Your success in retrieving Knuckles has brought your three colorful allies back together, thus marking it a resounding success. Still, it's highly unlikely Eggman is going to overlook the destruction of his robots at that base or Knuckles going missing... But strangely, it seems as though life goes on as usual in Chicago.
The patrolling robots have had their numbers cut; a sign that you're doing something, at least. Unfortunately, the humans of this world still don't react to your presence at all, and there's no stopping the chroma slowly overtaking the city. More buildings and wildlife have been affected this week, even though Eggman hasn't set foot here. It's not exactly the most encouraging thing even if this weekend was a success.
THE CITY
Now that you're familiar with Chicago and how to find your way back to the base, you're free to explore as you see fit. You want to venture out into the suburbs? You want to take a day trip to wander even further out? Sure thing! Just be sure to let Tails know where you're going so he doesn't have a heart attack if someone goes missing.
While you're out exploring, you'll likely run across Knuckles or Sonic - both of whom will immediately beeline into the nearest robots to smash them with extreme prejudice. Regardless, they'll gladly help you if you need a hand with anything, or will otherwise carry out their tasks for Tails.
Unfortunately, the rest of the city is as lifeless as it was last week. The humans will scarcely pay attention to you, wildlife will go about lifelessly, and Eggman's unique white chrome slowly overtakes more of the city. In fact, some buildings seem to have been entirely renovated from last week - you'll find more and more "Eggman" versions of stores, attractions, and landmarks.
NIGHTMARES
The biggest difference this week has nothing to do with the world around you at large, however. Instead, you'll find your nights are far more difficult - for absolutely no reason that anyone can pinpoint. If you're lucky, you'll have unsettling dreams that leave you feeling a little worried when you wake, but otherwise fairly well rested.
If you're unlucky, you'll have horrific nightmares.
You may dream about an unwinnable battle - is it against hordes of robots? is it against your enemies back home? - where you simply don't have any choice but to fight, even though you know you can't win. The odds are stacked too high against you, no matter what you do. Will you give in? Will you fight?
You may dream about your fears - the things that threaten to seize you in a vicegrip and never let go. Are you scared of failure? Then you will experience your greatest failures in detail. Even the simplest, most mundane fears will be wildly twisted out of control - and you're powerless to wake yourself up, trapped within the dreams until the night is over and you finally, finally wake up.
You may dream about your past - whatever horrible incidents that haunt you or frighten you to think about will return in full force. These are never perfect recreations of the past, instead twisted facsimiles that only make those thoughts worse. Reliving it is one thing, but having the experience changed on you may be even worse.
Regardless of your dreams, you may find that you're not alone. Others here can be pulled into these dreams - trapped with you until either the dream ends and you wake up... or you die in the dream. Those seem to be the only ways out, no matter what you do. Still, having a buddy with you to help fight might help, right?
When you do wake up, you'll see blood red and you'll feel tired no matter how long you slept. Perhaps a nap is in order - but these dreams are just as likely to infect your naps as well.
SHARDS
You should feel fairly comfortable with using your shard power by now. You may also find that the more you use it, the more things you're able to do with it. Starting this week, your shards' powers are more pronounced, allowing you to do more with them than you could before.
As you fight with your allies - particularly those you have a close bond with, positive or negative - you may feel the tug of something in the back of your head; it tells you that you can do more. Together, you can become more powerful. You can use your shards together. Doing so will grant you a new power, or strengthen the one you already have. The more you trust one another, the easier this power will be to use.
It might be good to experiment with these new powers; after all, you never know when you may need them.
TAILS' TASKS
As mentioned to some of you, the rings that Sonic and friends use to hop between worlds have been dwindling in number, given how many were used to visit all of you and bring you in to begin with. Your job - should you choose to accept it - is to track down more rings. Tails will grant you with a tracking device that will allow you to find the exact locations of these rings. All you have to do is figure out how to get them.
Rings, as it turns out, are not quite as easy to collect as one would expect. They can appear anywhere throughout the city or the surrounding areas, but they always appear in some sort of frustrating place. Perhaps one has manifested at the top of a tree, or on top of the bean. Maybe it's hiding behind rows and rows of items in the W*lmart. Maybe you'll have to break into an employees' only room or a restricted area for one. Regardless, no ring is going to be simple to collect, and it's up to you to figure out how to get it. Every single ring counts, after all.
ENEMIES
This week's enemies are the same as last week's, though lesser in number. Like last week, you shouldn't let them escape, but you're growing stronger: they should be easier to beat than last week.
Badnik Surveillance Units are primarily made for reconnaissance. They can be found flying overhead, observing the people go about their lives and following scheduled flight paths and patterns to ensure every inch of the city is being observed. Well, mostly. You can find some back alleys and hidden spots here and there, and these Badniks usually won't go into buildings or out into the woods. They will immediately try to flee upon spotting you. They're easy to take down, though a bit more durable than one would expect, given Eggman's designs. If cornered, they are capable of shooting a simple laser beam that will hurt and possibly leave a burn.
Badnik Drones are the most common combat robot you will find. Small chrome white orbs with red eyes, they are capable of scanning and detecting abnormalities. They are not quite as common as the Badnik Surveillance Units, but you'll still spot several of them floating through the city at any given point in time. Unlike the Badnik Surveillance Units, these come ready for combat. They can fire lasers as well as shoot small homing missiles. The homing missiles thankfully aren't very fast and can be outrun or otherwise blocked, but they pack a punch if they do hit! These robots will stand their ground and fight if they spot you, but they will call for backup - if you aren't fast enough, you'll find yourself facing many of them!
The Badnik Transformer Model B33, more affectionately called Buzz Bombers by Tails and friends, is... well, it looks like a bee. A hornet, rather, as that stinger is actually a precision laser that moves fast. These robots typically look like Badnik Drones, but are capable of shifting and uncoiling themselves to become the B33 units. They are fast, they hit hard, and they are relentless, pursuing you nonstop until they've been destroyed. They will not call for backup, which is possibly the only saving grace about fighting them. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell if a Badnik is a Drone or a B33 until you're actually in combat - and by then it may be(e) too late.
Badnik Tanks are mini... well, tanks. They stand about the size of a large dog and roll around on treads through the city. They're much rarer than the other robots, but it seems some have been sent to Chicago after the destruction of the base. These tanks are capable of shooting a large laser that deals significant damage to anyone it hits, and they're quite durable. When severely damaged, they start sparking - they'll explode when hit, and you probably don't want to be in melee range!
[Any movement through the growing sea of vines drags like quicksand, the heat sweltering. Every struggle pours out more and more of himself, as though he's forgotten how to pace himself - or has never HAD to pace himself. But Fukuda is able to slap his hand against the thickest portion of the vine, and a hole immediately erupts to consume it. The monster at the center of the room screeches as Vakama falls straight to the floor.
Good news: He is free! Bad news: He is not free for very long because there are a bajillion trillion vine babies. But at least as Matoran Vakama falls down, it is Toa Vakama that pushes up off the floor like he's coming up for air, though he's struggling with his growing weakness just as much.]
We're a team, Fukuda! If I can get you out of a mess, I'm going to try--!
[It's getting hard to breathe, between the heat and the pulling. Suffocating, suffocating.
--Vakama, are you sure about this--]
I... I have an idea.
[You're exhausted. You're beyond exhausted. An echo of Vakama's voice rings like a memory. Pushing. Pushing.
"Keep going! Together, at its heart! We will win!"
Wrestling the backwards pull, he shoves a disk into his launcher.]
Do what you did at the containment block! Right underneath you!
[You don't have much more to give. But you're running out of time.]
[He wants to protest, say he's not worth saving, but then he's been given a task. He is a little worried that it's just going to save him and not Vakama, but... Well, he doesn't fully understand what this tentacle thing is, while Vakama does so.... he does as he's told. What the fuck is he going to fall into. I hope it's lava.]
[The floor dips out beneath Fukuda as a hole swallows up both him and hundreds of vines down into a formless abyss. The vines, quickly ripping away from their source, start to grow thin.
A split second later, Vakama slams the trigger of his disc launcher into his own leg - a teleport disk, low coded, that ricochets him just a short ways away from Fukuda. Now freefalling and back into his Matoran self, he struggles to right himself at the change of orientation, an attempt to try and speak in Fukuda's direction.
But there is no time to catch their breath.
Their bodies will both ricochet off repeated hard surfaces of metal, to a grand flooring split into hexagonal shapes; shooting up in columns, tossing them about like dolls, slamming them into high stone walls under the jeering boos of a crowd.
--The heart of Metru Nui, do you have it safe?--
You're too exhausted to do anything but withstand it. Your powers spark but no longer answer. Ghost-like forms of your fellow shard-carrying teammates pick themselves up off the floor, beaten and barely on their feet.
Someone high above you laughs.
"Let us praise these jesters. Perhaps they sought to entertain us during this difficult time.
Or, are they imposters? Responsible for our true Toa's demise?"
The sounds of the unseen crowd roar in fury.
All the effort to be made a fool.
Half your teammates go flying backward to vanish into an unseen space beyond, pulled by the wind itself. The rest scramble for one another, for their weapons, for an escape, as an enormous swarm of robots marches in advance on them.
For people saw true colors, not your empty attempts.
You can do nothing but run. Run. Run, hide, search through muddied dark spaces with your bare hands. You're exhausted. You're all so exhausted.
Empty attempts. Misguided efforts.
The jeering echos of the crowd slowly die to eerie silence. The clicking hiss of a hatch unlocks in the outstretched darkness. An empty sphere - the same sphere from Vakama's foundry - mocking, as lightning starts to crack overhead.
--Tell me, Vakama. The heart of Metru Nui, do you have it safe?--
Vakama flinches at the gentleness of the question, in amidst the more prominent, jeering mockery, trying to push himself back to his feet despite how his body aches, but too tired to go any further than his hands and knees.]
...It... just got out of hand. Even with a plan, we...
I...
[He clenches his fists against the ground, allowing himself a moment to be bitter.]
This wasn't what I asked for. They're all trying their hardest. All of you.
[It's a good thing this is a dream, because for Fukuda to have gone through a bunch of colisions that hurt a cool half-robot guy, Fukuda as a flesh man should certainly be dead. As the dream logic stands, he's just very badly hurt! One if his hands is bent in a way it should not be. But whatever don't worry it's fine. He groans a little, remaining on the floor where he landed.]
Vakama you've really... got a lot going on. Between all this and the way you went out of your way to save me when you really shouldn't have... you're definitely the main character in your story.
[He gingerly looks up, spotting the injury and wincing as he tries to crawl over and examine it.
Once more his form flickers back to that of his Toa self, hand outstretched.
--We focus too much on how our powers can harm, brothers. Please, let us not forget what capabilities it has to heal--
It's not much on his own, and hardly anything to help repair the actual damage. But the pain will lessen from the fracture for the time being.]
Fukuda... [A quiet laugh, humorless and tired.] Please don't joke in such a way. I'm... just myself. I never asked for this. I never wanted to be a hero.
I just want to do what my heart knows is right.
[It seems like an empty statement after it all, echo eaten into the void, where the stars of the sky seem to black out in response, two glorious suns eclipsing as though the universe has shut its eyes to their efforts.]
And yet...
[You failed.
You fled.
The darkness evaporates back into the sound of a violent sea crashes in their ears, surrounded by darkened rock pitted by centuries of waves. A body, golden and feeble and frail, ricochets past them in the dark with a trail of dark energy, immediately drawing Vakama's attention with a choke of distress.
To the ends of the silver sea, leaving your people behind. Suffering for sake of your
COWARDICE.
Fukuda will see an enormous claw of shadow reaching out beyond the sea like a giant swatting a fly, intent on smashing them both against the sea wall.]
[Vakama thinks he's joking. Foolish. This is just how he contextualizes things because he spends %1 of his time going outside and 60% of his time consuming media]
Saying things like that only proves my point further, though! You didn't want to be a hero but you took on the role anyway...
[Very cool. Very hero... Fukuda could never be like that as much as he likes the idea. But before he can say more, all this new shit is happening. Like man he is just a guy what is he supposed to do about that? All he can think to do is to grab Vakama and try to put himself between the toa and the wall to lessen the impact. If he gets killed, who cares? But someone like Vakama needs to survive to take down the bad guys.]
[In his fearful stupor, Fukuda grabs Vakama to jump in front of him, and Vakama's eyes go pinpoint with an immediate, guttural fear.
Not again.
Not again.]
Fukuda, NO--
[Murderer.
His breath catches.
And the blow hits them both hard.
Deep, thundering arcs of foreign energy immediately crack through every part of the body on contact. You cannot struggle, and can barely watch, as you're slammed headfirst into solid rock.
Fukuda is now alone.
The rock starts to dissolve into itself, a dizzied run of spiraling tunnels.
What reaches for atonement have benefited?
Would you twist them in your hands with delay?
Would you twist your heart once more?
Your confines feel claustrophobic and foreign from all sides, smelling of earth and ocean, horrifically dark. And while the comments have been mocking, now they grow genuinely angry.
--who died and made you Mata Nui anyway--?
--you're not the only one trying--
--maybe if this wasn't coming from a leader who doesn't know when to quit--
--we can't keep going like this, Vakama!!--
Arrogance.
Recklessness.
Foolish, childish decisions.
The poisonous fog that had laid out in that cityscape returns, thick and suffocating, before Fukuda drops straight into the depths of an angry, stormy sea, the battered parts of a craft pushed too far sinking slowly into the rocking depths beyond them.
And where did that lead you?
Guilt disguised as bravery, your chest raised with eyes blinded.
Claiming atonement.
Another jerking lunge, and Fukuda will be washed on the shore of a beach filled with nothing but rubble. A skyline that criss-crosses with thick webs. A stillness broken only by the deafening roars and cries of wildlife that had not been there before.
And Vakama sits, at the precipice of the nearest hill, looking down towards Fukuda with an exhausted and regretful expression -- even as his own voice echoes, unattached, off in the distance with an almost pompous arrogance, the voices mumbling constant and increasing disapprovals through the air.
As though you could drown it all out.
As though your bold words could change any of it.
"Are we going to stand around all night? Nothing changes! We go to the Coliseum, we rescue the Matoran, and we leave!
Follow me!"
...
For now, despite the pull of his echoing counterpart, Vakama's attention stays still, hands wringing against one another before he simply gets up, running to Fukuda, grabbing him by one of his arms and shaking him - about as effectual as a child trying to shake their parent.]
No! No hurting yourself, Fukuda! What did I JUST say---?!
[Fukuda just like damn, so much shit is being said I feel like it'd take a six hour video essay to explain it all, probably. Vakama really is a main character. All the more reason he needs to survive... As for him, he's in pain, he's confused, lost, cold, but... Well, it's not exactly a new feeling. He's used to all these negative sensations. It seems to be what he was born to live in, for whatever reason. Even though he'd always tried to be good. It didn't matter.
But ah, he's out of the water, and Vakama is cross with him. He's a little bleary, but still finds it in himself to smile haplessly up at the toa.]
I didn't hurt myself! I just let myself get hurt instead of you... I can tell by all of this that's you're important. The world needs you. I can't do anything like that, but I can at least let myself take a blow instead of you.
... Why? It's clear that you've got an important role to play. The life of someone like me is a small price to pay to keep someone like you able to continue the fight.
Aah... You don't understand at all. Of course you couldn't, because you're a hero. Even if you don't want to be, you're special because you think like that.
[He is at least pushing up to sit properly rather than just lie on the sand impotently.]
But most people... To them, some people's lives are worth less. People like me might as well die. I'm a net negative to society. So it's okay! You don't have to worry about me.
Edited 2025-02-07 04:28 (UTC)
cw: suicidal ideation until they get off of this topic rip sorry flatview
He remembers lying in the pits of the Visorak towers, thinking just as much.
He remembers sitting in the forges, successful but haunted and shunned, feeling just off enough to be the net negative. The broken cog in the machine of Metru Nui.
Even as a Toa, even in Chicago. Not quite right for the job, still causing conflict, still not understanding or being enough, still crippled by visions that no longer matter.
He can still hear Void Archive in his head.]
I don't care what most other people think.
[He's missing something here, something crucial, just like he did with Void Archive. But he's upset, and it's taking all he has to try and calm himself.
What old wounds this opens up.]
You said you want to help. You cannot help if you are dead.
And a Toa does not kill.
So I am going to worry about you. There is nothing you can do about it.
[Fukuda sighs. Of course Vakama would say that. He has to, given his role. It doesn't matter if he really thinks that way. This is just the kind of person he's been forced to be via his circumstances. Regardless of how he actually feels. It's like how when he was a kid and the class reps would have to maintain some level of politeness with him even though they looked down on him like the others.]
... Aah. Far be it from me to tell you what to do, Vakama. You just tell ne what to do, and I'll do it.
[Patting Vakama's arm reassuringly.]
It's just easy for me to handle suffering because I'm used to it.
Still, as Fukuda settles into his role, Vakama's anger seems to dim to a pained resignation, even with the gesture that is supposed to reassure him.]
Suffering should never be a friend, Fukuda. It is what tears us apart.
[Especially when endured alone.
He glances back up the shore, frown settling thin.
The path well-trodden tugs.]
...
I am not going to ask you to come any further. If what you want and expect is a hero, my friend, then I cannot promise that will continue in good faith. You will not find any happy ending with self-sacrifice.
[You will suffer.]
Please. Stay here. Find cover, and wait.
That... that is all I can promise you.
[A hand plants against his wrist to accentuate the request, before he turns to advance up the shoreline.
[A large part of Fukuda wants to follow those instructions. He doesn't want to suffer, he doesn't want to feel pain.
However, he can't get over that moment where he'd looked down at the tiny form of Vakama and saw himself as a child. The only thing worse than suffering was suffering all alone. Maybe that pain wouldn't have even felt as acute if it had been shared? Maybe he wouldn't have even felt the need to turn the drill on himself if there'd been someone by his side.
He reaches after that hand to take hold of it again.]
You don't think you're cut out to be a hero, well... neither am I. But working together, maybe it won't be so hard?
1/3 rings the bell, yahoo another for the furry fest
[There's an exhale of surprise at the touch, a look over his shoulder up towards Fukuda as though he expects the man to take it back.
But when it's clear he's serious, those widened eyes soften, an almost pained apology spoken in them.]
...Okay.
Okay.
...Together, then.
[As he starts moving forward with Fukuda's hand tightly held in his own, his walking starts to stutter, as though being pulled by a string. Guess there's no stopping it now.]
Fukuda, I'm...
I-I'm sorry. [Eyes to the ground.] I'm so sorry for what's about to happen.
Right behind the lingering ghost of a figure with the bold voice of the Toa Vakama who does not listen; every step unsteady, on a path crumbling underfoot, as the fog grows denser amidst the buildings. A monument, a grave, more than a city.
Vakama tenses at Fukuda's side, a choking sound and a curling of his hand far too tightly in their joined grip as though he's trying to say something. But it's robbed of him.
You follow.
You see energy crackle forward through the bare air to hit the ghost of your leader.
And only a moment later, your own body is hit, going completely rigid against your will.
Paralysis.
You crumple. All you hear is an absence. Too silent. Far, far too silent.
--everyone okay--
right behind you, fearless leader... literally--
bickering won't get us out of this--
noooo, but think-talking before charging straight into a TRAP might have--
Your eyes scan frantically. You see the bodies of so many of your fellow shardbearers.
Nothing.
You can't do anything.
The swarm quickly overtakes you.
It overtakes all of them.
Not even willing to face the consequences, even now.
Teeth bite, webbing pulls, tighter and tighter until every surface both metal and organic starts to give, starts to prick - barbs, hundreds upon thousands, sinking into every inch of you with the burning rush of venom.
Every pounding of your head riles you up. Panic, that grows, less like yourself, less sentient, less in control, and more like--
The change happens without warning. A ripple effect, in one limb, that rapidly moves down the body you cannot see in the tightened trapping of your cocoon. Metal and muscle suddenly twist. Crack. Bending out of shape to reform to another. Bulging, adding, changing. Armor merges with structure, masks sinking to join with faces, chest expanding as limbs outstretch and your mind twists ferally within your skull.
Your mouth opens to scream. A strangled roar rips from your throat instead.
Your cocoon rips to open air. You free fall, from the highest point of the city.
You hit the ground, somehow not dying from the impact. Your body moves awkwardly. Primal. Unbalanced. Instinct over your mind. The tunnel vision can't be ignored.
But Vakama is there. Still a Matoran, with his hands held in front of you placatingly, as though trying to prevent you from running.
He exhales as his eyes travel Fukuda, tense. Apologetic. You feel the growl in your throat against your will.]
...This. This is what I...
[What he didn't want to happen. What he didn't want to repeat again. But his eyes grow cold, bitter, tracing down for a second to try and compose himself before turning back to... what used to be Fukuda.]
[OK so on the one hand that hurt like hell. On the other hand he's experienced more simulated pain than probably most other people so it's like... Could be worse!!!
And also.... Fukuda turns about, craning his neck to and fro, inspecting his.... Paws??? Tail???? Armor????
He lifts a paw as best he can to prod at his head to confirm the situation is as he thought. He's been turned into some sort of... Armored dog beast????
He starts bounding in circles around Vakama, tail wagging like crazy.]
Vakama, look! I turned into some sort of cool warrior dog!!!
[There's an enormous amount of relief combined with confusion at Fukuda's enthusiastic reply, the Matoran struggling to keep facing him with his bounding.]
Easy, easy.... Okay, good, you still... you still recognize me, good.
[A hand will rest on Fukuda's warped head.]
It's called Hordika. Don't-- don't get too comfortable with it, all right? It has some benefits, but it will make you forget everything you are and turn you into a beast, if you give in to it.
[He sighs, before his second hand reaches to join the first and keep the wiggling Fukuda's eyes on him.]
I told you, you're just fine the way you are. So I'm going to make sure you don't stay like this.
[He'll finally come to a stop and sit in front of Vakama like he's properly trained, which he isn't. Wag wag wag wag wag. He's just a big fluffy angular thing.]
Don't worry, I can always think clearly when I've got my hole! And if nothing else, I can always wake up.
[That's why he's not that concerned about dog. It's certainly not permanent! But also the fact that it IS cool as shit. That helps too.]
You really are like an Evangelion, Vakama.
1/2 fukuda just speeding through this through the power of "hell yeah it's just a dream"
[Oh this weird word again. Help. His expression grows slightly exasperated, though not entirely cross as he keeps Fukuda's face sandwiched between his hands.]
Hey, this is serious. Even when I was like this, my mind didn't work the same--
[Vakama doesn't hear the sound of something leaping from far above. But with his new changes, Fukuda absolutely can.]
[The pain flashes. A twist of the space, the light, and a disformed figure drops down from the webs with frightening speed, snapping gnarled fingers onto the Matoran's skull, hoisting him up off the ground as he yelps.
Familiar enough, and yet not - twisted painfully, stalking like some great cat against the ground, eyes that flash green rather than the normal golden yellow.
It's a relief, isn't it? [It's definitely still Vakama, though far more bitter. Animosity building, amplified, but temporarily pinned down, even as the Hordika settles himself to almost lounge on his new perch.] When the horrifying change that makes everyone despise you still makes the world finally, finally go quiet for once.
Edited (WHY DID I SAY CORPSE HE'S NOT DEAD) 2025-02-10 07:14 (UTC)
[Fukuda tried to leap into action to prevent this abduction, but every time he tries to move in to intercept, he's simply not fast enough. Damn!!! His new dog powers are useless!!!!
But oh.... Okay so this.... Is also Vakama? And what's he saying? Oh... Yea.]
Well, the quiet is a relief, being able to think clearly finally, though I sometimes wonder if it's worth the consequences!
[Wait. Hold on, is he talking about Fukuda? Probably not??? For Vakama's situation....]
Wait, so when you got changed like this, your visions were gone when you changed like this? That's no excuse to manhandle smaller one.
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Good news: He is free! Bad news: He is not free for very long because there are a bajillion trillion vine babies. But at least as Matoran Vakama falls down, it is Toa Vakama that pushes up off the floor like he's coming up for air, though he's struggling with his growing weakness just as much.]
We're a team, Fukuda! If I can get you out of a mess, I'm going to try--!
[It's getting hard to breathe, between the heat and the pulling. Suffocating, suffocating.
--Vakama, are you sure about this--]
I... I have an idea.
[You're exhausted. You're beyond exhausted. An echo of Vakama's voice rings like a memory. Pushing. Pushing.
"Keep going! Together, at its heart! We will win!"
Wrestling the backwards pull, he shoves a disk into his launcher.]
Do what you did at the containment block! Right underneath you!
[You don't have much more to give. But you're running out of time.]
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A split second later, Vakama slams the trigger of his disc launcher into his own leg - a teleport disk, low coded, that ricochets him just a short ways away from Fukuda. Now freefalling and back into his Matoran self, he struggles to right himself at the change of orientation, an attempt to try and speak in Fukuda's direction.
But there is no time to catch their breath.
Their bodies will both ricochet off repeated hard surfaces of metal, to a grand flooring split into hexagonal shapes; shooting up in columns, tossing them about like dolls, slamming them into high stone walls under the jeering boos of a crowd.
--The heart of Metru Nui, do you have it safe?--
You're too exhausted to do anything but withstand it. Your powers spark but no longer answer. Ghost-like forms of your fellow shard-carrying teammates pick themselves up off the floor, beaten and barely on their feet.
Someone high above you laughs.
"Let us praise these jesters. Perhaps they sought to entertain us during this difficult time.
Or, are they imposters? Responsible for our true Toa's demise?"
The sounds of the unseen crowd roar in fury.
All the effort to be made a fool.
Half your teammates go flying backward to vanish into an unseen space beyond, pulled by the wind itself. The rest scramble for one another, for their weapons, for an escape, as an enormous swarm of robots marches in advance on them.
For people saw true colors, not your empty attempts.
You can do nothing but run. Run. Run, hide, search through muddied dark spaces with your bare hands. You're exhausted. You're all so exhausted.
Empty attempts. Misguided efforts.
The jeering echos of the crowd slowly die to eerie silence. The clicking hiss of a hatch unlocks in the outstretched darkness. An empty sphere - the same sphere from Vakama's foundry - mocking, as lightning starts to crack overhead.
--Tell me, Vakama. The heart of Metru Nui, do you have it safe?--
Vakama flinches at the gentleness of the question, in amidst the more prominent, jeering mockery, trying to push himself back to his feet despite how his body aches, but too tired to go any further than his hands and knees.]
...It... just got out of hand. Even with a plan, we...
I...
[He clenches his fists against the ground, allowing himself a moment to be bitter.]
This wasn't what I asked for. They're all trying their hardest. All of you.
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Vakama you've really... got a lot going on. Between all this and the way you went out of your way to save me when you really shouldn't have... you're definitely the main character in your story.
[Is this a compliment? Unclear.]
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Once more his form flickers back to that of his Toa self, hand outstretched.
--We focus too much on how our powers can harm, brothers. Please, let us not forget what capabilities it has to heal--
It's not much on his own, and hardly anything to help repair the actual damage. But the pain will lessen from the fracture for the time being.]
Fukuda... [A quiet laugh, humorless and tired.] Please don't joke in such a way. I'm... just myself. I never asked for this. I never wanted to be a hero.
I just want to do what my heart knows is right.
[It seems like an empty statement after it all, echo eaten into the void, where the stars of the sky seem to black out in response, two glorious suns eclipsing as though the universe has shut its eyes to their efforts.]
And yet...
[You failed.
You fled.
The darkness evaporates back into the sound of a violent sea crashes in their ears, surrounded by darkened rock pitted by centuries of waves. A body, golden and feeble and frail, ricochets past them in the dark with a trail of dark energy, immediately drawing Vakama's attention with a choke of distress.
To the ends of the silver sea, leaving your people behind. Suffering for sake of your
COWARDICE.
Fukuda will see an enormous claw of shadow reaching out beyond the sea like a giant swatting a fly, intent on smashing them both against the sea wall.]
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Saying things like that only proves my point further, though! You didn't want to be a hero but you took on the role anyway...
[Very cool. Very hero... Fukuda could never be like that as much as he likes the idea. But before he can say more, all this new shit is happening. Like man he is just a guy what is he supposed to do about that? All he can think to do is to grab Vakama and try to put himself between the toa and the wall to lessen the impact. If he gets killed, who cares? But someone like Vakama needs to survive to take down the bad guys.]
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Not again.
Not again.]
Fukuda, NO--
[Murderer.
His breath catches.
And the blow hits them both hard.
Deep, thundering arcs of foreign energy immediately crack through every part of the body on contact. You cannot struggle, and can barely watch, as you're slammed headfirst into solid rock.
Fukuda is now alone.
The rock starts to dissolve into itself, a dizzied run of spiraling tunnels.
What reaches for atonement have benefited?
Would you twist them in your hands with delay?
Would you twist your heart once more?
Your confines feel claustrophobic and foreign from all sides, smelling of earth and ocean, horrifically dark. And while the comments have been mocking, now they grow genuinely angry.
--who died and made you Mata Nui anyway--?
--you're not the only one trying--
--maybe if this wasn't coming from a leader who doesn't know when to quit--
--we can't keep going like this, Vakama!!--
Arrogance.
Recklessness.
Foolish, childish decisions.
The poisonous fog that had laid out in that cityscape returns, thick and suffocating, before Fukuda drops straight into the depths of an angry, stormy sea, the battered parts of a craft pushed too far sinking slowly into the rocking depths beyond them.
And where did that lead you?
Guilt disguised as bravery, your chest raised with eyes blinded.
Claiming atonement.
Another jerking lunge, and Fukuda will be washed on the shore of a beach filled with nothing but rubble. A skyline that criss-crosses with thick webs. A stillness broken only by the deafening roars and cries of wildlife that had not been there before.
And Vakama sits, at the precipice of the nearest hill, looking down towards Fukuda with an exhausted and regretful expression -- even as his own voice echoes, unattached, off in the distance with an almost pompous arrogance, the voices mumbling constant and increasing disapprovals through the air.
As though you could drown it all out.
As though your bold words could change any of it.
"Are we going to stand around all night? Nothing changes! We go to the Coliseum, we rescue the Matoran, and we leave!
Follow me!"
...
For now, despite the pull of his echoing counterpart, Vakama's attention stays still, hands wringing against one another before he simply gets up, running to Fukuda, grabbing him by one of his arms and shaking him - about as effectual as a child trying to shake their parent.]
No! No hurting yourself, Fukuda! What did I JUST say---?!
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But ah, he's out of the water, and Vakama is cross with him. He's a little bleary, but still finds it in himself to smile haplessly up at the toa.]
I didn't hurt myself! I just let myself get hurt instead of you... I can tell by all of this that's you're important. The world needs you. I can't do anything like that, but I can at least let myself take a blow instead of you.
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That's not any better! [It's sharp and immediate, voice cracking, still shaking him by the soaking fabric of his sleeve.]
I'm not...
I'm not going to let anyone else do that for me. Never again. Please, never do that again.
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... Why? It's clear that you've got an important role to play. The life of someone like me is a small price to pay to keep someone like you able to continue the fight.
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I don't WANT people to keep paying for me!
My team keeps paying the price, my people, my friends -- everyone here, if I can't just---
[pull yourself together]
I don't want any more sacrifice, Fukuda! I'm not special!
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[He is at least pushing up to sit properly rather than just lie on the sand impotently.]
But most people... To them, some people's lives are worth less. People like me might as well die. I'm a net negative to society. So it's okay! You don't have to worry about me.
cw: suicidal ideation until they get off of this topic rip sorry flatview
He remembers lying in the pits of the Visorak towers, thinking just as much.
He remembers sitting in the forges, successful but haunted and shunned, feeling just off enough to be the net negative. The broken cog in the machine of Metru Nui.
Even as a Toa, even in Chicago. Not quite right for the job, still causing conflict, still not understanding or being enough, still crippled by visions that no longer matter.
He can still hear Void Archive in his head.]
I don't care what most other people think.
[He's missing something here, something crucial, just like he did with Void Archive. But he's upset, and it's taking all he has to try and calm himself.
What old wounds this opens up.]
You said you want to help. You cannot help if you are dead.
And a Toa does not kill.
So I am going to worry about you. There is nothing you can do about it.
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... Aah. Far be it from me to tell you what to do, Vakama. You just tell ne what to do, and I'll do it.
[Patting Vakama's arm reassuringly.]
It's just easy for me to handle suffering because I'm used to it.
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Still, as Fukuda settles into his role, Vakama's anger seems to dim to a pained resignation, even with the gesture that is supposed to reassure him.]
Suffering should never be a friend, Fukuda. It is what tears us apart.
[Especially when endured alone.
He glances back up the shore, frown settling thin.
The path well-trodden tugs.]
...
I am not going to ask you to come any further. If what you want and expect is a hero, my friend, then I cannot promise that will continue in good faith. You will not find any happy ending with self-sacrifice.
[You will suffer.]
Please. Stay here. Find cover, and wait.
That... that is all I can promise you.
[A hand plants against his wrist to accentuate the request, before he turns to advance up the shoreline.
Will you follow, or will you stay?]
cw: references to self harm
However, he can't get over that moment where he'd looked down at the tiny form of Vakama and saw himself as a child. The only thing worse than suffering was suffering all alone. Maybe that pain wouldn't have even felt as acute if it had been shared? Maybe he wouldn't have even felt the need to turn the drill on himself if there'd been someone by his side.
He reaches after that hand to take hold of it again.]
You don't think you're cut out to be a hero, well... neither am I. But working together, maybe it won't be so hard?
1/3 rings the bell, yahoo another for the furry fest
But when it's clear he's serious, those widened eyes soften, an almost pained apology spoken in them.]
...Okay.
Okay.
...Together, then.
[As he starts moving forward with Fukuda's hand tightly held in his own, his walking starts to stutter, as though being pulled by a string. Guess there's no stopping it now.]
Fukuda, I'm...
I-I'm sorry. [Eyes to the ground.] I'm so sorry for what's about to happen.
2/3
Right behind the lingering ghost of a figure with the bold voice of the Toa Vakama who does not listen; every step unsteady, on a path crumbling underfoot, as the fog grows denser amidst the buildings. A monument, a grave, more than a city.
Vakama tenses at Fukuda's side, a choking sound and a curling of his hand far too tightly in their joined grip as though he's trying to say something. But it's robbed of him.
You follow.
You see energy crackle forward through the bare air to hit the ghost of your leader.
And only a moment later, your own body is hit, going completely rigid against your will.
Paralysis.
You crumple. All you hear is an absence. Too silent. Far, far too silent.
--everyone okay--
right behind you, fearless leader... literally--
bickering won't get us out of this--
noooo, but think-talking before charging straight into a TRAP might have--
Vakama--
---what do we do?]
3/3 cw: body horror
You can't do anything.
Your eyes scan frantically. You see the bodies of so many of your fellow shardbearers.
Nothing.
You can't do anything.
The swarm quickly overtakes you.
It overtakes all of them.
Not even willing to face the consequences, even now.
Teeth bite, webbing pulls, tighter and tighter until every surface both metal and organic starts to give, starts to prick - barbs, hundreds upon thousands, sinking into every inch of you with the burning rush of venom.
Every pounding of your head riles you up. Panic, that grows, less like yourself, less sentient, less in control, and more like--
The change happens without warning. A ripple effect, in one limb, that rapidly moves down the body you cannot see in the tightened trapping of your cocoon. Metal and muscle suddenly twist. Crack. Bending out of shape to reform to another. Bulging, adding, changing. Armor merges with structure, masks sinking to join with faces, chest expanding as limbs outstretch and your mind twists ferally within your skull.
Your mouth opens to scream. A strangled roar rips from your throat instead.
Your cocoon rips to open air. You free fall, from the highest point of the city.
You hit the ground, somehow not dying from the impact. Your body moves awkwardly. Primal. Unbalanced. Instinct over your mind. The tunnel vision can't be ignored.
But Vakama is there. Still a Matoran, with his hands held in front of you placatingly, as though trying to prevent you from running.
He exhales as his eyes travel Fukuda, tense. Apologetic. You feel the growl in your throat against your will.]
...This. This is what I...
[What he didn't want to happen. What he didn't want to repeat again. But his eyes grow cold, bitter, tracing down for a second to try and compose himself before turning back to... what used to be Fukuda.]
Can you still hear me?
[Are you still you?]
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And also.... Fukuda turns about, craning his neck to and fro, inspecting his.... Paws??? Tail???? Armor????
He lifts a paw as best he can to prod at his head to confirm the situation is as he thought. He's been turned into some sort of... Armored dog beast????
He starts bounding in circles around Vakama, tail wagging like crazy.]
Vakama, look! I turned into some sort of cool warrior dog!!!
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Easy, easy.... Okay, good, you still... you still recognize me, good.
[A hand will rest on Fukuda's warped head.]
It's called Hordika. Don't-- don't get too comfortable with it, all right? It has some benefits, but it will make you forget everything you are and turn you into a beast, if you give in to it.
[He sighs, before his second hand reaches to join the first and keep the wiggling Fukuda's eyes on him.]
I told you, you're just fine the way you are. So I'm going to make sure you don't stay like this.
It will be all right. Okay?
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Don't worry, I can always think clearly when I've got my hole! And if nothing else, I can always wake up.
[That's why he's not that concerned about dog. It's certainly not permanent! But also the fact that it IS cool as shit. That helps too.]
You really are like an Evangelion, Vakama.
1/2 fukuda just speeding through this through the power of "hell yeah it's just a dream"
Hey, this is serious. Even when I was like this, my mind didn't work the same--
[Vakama doesn't hear the sound of something leaping from far above. But with his new changes, Fukuda absolutely can.]
2/2
Familiar enough, and yet not - twisted painfully, stalking like some great cat against the ground, eyes that flash green rather than the normal golden yellow.
With incredible violence, the Matoran is tossed aside past rock and web, rolling to an unresponsive stop against the ground. The creature pounces to take the unconscious body up into its teeth, dragging it up to a nearby rooftop and out of sight, before stalking to the edge to look down at Fukuda. The voice that rolls out falls heavy on unnatural breath and predatory rumbling under every syllable.]
It's a relief, isn't it? [It's definitely still Vakama, though far more bitter. Animosity building, amplified, but temporarily pinned down, even as the Hordika settles himself to almost lounge on his new perch.] When the horrifying change that makes everyone despise you still makes the world finally, finally go quiet for once.
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But oh.... Okay so this.... Is also Vakama? And what's he saying? Oh... Yea.]
Well, the quiet is a relief, being able to think clearly finally, though I sometimes wonder if it's worth the consequences!
[Wait. Hold on, is he talking about Fukuda? Probably not??? For Vakama's situation....]
Wait, so when you got changed like this, your visions were gone when you changed like this? That's no excuse to manhandle smaller one.
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