Chapter Nine

At once, it was a flurry of attacks, as a hurricane of Kanoka disks fired off at Rahkshi and Matoran alike. Pewku ducked within her shell for safety, and Orkahm and Vhisola quickly took cover behind her. Berix swung forth the fist of the Boxor walker in an attempt to deflect one of the disks only for the mechanical fist to suddenly vanish upon impact, reappearing five feet away.

The Lerahk was easily the most vicious of the Rahkshi, and charged upon two of the Vahki. They moved to attack, but the Poison Rahkshi was too fast, zipping past them and striking its staff into the ground beneath them. In an instant, a field of green venom spread around their mechanical feet, slowly eating away at their armor.

Vorahk moved next, soaring over to strike at the Matoran, only for a torrent of water to deter its path. Kiina rushed forward, holding up her scarab shield and ramming straight into the dazed Rahkshi, knocking it down to the ground. She turned her attention to the Vahki Keerakh, only to watch as the blade of Nuhrii’s tool landed on the machine’s head, splitting it down the middle.

“Gotta be faster than that,” the Matoran jested, before turning back to the battle.

Ackar followed closely behind him, finishing off the Vahki with a clean slice. He stopped in his tracks, before looking over his shoulder and spotting the Lerahk flying towards him.

“Get down!” Ackar shouted, drawing back his flame sword, but before he could attack, a Freeze Kanoka fired off by one of the Vahki struck the Rahkshi, leaving its frozen body to collapse to the ground. As the icy Rahkshi skidded across the floor, landing at Ackar’s feet, the Glatorian wasted no time in bringing his blade down upon his wounded foe, before moving to block a Kanoka disk.

Amidst the chaos, Gresh stepped back from the scene, taking cover behind a pile of wreckage and doing his best to keep track of the battle. But as he watched, something started to confuse him. The Vahki drones that had entered the scene were attacking his friends, but the Rahkshi seemed to be having just as much trouble with them.

As he knelt down behind cover, he spotted Whenua and Vhisola taking cover next to him. “Who’s side are they on, anyway?” he asked.

“The city’s,” Whenua replied, looking out upon the battle. “They’re defending the city the only way they know how.”

“Just like the Kranua,” Vhisola realized.

Then, without warning, the wreckage that granted them cover disintegrated into pieces, leaving them vulnerable to the battlefield. Guurahk spotted the group, and began charging another attack.

“Well,” Gresh said, rising to his feet in front of the Turaga and Matoran. “Break’s over!”

He slammed his blades together, and shot off a whirlwind into the arena. The winds quickly caught up to the Guurahk, lifting it off of its feet, but it slammed its staff downwards and hooked it into the ground, anchoring it down.

Coming out from cover, Whenua slammed the drill end of his staff into the ground, shaking a row of floor panels loose. The tremor disrupted the Rahkshi’s anchor, leaving it helpless as the wind carried it upwards.

“That’s a neat trick!” Gresh remarked, turning towards the Turaga.

Whenua smirked, then moved to the side as Pewku scuttled past, Ehrye mounted atop her shell as they pursued the Rahkshi Panrahk.

“Yah!” shouted the Ko-Matoran, holding onto the Ussal crab’s shell as she bucked and clawed at the nearby Rahkshi. As her claw caught the Fragmenter’s leg, Ehyre swung a metal pipe at the Rahkshi’s neck, and struck. The armor was too strong to be pierced, though, and the Rahkshi’s eyes quickly darted over to him, looking with fury.

“Uh oh,” the Matoran gulped, ducking for cover as the Rahkshi’s staff came swinging at him, but the attack never landed. Instead, the Boxor walker’s arm blocked it, as Berix came in from behind.

“No trial,” the Agori grunted, before pushing the Rahkshi back, “no treasure!”

The Panrahk was pushed back for only a moment, but that was all it took. Tehutti followed up on the attack by snaring the Rahkshi with his Volo Lutu Launcher, before a strike from the Vahki Zadakh sent it falling to its knees.

“Thanks,” Tehutti said in jest to the Vahki, before Berix slammed into its head, deactivating it.

In the center of the battle, Bahrak looked around at the carnage that unfolded. Orkahm had struck the Vahki Nuurakh with a thornax fruit, causing the drone to burst into pieces. Ackar and Kiina were fending off Kurahk, while Panrahk was pinned down by the remaining two Vahki, as Whenua prepared a finishing blow with his Drill Staff.

Bahrak was about to move in to assist, when Guurahk crashed onto the floor beside its feet, lying there motionless. Turahk was the next to fall, collapsing to the ground as Gresh tackled it down, his blades piercing the Rahkshi’s back.

As the Glatorian forced the Fear Rahkshi into the ground, he looked up, and spotted Bahrak leaping at him from above. Thinking quickly, he brought up his blades to defend, only for the Rahkshi to overpower him, slamming its staff between the twin blades.

“No more,” the Rahkshi hissed, forcing its dual pronged staff downwards upon Gresh’s weapons.

Gresh groaned, doing his best to hold off the attack.

Suddenly, he was relieved, as Kiina came crashing into the Rahkshi with her shield. The creature squealed as it collapsed to the side. It scampered to get up, before Ackar brought his sword crashing into its skull.

Gresh leapt forward and fired a blast of air at the creature. The Gravity Rahkshi skidded back a few feet, and moved to pursue its opponent, only to encounter unexpected resistance. Looking down, Barahk noticed his feet were now covered in ice, courtesy of a freeze Kanoka fired by Vhisola. Before he could react, Kiina’s trident smashed into his faceplate, temporarily blinding him.

The Glatorian and Matoran’s attacks seemed to grow more rapid by the second. A Reconstitute at Random Kanoka fired straight at Barahk caused its armor to suddenly constrict around it, nearly crushing the Kraata inside. A plume of flame from Ackar’s sword heated its metallic armor, slowly welding his limbs tight. Berix slammed the Boxor walker’s fist into it, as Tehutti, Ehrye, and the other Matoran wailed on it repeatedly with blunt weapons, denting the Rahkshi’s armor beyond repair. Even the two remaining Vahki joined in on the assault, with Rorzakh and Bordakh raining blasts of energy upon the wounded Rahkshi.

It was too much. After all this time, after so much waiting, it had failed.

No, the Shadow Kraata grumbled, seething within its increasingly cramped cockpit. No…

“NO!!!” it screamed, raising up one fist. At its command, each of its attackers began to float into the air, deprived of the gravity that had once kept them stable on the ground. As its screams dwindled into primitive roars, it dragged its fist down, pressing an unbearable weight upon each and every one of his opponents.

Suddenly, the ground in front of him began to shake, rocking its balance. The metallic panel of the floor shot upwards, sending the Rahkshi flying back as three Nuhvok crawled out from within a tunnel beneath the floor. In unison, the lights in each of their eyes flickered off, and they collapsed to the ground.

The weight having been lifted off of his and his allies’ bodies, Berix crawled out of the Boxor walker’s cockpit, the machine crushed beyond repair by the force of gravity, and spotted the Bohrok. He didn’t know the creatures, but he recognized the parts from the Boxor, and narrowed his brow.

What was more confusing yet was the fact that the remaining Rahkshi had immediately stopped fighting, and now knelt down before the center of the room. Only the Vahki were still active, but even they had slowed their assault to investigate the strange behavior of the Rahkshi and Bohrok.

“No…” Barahk muttered, standing amidst the dormant servants. Slowly, it dawned upon the Shadow Kraata’s mind what was happening, and a sense of dread overwhelmed it. “Not yet…”

In the creeping silence, the sound of restless waters slowly grew louder and louder. The cracks beneath the floor began to glow with a brilliant silver light, and the air began to heat up. Looking down through the cracks, the Glatorian could no longer see the tunnels below them, instead, they were now filled with a shimmering liquid that slowly rose.

“At last,” a voice boomed throughout the Coliseum. “The work of my servants is complete. After so long, what remains of my being has been reunited. I am whole.”

Ackar looked all around, confused. “Who are you?” he demanded, holding up his sword.

“You know me well, warrior of Vulcanus, just as I know you. I watched as you harvested my very life force from within the planet’s bounds, pulling me from my shell, all in service of the Element Lord’s greed.”

The Glatorian’s eyes widened with shock.

“Careful,” Nuhrii warned, placing a hand in front of Ackar. “This is–”

“I know what it is,” Ackar said, his gaze not leaving the shimmering lights beneath him. “I’ve seen it before.”

The Matoran balked. “What? When?”

The liquid’s surface continued bubbling, glowing brighter and brighter by the moment. “The Matoran know not of the Core War, of course. When the Element Lords discovered my power, and ripped the planet apart in hopes of using it. Yes, Matoran, before your world was my shell, I once inhabited the very planet you were created on.”

Nuhrii couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Energized protodermis, this mysterious substance that the Matoran had once mined in Onu-Koro, had originated from the outside world?

“I know I have much to answer for,” Ackar sighed. “But that is my business. As one of the last survivors of the Core War, I will make amends for my crimes by protecting these Matoran.”

“Do you really think that will make up for your sins?”

“No, not fully,” Ackar replied. “But the Matoran are innocent. I will not allow harm to come to them.”

Heat danced above the surface of the energized protodermis in a simmering rage. “None who have been tainted by the Great Beings’ touch are innocent. It all must be wiped clean, if creation is to persist.”

From behind the crowd of Matoran, Turaga Whenua stepped forward, leaning on his drill staff. “I have met you before, guardian. You asked me if I sought to create, or to undo creation.”

“Yes… Toa Metru,” the voice replied. “You have threatened my existence once before. You dare to approach me again?”

“I do,” Whenua replied. “I was young then, and I didn’t know the answer. But I do now. We seek to create, to build a new home for the Matoran and Agori to coexist in harmony. Surely, that is a worthy cause?”

“‘Young’. As if a thousand years is any more than a drop in the sea of eternity.” The energized protodermis rippled, as though the entity was laughing. “Even if your deceit was not so obvious, it would not matter. The sins of this world have been made plain. There is no cause to save it, for there is nothing here worth saving. The only future here is to begin anew.”

Gresh frowned. “Look, whoever you are, you can save the speech. We’ve come too far to give up here.”

The substance stopped advancing for just a moment, even as it splashed through the cracks in the floor. “You were but a child when the Shattering struck, weren’t you? No memories of the war, no allegiance to the Great Beings or their disciples. By the time you were a man, you had no other choice but to be a warrior. You have one now.”

Gresh lowered his guard slightly. “I’ve chosen to be a hero,” he said. “To protect the Matoran.”

“To protect relics,” the voice purred. “To continue groveling before the Great Beings. Serve them, and share their fate. Matoran, Agori, all must die.”

“That’s insane!” Kiina cried. “You’ll end all life on the planet!”

“Life will persist, for I am the living,” the voice retorted. “This city will be my new shell, and now that I have gathered my power, I will wash over this world in a cleansing flood, and begin anew.”

Growling, Barahk rushed forward, slamming its staff into the floor. While its fellow Rahkshi seemed complacent to serve the energized protodermis entity, the gravity user seemed to be less happy with the situation.

“You’re no Makuta!” it exclaimed, chittering in the Rahkshi’s tongue as it clawed at the floor beneath it. “You liar!”

“It was a useful lie, one that kept you loyal to my side,” the voice purred, betraying no emotion. “But if this is what you wish… then join your Makuta.”

Without warning, the hexagonal panel beneath Barahk dislodged from the floor, abruptly dropping him down below. Reaching out, it did its best to activate its power over gravity to save itself, but the waves of the energized protodermis reached up and engulfed it, sealing the Rahkshi’s fate.

Shortly after, the hexagonal floor continued to drop panel by panel, slowly running out of space as the energized protodermis neared the surface. The other Rahkshi and Bohrok dropped down into the substance without a fight, as though they were nothing more than statues. The remaining Vahki moved to retreat, but even they were helpless to combat the force of gravity pulling them downwards.

With their enemies swallowed up by energized protodermis, the Glatorian and their group were backed up to the doorway of the Coliseum. For a moment, there was nothing they could do but watch, as the silvery liquid rose up to the surface.

“What do we do?” Berix asked, scrambling out of the cockpit of his downed machine.

Kiina didn’t say anything. She usually deferred to Ackar as the leader, but she knew that even he had no idea what to do. How could he? This was so much bigger than anyone could have imagined.

“Run,” Ackar muttered under his breath, watching the liquid bubble with ferocity as they rose even higher.

Then, it erupted. The once steadily rising pool of energized protodermis now rushed upwards like a torrent, exploding out everywhere.

“RUN!!!” Vhisola shouted, darting through the door. The Glatorian led the way, as the Matoran followed close behind, retreating through the main gate. Whenua and Berix were the last to exit the arena, slamming the massive doors behind them just before the wave of energized protodermis came rushing through.