p style="text-align: center;"IN THE DARKNESS /p
p style="text-align: center;" /p
p style="text-align: center;"The final battle has begun. All of the gears have been prepared for this moment. Every gear, except for me. I never had expected it to come this soon. I never wanted it to. Yet now here I am. Standing in the midst of what is, and what will be where I make my first mark on the battle ahead. I cannot say for certain that I am fully prepared for this, but I know that if I had said anything, I would be placing the team in hot waters. I couldn't do that. So, here I am, the " legendary " green ninja, finally for forfilling my ultimate goal. But how could I say that? My destiny involves me taking on my own father in battle, to win, or to lose, even though I had not even had the chance to come clean about my troubles and concerns. This will be the single most hardest thing I will ever have to do for the sake of thousands. I stand here, along side my uncle and mother, confronting my father, Lord Garmadon. /p
p style="text-align: center;"em" So the balance has sent my son, brother and wife to try and stop me?!" Said my father. We had tried to make see in our light, what the true intentions of the Overlord were. But he refused to listen. He had claimed to never be able to do what is right. That the evil in his blood will never go away. Why does he not see? He CAN do what is right! He just has to find the will to do so. He did for me, when the serpentine left me to die in the Fire Temple. He had done what is right. Yet he still does not see. /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emHe didn't believe us! We couldn't stop him from fireing the Ultimate Weapon! Now our troubles truly begin. My thoughts weigh heavily in my head, but I don't allow them to cloud my judgement and my actions. I have a job to do! One that requires me to push aside personal cares and do what is necessary to keep Ninjago safe. As the fight to shut off the weapon continues, I see now that we are not getting any closer to winning. We-we are losing! My emotions have been booking at this point, and they continue to boil as I am tossed away, as if I was nothing but litter! The silent chances I'm giving him are fruitless! I must think positively! He will be fine! We will be fine! Everything will be...-will be...no...oh please...no..." Father! ", " No, Lloyd! That, is no longer your father. " /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emBetween having watched my father be possessed by the Overlord, and have been expected to do adults work, I have surprised myself by not allowing my emotions to overflow. My father is now no longer able to help me. I'm left alone to face my father. I had told the others to leave, so that if I fail to achieve victory, they are to protect the people that have not been turned evil. They would not go kindly. /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"em" No way, kiddo! I'm not going anywhere! ", " My algorithms tell me that the percentage of you accomplishing victory is 7.3422165%! "," If you think that I'm just going to leave you here to have all the fun, you're dead wrong! ", " Lloyd, please! Don't do this! Your father and I can't lose you again! ", " Lloyd, I know you have to fight the Overlord alone, but to get through this battle, you need the help of your team! "/em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emThey have valid points. But I would not forgive myself if anything had happened to them if I was injured. They still would not leave, so I forced them to. I ignore their pleas, and allow the portal to close./em/p
p style="text-align: center;"em" Nooooooooooooo! You foolish boy! Do you have any idea of what you have done?! ", " Yes, I do have an idea. It's that you will never stop onto my home, not only watch. " /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emThe battle truly has begun. With my friends gone, I have found relief knowing that they will not have to see my failure to do my job the way it should be done. My intentions are to defeat the Overlord, yes. However, with my father still within the Overlord, I cannot go any further without getting him out of the Overlord. I plea with him. " Fight, father! ", " Lloyd! ", " Fight him! "..." You will not-...take- ", " FIGHT HIM! ", " ...My son! "...I had failed. I could hold my powers no longer. The Overlord struck me with his powers across the shoreline, and I last remember landing on my head, and hearing a loud ' span style="text-decoration: underline;"CRACK/span '. I am in the darkness.../em/p
p style="text-align: center;" /p
p style="text-align: center;"emI hear the sound of a very loud, and distinct ' span style="text-decoration: underline;"CRACK/span '. This had awoken me from my trance. My vision was burred, and I felt weary. But I heard nothing, but the sound of oceans waves gnashing away at the shores. After a solid minute or so, I finally gather all of my senses, and tried to stand. I looked around, feeling an odd sense of panic overcome me. But this sense was one that I had been too familiar with. It was the sense that my child was in danger. Every parent has that feeling, deep inside themselves, that their child was not near them, or is harmed in some way. That is the same feeling...only it is stronger. All of my senses, including my memory, had been gathered and assorted. So this feeling was too strong for me to possibly ignore. I call for my son, " Lloyd! ", and I call again, " Lloyd, are you here? We you alright?!". My calls had not been answered. This filled me with much fear, because he would have either answered, or give some sign of well being. /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emI begin to walk. To which direction, I wasn't certain. But I knew inside my boy was hurt, or worse. I continue to call until I reached the other side of the point on the shore I was on. It was then that I felt my insides twist horribly. That feeling was now so strong that I had begun to show my worry. My walking had ceased at the end of the beach. For whatever reason that I didn't know. My body had suddenly shut down, and I could not move. I looked over to where the small mountain had ended, and found a bunch of rocks toppled over each other. If the feeling of worry for my son hadn't been there, I would have just paid no mind. But when I saw those piled boulders, the feeling that had resided in me for the longest time had exploded. Running as fast as I could, I made my way over to the big pile. On account that the sun had disappeared, I could not see anything through the cracks, but my father instincts went into overdrive. Digging, and digging, and digging. Had there been more rocks to dig through, my hands would have bleed. But no...no. They had been cleared quite enough.../em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emThere before me, what appeared to be, my son. Lying in the most excruciatingly painful way I had ever seen. His hips were crooked and his torso was facing my direction. His feet had faced the opposite direction of where his hips were and his legs were cured. His head-on...his head was turned toward the mountain, but was bent backwards. His arms had been underneath his body. I don't remember ever moving, but present time told me otherwise. At some point while examining my boy's body, I had fallen to the ground and on my knees. I had my head in my hands and was trembling terribly. Oh, may father have mercy on my soul!/em/p
p style="text-align: center;"em" My boy...my precious boy..." I spoke with a high voice that shook. I dared to move an inch towards my boy, and had not had far to go. By the time I had reached him, which was not very far, I had already began to stretch my arm over his shoulder to grasp his arm to gently pull it out. Then the other. Shifted his hips, uncurled his legs and just sat still. I could not bare to turn his head, because I had no idea wether it would hurt him or not. But my curiosity got the better of me, and I gently moved his head to face me. I sat there. Staring at his face in pity. His eyes were shut firmly, and he made no sign of opening them. /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emNow, for sure and without a single doubt in my body, I was crying. If anyone had been there, I would not have cared. My reputation? Who cares. My pride? Screw it! The evil in my blood that tempted me to smile, grin, laugh, or speak? Screw it! I was a mess. Wallowing in fear, pity, sadness and guilt. It took no longer than half of a second for me to recall what had happened. Though I could not see, hear or remember the rest of the battle, I knew straight away that I was the one to have done this./em/p
p style="text-align: center;"em" No. No. No..! " I whimpered. " Please...please don't do this to me...". " Lloyd. Lloyd, please, wake up.". I was only able to spit out a whisper, for my throat had begun to close. I did not know whether he was dead or not, but I did not want to touch him anymore. I would only hurt him more. To say I was feeling guilty was an understatement. To put into words that were more accurate, i felt like I was dying on the inside. My throat kept closing, and closing, as if someone was choking me. It got so bad that I fully collapsed on the ground, and clutched my neck in one hand, and allowed the other three sprawled. My vision was getting blurry, and air escaped my throat faster than I could run. I WAS choking. But from what. It took me a minute to finally see a shadow sitting on top of me, ' hands ' pressed firmly on my throat. It prevented me from talking. It spoke to me. " I have been waiting thousands of years to be set free. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to take my place as ruler of Ninjago. But no...your pathetic, useless, annoying excuse of a son had to come into my way! And now-now I am stuck here! With no army, no weapon, and no POWER! ", and with that, the Overlord pressed harder on my throat. I coughed, and gasped, and cried all at the same time. His disfigured face was right in front of mine. I found myself scared of the demon on top of me. I turned my head on its side and closed my eyes, trying to at least get away from his ugly face. He spoke again. " I had it all! Ninjago, power and an army! If you would have cooperated, I would have spared you. You would have been my servant...but NO!", " gah! ", " YOU HAD TO BETRAY ME! And for what?! This worthless waste of flesh?! ". I opened my eyes and saw Lloyd's face was still turned to me. My face contorted with pain. Pain from the words spoken to me, and pain from the hands around my neck. He was torturing me on purpose. He would have killed me by now./em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emFor about three minutes, he said nothing. His grip never loosening, but never hardening. Breath was still hard to reach but I wasn't dying. I thought he was going to finally kill me, and end the torment. But he only made it worse. " You couldn't even shield this boy from training, and you believed you could shield him from his destiny? He was doomed the moment you became his father! You were no kind of father to him anyway. You were never there, then you come back, only to leave again. Then you continue to try and thwart what you knew was inevitable, and after finding me, you pretend to be cruel towards them, when you knew you couldn't! And all the while, your son was silently suffering from the pain of his destiny, and the pain of self-loathing...(chuckle) ". His grip on my neck tightened slightly, and it forced out a strangled scream. I continued to cry, and sob, and release choked screams that expressed the anguish and agony I felt. His words rang truthfully, and it only killed me more on the inside. The guilt was too much for me to handle. I begged for mercy. He chuckled again and loosened his grasp on my neck. " ( gasp )...( gasp )...( cough )... ", " your life is not worth saving, but if I kill you, there would be no fun. Would there? ". I almost didn't hear him through my sobbing. One of my free arms wandered upon Lloyd's hand, and I looked over. I practically screamed. " I-...( gasp )... I'm sorry! I s-should have protected you! I'm not worthy enough to be the father of such an...", I looked to the sky and then back to my son. " Of such an amazing, wonderful, and bright boy. I don't know how I could have EVER called myself your father! I-I did this to you! Please! Just wake up! You dont have to forgive me! In fact, don't! I don't deserve it. But I would give my life for you to be alright! Please! Please... please, wake up... ". I gasped and sobbed at the same time. Not realising that the Overlord was gone and I could breath again. I wanted him to kill me. I wanted him to slowly squeeze the life out of me until I was dead. But he left me to writh in agony./em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emIt seemed like forever. And it certainly felt so, but after however long it was, I felt some one place a hand on my back, and begin to gently rub. Shocked, I turned my head around and allowed my back to land on the ground. Looking straight into... beautiful eyes. The eyes I had when I was a child. He spoke with a tender voice, " Dad. It's me. Your alright now. He's gone. ". I let out a wail of relief and sorrow. Relief from the sight of my beautiful boy staring back at me with kind eyes, and sorrow from everything. I threw all of my arms around his torso and barried my face in his chest. He hugged me back! I cried for an hour. I spat out words that didn't relate to the same sentence. I was everything I never wanted my boy to see./em/p
p style="text-align: center;" /p
p style="text-align: center;"The final battle has begun. All of the gears have been prepared for this moment. Every gear, except for me. I never had expected it to come this soon. I never wanted it to. Yet now here I am. Standing in the midst of what is, and what will be where I make my first mark on the battle ahead. I cannot say for certain that I am fully prepared for this, but I know that if I had said anything, I would be placing the team in hot waters. I couldn't do that. So, here I am, the " legendary " green ninja, finally for forfilling my ultimate goal. But how could I say that? My destiny involves me taking on my own father in battle, to win, or to lose, even though I had not even had the chance to come clean about my troubles and concerns. This will be the single most hardest thing I will ever have to do for the sake of thousands. I stand here, along side my uncle and mother, confronting my father, Lord Garmadon. /p
p style="text-align: center;"em" So the balance has sent my son, brother and wife to try and stop me?!" Said my father. We had tried to make see in our light, what the true intentions of the Overlord were. But he refused to listen. He had claimed to never be able to do what is right. That the evil in his blood will never go away. Why does he not see? He CAN do what is right! He just has to find the will to do so. He did for me, when the serpentine left me to die in the Fire Temple. He had done what is right. Yet he still does not see. /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emHe didn't believe us! We couldn't stop him from fireing the Ultimate Weapon! Now our troubles truly begin. My thoughts weigh heavily in my head, but I don't allow them to cloud my judgement and my actions. I have a job to do! One that requires me to push aside personal cares and do what is necessary to keep Ninjago safe. As the fight to shut off the weapon continues, I see now that we are not getting any closer to winning. We-we are losing! My emotions have been booking at this point, and they continue to boil as I am tossed away, as if I was nothing but litter! The silent chances I'm giving him are fruitless! I must think positively! He will be fine! We will be fine! Everything will be...-will be...no...oh please...no..." Father! ", " No, Lloyd! That, is no longer your father. " /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emBetween having watched my father be possessed by the Overlord, and have been expected to do adults work, I have surprised myself by not allowing my emotions to overflow. My father is now no longer able to help me. I'm left alone to face my father. I had told the others to leave, so that if I fail to achieve victory, they are to protect the people that have not been turned evil. They would not go kindly. /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"em" No way, kiddo! I'm not going anywhere! ", " My algorithms tell me that the percentage of you accomplishing victory is 7.3422165%! "," If you think that I'm just going to leave you here to have all the fun, you're dead wrong! ", " Lloyd, please! Don't do this! Your father and I can't lose you again! ", " Lloyd, I know you have to fight the Overlord alone, but to get through this battle, you need the help of your team! "/em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emThey have valid points. But I would not forgive myself if anything had happened to them if I was injured. They still would not leave, so I forced them to. I ignore their pleas, and allow the portal to close./em/p
p style="text-align: center;"em" Nooooooooooooo! You foolish boy! Do you have any idea of what you have done?! ", " Yes, I do have an idea. It's that you will never stop onto my home, not only watch. " /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emThe battle truly has begun. With my friends gone, I have found relief knowing that they will not have to see my failure to do my job the way it should be done. My intentions are to defeat the Overlord, yes. However, with my father still within the Overlord, I cannot go any further without getting him out of the Overlord. I plea with him. " Fight, father! ", " Lloyd! ", " Fight him! "..." You will not-...take- ", " FIGHT HIM! ", " ...My son! "...I had failed. I could hold my powers no longer. The Overlord struck me with his powers across the shoreline, and I last remember landing on my head, and hearing a loud ' span style="text-decoration: underline;"CRACK/span '. I am in the darkness.../em/p
p style="text-align: center;" /p
p style="text-align: center;"emI hear the sound of a very loud, and distinct ' span style="text-decoration: underline;"CRACK/span '. This had awoken me from my trance. My vision was burred, and I felt weary. But I heard nothing, but the sound of oceans waves gnashing away at the shores. After a solid minute or so, I finally gather all of my senses, and tried to stand. I looked around, feeling an odd sense of panic overcome me. But this sense was one that I had been too familiar with. It was the sense that my child was in danger. Every parent has that feeling, deep inside themselves, that their child was not near them, or is harmed in some way. That is the same feeling...only it is stronger. All of my senses, including my memory, had been gathered and assorted. So this feeling was too strong for me to possibly ignore. I call for my son, " Lloyd! ", and I call again, " Lloyd, are you here? We you alright?!". My calls had not been answered. This filled me with much fear, because he would have either answered, or give some sign of well being. /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emI begin to walk. To which direction, I wasn't certain. But I knew inside my boy was hurt, or worse. I continue to call until I reached the other side of the point on the shore I was on. It was then that I felt my insides twist horribly. That feeling was now so strong that I had begun to show my worry. My walking had ceased at the end of the beach. For whatever reason that I didn't know. My body had suddenly shut down, and I could not move. I looked over to where the small mountain had ended, and found a bunch of rocks toppled over each other. If the feeling of worry for my son hadn't been there, I would have just paid no mind. But when I saw those piled boulders, the feeling that had resided in me for the longest time had exploded. Running as fast as I could, I made my way over to the big pile. On account that the sun had disappeared, I could not see anything through the cracks, but my father instincts went into overdrive. Digging, and digging, and digging. Had there been more rocks to dig through, my hands would have bleed. But no...no. They had been cleared quite enough.../em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emThere before me, what appeared to be, my son. Lying in the most excruciatingly painful way I had ever seen. His hips were crooked and his torso was facing my direction. His feet had faced the opposite direction of where his hips were and his legs were cured. His head-on...his head was turned toward the mountain, but was bent backwards. His arms had been underneath his body. I don't remember ever moving, but present time told me otherwise. At some point while examining my boy's body, I had fallen to the ground and on my knees. I had my head in my hands and was trembling terribly. Oh, may father have mercy on my soul!/em/p
p style="text-align: center;"em" My boy...my precious boy..." I spoke with a high voice that shook. I dared to move an inch towards my boy, and had not had far to go. By the time I had reached him, which was not very far, I had already began to stretch my arm over his shoulder to grasp his arm to gently pull it out. Then the other. Shifted his hips, uncurled his legs and just sat still. I could not bare to turn his head, because I had no idea wether it would hurt him or not. But my curiosity got the better of me, and I gently moved his head to face me. I sat there. Staring at his face in pity. His eyes were shut firmly, and he made no sign of opening them. /em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emNow, for sure and without a single doubt in my body, I was crying. If anyone had been there, I would not have cared. My reputation? Who cares. My pride? Screw it! The evil in my blood that tempted me to smile, grin, laugh, or speak? Screw it! I was a mess. Wallowing in fear, pity, sadness and guilt. It took no longer than half of a second for me to recall what had happened. Though I could not see, hear or remember the rest of the battle, I knew straight away that I was the one to have done this./em/p
p style="text-align: center;"em" No. No. No..! " I whimpered. " Please...please don't do this to me...". " Lloyd. Lloyd, please, wake up.". I was only able to spit out a whisper, for my throat had begun to close. I did not know whether he was dead or not, but I did not want to touch him anymore. I would only hurt him more. To say I was feeling guilty was an understatement. To put into words that were more accurate, i felt like I was dying on the inside. My throat kept closing, and closing, as if someone was choking me. It got so bad that I fully collapsed on the ground, and clutched my neck in one hand, and allowed the other three sprawled. My vision was getting blurry, and air escaped my throat faster than I could run. I WAS choking. But from what. It took me a minute to finally see a shadow sitting on top of me, ' hands ' pressed firmly on my throat. It prevented me from talking. It spoke to me. " I have been waiting thousands of years to be set free. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to take my place as ruler of Ninjago. But no...your pathetic, useless, annoying excuse of a son had to come into my way! And now-now I am stuck here! With no army, no weapon, and no POWER! ", and with that, the Overlord pressed harder on my throat. I coughed, and gasped, and cried all at the same time. His disfigured face was right in front of mine. I found myself scared of the demon on top of me. I turned my head on its side and closed my eyes, trying to at least get away from his ugly face. He spoke again. " I had it all! Ninjago, power and an army! If you would have cooperated, I would have spared you. You would have been my servant...but NO!", " gah! ", " YOU HAD TO BETRAY ME! And for what?! This worthless waste of flesh?! ". I opened my eyes and saw Lloyd's face was still turned to me. My face contorted with pain. Pain from the words spoken to me, and pain from the hands around my neck. He was torturing me on purpose. He would have killed me by now./em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emFor about three minutes, he said nothing. His grip never loosening, but never hardening. Breath was still hard to reach but I wasn't dying. I thought he was going to finally kill me, and end the torment. But he only made it worse. " You couldn't even shield this boy from training, and you believed you could shield him from his destiny? He was doomed the moment you became his father! You were no kind of father to him anyway. You were never there, then you come back, only to leave again. Then you continue to try and thwart what you knew was inevitable, and after finding me, you pretend to be cruel towards them, when you knew you couldn't! And all the while, your son was silently suffering from the pain of his destiny, and the pain of self-loathing...(chuckle) ". His grip on my neck tightened slightly, and it forced out a strangled scream. I continued to cry, and sob, and release choked screams that expressed the anguish and agony I felt. His words rang truthfully, and it only killed me more on the inside. The guilt was too much for me to handle. I begged for mercy. He chuckled again and loosened his grasp on my neck. " ( gasp )...( gasp )...( cough )... ", " your life is not worth saving, but if I kill you, there would be no fun. Would there? ". I almost didn't hear him through my sobbing. One of my free arms wandered upon Lloyd's hand, and I looked over. I practically screamed. " I-...( gasp )... I'm sorry! I s-should have protected you! I'm not worthy enough to be the father of such an...", I looked to the sky and then back to my son. " Of such an amazing, wonderful, and bright boy. I don't know how I could have EVER called myself your father! I-I did this to you! Please! Just wake up! You dont have to forgive me! In fact, don't! I don't deserve it. But I would give my life for you to be alright! Please! Please... please, wake up... ". I gasped and sobbed at the same time. Not realising that the Overlord was gone and I could breath again. I wanted him to kill me. I wanted him to slowly squeeze the life out of me until I was dead. But he left me to writh in agony./em/p
p style="text-align: center;"emIt seemed like forever. And it certainly felt so, but after however long it was, I felt some one place a hand on my back, and begin to gently rub. Shocked, I turned my head around and allowed my back to land on the ground. Looking straight into... beautiful eyes. The eyes I had when I was a child. He spoke with a tender voice, " Dad. It's me. Your alright now. He's gone. ". I let out a wail of relief and sorrow. Relief from the sight of my beautiful boy staring back at me with kind eyes, and sorrow from everything. I threw all of my arms around his torso and barried my face in his chest. He hugged me back! I cried for an hour. I spat out words that didn't relate to the same sentence. I was everything I never wanted my boy to see./em/p