BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui

	Mystery of Metru Nui
	Book
Series	BIONICLE Adventures
Author	Greg Farshtey
Publisher	Scholastic
	ISBN 0-439-60731-0

"In the time before time, long before any Matoran set foot on the island of Mata Nui, there was a city of legends. Hear now the first tale of Metru Nui...."
— Turaga Vakama

Mystery of Metru Nui is the first BIONICLE book in the BIONICLE Adventures series. It tells the story of how the new Toa Metru must find six missing Matoran who know the locations of the six Great Kanoka Disks, the only thing which can free their city from the monstrous Morbuzakh plant.

Synopsis

Kapura is walking along the outskirts of Ta-Metru, making sure that nothing of great importance has been left behind in the evacuation of the area. Suddenly, he hears something. Turning around, he sees four vines come out of the ground and snake around an empty factory. The vines squeeze, causing the building to collapse in on itself, and then move on toward another structure. Kapura is frozen with fear, having seen the destructive power of the Morbuzakh.

Meanwhile, in another part of Metru Nui, a Matoran looks at a tablet that shows a carving of the six Great Disks and the six Matoran who know where they are: Nuhrii, Ahkmou, Vhisola, Tehutti, Ehrye, and Orkahm. He asks a strange, four-legged being what he is supposed to do; the being replies that the Matoran has to get the six Great Disks. The Matoran then asks what he will get in return for getting these disks; the being replies that the Matoran will be paid well, and that he will also not be looked for. The Matoran then asks why he needs to get the Great Disks when Matoran cannot do much with them. To this, the being - Nidhiki - replies that it is not the Matoran he is worried about - it is six new Toa, the Toa Metru.

In yet another part of Metru Nui, six Matoran - Vakama, Nokama, Nuju, Whenua, Onewa, and Matau - have been changed into Toa while inside the Great Temple. Vakama then receives a vision which tells him that the six Great Disks must be used to stop the Morbuzakh, and the names of the Matoran who know their locations. There is no time to tell Turaga Dume of their transformation, and the Morbuzakh would not wait, so the Toa set out to find Lhikan and the Great Disks, unaware of their newly-granted mask powers.

The six Matoran who know the locations of the Great Disks go missing after Ahkmou helps the Dark Hunters lure them into traps; this makes the Toa's job harder, especially since they have no idea of the Matoran's predicaments.

Nokama sets off to find Vhisola in Ga-Metru. However, the Ga-Matoran is not in her home. While inside, Nokama finds Vhisola's diary, and learns that Vhisola knew of her transformation into a Toa, and that the Ga-Matoran was planning to get the Great Disk for herself. After slipping past Vahki Bordakh by going through Protodermis canals, Nokama finally arrives at the school and learns that Vhisola knew that the Great Disks could be used to stop the Morbuzakh; this confirms Vakama's vision. Nokama then goes back to Vhisola's home, slips past the Vahki yet again, and finds out that the Ga-Metru Great Disk is at the Great Temple. Nokama reaches the Great Temple in time to rescue Vhisola from the roof of the Great Temple, where Nidhiki had chased her.

While searching for Nuhrii, Vakama is nearly killed by molten Protodermis - Morbuzakh vines were able to tip a vat of it because Nidhiki had sabotaged the vat controls and caused them to move more slowly. After stopping the Morbuzakh with a freeze disk, Vakama learns that the Morbuzakh dislikes cold. After questioning the Ta-Matoran control room attendant, Vakama learns that Nuhrii was looking for a defected Great Mask that he had been told was fine, and when the Ta-Matoran had not found it here, he went to the reject pile to search for it there. Vakama goes to the reject pile to find out he had arrived just after Nuhrii left. Vakama then questions the reclamation center caretaker and receives a tablet that Nuhrii had dropped on his way out. After reading it, Vakama realizes that Nuhrii was in danger, and sets off. Vakama then rescues Nuhrii from the Morbuzakh.

After some trouble with an Archives guard, Whenua gets inside to find out that a Ta-Metru hammer had been used to damage a Kane-Ra bull exhibit. After looking further, Whenua remembers that a Rahi that a Ga-Matoran had offered to Tehutti is actually from Po-Metru, and that the offer is probably a fake. After consulting a dock leader, Whenua goes very far down to a sublevel he had not visited before. After finding a Rahkshi of Heat Vision, Whenua lets loose a Muaka on it as a distraction and finds Tehutti deep in the Archives sub-levels. While both Rahi are distracted, Whenua and Tehutti escape.

Impatient, Nidhiki and his partner, Krekka, threaten Ahkmou, telling him to try harder to get the Great Disks.

Nuju finds a tablet in Ehrye's home and decides to go to the chute station the Ko-Matoran was headed for. He reaches the chute station and talks with the chute attendant, who says that he had seen Ehrye talking with a Matoran from another metru before hopping into a chute headed for a Knowledge Tower. Nuju follows and asks a Scholar about Ehrye; the Scholar replies that Ehrye had barged in and then went in a chute to the top of the tower. After receiving a crystal, Nuju heads to the top of the Knowledge Tower as well, and tosses the crystal off the edge, creating a new Knowledge Tower. He then notices Protodermis blocks on the top of a Knowledge Tower and heads over there to find Ehrye trapped behind the blocks; the Knowledge Tower he is on also has a crack traveling up its side. Nuju quickly repairs the crack with his ice power and rescues Ehrye, then heads to the bottom of the Knowledge Tower to find out that the crack had been caused deliberately.

Meanwhile, Matau hurtles through an out-of-control chute, trapped inside because of someone's tampering. After escaping by using his air powers, Matau heads to an Ussal crab pen that Orkahm works at. After questioning a Le-Matoran crab keeper, Matau looks through Orkahm's logbook, cracks the code it's written in, and realizes that Orkahm is at Moto-Hub Sector 3, a place ravaged by the Morbuzakh. He questions a transport manager there and finds out that Orkahm had gone through just recently. Matau goes after him and finds a carving with the name 'Pewku' on it; Pewku is the name of Orkahm's favorite Ussal Crab, so Matau thinks that the carving is a sign. He hurries onward and finds a group of tangled transport cables, with Orkahm stuck in them. After freeing him, the Morbuzakh give chase; however, Matau escapes with Orkahm by flying away.

Onewa runs through the Sculpture Fields toward a statue with Ahkmou sitting atop it. He climbs to the top; Ahkmou suddenly calls out Nidhiki's name. Onewa turns to see a figure hide behind a statue; the Toa Metru of stone turns back around to ask Ahkmou who 'Nidhiki' is, to find that the Po-Matoran had escaped, jumping from statue to statue. Onewa gives chase and catches up with Ahkmou at Chute Station 445; however, when a Vahki and Nidhiki notice the two, they decide to go.

Finally, all the Matoran are safe and at the Great Temple. However, Vakama realizes that one of the six Matoran is lying. After some discussion, Onewa reveals that Ahkmou knows the four-legged being's name - 'Nidhiki' - and that Ahkmou knows there are six Toa, whereas the other Matoran only know there are one. Onewa suggests that Ahkmou be hauled to the Vahki, but Vakama refuses, and the Toa settle for watching Ahkmou closely. When the Morbuzakh causes a small Ga-Metru temple to collapse into the sea, the Toa decide that they need to hurry and find the Great Disks - the future of Metru Nui depends on it.

Characters

Toa
- The Toa Metru
- The Toa Nuva
- Toa Takanuva
Matoran
- Ta-Matoran
  - Kalama (NM)
  - Kapura
  - Nuhrii
- Ga-Matoran
  - Amaya (M) (NM)
  - Marka (NM)
  - Nireta (NM)
  - Vhisola
- Onu-Matoran
  - Damek (NM)
  - Nuparu (NM)
  - Tehutti
- Po-Matoran
  - Ahkmou
- Le-Matoran
  - Orkahm
  - Tuuli (NM)
  - Vira (NM)
- Ko-Matoran
  - Ehrye
  - Jaa (NM)
  - Talvi (NM)
Dark Hunters
- Krekka (NM)
- Nidhiki
The Morbuzakh

Quotes

Dedication

"For Evan, who shows the world every day what being a hero really means, from his best pal."
— Greg Farshtey

Trivia

USA Today listed Mystery of Metru Nui as #150 on their best-seller list.^{[citation needed]}
According to Greg Farshtey's blog, Mystery of Metru Nui is the best selling BIONICLE book.^{[citation needed]}
Nuhrii's flawed Kanohi is said to be a Hau in this book, but it is a Mahiki in the CD retelling of the story.
Originally, the Matoran of Metru Nui were intended to play a variant of kolhii, but the story team later replaced the sport with Akilini. However, by the time this change took effect, Mystery of Metru Nui had already been written, and as such it references kolhii multiple times.

External links

Mystery of Metru Nui archived on Wall of History

citation needed