Morbuzakh

"Then I will claim this place as my own. Those who ssssurvive can ssserve the Morbuzakh, or perisssh."

- The Morbuzakh, Trial by Fire

The Morbuzakh was a massive, sentient plant creature created by Makuta Teridax as part of his plan to capture the Matoran of Metru Nui.

History
The Morbuzakh was created by Teridax several years before the Great Cataclysm. He first created the Karzahni, but then found that it was too powerful and intelligent for his purposes, so he abandoned it and created the Morbuzakh instead. He formulated a plan: the Morbuzakh was to drive the Matoran to the center of the city, to the Coliseum, where Makuta and the Vahki would easily capture them and place them into Matoran Spheres. To this end, Teridax told the Morbuzakh that he would let it rule the city after its purpose was done.

When Teridax replaced Turaga Dume in the months before the Great Shadow, he secretly planted Morbuzakh seeds in Ta-Metru. The Morbuzakh's first known action was to grow vines in the area of the Great Furnace and drive the Matoran away, allowing it to grow its king root in the center of the massive building, fed by the molten Protodermis and the flames. From there, it spread its vines all throughout the city, attacking structures and Matoran seemingly at random, though mostly keeping to the edges of the various Metru. The Vahki and Matoran fought back, but it was clear that the Morbuzakh was too strong for them to defeat. After several weeks of attacks, the Toa Metru appeared and sought out the Great Disks, which legend said were the only things that could destroy the Morbuzakh. The plant did everything it could to hinder them, but with the help of the six Matoran who knew the location of the disks, the Toa eventually collected the disks and fought through to the central chamber of the Great Furnace, which involved the Toa being attacked by Morbuzakh seeds and the six Matoran forming a Matoran Nui to help the Toa. In its inner chamber, the Morbuzakh attempted one last time to steal the Kanoka, but the Toa managed to keep their hold on them, and triggered their powers. The energies of the Great Disks combined to form a sphere of energy around the king root, severing it from the rest of the plant. Cut off from their source of nourishment, the vines around Metru Nui withered and died, and the king root itself collapsed and turned into dust, destroying the Furnace in its death throes.

Abilities and Traits
The Morbuzakh consisted of a massive network of black-green vines that spread across the entire city of Metru Nui, all connected to and controlled by a single king root. The king root was about a thousand feet tall, with a brown stripe running down the side. It was intelligent, and could speak via telepathy. Unlike almost all plants, the Morbuzakh fed off of fire and heat rather than water. However, this left it extremely vulnerable to ice and cold, meaning that Ko-Metru was left almost untouched. The plant sensed the outside world through chemicals 'programmed' to react to motions in the air, making it react mainly to movement and speech. The Morbuzakh grew two kinds of vines. One was thin and small, ending in long, spindly vines that resembled fingers. The other kind of vine was huge, often extremely thick and long. The vines were strong enough to tear metallic Protodermis to shreds and crush buildings by squeezing them. The Morbuzakh could also grow thorns that it could launch at enemies.

The Morbuzakh grew from thousands of seed pods roughly the size of a Kanoka that would be planted in the rafters of a building. Once they were ready to sprout, they dropped to the ground and split open, spreading tendrils to wrap around anything in the area and link up with each other. Another stage in its growth pattern was to sprout small buds about a bio high. These buds were semi-sentient, and would 'whisper' telepathically.

Quotes
"Even the Vahki could not overcome the power of the Morbuzakh."

- Narrator, Disks of Danger

"When the Morbuzakh knows you're looking for it... It comes looking for you."

- Vhisola, Disks of Danger

Trivia

 * During the Morbuzakh plant's attack on the city, the Fader Bulls helped protect several areas from the vicious plant by consuming some of its vines.
 * A special sponge version of the Morbuzakh was released alongside the Official German BIONICLE magazine.

Appearances

 * BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui (First Appearance)
 * Comic 16: Toa Metru!
 * BIONICLE: The Beginning
 * BIONICLE Adventures 2: Trial by Fire
 * Lunchable Comic 3
 * Comic 17: Disks of Danger
 * Comic 18: Seeds of Doom
 * Comic 21: Dreams of Darkness (Mentioned Only)
 * BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui
 * BIONICLE Adventures 5: Voyage of Fear (Mentioned Only)
 * BIONICLE Legends 10: Swamp of Secrets (Mentioned Only)
 * BIONICLE: Metru Nui - City of Legends
 * BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts (Mentioned Only)
 * BIONICLE: Encyclopedia (Mentioned Only)
 * BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated (Mentioned Only)
 * Stop the Morbuzakh! (Non-Canonical Appearance)
 * Toa Metru Mini Promo CDs
 * Toa Metru Promo Animations
 * BIONICLE: Maze of Shadows (Mentioned Only)