2003 - VS Bohrok-Kal

Lewa Nuva looked around at his friends. All of them seemed shaken to their core, even Tahu. But it was left to the Toa of Air to voice what they were all thinking. “So we have a trail to follow… but without our elemental powers, what will we do if we find the thieves?”

“It’s not ‘if’ we find them,” Tahu snapped. “We will find them. We will get our powers back.”

“Um, Tahu,” Pohatu said, pointing toward the right. “I think those things up there might have something to say about that.”

The others followed his gaze and saw a sight they had thought… hoped… never to see again. Six Bohrok stood assembled, fairly crackling with power… and it took but a moment for the Toa Nuva to see that these were not the Bohrok they had fought before.

The six insect-like beings moved forward, the metallic parts of their bodies gleaming in the sun. On their faceplates were inscribed serpentine designs. If there had been any doubts that these were not members of the original swarms, they were dispelled when one of them began to speak.

“We are the Bohrok-Kal. We search for Cahdok and Gahdok, queens of the swarms.” Its voice sounded like a thousand roaches skittering across a cavern floor. “Tell us where you have hidden them, and stand aside. We have no wish to harm helpless foes.”

Lewa Nuva was many things — quick, agile, and brave. But patience and even-temper were never qualities he possessed in abundance. Seeing his symbol being carried by one of the Bohrok-Kal, he invoked the power of the Mask of Speed and charged forward.

“Helpless? A Toa Nuva is never helpless!” he cried.

Lewa never reached his goal. With a gesture, the Gahlok-Kal sent out waves of magnetic force that pinned the Toa Nuva’s feet to the ground.

The other Toa Nuva moved to the attack, each in their own fashion, and each found themselves countered by the Bohrok-Kal. Finally, Tahu Nuva threw up a force shield around himself and his allies to buy a moment to think.

“Your search is doomed,” the Toa of Fire said. “The creatures you seek have vanished from Mata Nui.”

“You lie!” hissed a Bohrok-Kal. “They are here and we will find them… free them… and awaken the swarms once more!”

Twin beams of gravitic energy lanced from the claws of the Nuhvok-Kal. In less than a heartbeat, Tahu Nuva felt the pull of gravity double, triple, quadruple, until he was slammed into the ground. And when he fell, so too did his shield…

The battle, if it can truly be called such, was short. A combination of sonic force, vacuum power, and raw lightning sent the Toa Nuva down to oblivion on the sands…

The Toa Nuva had been defeated, for the first time in their history. But they would rise again — believing them to be no threat, the Bohrok-Kal had left them alive.

In the days that followed, the Toa Nuva would try every stratagem they could think of to stop or slow the Bohrok-Kal’s quest. All failed. Matoran scouts reported that the Bohrok swarms were on the move again, returning en masse to their nests to wait for a new call that would not be long in coming.

With time running out, the Toa Nuva trailed the Bohrok-Kal to a chamber below the one in which they had last seen Cahdok and Gahdok. There they saw a sight to still the bravest heart… the Bahrag were there, still imprisoned by protodermis, with a glowing cube hovering in the air before them. Their cage was guarded by the six suits of Exo-Toa armor, empty yet operating on their own. And confronting the armored guardians were the Bohrok-Kal.

Again, the struggle was brief. It took mere seconds for the Bohrok-Kal to disable or destroy all six Exo-Toa. Now they had merely to fit the six Toa Nuva symbols into their niches on the cube and the Bahrag would be free once more.

It was in this moment of greatest danger that Tahu Nuva made a desperate choice. Invoking a power none of the other Toa Nuva knew he had, he called forth the legendary Vahi… the Mask of Time.


- BIONICLE 2003 Style Guide, Synopsis