Bionicle Legends - Plot Summary (2006) - Inferno

Inferno

The passages to the Kanohi Ignika's chamber are littered with traps and tests to keep the mask out of the wrong hands. The Piraka quickly face their greatest fears in the form of the mythical monster Irnakk. Only Zaktan's willingness to end his own cursed existence and everyone else's lives, thereby eliminating the fear that brought Irnakk to life and sustains him, allows the Piraka to pass the test and continue. In a later test, the Piraka fail due to their inability to trust one another; while they escape the resulting deathtrap they end up exposed to something that begins changing them...

Meanwhile, the Toa Inika have their own tests to worry about. They soon come across a group of enemies that they had fought in their former Matoran lives, including a Rahkshi Turahk that had once killed Jaller during his search for the Toa of Light. Jaller is able to overcome this disturbing memory, but like all the other Inika, his powers go out of control and end up killing his opponent. Adding to their shame and grief at being killers, the bodies change to look like their old friends, the Toa Nuva. While worried that such things could happen again, they decide that the stakes are too high to abandon their quest. However, before the Toa Inika go on they turn to take one last look at the slain Toa Nuva, only to see that the bodies had disappeared. They then realise that the dead Toa Nuva, as well their earlier foes, were merely illusions.

In their next test, the Toa Inika are trapped and told they must sacrifice one of their own to continue. With his last death still on his mind, Jaller is distracted long enough for Matoro to volunteer himself, on the grounds that he as a translator has less to offer their mission than the others and becomes another foreshadow to the Barrakki story. This sacrifice is accepted and Matoro is disintegrated - only to be re-formed moments later, as the willingness to die for the cause was what was important, not the death itself.

After this, the Toa Inika face Umbra, a guardian of the mask who uses super-speed to attack. Matoro is once again key to passing the test, as he uses his ice power to make Umbra slip and crash. As Umbra turns into a beam of light and becomes even faster, he eventually hits the ice and rebounds around the frozen cave until he is knocked out, making it easy to obtain the mask.

As both groups converge on the Mask of Life, the Piraka are a little bit ahead and they set an ambush, with the Toa Inika ending up trapped and delayed. The Piraka enter the mask's chamber to find that Vezon had arrived far ahead of all of them, and has since been fused to a Fenrakk spider and to the Mask of Life itself. As the Piraka prepare to take the mask by any means necessary, Vezon uses his spear to fuse Vezok and Reidak together, ordering the resulting beast to crush the others. By the time the Inika arrive, Vezok and Reidak are back to normal and all six are knocked out.

While all this is happening, Brutaka wakes up in the Piraka's stronghold under Axonn's watch. While Axonn extends an offer of friendship to his old partner, Brutaka rejects it and attacks. In the course of the battle, he tries to get an edge by summoning a dimensional gate to warp Axonn away. Eventually, Axonn accepts that Brutaka will never be redeemed, and he becomes unstoppable in his anger. Brutaka tries to get to the Piraka's antidermis, which could enhance his strength, but Axonn shatters the vat before blasting Brutaka into unconsciousness. Once this is done, Botar arrives to banish Brutaka for his crimes, though Axonn still expresses hope for his redemption. After all leave the stronghold, Krahka and Tahtorak use Brutaka's portal to escape their exile (which began a thousand years ago in Bionicle Adventures).

As the Toa Inika fight Vezon and Fenrakk, the latter's ability to absorb kinetic energy is proving too much for the heroes; even when the Toa figure out how to weaken the two without hitting them, Fenrakk can just tap his leg on the ground to regain his and Vezon's strength. Eventually, the Toa are able to drive Fenrakk towards the chamber's lava, and Vezon surprisingly encourages him to dive in. As Jaller prepares to go after the mask, Vezon reemerges, with his steed evolved into an even more formidable dragon called Kardas. Needing a plan of attack other than direct assault, the Toa guess that the Mask of Life may have life and thoughts of its own, and Kongu attempts to use his Mask of Telepathy to read the mask's mind. He finds that the mask has grown to despise Vezon, and would happily abandon the madman in favor of a new, nobler guardian - Matoro. When Vezon learns of this he becomes enraged, allowing Jaller to use Axonn's Zamor Sphere. The sphere freezes Vezon and Kardas in space and time, allowing the mask to be removed safely.

Unfortunately, the Piraka have recovered by now, and they aren't about to let the mask go without a fight. But the mask has other plans; as Kardas makes Matoro lose his grip on it, it flies away towards the surface. As the Toa Inika are able to get a small head start following it, Vezok is dead set on re-fusing with Vezon; but the other Piraka smash the Spear of Fusion to ensure that Vezok will never be whole again.

Back on the surface, the Mask of Life dives into the sea. Hahli tries to follow it, but the depths become too deep for her to handle. As she loses consciousness, a Mahri Nui Matoran dives from below and helps her up to the surface, though at the cost of his own life. Before passing on, he pleads with the Toa to help a city beneath the sea.

But in the midst of the Toa Inika's mourning the Matoran, they are reunited with all their friends: the Matoran had succeeded in freeing the Toa Nuva, and Axonn is there as well (Botar had just left after talking to the Nuva). While the Inika worry that the Nuva will take over the mission to save the Great Spirit, the Nuva recognize that this mission is the Inika's destiny and give them their full blessing. Axonn also declares his intent to be the Matoran's guardian; openly instead of secretly this time. The Piraka, watching from afar, decide that taking on twelve Toa and Axonn would be suicide; opting to bide their time.

Soon afterward, the Toa depart on their new missions which are revealed on the web: the Toa Nuva go on a mysterious quest that they have not told the Inika about, and the Toa Inika enter a secret passageway (opened by Axonn) leading to the underwater world where the Mask of Life now resides...