//------------------------------// // Phantoka part 1 // Story: BIONIES: spirits of life // by Dihinner //------------------------------// (Phantoka, pronounce: FAN-toh-KAH: spirits of air.) Strange images flashed through Kongu’s mind. He saw a bright blue balloon with soulless black eyes. He also saw Pinkie pie slowly losing her mind and turning grey in an internal duel of will and determination caused by the balloon. But, everyone’s willpower runs out eventually and Kongu watched in slight fear as Pinkie pie grew more and more violent. And there was laughter, unending and merciless laughter. The sound deeply unnerved Kongu. And just when Kongu thought he was going to lose it, a white crack shot through his mind and he awoke with a jump. Kongu groaned in pain, it wasn’t just being beaten down by the Piraka pain; it was being beaten by the Piraka, Brutaka and having the Barraki’s armies attacking him all at once. And it was near unbearable. “Ugh…” “HEY EVERYONE, HE’S AWAKE!” yelled someone. Kongu couldn’t tell. The sounds of multiple footsteps were echoing across the hospital. Kongu opened his eyes. As much pain as he was in, he was surprised he could move anything. His lime green eyes looked slowly across the room. He saw Pinkie pie looking nervously at him. ‘So that’s who was loud-shouting.’ He thought. He tried to muster up the strength to speak. “W-What happened?” he asked. “Well, one minute I was trying to open a window and then you tried to help me and then you were on the floor shaking and making weird sounds. I think Twilight called it a seizure, whatever that is, so we brought you here. You were sleeping for hours, Jaller was really angry when he found out what happened, all the other toa besides you had to restrain him. Anyways the doctor also said that you were muttering something about laughter in your sleep. HEY, did you know that I’m the element of laughter…” Pinkie pie said in an endless torrent of words. Kongu cut her off, “WAIT! Just, be quiet for a fast-moment. What happened to me exactly?” “You had something called a seizure, Jaller was really angry too,” she said. Kongu sighed, “How long was I deep-sleeping?” he asked. “About 24 hours.” Kongu looked out the window across the room. The sun was rising. He also saw storm clouds disappearing into the sky peculiarly fast as the sound of footsteps grew louder. A few seconds later, the Toa and ponies arrived in the room along with Princess Celestia and another shorter being that looked like her. “Are you alright?” asked Hahli. “Never better, I love the feeling of being trampled by a herd Kikanalo,” muttered Kongu, “so can someone please explain what happened?” “Well, when you tried to help Pinkie pie…” said Celestia. “And then what? The last thing I can remember is a Pink Toa,” said Kongu. “It’s exactly that. You somehow transferred some of your elemental power into Pinkie pie. She now has control of air,” said Celestia. Ten pairs of eyes stared at her. The only one who didn’t’ look surprised was Luna. “She’s a what?” asked Twilight. “Your friend Pinkie pie is a Toa of air. She can completely manipulate it now,” said Celestia with a smile. Pinkie pie blinked; two days ago when she was talking with Kongu she asked if she could become a Toa. Now, her wish was granted. She was now Toa Pinkie pie. “Ooh, can I fly?” she asked. The pony stared intently at Kongu, he chuckled, and “you can fly-hover like Toa Lewa but not wing-fly like your feather-friends.” “Neat!” said Pinkie pie as she waived her arms in the air trying to fly. Kongu laughed again, “Pink, being an air-Toa is not as easy-simple as it looks.” While Pinkie pie and Kongu were talking, Twilight asked Celestia how Kongu transferred his power to her. “I’m not sure Twilight,” said Celestia as she received a letter and left the room to read it. Luna followed her. Twilight then turned to the Toa, asking the same question. It was Matoro who provided her an answer. “Toa can transfer their power to Matoran thus making a new generation of Toa. At the same time, said Toa who used their power in the Matoran loses their power and becomes a Turaga,” replied Matoro. “Well then why is Kongu still a Toa?” asked Rarity. Matoro had no answer to that. “It could be possible that Pinkie pie always was a Toa of air but it took contact form another to trigger it,” suggested Nuparu, “do you have anything here that could relate to elemental powers?” “Well, there is something called the Elements of harmony,” said Twilight. “The Elements of harmony,” said Hahli, “you mentioned that at the castle. What are they?” “There elements of harmony are legendary artifacts that need six ponies to activate,” said Twilight, “each element has a different power. These powers are honesty, generosity, laughter, loyalty, kindness and magic. When used the intended target may or may not be turned to stone.” The Toa glanced at each other, Nuparu spoke again, “so, they need six people to activate, six different elements and it can turn people to stone… it sounds like this world’s version of a Toa seal.” “A Toa seal… how do you activate one?” asked Twilight. “A team of six Toa must unite and use their elemental power,” said Matoro, “it was used on the Makuta two thousand years ago during the great cataclysm.” “Wait, two thousand years ago?” asked Rainbow dash, “You were toa two thousand years ago? How are our still alive?” “We weren’t toa at that time,” said Jaller, “our Turaga were the Toa that defeated Makuta. We were forced into Matoran pods for one thousand years.” “Um, how old are our exactly?” asked Fluttershy. The toa glanced at each other; they themselves didn’t know how old they were. Hewkii spoke up, “were not sure exactly how old we are. When we were forced into Matoran pods two thousand years ago, they erased our memories. Most of what we know about Metru nui is from old tales from our Turaga.” “Oh, ok.” Suddenly, Celestia and Luna entered the room with a panicked voice, “Cloudsdale is under attack.” The toa and ponies stared at her. Even Kong and Pinkie pie that were in an entirely different conversation fell silent. “What?” asked Rainbow dash. “I have just received a report that four large entities are attacking Cloudsdale. They appear to be bat-like in shape and each has a bright orange pod in their chest,” said Celestia, “they drop the pods over crowds of ponies. Their contents appear to be organic. If one comes on contact with sompony then they suddenly grow violent and turn dark grey in colour. We have yet to retrieve a live specimen from the pod to study as their life spans are very short once they leave the pod.” “We have to do something, come on girls,” said Twilight. “No. it is too dangerous for you six to handle alone,” said Luna. Hahli spoke up, “maybe we can help them?” “How do you plan to do that? You said those are fins. Not wings.” Hahli smiled, “yes they are fins. But, I were the Kanohi Faxon, mask of kindred, I can change my fins to wings if I choose.” Luna looked at the Toa of water, “so be it. If you choose to aid the pegasi then that is your choice. May luck be with you all.” With that, Luna left the hospital. Celestia soon followed. Rainbow dash turned to Hahli, “how can you change those to wings?” she asked. Hahli smiled, “like this.” A dark blue glow enveloped her mask as her fins grew more organic in shape and appearance as a thin layer of hollow steel feathers grew on them. The ponies and other Toa were amazed. “Wow…” said Rainbow dash. “Hey, can I try my new air powers when were up there?” asked an exited Pinkie pie. The five ponies glanced at each other, and then collectively said, “No.” “You don’t trust Pink to be an air-toa?” asked Kongu, “I can teach her while were there.” “Kongu your elemental powers are drained. You can’t teach her right now,” said Nuparu. Kongu glared at him, “I knew that.” “Sorry Kongu, I can’t let you go on this mission,” said Jaller, “you won’t be able to defend yourself properly and if that Celestia said was true, then we may have more than some dumb rahi on our hands.” “Animals aren’t dumb,” said Fluttershy too quietly for anybody to hear. “Now, where is this Cloudsdale exactly?” asked Jaller. “In the clouds, duh,” said Rainbow dash. “Uh huh, how are supposed to get there?” he asked. “You fly.” Jaller sighed annoyed, ‘why are the places in need of helping always in an impossible to reach spot?’ The twelve left the hospital despite the doctor not wanting Kongu to leave. Kongu laughed at him and asked if he’s ever been beaten down by an army. He said no and Kongu kept walking. “So uh, how to we fly up to the sky?” asked Matoro. “We take my hot air balloon. Once we’re there I’ll use a cloud walking spell so we can safely walk on the clouds,” said Twilight. Unfortunately for Kongu, the Toa still refused to let him go into the sky. He walked away after asking Pinkie pie a question about balloons. Nine went into the balloon while Rainbow dash, Fluttershy and Hahli flew there. On the flight there, Matoro felt a sense of dread. Something wasn’t right about the attack. Why on the day it’s learnt that Pinkie pie is a toa, is the day the cloud city is attacked? Matoro continued to stare off when Rarity asked if he was alright. “Huh? Oh, yeah,” he said. “Are you sure? Is there something that you might know about this dreadful attack?” she asked. “No. I have no idea what’s going on up there,” replied Matoro. The group of Toa and ponies resumed to slowly fly to the city. But, their travel was not gone unnoticed. Antroz, Chirox, Vamprah and Mutran were waiting for them. “Hello? Is anypony still out there?” called out Mutran in a mocking tone, “the big scary Makuta are gone now. I promise that nothing bad will happen to you if you come out.” Mutran knew that some pegasi were still out there. Why else was Vamprah still out hunting? He smiled to himself; it was relatively easy to put up a shadow leach hive in the area. Discord had made a surprisingly convincing empty field near a farm. ‘That’s about the only thing he’s good for, making illusions,’ Mutran thought to himself. He landed on a cloud and turned around to face Chirox. “Hello Chirox, how do you like the sight? Too bad it’ll be gone when we go back,” said Mutran. Chirox glared at the other Makuta, “who says it’ll be gone? Can’t I bring the worthless specimen back?” Mutran laughed, “The pressure of our world is too great for anything bigger than a rat to be organic. It’ll be crushed instantly.” The two Makuta continued to argue when Antroz flew down and spoke to them. “The Toa have noticed our presence. They also saw fit to ask some little land equines for help.” “Ooh, equines, I am so afraid,” muttered Chirox. Meanwhile, Vamprah stared at his prey. It was slowly rising into the sky. He smiled slightly as he faintly heard what the passengers of the balloon were saying. They had no idea what they had gotten themselves into. Oh, they won’t die the moment they arrive. That’s not very entertaining, no, they will arrive, Vamprah will attack then retreat and finally when their guard is down he will swoop in and take them one by one. He soared back into the sky on his bat-like wings to tell his ‘teammates’ that the Toa and equines had arrived. The hunt had begun. Fluttershy was terrified. Going back to Cloudsdale was one thing; going to Cloudsdale after it had been overrun by giant demonic bats was another. The moment herself, Rainbow dash and Hahli arrived she saw a large green bat drop a bright orange pod on a building. They saw it join a black bat in the distance. A red bat with larger wings soon joined them. It appeared to be commanding the other two. “What are those things?” asked Rainbow dash. Hahli stared at them. They looked familiar, but she didn’t know how. “I’m not sure Rainbow dash,” she said finally. “I hope their friendly…” whispered Fluttershy. The trio landed in the center of the city. It looked like a tornado had wrecked the place. Hahli suggested that they split up temporarily to see if they can find anyone. After a few minutes of searching, Rainbow dash called out. “Heeeelllllllllllooooooooo? Is Anypony here?” Rainbow dash then heard a quiet scraping sound somewhere around her. “Is anypony here? I won’t hurt you. I’m here to help,” she said. The scraping got louder until it felt like it was right above her. “h-hello?” she said nervously. Something was wrong. She turned around to find Hahli and Fluttershy. When she turned, she was face to mask with Mutran. “Hello flight equine.” “AAH!” she screamed. Mutran grabbed her with shadow and set her on a cloud. Mutran had a menacing grin on his face, “why, that’s no way to treat a Makuta. You should be thankful that I’m here to save you from those awful Toa.” “M-Makuta? You’re Makuta?” she asked, “isn’t there only one Makuta?” Mutran laughed a dark, sadistic laugh, “no my little equine, we have an entire Brotherhood of Makuta. I am Makuta Mutran. I am the top Rahi scientist.” “Rahi?” she asked. She then remembered Matoro mentioning what a rahi was when he first arrived. “You’re an animal scientist?” “Yes, I create and modify rahi,” he said, “but, alas, there are three rahi I have yet to study.” “What three animals?” she asked nervously. Mutran smiled sadistically, “unicorn, earth equine and pegasi.” Mutran then used his Kanohi Shelek, mask of silence, to deafen and mute Rainbow dash as he used his power of sleep on her. Mutran chuckled darkly. Oh, she’ll live; he has no intention of letting her die. But she will be… different than before. Possibly less mentally stable. Mutran picked up the sleeping Pegasus and teleported to the Makuta base camp in the clouds. Back with at the balloon, Matoro quickly noticed that nobody was there. “Uh, where are all the pegasi?” he asked. Applejack stared at the deserted city, “I bet there gone. Either they ran away or taken by them bats.” “I agree with Applejack, there not here for sure,” said Twilight. “Then where are they?” asked Rarity. “At the hive,” said an unseen voice. Jaller ignited his fire blade as Hewkii readied his war blade and Nuparu pulled out his aqua baster blade and protosteel shield. Matoro however, looked for the voice. “Who said that?” asked Twilight. The being landed on the cloud with a quiet thud, it then stared at the four Toa with venom in its dark red eyes. “It was me, Makuta Chirox.” Matoro’s eyes narrowed, “Makuta? You’re Makuta?” he asked. “Why yes you pathetic attempt at a Toa. I am indeed a Makuta,” said Chirox, “by the way,” he blasted Matoro with a short bolt of shadow, knocking him over, “that’s for blinding me.” “What do you want here Makuta?” asked Jaller. “What do I want? Well little toa, I want to rule the skies of Equestria again like I used to twenty thousand years ago,” Chirox said, “of course, you wouldn’t remember that far because of Teridax’s Matoran pods.” Hewkii glanced at Nuparu. He nodded slightly and used his Kanohi Volitak. Chirox smiled slightly as one toa disappeared and the other three started to attack him. He flattened the three toa with chain lightning and waited for Nuparu to reappear. He glanced to where the ponies were and saw Vamprah attacking them. He smiled, ‘so that’s where he flew of too.’ Suddenly, Nuparu reappeared in his line of sight. Chirox lashed out with a bolt of chain lightning and shadow. Despite all the energy of Nuparu, he eventually fell to the force of the lightning and shadow. The last thing any of the four Toa saw before losing consciousness was the ominous shadow of Chirox. It had been a long time since Vamprah had seen prey this easy. Sure, the purple one put up a slight challenge but was no match for his Kanohi Avsa, mask of hunger, to take away all their strength. It took a total of two minutes to take down the four ponies. Vamprah then departed, making the appearance of losing interest as he flew off to attack Hahli. Fluttershy had been scared plenty of times. But never, and she means never, has she been so afraid in her life. She was frozen on the spot, white with fear as Antroz approached her. Antroz glided right up to her and made a dark laughing sound. Then, he spoke, “Is the little flutter equine afraid? Well, I, Makuta Antroz has no time to deal with pathetic attempts on life such as yourself,” Antroz smiled to himself as Fluttershy fainted with fear on the spot. Sure, he cheated a little when he used his power over fear but, her fainting saved him a great deal of unnecessary trouble. He resumed flying when he saw Vamprah approaching Hahli. Reporting to Teridax could wait, not every day could one see the defeat of a flying Toa of water. Hahli was fighting for her life; Vamprah had appeared out of literally nowhere and ambushed her. She shot her Cordak blaster wildly and shot jets of water at the attacker. Vamprah smiled inwardly, this Toa had resistance and the best part of a hunt is the fight. After a short fight, Hahli lay unconscious and defeated on the cloud. Antroz approached him. “Good job Vamprah, the mission is complete I assume?” said Antroz. Vamprah nodded, he never was the most talkative person in the world. “Good, unfortunately, I have had no contact with Mutran. Do you have any idea where he went?” Vamprah smiled, “he took the rainbow one to the base camp.” Antroz scowled, “will he be experimenting in it?” Vamprah continued to smile, “of course.” Meanwhile, Kongu was sitting in Sugarcube corner trying this mysterious substance called ‘ice cream’ when he saw a Cordak rocket explode onto the ground outside. Kongu picked up his Cordak blasters and ran out to see where it had come from. He looked up to see small explosions in the clouds. He had to help them. Who knows what’s going on up there? Kongu ran back inside and started to search Pinkie pies room. She mentioned something that could make her float above the ground. Then, finally, he found what he was looking for. After taking the supplies outside, Kongu tied them to himself and slowly started to float up. In the most extreme situations, a Toa could find anything to help others. In Kongu’s case, it was three thousand bright pink balloons.