Beginning Editor's Note: I do not claim to own the Bionicle characters or the majority of these plot points. The material here is simply an edited and compiled version of original Bionicle material. Comics and video games etc. have been transcribed in novel form and fully integrated into one chronological read. The poetic liberties of novelization and editing are all I can claim.

Feel free to use forum I made to discuss any questions and feedback on this project, and be sure to keep following/favoriting so you know when a new story or chapter is posted. Reviews are always welcome for reactions, questions, concerns, or general feedback.

These parts constitute material from the story year of 2005, constituting what I've called "Phase 04: Deliverance." Please enjoy.

Sequel to "Bionicle - Phase 04: Deliverance - Part II: Venomous Diffusion"

It did not take long for them to arrive. Turaga Vakama knelt before the Amaja Circle. Before him sat the six Toa Nuva, Takanuva, and Hahli, the Matoran currently serving as Chronicler. All of them were waiting for him to continue a story he dreaded having to tell. "You know, not long after the Matoran came to this island of Mata Nui, their memories of the past disappeared because of the capsules," he began. "All that had happened in the city of Metru Nui, the good and the bad, was lost to them. Sometimes…sometimes I think they were most fortunate in that regard."

Hahli looked down at the tablet on which she was carving Vakama's words. She had never heard the Turaga sound so defeated, as if the weight of a thousand years was on his shoulders. She could not imagine what happened in Metru Nui that could so affect him. For the first time, she found herself wishing someone else was the Chronicler.

"We had escaped Metru Nui, we six Toa Metru, with a small number of Matoran. Each of them was locked in a deep sleep, induced by Makuta as part of his grand scheme of conquest. We had found a new land—this land—where the Matoran would be safe. Now we had only to return to the quake-ravaged city and recover them all."

Vakama scattered a number of small black stones in the sandpit. "What we could not know was that, in our absence, the city had been seized by the spider creatures called Visorak. Due to our…my…overconfidence, we were captured shortly after we returned there. Trapped in cocoons, we were mutated by Visorak venom into half Toa, half beasts called Toa Hordika. Only the actions of six strangers, the Rahaga, saved us from death."

The Turaga's voice dropped to a whisper. "Better we had perished…that is what some of us thought at the time. The Rahaga told us we must find a cure for our condition within a limited time, or risk remaining as Hordika—or worse—for all eternity. Instead, we chose to focus our efforts on saving the Matoran, worrying about ourselves when they were safe. It was a difficult decision. The rage of the Rahi ruled our hearts, and in none more than mine. We faced enemies of great power and great cunning, and we had to do it stripped of our mask powers, stripped of our traditional Toa tools, yes, stripped of our very selves…"

X X X

1,000 years ago…

Roodaka, viceroy of the Visorak hordes, stood in what had once been Turaga Dume's box in the Coliseum. A red Visorak, called a Vohtarak, stood beside her, awaiting her commands. Down below, Visorak scurried to and fro, carrying cocooned Rahi. These would be placed in the webs that lined the arena as trophies of another conquest.

Soon, the Toa would be joining them, she knew. The six heroes of Metru Nui had combined their powers to trap their foe, Makuta, in a protodermis prison sealed with the symbol of the three Matoran virtues: unity, duty, and destiny. With such a "lock," even Makuta could not break free. Only the power of the Toa could undo what they had done.

"Vakama and his allies made two great errors," Roodaka said. "The first was thinking Makuta helpless. Though his body is frozen, though his power is stalemated, his mind is free to roam. His thoughts reached out to us and now Metru Nui is ours."

The Vohtarak nodded agreement enthusiastically. Not agreeing with Roodaka was almost inevitably a fatal mistake. Roodaka smiled as she recalled the Toa's return to Metru Nui. So proud they were, so confident, so convinced that nothing could defeat them. But the venom of the Visorak changed all that. Now the Toa were Toa Hordika, half-hero, half-Rahi, forced for the first time to confront the shadows within.

"The second…they should have fled far from this place," Roodaka reflected. "They should have traveled to a star of which even Mata Nui never dreamed. Now there is no hope for them. In a matter of hours, days at most, the hordes will track them down."

Roodaka glanced at the Vohtarak. "But why am I telling you this? You are not even a Visorak…are you?"

The Vohtarak hesitated for a moment under her piercing glare. Then, with a shrug, the Visorak transformed into a perfect replica of Toa Nokama Metru. "Once again, you are correct." The voice was Nokama's, but the Toa of Water had never worn such an expression of hatred. "I am called Krahka. I am a Rahi, one of those your hordes have been hunting in this city. And I have come to strike you down like the monster you are."

Roodaka's answer was laughter, long and shrill, carrying with it more than a little trace of madness.

Krahka circled warily. The shapeshifting Rahi had faced many foes in her life, including the six Toa Metru. But this Roodaka was something different. Every move she made was carefully calculated and all part of a grand strategy. There was no wasted motion, no scrambling to react to Krahka's changes of shape.

For her part, Roodaka was enjoying this. She could have had Krahka slain immediately with Visorak attendants, but chose instead to face the Rahi in single battle. The arena floor had been cleared for them. Now the Visorak watched as their leader prepared to claim another victim.

Krahka had abandoned the guise of Nokama in favor of a subterranean creature whose appearance would be enough to drive a sane Matoran mad. She now towered twelve feet high, with a slimy, pale white body and six long, bony spines coming out of her sides. Each spine was extremely flexible and could be cracked like a whip. At the end of the spines were wickedly curved claws that could rip through six inches of metal with one swipe.

It should have been no contest. The Krahka had strength, height, and reach over Roodaka, and a body designed to make it impossible for any blow to land solidly. But the Visorak viceroy slipped away from every one of Krahka's strikes, then struck with her own talons. Worse, Roodaka struck so swiftly and so often that Krahka had no opportunity to shapeshift.

Roodaka slipped through her defenses and landed two quick blows, staggering her opponent. Then she launched her Rhotuka spinner, whose power could transform Krahka permanently into a figure out of nightmare. At the last split second, the Rahi shifted into a small burrowing creature and vanished underground.

Silence descended on the arena. Some of the Visorak believed Roodaka had won, while others were not so certain. Roodaka herself stood perfectly still, waiting for Krahka's return in a new form.

The ground shifted slightly beneath the Visorak viceroy's feet. Before she could react, the arena floor was crumbling beneath her and she was falling into the massive, tooth-filled maw of a Po-Metru troller worm. Some of the horde charged forward as if to save her, while the rest seemed perfectly happy to see Roodaka devoured.

They were destined to be disappointed. Roodaka latched onto the sides of the hole with her claws and pulled herself out right before the huge jaws snapped shut. Once back on solid ground, she paused and listened to the sound of the great worm moving beneath the surface.

Moving too quickly for the eye to follow, Roodaka plunged her arm through the ground and seized the Krahka/troller in her claws. With a mighty heave, she pulled the giant worm up through the arena floor.

As soon as she realized her predicament, Krahka shifted to a smaller Lava Eel. Her now fiery hot hide burnt Roodaka's hand, forcing her to release her grip. Krahka slithered away and shifted again, this time taking the form of one of the gigantic Kahgarak spiders, a breed of large elite Visorak, that guarded the gates of the Coliseum. Then she spat a stream of webbing at Roodaka, binding her to the arena wall.

"You…cannot defeat me…with my own creatures," Roodaka hissed. Flexing her muscles, she tore free of the web. "And at that size, you are too big of a target to miss, Rahi."

Roodaka launched another spinner. Krahka started to shapeshift, but too late as the whirling energy struck her. The Rahi's own powers blunted the effects of the mutating force, but it was still enough to send her sprawling in the dust. Now back in the form of Nokama, she struggled to regain her feet.

The Visorak viceroy was upon her before she could rise, a talon held to Krahka's throat. "I could end this now," said Roodaka. "But you have possibilities, creature. I did not get where I am by wasting potential resources."

Krahka cursed. Roodaka grabbed her by the neck and forced her to look around the arena at the hundreds of Visorak assembled to watch the match. "At a single word from me, even a nod, they would bind you and turn you into something so horrible you would die of fright at your own reflection," said Roodaka. "Or we can come to an arrangement. You decide."

Roodaka let the Krahka go. The Rahi got to her feet, still in the shape of the Toa Metru of Water. "What sort of…arrangement?"

"Not every Rahi need end up in our web, Krahka. Those who are useful will survive intact, even thrive, under my rule. You can be one of them. Your particular skills and your past experience with the Toa Metru—oh yes, I know about that—make you ideal for something I have in mind."

Krahka pondered the offer. If she refused, she had no doubt that Roodaka and the Visorak would defeat her…or worse. If she accepted, there might still be some opportunity to get her revenge on Roodaka later on. "Alright," said the Rahi. "Very well. What do you want me to do?"

Roodaka smiled. "Sidorak and the hordes are hunting for the Toa Hordika. If they catch them, all is well; but just in case they do not, I intend to make sure that the Toa will be unable to oppose me."

"How?"

Roodaka put an arm around Krahka's shoulders and led her away. "We are going to do the heroes of Metru Nui a favor, you and I. We are going to tell them the truth about themselves."

X X X

"l want the truth," said Nuju. "What are we doing here?"

He was standing on the outskirts of Ko-Metru, a district devastated by earthquake and overrun with Visorak spiders. The Knowledge Towers he once revered above all other parts of the city had suffered great damage, and fractured canals nearby resulted in icy pools and pillars of frozen protodermis. The crystal surface of a Knowledge Tower reflected his distorted appearance. Once a powerful Toa, the venom of the Visorak had transformed Nuju and his friends into monstrous Toa Hordika.

Nuju studied his reflection. His mask and tools had been warped beyond all recognition. His body was stronger, but twisted like that of a Rahi. Worse than that were the changes he felt inside. The Toa and beast halves of his mind were at war now. It took all his willpower to fight down the animalistic rage that threatened to consume him.

He turned to see that Rahaga Kualus was not listening to him. The small, bizarre figure's eyes were trained on the sky. Nuju followed his gaze and saw nothing but the occasional Ice Bat swooping across the sky.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Kualus whispered. "Perfectly aerodynamic. Completely efficient distribution of mass. And their flight speed—did you know that an Ice Bat can outrace a stampeding Kikanalo herd?"

"No," Nuju replied coldly. "I did not." The Toa Hordika wished he could just walk away and leave this strange little being to his obvious obsession with flying creatures. But circumstances dictated that he could not. There was a mission to perform and he needed Kualus' help to complete it. "We are wasting time," growled Nuju. "We have a city of sleeping Matoran to save. We came here to salvage parts needed to build transport, not to admire birds."

"Rodents," said Kualus. "Ice Bats are rodents. Surprised a scholar like you wouldn't know that. What were you looking at all those years in the observatory?" The Rahaga pointed toward a Ione bat flying shakily toward the ground. Its wing had been damaged in a collision with a Knowledge Tower. Unable to control its flight, it was headed straight for a Visorak web.

"Stay here," Kualus said, already leaping over rubble to follow the Ice Bat.

"What are you doing?" said Nuju. "It's just a bi—a rodent!"

"l am doing the same thing Toa do," replied Kualus. "l am saving one who cannot save himself." Keen eyes tracking the bat's flight path, Kualus unleashed the spinner attached to his back. It flew straight and true through the air until it reached the bat. The spinner immediately adhered to the flesh of the flyer and steered it back toward the waiting Rahaga. Kualus snagged the spinner and removed the wounded creature from it. Then he began to gently tend the Rahi's wounds.

"Handy little thing, isn't it?" said Kualus. "They are called Rhotuka spinners."

"Yes," said Nuju. "If I ever need a bat catcher, you are the first one I'll call."

Kualus hastily improvised a splint for the bat's wing. Once he was done, he placed the creature inside a niche in a damaged Knowledge Tower. When the Ice Bat tried to leave the shelter, the Rahaga began talking to the Rahi in clicks and whistles, all the while making sharp gestures with his hands. What was even more amazing was that the Ice Bat seemed to be listening. "Click-click…wheet…click…wheet-whoot," went Kualus.

"What in Mata Nui's name are you doing?" asked Nuju, his impatience growing by the moment. "What is that gibberish?"

"Not gibberish," Kualus replied, pointing upward and smiling. "Language—the language of the flyers, or at least as close to it as a non-flyer can come. I'm talking to those Rahi up there. Just as they don't waste any energy when in the air, they don't waste words when they speak. Perhaps you might like to learn or try it sometime?"

Nuju shook his head, his eyes narrowing in disgust. He began walking away. What a waste of time… "No. I have nothing to learn from birds."

Kualus decided to skip repeating the fact that more than just birds counted as flyers. "They are flying free up there," he said instead, in an attempt to make a point and stopping Nuju again. "You are down here, mutated into a Toa Hordika and on the run from the Visorak horde. Maybe it is them who have nothing to learn from you, Nuju."

"Maybe," Nuju growled, keeping his voice from boiling over in anger. "Now can we move on?"

Kualus sprang to his feet. "Very well, Toa Hordika. Lead, and I shall follow…as long as I like where you are leading."