THIRD PERSON POV
"Idiot!" Clouse bellowed "When I sad cause chaos, I didn't mean lay fucking waste to a whole damned village!"
"I incriminates the ninja, as you asked" Asmodeus argued "I haven't seen the real world in centuries, I was fucking bored"
"But now you have given the ninja an opportunity to redeem themselves! You just ruined a crucial part of the plan!"
"May I remind you I am still the King of Demons. I fought against the First Spinjitzu Master that first time. You are not the boss of me"
"I know that! I got you to sign that goddamned contract for a reason! But we'll lose the war if you keep acting by yourself"
"I am perfectly capable of taking over this world on my own. I didn't spend all of those years trapped in that horrid realm just lazing around. My armies are better trained"
"Don't underestimate the ninja, that's a mistake you'll hugely regret. They possess the powers of the golden weapons. If they figure out how to use them, they can easily send you back or worse, kill you"
Clouse sighed. It would have been much better if the demon would completely submit to his wishes. But of course, there had to be a price to pay to be able to wield such power.
Asmodeus was really the only one who could get under his skin enough to make him lose his perfect composure.
"There might be something good coming out of this anyways..." he stayed silent for a few seconds "Samukai!" He called.
Said skeleton came rushing in.
"What?" He said in a bored tone.
"Is the device ready?"
"How would I know?"
"Isn't that what you're in charge of?"
"Yeah. But I'm not the one building it so I have no goddamn idea" he rolled his eyes.
"Well, find out!"
"Yes, your highness" he bowed mockingly.
He came back a few minutes later.
"The nindroid whose name I've already forgotten said if you really need it, he can probably finish it in a week or two"
"I can't wait that long! Tell him to hurry up. And tell Pythor to get his copter ready. We're going ninja hunting"
-x-
Kai swung his sword made of fire once more, beheading another demon. He was panting, his magic almost drained. His back was pressed to the only door to the house full of civilians he was defending, demons surrounding him on all sides.
It had been madness as soon as they'd arrived, immediately jumping into action. The villagers had at first cowered from them, but when they saw the ninja were actually fighting the demons and not helping the evil beings, they had trusted them again.
Their first task was to round them all up together, for easier defending. Kai, Jay, Zane and Cole were each defending a house full of civilians, while Lloyd, Nya and Aya were in charge of killing them all.
They had later realized that powers associated with goodness, like fire and light, were the most effective against the darkness of the demons. So it probably would have been best that Kai and Nya swapped places, but it was too late now.
The demons kept closing in, and there were too many. Kai wasn't sure he'd be able to keep them at bay for much longer. He was drained and tired, his magic lagging. He would soon have to switch to a real sword instead of one made of fire, which would surely complicate things. But, ninja didn't quit.
He only hoped that someone came up with a plan to save them all. And soon. He was too tired to think of one himself. The fight had been going on for too long now.
"Ha!" Jay zapped another demon, melting it "Take that! And that! You don't mess with the blue ninja!"
But in truth, he was tiring too. There was a blacksmith fighting alongside him, but he wasn't sure if he was actually helping or preventing Jay from unleashing himself fully.
Suddenly, they were all saved when a bright pulse of energy wiped out all remaining demons. The four ninja defending the households let out a sigh of relief. They told the civilians not to come out yet, and headed for the agreed meeting point, scouting the streets on their way there to make sure no demons were left alive.
"What was that?" Cole asked as soon as he arrived, and then rushed to support the three ninja once he saw what state they were in.
The three were almost passing out from exhaustion, whatever move they had pulled apparently having left them completely drained.
Nya leaned on Kai, Lloyd leaned on Cole, and Aya just preferred to fall to the floor.
"Wu showed me a move a long time ago" Aya said "he said only to use it in times of desperate need, and we were about to be crushed, so..."
It was then that Kai noticed their bloodied palms. He grabbed at Nya's hand, and examined the cut. It wasn't deep, but blood still flowed. Zane immediately appeared by his side, and bandaged her hand.
"What did you do?" The fire ninja glared at the light master.
"Our powers draw on our energy to function. It's like running, the more you run, the more you use energy, the more you get tired. And if you exert yourself too much, you can damage your muscles. So, when your energy runs out, your power starts feeding on your vital energy, which can cause death. So there's a method to share energies to someone else, in case of desperate need. There are better bonds, this was just a crude binding. Nya and I transferred whatever energy we had left to Lloyd, so he was able to create that blast" Aya explained.
"So for next time, we could just transfer energy to you, Lloyd and Kai?" Zane asked.
"Not exactly. Each flow of energy is different... I'm not in the mood to explain everything. But in summary, without a proper binding spell, it's too risky"
"Then we do a proper spell of those" Lloyd said.
"We could try... it's too complicated though"
"How pessimist" Jay muttered.
"So if the other plan doesn't work out, we could use this as a last resort to defeat Asmodeus?" Kai asked, igniting the lighting ninja's little comment.
"I guess" Aya answered.
She slowly levered herself away from the floor until she was standing again.
"Ninjago doesn't hate us anymore" Jay said "What now?"
"We should keep trying to find a way to bring that big-ass demon down, right?" Cole said.
"We have to get Sensei Wu and Misako first" Nya pointed out.
The rest nodded in agreement.
"And get the hell out of here before the place is swarming with the press" Kai said.
Zane pushed a few buttons in his arms, and then yelled "It's safe to come out now!", his voice amplified by some internal mechanism.
The villagers tentatively started emerging from the four safe-houses. And once they didn't see any danger, they started cheering for the ninja.
"It feels good to be back" Kai said smugly.
-x-
Astaroth, one of the four demon lieutenants, opposite to fire, had been watching everything unfold from a rooftop, hidden by the shadows.
The blast of light hadn't affected him much, given that the demons they'd sent to attack were the lowest class, and not really that hard to kill. The ninja had struggled just because they were vastly outnumbered.
But still, he had to admit he was a bit impressed by their abilities. There was a lot of raw talent there, they only needed more training. Once they did, their power would be... unimaginable. Too bad they would make sure the heroes didn't get a chance to actually harness their full potential.
He had to notify this to his master, but first, this was a golden opportunity to catch some of those pesky little heroes. He put a hand to the device installed on his ear, and spoke in a dark, grumbly voice:
"Clouse? Yes... they're here... yes, they're drained... no, don't do that... tell Pythor to get his lazy ass over here so we can get ourselves a prize... no, not that one, he's lame… tell him to get the green one... I don't give a shit about his name... just get here" he ended the call abruptly.
Puny little mortal. He was very naïve if he really thought he could control Asmodeus. This whole grand plan of his would blow up in his face sooner or later. Demons didn't share.
A few seconds later, just as the villagers had erupted into cheers, two dark purple helicopters with a smoky look approached the village. Astaroth couldn't help but face-palm. So much for being inconspicuous.
Before the ninja could react, seven nets were shot down from the helicopters. Their shitty aim only managed to get them three caught though: the red, the green and the purple one. But the red one was quick to think, and he cut his net with a ray of fire.
The other two were too tired, and by the time they realized what was happening, the two flying machines had already disappeared.
The other five ninja immediately mounted their dragons, but everything had happened so fast, and since they were drained, they had reacted too slow. They spread out through the sky in an attempt to maybe catch whatever had taken their friends, but the villains had already teleported far from their reach.
Astaroth smirked, and with a snap of his fingers, he too teleported back to their lair.
-x-
Lloyd slowly regained consciousness, and the first thing he noticed was the pounding in his head. He groaned, taking a hand to his forehead, as his eyes fluttered open, slowly adjusting to the dim light.
Memories from the battle suddenly came back to him, which did nothing to help his headache. The last thing he remembered was the net catching him, and then something pinching his arm... and then black.
He looked around, noticing he was in a cell in a dungeon. Like the ones in movies, made of rock, with no windows, all dirty and mossy with a few spiderwebs on the corner. And the place reeked of piss and unwashed bodies. And, there was Aya laying in a corner, still unconscious.
The green ninja closed his eyes for a few seconds, hoping the pounding in his head would diminish. When it didn't work, he made his way over to where Aya was, and shook her awake.
She groaned as she slowly regained consciousness as well, feeling a massive headache coming on. She looked around, and furrowed her brow in confusion when she didn't recognize the place.
"Where the hell are we?" She asked.
"Looks like we have been taken by the demons"
"Figured as much"
She closed her eyes and concentrated, and furrowed her brown even further when she couldn't control her powers. Her energy had recharged to max again, meaning quite some time had passed, and while she could feel it there, she couldn't quite summon it, the strings to manipulate it keeping just out of her reach.
"Can you use your powers?" She asked.
He hadn't really tried using them yet. But when he tried to summon a simple ball of green energy... he just couldn't. The inability to control his magic was unfamiliar, and a feeling of unease settled in his chest. He checked his body to see if he still carried any of his hidden weapons, but found none. Not much a surprise to find them gone though.
"I... can't"
She sighed and opened back her eyes.
"We need to find a way out. And fast"
"We gotta form a plan. See the rotations of the guards, the times they feed us. Then we can guess what the best escape route is…"
-x-
Time passed, and the two ninja still hadn't really found a pattern in the rotations, or when they received food. Almost like it was generated randomly.
Without a pattern to follow, they would have to break out by force, not stealth, and fight their way out. Normally, it shouldn't have been a problem, but since their powers were still out of their reach and they didn't have weapons, they didn't have many options. It wouldn't be easy.
Then they thought whatever was keeping them from using their magic must be a drug in their food or water supply, so they decided to hold out as long as they could without touching them.
And so time passed by, they weren't sure how long it had been, but boredom had taken over them. So they ended up talking about many things, a lot being stuff that they hadn't really discussed with anyone else. And they slowly grew closer, getting to know each other better, growing familiar with the other.
Nothing really surprising happened. The villains didn't seem to have a plan for them apart for keeping them locked up.
Some time after deciding to stop eating, right when they were about to give in and have a sip of water, they felt their powers slowly waking up again.
Lloyd was the first. They had been in a middle of one of their conversations, both laughing at a comment the green ninja had made, when he felt his magic returning to him. It was just a small portion, the full extent of his power still stubbornly staying out of his reach, but at least it was something. He suddenly felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, like he could breath again, like a vital part of him had suddenly come back. He hadn't realized how much he'd grown accustomed to always having his magic there.
The shackles at prison had been different, only having blocked them, not really having them being taken away.
He let out a small gasp and took a hand to his chest, his eyes closing.
"Lloyd? You okay?" Aya asked, a hint of worry showing on her features.
Opening his eyes, he tentatively put out a hand in front of him and summoned a ball of green energy. He sighed in relief once the sphere actually appeared.
"I'm okay" he said, grinning.
Aya's eyes widened once she saw the sphere floating in Lloyd's hand. She reached inwardly, but her own powers hadn't come back.
"I guess we should try to make a run for it now" he said.
"Yeah"
"Yours?"
She shook her head.
"Should we try and wait to see if they come back?"
"Maybe an hour, yes. Any more, and we'll probably die from dehydration"
He nodded in agreement.
"What if..." an idea popped into his head, "So, from what you explained, the energy's here, but the drug is blocking our ability to shape it into our elemental abilities. Could you transfer your energy to me? Like we did back at the village?"
She thought about it for a moment.
"Probably. I don't know for sure though"
"We'd get a better shot at escaping if we can make this work"
"Yeah. It will be risky though. I can't manipulate my own energy, so I can't control how much I give to you. You'd have to draw it on your own, and if you take too much..."
"...I could kill you"
She nodded. "And injure yourself badly from using too much energy at once… I'm willing to take the risk though" she said.
"You sure?"
She only nodded in response.
He offered her a light smile and stood up, leaning heavily on the wall as a wave of dizziness washed over him. The lack of food and water would be a huge obstacle.
He handed his hand to her and helped her up. He picked up a small stone with a sharp edge and cut his palm open, over the nearly healed wound he'd made to himself during the attack on the village, and then handed the stone to Aya, who imitated his movements.
They joined their bloodied palms and interlaced their fingers, suddenly feeling the powerful energy flowing between them. They stood there for a moment to help adjust to this new feeling, before Lloyd pushed himself off the wall and blasted a hole through the lock.
The guard, who had been dozing off, suddenly turned towards the source of the noise, eyes widening. But before he could either try to attack both ninja or sound the alarm, Aya had already ran forward, dragging Lloyd along, and kicked him square in the chest, sending him flying back to the wall. They checked that he was unconscious and ran up the stairs.
They would try to be stealthy, but they were sure they would end up having to fight their way out anyway.
"You do realize we have no idea as to where the exit is?" Aya said.
"It's our best shot"
"True. But-"
An arrow wedging itself at her feet interrupted whatever she'd been about to say. The both looked up, and found a scout standing on the wall above them. Lloyd got rid of him in a few seconds, but too late, since the sentinel had already sounded the alarm.
Swarms of lesser demon-guards surrounded them, and it was impossible to fight their way out. Lloyd blasted pulses of his power out, like he had done in the village, but the demons just kept coming and coming, no matter how many he vaporized.
"What do we do now?" Aya asked, feeling slightly panicked.
She suddenly gasped, as Lloyd drew a considerable amount of her energy. He was careful not to draw on too much though.
He let go of her hand, and she looked at him confused.
"Stay close" he said, which was followed by a "Ninja-GO!"
Aya rolled her eyes, and Spinjitzued her way out, following Lloyd.
It was far much easier to carve a road out like this.
The lair was apparently a maze of underground caves and tunnels. The army of demons kept following them, so they didn't have a second to rest if they wanted to avoid getting captured again.
They kept to the right side of the walls, using the trick that was supposed to lead them out of any maze. Jay and Kai had gotten into a heated argument about it once.
Apparently, Jay had been right, because after some time they actually could see outside light not very far away. Lloyd let out a small cry of relief, his legs almost giving out underneath him. It was so close...
But of course, nothing in their life could be solved easily. Because just as they were about to finally exit the place, a metal door fell down from the roof, completely sealing off their way out.
Lloyd shot ray after ray of energy at it in an attempt to clear the exit again, but his attacks just bounced off.
"No!" They both pounded their fists against it.
Aya kept trying to focus on getting her powers to work again, surely the heat of her light beams would work better than Lloyd's abilities...
"Goddammit!"
They desperately looked around for another way out, but found none. They were now at a dead end, and although there were probably other ways out, that meant having to go through the pack of demons following them, and then out-running them long enough to find another exit. Which would prove to be impossible, given how much of a toll the lack of food and the spending of their powers had take on them.
Of course, they would still try to make it out. After all, ninja never quit.
Right when the demons were closing in again, Aya's powers finally returned. Great timing, she thought sarcastically. In a last attempt to escape, she focused her power on the metal door, creating an extremely hot ray of light..
The beam went through.
But it was too late. Demons swarmed around them, sealing their way to the exit. Too tired to Spinjitzu their way out again, they fought with only their fists. Until someone drugged them again, and blackness claimed them both.
-x-
"You idiots!" Clouse was beyond himself this time.
First, the attack on the village that threw away his whole plan. Now, the two ninja he'd managed to capture were a breath's away to escaping.
"You useless fools! They could've gotten away today!"
"Calm the fuck down" Eurynome, princess of demons, heir to Asmodeus, exclaimed. "They didn't get away"
"But they could have! This is all proving to be too tedious" he rubbed at his temples, "I want security at the dungeons doubled, and have some goddamned cameras installed"
"That weird machine of yours will be ready by the time the drug wears off on those two" Krux said, "use it, and they can be on their way"
"What do you mean on their way?!"
"You are going to let them go, are you not?"
"Of course not! They know too much"
"They know nothing. Feed them incorrect information, and it can even be used to your advantage"
"Hmm... nice thinking. Good job Krux"
The ghost only rolled her eyes.
"Tell the snake I want it charged and ready to go as soon as those two wake up" he told to a random nindroid passing by. "It's time to move to the next stage".
-x-
Meanwhile, back at the Destiny's Bounty, the ninja didn't know what else to do. It had been little more than a week, and they had searched high and low but hadn't found Lloyd and Aya.
The citizens of Ninjago had gone back to treating them like heroes, having forgotten that they had betrayed them so easily. Some of their fans had gone out on a march holding up 'we're sorry we ever doubted you!' posters, but it really didn't mean anything. They would betray them again without a doubt if given enough reason.
They had gotten Sensei Wu and Misako back, and they had verified the truth in Aya's story. Honestly, the ninja weren't even surprised anymore that their Sensei had kept part of the story from them anymore.
"We've searched everywhere!" Jay said, exasperated, "it's like they vanished off the face of the earth!"
"Maybe not everywhere..." Kai said, deep in thought, "okay, so villains usually like to keep things the old way. And we know Asmodeus had a lot of hideouts through the place during the war, or at least on the dark side of the island. What if he also had a hideout on this side?"
"There's no record of it" Zane said.
"Yeah, and we've searched underground too" Cole said.
"But only the sewers, and the places were serpentine live" he turned to Sensei Wu, "Sensei, could I be right? Could the demon king have a lair somewhere around here?"
"Well... I do believe there might be a possibility that he did build something here, like a backup"
"Nice thinking, brother" Nya congratulated him.
"Zane, could you map out the underground? Not just the known places, but find out if there's something else down there?"
"PIXAL, can we?"
"Permission to hack a satellite?"
"Go ahead"
A few minutes of silence, then
"Scan complete. I am now transferring the images to the bridge, it will be displaying as a 3D map"
As in on cue, a blue hologram displayed on the center table, showing a map of below Ninjago. They immediately recognized the sewers and serpentine lairs, but there were a few caved-in mines and other places they didn't know what to make of.
The ninja studied the map, trying to find the most logical place for a thousand year old demon hideout.
"Here" Zane said, pointing at the very center of the map.
It displayed a large room, with a few smaller adjacent ones, and quite a lot of tunnels spreading in every direction.
"PIXAL, fade out everything but this part" he said, motioning the piece he'd shown them before.
She did as told.
"What's above this?" Zane asked.
"It's... right below that building where Lloyd defeated the Overlord the first time. I don't know how I never noticed it before, but there should be a way in from the basement"
"So since we have no other leads, should we go check this out?" Cole said.
"Sound like a plan!" Jay said excitedly.
"Wait, wouldn't it be better if we went in through a side entrance?" Kai said.
"So in case it is their lair, we won't be in much trouble" Nya agreed.
"The best way in would be through this north passage" PIXAL marked a tunnel on the map.
"Fly us over the entrance?" Zane asked her.
"It's on the farthest up north part of the city. We'll be arriving when the sun comes up"
"Wake me once we get there" Zane told PIXAL, who only nodded.
"Good job ninja" Sensei Wu congratulated them.
"Thank you, Sensei" Jay said.
"Get a night's sleep. We leave at dawn" Kai said.
"Who made you leader, huh?" Jay fired.
"Since Lloyd's gone, it's obvious I'm the next in line-"
"I thought we'd agreed there were no leaders since that time with Morro" Zane said.
"Well this guy thinks he's the leader" Jay jabbed his thumb in Kai's direction.
"And now you're picking a fight just because you can" Cole smacked him lightly in the back of the head.
"Kai's right anyway. We better get some sleep" Nya said.
They all nodded and headed for their separate rooms.
-x-
This time it was Aya the one who woke first.
But as she looked around, she noticed that Lloyd had been placed in the cell next to hers, not in the same as hers anymore.
And her powers were back to zero usability.
She groaned, massaging her temples. Escape wouldn't be so easy this time.
"Glad you're finally awake" a voice said.
She froze as she recognized it.
No... it can't be... he's dead.
She looked around, trying to find the source of that voice.
Until her eyes landed on the ghostly figure. A flood of emotions came rushing into her: relief, betrayal, slight guilt, confusion...
She snapped back to focus, her features turning cold and unyielding.
"You!" Her voice was filled with rage as she pointed a finger at him in accusation.
"Hello, little sister" Morro smirked.
So, lately I've been obsessed with the manipulation of energy, as you may have noticed. I'm not really sure how much of what I put in my stories is actual theory or how much I made up.
I think the theories fit quite well into this world though. But I want to keep it as canon as possible, so I'm wondering how much of it would you like me to include, or if not at all. I do personally believe it can turn out pretty well if I manage to blend it in well.
Some examples of energy manipulation: telepathy (I think this would fit nicely), telekinesis (though this seems like another power completely), teleportation (another power too), enhanced sight and hearing, etc. You can also suggest your own ideas.
Also, please tell me if you'd like a longer explanation on how this whole energy thing works. Because it's pretty clear in my mind, but I don't know if I'm missing some crucial points for better understanding of everyone.
So yeah. Sorry for the long note.
Please comment your opinions on this whole energy manipulation thing!
And review on the chapter!