Day 1 Morning

[Kopaka]

Before fighting Jupiter...

Once again, spirited away to another time and place. Kopaka let out a long, rattling sigh as he heaved his metallic body to its feet. Soft, white sand whispered under his feet as he turned around on the spot, taking in the landscape around him. It felt...very familiar. For a brief instant, the Toa wondered if he had somehow wound up back on Mata Nui. If, somehow, the Omniverse and all of its oddities had been but an odd dream right before awakening.

...but no. It didn't feel right. One glance through the eyes of the Akaku told Kopaka that he was still in this accursed land. At least he had the benefit of essentially being on native grounds. A vast island with a dense wilderness...it was almost laughably ideal. Kopaka, however, did not laugh. Looking around, he searched for the weapon that Teucer had promised him, but saw neither blade nor hammer to wield against a foe. There was simply what appeared to be a sack of eerily glowing food items not too far away up the shoreline. Provisions then? It would have to do. Even without his sword and shield, Kopaka was more than capable of sparring with an opponent unarmed, though it was still far from ideal. It seemed that one advantage would always be countered by another drawback.

At least the optical enhancements on the Mask of X-Ray Vision were still functional. Though they were hard to see over the heavy canopy of jungle that began just up the beach, Kopaka could just barely spot the glistening white peaks of a mountain range off in the distance. That was his new objective. Not only would the frosty peaks give him a further environmental advantage, but they would also allow the Toa to survey the entire island after reaching one of the razor sharp summits. Looking at them from such a distance reminded Kopaka of gazing at the singular volcanic peak of Mount Ihu, barely visible on the horizon from the shoreline of Daxia. Kopaka grunted as a surge of memories washed over his mind like one of the whispering sheets of sea water behind him.

"Do you think we will be ever-loved? Will they sing songs about us, even as we stand in the same tree-home?

Much to Kopaka's chagrin, Hydraxon had assigned him with the despicably verbose Lewa, Toa of Air. It was no wonder he had so much breath to spare. Their initial task for the day had been to gather as many Cokri shells as they could from the shoals on the north side of the island. For what reason, Hydraxon would not say, but the tedium of such a task was not well suited for Lewa. Perhaps it was to be a lesson of patience for the both of them. Lewa would have to learn to focus and commit to even the most menial tasks, and Kopaka would have to learn to endure the company of his second least favorite sibling.

At least, that's what Kopaka hoped.

The Toa of Ice rose from the sea water, the salty liquid refusing to freeze even on Kopaka's frigid protodermis. He looked to his viridian brother with a hard look, before turning back to the surf and resuming his digging through the sand.

"Fame and Glory. These things aren't our concern, Lewa. We are heroes not because we slay evil and have statues carved. We are heroes because we are willing to do what needs to be done, even if it is painful. Especially if is painful." Kopaka said, his comparatively deep voice contrasting against Lewa's tittering laughter. The Toa of Ice had hoped his words would give Lewa something to think about, preferably in silence, for at least a few moments.

"Haha, well of course! But isn't it nice to have people like you?" Lewa responded, eliciting an almost instantaneous growl from Kopaka.

"Gratitude is a perk, not a motivator. If you only do great deeds only to be thanked for them, that makes you selfish, not a hero. That's simply taking advantage of other people's problems and using them as leverage."

Lewa let out a long sigh.

"Your heart is as frozen as your thinking, Toa of Slush. Nobody with Light in them would do such a thing."

This time it was Kopaka's turn to provide a snap comment.

"Maybe not intentionally, but seeing these things in one's self does require a modicum of introspection, Toa of Breezes."

This time, Lewa did stay silent. Perhaps Kopaka had hurt the green biomech's feelings. It didn't matter. If such a thing really soured Lewa's mood, his naive brother could do with some thicker skin. It seemed as though Kopaka had gotten his wish.

But maybe that hadn't been the right way to do it.



The world slowly came back into focus, like surfacing from a pool of inky water. These memory surges were becoming increasingly problematic, but at least they gave Kopaka more context to the world he had been taken from. Cycling his optics a few times, Kopaka let out a long sigh and resumed figuring out a course of action.

After observing the movement of the sun for a few moments, the Toa discerned that they were to the west. Picking up the flimsy bag of eerie blue food, Kopaka immediately began a swift march down the coastline. It would be better to stick to the shoreline to avoid getting lost in the jungle until absolutely necessary. To say that the biomech was in high spirits would be an overstatement of his level of optimism, but at the very least, Kopaka was feeling confident already.

After fighting Jupiter...

That had been a poor showing.

Yes, arguably Kopaka had 'won' the altercation, but there was a difference between being victorious and being successful. His real objective, the human's knife, had escaped along with the modified biological. That left Kopaka unarmed, with only a gash to show for it. Luckily, his frozen body prevented the wound from bleeding, but the fact that the knife had managed to pierce his protosteel exoskeleton was bizzare, let alone embarassing.

Perhaps the mysteries of this island would be completely laid bare, but with any luck, Kopaka would be long rid of this farce before approaching that point of illumination. For now, he needed to find a better way to carry this sack of sustenance. Kopaka had managed to find a safe place to stash the food before ambushing the human, but up until that point it had required him to keep one arm occupied with carrying the load. If he himself was ambushed, it would not do fight single-handed, especially without something to defend himself.

Luckily, Kopaka had learned more than just sword techniques and tactical conditioning under Hydraxon's tutelage. It had been a long, long time, but Kopaka still remembered the fundamentals of basket weaving. He had been moving at a steady pace for several hours now, and it would be good to have something to occupy his mind while he took a rest.

Scraping together some fallen, dried palm fronds, the biomech began to weave and bind the plant matter together to form a simple woven sack with a strap to slip around his shoulder made of corded creeper vines. It would not hold up to much punishment, and would likely require recurring maintenance, but for now, it at least accomplished an immediate problem. The glowing food items were a tight fit for the bag, but with a few adjustments to the satchel and some light cramming, it all went in.

The Toa admired his own handiwork, seated under the shade of a bowed palm tree, with the sound of the ocean in front of him. Shore birds skittered along the surf, plucking shellfish from the sand and calling to eachother with abrupt bursts of chirping. Kopaka knew he would need to get moving again soon if he was to make any real progress, but for now, for the first time in a long time, he was content.