The Search (BZPRPG)

The Search
Event
RPG	The Academy/BZPRPG
Location	Archives, Onu-Metru, Metru-Nui
Year	2006
Date	April 15 - April 16
Before	Reprieve (BZPRPG)
After	Kohm (BZPRPG)
Pages	21 - 25

[[Category:Events (The Academy/BZPRPG)]]

Zyrul's Leave

Zyrul (BZPRPG) gathers his cloak around his body. He is taking temporary leave from The Academy; he must go to see a friend.

No...not a friend. An ally. There are no friends. Only allies...and enemies.

He turns to Kyshim, who is also cloaked. "My leave must remain secret. I'll be gone for a day or so. I don't want any sort of suspicions fluttering around The Academy. Nor do I want any rebellion. If you see any rebellion, stamp it out as fast as possible."

He glares at his Right Hand.

"And that includes you."

Kyshim nods, understanding the sincerity of the situation. He won't be able to start a rebellion, but having his Master gone for a day or two will certainly work to his advantage.

"Yes, master."

The two bow to each other, salute, and depart.

Kyshim turns to see his master walk off towards the barren horizon. Kyshim himself has barely ever been outside of The Academy. His master will be stepping into a world of rebellion and chaos. What...allies will be found out there?

A wave of dust conceals Zyrul for a moment as he walks on.

In a few moments, it has vanished. And so has Zyrul.

The Armor

Tommi (BZPRPG) leaves Alta (BZPRPG) at her dorm room and heads off to his own. Happy that she has made a friend and made one more step towards becoming sociable, Alta leaps onto her bed with a smile. It is not long before curiosity overpowers her, however, and Alta pulls out the mysterious golden suit of armor she found in the Archives, beginning to examine it.

Assembling the Team

Upon returning to his room, Tommi discovers a note which contains VMN's message to his friends. Worried, he informs Lazok (BZPRPG) who also received a note, though the worry quickly gives way to action. The two begin putting together a team to search for VMN (The Academy). The recruits include Alta, Saeras (BZPRPG), Pohaka (BZPRPG), Matuk, and Rahkar (The Academy). Rumors have already spread about VMN's apparently senseless assault on Zyrul, and the Rebels know that it won't be long before VMN is captured by the Metru-Nuian authorities or the Elites. The team splits into groups of two and three who go off in different directions to track VMN, while Lazok and Saeras stay behind to recruit more Rebels to help look for VMN. Lazok alerts Votan and Dwin (BZPRPG) to the situation before running into Seshu (The Academy). Once again, friendship wins out over allegiance -- Lazok tells Seshu of VMN's disappearance, and the Toa of Density is more than happy to help.

Meanwhile, VMN has found a hiding spot back in the Archives where he and his friends went just a few days before. After dozing off against his pet Muaka, Striper, for almost a day, VMN decides out of the blue to go back to the Academy, realizing the foolishness of his decision. However, he ends up getting lost in the Archives, wandering around in its tunnels aimlessly.

Adventure in the Archives...Again

The search team meets up again, and, using Dwin's shapeshifting abilities, decide to try a different approach. Dwin tracks VMN's already quickly-disappearing scent to Onu-Metru and the Archives. The search team of ten Toa strong enters the museum without much hesitation, though only an hour into the search run into their first obstacle. VMN's scent trail diverges across three tunnels, and the search team has little choice but to split into three groups: the first, Rahkar, Pohaka, and Votan; the second, Tommi, Alta, and Matuk; the third, Lazok, Saeras, Dwin, and Seshu.

Seshu almost finds himself asking to go with Rahkar, though holds his tongue, suddenly and inexplicably embarrassed. His silence loses him his chance, as the groups split up.

Group 2: Alta travels with Matuk and Tommi through the middle tunnel, a bit nervous as she wonders what the consequences of running off to search for VMN would be.

"This is no good-fun at all," Matuk murmurs aloud and breaking the tension. Soon, as the trio begin a conversation, Alta finds her anxiety dissipating.

Group 3: It isn't long before Lazok's team runs into more trouble, in the form of a young Tahtorak. It doesn't seem much of a threat, but Saeras reminds the others that "where there is a child, there is also its parent."

Lazok asks whether they should fight it or find another route, but the decision is made for them, as a roar reverberates the tunnel. The mother will soon enter the tunnel.

"Dwin!" Seshu shouts. "Use your power!"

Dwin understands what Seshu is trying to say, and morphs into a Tahtorak. One short and bloodless confrontation later, Tahtorak-Dwin convinces the mother and child to leave them alone.

Group 2: The trio has just stopped to make camp when they hear a roar from somewhere within the tunnels. The three consult each other, and Alta surprises herself by reassuring her companions.

"I'm sure it's just a Muaka or an Ash Bear or a--" Before she finishes her sentence, a huge claw brushes up against the Alta, nearly drawing blood. She leaps away, quipping to Tommi and Matuk, "I stand corrected."

Group 3: Dwin, Lazok, Saeras, and Seshu have just decided to turn back when they hear sounds of fighting. Saeras suggests that they go assist their teammates, but they don't get far before they hear a pair of hungry roars behind them. They flee, splitting up into two tunnels and getting separated in the process.

Saeras tells Seshu to go on and find the others while he holds off the lone Rahi that has followed them. Lazok and Dwin tag team the other Rahi, quickly slaying it with a combination of Lazok's bladework and Dwin's shapeshifting abilities.

Group 2: Alta, Tommi, and Matuk attempt to fight off a tribe of Kahgarak, but a mutant Kikanalo joins them, leaving the trio vastly outnumbered.

Group 1: Seshu catches up with Rahkar, Pohaka, and Votan, just as they run into a separate tribe of Visorak led by a Zivon. They begin to fight their way through, and midway into the skirmish run into none other than...VMN, already heavily wounded and holding the Visorak off alongside Striper.

Dwin and Lazok follow the sounds of the fighting until they run into a dead end. Lazok uses his Earth powers to break them through, right into the middle of the cavern where Group 1, Seshu, and VMN are fighting the Visorak. Dwin immediately shapeshifts into a Tahtorak, looming over all the other beasts as he tears through dozens of Visorak at a time.

The Kahgarak tribe have meanwhile slowly driven Alta, Tommi, and Matuk back, into the main Visorak tribe. Tommi and Matuk valiantly fight off the Kahgarak, but Alta has trouble with the Kikanalo Hordika, whose berserk charges she is hard-pressed to avoid in the closed space. Lazok literally leaps onto the scene, hurling his gigantic broadsword at the beast to challenge it in one-on-one battle, and freeing Alta to go assist the others. After a quick but bloody battle, Lazok manages to transmute the ground beneath them into quicksand, trapping the Kikanalo Hordika. The elemental drain, however, leaves Lazok weakened and defenseless from the swarm of Visorak.

Fortunately, the final member of the Search Team rejoins the group: with a battle cry, Saeras runs into the fray, throwing his whirling throwing glaive with a grunt at the beast attacking his allies.

Inspired by Saeras's arrival, the rest of the team fights with renewed vigor, saving Lazok and an unconscious Dwin. But this moment doesn't last long -- the fighting has caused a cave-in. The eleven Toa attempt to escape the Archives, but to no avail, as the tunnels collapse on top of them.

Shaul

On one of the outskirt islands of Metru Nui, there is a tavern. In that tavern is just about every criminal imaginable, mostly rogue Dark Hunters and Matoran crooks. Mutants commonly come there as well. Everybody's welcome. Everybody except Toa.

So when Zyrul, clearly a Toa, enters the tavern, the crooks aren't too happy. One hunter stands, drawing a dagger. "You know your kind aren't welcome here. So why don't you just get up and get out?"

No response.

The hunter approaches, getting face-to-face with Zyrul.

"I said...get out."

Still no response.

"That's it. I'm obviously going to have to persuade you...Eraaaaaaagh!"

Zyrul breaks both the hunters' arms as well as his dagger's blade barehanded, in one fluid motion. The hunter's buddies decide to join in the fight. Drawing swords, they approach the stranger. Zyrul throws the broken hunter into a table, then, turning to the other hunters, he readies himself.

Sonic blasts, breaking bones, the sound of masks shattering into pieces from Zyrul's blows fills the tavern. It quickly becomes chaos, with everybody was joining in.

In a sudden sort of truce, everyone catches their breath...everyone except Zyrul. Slowly, the Headmaster draws two long blades.

"I would prefer not to make a scene." He twirls his blades. "So if you wouldn't mind letting me a get a drink, I won't mind sparing your lives."

One by one, the crooks sit back down to drown their troubles with a few rounds of Proto Juice.

Zyrul takes a seat at the bar table. The obese bartender, a former Dark Hunter, approaches him. "Look, I don't know who told you you could come down here, but we don't serve Toa in these here parts. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to..."

"Shaul..." Zyrul says calmly, pointing up to his right eye and the yellow scar that runs down and straight through the pupil.

The bartender's eyes widen. "Korzak?! What are you doing-"

"Shhh! Sh!" Zyrul holds up a finger. "That name's not safe anymore."

Shaul grins; in all the years he's known Zyrul, he's never quite gotten used to the fact that he always has a new name every time he walks in. "So what's the identity now? And why the Toa get-up?"

"They call me Zyrul now."

Shaul coughs on his drink.

"Zyrul?! As in..."

"Yes. As in The Academy."

"What, have you gone and joined the other side now? Is that it?"

Zyrul shakes his head. "No. You might say I'm building up my own side."

"I don't follow ya'."

Zyrul leans in closer. "I'm building an army of Toa. My own personal army. Like the Bohrok Swarms of ancient. You see, with them under the illusion that they're going to eliminate all Evil from this world, they're clueless to the fact that they're becoming the Evil themselves. By the time they discover their mistake, it'll be too late. I'll have ultimate control and I'll be able to cast any rebellion into the streets to be eaten by the Muaka."

Shaul leans back against the wall, trying hard to take this all in. Zyrul has always been one for big schemes, but this is bigger than any of them. "But do you really think it will work?"

Zyrul chuckles as he takes another gulp of Proto Juice. "The Toa have always been successful recruits in the past. They're keen warriors. Just on the wrong side. I aim to change that." He finishes his cup and scooted it aside. "But I need your help."

He grins at the man who has been his ally on several occasions.

"What's it going to be, Shaul? Are you in..."

He smashes the metal cup with his palm.

"...or out?"