A.N: Hey guys! Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! In this chapter, I'm going to introduce the Princess of Shadow. Hope you like it!

Lloyd

Looking back on it, I guess I should have been pretty scared, flying to the Shadow Empire; I mean, for all we knew we were flying to our deaths. But at the time I was actually really excited. At that time, I had never actually left Ninjago itself, and I was ecstatic to finally be seeing new places, and meeting new people.

Caught up in my thoughts, I was startled when I heard Jay yell. "We're here!" he cried from the deck of the Bounty. I ran out of the room I now shared with the other ninja, almost tripping over my own foot on the way out. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw out there. Stretching out before me was a huge island covered in gigantic mountains, which, by the way, were taller than any mountain I had ever seen, and instead of being topped with snow, these mountains were barren and dry, and yet they still looked intimidating, but beautiful at the same time.

What really snagged my attention, though, was the towering castle conveniently located on what looked like the only large, flat piece of land on the island. It was made entirely of what looked like black marble, and was decorated with highlights of silver details. But before I could further examine this foreign landscape, the ship came to an abrupt stop, throwing me forward, with the only thing stopping me from falling over the edge and hitting the unforgiving ground below being the railing on the edge of the Bounty.

"Hey," I complained, "What was that for Nya?"

"Sorry Lloyd, but we shouldn't just barge in there on the Bounty. For all they know, it could be a warship coming to fight them!" She called back apologetically from the control room. Sensei then decided that we needed to walk into the castle on foot, but in our ninja suits, just so that if things got messy, we would be able to defend ourselves.

We all scampered off the ship, eager to feel solid ground beneath our feet after several long hours of flight. Now that we were actually on the ground, the castle looked a lot scarier than it had on the Bounty. Its gates loomed over us, beckoning us to enter. So, with Sensei Wu leading us, we strode single file up to the two guards at the gates, who conveniently now had their swords pointed at us.

When we got pretty close, Sensei Wu motioned for us to stay back, while he shared a whispered conversation with the guards. A sudden look of realization crossed their faces, as they nodded once, and motioned to the watchtower on the left of the gates for them to be opened. The gates then pulled open outwards, without making a sound, and Sensei indicated that we could follow him into the castle.

As soon as we got into the actual building, I was shocked. I had never seen such a massive palace before. In fact, I had never seen any palace before. Its interior resembled its exterior; black marble with silver details and highlights. A woman who looked about 30 walked up to us, and asked in a polite tone, "Are you here to see the Queen?"

"Yes, we would like to speak to whoever is in charge, please." Sensei Wu requested in a careful voice. The woman simply nodded and beckoned for us to follow her. I just looked at Jay, who shrugged at me, and followed our teacher.

The woman led us to an enormous set of black doors, carved intricately with silver. I assumed this was the throne room. "Now," the woman began, startling me out of my current inspection of the doors, "The Queen herself is very ill right now; she is in a critical state that our doctors cannot mend. Therefore, she is unfit to rule the Shadow Empire, and while she is unwell, her daughter, Princess Ayesha will be running the kingdom in her place."

Sensei Wu simply furrowed his eyebrows, and asked, "How long has Princess Ayesha been in charge?"

"As of now," The woman began, "Three weeks." So it was definitely her that sent the army, not her mother. Suddenly, the doors flew open, on their own accord. "I sense the princess wishes for us to enter." Zane stated. And without another word, we all steeled our resolves, and entered.

The first thing I noticed in the throne room was the throne itself. It was pitch black, and looked as if it were made of obsidian rather than marble. It wasn't too detailed, which was good, but it definitely wasn't plain either. Carved on the head and arms of the throne was some kind of ancient writing in some kind of other language. The second thing I noticed in that throne room was the girl sitting on the throne.

She had wavy, black hair that reached her mid-back, and currently hung loose, tumbling down her elegant shoulders. Her skin was a light toffee colour, and she looked quite tall; taller than Kai and Cole, probably. On further inspection, I also noticed that she was quite physically strong; I could see her wiry muscles were tensed, as if awaiting an attack. The Princess was clothed in a loose, slightly transparent black shirt with a black lace up undershirt beneath it. Her legs were covered with a pair of baggy, black pants, which glimmered silver on the hem. The most noticeable thing about this girl, though, were her eyes. They were pitch black, and yet they showed so much expression; and more than that, they showed raw, untamed power. There was something about this girl that showed she was a force not to reckon with.

She looked nothing like I would have anticipated a princess to look like. I was expecting a small, blonde girl with blue eyes wearing a pink dress and a tiara. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but still. My inspection was cut short, when suddenly, a strong, tenor female voice cut through the silence like a knife. "You wished to see me?" Only then did I realize that it was her voice. Again, I had expected a high, soprano voice. Sensei bowed to the ground, and the rest of us took the hint and followed his example. "Princess Ayesha, of the Shadow Empire," He began, "the people of Ninjago ask that you withdraw your armies from our lands. Please, whatever we have done, I'm sure, can be amended in some way?" He reasoned.

The Princess furrowed her eyebrows, and leaned forward, placing her elbow on her knee, and moved her chin to rest on her closed fist. Her dark eyes darted back and forth between Sensei Wu, Nya, the other four ninja and I, as if inspecting us for traps. Finally, she spoke, "I have not sent any of my troops to Ninjago, or anywhere, for that matter." I could see that Kai was getting mad.

"Oh yeah? Prove it then! 'Cause there is an entire army attacking us back home!" He yelled. The Princess simply narrowed her unnerving, obsidian eyes, and spoke three words, "Come with me."

As she rose from her throne, I could immediately see that she was indeed extremely tall; definitely taller than Kai, Cole, Jay and maybe even me. Probably not Zane, though. Just another perk of being a nindroid, I guess. She strode past us, and out of the double doors that we had passed through not so long ago ourselves, leaving us to follow her. She lead us through a series of twisting corridors, until finally, she stopped outside a colossal building labeled as 'Zilla Stables'.

Then she turned around, and let out a long sigh, as her face broke into a half smile. "Thank goodness that's over!" She exclaimed, "I hate being in that throne room all day…" She trailed off, sighing again. To say I was confused would be a massive understatement. "Is it just me, or are we missing something here?" Cole asked. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was a bit weirded out by the Princess' behavior. "Oh, sorry," She apologized, noticing our confused stares, "It's just that whenever I'm in that throne room, my mother can see me from her room, and she expects me to act like her all the time."

I knew what she meant. When I was at Darkley's, I was always expected to act all evil just because I was Garmadon's son. But when I turned out not to be nearly as evil as anyone else thought I would be, the teachers just decided to expel me, so that the school's reputation wasn't diminished.

My memories were cut short when Princess Ayesha's voice rang out again. "Hey, are you coming or not?" As I snapped back to reality, I realized that she had already started walking into the 'Zilla Stables' with the rest of the group trailing behind her. "Uh, yeah, I'm coming!" I called out, and jogged forward to catch up with them. "Tell me," the Princess began speaking again, "What kind of animals did this army have?" Sensei Wu stepped forward.

"According to our armies, there were sizable black wolves with red eyes and stripes, as well as large elephant-like creatures with six tusks." He informed.

"So tell me," She spoke again, "How could I possibly have sent the 'elephant creatures'," She made air quotations with her hands, "when they are all still in here?" And with that, she swung open the double doors to reveal what looked exactly like a stable, but much larger, and instead of horses or dragons, it was inhabited with the same creatures described by the two soldiers. "What?" Jay asked incredulously, "That makes no sense! Unless someone else had these Zilla creatures wit-"

"Impossible." Princess Ayesha began with another smile, "Zilla are specially bred for the armies of the Shadow Empire. They are not found anywhere else in the world, and are unobtainable otherwise."

Now I was really confused. If the Princess had all the Zilla in the world kept in her stables, and they were all right here in front of us, then who the heck was attacking Ninjago? And why would they purposely use the animals and colours of the Shadow Empire? "Oh, and those 'wolves' you were talking about are the Ethelwulf. They are also creatures of the Shadow Empire, and are kept in the Ethelwulf Den just that way." Princess Ayesha stated, pointing to the left.

Sensei Wu bowed his head once in apology. "We are sorry for inconveniencing and accusing you, Princess. We will take our leave n-"

"Wait!" She spoke urgently, "I need to find out who is impersonating my army! Let me help you!" Then Kai decided to speak up.

"No way! Missions like these are way to dangerous for women! Think abou-" He was cut off as he found himself pinned to the wall of the stable, with two twin daggers pressed to his throat. "Care to say that again?" the Princess growled, with a glint in her eye, as if daring him to go on. "N-no Ma'am-m…" Kai stuttered, looking genuinely scared.

Princess Ayesha sheathed her daggers in a hidden belt that I hadn't seen before, and turned to face us again. "As I was saying," She began again, "Can I come with you? I hate being trapped in this palace. It's like a prison. I have no freedom…" She confessed. I looked over at Sensei Wu, who seemed to be contemplating this. "You may travel with us for now. Just make sure to pack lightly." He finally decided. The Princess' whole face lit up with joy, "I'll just get my mother's advisor to take care of things while I'm gone!" And with that, she ran back inside the castle to pack her things, no doubt.

Within just five minutes, Princess Ayesha was back where she left us, holding a small black backpack. "Wait… What was your name again?" Jay asked the Princess. Honestly; trust Jay to forget someone's name 10 minutes after he meets her. "Well maybe we should just do introductions. I'm Cole, the black ninja of earth." Cole offered.

"Name's Kai, red ninja of fire." Kai grumbled, still embarrassed about being threatened by a girl. "My name is Zane, the white ninja of ice." Zane introduced himself. "Yeah, and I'm Jay, the awesome blue ninja of lightning! Oh yeah, and that's Sensei Wu!" Jay yelled, earning a raised eyebrow from the Princess. I decided to speak up. "I'm Lloyd, and I'm the Green Ninja!" I said, waiting for any sign of recognition. I didn't get any. Apparently, she hadn't heard of us, then.

"What's your element?" She asked curiously.

"Lloyd can control all four of the elements." Sensei Wu informed her. Again, I waited for some sign of amazement, but again, I didn't get any. She just nodded in understanding, and then proceeded to introduce herself, "Well, I'm Ayesha, Princess and Master of Shadows. But you can just call me Ayesha." She finished with a small nod. "So that was her name…" Jay murmured. The ninja and I just laughed at him when he said that.

Suddenly, a look of realization marred Ayesha's features, as she began to speak again in a hurried, urgent tone, "I have a meeting tomorrow!" She gasped, "A meeting with the other three Queens, I have t-"

"Other three Queens?" I interrupted her. "Wasn't there something in that 'Prophecy of Nine' that said when there were 4 Queens in each kingdom, a new evil would rise, and five new elements would join the Queens?" I realized.

Ayesha just sighed. "I know about that prophecy. But it didn't work. The Platinum Weapons react to the other three Queens, but none react to my mother. When that didn't work, they tried to get the weapons to react to me, but that didn't work either. Now everyone thinks that the reason the weapons didn't work on me was that I wasn't Queen yet. Which is why I believe that my mother didn't fall ill at all. I think she was poisoned; poisoned so that I would be Queen." She finished, with a downcast look. I honestly didn't know what to say to that. I just felt so bad for Ayesha. I mean, she had to rule a kingdom by herself, her mother was dying, and she couldn't do anything to stop it.

After a long, awkward silence, Sensei Wu decided to speak up again. "Well perhaps you should stay until your meeting tomorrow, and we can leave for Ninjago straight afterwards." He suggested. Ayesha nodded, and said,

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea. I'll just tell my mother's advisor to get some rooms ready for you guys. How many do you need?"

"Well, " Cole began, "We us five ninja can share one room; we do that all the time, we need a room for Sensei, and a room for Nya. So just three should be fine. I'll go get Nya." And, true to his word, Cole walked out of the black gates and onto the Bounty to get Kai's sister. Ayesha just nodded and jogged off, only to return with a nervous looking girl of about 20. "This is Camellia. She'll show you guys your rooms." Then Ayesha just ran off again.

Camellia just bowed her head once, and began walking up a large set of stairs, down a corridor, and into a large room. Large was an understatement. The room was massive! Like the rest of the castle, it was mostly black and silver, and contained five double beds. Five! I think the rest of the ninja felt the same way I did, because we all claimed a bed, and then just stared at the room. After a while, though, I realized how tired I was, lay on my bed, and welcomed the embrace of sleep.

A.N: Next chapter will have the other 3 queens in it! Remember to review!