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(Also on AO3)
", "writing": " Tahu walked alone through the war-torn desert, his mind clouded by unyielding fury for the Matoran that dared to oppose him. With each step he took, sand continued to instantly melt into footprints of glass. Although on the outskirts of the battlefield, occasionally he would encounter a stray Rahkshi or an innocent Rahi animal, slaughtering anything that got close with his fire sword without discrimination - nor hesitation. He was through with patience. Through with self-restraint. Through with calmness. He was not tranquil, purifying water like Gali, nor gentle life-giving air like Lewa. Not a foundation of stone like Pohatu, nor the giving earth like Onua. And [i]certainly[/i] not the protective ice of Kopaka. Tahu was the Toa of fire - the spirit of flame incarnate.\n And fire needed to burn[i].[/i]\n To incinerate. \n To [i]destroy. [/i]\n He turned his head at the sound of a lone white Rahkshi suddenly approaching him, expertly dodging the beam of red energy fired from its staff. Tahu charged the unwanted company, slicing through the Rahkshi’s knees with his sword before bashing its head down with his elbow. The armored plating of the Rahkshi’s back opened up, exposing the Kraata pilot inside. But rather than simply slicing it in half with his sword as he’d done with several others, he instead chose to kill it by squishing it satisfyingly under his sword’s large golden pommel. \n As the kraata let out a blood-curdling screech in its final moments, Tahu’s eyes stared down in intrigue when he noticed that the blunt end of his weapon began to glow as it absorbed the dead slug’s pale green blood. He felt a strange surge of strength in his hand, creeping up his arm and spreading through his entire body until it faded. \n “What was [i]that[/i] about?”\n Curious if it did anything, Tahu looked around for a moment before spotting another group of three yellow Rahkshi further ahead that hadn’t noticed him yet. He reached his hand out, focusing on emitting the new power from his palm as he aimed for the trio.\nSure enough, a red wave of energy rippled from his hand and hit the unsuspecting Rahkshi dead-on. Within seconds, Tahu’s victims turned to one another and began furiously slashing and stabbing each other with their staffs, firing lasers from their eyes at each other until all three kraata inside had mutually murdered their former comrades.\n “So,” Tahu said with a sinister grin.\n\n “[i]That’s[/i] what the golden armor can do.”\n\n “Go ahead then, throw the first punch!” Nektann sneered as he put the golden shield away between the spines on his upper back, outstretching his arms tauntingly. “Don’t keep me waiting, or I’ll only get bored and kill you faster!”\n [i]“So do you have any sort of plan [/i][i][b]at all?!”[/b][/i] Delta shouted in Marcus’s ear, [i]“Or are you just suicidal?!”[/i]\n ‘I… I can do this,’ Marcus assured him, “Latias believes in me.”\n [i]“Sure, [/i][b][i]real[/i][/b][i] reassuring,”[/i] Delta groaned, [i]“We’ve known her for about ten whole minutes now, I’m sure she’s a [/i][b][i]great[/i][/b][i] judge of character.”[/i]\n [i]‘Well your naysaying isn’t exactly fuckin’ useful, y’know,’[/i] Marcus snapped back in his head, [i]‘So either work with me on beating this guy, or be quiet so I can concentrate.’[/i]\n Silence. Marcus had his answer, though it honestly wasn’t the one he was hoping for. \n “Latias, you said earlier that you had ‘moves’,” Marcus whispered as he leaned over to her, trying to formulate a strategy quickly before Nektann made good on his threat. “Knowing what you can do could be really useful right now. \n “Well, for starters, I can use telepathy,” she replied without moving her lips, her voice echoing vividly in Marcus’s head just the same as Delta’s. “Of course I can Fly, use Future Sight, and also Mist Ball. Oh, and I can use my feathers to become invisible and shapeshift.”\n Latias then began to glow for a moment before changing form, appearing to Marcus as an exact copy of himself. \n [i]‘Huh, so that’s what I look like?’[/i] he thought, having not seen his own face yet - or rather, his mask. It was orange, in an oblong octagonal shape, and surprisingly tribal-looking in appearance. Three increasingly-long slits lined the forehead, leading down to the two large eyeholes in the center. There were also four holes on both sides of his cheeks, leading down to the mask’s bottom jaw. In a word, something about the mask seemed to exude an unmistakable aura of strength, of capability. And, in a strange way, seeing it renewed Marcus’s sense of self-confidence that he truly could win. He just had to think smart - use his smaller size, as well as Nektann’s arrogant hubris - to his advantage. \n ‘Okay Latias, go invisible and keep a safe distance,’ Marcus secretly told her in their shared thoughts. “I have an idea.”\n She then obediently nodded and disappeared entirely, leaving the lowly little Matoran named Marcus to face off one-on-one against the murderous Skakdi warlord, Nektann. He was nearly eclipsed by the shadow his towering foe cast on the earth at their feet. \n But regardless of what Nektann might’ve assumed, Marcus was far from alone - and [i]anything[/i] but helpless. \n The tension could be cut with a knife as the two stared each other down for a moment; Marcus analyzed everything he could about the Skakdi - everything from his weapon and armor to his stance, physique, and even his posture. Nektann growled and spat on the sand with a frustrated grunt, quickly losing patience for his opponent to finally make his move. \n And then, Marcus finally did. \n “AAAH!” he yelled as he charged forward, swinging his fists around with little coordination. \n Nektann sighed and shook his head in exasperation at how absolutely pathetic this Matoran was. Many Matoran he’d killed before at least had [i]some[/i] kind of combat skill; but this one? This was just sad.\n Marcus had a glint in his eye as he continued charging. But rather than taking a shot at the leg, like Nektann was expecting, Marcus continued straight through between the Skakdi’s legs.\n “Wait, what?” Nektann ducked down curiously as he felt the whoosh of the Matoran rushing underneath him before immediately being met with a facefull of sand.\n “Eat rocks, Necktie.”\n “GRAAH! It’s NEKTANN, you putrid little-!”\n Nektann swung his scythe around blindly as he brushed the sand out of his eyes, unaware that Marcus had crawled up onto his back by using his sharp spikes as leverage. \n “Your breath smells like hot piss, by the way. You must be into some weird stuff, huh Necktie?” Marcus mocked before jumping off the giant’s back just as Nektann swung his scythe again, cutting off several of his own thorny spikes. \n “I AM NOT!”\n [i]‘That’s right, stay mad, you big dumb bullfrog.’[/i] Just as Marcus expected, striking at Nektann’s strong sense of pride was the easiest way to get him flustered. Distracted. Sloppy. \n “That underbite must have its own gravitational pull, careful or you might accidentally swallow the whole planet with that big-ass mouth of yours!”\n Nektann was beginning to turn red with fury, no longer holding back as he swung his scythe at Marcus at full strength with every intent to kill. Marcus lept backwards onto his back, curling up and rolling like a ball down the short dune to gain some distance. \n “Get back here!” Nektann roared as he chased the Matoran down the sandy bank, stumbling through the soft desert before sliding on his back.\n “Aww, is it nappy-time for Necktie?” Marcus asked as he did his best impression of baby-talk. “You wan’ a bwankie and a baba?”\n “You will not make a mockery of me!” Nektann leapt up and charged at Marcus like a starving predator hunting its meal. “You die slowly for your insolence! I will rip your little body open so you can watch your innards spill out!”\n “Mist Ball!”\n Before Nektann could reach his prey, he was suddenly blinded by a large puff of silky white feathers directly in his eyes. \n “AARGH!” Nektann cried out in frustration, tripping over Marcus and falling onto his face. \n “Mist Ball! Mist Ball!” \n Nektann quickly got up and looked around, hearing a voice nearby without a source. He blocked the consecutive Mist Balls with his scythe, his eyes darting back and forth to find where they were coming from. \n Meanwhile, Marcus took the opportunity to quietly sneak up behind the distracted Skakdi, the piece of golden armor in his sights. He discreetly hopped up and gently grabbed the spikes on Nektann’s back again, grabbing one at a time to sneak up to the top. \n ‘Almost there,’ Marcus reached his hand out for the golden shield, his fingers nearly touching it.\n But then, he felt a large hand tightly grip his ankle.\n “I don’t think so,” Nektann snarled as he lifted Marcus in the air, slamming him down on the sand with brutal force. \n “Marcus!” a voice shouted just before Nektann grabbed at the air next to him, slamming something down in the sand next to the Matoran. \n Marcus watched in horror as Latias appeared next to him, pinned down by her throat with Nektann’s metal palm.\n “Did you really think I’d fall for that? I’ve been a warrior for tens of [i]thousands[/i] of years, boy. I know every cheap, dirty, underhanded scheme there is. It’s been fun, but I think our little game is over,” Nektann grinned victoriously, looking Marcus dead in the eyes. “Now, what should I do? Do I kill [i]you[/i] first? Or do I make you watch as I devour your juicy little bird friend alive?”\n [i]‘Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck,’[/i] Marcus’s body shook with terror as he looked up at Nektann, now regretting this entire stupid plan. [i]‘How could I think I’d actually be able to win? How could I get Latias involved? Delta was right, all I did was get us killed. I’m so stupid. [/i][i][b]Stupid.[/b][/i][i] I’m no hero… I can’t save anyone…’[/i]\n “I know, you wanted this golden thingy so badly, didn't you?” Nektann smiled devilishly as he stowed away his scythe and took the golden shield from his back, showing it to Marcus. “Tell you what, for being mildly entertaining for a moment…”\n Nektann forcefully removed Marcus’s mask and tossed it aside, exposing his gray robotic face underneath and weakening him severely.\n “YOU-!”\n Marcus felt unimaginable pain as his face was bashed in with the shield, accepting that this was the moment he was going to die.\n “CAN-!”\n His face was bashed in once again, though the sound of Latias’s horrified crying hurt him far more. That, Marcus wouldn’t stand for. If he had even an ounce of breath left in him, he wouldn’t allow her to suffer. \n “HAVE IT!”\n Nektann thrust the golden shield at Marcus’s face one last time for the final killing blow. \n However.\n He was unexpectedly stopped when a psychic blast suddenly came out of nowhere and cut through his chest, knocking him back several feet and forcing the scythe out of his hand.\n Latias’s Future Sight attack finally kicked in. \n However, it backfired as Nektann’s dropped scythe fell onto Marcus, cutting deep into his shoulder.\n “NO!” Latias cried out, guilt-ridden that her efforts only caused Marcus more pain.\n “Enough tricks!” Nektann got back on his feet, bleeding from his dented chest a little but undeterred as he brought the shield down on Marcus again. “Time to die!”\n Marcus suddenly raised his arm up, blocking the shield with all his remaining strength. \n “Huh?” Nektann growled, pushing the shield further still. \n Even as his consciousness nearly faded into complete darkness, Marcus heard Latias’s desperate plea break through, clear as day. \n “You can do it, Marcus! I BELIEVE IN YOU!”\nIn that moment, Marcus could’ve sworn he saw a small white rectangle at the bottom of his line of vision and the faint cheerful tune of a bell.\n\n [i][Latias learned Dragon Cheer!][/i]\n\n “Y…you’re…” Marcus weakly mumbled as his vision returned, refusing to give in as his green eyes began to glow brightly with an otherworldly power. His cracked and broken metal face began to contort and shift back into position as his injuries rapidly healed. “You’re…”\n “What?!” Nektann grunted, pushing as hard as he could with both hands. How could this mere Matoran at the brink of death still possibly have the strength to resist? And how was he healing so fast?\n Using one hand to push Nektann’s shield back, Marcus grabbed his mask and placed it back on his fully-healed face. \n The Kanohi Pakari, the Mask of Strength. \n “You’re going down, Nektann.”\n The warlord looked on helplessly as his golden shield suddenly melted in his hand, slithering up Marcus’s arm and coating it entirely with its essence. Marcus intertwined his fingers with Nektann’s as they met in the middle, crushing his foe’s hand with iron force and snapping his wrist with a sickening pop.\n “AAAH!” Nektann recoiled, suddenly feeling a searing burn on the back of his hand. His skin melted like metal under a blowtorch where Marcus’s fingers had touched. “How?!” \n Before he could retaliate, a golden fist struck his face as Marcus leaped surprisingly high, delivering a powerful blow between Nektann’s eyes. The warlord howled in agony as he was sent hurtling several meters backward, crashing into a sizable boulder and shattering several more spikes on his back.\n Marcus took a brief moment to turn to Latias, kneeling beside her and gently resting his hand on her long neck. \n “Are you okay?”\n “My neck is a little sore, maybe bruised, but nothing’s broken.”\n “Good. Stay here and rest for a bit. Go invisible again so you don’t attract any unwanted attention,” Marcus commanded firmly. Latias nodded and wearily rested her head on the sand, disappearing again. \n “Marcus?”\n Marcus turned to the voice where Latias was hiding.\n “Kick his ass.” \n Marcus felt an electric jolt of adrenaline welling up within him again, just like before - the effects of Dragon Cheer. But in more ways than one, Latias truly made him feel powerful. Brave. Unstoppable.\n And there wasn’t a single doubt in his mind that she was the one. \n Further away, Nektann pulled out his scythe again as he coughed up a little silver blood.\n “This changes nothing! I’ll make you beg for death, Matoran!”\n The Matoran looked down at his hand and thought about what it had done to Nektann, an idea formulating in his head. Without a word, Marcus ran at the Skakdi head-on with fearlessness like that of a Toa. No more dodging. No more running. No more tricks. It was time to show this ruthless killer what he was really made of.\n Marcus didn’t take the time to notice, but the golden armor that had been stuck to his chest all this time suddenly shifted and molded seemingly with a mind of its own, crawling over his other arm to give him a matching pair of golden arms. \n Nektann swung his scythe downwards, but it clashed with Marcus’s fist and the blade began to crack. Wasting no time, Marcus ran between Nektann’s legs once again, but this time grabbed the tail-end of Nektann’s thorny spine and ripped the conjoined plug out of its socket with ease, severing the nerve tissue.\n “AAGH!” Nektann gritted his teeth and cried out with intense pain, a kind he’d never felt before. He slashed at Marcus with his cracked scythe, but this time Marcus grabbed the tip and snapped it clean off. The Matoran then hopped up and dug the scythe tip deep into a small part of exposed fleshy tissue in Nektann’s shoulder-blade between his armor before landing several quick punches on his stomach, each one with the force of a Tarakava’s strike. \n “NO! I won’t accept defeat from a filthy little MATORAN!” The enraged Skakdi kicked his clawed foot at Marcus, but was grabbed by his ankle and swung against the boulder. “I've slaughtered armies with a flick of my wrist! I’ve crushed entire kingdoms under my heel! How could you be any match for me?!”\n Marcus only squinted, no longer interested in banter.\n “You talk too much. And your days of conquest are over.”\n He held out his open hand, a tiny green ball of immense energy gathering in his palm. \n “Ch-cheating… you’re cheating! That’s the only explanation!” Nektann taunted, though it fell on deaf ears. “A simple Matoran like you could never win with strength and skill alone!”\n “I thought you knew every cheap, dirty, underhanded scheme there was. Your words.”\n The energy ball grew more and more, becoming increasingly unstable.\n “And I don’t know [i]what[/i] I am exactly, but I think…”\n Marcus’s arm began to shake violently as the volatile sphere of plasma was becoming too much to bear, condensing down into an atomic hypermass. \n The energy of a star.\n\n “...I’m no Matoran.”\n\n Heads all over the warzone turned as the sight of a colossal green laser of light pierced the air with a deafening blast of charged electrons. Even the two fighting robots above seemed to take notice for a moment.\n\n “Haah… hahh…” Nektann huffed heavily as he toppled over limply on his side, feeling no pain, but far from uninjured. The entire left side of his torso had been completely vaporized and melted, with nearly half of his body now little more than a molten puddle of metal on the sand.\n With the threat now neutralized and her body no longer in pain, Latias rejoined Marcus as he approached his defeated opponent.\n [i]‘Marcus… just what [/i][i][b]are[/b][/i][i] you…?’[/i] she thought to herself, admittedly a little intimidated by the power he’d just exhibited. But nevertheless, she felt nothing but safe with him. \n “Kcch… gaah…” Nektann retched as he rolled over onto his stomach, grabbing his scythe tightly in his fist.\n “You’re done, Nektann. It’s over,” Marcus declared matter-of-factly as he stood over the warlord in victory. \n “I… don’t know how… but you are the victor.” Unexpectedly, Nektann then dropped his scythe at Marcus’s feet in surrender. “You won. So just kill me already.”\n Marcus glanced at Latias before he cautiously picked up the scythe, and scowled. As much as he wanted so badly to do it after the things Nektann said, the way he saw Latias as food… the thought of personally ending a life still unsettled him. Sure, he had just killed a Kraata not too long ago, but that was little more than a brainless slug. This was different. Perhaps there was still a chance for Nektann to redeem himself, he thought. Since these beings were clearly biomechanical, maybe he could be repaired. Join the good side. For as awful as Nektann was, a part of Marcus felt it wasn’t his place to make that decision - to take that chance of redemption away from him. \n “...No. You’ll live.” Marcus dropped the scythe in front of Nektann, much to Latias’s approval. “But you’ll never forget.”\n Marcus and Latias turned and began to walk away. Nektann, however, wasn’t so pleased. \n “You… you Matoran and Toa are ALL the same.” Nektann grabbed his scythe again angrily as the two turned their heads, prepared for him to attack. “You and your [i]sickening[/i] sense of justice. That you, a Matoran, would somehow defeat me… rob me of my dignity… and then DISGRACE me by letting me live?! The great Nektann, defeated by a [i]Matoran![/i] IT IS AN UNFORGIVABLE INSULT! I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS!”\n Nektann positioned the broken blade of his scythe upwards, biting down on the cold steel as his red eyes stared up at Marcus with a psychotic glare. He took several deep breaths, his torn body shuddering in anticipation as he braced himself for his destiny. He screamed his parting words through his large, crooked teeth.\n “IF YOU WON’T GRANT ME MY DESTINY, THEN I’LL DO IT MYSELF! HHRRAAA-”\nMarcus and Latias looked on in stunned shock as Nektann suddenly went dead-silent. The top of his lifeless blue skull rolled onto the sand before them. \n [i]“Hurkk-!”[/i] The two turned opposite ways, both instantly and violently dry-heaving in horrified disgust at the sight. \n [i]'What the fuck. What the [b]fuck.'[/b][/i]\n Marcus truly hoped Nektann would've changed his ways, to take the opportunity to become a force for good - but apparently, that was not the destiny Nektann ever wanted. \n [i]“Well… we did it, Marcus. Just four pieces left,”[/i] a familiar voice in his head finally returned. “\n [i]‘Yeah, no thanks to you,’[/i] Marcus thought angrily, still hunched over and trying to forget the visceral scene he’d just witnessed. [i]‘Whaddya mean ‘we’?’[/i]\n [i]“Hey, I never left. How do you think we absorbed the shield like that? Or how you suddenly got golden gloves?”[/i]\n [i]‘That was you?’[/i] Marcus thought. [i]‘But how?’[/i]\n [i]“Honestly, I’m still not sure about that yet. I just concentrated really hard and sort of… became the armor.” [/i]As Delta spoke, the golden armor still covering Marcus’s arms shifted once again, one sliding up to cover his chest and the other reforming into the shield, just as it was before. [i]“It feels like it was made for me, or even… like I was made for [/i][i][b]it.”[/b][/i]\n [i]‘So that green energy just now… what that-’[/i]\n [i]“That, I have no idea. That wasn’t me, that was all you.”[/i]\n Marcus looked down at his hand curiously, noting that all traces of the mysterious green energy had completely disappeared. He had found himself in a war with no memories, shared a body with another soul, found strange golden armor, met a Latias who [i]also[/i] had no memories, nearly died five separate times, and now he discovered he possessed some kind of superpower - all within less than an hour. \n And that was only the beginning.\n “Delta!”\n Marcus and Latias turned abruptly to the sound of an unfamiliar voice, ready for another fight. However, they were approached not by Rahkshi, Skrall, or Skakdi - they were greeted by a white Toa wearing sleek silver armor and wielding two staffs, his mask glittering like a precious illuminated diamond. His powerful yet gentle aura immediately quelled their fears and filled them with a sense of hope. \n And in his arm, he carried another piece of golden armor. \n “That armor…” the Toa muttered, looking down at Marcus sternly. “Where did you find it?”\n “Who wants to know?” Marcus asked in return, keeping his guard up. No matter where he went, it seemed like [i]everyone[/i] wanted to get their hands on it.\n “You’re not really Delta, are you? Very well. I am Takanuva, Toa of Light.” the Toa said. \n\n “And you’re coming with me.”", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "            Tahu walked alone through the war-torn desert, his mind clouded by unyielding fury for the Matoran that dared to oppose him. With each step he took, sand continued to instantly melt into footprints of glass. Although on the outskirts of the battlefield, occasionally he would encounter a stray Rahkshi or an innocent Rahi animal, slaughtering anything that got close with his fire sword without discrimination - nor hesitation. He was through with patience. Through with self-restraint. Through with calmness. He was not tranquil, purifying water like Gali, nor gentle life-giving air like Lewa. Not a foundation of stone like Pohatu, nor the giving earth like Onua. And certainly not the protective ice of Kopaka. Tahu was the Toa of fire - the spirit of flame incarnate.
            And fire needed to burn.
            To incinerate.
            To destroy.
            He turned his head at the sound of a lone white Rahkshi suddenly approaching him, expertly dodging the beam of red energy fired from its staff. Tahu charged the unwanted company, slicing through the Rahkshi’s knees with his sword before bashing its head down with his elbow. The armored plating of the Rahkshi’s back opened up, exposing the Kraata pilot inside. But rather than simply slicing it in half with his sword as he’d done with several others, he instead chose to kill it by squishing it satisfyingly under his sword’s large golden pommel.
            As the kraata let out a blood-curdling screech in its final moments, Tahu’s eyes stared down in intrigue when he noticed that the blunt end of his weapon began to glow as it absorbed the dead slug’s pale green blood. He felt a strange surge of strength in his hand, creeping up his arm and spreading through his entire body until it faded.
            “What was that about?”
            Curious if it did anything, Tahu looked around for a moment before spotting another group of three yellow Rahkshi further ahead that hadn’t noticed him yet. He reached his hand out, focusing on emitting the new power from his palm as he aimed for the trio.
Sure enough, a red wave of energy rippled from his hand and hit the unsuspecting Rahkshi dead-on. Within seconds, Tahu’s victims turned to one another and began furiously slashing and stabbing each other with their staffs, firing lasers from their eyes at each other until all three kraata inside had mutually murdered their former comrades.
            “So,” Tahu said with a sinister grin.

            “That’s what the golden armor can do.”

            “Go ahead then, throw the first punch!” Nektann sneered as he put the golden shield away between the spines on his upper back, outstretching his arms tauntingly. “Don’t keep me waiting, or I’ll only get bored and kill you faster!”
            “So do you have any sort of plan at all?!” Delta shouted in Marcus’s ear, “Or are you just suicidal?!”
            ‘I… I can do this,’ Marcus assured him, “Latias believes in me.”
            “Sure, real reassuring,” Delta groaned, “We’ve known her for about ten whole minutes now, I’m sure she’s a great judge of character.”
            ‘Well your naysaying isn’t exactly fuckin’ useful, y’know,’ Marcus snapped back in his head, ‘So either work with me on beating this guy, or be quiet so I can concentrate.’
            Silence. Marcus had his answer, though it honestly wasn’t the one he was hoping for.
            “Latias, you said earlier that you had ‘moves’,” Marcus whispered as he leaned over to her, trying to formulate a strategy quickly before Nektann made good on his threat. “Knowing what you can do could be really useful right now.
            “Well, for starters, I can use telepathy,” she replied without moving her lips, her voice echoing vividly in Marcus’s head just the same as Delta’s. “Of course I can Fly, use Future Sight, and also Mist Ball. Oh, and I can use my feathers to become invisible and shapeshift.”
            Latias then began to glow for a moment before changing form, appearing to Marcus as an exact copy of himself.
            ‘Huh, so that’s what I look like?’ he thought, having not seen his own face yet - or rather, his mask. It was orange, in an oblong octagonal shape, and surprisingly tribal-looking in appearance. Three increasingly-long slits lined the forehead, leading down to the two large eyeholes in the center. There were also four holes on both sides of his cheeks, leading down to the mask’s bottom jaw. In a word, something about the mask seemed to exude an unmistakable aura of strength, of capability. And, in a strange way, seeing it renewed Marcus’s sense of self-confidence that he truly could win. He just had to think smart - use his smaller size, as well as Nektann’s arrogant hubris - to his advantage.
            ‘Okay Latias, go invisible and keep a safe distance,’ Marcus secretly told her in their shared thoughts. “I have an idea.”
            She then obediently nodded and disappeared entirely, leaving the lowly little Matoran named Marcus to face off one-on-one against the murderous Skakdi warlord, Nektann. He was nearly eclipsed by the shadow his towering foe cast on the earth at their feet.
            But regardless of what Nektann might’ve assumed, Marcus was far from alone - and anything but helpless.
            The tension could be cut with a knife as the two stared each other down for a moment; Marcus analyzed everything he could about the Skakdi - everything from his weapon and armor to his stance, physique, and even his posture. Nektann growled and spat on the sand with a frustrated grunt, quickly losing patience for his opponent to finally make his move.
            And then, Marcus finally did.
            “AAAH!” he yelled as he charged forward, swinging his fists around with little coordination.
            Nektann sighed and shook his head in exasperation at how absolutely pathetic this Matoran was. Many Matoran he’d killed before at least had some kind of combat skill; but this one? This was just sad.
            Marcus had a glint in his eye as he continued charging. But rather than taking a shot at the leg, like Nektann was expecting, Marcus continued straight through between the Skakdi’s legs.
            “Wait, what?” Nektann ducked down curiously as he felt the whoosh of the Matoran rushing underneath him before immediately being met with a facefull of sand.
            “Eat rocks, Necktie.”
            “GRAAH! It’s NEKTANN, you putrid little-!”
            Nektann swung his scythe around blindly as he brushed the sand out of his eyes, unaware that Marcus had crawled up onto his back by using his sharp spikes as leverage.
            “Your breath smells like hot piss, by the way. You must be into some weird stuff, huh Necktie?” Marcus mocked before jumping off the giant’s back just as Nektann swung his scythe again, cutting off several of his own thorny spikes.
            “I AM NOT!”
            ‘That’s right, stay mad, you big dumb bullfrog.’ Just as Marcus expected, striking at Nektann’s strong sense of pride was the easiest way to get him flustered. Distracted. Sloppy.
            “That underbite must have its own gravitational pull, careful or you might accidentally swallow the whole planet with that big-ass mouth of yours!”
            Nektann was beginning to turn red with fury, no longer holding back as he swung his scythe at Marcus at full strength with every intent to kill. Marcus lept backwards onto his back, curling up and rolling like a ball down the short dune to gain some distance.
            “Get back here!” Nektann roared as he chased the Matoran down the sandy bank, stumbling through the soft desert before sliding on his back.
            “Aww, is it nappy-time for Necktie?” Marcus asked as he did his best impression of baby-talk. “You wan’ a bwankie and a baba?”
            “You will not make a mockery of me!” Nektann leapt up and charged at Marcus like a starving predator hunting its meal. “You die slowly for your insolence! I will rip your little body open so you can watch your innards spill out!”
            “Mist Ball!”
            Before Nektann could reach his prey, he was suddenly blinded by a large puff of silky white feathers directly in his eyes.
            “AARGH!” Nektann cried out in frustration, tripping over Marcus and falling onto his face.
            “Mist Ball! Mist Ball!”
            Nektann quickly got up and looked around, hearing a voice nearby without a source. He blocked the consecutive Mist Balls with his scythe, his eyes darting back and forth to find where they were coming from.
            Meanwhile, Marcus took the opportunity to quietly sneak up behind the distracted Skakdi, the piece of golden armor in his sights. He discreetly hopped up and gently grabbed the spikes on Nektann’s back again, grabbing one at a time to sneak up to the top.
            ‘Almost there,’ Marcus reached his hand out for the golden shield, his fingers nearly touching it.
            But then, he felt a large hand tightly grip his ankle.
            “I don’t think so,” Nektann snarled as he lifted Marcus in the air, slamming him down on the sand with brutal force.
            “Marcus!” a voice shouted just before Nektann grabbed at the air next to him, slamming something down in the sand next to the Matoran.
            Marcus watched in horror as Latias appeared next to him, pinned down by her throat with Nektann’s metal palm.
            “Did you really think I’d fall for that? I’ve been a warrior for tens of thousands of years, boy. I know every cheap, dirty, underhanded scheme there is. It’s been fun, but I think our little game is over,” Nektann grinned victoriously, looking Marcus dead in the eyes. “Now, what should I do? Do I kill you first? Or do I make you watch as I devour your juicy little bird friend alive?”
            ‘Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck,’ Marcus’s body shook with terror as he looked up at Nektann, now regretting this entire stupid plan. ‘How could I think I’d actually be able to win? How could I get Latias involved? Delta was right, all I did was get us killed. I’m so stupid. Stupid. I’m no hero… I can’t save anyone…’
            “I know, you wanted this golden thingy so badly, didn't you?” Nektann smiled devilishly as he stowed away his scythe and took the golden shield from his back, showing it to Marcus. “Tell you what, for being mildly entertaining for a moment…”
            Nektann forcefully removed Marcus’s mask and tossed it aside, exposing his gray robotic face underneath and weakening him severely.
            “YOU-!”
            Marcus felt unimaginable pain as his face was bashed in with the shield, accepting that this was the moment he was going to die.
            “CAN-!”
            His face was bashed in once again, though the sound of Latias’s horrified crying hurt him far more. That, Marcus wouldn’t stand for. If he had even an ounce of breath left in him, he wouldn’t allow her to suffer.
            “HAVE IT!”
            Nektann thrust the golden shield at Marcus’s face one last time for the final killing blow.
            However.
            He was unexpectedly stopped when a psychic blast suddenly came out of nowhere and cut through his chest, knocking him back several feet and forcing the scythe out of his hand.
            Latias’s Future Sight attack finally kicked in.
            However, it backfired as Nektann’s dropped scythe fell onto Marcus, cutting deep into his shoulder.
            “NO!” Latias cried out, guilt-ridden that her efforts only caused Marcus more pain.
            “Enough tricks!” Nektann got back on his feet, bleeding from his dented chest a little but undeterred as he brought the shield down on Marcus again. “Time to die!”
            Marcus suddenly raised his arm up, blocking the shield with all his remaining strength.
            “Huh?” Nektann growled, pushing the shield further still.
            Even as his consciousness nearly faded into complete darkness, Marcus heard Latias’s desperate plea break through, clear as day.
            “You can do it, Marcus! I BELIEVE IN YOU!”
In that moment, Marcus could’ve sworn he saw a small white rectangle at the bottom of his line of vision and the faint cheerful tune of a bell.

            [Latias learned Dragon Cheer!]

            “Y…you’re…” Marcus weakly mumbled as his vision returned, refusing to give in as his green eyes began to glow brightly with an otherworldly power. His cracked and broken metal face began to contort and shift back into position as his injuries rapidly healed. “You’re…”
            “What?!” Nektann grunted, pushing as hard as he could with both hands. How could this mere Matoran at the brink of death still possibly have the strength to resist? And how was he healing so fast?
            Using one hand to push Nektann’s shield back, Marcus grabbed his mask and placed it back on his fully-healed face.
            The Kanohi Pakari, the Mask of Strength.
            “You’re going down, Nektann.”
            The warlord looked on helplessly as his golden shield suddenly melted in his hand, slithering up Marcus’s arm and coating it entirely with its essence. Marcus intertwined his fingers with Nektann’s as they met in the middle, crushing his foe’s hand with iron force and snapping his wrist with a sickening pop.
            “AAAH!” Nektann recoiled, suddenly feeling a searing burn on the back of his hand. His skin melted like metal under a blowtorch where Marcus’s fingers had touched. “How?!”
            Before he could retaliate, a golden fist struck his face as Marcus leaped surprisingly high, delivering a powerful blow between Nektann’s eyes. The warlord howled in agony as he was sent hurtling several meters backward, crashing into a sizable boulder and shattering several more spikes on his back.
            Marcus took a brief moment to turn to Latias, kneeling beside her and gently resting his hand on her long neck.
            “Are you okay?”
            “My neck is a little sore, maybe bruised, but nothing’s broken.”
            “Good. Stay here and rest for a bit. Go invisible again so you don’t attract any unwanted attention,” Marcus commanded firmly. Latias nodded and wearily rested her head on the sand, disappearing again.
            “Marcus?”
            Marcus turned to the voice where Latias was hiding.
            “Kick his ass.”
            Marcus felt an electric jolt of adrenaline welling up within him again, just like before - the effects of Dragon Cheer. But in more ways than one, Latias truly made him feel powerful. Brave. Unstoppable.
            And there wasn’t a single doubt in his mind that she was the one.
            Further away, Nektann pulled out his scythe again as he coughed up a little silver blood.
            “This changes nothing! I’ll make you beg for death, Matoran!”
            The Matoran looked down at his hand and thought about what it had done to Nektann, an idea formulating in his head. Without a word, Marcus ran at the Skakdi head-on with fearlessness like that of a Toa. No more dodging. No more running. No more tricks. It was time to show this ruthless killer what he was really made of.
            Marcus didn’t take the time to notice, but the golden armor that had been stuck to his chest all this time suddenly shifted and molded seemingly with a mind of its own, crawling over his other arm to give him a matching pair of golden arms.
            Nektann swung his scythe downwards, but it clashed with Marcus’s fist and the blade began to crack. Wasting no time, Marcus ran between Nektann’s legs once again, but this time grabbed the tail-end of Nektann’s thorny spine and ripped the conjoined plug out of its socket with ease, severing the nerve tissue.
            “AAGH!” Nektann gritted his teeth and cried out with intense pain, a kind he’d never felt before. He slashed at Marcus with his cracked scythe, but this time Marcus grabbed the tip and snapped it clean off. The Matoran then hopped up and dug the scythe tip deep into a small part of exposed fleshy tissue in Nektann’s shoulder-blade between his armor before landing several quick punches on his stomach, each one with the force of a Tarakava’s strike.
            “NO! I won’t accept defeat from a filthy little MATORAN!” The enraged Skakdi kicked his clawed foot at Marcus, but was grabbed by his ankle and swung against the boulder. “I've slaughtered armies with a flick of my wrist! I’ve crushed entire kingdoms under my heel! How could you be any match for me?!”
            Marcus only squinted, no longer interested in banter.
            “You talk too much. And your days of conquest are over.”
            He held out his open hand, a tiny green ball of immense energy gathering in his palm.
            “Ch-cheating… you’re cheating! That’s the only explanation!” Nektann taunted, though it fell on deaf ears. “A simple Matoran like you could never win with strength and skill alone!”
            “I thought you knew every cheap, dirty, underhanded scheme there was. Your words.”
            The energy ball grew more and more, becoming increasingly unstable.
            “And I don’t know what I am exactly, but I think…”
            Marcus’s arm began to shake violently as the volatile sphere of plasma was becoming too much to bear, condensing down into an atomic hypermass.
            The energy of a star.

            “...I’m no Matoran.”

            Heads all over the warzone turned as the sight of a colossal green laser of light pierced the air with a deafening blast of charged electrons. Even the two fighting robots above seemed to take notice for a moment.

            “Haah… hahh…” Nektann huffed heavily as he toppled over limply on his side, feeling no pain, but far from uninjured. The entire left side of his torso had been completely vaporized and melted, with nearly half of his body now little more than a molten puddle of metal on the sand.
            With the threat now neutralized and her body no longer in pain, Latias rejoined Marcus as he approached his defeated opponent.
            ‘Marcus… just what are you…?’ she thought to herself, admittedly a little intimidated by the power he’d just exhibited. But nevertheless, she felt nothing but safe with him.
            “Kcch… gaah…” Nektann retched as he rolled over onto his stomach, grabbing his scythe tightly in his fist.
            “You’re done, Nektann. It’s over,” Marcus declared matter-of-factly as he stood over the warlord in victory.
            “I… don’t know how… but you are the victor.” Unexpectedly, Nektann then dropped his scythe at Marcus’s feet in surrender. “You won. So just kill me already.”
            Marcus glanced at Latias before he cautiously picked up the scythe, and scowled. As much as he wanted so badly to do it after the things Nektann said, the way he saw Latias as food… the thought of personally ending a life still unsettled him. Sure, he had just killed a Kraata not too long ago, but that was little more than a brainless slug. This was different. Perhaps there was still a chance for Nektann to redeem himself, he thought. Since these beings were clearly biomechanical, maybe he could be repaired. Join the good side. For as awful as Nektann was, a part of Marcus felt it wasn’t his place to make that decision - to take that chance of redemption away from him.
            “...No. You’ll live.” Marcus dropped the scythe in front of Nektann, much to Latias’s approval. “But you’ll never forget.”
            Marcus and Latias turned and began to walk away. Nektann, however, wasn’t so pleased.
            “You… you Matoran and Toa are ALL the same.” Nektann grabbed his scythe again angrily as the two turned their heads, prepared for him to attack. “You and your sickening sense of justice. That you, a Matoran, would somehow defeat me… rob me of my dignity… and then DISGRACE me by letting me live?! The great Nektann, defeated by a Matoran! IT IS AN UNFORGIVABLE INSULT! I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS!”
            Nektann positioned the broken blade of his scythe upwards, biting down on the cold steel as his red eyes stared up at Marcus with a psychotic glare. He took several deep breaths, his torn body shuddering in anticipation as he braced himself for his destiny. He screamed his parting words through his large, crooked teeth.
            “IF YOU WON’T GRANT ME MY DESTINY, THEN I’LL DO IT MYSELF! HHRRAAA-”
Marcus and Latias looked on in stunned shock as Nektann suddenly went dead-silent. The top of his lifeless blue skull rolled onto the sand before them.
            “Hurkk-!” The two turned opposite ways, both instantly and violently dry-heaving in horrified disgust at the sight.
            'What the fuck. What the fuck.'
            Marcus truly hoped Nektann would've changed his ways, to take the opportunity to become a force for good - but apparently, that was not the destiny Nektann ever wanted.
            “Well… we did it, Marcus. Just four pieces left,” a familiar voice in his head finally returned. “
            ‘Yeah, no thanks to you,’ Marcus thought angrily, still hunched over and trying to forget the visceral scene he’d just witnessed. ‘Whaddya mean ‘we’?’
            “Hey, I never left. How do you think we absorbed the shield like that? Or how you suddenly got golden gloves?”
            ‘That was you?’ Marcus thought. ‘But how?’
            “Honestly, I’m still not sure about that yet. I just concentrated really hard and sort of… became the armor.” As Delta spoke, the golden armor still covering Marcus’s arms shifted once again, one sliding up to cover his chest and the other reforming into the shield, just as it was before. “It feels like it was made for me, or even… like I was made for it.”
            ‘So that green energy just now… what that-’
            “That, I have no idea. That wasn’t me, that was all you.”
            Marcus looked down at his hand curiously, noting that all traces of the mysterious green energy had completely disappeared. He had found himself in a war with no memories, shared a body with another soul, found strange golden armor, met a Latias who also had no memories, nearly died five separate times, and now he discovered he possessed some kind of superpower - all within less than an hour.
            And that was only the beginning.
            “Delta!”
            Marcus and Latias turned abruptly to the sound of an unfamiliar voice, ready for another fight. However, they were approached not by Rahkshi, Skrall, or Skakdi - they were greeted by a white Toa wearing sleek silver armor and wielding two staffs, his mask glittering like a precious illuminated diamond. His powerful yet gentle aura immediately quelled their fears and filled them with a sense of hope.
            And in his arm, he carried another piece of golden armor.
            “That armor…” the Toa muttered, looking down at Marcus sternly. “Where did you find it?”
            “Who wants to know?” Marcus asked in return, keeping his guard up. No matter where he went, it seemed like everyone wanted to get their hands on it.
            “You’re not really Delta, are you? Very well. I am Takanuva, Toa of Light.” the Toa said.

            “And you’re coming with me.”", "pools_count": 1, "title": "(FANFIC) Destiny Delta - Road 1: The Cosmic Catalyst - Chapter 3: Delta and Goliath", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "image/png", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "5", "name": "Strong Violence", "description": "Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "f", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "1", "views": "86" }