly

In the corner of his eye he saw the carcass of the other toa; massacred by the creatures.

"Who was that?"

"Oh, that was Fazan. His death was my fault. Instead of staying and fighting I fled"

She sunk her head into his shoulder

"It was my fault"

"It wasn't.....every event is carved in stone. Destiny cannot be changed"

He walked, with the assistance of Raichelle, over to the frozen Imydrex.

"And this is??"

"Imydrex. I owe him my life. But I accidently froze him by mistake. Could you....."

"Don't worry," He said," I'm right on it"

He rested his hand onto the surface of the ice and slowly the glistening crystal began to dissapear into his hand, freeing Imydrex of his icy prison. Imydrex fell to his knees in pain from thermal shock. The contrast from the extreme cold of the ice, and the over-whelming heat of the desert crippled through his body. With the combined efforts of Raichelle and Takau, Imydrex was lifted onto his feet. Takau glanced behind him. Several large beings were gathering.

"What are things??"

Raichelle took a look too.

"I don't know but they're headed straight for us!!!!"

Chapter 25
This chapter was written by Ihu.

Lome finally reached the figure he had seen. The figure was an Onu Matoran, wearing a Kanohi Huna.

"Hello," Lome started. "I am Turaga Lome of Irania Nui. Who are you?"

"Uh, Jex...of Tehktra Nui." Was the response.

"Well then, Jex, do you know where we are?"

Jex sighed. "The ruins of Tehktra Nui. On another planet."

No sooner had Jex said those words, Lome had run past the Matoran to a pile of wreckage. He jumped off that onto a higher outcropping, then another, and then snother. Now he could see reasonably far across the desert. "Mata Nui preserve us..."

For miles around, all Lome could see was the debris of what was once a great realm. Now it was all just scrapmetal. He looked down to see the remains of a tall tower.

"What is it?" Jex was standing beside Lome now.

Lome turned to Jex. "I used to go there once a year for a meeting Turaga Keyme and the KMES...speaking of which..."

The Turaga was cut short by a speeder coming flying towards the two of them.

"DROP!"

Jex did as he was told and jumped off the building, landing on the sand below next to Lome. They looked up to see a red and green figure with a flowing cape and what looked like a warped Kanohi Kaukau. He smiled, drew a sword, and jumped off the building. He landed in front of the two, and ignited his Elemental Blade.

"Greetings, Turaga Lome. I'm afraid your time has come."

"Who the Karzahni are you?" shouted Jex.

He turned. "I am Kreix." And with that, he waved his hand, and Jex felt his organs freeze. In a few seconds, he was solid stone.

"NO!" Lome drew his axe and jumped off the ground, using his Kanohi Miru to take him to Kreix's height. Their weapons clashed, and Kreix laughed.

"You really think you can take a Disciple of Vradok, old man?"

Now Lome smiled. "Yes, I do."

Moving faster than any other Toa or Turaga could, Lome dug his axe into Kreix's shoulder.

"ARGH!" Kreix screamed at the top of his lungs. "HOW...?"

Lome smashed into Kreix's chest, knocking the breath from him. He then proceeded to kick him in the face, bashing his Kanohi mask clean off. Using his elemental powers, he created an army of vines from small plants living under the sand. They wrapped around Kreix from neck to toe, and squeezed. Kreix screamed again, as thorns shot from the vines, digging back his armour and into his body.

The pain broke Kreix's hold, and Jex returned to his normal state. "You Muaka turd!"

The Onu Matoran ran up to Kreix and kicked him in the head, knocking him out breifly, before he came back to consciousness.

"Very, ah, good...Turaga. But...your skills...won't save you...from...Vradok."

Triggering his Kanohi Miru again, Lome lifted Kreix up into the air. "So Ihu was right!"

"Indeed. And there's nothing you can do to stop us. Your precious Toa of Ice is stranded in space, and Tehktra Nui is all but destroyed. What are you going to do know? Do you have a fighting technique for that?"

"No, but I have years of wisdom." Lome sent more vines to destroy Kreix's speeder, and left him wrapped in the others. "See you later, Krits."

"KREIX! IT'S KREIX!"

Lome and Jex didn't even listen to that last comment, as they were already walking deeper into the wreckage of the city.

Chapter 26
Deep within the Fire Kingdom Palace, all lay still. The only disturbance to this state of motionlessness was the wafting dust particles, visible in the few streams of light within the building. The air was heavy, stagnant and the area was scarcely lit. The stain of blood and gore was drenched upon the walls from which corroding chains hung. The silence was broken by the foreboding footsteps of lord Magneon, returning to the lower levels. His angers were intensifying as his death bringing hounds hadn’t returned The Master’s corpse as he had commanded. He made his way through the darkened, sinister halls of the palace, his armour constantly giving off sounds of the intricate workings of machinery. Magneon was headed to the planetary control room. If his minions couldn’t handing a simple search and destroy, he would have to do it himself. Magneon began to slow and hesitantly glanced over his shoulder. Something wasn’t right. He stopped in his tracks. He fully turned around, and his right arm morphed into large Gatling gun which he raised.

“Show yourself”, he spat viciously.

He looked ahead but there was no sign of life. Just cascading dust.

“I could have sworn...” he muttered whilst turning back around. Suddenly, from behind him; the noise of bending metal. He quickly spun around, weapon raised, and his eye illuminated and began scanning the environment.

“......No Signs of a heart beat.....Or body heat......But I know something is here.....”

He was interrupted by the sound, once again of the bending metal but from directly above him. He glared upward, and a metallic being un-latched itself from the support beams and launched itself downward upon him, shrieking electronically as it did. Magneon seized the being as it came down upon him and thrusted it across the hallway with considerable force.

“What the fuggin' hell are you?”

The being picked itself of the ground and raised its head.

“Bohrok? It looks like a tricked out Bohrok!!!”

The being shrieked, in its high pitched electronic whirr, and threw itself towards Magneon maliciously. Caught off guard, Magneon was unprepared for the attack and slammed backwards into the wall behind him.

“Treacherous creature!! You dare, even to attempt, to strike me!! Your downfall is imminent!!”

He opened fire, spraying the area in a fire-storm of bullets, nearly all hitting the being. It faltered slightly, but seemed to draw power from the attack. It once again lunged into Magneon’s body and began extensively tearing up his abdomen. In retaliation a large laser blast, erupted from Magneon’s chest launching the creature down the extremely long hall. Armour began re-forming across the inflicted damage and Magneon’s eyes went ablaze with fury. Now he was mad.

He began sprinting at full throttle down the hall, in own arm brandishing one of his back blades and in the other a newly formed scimitar. The creature too, almost immediately, rose to its feet, and too began running toward Magneon. Magneon’s eye flared blood red, before relinquishing a high intensity laser beam toward the creature, which skilfully flipped over the beam and latched itself to Magneon’s head. “Get the fugg of me you demented Bohrok!!!!” He yelled. His hand clasped onto it like a clamp and tore the creature off. But it just wouldn’t stop. It curled into a spiked ball and launched, while spinning at a phenomenal rate into Magneon’s being, shredding his armour and causing severe pain. Magneon, cringing with agony, still raised his scimitar, striking the creature off, causing it to collide with the floor, forcing it to unfurl. Magneon’s armour was flickering and sparking with damage, and he himself was in tremendous anguish. So much so that he dropped his sword to the ground. He realised though that he could not succumb to defeat. He flung his back blade, followed by the other, in a throwing knife style fashion, clamping the creature to the floor. He advanced on the creature, and though it caused him significant pain to do so, once again picked up the sword.

“Say your prayers, petty fool!!” He raised his sword above his head, and before he could bring it down, the creature had ripped through the back blades and catapulted into Magneon, throwing him backwards, who in turn took out a few walls.

“Groan”

Magneon lay in the rubble, still clasping the sword in hand. This time the creature proceeded to finish his foe. Its hand shape-shifted into a large, spinning circular blade which it slowly brought down upon Magneon. Magneon, realising that this could be his end, dropped his weapons and braced himself. Much to his surprise the Bohrok immediately stopped and one again curled into a dormant ball. Magneon was bewildered. He however would not let this opportunity pass up. He, painfully, rose to his feet and picked up the scimitar. Upon contact with the sword the creature unfurled and struck Magneon again, causing him to collapse and to release his grip on the blade. Once again, the creature stopped in its tracks. Magneon had stumbled upon his adversary’s weakness. He slowly reached for the scimitar, and only just made contact. The being, once again, came in for the attack. Magneon dropped the blade, and the creature stopped and curled up again.

“The being, destroys those in possession of a weapon. I do not have to fight it, but I don’t want the risk of having a deadly creature about. After all, weaponry is my calling. Though if one were to attempt destroy it...hmm.....”

After quick mental calculation, Magneon had reached a conclusion. He rose to his feet and faced the bohrok.

“If one cannot be in possession of a weapon, one must become the weapon!!”

Upon uttering those words, his armour began metamorphosising. He was adapting to the situation. His armour began to thicken and become far more armoured; his tubing and mechanics were covered by layers of bysyntheium alloy, and metal spikes were littered across his body. He reached down for his scimitar and picked it up.

“His ass is mine...”

The creature uncurled and grew ready for the attack. It took 2 steps back and pelted towards, the newly adapted Magneon, at a tremendous speed. Magneon crossed his arms across his chest and the being collided into them. Magneon still received much kick-back, and skidded backwards across the floor. But the creature was impaled on his arms! With one flick of his arms the creature was flung across the room. The being was down, but not out. It once again launched itself at him, its hands now spinning blades, but Magneon counteracted it by, too, throwing himself towards it and grabbing its arms at the elbow so the blades were out of range. By this point he had dropped his weapon, and the bohrok wanted to fold away. He began trying to force its arms into position, but was being held back by the clasp of Magneon

"Don’t you even think about it...ARGH!!" He pulled the arms apart and tore them right off!! He dropped the creature and it began backing away. Now it could not fight back, nor become dormant.

"I’m not done with you creature!!"

Magneon leaped out and body slammed the being, the spikes and almost impenetrable armour, obliterated the creature. Magneon rose again, scraping pieces of shrapnel and debris. He looked down upon his armour. His slick, glossy physique had been replaced with edgier, sharper, more dangerous looking armour.

"I like it"

He made his way to the planetary control room to resume his goal.

Chapter 27
Katron awoke suddenly, his wrists and ankles chained to a wall. His face was still bloodied from his confrontation with Ganon, and he knew somehow that he was behind his situation. He looked the vicinity and he seemed to be imprisoned in a darkened cell. His mask, which had been torn off his very face by Ganon, was still mis-placed. Though he did not possess his kanohi, this did not prevent him from expressing his anger. He began ferciously struggling again the chains and the element of the wind began swirling about his being. After the effort, the chains did little more than rattle. Katron slumped. Through his toa life, though relatively short as it was, his gifts of super-enhanced power had been attributes of the mask. Without it he was nothing. He looked out into the shadow before him.

"Where is it!!!??" He yelled.

Silence followed.

"I said, Where is it???"

Furious anger was present in his voice. A sign that the mask's effects had began to wear off on him. He heard a sound. At first it was quiet but the sound grew louder. Deep chuckling. The sound he heard was the deep, throaty laughter of another being. Katron grew far angrier. He clenched his fists and voraciously began thrashing at the chains. After writhing some more he eventually gave up once again.

"So you think this is funny, huh???!!!"

Suddenly, much to his suprise, three beings emeged from the shadow and began surveying his body. They immediately began mumbling to each other. Katron realised the laugh had not come from these. They once again began observing his armour and began to touch it.

"Can I help you??"

The three simultaneously stared into Katron's eyes, their pupils milky and lifeless.

"Stand down, Rexoids!"

The beings began to back off, still staring at the toa. The voice has come from deep within the shadows and it was apparent that this was the voice that Katron had heard previously. The Rexoids stood apart and a large being stepped out from the shadows, the Jaxok in his clasp. Katron's eye was immediately drawn to his kanohi.

"What are you supposed to be, crome dome??!!" He said, refering to the creature's rounded shell.

The being kneeled down beside Katron.

"You'd best be careful what you say, inferior placetoid" he said, before punching Katron square in the face. Katron, in anguish, turned his head the other way and spat out some blood. The being stood up to his full height and stepped back.

“Now that I’ve got your attention. I have brought you here for reason”.

He held the mask in front of Katron’s face

“I want you to tell me what it is”

“Why the heck, would I tell you??!!”

The being raised his clawed fist.

“Ok, ok. It is a kanohi mask”

“What does it do? You species tends to don these upon your faces” “It grants the wearer specific power”

“Why does your particular one contain such immense power?”

“Because, it, it...hmm...it is the mask of fury. It feeds of my anger.” He said uneasily “, My turn for questions. Who the Fugg are you? ”

“Oh, where have my manners been? I am Corruptax of the species Crustainax. You have been of great interest to me..........especially your 'Kanohi'. Is this one of a kind?”

Katron shrugged.

“Hmm...” He began tilting the mask in his hand and observing it, “It is far too small for my usage. Can you harness is ‘power’?”

“Yeah, I guess”

“Then this encounter was not a complete waste. I’m done here”

He attached the Jaxok unto Katron’s face and began walking away into the shadows.

“I’m sure you can work yourself out of this situation. Come Rexoids”

The beings followed him into the darkness. Katron did nothing for a few minutes. He was confused. Suddenly, from the darkness, a small device skidded across the floor to his feet. Katron, using the power of the mask, obliterated the chains imprisoning him and kneeled down by the device and picked it up. It seemed to be a small communication device. He stood up and looked around. No sign of the Rexoids. No sign of Corruptax.

“Strange.....”

Chapter 28
"We are free my brothers!! Run, run to the light!!"

Onu, po and fe-matoran spilled out of the crack in the rubble and onto the planet surface, whilst Gyvux collasped to the side.

The Tehktranuian Mines had been severly damged when Tehktra nui landed on Jadax Magna. Massive landslides and cave-in struck the mines trapping the matoran within, and damaging the electrical devices. With no means of escape many matoran gave up and accepted their fate. Gyvux, though, would not let his people down. He alone, with only the claws fused to his hands, began to dig. He began to did like no other had done before. He began digging with such a passion for his people that it was unbelieveable. His dedication to his people was so great that the other matoran began joining in. Bit by bit every matoran had joined the combined effort. The hope in the villager's hearts were restored. For days the miners escavated, with their bare hands. They could not use their tools, as they drew their power from the, now not functioning, Energy Fields. The efforts continued for nearly two weeks until Gyvux struck light. For the first time in weeks the surface was visible

"Light. Light!!!! We've done it! We are free!! We are free my brothers!! Run, run to the light!!"

In a stampede matoran rushed out onto the surface, spilling out in their hundreds and Gyvux crawled out last only to collapse with exhaustion. After a few minutes of celebration, two matoran picked Gyvux up and revived him. The rest of the miners gathered around to assess their current situation. Gyvux kneeled down. The strong winds of Jadax Magna had blow sand all over the Miner's settlement so that it has almost never existed. He picked up a handful of sand and let it flow between his fingers. He rose to his feet.

"I can tell you one thing. We are not on our world. The composite of this sand is not found anywhere in Tehktra nui let alone its desert"

A gasp rose from the crowd.

"What are we gonna do??" Yelled out one of the matoran

"Settle brothers, I.."

"Um Gyvux, I really think you should check this out", A matoran interrupted.

Gyvux went up to the matoran who held his hands up to his face. The wrinkles of age lay upon them.

"Mata nui.....whats happened to you Jevik?"

He peered into his kakama's eye-holes and saw the same aged effect around his eyes.

"Hey the same thing is happening to me!!"

"Yeah me too"

"What the heck is wrong with me??!!"

All around the matoran had the signs of ageing riddled upon their faces. Gyvux looked down to the base of his claws, and he too had the same effect.

"This isn't right. Guys lets go, We gotta get help. Lets head to the city; those Ko-matoran big-brains will know what to do"

The group wandered off into the desert, desperate to find answers. But if one of them had happened to have been a de-matoran, or had very good hearing, they may have heard the sound resonating from behind them. A quiet sound but a noise nonetheless. The sound repeating itself over and over agin. Within the mine shaft the matoran had excavated through, came the minute clicking of a Radiation Counter. Its clicking was rapid and continous. It constantly clicked again and again. If one matoran had happened to have stayed back and read it they would have seen...........the readings were off the scale.

Chapter 29
Ganon awoke drowsily in a small cell to hear a shrill high pitched noise. He had no idea what had happened. Last time he had checked he was deep in furious battle with Cavdon before blacking out. Ganon clutched his ears. The noise was becoming painful. He turned to his right. There was a being beside him missing a part of his face, but walking in a dreamlike state, his blade pressing forward. A chunk of his face dangled and Ganon could see his teeth through the missing cheek. The noise was unlike anything he had heard before. It vibrated against his armor, shaking his bones. Ganon rose and shifted to the left of the cell, away from the other being. The noise kept penetrating his skull like a knife through butter. The screech was affecting the antidermis within causing it to wildly fluctuate. Ganon clenched his fists. Akatax, however, was screaming on the inside. Akatax's strong held grip on Ganon's mentality was solely based on a rock-hard concentration. A concentration that was slipping. Ganon, under Akatax's influence, kneeled over and began pressing hard on his head, desperately trying to block out as much of the shrill pitch as possible. Suddenly his blades unsheathed from his wrists, his arms jolting away from his head quickly, and began shouting loudly. His yells soon turned to gargled choking, and Ganon began hacking and coughing. He arched his back and held his fore-arms to the cold, stone floor of the cell and began frothing at the mouth. Bits of green foam splattered on the ground and began to hiss and bubble. Ganon began wildly gasping for breath as breathing had suddenly become a painful struggle. It felt as if something was forcing itself out of his throat, and not with ease. With out the grip Akatax had with Ganon's body and mind present, Ganon's body was forcefully trying to expel the foreign substance. Amidst, the struggle Ganon heard the resonance of metal; as if someone was knocking across the bars of a cell. And it was getting louder. Struggling against his hacking and cacking Ganon crawled to the bars and forced himself up. Although the metallic noise was coming closer the high pitched noise was, also, increasing in intensity. Ganon began hyper-ventilating and began to spasm, his body nearly deprived of air and green foam was all over his face. Ganon could not keep himself up any longer and slipped down the bars to the floor again. A bio-mechanical drone was clanking a baton across the bars of all the cells with a small device in his left hand emitting the screech. It came upon Ganon's cell to see the brutally injured, demented being and Ganon sprawled upon the floor, not breathing, with green sludge splattered across his mask and all over the floor. The biotic trooper placed the baton into a sheath and de-activated the small device. It peered into the cell through the bars and began to observate the body. before the being's single eye the green liquid began to quiver. Now that the horrendous shriek had ceased, Akatax could now re-claim his control of Ganon. Each individual drop of the green sludge began to group together. The drone took out a gun and began shooting at the antidermis; one bullet ricocheting of the stone ground and striking the ' possessed ' being in the chest. It continued to open fire, striking the antidermis, destroying some and actually hurting Akatax. The antidermis reformed into a gaseous form and gushed toward the drone. It continued to fire but to no avail. Akatax filtered through the mechanics of the drones and began to re-form within the drone itself. It began to spasm and glitch momentarily as Akatax took control over it body functions and processes. Upon having full posseion of the robotic corpse Akatax turned for the cell. Using the strength of the robotic body, he tore through the bars with ease and advanced to the body of Ganon. The body of Ganon was far more versatile and easy to manipulate to his advantage but the body of a drone possesses strength and durability no toa of plasma could possess.

"I believe a transformation is in order!!" Exclaimed Akatax

Summoning the dark power of shadows, Akatax engulfed the drone in pure shadow. Out of the vortex of darkness the drone was now enveloped in, a massive shadow hand emerged and grasped Ganon's lifeless corpse. Shadow spread across the embodied hand and shrouded Ganon's body entirely. The entity of Ganon's being became one with the drone and life flooded back into Ganon's body. Out of the vortex of shadows stepped out Ganon. Half toa.....half machine.



Ganon's mind was too ressurected with his body, still slightly overpering Akatax's. However Akatax didn't care, his influence was still present and there was always time to reverse the process. Ganon looked upon his hulking mechanical arm, the sound of electronics present. Having no recollection of what had just happened, he was completely baffled and still recovering from shock.

"When the heck did this happe..."

There was no time to finish his sentence. Several armed drones had gathered at the opening of the cell and were ready to open fire.

Chapter 30
The robotic troopers lined the mouth of the cell heavily armed, all locked onto the toa of plasma before them. Mere minutes before the squad had assembled, a prison wide lock-down had been in progress, with sonic devices to control the rowdy captives. But a disturbance had arisen and needed to be extinguished. This very disturbance happened to be Ganon.

In the short time of Ganon’s ressurection his eyes had began clouded over with a poisonous green and he could barely make out any cognitive thought. He was still recovering from the out-of-body experience he had just experienced and could only just make out the silhouettes of the trooper before him. He could feel unparalleled amounts of energy pulsating through the right side of his body and the power that only a machine could match. Deep within Ganon’s mind a voice began to resonate.

The drones at the opening of the cell crouched into a firing position.

The voice slowly became louder until it became maniacal screams. The bloodcurdling screams were dark and mind-shredding and began tearing through his mind. The voice continued screaming Break out Break out Break out as almost a forceful command. The voice continued tearing through Ganon’s subconscious until his mind was completely eclipsed and his eyes fully clouded over with the acidic green.

In a violent outburst, Ganon lunged forward, taking on a wall of fire, and took out several drones with a swing of his massive mechanical arm. The might of his cyborg arm propelled them far out of the cell and into a corridor. He retracted his claws yelled out with raw anger. He impaled one of the drones through the face; using the same momentum to fling the destroyed drone into the line of fire of the others. The oncoming stream of bullets ricocheted off of the oncoming corpse peppered the drones; destroying them before being struck with the body itself. Ganon flinched. He could hear sirens going off elsewhere

"More are coming..."

He flinched his head from side to side; he was in deep indecision of which way to make his escape.

"Heck with it!"

He arched his back and prepared for battle. A cold smile spread across his face

"I'll take them all on!!"

****

Takau raised his lance and unleashed a storm of ice fragments toward the non-coming creatures. The scarlet and fire-orange shell of the creatures took little damage.

"Hold your back!! Do not retaliate" yelled out one of them.

He began firing up his kanohi.

"What are you doing!!??" Wailed Raichelle "You swore never to use the mask's full power"

"These guys look hostile....its too dangerous to take the risk" he said channeling more and more power to his mask.

"Risk.....," mumbled Imydrex who lay at Raichelle's knees still very groggy. He saw the on-coming creatures approaching and immediately recognized them.

"STOP!!" He yelled out to Takau

"What??" replied Takau, his distraction beginning to lose him control of the surge of power that was about to be released.

Imydrex leaped into Takau's legs and wrestled him to the ground, throwing off the mask power, instead launching the energy beam into the air before dissipating.

"What the heck are you doing man!!"

Imydrex pushed Takau aside and began running toward the creatures. Raichelle raised her weapon. Imydrex continued half way and stopped, his arm thrust out to their full span. He turned toward Raichelle.

"Hold your fire! These are the mighty Crustainax! They mean no harm to us."

Raichelle remained unflinched and remained with her weapon ready.

"Your Placetoid friend is right," said one of the creatures with a blue topped shell,"We come in peace"

Raichelle, more confused than assured, loosened her grip on her weapon.

"How..h,h..how are you talking to me??"

"Do not be afraid"

Takau got up and pushed in front of Raichelle

"You'd better take a few, safe steps back....."

Imydrex came back up to Takau, well into his personal space.

"Don't you get it!? These guys are here to help!!" He said pointing a finger into Takau's face.

Takau grabbed Imydrex's finger in a tight clasp and threw his hand down with force. He pushed Imydrex back.

"Get your finger out of my face!! I don't even know you! How would you know these creatures intentions!!"

Raichelle tried to get past Takau

"But..."

Takau prevented it

"Stay back Raichelle"

Imydrex squinted

"Aren't you one stubborn brakas!!"

"You're gonna get a mouthful of ice if you don't get outta my face, buddy!"

"Takau!" Interrupted Raichelle

"Raichelle, I said stay outta this!" He said pushed her back

"What is your problem?? Why are you controlling her??"

"Mind your business..." He said raising a clenched fist.

"You want me??!!" Imydrex leaned, face forward," Hit me square in the face then!!!"

"Should we intervene?" mumbled the Crustainax between themselves

"You don't know how much I want to...."

"Ha! You wouldn't be able to, coward!"

In a hard and fast action, Takau punched Imydrex full pelt in the jaw. Imydrex fell to the feet of the Crustainax, clutching his jaw in pain.

"Time to finish this!" Said Takau advancing on Imydrex

"Takau!" screamed out Raichelle.

Chapter 31
"Get over here!"

"What is it? Oh you've found him! Thank the Great Spirit! Man, he doesn't look so good"

"Grab his legs. Lets lift him out of this wreckage"

"On it. Urgh. Should we put him down over here?"

"Yeah. Prop his head up to my knee"

"Got it. Man why won't he come 'round?"

"Come on mate, come back to me! Come on! Wake up! Oh mata nui....Please wake up!!"

"Please don't tell me we've lost him"

"Look at his arm, he's been injured. Badly. Wake up! Wake up!"

"W...W..What??"

"Holy muaka! Sigh. Gairon, we though we lost you"

"Lost me?," the Ba-matoran said weakly with a rye smile on his face ,"Heh, heh. Oni, You're not gonna get rid of me that easily..."

****

Amidst the ruins of the once great city of Tehktra Nui lay the wreckage of a Watercraft buried in rubble. A vehicle in a very foreign environment; mio away from the closest drop of water. Infact the craft had made it deep into the centre of the former city, miles away from the nearest sea or the river Nevex would have been.

Prior to the events of the cataclysmic rising of Tehktra Nui, this Watercraft had been part of an assembled fleet that had been transporting surviving matoran via the Nevex, under the orders of Turaga Keyme, to the safety of off shore bunkers. Then the unexpected happened. The violent tremors and earthquakes caused the river-bed of the Nevex shift several meters above the normal level out of the ground. If the devastating tectonic shift was not enough, a tsunami had also formed as a knock-on effect. The quake threw the Vehicles out of the water, into the city. Many matoran died as their craft collided with building or structures, or were dashed against the mass of rock that had erected from the river-bed itself. Most however, were washed to sea and most probably drowned in the endless ocean of Aqua Magna.

One craft had been carrying the matoran; Lenel, Onipex and Gairon from Agrav when the disaster struck. Their craft had landed deep into the city, yet Lenel and Onipex had been thrown clear. They had survived but Gairon was not to be found. After nearly two days of searching they had finally found the original wreckage of their craft and their broken brother.

****

Lenel and Onipex helped Gairon onto his feet

"You're still very weak. I don't think you'll be able to stand by yourself just yet"

"Weak? I'm sure you're mistaken Lenel. Groan. Look"

He took his arms of their shoulders, and with some perseverance, managed to stand unassisted.

"See that?" He said, clutching his damaged arm, "I'm stronger than ever"

"Really?" She asked cynically

Gairon collapsed to his knees.

"No..."

Onipex and Lenel immediately rushed to his aid.

"Thanks guys. Groan. You're the best"

Onipex realised that with Gairon so badly injured, they would never be able to get far.He turned back at quickly inspected the state of the Watercraft and had a brain-wave.

"Lenel, could you support Gairon for a sec"

Lenel adjusted Gairon's posture for the task

"Yeah sure"

Onipex darted to the wreckage. He, with all his might, shifted the damaged vehicle out from under the rubble. The roof was caved in and the casing was severely damaged. It didn't look good for the cause. Onipex turned to the back of the craft and removed the dented panel encasing the engine.

"Amazing!"

The engine was completely intact! Onipex, being an engineer, could easily fix this vehicle if the main components were functioning. He began tearing off most of the damaged panelling off the vehicle. Lenel and Gairon made their way, albeit slowly, to Onipex.

"Oni, what are you doing?"

"Lenel, I think I can get this baby working!"

"But this is a waterfaring vehicle. How will it work on..."

"Yes but!! The craft actually skims across the surface of the water using the massive fans to create lift. If I can increase the intensity of the power the fans create, I can easily make it hover about land in a similar fashion to the MVT"

Lenel looked back at him blankly

"Its simple physics, girl!!"

"Okay........so this thing can go on land??"

"Yeah"

"So why didn't you just say that?"

Onipex rolled his eyes.

"Ga-matoran...", he sighed shaking his head, "I'll never understand you"

Lenel pulled up a part of the vehicle to her. She slowly lay Gairon down beside it, gently propping his head up by it.

"You need to rest"

"Heh, yeah....maybe I do"

Lenel came up to Onipex and began helping him removing the damaged panels.

"Oni, how are we going to use the vehicle with all the panels missing?"

"Oh, we'll need to gather some scrap metal. I'm sure with all this debris around that wont be too hard to find"

"Hey!!! Over here!! We're survivors!!"

Lenel and Onipex quickly turned around to see Gairon was shouting out into the distance. The two looked out and sure enough two matoran, one of Earth and one of Lightning, were present in the distance.

Chapter 32
Gairon was pacing up and down by the fire. Hours had passed and Gairon had recovered well enough to walk with minimal pain. Years of Hoverboarding had payed of with fitness. He turned to the rest of the group; now Lenel, Onipex, Jessaco and Leresh. The two wandering matoran had recently thawed in an underground freezer and wandered by. It was pure luck that the group had met, and it may possibly have been for the best. Gairon looked to the night sky. He could see carrion feeders circling the troop. Not a good sign. Onipex and Leresh were still busy disembowelling the Watercraft, whilst Lenel and Jessaco were huddled by the fire. Desert nights were bitterly cold and Gairon was pacing, not only in thought, but to keep warm too.

Gairon came over and sat down, gently as he was still sore, next to Lenel and Jessaco.

"So what are the plans?"

Lenel answered, "We'll spend the night here. Come dawn, two of us will try and make it to the bay. We'll see if we can find any more Watercraft and maybe some other survivors"

"Plus, there'll probably be some supplies there. I don't think we'll survive too long out here without resources", added Jessaco.

Gairon had previously known Jessaco well. She too was a Hoverboarder and was often seen around Agrav. His friend Katron even had a relationship with her. "Katron" he thought. He hadn't seen Katron for ages. He seemed to disappear for a while. But Gairon's mind was fixated on his current situation. Katron, where ever he was, would just have to wait on salvation......

****

Katron had been wandering aimlessly through tunnels for nearly a day now. He had easily broken out of the holding cell Corruptax had kept him in and had wound up in this network of under-ground caverns. He would of surely passed out by now but his Mask continued surging energy through his body to keep him going. Ahead of him he could see a vague red light. The opening to the tunnel!!! He began sprinting toward the opening as fast as his bio-mechanical legs could carry him until he finally emerged from the tunnel. He found himself on a small bridge crossing an extremely deep gorge. He looked down. The bridge spanned what seemed to a a river of putrid liquid, the stench quite unbearable. The air was filled with reddish smoke, and the ceiling on the cavern emitted a luminous red light. Strange flying creatures were circling the air, as if looking for dying prey. Katron continued across the bridge to what seemed to be a strange city. He hesitantly made his way into the settlement.



****

Visto stood alone in the dark stillness of the desert. He knew that this was not the desert he was used to, yet did it matter. A desert is a desert, wherever in the universe. He breathed in the cold air of night. It chilled the depths of his lungs with a icy freshness. He exhaled. His breath was visible. He looked around. No signs of life for miles to come. He sighed. He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. The sound echoed................ only to be followed by silence. Visto repeated the action, but still silence. He grew weary. This was the call that he would give his pack of Desert Apes, if he wished for their return. The Apes, with their extremely acute sense of hearing, would be able to pick it up from mio away. It was very strange that there was no response. He began running through the sand, whistling loudly in desperation. He had only sent them out temporarily so he could mediate. This was not unusual; Visto did this daily. Visto stopped in his tracks. He could hear the distant wailing of Genx. He began sprinting the opposite direction till he came to a large dune. Upon mounting the dune, he witnessed the horrific sight before him. All his Desert Apes lay dying in the sand; carrion feeders pecking at their eyes. He ran to Genx's side, the only one that seem to be alive, and scared off the creatures. He knelled down by her face and slowly caressed her lovingly as she weeped. She was obviously dying, yet no wound lay upon her. Visto pulled out a small knife and put Genx out of her misery. He knew it was for the best. As the blood trickled out of her neck cavity, Visto noticed something strange. Visto had seen Desert Ape blood many times, after all the males fight for the role of pack leader, and this blood was not normal. This was more viscous and the blood was beginning to crystallize. Visto stuck two fingers in the blood and sniffed it. The stench was foul. Normal Desert Ape blood smelled neutral.

"Something has poisoned them from the inside....." He said before breaking into tears at the loss of his companions.

Chapter 33
Gairon awoke slowly, struggling to get his eyes open. Last night wasn't the best night he had weathered but it had been like bliss compared to the last two. Lenel and the others were around the smouldering ashes of what was the fire, and were discussing their plans. Gairon raised himself slightly, his joints still aching from yesterday.

"Ah Gairon, you're awake. Let me give you a hand"

Lenel grabbed Gairon's hand and slowly lifted him onto his feet.

"Good?"

"Yeah, thanks. So what now?"

"I'm heading of to the bay as I know it best, but I'm not going alone"

The others looked to the ground.

"Come on! Surely one of you big, strong men can help me out!"

"Well I can't", said Gairon ,"I'm still a bit rusty from before"

Onipex turned and returned to the Watercraft.

Lenel put her hands on Leresh's shoulders and pushed him forward.

"You're coming with me!"

"Ohh...." Groaned Leresh as he was dragged along.

Oni turned to the rest.

"Now you two can help me!"

Gairon and Jessaco gave each other a reluctant look. Gairon opened his mouth.

"I won't take no for an answer!!" Oni interrupted, "Go out and find some good quality metal. Do you want to remain here forever?"

The two reluctantly began rummaging through piles of rubble.

****

Jessaco dropped a large piece of metal, which appeared to be part of an MVT, at Onipex's feet. He surveyed it before turning it down.

"The metal is corroded and dented in places.....I don't think I can use it"

"You have got to be kidding me!"

This was about the eighteenth piece of large metal he had turned down from Jessaco alone, let alone Gairon. It seemed Onipex was more of a perfectionist than he had let on. Jessaco was tired and the beating sun wasn't down any favours.

"But Oni I...."

She was disturbed by Gairon shouting out in the distance.

"Guys!! Get over here!! Check this out!!"

Onipex quickly sprung to his feet, and he and Jessaco began running off to where Gairon was. When they found him he was at the base of the ruins of a Tehktranuian high-riser and he was kneeled over by a Mechanical Rahkshi. Jessaco shreiked and clung to Onipex's back. She had had a previous encounter with one of these drones.

"Don't worry, this things dead"

Jessaco reached out a grabbed a pole from the rubble.

"Just making sure", She said uneasily.

She advanced on the fallen creature and was about to smash it up with the pole, before being abruptly stopped by Onipex.

"Don't do that!! That thing seems to be in good condition"

"All the more reason to bang it up!"

"No! I think I could use its components on our Watercraft!"

Jessaco raised the pole again.

"Girl, just drop it!"

He slapped her hand and she dropped the pole.

"Gairon", Instructed Onipex," Lift up the shell of the rahkshi. If the insides are intact we're in the clear!"

"Can do"



And indeed they were. They were in pristine condition. Something hadn't killed killed this Mechanical Rahkshi, something had deactivated it. Onipex, Jessaco and Gairon, all in a joint effort, hauled the fallen Rahkshi back to where their Watercraft was. The spoils of their hunt were very valuable indeed.

Chapter 34
Imydrex held his jaw in pain whilst getting onto one knee. Takau was advancing, fists clenched.

"Get up you cowardly Gafna!"

Kinex, leader of the Crustainax stepped over Imydrex and blocked Takau's path.

"Cease this senseless violence! Were are all on the same side here."

Takau paused. He was reluctant to disobey the creature before him, he didn't look to be the easiest being to beat one on one. Takau released his tension, yet didn't utter a word. He turned back to Raichelle, who looked back at him reassuringly. He wasn't going to ignore all paranoia just yet. Suddenly, much to everyone's surprise, Imydrex slide tackled Takau, through the legs of Kinex, and struck him in the shins. He was thrown backward, and smashed his head to the ground. Raichelle flinched and tried to assist him, before Imydrex punched him square in the face.

"You don't like that, do you!!??"

Takau back-flipped off the ground over Imydrex, an amazing feat that only years of KMES training could have achieved, and on the return flip, kicked Imydrex in the back of the head, catching him completely off-guard. After a quick recover on Imydrex' part, fisticuffs broke out between the two, much to the dismay of Raichelle and the Crustainax. The Crustainax were reluctant to intervene, in case they accidentally caused injury to either of the two, and that would damage trust between the toa and themselves further. Yexol turned to Raichelle, who was still very edgy toward them.

"Placetoid, do something. We should not be infighting when death is around every corner. Please stop your brothers"

Raichelle paused before taking in what she said. Raichelle raised her weapon and instantly froze the two toa in a solid block of ice. She turned to the Crustainax and smiled uneasily.

"Good?" she said unnervingly.

"Very" replied Kinex.

Kinex and Xahkol squatted by each side of the ice block and lifted it up above their shoulders. The tribe were prepared to return to their place of residence. Raichelle didn't move and just looked down to her feet. Yexol approached her again.

"Placetoid, we assure you that we bring no harm. Come with us and we can assure your safety. Infact, we have something that may be able to return you to your home and..."

Raichelle eyes widened.

"Ok" She uttered reluctantly, interrupting Yexol, "Just make sure we get home in one piece"

Yexol smiled.

"We'll try our best little one......... We'll try our best".

****

"Feast your eyes, fellow matoran, at the wonderous spectacle before you! *Sniff* Its beautiful isn't it?" Oni looked at his companions; a look of less than amazement lay on their faces. Before them was the patched up Watercraft, their means of transport. The craft looked as if it was about to fall to pieces any moment. It essentially looked like varoius pieces of sheet metal stuck together with Vuata Maca sap.

Gairon cleared his throat.

"Um Oni..."

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure this thing is gonna run?"

"Of course! Why?"

"Well it looks...um...it looks...urr...its um...it looks"

"Cruddy" blurted out Jessaco.

Onipex chuckled.

"Once you hear this you'll change your tune!"

He clambered into the driver seat and pulled a few levers. The Watercraft made a few deep, clunking sounds. Jessaco and Gairon looked at each other uneasily. Onipex signalled to the two, before flicking the ignition. A shock-wave of dust and sand blew out from underneath the machine and knocked Gairon and Jessaco off their feet. What followed left Gairon and Jessaco in dismay. The Craft blasted out a massive, powerful roar that rivalled the bellow of a thousand Kane-Ra simultaneously, before it majestically rose off the ground to a hovering position.

"The engine works!!" Onipex yelled out eccentrically.

The two looked up, utterly shocked.

"Well what are you two waiting for! Get in!!!"

Chapter 35
Gairon, Onipex and Jessaco cruised in their revamped Watercraft across what seemed to be plains of unending arid wastelands. Gairon leaned out the side to feel the fast-flowing air blowing past them, but was met by billowing clouds of sand and dust, which got into his kanohi openings. He retreated to the shelter of the Watercraft's front wind-shield, to see Onipex, head and arms first into a container, rummaging through.

"Oni, I though you were supposed to be driving"

"Yeah, I told Jessaco to take the wheel. I need to find something"

"What is that crate?"

"Supplies. When Keyme ordered our evacuation, Lenel was ordered to bring supplies with us in the Craft. I don't think you noticed in the commotion of what happened"

"Alright. What are you looking for?"

"What's with all the questions suddenly? I'm looking for my Backpack. I know its in here somewhere..."

"Well, good luck with that"

Gairon turned to Jessaco and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey! What's up?" He said turning to her side.

"Nothing much...standing....driving"

"Your doing a good job there" He said a a friendly manner and the two chuckled. Gairon looked out the other side to see the ruins of Tehktra Nui again. He once again turned to Jessaco and stood beside her.

"If we're going to pick up Leresh and Lenel, how come we've left the ruins of the City"

"Trust me, it will be alot quicker to go smoothly on these empty plains, that trying to navigate through all rubble and debris. We'll detour around the city and re-enter nearer to the bay and pick the guys up"

"Clever"

"Well I am pretty brilliant!" He said sarcastically and the two chuckled again. The two looked at each other for a few seconds in silence.

"Gairon, so how are you holding up?"

"Huh?"

"Lenel said you were injured", She said running her fingers down the large wound in Gairon's arm.

"This? Oh, this is nothing...just a little cut...nothing really," He said looking down upon the gash worriedly and he put his hand over hers.

"Are you sure?" She said looking into his eyes, "It looks bad and.......listen, if you need help just say someth.."

"Its nothing" He said reassuringly, "Don't worry about me"

"Alright" She paused,"But if you do.."

"I understand" he nodded.

"Yes! Got it!!"

Gairon and Jessaco turned to see Onipex tightly clutching his Backpack in his hands. He began avidly searching within, before pulling out a Sonic Emitter.

"Guys," Oni started, "Its time we got serious"

Gairon and Jessaco nodded together.

"Jessaco, kick this baby into high gear! We need to get Lenel and Leresh fast! Gairon, find as many weapons we can use from the container as possible"

"What are going to do?" Asked Gairon

"I gotta make a call!"

Jessaco stepped her foot down on the accelerator and the Craft began propelling the vehicle forward at such a pace. Onipex turned the dial on the emitter to all frequencies and his signal began broadcasting across the planet.

"My name is Onipex, Ba-matoran of Tehktra Nui from the planet Aqua Magna............ I am travelling with two others of the title........We are survivors........... I am broadcasting this message with the only form of comms-link available to me................. If there are any survivors of our kind out there.........toa or matoran .......... please make yourself safe........... Shelter yourselves for the night....... find your solace. .............But if you are willing to continue to survive........Or need help........of any kind.........come tomorrow.........rise from your shelter..........escape from your cage.............quit running from death.............I repeat, come tomorrow morning............to the east bay.........of what was once .......the grand city of Tehktra Nui........and you can find your help........your assistance.......and your company............rise up with your fellow brothers and sisters.......join together with our race.......our grand, powerful race......for unity....duty....and destiny........we can stand strong together as one.............please...."

His voice strained and he ended his message. He looked to his feet for a minute or two, taking in what he had just said. Gairon placed his hand on his left shoulder.

"Oni, that was amazing"

He looked up at Gairon with a forced smile and said nothing. Gairon dropped several sticks of flares at Onipex's feet.

"All of these were in the crate as well as two machetes and a disk launcher which are up against the back of the vehicle"

"Good", Onipex swallowed,"At least we're armed with something. Let's just hope my message got out...........or that there are people out there to respond to it"

Gairon nodded solemnly. Jessaco swerved to right and began slowing down. They had nearly reached their destination.

"I can see Lenel" stated Gairon

"But what is she doing?", exclaimed Onipex

"And where is Leresh??" asked a concerned Jessaco

Chapter 36
The Watercraft pulled up beside Lenel. Blood was dripping from her hands, as were tears from her eyes and she was pacing rapidly, chanting.

"Mata nui, mata nui, mata nui, mata nui..."

Gairon leaped out of the Watercraft and ran to her. As soon as she saw him she fell to her knees, wailing as if in pain, and latched onto his shins.

"Lenel, what has happened?"

"Help him......help him please," She wept in sorrow, "Mata nui help us all......"

"Leresh" Gairon whispered to himself "Where is Leresh??!!"

Amidst the bawling she pointed towards the ruins of a building near to them, which had partially sunken into the sands.

"Help him Gairon.....I tried....so hard," She released her grip on his leg and ran her hands through the sands before raising them to the air, "go to him...Help...please...Mata Nui help him!!"

Gairon’s pupils dilated. He signaled to Jessaco and Onipex. Gairon ran to the ruins and what lay before him struck deep into his soul.

"Mata nui......"

Jessaco ran up to him, deeply concerned.

"What is it Gai...No!" tears welled up in her eyes.

Before them lay a horrifically gruesome sight that they had wished they had never seen. There lay their companion Leresh, drenched in his own blood and other bodily fluids, most of which were still seeping out of him. His eyes seemed badly damaged and some of his limbs were crushed or missing. His body looked badly twisted and he obviously on the verge of death. Jessaco jumped down into the building wreck and kneeled beside her fallen friend. She clasped his single hand lovingly with hers and began wiping some of the gore of his face.

"Please Leresh, don’t do this” She said quietly sobbing, despair in her voice ” Come on, wake up....don’t do this to me”

He rested her head onto Leresh’s chest and cried heavily.

"WHY....."

"Jessaco..."

"Leresh?" She said with hope, yet still drowned in sadness

" Groan yeah.....I don’t...think I have much longer..." He tightened his hand into Jessaco’s palm.

"Why do you have to go...why do you have to leave us" she cried in denial

"I think I already did.......I think I died a little....and came back... Groan .....when I heard your voice......Jessaco"

She buried her head to his chest again.

"WHY!!??" She screamed in distress "I love you!! Mata Nui, why do this??!" She said before bursting into tears again.

"Jessaco..." she said comfortingly

She raised her head.

"Before I die.....I have one last wish..."

"What is it?"

"Save our species.....and....stay alive"

He raised his hand with what strength he had and placed it on her cheek.

"Please.....do it for me.....Don’t let them....you.....die like me"

"It is done" She said uneasily, still sobbing



The two looked deeply into each other’s eyes for the next minute or so before Leresh let out a painful groan. Leresh forced a smile.

"Farewell......."

Slowly Leresh’s lights faded and Jessaco collapsed beside him in tears. The others had gathered by this point. They lowered their heads as a sign of respect for Leresh. Jessaco got to her feet, still in an emotionally fragile state.

"Come here Jessaco" consoled Gairon holding his arms out. Jessaco ran to him and hugged him tightly, still crying.

"Shh..shh..I know its hard Jessaco. I too have recently lost a friend; Aliki"

"But... sob ......He was more than just a friend...."

"I understand

"Why does it hurt so bad??..." She said clutching Gairon tighter

Gairon signalled to the others and looked to Jessaco.

"Come on Jessaco, lets get back to the Watercraft. Its getting late"

"Alright...but first"

She tore herself from Gairon and proceeded to Leresh's body. She slowly removed the mask and wiped away some blood. The two walked back and Jessaco attached the kanohi to the Watercraft.



"Mata nui rest your soul..."

Chapter 37
The sun was setting in the region of Jadax Magna and the Watercraft was finishing its journey to the bay of Tehktra Nui. All four of the surviving matoran hadn't said a word for the last half hour. Jesaaco sat huddled to the rear of the vehicle with Gairon whilst Onipex piloted with Lenel standing alone to the side. An atmosphere of tension surrounded the Craft and the silence was harrowing. Gairon decided he would break the tension.

"Jessaco, how are you holding up?"

"Sight...alright, I guess. I just feel very empty right now"

Gairon nodded and looked down to the floor for a minute or so. He then got to his feet. He looked over to Lenel who seemed to be still suffering from shock.

"Lenel.."

She turned, still very edgy.

"Gairon.."

"What happened back there? You were the last person to see Leresh......before the incident"

Jessaco's eyes widened. She violently grabbed one of the Machetes at the rear of the Watercraft, pushed passed Gairon and lunged it towards Lenel.

"You filthy Hikaki! What the heck happened to LERESH!!" anger burning in her eyes.

"What are you doing?!" Whimpered a worried Lenel, before taking a few steps back.

"Calm down Jessaco!" Yelled out Gairon

"What's going on back there??" Inquired Onipex.

"Why did you let him die!!" She said swinging the blade at Lenel, who narrowly dodged and fell to the ground.

"Don't hurt me"

"Answer me!!!"

Gairon grabbed her and turned her away forceably. She swung at him and he quickly ducked, avoiding near disaster. She came back to her primary target.

"Why do you let it happen!!"

"I, I don't know!!"

"What!!!?!"

"I don't know! I can't think!"

"You did it!!"

"What?!!"

"You did it didn't you!! You killed him!!"

"What?!! NO!!"

"YOU DID IT!!" She turned the hilt of the Machete "Goodbye Lenel!!"

"Enough!" Gairon grabbed her wrist and twisted it causing her to drop it "Cease this in-fighting! Jessaco, Leresh's life ended in blood-shed. Surely you don't want another one's to end like that too!? I'm certain that is not what Leresh would have wanted"

He released his grip on her wrist. Jessaco exhaled heavily. Gairon helped Lenel to her feet. Gairon between the two.

"Lenel, could you please tell us what happened"

She burst into tears in her hands.

"I..I..don't think I can"

"Take your time"

Jessaco gritted her teeth.

"Sigh" Exhaled Lenel," Me and Leresh were making our way to the bay when we were approached by a Toa like being who was accompanied by a Ta-matoran. The two were very strange. Flames were arising from the matoran's ruru and looked rather de-formed and the toa was not wearing a kanohi, rather a face-mask type thing..."

Lenel paused to catch her breath, still sobbing.

"Then what?" rushed an agitated Jessaco.

"Jessaco, patience is a virtue. Carry on Lenel" said Gairon

"I don't.....remember what he said exactly, but he mention his desire to find a great power source. He was very....brash. He....seemed like he was refraining from....killing us. Leresh....became very defensive of me"

"Go on"

"The Ta-matoran began to grow very weary and was insistent that the two leave. He feared for his life, however torturous it may have been. The toa dealt a blow to the matoran's head. We were caught off guard..." Lenel put her head into her hands again.

"By what??!! Off guard by what?"

She swallowed," This..This..This..like, huge, red titan thing, like burst outta the ground. The ground almost exploded, so much so that that building we were near sunk into the ground. The creature....." Her voice wavered "I'm sorry. The creature like opened its gaping mouth and released a power scream that shattered walls of rubble around us. The toa created this like blue mental energy force field thing around our area which helped drown out the frequency, but not by much. The toa lost concentration, and the lot of us were flung into the rubble. A massive clash ensued between the two, whilst me, Leresh and the Ta-matoran were sheltering under rubble, trying to avoid as many energy blasts, much crossfire and pretty much stay out of their way. Half way through the battle, the toa, using some sort of traction beam lifted me out of the rubble using his mind and held me over his head, and was aiming to launch me at the creature itself. Leresh in a quick attempt to save me, jumped up onto a higher outcropping and jumped into the path of the beam, throwing my body out of the way..."

Lenel stopped, and the group lay silent for a few minutes. Lenel breathed heavily.

"....Leresh was flung into the creatures jaws and crushed up, Mata nui, and thrown out into the ruin of the building, ripping of his limbs", Lenel's eyes welled up with tears,"I ran to help him but he was obviously not going to make it. He died to save me. He died a hero. The massive being teleported the toa, matoran and himself away.............Why couldn't it have been me!!? The guilt is killing me!!! Its all my fault"

Lenel collapsed to her knees. For the first time since Leresh's Death, Jessaco's face lit up. She put her hand to Lenel's kanohi mask.

"No.....its not your fault. Leresh chose to sacrifice himself for the greater good, and we will remember him as a hero. I will not let his sacrifice be in vain. I am sorry Lenel for my accusation of you. Leresh's death has hit us hard and I apologise"

"Here we are people" Oni interrupted.

"Alright Guys", said Gairon," Tomorrow is another day. Tonight we must rest"

=Beginning of the End=

Chapter 38
Katron wandered into the dark metropolis. The buildings and scenery seemed very foreign and radiated dark energy. Every so often massive crevasses were present in the ground, through which the putrid, murky waters could be seen below. Katron could have sworn he had seen a tentacle or two, writhing in its depths. Massive creatures of various aliens forms were strolling along. Katron raised his arms in a defensive position, and his Jaxok began to glow. Many of them could easily tear him limb from limb if they felt compelled to do so, and Katron wasn't taking any chances. Oddly, none of them even acknowledged his presence, if not only spared a passing glance. Katron relaxed slightly. What was going on? On a hostile alien world, where survival was key, how could be room for civility and decorum? He raised what was left of his Staff, and yelled out a war cry, flailing his blade in the air. Many passers by gave him stern looks and continued walking. Katron stopped to see their reaction and much to his disbelief there was none. He looked around frantically, desperate for someone to act out against him. This wasn't right! He turned to the first guy he saw and plunged his blade into its side. The being clutched his abdomen and fell to its knees, bleeding. Katron approached the being with caution, looked over its shoulder. The being thrusted forward, throwing its fists back, throwing Katron backwards. It relinquished a painful cry, before tearing the blade out of its side. The creature, now infuriated, and dying, advanced on Katron. The being swung a Katron, narrowly missing him, but clipped him on the back swing, flinging Katron across the ground. The Jaxok activated and released a massive blast of energy towards the being. The being's jaw dislocated, much like a doom vipers, increasing its mouth-span and swallowed the blast whole, before repulsing the same energy back at Katron through its chest. The Jaxok brought up an energy sphere around Katron, deflecting the energy around him, damaging surrounding buildings. Many bystanders of various species stopped and began to watch the public disruption. Out of a large, spherical building emerged a Crustainax, followed by several guards, intent on ending the conflict.

"Hey, hey, hey! What the heck is going on here!!!" He bellowed, anger in his voice.

The guards advanced on the bystanders.

"Move along people! Nothing to see here! Freedom won't come by dis-obedience!"

The creature that Katron had been battling, collapsed only and began winging with pain, dying. The Crustainax got out a small electrical device and shocked the two into submission. The violent shock killed the creature and severely stunned Katron.

"Its you! The placetoid! Heh, heh, heh. So, he is up to the challenge"

Katron fell to his knees and passed out.

"Rexoids!! Bring the placetoid!"

****

After finally de-frosting, Imydrex and Takau were free within the cavern the Crustainax had taken refuge in. Takau initially woke first and was rather concerned about his surroundings. His nerves calmed when Raichelle appeared at his side. She held his hand and smiled at him.

"Takau," She said softly, "We're going home"

"What?"

The two turned to Imydrex who had just gained conscientiousness.

"Are you serious??!"

Kinex appeared near the toa.

"Hopefully so. We have discovered a little something that might just be out ticket of this Wasteland"

Takau interest piqued. He spontaneously dropped all previous suspicions he had had toward the Crustainax.

"Tell me more..."

Kinex Chuckled. "I knew you would be interested. Yexol! Bring me the device!"

Yexol entered their area of the cavern, around her the group of the remaining Crustainax, murmuring to each other in excited tones. She held out a small device, only slightly bigger than her palm, with a small screen with the flashing red light. Imydrex inspected the device.

"What is the significance of this location?"

"Power..........Massive amounts of raw power"

Kinex interrupted,"Enough power to be able to return to Aqualia and to your home planet, if, we can access a suitable vessel"

"Like a craft?," blurted Takau," a, a, a Space craft?"

"Exactly"

"Do we have access to such a vessel?" Inquired Raichelle.

"Like heck we do. We have been planning for this moment ever the since we stepped foot on this wretched hell-hole! We have it underground, elsewhere another region. Yexol, Jynex you will retrieve the vessel. The rest of us and the placetoids are going to retrieve this power source. I suspect we will have to be quick. I'm sure many others have gotten wind of this energy source. Other sapient beings must too, have an intent to journey home"

"When do we leave?" Imydrex said getting to his feet.

"Now"

Chapter 39
Breathing heavily, the toa awoke, barely opening his eyes. He was clamped around his ankles and wrists to what seemed to be some sort of platform. His vision was cloudy and his mind drowsy. All around were constant low level murmurs. Dark silhouettes of beings with masks covering their mouths surrounded him, carrying surgical tools and equipment. He closed his eyes and swallowed dryly. Not a fan of needles. He raised his head slightly and forced his eyes open. The beings were operating on his abdominal region, which was open and fleshy. Repulsed and in pain, the toa began writhing around, shaking the platform. The beings, still blurring in his vision, began calling out fr others to restrain him. He began thrashing the table, knocking over equipment beside him and giving the operators a hard time. He attempted the scream, but his mask-less mouth had been gagged. He began kicking furiously, finally shattering the shackles. With the kick of a kane-ra he launched two of the beings at his feet across the room in more medical equipment. One at a time, after constant wrestling, he broke free of his wrist shackles and threw himself off the platform unto the floor. He quickly got to his feet to see the medical staff racing toward him. With a quick, high pressure jet of air, they were no longer a problem. The toa quickly tried to locate his kanohi, but suddenly felt a massive drain of energy. He looked down at the sheer amount of blood trailing from his body cavity onto the floor. He let out a distressed groan and clutched his abdomen, his surroundings now blurring. He stumbled around, before vaguely making out the shape of his kanohi atop a raised pedestal. In desperate attempt he tries to reach out before collapsing to the ground beside it, blood pressure rapidly decreasing. The toa lapses back into sub-consciousness once more.

****

"Pass me her Kanohi Kero!"

Tossing the damaged kanohi to Yeq, Kero helped support up Jav. She had only just recovered from the near death experience she had after being attacked by a rogue Toa. Using the power of his kanohi Trinek, Yeq was able to completely reform the mask to its former glory. After a quick returnal of the mask, and quick mental preparation from the group, the trio went out to find their leader Pyrex. The team had initially split up to better locate the power source that they seeked, but immediately re-grouped after receiving a distress call from Yeq about a surprise attack from a toa. All returned except for Pyrex and nothing had been heard of him since. Yeq had his bio-signature locked on in his Sensoral System and they were heading to retrieve him. They would not continue their search, until their leader was found.

****

The toa awoke once again, his breathing hyperactive and his heart experiencing palpitations. He raised his hand to eye level. He was shaking unnervingly and his hands were sweating excessively. He could feel the blood pumping through his head and his spatial perception was wavering. He attempted to sit up, but to no avail. The pain in his head was too strong. He clutched the sides of what he was laying upon He seemed to be lying on some sort of cushioned futon.

"Groan...what is this?"

His voice was coarse and crackled. It was not how he had remembered. His vision was rather near-sighted and he could only focus on close objects. He reached out beside him, failing his arm searching for something to cling onto, only finding a side table with a tray of small capsules. On the back swing he thrusted the tray to the ground, throwing the capsules everywhere, and managed to clutch the table's edge. Using all his strength in his arm, his muscles tense and sore, he began pulling himself toward the table. After some painful struggling the toa was able to get at the upper part of his abdomen unto the table. He paused. Finally his breathing and heart rate were falling to normal levels. He loosened his grip on the table.

"What are you doing!!"

He turned his head to see a blurred shape of one of the medical beings he had encountered earlier. He began to struggle and try to lift himself of the futon but the being rolled a small device toward the toa, which stopped beside him. The device began to click continuously at an even increasing rate much to the distress of the toa. In desperation he threw himself back to his initial potion and plugged his ears with his fingers. The device suddenly imploded, releasing a blinding white light and an extremely high pitched noise. The being waved the smoke from the air and approached the toa, now unconscious once again.

Chapter 40
"He's not getting up"

"Oh great! He can withstand some of our strongest anesthetic and your bitter incompetence, but he won't wake up now!"

"Oh my aching head..." The toa woke again drowsily

"Ah, you're awake"

"Who..who are you? What did you do to me" The toa spat bitterly

"What do don't recognize me?" He turned to the other being with him "Didn't you fix his vision?"

"I, I tried but, I.."

The toa raised his hands to his eyes and dug his fingers into his cornea with a squelch. With with a reluctant tug, he tore off a thin, scaly membrane that had been hindering his vision. The bright light of the room flooded into his eyes and he paused as his eyes adjusted.

"You"

"Yes it is I, simple placetoid. You've passed the test."

"Test? What test! I was coming to get you! I want answers and you are going to start spillin’ them now"

He chuckled,"I adore your enthusiasm placetoid"

"This is funny? You find this funny? What is wrong with you!?"

He looked down to his abdomen. Ridged metal plates were jutting out and metallic tubes were leading from it into his chest. Strange liquid coursed within. Upon seeing it his head felt heavy and nausea kicked in.

"What have you done to me" desperation in his wavering voice.

"I would be grateful" the being said sternly "Get this inferior creature his mask"

"What have done you frickin’ over grown land crab!! Un-clamp me from this platform"

The being lunged at the toa and thrusted him into the air, shattering the links that were imprisoning him. As the the toa descended, the being brought all four of his fists down upon him crushing him into the ground.

"Ungrateful protozoa! You ignorance sickens me!"

The Toa painfully emerged from his body imprint, embedded in the floor.

"If you hadn't your capabilities, I would of ended your life then and there. Get up; I want you filled in"

"What's your sick game Corruptax?" He groaned struggling to get to his feet.

Corruptax's assistant handed him the kanohi.

"Katron, when you learn the details of my plans, I feel you won't find my game sickening to any degree. You have my sincere word in that simple placetoid" he said with a dark sense of vigour in his voice before retreating into the next room.

****

Gairon stood tall upon a former flood defense wall at the bay, shrouded in the shadows of night. Before him lay the seemingly endless ruins of the once great city, Tehktra Nui. Behind him was the endless sea of arid sand and dust. The bitterly cold desert night air blew between the gaps in his armor, chilling his very blood. Around was silence, disturbed only by the howling of the wind. The bleak silence reminded him of how hopeless their survival currently seemed.

"Gairon? Is that you?"

At the base of the wall sat the Tehktranuian Watercraft, with Onipex, Lenel and Jessaco attempting to rest.

"Lenel, you're up"

"Gairon, you'll catch a death of a cold up there. Get down here, the wall acts as a wind break"

Gairon carefully clambered down the wall till he reached the base of the structure.

"How long have you been up Gairon?"

"Easily a few hours. I've just been clearing my mind. That cold air does wonders"

"Yeah well, you're not going to get much rest tonight. The sun......or suns, will be up soon"

"Lets hope Oni's message got out"

"I'll wake the others"

****

Katron followed the Crustainax into a vestibule, his lackey not far behind them, and then onto a prodigiously vast, spherical room. The walls were laced with over- complex machinery and cables which all radiated from a central point in the centre of the room. In the centre lay a strange capsule like device which ascended to high above them which merged with the ceiling of the dome shaped room. The tubular contrivance was amalgamated out of so many layers of different devices, equipment and panels of distorted sheet metal, welded together along with a strange control pane which kept flicking through a series of different alien symbols. The whole structure emitted a strange halo of energy that stimulated the group that stood before it with an electrifying brilliance. Corruptax continued past the massive device, with the rest in tow. Katron was completely fixed on the tower, its brilliance intoxicating. The three left the facility through a small doorway into a small office like dwelling.



Chapter 41
In the small room was a table in the centre, with a chair either side. The walls were lined with papers with strange alien inscriptions and what seemed to be strange mechanical diagrams. Wherever a paper wasn't present, a clock-like devices would be, with the strange symbols Katron had seen before, changing every second. Each device seemed to be strangely synchronized with each other. Corruptax pulled one of the chairs away from the table. Katron continued to survey the room, unable to decipher what the diagrams were portraying.

"Aren't you going to have a seat, placetoid?"

Without saying a word, Katron proceed to sit upon the chair, Corruptax doing the same at the opposite side of the table. The other being stood besides Katron's chair attentively. Corruptax leaned forward and placed his elbow on the table, before resting his head is his hand. He stared at Katron silently. Katron, to avoid his stare, returned to looking about the room, trying to make sense of the strange diagrams. The three lay silent, the only audible sound was that of the ticking clocks. He paused for a second, before turning his attention to the table in front of him. On the table, a larger print version of the most prominent diagram on the wall was present along with various annotations and side notes, once again in the strange alien inscription. Various object lay on the table including a variety of instruments, what seemed to be a globe of the planet, and a small diorama of the spherical room with the core, that they had previously been in.

"So, placetoid.." Corruptax broke the silence. Katron looked up in response.

"Do you want anything?"

"Huh?" he replied unnervingly

"Would you like something to drink? We Crustainax are excellent brewers"

"What, um, I..." He stammered

Corruptax clapped his hands, and the assistant quickly responded with a nod of his head.

"Bring us two of our finest drinks immediately! Also give me the placetoid's mask"

The assistant slid the Jaxok, which had still been in his possession, across the table to Corruptax.

"Right away sir" he said before promptly leaving. Katron turned to see which exit the being left through, before turning back to his mask in the hands of Corruptax.

"You've been through alot Placetoid, hmm?"

Katron, frowned slightly with annoyance.

"I sense your distress. I feel your pain"

"How the flipping Karzahni could you possibl.."

"For 150,000 years I have been stuck on this damn planet!!" Corruptax screamed with rage, Katron quickly withdrawing.

He breathed in deeply.

"How the fricking heck could you, foolish plactoid, feel my pain?"

Katron slouched in his chair.

"You're ignorant and arrogant and quite frankly stupid..........but we are kindred spirits. We are both against that demon, The Master!"

"Who.."

"The devil who brought us to this desert prison. Believe me, we are against that son of beast whether you want to or not. I've brought you here as you are now a permanent fixture in my game. You wanted answers. Ask away"

Katron sat up.

"Those rivers I saw under the bridge. How do they exist on this arid planet"

Corruptax chuckled.

"How does The Master expect to collect all species in the universe without water. Have you no knowledge of aquatic species?? When his vessel lands all aquatic species are immediately teleported to these aquatic regions. How that happens is an enigma, but it happens alright"

"Outside. Alien species. Living in harmony. What up with that?!"

"They are under agreement. They would have been handed communicators by me, much like yours, years ago. They would have retuned the call to come here, seeking to play a part in my master game. In return for their services they get to live in my underground city, and abide by my laws. Its not a blissful life, but the surface dweller's life is of a much lower standard"

"How does this, Underground city, exist? Doesn't this Master intervene?"

"The Master surveys his domain through minute, hidden cameras, to retain his image as the all seeing eye"

"So.."

"These do not last forever. He has to replace these devices every so often. Deep underground not much happens, so during the last mending he chose not to re-install these and they have since fallen into disrepair. Hopefully for us this shall be his fatal flaw. I built this city, with a few allies, years ago and those who have joined me have assisted. This city is, however, temporary serving a greater purpose"

Katron looked down to his altered abdominal area. He snarled.

"What did you do to me?" He said, with an underlying anger in his voice.

"Heh, heh, you're angry about that? Well don't. What I did is going to revolutionize the way you use this thing"

He slid the Jaxok across the table, but did not remove his hand from it.

"What are you talking about!!?"

"I've totally laced your skeletal structure with a super conducting metal alloy, known as bysnethium. Its an old Crustainax technique. I've made vital changes and used a diluted dose. Now your armor should not affect you in unexpected ways. Now you should have total control over your mask and if you look to your palms.."

Katron did so, to see two small extendable blades sheathed in the base.

"These blades can extent and are extremely deadly. Whats better is that you can focus your energy blasts through these blades in a precise blast which is actually amplified to cause more damage. You can now tap into your mask-power in a way not even possible before. Also you should also have enhanced endurance. If you were wise you would be thanking me"

Katron looked down upon himself in awe. He reached for his kanohi, but Corruptax prevented him from taking it. Katron leaned back.

"One final question..."

"Go on"

"What is this?" He said dragging the diagram off of the table, trying his best to keep the object on top still on the table

"That is a map of my complex. The underground city centre so to speak"

The assistant returned to the room with a small tray with two drinks.

"Are you sure?" Asked Katron,"This looks like a massive circuit board! Why does it look like a circuit board...with...that...spherical room we were in a second ago as the centre?"

Corruptax took one of the drinks and took a big swig.

"That, Katron, is the right question. Now let us drink"

To be continued

Characters

 * The Master
 * Makura
 * Magneon
 * Toa Imydrex
 * Toa Ganon
 * A Stone Rat
 * A Creature in Stasis
 * Katron
 * Mechanical Rahkshi (deactivated)
 * Zoruxx (mentioned)
 * Jessaco
 * Alternate Jessaco
 * Poxxu
 * Red Dragons (mentioned)
 * Keilo
 * Kopek
 * Jav
 * Yeq
 * Kopak (mentioned)
 * Keyme
 * Xakhol
 * Yexol
 * Several Crustainax
 * Leresh
 * Dericks
 * Brun
 * A Brobam
 * Kinex
 * Several Rock Steeds
 * Akatax
 * Jynex
 * Jex
 * Pakera
 * Pyrex
 * Huge worm like beasts
 * Raichelle
 * Turaga Lome
 * Several Shada-hounds
 * Takau
 * Fazan
 * Kreix
 * A Baterra
 * 3 Rexoids
 * Jevik
 * Gairon
 * Onipex
 * Lenel
 * Visto
 * Genx
 * Various alien beings

Trivia

 * This award-winning story has been brought to you by Ids5621


 * This story is the sequel to Toa Imydrex's Blog, Matoran Adventures, and possibly Tales of Time.


 * In Matoran Adventures, Makura's quote; "Fight...Flight...Jadax", was reffering to: The Master's fight with Magneon; Tehktra nui taking off; and the return to Jadax Magna


 * Axorla Nui was also part of the ship but broke off when it landed on the Endless Ocean Planet


 * Jodol wrote the 1st 3 lines of chapter 15 without permission. Ids5621 though decided to keep it.


 * Turaga Lome, Kreix and the shadow Matoran Vesil were made by Ihu.


 * Chapter 25 was written by Ihu.