Ok but what if Toa!Matoran!Teridax?

(A live-updating list of stuff I use can be found here, feel free to suggest anything not on that list via my askbox.)

Little bite of what will be the main theme/motif for this project. I used Essengers beach chant remaster as a base and built on it.

Kongu conducting the strange art of Gukko training.

Kaita Akamai final. Notice the eviscerated rahkshi.

Kaita Akamai MOC. Just so y'all know I'm a real one. I'll be using this guy as a model for a later Akamai art piece. (I know his brain stalk is the wrong color I'm so very sorry)

The undertow had pulled Gali far out into the ocean, but she didn't move a muscle. The water is home, and she felt security in communion with it. Even in this unfamiliar ocean past Ko-Wahi, she could surrender and let the will of the waves carry her where they would. Gali gazed at the sky and savored the comforting pressure from underneath her arms, bobbing her up and down gently as she drifted out to sea. The ocean is endlessly generous with her. Even when the currents bend to her will, it seemed to Gali that the ocean were only granting her permission to guide it. A small whirlpool formed around her and she dipped beneath the waves. As she sank, she let her eyes drift shut and she began breathing in slow, deep lungfuls of ocean water. Coolness washed through her organs, invigorating, purifying. Her consideration drifted here and there through the labyrinth of her mind as she was pulled toward the ocean floor. She felt her feet touch solid ground and she opened her eyes. Before her, enormous arches and beams jutted out of the ocean floor like the bones of some long-forgotten creature. The architecture was magnificent, but it was unlike anything she had seen on the island of Mata-Nui. Beyond the outer wall of beams, central to what may have been a temple stood a colossal statue of a hunched figure. It reminded Gali of a Toa, but different; more raw and archaic. One of its long, curved arms reached down, knuckles resting on the ground, while the other held a square hammer skyward. Despite it's humped back, and ape-like form, the figure held its head high and proud. It's mask was oblong and reptilian, the eyes behind it, primal yet serene.

The earth hums to Onua.

He senses every vibration for miles around him; the distinct steps of many Matoran, the pounding of blacksmiths hammers in ta-koro above, heards of rahi barrelling through ko-wahi.

A tapestry of information endlessly passes through Onua's mind. It is a great tectonic plate carved with softly glowing runes, scraping through his thought-scape.

He stands stone still, considering everything the earth shares with him.

The earth beneath is old. Echoes of vibrations from the ancient past still move through it, nearly imperceptible.

Nearly.

Onua listens harder. He hears voices that haven't spoken in millenia, but he doesn't understand the language.

There is a thread. A thread he can follow.

He pushes a synapse of his brain out on the forth axis of spatial dimensionality.

There are two voices, distinct yet similar. One cries out like a wild Rahi, the other is stoic and cold.

His heart was nearly bursting with gratitude as he sprinted through open desert. Pohatu often let his mind wander while running the sands of Po-Wahi, and he again found himself on a familiar thought.

"Of all the forms life may take.."

He registered every detail he passed. He considered every stubborn shrub; every round little bird on stalk legs.

"I get to be a Toa."

He thought of his brothers and sister. He thought of Kopaka, whom he considered the greatest of them. Before any other Toa, Kopaka had defended the island alone for many years.

Pohatu had been the second to land, and he had nearly been too late.

He thought back to the horrible bohrok swarms, rotund insectoid beasts of gnashing teeth and snapping pincers. They had crawled from beneath the earth by the thousands and together, Kopaka and Pohatu drove them back.

Pohatu was closing in on the great canyon Tiro. Never dropping speed, he caught the edge with one clawed foot and kicked off powerfully. It was like flying.

He thought of Lewa as he soared through the air. Lewa was a beacon to his Koro. He kept a friendship with every Le-matoran he could possibly manage. Pohatu had witnessed Lewa's visits to Le-Koro and they were always accompanied by cheering, stomping tribal dances. Lewa took genuine interest in his people, notably taking care to call each one by name.

Pohatu touched down on the other side of Tiro Canyon, falling right back into a run that never broke stride. Euphoric waves of endorphins pulsed through him. It seemed he didn't even have to think about moving his legs, they simply carried him where he wished to go with long, explosive strides.

In Pohatu's mind, it was perfectly balanced. Mata-Nui had given him everything he could ever want, so he would give to his people, everything he could give.

"I landed before any of the others. Alone, I have played the role destiny dealt me for a century, and now you come to me and call yourself my leader?"

Kopaka had closed the gap between them with deliberate, glacial movement. He was immense, and stood too close for comfort. The air around Tahu had become even colder, leaving him shivering. Kopaka continued in a voice reedy and dry from lack of use. "I have studied in the greatest libraries on the island. I have walked every Wahi in meditation of the prophecies you irreverently spit and I have come to understand their context. You are no leader to me."

Perhaps it was divine will truly moving through Tahu, or maybe his ego had just been so stroked by prophecies of his own greatness. Either way, Tahu knew he had to make a powerful impression on his stubborn brother.

In an instant, he willed his hands to become superheated and he took hold of Kopaka by the forearms. Tahu had him caught in a savage vice grip that hissed and sputtered on contact.

"I am the will of Mata Nui! I bear his mask and I walk his path with blind devotion!"

"Quiet." Kopaka croaked as he pulled his brother down and sharply brought his knee up toward his chin. To his shock, Tahu drove his face down toward it as he was pulled, causing Kopakas knee to crash against his Kanohi Hau and stomp back down into the snow. Splintering pain shot through his leg as his heel slammed into an inconvenient stone. Tahu had not let go. He was still howling about divine providence and delivering the Matoran from darkness. Obnoxious.

Kopaka manifested a storm of freezing rain around them; bitter cold, cruel sheets that froze in layers upon each other.

Tahu now sat with his knees drawn up to his chest, mumbling unintelligibly, eyes rolling around in their sockets. Without a word or a second glance, Kopaka then turned and strode away into the white.

Tahu marched down the stairs with purpose, mind buzzing with the words Vakama had spoken to him. He loved the Ta-Matoran already; industrious, proud, and tough. Even the smallest of them looked Tahu straight in the eye and spoke from their chest as they regarded him, blunt and sincere. Ta-koro and the way of it's people inspired powerful protective instincts in Tahu. Had it not been for the task ahead, he felt he could have stayed forever, basking in the warmth of the foundry, standing guard over the beating heart of Mata-Nui.

It felt as though he could run forever, fight anything, and never sleep again. The prophesied threat didn't even have a name in Tahus mind, yet he longed to face it. He longed to face nightmares and dare them to stand against him. In his mind, he saw himself blazing white hot, monsters blowing apart before him like paper tossed into a furnace. There was a spreading warmth in his chest and audible hum filling the air. Little waves of heat danced in front of Tahus vision and the edges of his armor began to glow as his body heated.

Of course he would be the leader of the Toa, how could anyone deny him? Lewa had accepted him without question, and every matoran so far had been in complete awe. Tahu was ready to step smoothly into his role as leader of the Toa without challenge. Unburdened by intelligence enough to be cynical about anything, he marched on, humming the song he had heard in the village.

Verdant eyes gleamed with a fierce intensity behind his angular Kanohi mask. His gaze darted continually, following every rustle and twitter in the undergrowth.

"We've been expecting you, brother." A wide smile painted the visible bottom half of the green figures face.

The red giant dropped his balled fists and let them fall open. "Brother?" He said slowly, deliberately. His thoughts traversed the corridors of his own essence, fragments of forgotten identity and purpose were rekindled by the verdant sentinel's words.

"Yes! You're my brother!" He spread his arms in a dramatic gesture. "We are the protectors of this land, and all its people. We are Toa!" Elation sparkled in his eyes, his enthusiasm contagious.

He put his hand on the red giants shoulder and lowered his voice. "A protector ought not be leaving such burn-scars on the forest." He was solemn for a moment, offering this with stoic humility. The familiar pang of guilt clawed at the red giant with renewed strength. He resolved internally to limit his destructive capability, for in that moment, it seemed that the well being of every plant and creature was his responsibility.

The green strangers smile quickly returned and he began hopping from foot to foot. With a wave of his arm, the earlier discarded sword flew back into view, landing at the red giants feet. "Take up your sword brother, and see that you aren't so easliy parted with it!"

The red giant stooped and took the blade in his hand. It roared to life once again, flame roiling and swimming across the blade. He quickly dropped it back into the scabbard at his hip, taking care not to touch any of the plant life.

"I am Lewa." the green figure declared.