It was going to take a mini cyclone to overcome the force sphere's power and tear himself free.

There was no time to let the winds build up slowly.  Matau pushed his powers to their limit, forcing the air around him to swirl violently.  Suddenly, he was in the center of a whirlwind which sucked the breath from his lungs.  It was an open question whether the implosion would end his existence or the suffocation would do it first.

The world became a blur as Matau spun around and around inside the cyclone.  He could feel himself beginning to black out, but knew if he did, the windstorm would cease and any hope of escaping the sphere would be gone.  He fought to stay conscious.  After all, it wouldn't look very impressive to Nokama if the Toa of Air perished on his first big mission.

Then suddenly he was flying through the air.  It took him an instant to realize he had been thrown free of the force sphere.

~Greg Farshtey, Trial by Fire, pg 61