The desert sun of Spherus Magna shone with merciful restraint on the morning of an important foraging party returning to the Mega-Village, the place where all Agori have finally settled -- thanks in large part to the dismantling of the Matoran Universe. The dangers of the road however are yet numerous, and thus, it is still necessary for Glatorian or Toa escorts to accompany their smaller counterparts. This particular caravan enjoys the company of Toa, three of them to be exact, and thankfully they had not run in to any serious problems which could not be rectified with a simple twirling of a blade or an exercise of elemental power.

Night fell, and the group was only half-way to their destination. Tiring at last of walking, they did decide that the creation of a camp was in order, and so an armful of firewood was sacrificed for this purpose. There was a great calm in the Toa's minds, they knew peace for once in their lives. Not a peace in which their services were never needed, but a peace in which both strong and weak alike could live reasonably without fear. It was by no means a paradise. After all, it didn't need to be, and probably shouldn't be. For without even mild hardship life is meaningless. They did not get around to actually contemplating any of this though, they were merely content to gaze up into the night sky and watch the stars.

The group's resident Toa of water smiled warmly as she spied a brilliant ruby streaking across the sky. "Look!" She cried happily, "A shooting... star? Wait, since when did the Red Star ever go that fast?" This question began to seemingly carry greater weight the faster the star travelled. It was extremely perplexing to say the least. Especially considering the fact it was growing... larger.

The Agori were calmly napping in the caravan wagon when they heard a chilling scream of agony and pain coupled with a loud and resounding crash. When they naturally peeked out the wagon to see what in the Magna was going on, they saw to their horror various pieces of scattered Toa armor, as well as a massive silver drake, furiously savaging the two remaining Toa. Its wings were as flaming claws, sweeping out and evaporating the Toa of water where she stood. The last surviving Toa, one of stone, stood some distance away and attempted to chuck a boulder at the beast's head. As he did this however, the dragon had sped off from his line of sight, and then a strange pointed object rocketed straight into his back, sending him prone to the ground, motionless. It was not a projectile, but the same wing that had slain the Toa of water, only turned backwards. Evidently the drake had used a point on the front of its wing and thrusted it forward with some manner of indredible thrust, piercing the Toa easily. It was a feat of pure speed, one that had not been replicated in any other living creature to date, save perhaps the Great Beings themselves. With a mighty, almost falcon-like screech, the beast then triumphantly burst off back to the stars whence it had come, Leaving behind naught but scorched earth and scattered pieces of disfigured metal in its wake. Miraculously, the two Agori and their wagon were completely untouched, almost as if the creature merely wished to see the Toa dead.

It was supposed to be a simple op for Kratark. Investigate the complete obliteration of three Toa. Toa who were slain in the middle of the night when the Mega-Village of all things was actually visible on the horizon. Or at least, visible to a Makuta. For the sake of increasing his chances of being uninterrupted, he cast a ring of darkness several miles around the crime scene, leaving the actual site of the debacle fully lit. Kratark was not too keen on being snuck up on at this time of night, but wasn't about to make the crime scene itself harder to investigate than it already was. The only thing the Makuta could find were scraps of broken and heavily burnt armor. The burns themselves were nothing he had not seen before -- after all, there are few horrors a Makuta doesn't know of. He did note however that whatever had vaporised these Toa was most likely a plasma of some sort. With this in mind, whatever bits and pieces of metal left should have counted themselves as very lucky indeed to be able to provide Kratark with such evidence. The Makuta could identify, ironically, a Toa of fire, and a Toa of stone as one of the victims. The Toa of stone in particular though was the most intact, evidently something large and pointy had to go at great speed straight into the unfortunate defender's back. In the sand on the other side of the exit wound there was no projectile to be found, only a distinct indentation in the ground to mark where a weapon of some sort went through the Toa. It was reported to Kratark there were three Toa but he could not find any traces of armor that were any colors other than red or brown.

"Greeeeeat..." the Makuta remarked, "The only people insane enough to use plasma in this way have got to be Makuta. There's no way a Toa would do something like this, and evidently Glatorian are powerless -- except for the Great Beings, who don't do anything."

He crossed his arms, gazing at the broken scraps of metal with pity in his eyes.

"Welp, I feel bad for the fool who thought they'd get away with this. Tracking whoever did this down is gonna be just too easy... it's embarrassing, really."

From further examination of the wreckage, Kratark could deduce the exact causes for death of each Toa. The first was evidently hit by a comet, there was evidence of a large object tackling itself into a Toa from high above, sliding some distance along the sand before skidding to a halt. The pieces of red armor on the scene corroborated this due to the random and devastating way in which they were scattered. The second Toa was simply evaporated where it stood, Kratark reasoned, and no fire hot enough could have done that sort of thing to a Toa, much less one of water. No, this was the work of a plasma user. From that useful clue, Kratark narrowed it down to three suspect races: it might have been a Makuta, assuming it was wearing a kakama and had wings of some sort. It could have been a Toa of plasma, though far less likely. Or it could have been a Great Being, even less likely. No matter. Whatever depraved individual who had comitted this crime would know all-too-soon the sting of darkness redirected against the darkness. They would know what it means to face villainy's villain. They would know Kratark, and they would be made to pay for what they did with their lives, souls, and whatever else they had left to give. Twisting into the form of a familiar Rahi, the Makuta fled off into the night, leaving a quiet and tranquil blanket of darkness and ash in his wake. The hunt for the plasma-user was on.

Kratark is normally loathe to shapeshift, but there is however one form besides his usual one he is willing to take: that of his fallen pet, Waffles. Sadly, the Makuta can no longer remember what viruses he used to create the deadly Rahi-slaying disease that once made his pet so strong, but he can however emulate the beast's form and strength, and that would have to do. It was the least he could do for the memory of such a loyal companion. The Makuta began his search silently roaming the wilderness, as other Makuta had been known to wander the night in search of lifeforms to absorb in order to maintain their decaying forms. Indeed, the Brotherhood was in shambles and had yet to sufficiently regroup so as to be a sufficient threat to the sapient races of Spherus Magna. Save perhaps the Vorox, whom even a Glatorian could easily tame given enough insight and use of force. In fact -- speak of the devils, Kratark spied a small pack of Vorox and Zesk carrying the carcass of a rock steed of all things. Only Vorox with the aid of Makuta enhancements or technology could hope to have brought down such a beast. This was a veritable jackpot for Kratark. Even if the Makuta wasn't the one who slew those three Toa, it was still a Makuta, one who was trying to build up a force no less. That threat at least could be ended here and now, and would give Kratark the opportunity to punch someone, which is something he had not done in quite some time.

The Makuta in the form of the long extinct Magala crept stealthily and concealed itself within shadows of its own making. As cliché as that sounds, it is an effective strategy nonetheless. The Vorox, none-the wiser, were now quite close to their den by this point, just about ready to drool with excited hunger. And just as he predicted would be the case, Kratark could now spy a tattered banner in the distance upon a mound. The small, pitiful banner depicted a Kraahkan with cliché red eyes staring down on the onlooker: this was the insignia of the Brotherhood. Kratark readied himself to barrel in and savage anything that he could find. Suddenly though, before Kratark could engage the enemy, a red comet dropped from the sky.

There was something about the drake's form too that struck Kratark as all-too familiar... and then it hit him. The small, Kanohi-like head. The long, strong body and tail. Its four agile legs. But most importantly: its wings. Large and menacing, weapons unto themselves. Kratark could immediately visualize the way this beast could have killed those three Toa -- it was all but based on his own Waffles! Kratark could have sworn the bone structure to be identical to Waffles'! The similarities were completely uncanny. Kratark's proverbial blood boiled. This insufferable copy of Waffles could not be suffered to mock the noble beast's memory! "Scuuuuumbaaaaaaaaag!!!!!" he yelled, emerging from the darkness and charging forward on all sixes with reckless abandon. "Bingo" the drake on the opposite side seemed to remark, rocketing forth on the plasma exhaust from its trident-like wings, bursting well beyond the speed of sound. Kratark seeing this immediately took off into the sky, only to fire shadow bolts on the red comet. Each one missed, and he found himself tackled into the ground only a second after having made that initial attack. Using intangibilty, he rolled out of the way to try and outmaneuver his opponent, but the opposing Rahi was too fast. He then resolved to teleport into the sky, a tactic which allowed him to remain solid for roughly three seconds before having bolts of plasma launched at him. These were reflected with a simple magnetic field on Kratark's part though, and a violet lightning strike followed, smiting the copy-cat Rahi directly on the head... to nearly no effect. There is only one kind of being in all the universe that cannot be affected by lightning: Makuta.