Krika

"Take to the shadows. They are, after all, the prisons we have made for ourselves."

- Krika, Swamp of Secrets

Krika was the Makuta overseer of the Northern Region of the Northern Continent.

Biography
Krika was brought into being approximately 100,000 years B.G.C. by the Great Spirit Mata Nui, using a pool of the substance known as Antidermis located somwhere on one of the Southern Islands in the south of the Matoran Universe. As was intended, he became a member of the Brotherhood of Makuta, an organization devoted to serving the will of the Great Spirit and maintaining order. Krika was responsible for creating several species of Rahi to populate the universe.

After the Matoran Civil War on Metru Nui, Krika was assigned by Miserix to monitor the Northern Region of the Northern Continent.

When Teridax demanded a convocation to reveal his plan, Krika was one of the last to agree to go along with the plan, despite not expecting it to turn out well. Shortly afterward, he was ordered by Teridax to kill their former leader, Miserix, along with Spiriah. However, Krika secretly disobeyed the order, and instead hid Miserix on Artidax, an island far to the south of the Matoran Universe. He also put many traps and Rahi to stop any other Makuta from going there to kill the imprisoned Miserix and prevent Miserix escaping.

Krika, like the other Makuta, evolved beyond the need of a physical body, turning to a simpler form of Antidermis within armor. Teridax ordered the Nynrah Ghosts to come to Destral to modify his armor to accommodate for the new virus-like form of the Antidermis.

Karda Nui
More recently, Krika and several other Makuta were assigned to invade the swamps in Karda Nui to control Mata Nui's situation. Krika was the commander of the team, all of whom took the forms of swamp insects. Krika was the first of the three Makuta to arrive in the swamp, and was mutated most severely of them by the Pit Mutagen, which had the effect of locking him in his form, among other things.

Krika first revealed himself to the Toa Nuva near the Codrex when he appeared to feed on Tahu's energy, when the Toa had been weakened by the Codrex's energy field. He conversed with Tahu about his fate, and his own musings as to why the Brotherhood wanted power so much. As Krika talked, Tahu used what little elemental energy he had left to heat the ground Krika was on, causing the Makuta to cry out in pain and drift back into the swamp. When the other two Toa Nuva arrived, he and the other two Makuta prepared to attack. Just then, Chirox fell from the sky, and the Toa were able to escape from the distracted Makuta, who were carrying Chirox.

Krika, Bitil, and Gorast then returned to his cave with a Keystone. The Toa Nuva believed they managed to trick the Makuta with time-delayed blasts of elemental energy, so they could enter the lair and steal the Keystone. However, Krika was not so easily deceived by this ruse, and soon doubled back with the others to confront the Toa. Tahu bluffed that they had found the Kanohi Ignika and given it to Pohatu. However, a telepathic message from the Phantoka Makuta revealed that the Ignika was indeed in the custody of the Toa in the air, to the surprise of everybody. The three Toa then escaped into the mud. Gorast wanted to go after them, but Krika stopped her, remembering something Teridax had told him about the Keerakh, and how it was not necessary to chase one's opponents, simply to be waiting for them at their destination. The three Makuta then went to the Codrex to ambush the Toa Nuva.

Upon reaching the Codrex and seeing no sign of the Toa Mistika, Krika ordered the Makuta to wait in the shadows. Thinking about the Plan and how it would not help the universe in the least, Krika was caught unawares by the Toa Nuva. Battling Tahu, Krika told him a tale of the Lohrak and the Kavinika, and how if the Kavinika wins and slays the Lohrak with its teeth, the Kavinika still dies due to the poison contained in the Lohrak. After exchanging a few more blows, Krika bluffed that Tahu was too late, and that Bitil had already tampered with the field surrounding the Codrex, and that it would implode. Tahu called the bluff, and fired his Nynrah Ghost Blaster, trapping Krika in an energy field. They were soon joined by both the Toa and Makuta Phantoka, and the two sides readied for a final battle.

In the ensuing battle, he briefly battled with Gali, even offering her mercy, and a chance to leave Karda Nui, until Takanuva intervened with a burst of Light. Seeing that a Toa of Light had joined the battle, Krika resigned himself to his fate and left the area.

Afterward, Krika departed to the Codrex, and hovered just outside the energy field surrounding it. He was confronted by Icarax, who persuaded him to destroy the energy field by entering it in his intangible form and re-materializing in the middle of it. As the Codrex's energy field was only effective against known forces, whereas Krika's intangibility power came from mutation of swamp water, the field would not work against the Makuta. Krika succeeded in entering it and thus re-materializing inside it, and the field, stuck with something which it could not be rid of, soon overloaded and failed. Exhausted by the attempt, Krika fell to the ground.

Krika later took off, and eventually overheard Takanuva informing the Av-Matoran that the Energy Storms would hit Karda Nui once Mata Nui was reawakened, and that anybody who remained in the core would be killed. Krika sped off to inform the other Makuta, in hopes of convincing them that they were soon to be betrayed by their own leader. However, upon seeing Krika, Gorast went into a mad rampage and used her Felnas on Krika's intangibility powers. Krika lost control of his ability to turn tangible, and he eventually faded from existence.

Dark Mirror
In the Toa Empire Alternate Universe, Krika, along with Teridax and Kojol, resided in a chamber in the Archives. The Makuta asked Takanuva to eliminate Jaller and retrieve the Vahi for them, in exchange for their helping him find Brutaka. Before Takanuva left, he gave him a virus that temporarily granted the Toa the ability to fly.

Krika later fought in the Rebellion Against the Toa Empire, using his Kraata Power of Vacuum against Lewa until Teridax killed the Toa with a powerful bolt of Lightning.

Abilities &amp; Traits
Krika had control over the element of Shadow and had the ability to produce Kraata whose powers he still possessed after his mutation. He was extremely stealthy, able to seemingly vanish into the mists of the swamp at will.

In the form he took in the swamps of Karda Nui, Krika performed experiments without his hands by moving and holding items between his spikes.

As a result of his mutation, Krika was locked in his current form and lost the ability to shape-shift. He also lost access to many of the Kraata Powers.

Krika also gained the ability to drain heat from the air. As a result of his mutations, his density control power went out-of-control, and in order to remain tangible, Krika needed to consume heat.

Krika believed that nothing good would come out of Teridax's grand plan if it succeeded, but also realized nothing good would happen to him if it failed, so for better or worse, he followed it. Krika also seemed to show some rebellion against Teridax so he tried to disobey orders when it was safe for him to do so. This was demonstrated when he imprisoned Miserix instead of following Teridax's orders to kill him. He also took Gali and attempted to persuade her to leave Karda Nui so that Teridax's plan could not be fulfilled.

Mask and Tools
Krika wore the Kanohi Crast, the Great Mask of Repulsion. The mask granted him the ability to repel any object away from himself at high speed. He could also manipulate the mask's power to allow himself to fly by repelling the ground. In addition, he carried a Nynrah Ghost Blaster which he could use to control any mechanical target that he hit.

Set Information
Krika was released in Summer 2008 as one of the three Mistika Makuta canisters sets, and contains 40 pieces. Like the other Makuta Mistika, he has a dual-colored mask, of translucent white and light red. He carries two spiked blades in his hand that are a dual color of light red and white, like his mask, and a Nynrah Ghost Blaster. He also has two smaller versions of the spiked blades attached to his ankles allowing him to stand up. He had a Matoran connection peg on his back, with Kirop being advertised as connecting to Krika, but this had no storyline significance.

Krika was also part of McDonald's BIONICLE "Happy Meal" promotion in late 2008.

In early 2009, instructions were put on BIONICLE.com for the Swamp Stalker, a Rahi combiner model of Krika, Gorast, and Bitil.

Quotes
"But in Matoran legend, every pile of rocks is a treasure, every Rahi larger than a Stone Rat is a monster, and anyone who doesn't scream and run when the thunder cracks is a hero of great courage."

- Alternate Krika, Dark Mirror

"You never see him until the last possible moment, I really hate that."

- Bitil, Swamp of Shadows

"Our great plan... it has cost the rest of the Brotherhood time and treasure... it has cost me far more."

- Krika, Swamp of Secrets

"Once I was alive like you: solid and whole, needing no one and nothing. I was Makuta Krika, my name whispered in legends throughout half the known universe."

- Krika, Swamp of Secrets

"Do you know why we Makuta hate Toa so much? It's because you are what we could only pretend to be, once upon a time--heroes who do good for no reward. And so we call you fools, and even slay you ... because we could not be you."

- Krika, Swamp of Shadows

"You are already doomed--and that is perhaps the one thing you and I have in common."

- Krika to Tahu, Swamp of Shadows

"I expected it to attack, or scream out in rage, or do something else I wouldn't enjoy at all. Instead, the look on it's face was almost one of ... sadness, and resignation. Almost as if it knew that I, or someone like me, was coming, but had hoped against hope I wouldn't show up."

- Takanuva's thoughts, Takanuva's Blog

"I am doing something a Makuta never does--I am offering mercy. Flee Gali--leave this place, go anywhere in this universe, but do not stay in Karda Nui!"

- Krika, Endgame

Trivia
Krika was Greg Farshtey's favorite Mistika.

Appearances

 * The Mutran Chronicles (In Flashbacks)
 * The Final Battle Animation
 * Comic 13: Swamp of Shadows
 * BIONICLE Legends 10: Swamp of Secrets
 * Federation of Fear (Mentioned Only)
 * Dark Mirror (First Appearance, In an Alternate Universe )
 * Takanuva's Blog (Not Mentioned by Name)
 * Comic 14: Endgame
 * BIONICLE Legends 11: The Final Battle
 * BIONICLE: Makuta's Guide to the Universe
 * Mistika Promo Animation
 * BIONICLE: Mistika (Non-canonical Appearance)