Bionicle Adventures

"Bionicle Adventures" is the second book series based in the Bionicle universe. It covers the events that occurred in the storyline's 2004-2005 story arc. It is preceded by the "Bionicle Chronicles" series and followed by the "Bionicle Legends" series; though as "Adventures" is almost exclusively told in flashbacks, it takes place a thousand years before either one.

After Makuta's defeat at the end of Bionicle Chronicles, the Turaga elders are telling the tale of how the Great Spirit Mata Nui entered his endless sleep.

ources

The main events of the "Adventures" story arc are told in:
* The ten "Bionicle Adventures" books (which include the movie novelizations).
* Issues 16 to 27 of the "Bionicle" comic book, which was distributed to Lego Club members and later published online [http://www.lego.com/eng/bionicle/story/2005/comics.aspx here] at Bionicle.com.
* Two direct-to-video movies: ' and '

The following sources provide background information and tell side stories taking place during "Bionicle Adventures":
* A set of six mini-CDs distributed with Toa Metru toy sets, showing the first events of "Adventures".
* The "Bionicle: Metru Nui City Guide", written as a travel guide to the city during the Morbuzakh attacks.
* The "Bionicle: Rahi Beasts" guide, written from the perspective of the Rahaga during the Visorak invasion.
* The "Bionicle Encyclopedia", which has entries covering the entire saga at the time of its publication (just prior to the conclusion of "Adventures"). It also includes a short story relating Nidhiki's origins.
* A series of online animations featuring a side story that occurred during the Visorak invasion, published [http://www.lego.com/eng/bionicle/story/2005/ani.aspx?id=2005 here] at Bionicle.com.
* A video game, "Bionicle: Maze of Shadows", which is adaptation of the "Bionicle Adventures" book of the same name.

Plot summary (2004)

As the Matoran of the island of Mata Nui prepare to return to their ancient home of Metru Nui, Turaga Vakama begins to tell the tales of its fall a thousand years ago...

Mystery of Metru Nui

:"Sources: Bionicle Adventures #1, movie, comic #16"

The city of Metru Nui, long peaceful under the reign of Turaga Dume, was under attack. For the past month, a vicious plant called the Morbuzakh had been terrorizing the edges of town, destroying buildings and making Matoran vanish without a trace. The enforcers of order, the Vahki, could do little to stop the spread of the Morbuzakh, and the Toa who guarded the city had gone on missions from which they never returned. Only Toa Lhikan was left, and when he saw two Dark Hunters in the city - a familiar being named Nidhiki and his partner Krekka - he became extremely worried.

Lhikan decided to break into the Great Temple and steal six Toa stones, which he charged with his own Toa power. He then set about delivering the stones to Matoran that he had carefully chosen: teacher Nokama, transport driver Matau, carver Onewa, archivist Whenua, and scholar Nuju. He had just delivered the last stone to the final Matoran, a maskmaker named Vakama, when the Dark Hunters caught up with him. In order to save Vakama from the Hunters' attack, Lhikan allowed himself to be captured, but not before telling the Ta-Matoran to "save the heart of Metru Nui".

Each of the Matoran brought their Toa stone and met each other at the Great Temple. Placing the stones in the Suva shrine, the stones activated and transformed the six into new Toa Metru. As the Toa armed themselves with weapons from the Suva's arsenal, they wondered what to do next. The answer came as Vakama received a vision: The keys to the Morbuzakh's defeat laid in the Great Kanoka Disks, relics that were long said to have immense power, but their locations were only known to six Matoran: Vakama's mentor Nuhrii, Nokama's student Vhisola, Matau's rival Orkahm, Onewa's rival Ahkmou, Whenua's co-worker Tehutti, and Nuju's occasional assistant Ehrye. Not everyone completely trusted Vakama's vision - Matau was particularly frustrated at following what he considered the delusions of a "fire-spitter" - but with nothing else to go on they decided to track the Matoran down.

Unfortunately, the search was harder than anticipated. For one thing, the robotic Vahki were programmed to contain any disturbances to the city's order - and six unidentified Toa running around certainly qualified - but there was no time to go to Turaga Dume to have him change their orders. More than that, each of the six Matoran had gone missing recently and had to be found first. Following their respective trails, the Toa found that each of the Matoran had a motive to keep the Great Disk they found for personal gain - worse, one of them was working with the Dark Hunters and had helped lead the others into traps. The Matoran were soon found and freed, and when they learned that the Great Disks could save the city they willingly gave up any claims to them, but that still left the matter of the traitor among them.

Trial by Fire

:"Sources: Bionicle Adventures #2, comics #17-18"

In searching for the Disks, the Toa split up into teams of two, accompanied by their two respective Matoran. Nokama and Matau got along pretty well, and retrieved their Great Disks from a sea monster's mouth and a soon-to-implode force sphere, respectively. Vakama, however, was stuck with the abrasive Onewa, but they pulled together to get their disks from a fire pit and the top of a tall, precariously balanced statue. Nuju and Whenua also weren't a good match, as their home districts have had a long-standing rivalry, but they worked together to get their disks: Nuju's frozen at the top of a Knowledge Tower, and Whenua's hidden among the artifacts in the Archives.

Eventually, the Toa Metru were able to rescue the Matoran, find the Great Disks, and find and destroy the king root of the Morbuzakh, putting an end to its reign of terror and leaving absolutely nothing of the plant, except for the damage it had caused. The battle over, with Great Disks still intact, the Toa Metru began to make their way to the Coliseum to present themselves to Turaga Dume. But the Morbuzakh was just the first of the many enemies the Toa Metru would have to face.

The Darkness Below

:"Source: Bionicle Adventures #3" The Toa Metru were warned about a potentially dangerous protodermis leak in the Onu-Metru Archives, and, led by Whenua, made their way into a dark sub-basement of the Archives. There, a potentially simple mission turned into a near-debacle as the Toa Metru faced what appeared to be a wild Rahkshi, then each other -- it was the doing of Krahka, a female Rahi with the dreadful power of shapeshifting into anyone she met, assuming their powers when she did. Caught off guard, the Toa Metru, never sure if they were all really the Toa Metru, finally managed to get together, with Krahka. There, after another fierce battle, the Toa Metru barely defeated the Rahi -- but since Vakama allowed her to escape, she would return...

Legends of Metru Nui

:"Sources: movie and its novelization (Adventures #4), comics #19-21"The Toa Metru, fully confident in their victory over the Morbuzahk, arrived at the Colessium to present themselve to Turaga Dume and the Matoran population as the new defenders of Metru Nui. However, instead of being praised them as the Toa, they were challenged by Turaga Dume to cross the Colessium's field. The Toa Metru accepted, but the shape-changing power of the Colessium's field was to much for the six exhausted and novice heroes, and so they failed. Turaga Dume then denounced them as imposter Toa and ordered the Vahki to arrest them. A vortex appeared in the middle of the field and Onewa, Nuju, and Whenua were sucked in. Nokama and Matau were able to anchor themselves by digging their tools into the ground, with the former also grabbing Vakama who then shot a series of disks at the base of a towering statue. It collapsed, crushing the advancing Vahki and deactivating the vortex. The three Toa then fled the Colessium and escaped into a chute. "For info on the rest of the plot, see ."

A small side-note, but one that had a major impact on later happenings, is contained in this one line from the evil Makuta: "Join me "and my brothers"..." As it turned out, all Toa knew of the Brotherhood of Makuta, a powerful organization that was formed by the Great Spirit Mata Nui to serve and protect the Matoran -- but they thought that it was a good organization. Makuta revealed in the movie that his Brotherhood was, in fact, evil.

Voyage of Fear

:"Sources: Bionicle Adventures #5"The Toa Metru, with six stasis pods, sought a new home for the Matoran. Their journey past the Great Barrier met with unexpected difficulties: surviving Vahki, gigantic and deadly marine Rahi, and the dreadful (and hated) Kralhi drones, which had been expelled from the city. The Toa Metru eventually wound up in the cave home of a strange Onu-Matoran, known by Whenua as an old friend named Mavrah. After a bizarre tale by Whenua about the last time he saw Mavrah (and the gigantic marine Rahi), a pitched battle occurred between Mavrah, the Toa Metru, Vahki, and Kralhi, in which each Kralhi was destroyed and Mavrah (presumably) killed. The Toa Metru managed to escape the Vahki and Rahi (although Onewa had to seal their route to hold back the Vahki), and complete their journey to a new island, which they named Mata Nui.

A side note to this quest is the strange fate of the traitor named Ahkmou: he was one of the first six Matoran taken to Mata Nui, but his stasis pod was dislodged from the Vahki transport and sank to the bottom, somewhere between Metru Nui and Mata Nui. He was the only Matoran not awakened from his slumber by the Toa Metru -- he was awakened by the evil Makuta, who informed him of all the stories of Metru Nui (which he had forgotten while in his coma). Somehow, he managed to land on Mata Nui and began selling Kolhii balls infected by Makuta.

Maze of Shadows

:"Sources: Bionicle Adventures #6, Maze of Shadows video game"Meanwhile, with the first five stasis capsules safely on the island of Mata Nui, the Toa Metru began their quest to find a new route back to the ruins of Metru Nui. As they went, they encountered many more strange -- and "frightened" -- Rahi, as well as a few more new enemies: the horrible hybrid Rahi known as the Rahi Nui, a being made entirely out of energized Protodermis, and the Karzahni: the superpowerful predecessor of the Morbuzakh! Also, there was a strange hybrid Krana-Kraata creature, which warned the Toa Metru of a new danger...

"VISORAK"...

Plot summary (2005)

Web of the Visorak

:"Sources: Bionicle Adventures #7, movie"Having successfully found a new route back to their island home of Metru Nui, Vakama -- now driven, and incredibly hard on both himself and others -- led the others in the advance back to the ruined city. It did not take long to see that something had gone horribly wrong--the entire city was covered in fog, and green webbing ran all over the place. Although the Toa Metru did not know it at the time, the webbing (and probably the fog) was produced by a horde of highly intelligent, spider-like creatures named Visorak. As the Visorak closed in, Vakama rashly strode out to the Coliseum, with the others somewhat lagging behind--and the group was promptly ambushed by the Visorak. They probably would have been killed instantly, except for the fact that Roodaka, viceroy of the Visorak, persuaded Visorak general Sidorak to mutate them and then let them fall to their deaths. But as they fell, they were rescued...

A group of strange creatures, small, squat, and having the faces of Rahkshi, saved the Toa Metru from their falls. When the Toa Metru saw each other, they realized that they were no longer the heroic Toa Metru -- they were half-hero, half-beast Toa Hordika. About that time, the strange beings -- Rahaga, they called themselves -- introduced themselves and informed the Toa Hordika about what they had to do. Now the Toa Hordika did not only have external enemies to worry about--the rage of the Rahi fought their Toa natures, and the Toa Hordika had to battle their own savage natures.

Challenge of the Hordika

:"Sources: Bionicle Adventures #8, online animations"The Toa Hordika began their search for the best way to transport the sleeping Matoran to Mata Nui. Hounded by Visorak, they began to locate parts for a gigantic airship to ferry the Matoran to safety. Along the way, they learned about the past, and how the Rahaga were once Toa.

Toa Vakama Hordika visited Ta-Metru just in time to save Norik and Gaaki from three Visorak. Gaaki told him about a Mask of Light, and that he had to find the Makoki Stones. After using a spinner to bring a foundation down on the Visorak, he went and found the Makoki Stone. But suddenly a Lava Eel destroyed the beam. Vakama fell toward the lava, but survived because Onewa fired a spinner, causing a stone platform to rise up. Vakama told him about the Mask of Light, and Onewa went to find the second stone. Onewa ran from four Visorak, and destroyed a bridge before they could cross it. He went into a cave and found the stone, but was caught by a blue tendril. The four Visorak came back up and the Suukorak fired a spinner, but Onewa was saved by Whenua when he blew up the ground. Onewa reported his task, and Whenua sneaked past the Visorak in the Archives. When he got the stone, a Visorak-trap activated: the pedestal sank, a big hammer narrowly missed Whenua, and he was swept away in a flood, but just as Whenua was sent plummeting down a waterfall, Nokama rushed in to save him. When Whenua told Nokama of the Mask of Light, Nokama departed for Ga-Metru. She found the stone underwater, but as she surfaced, Nokama was ambushed by the Visorak. She ran from them, only to find herself stuck in the Visorak web. The Vohtarak fired a spinner at Nokama, but Nuju cut her free of the webbing, letting Nokama dodge the spinner, and defeated the Visorak. In an unground tunnel network, Nuju and Nokama part ways, with Nokama telling Nuju that he must search for a piece of the Makoki stone in Ko-Metru. Nuju heads to a Ko-Metru Knowledge Tower to retrieve his piece of the Makoki stone. He retrieves it, but is cornered by the Visorak on a ledge high atop the tower, hundreds of feet above the street, but Matau urged Nuju to jump off and he caught his hand, leaving the Visorak behind. Matau hurried off to get the last Makoki stone. He was ambushed by Visorak, but managed to escape them and made it to the Great Temple. At the Great Temple, the Toa Hordika each put their own Makoki Stone in a carving of their shapes and the Mask of Light was revealed. The light emitting from it attracted the attention of Visorak all over the Metru. The Toa Hordika fought the Visorak for a minute and Onewa sealed the Mask of Light in a stone shell to keep the Visorak from snatching it. Then the Toa Hordika managed to escape from the Great Temple and sealed the Visorak in. The Toa Hordika joined their hands (tools) and their journey for the Makoki stones and the Mask of Light was over.

An interesting event to note is a revelation that several of the Toa Hordika made--they were not supposed to be the Toa Metru! This fact haunted them, until they learned more...

Web of Shadows

:"Sources: movie and its novelization (Adventures #9)"The Toa were starting to doubt how on earth to get the Matoran to Mata Nui (island). Vakama walks away from their base camp in frustration and ends up nearly battling a Muaka, sending it away. It turns out that Norik was following Vakama the whole time and tried to talk Vakama out of his rage. His effort was futile, for it only enraged Vakama that much more and he ran away. Sadly, he was caught by a small squad of Visorak who took him to the coloseum and webbed him up.

Meanwhile, Nokama is hiding at the Toa Hordika's makeshift camp. Norik shows up without Vakama and tells the other Hordika that they have to start their search for Keetongu, a mystic who can restore their former shapes. They travel to the Great Temple and look for clues as to Keetongu's wearabouts. The Toa Hordika decide to stay outside of the Great Temple because they feel rejected by the Great Spirit seeing as they are now half beast.

Meanwhile, Vakama is talking to Roodaka who convinces him to join her and Sidorak. He agrees and goes to the Great Temple to capture all of the Rahaga except for Norik, whom he leaves to tell the other Hordika what had happened. Vakama travels to the Coloseum and speaks to Sidorak telling him that he wants to join him and the Visorak horde. Upon seeing the captured Rahaga, Sidorak agrees and invites him inside.

The other Toa Hordika travel inside the Great Temple to see what is taking the Rahaga so long. They find the Great Temple on fire and rush inside to find the Rahaga. They only find Norik who was buried under several boulders. Norik tells them that Vakama has succumbed to his Hordika side and tells that they have to find Keetongu, they must follow the trail of falling tears until they reach the sky. They realize that the "tears" are a small stream of liquid protodermis flowing out of the Great Temple leading to the silver sea.

Vakama is at the Coloseum and meets Sidorak who thanks him for turning over the Rahaga. Roodaka convinces Sidorak to let Vakama become master of his horde once they capture the other five Hordika. Sidorak agrees and introduces Vakama to the horde.

The Toa Hordika and Rahaga Norik find an old chute underwater where the tears led them to that takes them to what seems like a completely new island underneath Metru Nui. They then continue to follow the tears that take them to an underground area much like Ko-Metru. They find that the tears froze into a formation much like a mountain that reaches the sky. They go inside and awaken Keetongu. Having found him, they tell Keetongu why they need his help. He refuses, in a language that only Norik could interpret. He tells them that if they are to rescue Vakama, they must learn to use their new abilities, not be rid of them. He also tells them that he can't start a battle on their behalf, but he can aid those loyal to the three virtues (unity, duty, and destiny). They clank fists (a sign of unity) and go the Coloseum.

Vakama is trying to master his new powers while he waits for the inevitable arrival of the other Hordika. They do come and start to converse with Vakama, trying to get back on their side. He refuses and tells them to bow to him and Sidorak. They refuse and so Vakama unleashes the Visorak on them. The preferred method of attack for both sides is to use a mechanical spinner to generate fireball-analogous shots. Matau, the most agile, uses his to reach Vakama. They fight, while Matau exhorts Vakama to return to their mission. Reminded of his Toa's purpose, Vakama reverts to it.

Meanwhile, Sidorak and Roodaka are hearing a loud banging sound that keeps recurring. It turns out to be Keetongu climbing up the Coloseum trying to reach them. Sidorak takes out his herding blade and shoots energy at Keetongu. He misses three times until Roodaka decides to take matters into her own hands and hits Keetongu, sending him plummeting down to the Coloseum grounds. She and Sidorak go down to see if Keetongu is dead. He isn't and so Sidorak gives Roodaka the "honor" of the last blow. She refuses. Sidorak, who had entertained a desire to make Roodaka his queen, is puzzled by this. Keetongu, using his bare hands, destroys Sidorak.

Roodaka confronts the Toa Hordika and the freed Rahaga. She tells them that she wants their elemental powers. Arriving to complete her list thereof, Vakama throws Matau with the other Hordika and Roodaka continues to talk about her need for their powers. Matau and the others (except Vakama) shoot their spinners at Roodaka and she begins to glow. She explains that their powers are nothing if they are not united. Then Vakama begins to aim his spinner at her. She explains that if Vakama kills her, the Visorak will kill him and his friends. Having already thought about this, Vakama reminds her that she convinced Sidorak to put him in charge of them; he tells them that they are free. The Visorak ponder this for a moment and then abandon Roodaka. Vakama shoots his spinner and strikes her. At once, Makuta's shadowy hand takes her. As she vanished, her heart stone fell onto the ground. It turned out that her heart stone was a piece of the seal that the Toa Metru had encased Makuta in. In striking it with their combined powers, they shattered the seal. They decide that they have to worry about getting the Matoran to safety before they worry about Makuta.

They build six airships and load the Matoran, Great and Noble Kanohi, and other things into them. The Toa Metru say farewell to the Rahaga and Keetongu and begin their journey to Mata Nui.

Time Trap

:"Source: Bionicle Adventures #10"We begin in when the Matoran reached the shore of Metru Nui. Everything is ready. A great weariness overtakes Toa Vakama as a story that had not been told (not even the other Turaga knew about it) had come back. Chapter one begins with all of the Toa making their way to Mata Nui. There Vakama tells them that he needs to go back to get the Mask of Time. He tells the others to continue their journey and then he jumps out of the ship and makes his way back to Metru Nui. Once he gets the Kanohi Vahi, a waterspout attacks him. He crashes into solid rock and stuns himself. Then from out of the shadows a figure appears and takes the mask from Vakama, and then the Toa Metru falls back to the water.

Then we go to a new world. A world where the Dark Hunters live. The Shadowed One is making plans to go back to Metru Nui because of the death of Nidhiki and Krekka. He leaves Lariska in charge of the island.

Vakama finds himself back in Matoran form. He is back in his house, in an alternate time, when Metru Nui is safe. The Toa of prophecy: Vhisola, Nuhrii, Tehutti, Ehyre, Orkahm and Ahkmou have turned Metru Nui upside down. Vakama thinks that is the Mask of Time that is doing all this. Then, he goes looking for his fellow Toa (who are also matoran), but none of them remember anything. Onewa was a coward and Matau had died in a chute accident.

Then Vakama goes to Makuta's Lair with Nokama. On the way, the Morbuzakh attack him. Luckily, he escaped. And when he reaches the Dark One's lair, the creature that looks like a hybrid of a krana and a kraata clings itself to his mask, showing him Krakua, Toa of Sonics. Krakua tells Vakama that six Toa are going to make a perilous quest into the darkest place he could imagine in order for Krakua to exist. But before the Toa could finish, the creature was pulled off Vakama's face by Turaga Lhikan. When Vakama hurled a disk at Nokama's head, it passed right through. It's then that Vakama finds out that he has not gone back in time but that it is all an illusion. An illusion put in place by Makuta. Nokama was really a Visorak Boggarak and Lhikan was really Makuta. Now Vakama was really was what he was: A Toa of Fire. They have a little fight and Vakama tells Makuta that Voporak has the Mask of Time. This forces the Toa of Fire and the Master of Shadows to work together to retrieve the most powerful mask of all time.

The two most unlikely allies found out that Voporak doesn't have the mask any longer, so Makuta sends his army of Rakhshi (his sons) to deal with the creature while they slip away.

They make their way to the Great Temple to find the Shadowed One. Makuta tells Vakama that he should go inside and spy on them, and that he has unfinished business to take care of. Then Makuta proclaims, "You can come out now", and Keetongu comes out from the shadows.

Inside the Great Temple, Vakama and Sentrakh (the Shadowed One bodyguard) are locked in battle, and outside, Makuta and Keetongu are in battle as well. Makuta's winning and so is Sentrakh. Makuta is about to kill Keetongu when the whole Temple explodes, sending all four in to space. Vakama had won his battle. He sees Keetongu, who is not moving. He started to check on Keetongu, when his body is chained by solid protodermis. The Shadowed One had arrived.

The Shadowed One tells Vakama that he and the others will pay for killing his Dark Hunters. Then Makuta joins in. He claims he will hand over Vakama to the Shadowed One, if he returns the Vahi. The Shadowed One says that he would not do that. Vakama needed to pay for what he did.

Then Vakama frees himself and tells the Shadowed One that Makuta was the one to kill Nidhiki and Krekka, after which the pair of powerful monsters begin their fight. The Shadowed One's eye beams destroyed much of Makuta's chestplate.

Vakama saw his moment and took the Mask of Time from the Shadowed One. The Shadowed One shot a laser at Vakama's jet pack, which sent him falling to his death. The Shadowed One wanted to head after the fallen Toa but Makuta threw him at the fallen Voporak. The Toa of Fire fell into darkness.

But he was not dead. Vakama found himself in the lair of Karzahni. Karzahni then told Vakama that it was because of them that he was still alive. When they placed parts of his body into liquid protodermis, a tiny green shoot from it. In time, it regrew into the Karzahni which had the memories of old. He and Makuta have been working together. He had agreed to play the Morbuzakh to make Makuta's false world more convincing. There was nothing that Vakama could do. He was not destined to be a Toa and couldn't fight Makuta. Yet one question remained unanswered, who planted Vakama and the others names in Makuta's mind.

Now Karzahni revealed the truth: Vakama and the other were really meant to become Toa. Mata Nui knew that Makuta would try to change the stars after being struck down by treachery. And so, Mata Nui had changed the names of the stars into those who knew the locations of the Great Disk and place the real names into Makuta. Vakama then asks about the disk and all other evidence that pointed towards another fate. Karzahni simply said that if Makuta had a brotherhood, that meant Mata Nui had one, too. It was they who placed all this evidence so that Makuta would play into their hands.

Vakama is about to ask how Karzahni knew all this, which he mentions a member from an organization of Mata Nui (definitely the Order of Mata Nui, which was not said) ran into him in his caves before his ultimate demise. But at that moment Makuta enters the cave and destroys the Karzanhi. Vakama starts to run.

In Ta-Metru, Vakama threated to destroy the Mask of Time so Makuta couldn't get his hands on it. Once the mask is destroyed, all of reality would be undone. But Vakama made a deal with Makuta to allow him to leave with the mask unharmed and to leave the Matoran, Keetongu, Turage Dume and the Rahaga in peace. Makuta was outraged. He didn't want to sulk in the darkness doing nothing. But wishing to save his own life, he granted Vakama this wish but said he would return a year later. Vakama then found himself in a tunnel that lead up to the surface. He swore one day the Matoran would return to Metru Nui...

Makuta comes upon the place where the last Matoran capsule laid. He reawakened the Matoran Ahkmou and spread his tale of lies on the brainwashed Matoran.

The boats reach Metru Nui and the Matoran were greeted by Turaga Dume and the Rahaga. Vakama thought to himself: A thousand years ago, he returned to Mata Nui and told his fellow Toa about the evidence that they were really meant to be heroes. As for the events that happened in the city and the parts he had been in, he said nothing.

Makuta had been true to his word. One year later, Makuta had attempted to cast their new world and all who would call it home into everlasting shadow. Despite that it took 999 years and a new team of Toa, the light had shown the way. The City of Legends belonged to the Matoran once more. And no one, not the Brotherhood of Makuta, the Dark Hunters or anyone will every take it away from them. Together, they will make new legends.