The Festival Venue, 10:40pm
"God, how can these guys keep up!?" Nathan exclaimed as he avoided a slash from the red-haired man he had come to know as Sebastian. Only minutes earlier had he and Sammie responded to cries of distress in the crowd, only minutes before The Royal Blacksmiths' performance. It was then that they had found former enemies of the ninja, Misaki and Sebastian, causing chaos.
"Well, a reminder that we've never fought them before. They're a group that they fought before we came about!" Sammie replied, kicking Misaki away. The lavender-haired woman then cartwheeled away before locking her eyes on Nathan. A smirk then appeared on her face.
"Well, well, let's see what makes him tick," she mumbled to herself, before darting towards the master of water. Sammie went after her in an instant, whilst keeping an eye on Sebastian and Nathan's fight. Though, when she turned back to Misaki, she noticed the woman was yelling to get Nathan's attention. "Hey! Kid! Your little girlfriend's about to die!"
Nathan looked over immediately in alarm, accidentally making the mistake of locking eyes with Misaki. His eyes then went wide, before he began to tremble. Though, in an instant, Sammie blinded Misaki with a beam of light, breaking Nathan free from the trance. Sammie then proceeded to slash through the woman with her kama, turning the master of illusion into dust. The two ninja then turned to Sebastian, who had armed himself with two pipe pieces he had found.
Nathan took a step towards the man, before Sammie stopped him. "Wait, if I recall right, Lilly said he had some sort of power too. We'll need to be careful," she warned her beloved, to which Sebastian gave an exasperated sigh. Nathan and Sammie noticed that he didn't even show a hint of anger or grief towards Misaki's death.
"Well, your friend is wrong. I don't have any powers right now...since he isn't here!" the man grumbled, before looking around for someone or something. Nathan and Sammie then looked at each other in confusion, before darting towards Sebastian and taking him head-on. Ignoring his testimony of why he didn't have powers, the two took him down with ease, turning him into dust like they had Misaki. Though, they didn't understand why exactly they were turning into dust.
"I don't see how they had difficulty with these guys," Nathan commented, brushing dust off his sais. Sammie shrugged.
"Well, they did say they were accompanied by more people back when they were relevant," the master of light replied, "but what doesn't make sense here is why exactly they were alive and breathing a few seconds ago."
"Um, Hunter did say that he's heading back to the museum for a moment. Maybe we can go ask him. He knows everything anyways...most of the time," Nathan suggested, to which Sammie nodded and smiled.
"Alright. Good idea. We should keep our eyes open though. I heard one of Dad's bandmates talking about how he had seen a towering, tattooed fighter earlier," Sammie told him, before they headed towards the museum, avoiding some of the toppled and destroyed decorations.
The Museum, 10:45pm
Kai and Nya sat patiently at the museum, munching on their holiday pastries while they waited for their friends. After being teleported here by Alex, they had happened to lose track of his whereabouts after five minutes. Though, Kai assumed he had went elsewhere in case he got sick, as the master of fire had threatened to roast him if he had dared to throw up in front of him again. They didn't really care anyways. They were more worried about their friends' safety.
After a few minutes, the siblings were surprised to find that all their friends were running up to them at once, confused and distressed looks on their faces. In an instant, the group had become noisy with accounts of sightings of supposed-to-be-dead enemies.
"While I was talking to that loser Dareth, some stone warrior came up and started screaming at me! I didn't even know who he was!"
"Karma and I ran into some prissy, bleached snake-person who kept asking for Lloyd!"
"I swear to god I saw Samukai and killed him!"
"And I am positive that I fought Cryptor...and he called me 'Father'. I did not know Cyrus programmed something like that into him."
"And we saw those dinguses that came about when Karma joined!"
"And I'm pretty sure I may have accidentally left Cole at the gas station in the desert!"
"Woah, woah guys. Calm down," Lloyd spoke up, holding up his hands, to which silence fell upon the group. "Okay, so we all have seen some old baddies that were supposed to be dead. It's odd, but I got an anonymous tip that this eclipse brought their mannequins to life."
"Don't forget the fact that Yang's all behind this," Morro spoke up, to which everyone unaware of his return pointed their weapons at him.
"What the hell is he doing here!?" Kai exclaimed, to which Lloyd stepped in front of his former tormentor.
"Hey, calm down. He's helping us out, mostly just to look for whoever killed Sensei," the green ninja told him, to which from the corner of his eye he noticed Karma flinch. He questioned if she knew anything about what happened. Though, the team withdrew their weapons, trusting Lloyd's words.
"Alright, if you say so," Lilly obliged, looking at Morro with lasting distrust.
"Oh hey, you guys got the whole crew back together for the most part," they then heard Alex butt in, seeming to appear out of nowhere from behind the Liu siblings. Immediately, everyone unaware of his return pulled their weapons on him, the blades only inches from his face. Karma immediately came to his defense, holding her hands up.
"Alright guys, he's the same case as Morro. He's helping us out too...as crazy as it sounds," the master of darkness explained, "Actually, just to add to that crazy even more, he's the one who helped Lloyd and I take down Cl...Clouse."
As the others withdrew their weapons, Lilly noticed her stutter on the name of her uncle, her eyebrows knotted in worry. She already knew that Clouse still had to be out there, looking for his niece. "I'm not sure how I feel with two assholes supposedly 'helping us'," Jay spoke up, to which Nya sighed.
"I dunno Jay. We kept you and my brother, so I guess we can manage four more," she responded, to which the master of lightning and Kai gave offended looks. Lloyd then stepped forward.
"Hold on, let me keep track of something here," he said, "So, from what I heard, so far Karma & Lilly defeated Pythor, Hunter defeated Kozu, Jay defeated Samukai, Zane defeated Cryptor, Sammie & Nathan defeated Misaki & Sebastian, Kai defeated Chen, Nya defeated Nadakhan, and then the Overlord was destroyed in the museum, and now Morro and Alex are here. That just leaves...Clouse."
Karma's eyes went wide, before she frowned and looked at the ground. She already knew that her uncle was after her, and could appear at any moment. After all, she was the only true family he had, since Clouse never liked to speak to her father or her other uncle. She could already feel her heart racing in fear at the thought of fighting her uncle again. She didn't know if she could take it.
"No, he's been defeated too," Alex spoke up then, stepping forward. The others gave confused looks as Kai nodded.
"Wait, how do you know?" Cass asked with a skeptical look.
"Because I'm the one who took him out," Alex informed them, "You don't think I got these cuts and stuff from nothing, do you?"
"I'm having a hard time believing you actually took this dingus on by yourself," Jay spoke up, squinting at him.
"And I'm having a hard time believing that you actually somehow managed to have a girlfriend for longer than a day with your attitude, but that's none of my business," Alex retorted, unphased, "but what's so unbelievable? You guys know me. You know I'm all about revenge on people who screw with me, so that greaseball had it coming. It's not like I was doing it for other people or anything."
Karma narrowed her eyes as she saw a glow appear in his eyes for the last portion of his statement. She then grabbed Alex by the shoulders, and shook him, shouting "How stupid are you!? Why didn't you tell me you were going after him!? You could have gotten yourself killed! Then I'd have to drag your spirit out of the Cursed Realm and kick your ass for dying a second time!"
"To be fair, I'm already technically dead, so really I don't think it'd be a shock if I got defeated by your uncle," Alex replied.
"I don't care! I'll kick your ass regardless!" Karma continued to shout. Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Then what are you going to do when the eclipse ends and Yang's curse allowing me to be here wears off?" the master of psion questioned, crossing his arms. Karma frowned.
"Kick your ass for dying the first time of course! You're not exempt from these ass-kickings just because you're standing here before me!" she answered. She then turned to her teammates. "That goes for you guys too! Any of you die, I'll kick you into next month!"
"Got it," Nathan acknowledged, not daring to challenge Karma's statement.
"Well, look, I didn't tell you at first because I didn't want you to freak out, alright? Besides, I didn't think you'd want to face your uncle for a second time, with all he's done to you, so I went out and took care of him before he could do anything," Alex explained. Karma then paused for a moment, before gently punching the master of psion in the arm.
"You're such an idiot," the master of darkness mumbled, hints of gratitude in her voice.
"So, anyways, do any of you have any idea at all who killed Wu then? Lloyd mentioned a couple suspects, but from what I'm hearing, one of these suspects is dead," Morro spoke up then, floating forward. Karma flinched yet again, but a guilty look appeared on Alex's face.
"Then let me come clean about something," the master of psion told the ghost, before hesitating, then saying, "I'm the one who killed Wu."
"I had a feeling," Lilly commented, glaring at the master of psion. Though, before Alex could explain why he had done it further, Morro solidified his hand and grabbed him by the throat, proceeding to slam him into the wall of the museum as hard as he could, causing some of the bricks to crack and cave from the impact. Alex gasped for air as the ghost's hand tightened around his throat, Morro's hauntingly raged eyes locked on the young man.
"I appreciate your honesty, but I will not excuse the fact that you killed the man who raised me," the former master of wind growled, baring his teeth at Alex like a snarling animal, "So why don't I give you the same treatment you gave him, huh!?"
"Morro, chill out! It's not what you think! Both of us have some explaining to do!" Karma spoke up, to which Morro fixed his angered gaze on her. He then dropped Alex and began to approach her, his form beginning to tower over her.
" 'Both' of you, huh? So was it a team act then? You two probably even thought you could get away with it too, thinking I'd never return huh!?" Morro raised his voice as he levitated closer to her. Karma didn't move though, she only simply continued to stare at him, a courageous look on her face.
"It's not like that-" she began to say again, before Morro interrupted her.
"That's what they all say!" he screamed, reaching for her throat. Lloyd then stepped in, dragging Nathan with him and pointing the boy's hand at the ghost.
"Do it and Nathan puts you back to sleep," the master of energy threatened, staring his former tormentor straight in the face. Morro huffed for a moment, before moving away from her and returning his gaze to Alex, who was still on his hands and knees from being let go, coughing. The ghost then levitated over to him and forced him to his feet.
"Explain. Now." he ordered the master of psion, to which the master of psion immediately began to speak.
"I was forced to do it as a form of torture by Clouse. I'm sure if you're from the Serpentine Wars times you may have at least heard of him," Alex spoke, to which Morro nodded.
"Wu often spoke of how he had a rivalry with his brother," the ghost informed him, "but I don't understand. If you're around these people, you must at least have powers, right? I'd assume you have telekinesis, since you look like the former master of it. Couldn't you have fought back!?"
Alex sighed, "Yes, I'm the son of the former master of psion. I couldn't fight back though because my energy capacity isn't as high as everyone else's, and I was literally running on empty the moment he forced me to do it. Besides, during that time, he was in possession of a stolen piece of my powers, so he could have killed me in a snap if he wanted to. I couldn't fight back because, without my powers, he could have snapped me like a twig with ease."
Morro paused, then turned to Karma. "And you...you said you had some explaining to do too?"
The master of darkness nodded. "Yes," she said, before proceeding to explain, "You see, Clouse is a...family member of mine, so at the time I was sort of living with him. He had captured Wu from my friends here as a sort of surprise here, and decided that Alex would be the one to kill Wu, since my uncle is under the impression that he doesn't do anything. With us both fearing my uncle, there was nothing we could do but obey,"
"But, I'm the one who could have done something. I still had my energy levels and powers intact," she went on further, "I could have stepped in and stopped my uncle, but I was too scared. I was too afraid of what he would do to me, whether it be him spitting out harsh words or actually physically hurting me. I couldn't budge myself to do anything. I'm...I'm sorry."
Morro was silent for a moment, before sighing and looking away from the both of them. "So, you're both saying Clouse planned it?"
"Yeah. He basically planned the deaths of every former elemental master as well, and had mostly succeeded," Alex added, "Though, I couldn't tell you who he had killed. There was only so much I could pick up from his mind."
Morro frowned, then sighed yet again, looking towards the eclipsed moon. "There was always something off about that lousy rat."
"He's dead now though. We shouldn't worry about him. We need to worry about finding Cole and stopping Yang, and we can't really do that by just standing here and staring at the moon," Kai reminded them, to which Hunter nodded.
"Right," he said, before scratching his head, "Uh...you guys did bring the Bounty, right?"
"Yes. It should be parked nearby," Misako spoke up. Everyone had honestly forgotten that she was here.
Lloyd nodded then. "Alright, let's go!"
As everyone rushed to the Bounty, Morro hesitated, causing Cass to skid to a stop. She gave her uncle a worried look. "Are you coming too?"
The ghost paused, then nodded. "Yes, this is just unusual for me," he replied, before looking towards the ship, "but I figure this is the only time I'll ever get to be around the family I didn't get to know. Besides, those boys in orange and light blue...they're your cousins, aren't they?"
Cass nodded. "Hunter and Nathan? They're your nephews."
Morro then nodded. "Yeah. They really do look like John," he said, staring at his nephews before he decided to follow his niece to the ship, leaving behind the cracks in the museum wall.
Five minutes later
Nya steered the Bounty out of the city with Misako directing her as the rest of the members of the team waited on the deck, watching as the tall buildings began to disappear from their view. Sammie leaned on one of the railings as the ambient, nocturnal desert winds tossed her hair gently, concerns for her brother's safety occupying her mind. This, of course, wasn't the first time she had to continue on with holiday festivities without him, but it still hurt her as much as it always did during the times he was just becoming a ninja. It hurt just as much as her mother's absence.
"Hey, is everything going alright?" she heard a voice ask her then, before she turned around to find Lilly behind her with a concerned look, "I know your brother's gone and all, but it looks like it's really tearing you up."
Sammie sighed. "I'm fine. It's just...going on for so long without any clues as to whether he's dead or alive is really leaving me worried."
Lilly then leaned against the railing. "I understand how you feel. Having someone like that in your life suddenly disappear without an explanation is horrible," she replied, "but Cole's brave, and tough. I have faith that he's doing well."
"I know, and I do too, but everything's been happening so unexpectedly, what if we get sidetracked? What if he gets sidetracked?" Sammie wondered, to which Lilly put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, he'll be okay. Trust me," she assured the master of light, "Even if the unexpected happens, he'll be able to deal with it. He's always been able to."
Sammie smiled slightly. "Yeah, you're right," she said, "I just wish I could get answers sooner."
"I know," Lilly replied, "but unfortunately, all we can do for now is wait for answers."
Sammie then nodded, before they turned to look at their friends, who sat on the deck and waited for any sightings of Yang's Temple. Morro seemed to be speaking to Hunter and Nathan, with a slightly awkward expression on his face as Cass watched. Kai was helping Jay keep watch on the upper decks. Karma sat on Zane's shoulder's attempting to help as well as Alex watched, looking confused. Sammie and Lilly then walked over to join their friends, but once they neared the masters of wind, the sound of a thunderclap filled the air.
"What was that!?" Jay asked, before another thunderclap from seemingly nowhere rocked the ship, taking out the lights of the ship for a few moments before they flickered back on. They then saw a mass of cloth laying on the deck now, causing Karma to crawl down from Zane's shoulders.
"What is that thing?" she asked, taking a step towards it before the mass shifted. It then started to rise, dropping little droplets of a crimson substance onto the wooden floor of the deck. It then started to form into a figure as it rose, until it kept its head bowed. The team looked on in confusion and shock as it stood there, before the figure slowly raised its head, allowing the light the eclipse was emitting to reveal their face.
Karma froze immediately once she saw his face, her usually lively brown eyes becoming filled with terror in an instant. She then stepped back as everyone looked on in disbelief, the deck becoming more silent than it had ever been.
The figure brushed his greasy, black hair away from his face, ignoring the bleeding cuts that littered his face. He gave a sinister smile as his venomous purple eyes fell on his niece. "Good evening, Seiko," Clouse greeted her in a honeyed voice, "What wonderful weather for such a great holiday, huh?"
"H-How!? You're supposed to be dead!" Cass shouted, staring in disbelief. Clouse snickered.
"No. I just think someone here miscalculated what I could survive," he spoke, glancing at Alex for a minute before looking back at his niece. Karma then proceeded to slowly back away, trembling as she shook her head.
"God damn it Alex! You forgot to double tap!" Hunter shouted, to which he was ignored by Clouse.
"But anyways, I'm only here for a certain few. Though, I'd like to speak to one person at a time," the man said, before beginning to walk towards Karma. Though, before he could take any further steps, one of Lilly's katanas flew from its sheath and into Alex's hand, to which he used to slash at Clouse. The man then took a step back, glaring at the master of psion.
"Well, Orange, if I'm gonna 'double tap' it might as well be now!" he replied. Clouse then raised an eyebrow, smiling.
"Oh? You think you can finish me off all by yourself, don't you?" the man asked in a condescending tone. Intricate, black lines then appeared under his eyes, causing Alex to freeze in shock. Clouse only continued to smile. "I don't die as easily as you think, boy."
A line then jutted out of the ground and threw Alex through the large window that served as a windshield for the control room, shattering the glass and causing Misako and Nya to run out onto the deck. Immediately, Alex attempted to get back up, but sharp pains in his legs and hands caused him to stop. He had forgotten already that he was surrounded by glass shards.
Though, he watched from where he lay as Morro lunged for Clouse, to which Clouse used his lines to grab a mop bucket full of water and tossed the water onto the ghost. Immediately, Morro's nearly translucent form exploded into goo, causing Cass to cry her uncle's name.
Karma then tried to hit her uncle with her staff, to which Clouse simply caught it and threw her into a stack of crates they had sitting on the ship, turning to his next challenger. Hah, and you claim you care for your family so much, Alex thought to himself as he got up, now ignoring the sharp pains in his body. Though, he watched as Clouse used his lines to hold every member of the team still, knowing that he couldn't stand to wait much longer. He knew that if he even tried again though, Clouse would surely kill him. Even without half of Alex's powers, he was still much more powerful than he could ever be.
He then thought about what Wu had mouthed to him the night of the old man's death. "I know you're much more than this, I can see it in your face. I may not be a psychic, but I know for a fact that you will soon show that you're much more than what you let on. If history's starting to repeat itself, then let the day you realize you're much more than some weak, scheming child be the prime piece of history that is repeated. Both yourself and your mother would appreciate that," the words ran through his head again, to which he looked down at his bleeding hands, the aura around them glowing for a moment before disappearing again.
I know I've always been overconfident about my own strength, but I've always known that I was weaker than the other masters. Though, despite my weakness, I should show Clouse that I'm much more than this, right? Alex thought to himself, I can't just wave a white flag and let him terrorize them. If I'm supposed to be changed man, why am I standing here hesitating and letting Clouse hurt them!?
Pinpointing the exact locations of the glass that gotten stuck in his skin, Alex pulled them out with his powers and gathered the other shards of glass along with it into a spear shape. Then, turning each individual piece of glass to its sharpest side, he used his powers to throw the glass spear at Clouse. He then darted out of the control room in a different way, so Clouse would have no idea where he was going.
As he ran, he heard the man grunt, to which he formed his hand into a fist, the signal for the spear to explode and send its glass shards into Clouse. He then heard the man yelling and searching for him, to which the master of psion smirked. Bringing the blade he had borrowed from Lilly to his hand, he first teleported behind Clouse. Then, when the man looked behind himself, he teleported to his left, and then to the right, and then behind him again the moment he turned away.
Then, when Clouse turned to look behind him again, Alex teleported in front of him and shattered the line that was holding the team. Clouse then turned to look at him and the team, infuriated.
"Holy crap, so that's who did the glass thing," Nathan commented, brushing himself off and reaching for his sais. Though, Alex stopped him.
"Worry about your missing friend. I started this mess with him, and I'll finish it," he told him, to which Karma stepped forward.
"Don't be an idiot! You can't take him on by yourself!" she shouted at the master of psion. Alex's smirk didn't fade.
"Karma, you've known me for years. You already know I'm an idiot," he told her, "and if there's one thing you should have learned about me, it's that you can't fix stupid."
"Now, focus on finding Eyebrows or whatever his name is! If I can't beat Clouse, the least I can do is slow him down for you guys!" he told the team. Deciding that natural selection was about to take place the others stepped back. Though, Karma hesitated, before stepping with them.
"Fine, but if you die you're going to get a major ass-kicking!" she told him, to which Alex nodded.
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
"My, you're cocky today. Where did this little confidence boost come from?" Clouse asked, raising an eyebrow, "You know I could squish you like the little bug you are, right?"
"Do it then," Alex challenged him, "I want to see you try."
Clouse then gave an angered look, before attempting to impale the master of psion with his lines. Alex simply jumped back, before shattering them with the katana and using his powers to force himself forward at a higher speed than usual in order to test how well his former boss could keep up. He continued to speed around Clouse, cutting him in random places with the blade until he finally reached Clouse's face, to which the man caught the blade before he could cut his new marking. "Your overconfidence is going to get you killed," Clouse told him, before holding onto the blade and kicking him away.
Alex tumbled to his feet, holding out a hand to balance himself. "And so will yours," he retorted, before lunging for him. Avoiding the blade, the master of psion ducked and kicked Clouse in the face. He then ducked again and hit Clouse in the gut, proceeding to teleport behind the man and pull on his ponytail in order to throw him into the floor. "Doesn't feel so great, does it you greaseball!?" Alex shouted, counting that as revenge for when Clouse had pulled on his hair earlier.
The man growled and jumped to his feet, before using his lines to anchor Alex in one spot. Though, as he approached the master of psion, he was then bombarded with miscellaneous crates and pieces of boulders. He then found that he had forgotten to hold Alex's hands still, or at least break them. Clouse cursed as blood began to leak from his nose, which was broken by a boulder.
"Mind if I cut in!?" Hunter shouted, before lunging at Clouse and trading blade blocks with him. He then blew the katana out of Clouse's hand, letting it skid over to Alex. Immediately, the master of psion picked up the blade and broke himself free. Seeing that he was freed, Hunter used his wind powers to push Clouse towards Alex, to which the master of psion took advantage of this. He managed to slice Clouse's cheek, but unfortunately it wasn't the one that beared the marking.
"And I'll swing into action!" Karma then shouted, swinging from the crow's nest with a rope and landing a kick on her uncle's face. She then swung back up to the crow's nest, watching her uncle stomp his foot in rage.
"You insufferable, little-" Clouse began to shout, unleashing his lines, but Alex interrupted him by throwing a rock at his face, before blocking the lines with his borrowed blade. He then used his powers to borrow the whole team's weapons, causing some of them to give him confused looks as he formed the weapons in a ring around him. He then faced Clouse, making every weapon point towards the man. Clouse gave a look of outrage.
"This isn't right! You should be tired by now! Your energy should be sapped! Are you hiding that Garmadon boy behind you!?" he questioned as Alex approached him. The master of psion smiled and shook his head.
"No, Clouse. This is how it should be. This is how it should have been this whole time," he spoke, "I should have had a large energy capacity like every other elemental master in history, and also have just as much power. Better yet, I should have been just as fearsome as every other master of psion in history!"
Alex had to admit, he was absentmindedly bending his brainwaves slightly, but he stopped once he sent all the weapons towards Clouse at once, causing the man to try to duck. Though he didn't manage to get impaled, cuts littered his back and face now, causing him to glare at the master of psion the minute he stood again. Alex only simply brought the weapons back to his side, unaffected by Clouse's permanent negative look.
"Your overconfidence is blinding you! You're severely outmatched and I'm just about to unleash an ultimate power! You're surely about to regret what's about to come next!" Clouse shouted, backing into the railing of the ship. Alex only continued to approach him. Clouse then began to stutter as he neared, even though Alex had thrown everyone's weapons aside except for the katana he had borrowed earlier.
The master of psion then stopped once he reached Clouse, then pointed the blade of the katana at his throat. "Try to use your lines once and I end you here," Alex threatened, glaring at Clouse. The man's eyes were wide, before he smirked.
"What, are you sparing me?" he questioned. Alex's expression didn't change.
"No, just wanted to give an asshole his proper sendoff," he said, before taking a few steps back. Clouse stared in confusion for a moment, before the master of psion then ran towards him and kicked him in the face, knocking him over the railing of the ship. Just as Alex landed back on his feet though, a line wrapped around his throat and pulled him down with Clouse, to which he heard someone call his name. Knowing that this fight wasn't over, Alex used his powers to slow down their fall, refusing to look down at his looming death below.
Using the katana, he shattered the line around his neck and attempted to force the blade on Clouse, to which the man tried to push it back. "You're acting odd," he commented, to which Alex gave a confused look.
"What do you mean?" he asked, continuing to force the blade onto Clouse. The man's questioning look did not falter.
"Don't act stupid. You and I can read each other's thoughts. You don't think I've listened to what you've thought?" Clouse questioned. Quite honestly, Alex hated the fact that this was true, especially since he was basically being forced to listen to this disgusting man's thoughts. That was all over now though, as Alex had gained back the missing piece of his powers. "You don't think I've heard your desires for an end to all this? Your desires to be freed from this world? Didn't you wish for death? Why don't you take the opportunity now and fall with me? You'll finally be free of whatever nightmares and stress plagued you!"
"I know what you're doing. You're thinking that you're going to get some reward for this, don't you? You think they're just going to let you into their team just because you killed me, don't you?" Clouse went on, "Unfortunately, I don't think that'll ever happen, boy. Once they find the one in black, they'll just leave you behind and allow you to turn to dust all on your lonesome, no 'thank you's or anything. They don't care, and they never will! No one does! It's just the way it is! They don't care about change!"
"I don't know why you cling onto this ideal that somehow they'll accept you. It's never going to happen, no matter what you do. You're nothing new or special!" Clouse began to shout, "I don't know why you just keep trying! There's nothing here for you! There's nothing left here to give you the will to live, so why do you insist on doing everything for these people who could give less of a shit of what happens to you now!? Why do you still insist on living even though you're dead!?"
It was silent for a moment, before Alex decided to speak, his waving hair hiding his expression. "You're right, there's nothing left here for me," he started, "but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try and fix everything that I have damaged and destroyed, both physical and mental. I'll let you know, I'm only helping them because one, you're the one who had destroyed my life in the first place, thinking that it was such a fantastic idea to kill my mother. Two, that there is people, or I guess a person, who actually cares for my wellbeing, as much as you like to deny it. But you're not wrong, I did desire death, until recently."
The master of psion's hair then moved out of his face, revealing his watering eyes. "I'd hate to disappoint you, but even as a dead man I have a will to live! Even though I know you'll never understand, I now not only live for myself, but someone else too! I live to make this world free of people like you, and to make this world brighter for others, even though I contributed to the very same darkness that plagues this history!" he told Clouse, "I live to make sure this someone never has to deal with assholes like you again! I live to make sure you never terrorize another innocent person ever again!"
He then applied more force on the katana, almost making Clouse's grip slip. "You can't do this! I'm the one who gave you a place to sleep and eat!" the man shouted. Alex only glared at him.
"You also gave me severe organ damage and a deteriorating mental state that's filled with your bullshit reasons for why I'm less than dirt! You can just imagine how thankful I am for that!" Alex shouted, before sighing, then snickering, "You know what's funny? I felt alive and happy again the minute you died. I'd really like those feelings back."
Alex then pulled the katana away and impaled Clouse through the chest before he could react. As the man coughed and gasped, the master of psion pulled the blade from his chest and placed his foot there instead. "Good riddance," he whispered, before letting go of Clouse with his powers and kicking him farther down to the desert below. Alex then, in turn, let go of himself, as his energy level was far past its limit.
They probably forgot about me, but it's okay. At least I avenged Mom, he thought to himself, That's all the closure I needed.
Though, just as he was about to accept his fall, he felt a hand close around his arm, stopping his fall. He then looked up, finding that Karma was the one that had caught him. He then noticed that she and her friends had formed a human chain from the deck of the Bounty to where he hung now. "You're dead wrong if you thought we were just going to leave you with that jerk," Karma told him, smirking.
Surprised by their return, Alex absentmindedly let Lilly's katana drop from his hand, causing her to silently whine about how that was the fourth one she lost. The master of psion then smiled and grabbed onto Karma's arms, allowing them to pull him up.
Once he was back on the deck though, Karma said, "Now, I know what you're gonna say. 'You didn't have to save me ya know!', well, too bad. I did anyway. It's the best I could actually go through with doing in return for fending off my uncle like that."
Alex snickered. "What? Am I that predictable?"
"Eh, to me you are...most of the time," Karma replied.
"Well, okay, if I was gonna say that, then you were going to say 'Well I did it anyway because you're a pretty okay dude and I'd feel guilty for letting you die'," Alex predicted, to which Karma laughed.
"And after that you'd probably be like 'Well, thanks anyway. I-It's not like I appreciate the fact that you care or anything! D-Don't get the wrong idea'!" the master of darkness replied, mimicking his usual action of crossing his arms. Alex then broke into laughter.
"Yeah, and then I'd say 'How about we stop chattering and get back to finding Cole'," Kai interjected, to which Karma and Alex's laughter ceased. The master of darkness then nodded.
"Right. We shouldn't be far," she said. Though, once she turned to look and see if Nya was back to steering, another thunderclap sounded, causing everyone to be on guard. Although, this time, this thunderclap wasn't from an uninvited guest. Instead, the team watched as a large rift ripped open the night sky, emitting green light revealing a floating island before it.
"It's Yang's Temple! We've got to hurry!" Sammie shouted, to which Nya nodded and hit the switch for the boosters on the ship.
"You guys better hold on to something! These boosters are going to throw you off the ship if you don't!" she warned everyone, to which they obeyed her orders and held on to something attached to the ship. Nya then grabbed the wheel and hit the gas button, granting the ship its ability to move. "Here we go!" she shouted, before the ship sped towards the temple, leaving dust and sand in its wake.
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