Ok, I am updating because of the one review I got and that is all. If anymore is to come, then please review. Even if you don't like it, I would like to know if there are any changes that I could do to make it better. So review, review, review!
"Dad? Mom? Uncle? Where are you?" Called Lloyd the next morning. His friends came up from the lower decks, their faces confused and worried.
"They aren't in any of the rooms," Said Nya.
"And my sensors can't locate them anywhere in the near vicinity." Added Zane, as usual he seemed devoid of emotions.
"Maybe they just went out for a walk," suggested Jay.
Cole glared at him and growled, "On the water?"
Jay shrugged, "They went for a swim?"
As an irritated Cole moved towards the blue ninja, Zane quickly stepped between them saying,
"If they have left for a short period of time, then we should begin training. That way Sensei will have nothing to complain about."
The ninja's got into their positions and Nya joined them. Jay flipped the switch that activated the training course and the training session began. The deck of the ship was a blur of color and flashing weapons. As Zane executed a perfect back flip and caught his shurukin as it ricoched back to him, he suddenly notice Cole bent double, clutching his stomach.
"Cole? Are you well?" He asked, concerned. When he received no reply, Zane walked over and placed a hand on the black clad ninja's shoulder. Cole jerked away with a snarl and turned to face Zane.
"Stay away from me you worthless freak!"
As Zane recoiled in shock and hurt, Cole turned his face to the sky and screamed. Black scales grew from his hands to his elbows like armored gloves. Claws and fangs grew from his fingertips and mouth. His clothes tore as a long, spiked tail sprouted and leathery black wings unfurled from his back. Cole's eyes opened and his friends saw that they had turned a glowing red. The ring glimmered on his right middle finger.
"C-Cole?" Whispered Jay. The blue ninja slowly moved forward, trying to reach his team leader. With lighting fast motion, Cole whipped around and grabbed Jay, slamming him into the deck and pinning him by the throat.
"NO!" Cried Nya, running forward. Kai grabbed her wrist, but she twisted away and raced towards her boyfriend. Reddish sparks swirled around her feet and a moment later, a red tornado twirled around her as she slammed into Cole, knocking him over the side of the ship.
The warped ninja fell like a stone, but then his wings snapped open and he soared away into the distance, skimming the water.
The ninja stood still, stunned at what had happened. Slowly, Jay got to his feet and walked over to Nya and wrapped her in his arms. Kai joined them and soothingly rubbed his sister's back. Zane put a hand on one of Lloyd's slumped shoulders. The young Green Ninja glanced up at the serious Ninja of Ice, and sighed; raising a hand to clasp the one at his shoulder. The five friends stood silent for a long while, staring after Cole long after he had vanished over the horizon.
No one felt like eating that night. Nya sat out on the deck trying to clear her head of a pounding headache. Suddenly footsteps sounded behind her. Nya whirled around, a dagger in her hand. Jay stepped back quickly and raised his hands,
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down Nya, it's just me."
Nya relaxed slightly, "Sorry Jay, I'm a bit on edge right now."
"I understand," Jay said with a sympathetic smile. "I'm just worried about you. Your head has been hurting since you did spinjitzu. That was incredible by the way, I wonder what you are ninja of."
Nya's eyes hardened and she growled, "I don't want to be ninja of anything! I just wanted to do spinjitzu and I have so that's that."
Jay shrugged, "Okay, sorry."
As he stood to leave, Nya grabbed his hand. "Can we go into my room? I want to go to bed but…I'm scared. Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?"
"S-sure."
Jay's eyes grew heavy as he sat cross-legged by Nya's bed and soon he fell asleep. As he curled up and the ground, he was oblivious to the fact that Nya's eyes opened a slit. Glowing red light showed from under her lashes.
"DARN!" Yelled Kai the next morning as the hinge on the door to the deck came loose. "Jay, come and fix this will you?"
No reply came to him. Confused, Kai left the door to hang awkwardly on one hinge while he went in search of the blue ninja.
"Zane have you seen Jay this morning?" Kai asked as he entered the bridge.
Zane shook his head and replied, "I am sorry but no. I don't recall him coming into our room last night either."
Lloyd's panicked voice rose from the deck below them and sent the two friends dashing down stairs at his words.
"Kai, Zane! Nya and Jay are gone!"
CRASH! Nya's bed flipped and the window was punched out by an irate Kai's fist.
"That's it! I knew I never should have let Nya and Jay date! Now that blue idiot's gone off with her! I am so going to pulverize him!"
Zane sighed and leaned back against the wall, Lloyd was trying to talk above Kai to calm him down and they had roused his falcon; which was screeching at them in annoyance. Zane's ears were starting to hurt and his normally calm emotions were beginning to bubble close to the surface. (AN: Imagine an anime "angry/annoyed" red mark by Zane's head.) Finally he snapped,
"Shut up all of you! I'm sick of your temper tantrums!" At the last few words, his voice went up about two octaves and he clapped a hand over his mouth. Kai and Lloyd turned to look at him is surprise and then burst out laughing; even the Falcon seemed amused.
"D-dude," gasped Lloyd. "You sounded like a girl right there!" He collapsed with mirth.
Zane uncovered his mouth and objected, "No I didn't! I just…just…"
Kai smirked, "You totally did! And your expression? Priceless!"
Suddenly, the ship rocked violently, throwing the ninja to the floor. Getting up, Kai, Lloyd, and Zane ran to the upper deck. On his way out, Zane heard his falcon making a "chrrr" noise; it's equivalent of a laugh.
"Not you too!" He said reproachfully.
The deck was covered in star teeth, the bane of ships in this part of the sea. They chewed passing ships to pieces, leaving their occupants to drown. On their voyage to the Island of Darkness, the ninja had encountered the fish before but never in numbers such as these! Lloyd did spinjitzu and knocked about thirty over the side and back into the ocean, but twice as many reappeared and took their place. Kai was taking out his anger on the unwelcome invaders, shouting some rude words and tossing the animals left and right. Suddenly, Kai's spinjitzu dissolved. However, he was still on fire, it was as though he was made from the element! Striding forward, he grabbed the star teeth and then let them go again. They fell to the deck as piles of ash. Soon the deck was black with the burnt remains; and a smoldering Kai turned to face his friends.
"Now I see," Kai said in a low, deadly voice. "Now I see that this is what true strength is! You two are so…frail. The likes of you are disgraceful! I cannot stand to be near you any longer; but I will leave you a reminder of me for after I go."
A stream of flames shot towards Lloyd, but Zane knocked the Green Ninja to the side. Laughing, Kai raised his hand and vanished in a swirling tower of ash.
"Zane, are you alright?" Asked Lloyd in concern as he helped his friend to his feet.
Zane craned his neck to look at the black scorch mark on the back of his uniform and then looked back at Lloyd and replied, "Yes, I am well."
Then, seeing the doubt in the young man's face, he smiled slightly, a rather hard expression for him to make. Lloyd sighed and turned to look out over the ocean.
"Zane what's happening? Why is everyone turning so…evil?"
Sadly, Zane followed his gaze and gave an answer that he hardly ever gave:
"I do not know, Lloyd. I just don't know…"
The next two days were full of apprehension and sadness. Lloyd seemed to be sinking into a kind of depression, and shut himself off from Zane. The nindroid spent most of his time trying to meditate or reading, clinging to what peace life still offered in his awful reality. The way that the third day started should have warned Zane that his life was about to change even more dramatically. Lloyd was sitting at the head of the dining room table, head in his hands when Zane enter the room.
"Good morning Lloyd!" Zane said, trying to seem cheerful for his young friend's sake and inwardly wincing at his voice. It had been getting higher each day and it was extremely embarrassing.
Lloyd replied dully, "Is it?"
Not sure how to respond, Zane proceeded to take his falcon to the upper deck and let it loose to fly freely for a while. Returning he found that Lloyd had left the table and shut himself in the room that the ninja had shared. Slowly, Zane cleared the table of Lloyd's untouched food and then sat out on the deck with a photo album that he had secretly put together. He hadn't told his friends about it partly because it contained some personal information, and partly because he was concerned that the others would consider him too sentimental or, to use Kai's words, "a sap."
Opening the leather bound book, Zane began to page through it. It started with pictures of him and his father, Dr. Julian. Then it moved to images of him and his friends. Cole and Jay sparring…Nya and Sensei Wu examining a map for the location of a Fang Blade…younger Lloyd playing video games, an intense expression on his face…Jay holding hands with Nya, a red faced Kai in the background being restrained by Cole while Lloyd held a hand over his mouth so that the beautiful moment would not be interrupted…Garmadon and Misako practically strangling their son during a hug a little after the Overlord was defeated…there was Zane himself with his falcon…on the final completed page was a large picture of all the Ninja together with Sensei Wu, Garmadon, Misako, and Zane's father. There were still many empty pages left that Zane had wanted to fill with even more memories, but now he could not be sure if that would ever happen.
Closing his eyes, Zane ran his black-gloved fingers around the edge of the photo.
"My friends…" He thought numbly. "My family."
The sun was starting to set when Zane finally closed the photo album and returned to his room to put it away. Lloyd was nowhere to be seen. Zane exited the room and called for Lloyd. He received no response but it a soft sound came from the engine room below. Concerned, Zane hurried down the hallway and then crept down the stairs into the bowels of the ship. His footsteps echoed eerily in the shadowy room and the low hum of the engine vibrated through every part of his being.
"Lloyd?" He asked warily. As if in answer, the lights went out. Whirling around, Zane was just in time to see the door to the stairs slam shut. He heard the bolt click into place. Suddenly, a soft voice whispered by his ear.
"Looking for me, Zane?"
Recoiling, the white clad ninja turned to see a pair of glowing red eyes gazing at him; the faint outline of their owner's body could just be made out in the inky blackness.
"What's the matter? Did I scare you, or is it that you are still holding on to that old fashioned idea that the Light is better than the Dark? Do you feel like you will be contaminated by touching me? How predictable. I suppose that changing your opinion just isn't in your programing."
Zane's eyes were becoming accustom to the darkness and he could just make out Lloyd's self-satisfied smirk. A thrill of fear ran down his spine as he saw that the Green Ninja's teeth has lengthened and sharpened into fangs. Lloyd slowly stepped forward and jabbed at Zane with a short dagger. Startled, Zane backed up and bumped into the wall. Still smiling, Lloyd allowed the dagger to rest against the Ninja of Ice's throat.
"You see? I don't have your problem. My mind is open to new ideas and I have found that dark is far better than light. My wish has been fulfilled! I now possess the power and ability to lead everyone into a glorious new dawn; a dark dawn."
He leaned in until his face was mere inches from Zane's and breathed, "I could use your help. Together we could find the others and together rule this world! Join me Zane. Embrace the beauty of darkness!"
With a lighting fast movement, Zane knocked the blade out of Lloyd's hand, kicked him in the stomach, and flipped away from the wall into the center of the room.
"I'd die first," He replied in as low a voice as was possible.
Lloyd regained his footing and breath and straightened, glaring at Zane.
"So that's how you're going to be…Fine. You will come around soon enough. You are being dealt with even as I speak. For now, my orders are just to slow you down."
Lloyd turned towards the engine and pulled out a longer blade. In a flash Zane realized what he was about to do and lunged forward, halting the blade's descent with his own ice blade.
"I cannot allow you to do this, Lloyd!" He cried. Steel gray eyes glared steadily into fiery red ones as the two struggled to push the other off balance. Then, quickly and without warning, Lloyd summoned up an orb of dark energy and sent it flying towards Zane at top speed. Pain exploded in every fiber of the white ninja's being as he slammed against the wall and slid to the floor. As he sank into blackness, Zane saw Lloyd thrust his sharp sword into the engine with a flare of blood red light. Then everything was gone.
Ohhh cliffie! What will happen next? You will never know unless you review. I would say a minimum of five should make me feel ready to update more. Thank you to all who are willing to do so!