Lorris hauled the ninja to the center of the dojo and pulled down a screen. "This is a diagram of what the Black Pearls—"
"Hey! When did you get a screen in here?" Jay exclaimed. Lorris hissed. "Quiet down, chitty chat. I got this in here a long time ago when Yang was still alive. Because we existed about eleven billion years ago, I estimate? Anyway, here at the top of the pyramid is the Deathmare who has every power of the Abyss in her. Soul Taker. The next in line are three-eyed bloodmares, who're responsible for the hatred in this world, mostly the wars and murders. Then there are the mages, called sagemares. They hold blame for creating the dark arts, the Overlord, and anything magic in this world that has evil in it. Like Nadakhan's djinn power that Jay told you all about."
"Yeesh, don't remind me," Jay whispered.
Lorris continued. "Next are stormcolts, which are the stallions and not the mares. Every natural disaster is them in disguise. Then are plaguemares, or the steeds that make everyone sick. Remember that time with the epidemic you had?" Everyone nodded. They'd almost lost Kai. "That plaguemare was named Malaria. Now, the next are bone breakers. Not kidding. They've caused ribs to be shattered, they're stallions made of skeletons, and when a rib is broken, it's a skellion at work.
"Okay, remember when Morro was here? He was a ghost, and ghosts are given the power to possess people by ghostmares, hence the name. They can control multitudes at once, though. And now are these nightmares. Puffy, with a skeleton you can see. And the skeleton is made of knobs and sticks. They destroy your dreams like all the nightmare evolutions can do. And they cause fear, terror, anger, tragedy, etcetera whatevs. The nightmares are at the top of the hierarchy. After are the devil-dragons and demons. They're similar to the nightmares, but a little weaker. After is just the whole Abyssal army made of Black Pearls, then slaves, then prisoners, then sacrifices. Yes, they sacrifice the stars to Soul Taker because she eats their hearts."
Meanwhile, everyone was looking on in horror. Once Lorris finished speaking, Kai quickly stammered out, "So the nightmares are the ones which control the Black Pearls and make them attack Ninjago?"
"Not just Ninjago, but all the realms too," Nilla answered. "Right now my super-sniffer nose can smell crime from the Black Pearls at the Ninjago City bank. There's a lot of rioting. And ghostmares with the Black Pearls."
Everyone raced out and rushed to Ninjago City. Half the people were rioting, half were running around in terror. The ninja quickly leapt down and started fighting. Jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin.
"Take that! And that! And THAT!" Jay shouted as he kicked the Black Pearl of Samukai down. He was quickly overwhelmed by a horde of rioters.
"Guys! They're too strong! We can't fight them!" Cole called to the team. Nya blasted the ghostmares with water. "And my water powers don't even affect them like they do to other ghosts!" she yelled.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you how to fight a ghostmare," Nilla groaned, then she screamed, "LOOK OUT!"
Cole turned around to find himself staring into white eyes resting against pitch black ghostliness. They called, Come… join us… you shall be greatly powered… everyone will bow to you… come to the Abyss and live forever… gain power…
He succumbed to the possession. The ghostmare entered his mind. Now, go attack your friends.
"Cole! What are you doing!" Kai roared as Cole snapped rocks at him. Zane did a quick scan. "My resources say that he has been possessed by something that he cannot break out of and cannot fight. This must be a ghostmare's work!"
If that was true, it definitely wasn't pretty. Cole's eyes were red. His voice was like a hissing snake. "I shall kill you all!"
"Okay, that's it, I'm joining the fray," Lorris growled. "Dearest pacifist sister, gimme the bubblegum!" The bubblegum formed a shield around Lorris that protected her from the ghostmares as she shot into battle. ROWWW! Slice, tear, spit, and scream at the Black Pearls… the ninja were allowed a moment of rest as the ocelot blew on a whistle. The Ultra Dragon flew by, combining all its powers into one huge ball. It fired the ball at Lorris, who caught it and covered it with bubblegum, thrusting it into the air. The sphere exploded and cured Cole.
"Ugh.. what happened?" he stammered, wincing and rubbing his head.
Zane did another scan. "It appears that the foreign darkness which controls your mind has left, Cole. You were fighting us until the Elemental Dragon came back, and Lorris caused the ghostmares and Black Pearls to leave."
"What… oh yeah, now I remember. Sorry about attacking you guys."
"Hey, you were under possession. You couldn't fight it. No one blames you," Lloyd comforted him. Back on the Bounty (Misako was controlling it), Lorris was trying not to throw up and had a paw clapped over her jaws. Why? Nobody knows.
Back at the Temple of Airjitzu, everyone entered to find Akira training. The stats here are: Reflexes? Fast. Defense mode? Agile, quick. Attack mode? Extremely fast, agile, clear-cut. Moves? Envy to the ninja. Sword reflexes? Something to be jealous of. But then again, Lorris and Nilla coach against jealousy. It's bad for the soul.
She finished by cutting a few apples, pears, watermelons, pineapples, and berries into a very fine tower of fruit slices on a plate. Something to be very envious of, because she cut them all in a single mid-jump.
"Whoa. Why am I so jealous right now?" Jay squealed to himself. Kai nodded in a daze. "I didn't even see some of those moves. That was way too fast!"
"I thought that ninja were supposed to be really fast, even faster than me," Akira sniffed while swiping at a mannequin with a swift spin kick, "Apparently only the Twin Terrors' siblings are faster than me."
She whipped out of the room using the wind. Well, actually letting the wind carry her to the rooftop. Lloyd had already been curious about her, but now that REALLY piqued his interest. "Did she just ride on the wind?"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you that she's Morro's sister," Nilla shrugged. "And if you're worrying, she's not evil; she's just not social. Even Morro was nicer than her before he was disowned. Then he was missing for 47 years and her parents found his body and showed him his baby sister—wonder how that happened—and then they cast her out when she was nine years old once she knew, but then she was frozen in time, and then she came back, and my sister Vixen found her and took her in like a mother wolf, though she's a fox. And since Vixen is a martial arts expert, Akira grew up to be deadly."
The twins noticed that Lloyd was looking up with an even more dazed look than Kai. Also… some weird expression that looked like he was worried. He also smelled very… in Bambi terms… twitterpated. If Bambi was twitterpated when he saw Faline, then you'd know what I'd mean. Twitterpation was one of Cupid's favorite terms.
"Uh, okay. Now someone here is looking super twitterpated," Lorris meowed awkwardly. "Never mind, I'll be leaving now."
She climbed to the roof to see Akira pacing and slicing up a blank scroll of paper to pieces. "Akira, whaddaya think you're doing?" she asked. Akira warbled, "Be quiet. It's about who you call Weird Al's pet frog. I'm just really mad right now."
"Aw, really, no you're not. I can practically hear your heartbeat racing out of control. And you only act really cold and never talk to the people who you like. Don't think I didn't notice that glare you gave Agent Cape Verde."
Akira sighed. "Why do you call him Cape Verde? And okay, you're right. I'm just nervous, got it? And now since everyone knows I'm related to Morro…" she trailed off. Lorris rolled her eyes. "Seriously. I have got to tell Nilla about this. She already explained to them about how you're not evil and stuff. Yeah, they might be wary, but if you haven't seen that inconspicuous twitterpation, then you'd probably never survive."
"What's twitterpation?"
Le gasp! "I thought I explained it already! You know what, never mind, it's something that they talk about with birds. Let's go and see how you interact at the dinner table. It's already almost time for supper."
Dinner happened to be Nilla cooking, as she had made an agreement that the twins and Akira be part of the team. The recipe used was one of Prancer's best dishes, a steak fajita. Everyone loved it. Especially the perpetually hungry Cole. "Mmm, tithe ith dewithiouth! I nee moa!"
"Okay, calm down, Cole, we're all getting it," Jay chuckled as he watched his friend wolf down the meal. Throughout the dinner, everyone was talking excitedly. But not once did Akira say a thing. The only thing she did say seemed defensive: "I don't get it." Lorris had been asking why she was so nasty around Agent Cape Verde.
Now it was time for night watch, though it was more like nightmare watch. First shift, Lorris blew on her rainbow whistle and had a guard of nocturnal animals around the fort, like the dragons of night. Notice that I didn't day dragons of darkness, but dragons of night, which breathe fire and some can read minds, tell the future, or both. Also they're called NightWings.
Of course, to keep the animals in check, they needed someone to stay outside to keep command. Nilla: "Sorry, but I don't like those animals as much except for the baby owls and cute dragonets. Those kinds out there are the adult monsters."
Lorris: "I'll be out there, but we need two more people. Akira already volunteered. WHO WILL BE THE NEXT PERSON?!"
"I'm not going out there to be surrounded by a bunch of bats and owls!" Jay shrieked. "That's disgusting! And have you seen the slugs all over the place?" (Lorris: You have no appreciation for those animals.)
"Well, I'm not going anywhere with unfamiliar dragons we don't even know! I still don't trust that kind!" Cole shouted. (Lorris: HOW DARE YOU!)
"I might burn one of them, and then they'll all be flying at me like harpoons to kill me, and I agree with Jay about slimy snails and slugs!" Kai shot out. (Lorris: Shut up before you are terminated by termites and fire ants.)
"Nindroids are targets for porcupines because they can hack into my system! And there are about 60 porcupines out there!" Zane roared as he turned up the volume on his speakers. (Lorris: There are only five porcupines.)
"Well, I'm not doing anything near a bunch of fire-breathers! It weakens my power!" Nya screamed. (Lorris: They only breathe fire when attacked or attacking. And plus, they like swimming.)
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Nilla yelled as she stomped on the floor. The room fell quiet. "If you all keep fighting we will be kept up the whole night. Cast a vote on who will be going." She walked away, the door slamming behind her.
"You know, the only person who has kept quiet this whole time was Lloyd, so you're coming with me. Good night to the rest of you!" Lorris called as she whisked the Green Ninja away to the rooftop, landing him right next to Akira, who stepped away from him with a sneer. Lorris dropped down to one of the dragons and nestled against the curl of his tail. "Hi, Shadowstalker! Nice to see you again!"
The dragon purred a happy greeting in reply.
A minute passed until about 9:30 p.m. and nothing happened. Akira was pacing again. "Why do I have to be stuck with you?" she snarled, pointing a dagger. Lloyd looked up from meditating. "What—what? Why do you suddenly hate me so much?"
"Because of what happened with my brother. Morro. YOU had to be the Green Ninja and not him. All because of fate and his ambition. He could have been a better leader than you ever were!" She placed her katana up to his throat.
Lloyd was taken aback by that comment. It held a lot of venomous hatred in it, and a sense of revenge. Shadowstalker noticed and grunted, lifting his head. Lorris lightly poked him and whispered, "Don't pay attention to them, we'll see about them later! Focus on the nightmare watch first."
Shadowstalker rumbled again and pointed a wing to Akira. Lorris looked up… there was a ghostmare hiding with invisibility on. And since the NightWings and star spirits can see through that invisibility, it was no wonder why Akira was so furious. "Oh, boy. Shadowstalker, do whatever you'd like to that ghostmare. It's your prehistoric archenemy Mind Control."
Shadowstalker roared suddenly and reared on his hind legs, shooting fire at Mind Control. She whinnied and let go of Akira's mind, leading to the warrior's vision to clear out. Shadowstalker took the fight to the air. Dragons are invulnerable to the nightmare attacks when they have a special amulet around their necks, and that's what our friend Shadowstalker had. He whacked his tail through the air, lighting it on fire, and deterring the ghostmare Mind Control, who hated dragon's fire.
Quickly the mare retreated, hissing, "This isn't the last time, and you know it! I shall wage war on forever!" Shadowstalker chased after her for a long while. He really seemed to hate her. In dragon speech: "You won't get away with your betrayal! I thought you used to be my Pegasus guardian who carried good dreams to everyone! YOU ARE A KILLER AND A MERCENARY!"
On the rooftop, Lorris was watching Akira recover. "Wake up, Akira! Did you know that you said some of the nastiest things ever when you were under the control of Mind Control? That just sounded weird, but who cares."
"What…? Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. But I still don't like you," she snapped at Lloyd. The warrior flipped onto the peak of the roof and started pacing again.
"Okay, she's sarcastic again, that means that she's back to health again," Lorris noted. She looked at Lloyd. "She's painful sometimes."
"Does she always act like that around people?" Lloyd asked. Lorris shrugged. "Only around peeps she just met, and not really around my family because we're all sarcastic together, though mostly I'm the one with hilarious insults. Why are you even staring at her? Why are your eyes super googly and why do you smell so nervous around her? Don't think I can't smell emotions." That statement made Lloyd very uneasy. She could smell emotions? Well, of course. All animals could, whether Zootopian or not.
"Uh, don't judge me, but…" he trailed off. Isn't this just so obvious?
"Oh. You like her? Okay, so that's why I smelled twitterpation all over you. In bird terms, it means you have a crush on someone."
"How do I even get near her?"
"Easy. You have to avoid her. And also, (Lorris whispered this to herself) she actually REEEEAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYYY likes you."
"Uh… What did you just say? I didn't hear the last part."
"Oh, that was a secret that she had, nothing to worry about!" (No nervousness at all, so very unlikely that she was lying. Then again, she hates lying.) "Also, if you really like her like Jay and Nya like each other or Kai and Skylor or Zane and P.I.X.A.L. are compatible then just follow my advice. First step is to make yourself hard to get, aka make her think you're uninterested. It works."
She also told him something else: "Try dancing lessons. And thunderblades. She loves that kind of thing."
The nightmare watch continued, uneventful.