Just how to bring in the darkness element...All this tame and cutesy stuff is nice but I think we all need a reminder on just WHERE we are...Social-wise And Physically.

All OCs belong to me and Ninjago belongs to LEGO.

Chapter 11: A World Of Our Own

Crunch and Aretta were out at the store, they had to pick up a few odds and ends such as milk. Alot of Dairy Farmers were having difficulties with the cattle, 75% of the dairy in Ninjago was dry! Noone knew what was happening, all were healthy and no diseases present. So the prices in return were very high...many complained but this was to ensure the farmers and the stores got something to make up for the cut in profits, until the cattle started producing again. Even McCoy Farms was struck with this dairy based drought, at least they had the their apples and other crops to cover the loss somewhat. The maid asked Crunch to go get the cuts of meat and a few other things, she would fetch the milk and eggs. She didn't really need much help but she felt bad for Crunch having nothing to do other then boss the staff around and landscaping, she also wanted to spend some time with him. Crunch returned with pineapples and coconuts, placing all the cuts he was told to get in the cart. She smiled, he even got all the spices she needed!

CRASH!

Both lead Jones Monor staff members turned around to find a whole row of milk bottles were thrown onto the floor, bits of glass and spilled milk were in one grave and massive puddle. The culprit was a farmer, the overalls and flannel plaid with boots was dead giveaway. Crunch and Aretta noticed one large chunk of glass in the grand puddle, seeing the brand symbol. A Lighting Bolt inside a Star, the very brand that was in Aretta's cart in fact. McCoy Farms was the brand that was on the floor, the man seemed to smile at his deed. A Competitor...Such competition was always constant but this was a very poor display of maturity. The man clearly didn't care about how he looked, the posture alone stated that he felt justified. Crunch could only let out a silent disgusted groan, Farmer McCoy wasn't to blame for the sudden milk shortage. Just because he was clever enough to expand the brand, having the apples and other products to cushion the blow...That was just common sense. Even Dairy Farms gravitated towards making cheese and butter in order to make more profit, Milk could only make so much! He then noted the Orange overalls and the even brighter orange plaid...Ah, this was a Dairy Farmer. A pretty famous one too, Dale Stilton from Sunny Farm. As a Dairy Farmer, he was known for his cheeses, butter and of course the Milk. This shortage was putting quite the blockade to his profits, he only had 15% of his cows that were producing the white gold while the rest were drier then wood during a drought! A worker walked over and began cleaning up the mess, glaring at the careless farmer. Dale just glared back at the kid, not caring for that dirty look. He walked off, muttering.

"Demon Farmer..."

Both heard the bitter remark so now, now they knew what it was REALLY about. The farmer didn't like that a Darkley graduate was prospering and not him, it was pettiness at it's finest...Aretta just clicked her tongue at it, such a waste...She helped the young worker, whom tried to tell her that he got it. She continued and tipped the poor kid, feeling bad. Crunch found this gesture unusual, Aretta never really did that. "Aretta, any particular reason for the generosity?" He asked. Aretta giggled while pushing the cart, "Kids need some type of kindness going for them when they have to deal with people like that." She sighed. They got to the check out and left, only to see the young worker leaving. Looks like he was done for the day, they both saw a little girl run over to give him a big hug. Both were stunned when the little one called him Daddy, both hired help smiled softly. Ah, so the young man was a young Father. The little girl held up a bottle of milk to her Father, expressing that she got it during her class field trip, recognizing the brand. The man then smirked, at least the McCoy's had a fan out of his daughter! That ought to shove it to Stilton where the sun DON'T shine! Both were then interrupted when the owner came out to yell at the man, telling him he was fired. As for why, it was due to his attitude towards Farmer Stilton. Ah, so the owner was buttering up to Stilton or Stilton tattled on him. The man didn't seem surprised, in fact he smiled and stated that was fine as he'd taken a job at McCoy Farms, planning to quit anyway. The little girl saw the farmer, sticking her tongue at him in defiance. She heard all about that nasty old man, all the farmer kids in her class told her how much of a cheater he was on his profits, always over charging his milk, cheese and butter. It was even worse during the dry spell, it was was triple in price then it was normally!

Aretta sighed as she cut up all the fruits, she was making a very special treat tonight. The master and Mistress looked quite tired as of late, their spirits needed a pick me up as well. The girls were all signed into Demon courses, of course they were ALL worried. She was cheering her mistresses on, doing her best to keep her Master, Misstress and Crunch well. As well as herself, forcing herself to eat even though her hunger vanished on her now a days. A normal thing that happened when she was anxious, the only other time this happened was during the phase. The body got at it's most ill and the Herbalist had to work through it, without succumbing to the urge to cure themselves. Too much curing or attempting to cure the condition risked you becoming an Imp. You had to master the form before it mastered you, it was very hard as you knew something else in you wanted control and tried to coax you into the easy way out. For her, it was just extreme loss in appetite and trouble swallowing. She made sure to try and eat, resorting to nutrient rich broths when she couldn't choke down solid food. The hardest time and the time that her inner demon almost won was during it's absolute worst: When she was bed ridden and unable to reach for said broth, said demon promised to let her up if she gave into her and told her a cure to fix her loss of appetite. She almost agreed until she yelled for Edna to feed her the broth, whom did while she bruised. Little did she understand at the time, Edna's demon almost won her over to stop her from getting hurt so easily. it was also during this time that she made Edna's cloth.

This cloth was vital to Oni and Nymph Carriers during their phase, where eating and sleeping were challenges. Oni forms came with great power while the Nymph forms carried great defense, only if you survived it. The power was so great that just a normal bed broke when Oni carriers laid on it, Nymph carriers would bruise greatly just from sitting on normal beds! This cloth was referred to as a Silk Sash, a college level mixture as it required a careful fold with powder into fabric. A gradual method similar to making roux with a combination of folding, mix too fast and you'd destroy the delicate fabric and the even more delicate powder but do it too slow and the mixture and silk would cook away. Once she mastered it, she quickly make another for her prized subject. This was none other then Victor Straight, Crunch himself. She knew it was him the moment she saw him after they were hired, she was sure he knew it was her. He kept his distance, hating it when she experimenting on everyone, including him. Of course she studied him...She felt powerless as she couldn't go into Hell's forest after him, where the school dropped him off as he was too strong to contain. His group refused to leave him there and eventually led him out of there, asking for aid. They asked for hers, even though she warned them that he now "belonged" to her. They agreed to it and she healed him as best as she could, she couldn't stop the scarring. The healing mixture had the unfortunate side effect of making him bald, something she corrected in later years. She wanted to fix it but felt she had done enough to him, Victor made her THINK before she cured.

She grew to fall in love with him but she grew to understand how impossible it was to ask for Victor to love her as she was his stalker, it was very selfish thing to ask after all she did to him. Normal people didn't hesitate to put out restraining orders on people who couldn't take a hint, she was surprised that he didn't on her. Was this out of arrogance or trust? She honestly couldn't tell, Victor was that difficult to read. This difficulty was what she loved and found so fascinating, he just wasn't the typical man. She tried forming bonds with other servants in the Manor, none were as interesting as Victor. None had all she was looking for in terms of Fathering children...Unlike her shrew of a Mother, she wanted a family and children. But due to her exposure to St. Rachael, she didn't see relationships properly. Despite being bold as an Herbalist, she was embarrassed to be so meek as a woman. Crunch walked in and saw her, fighting himself to not run. She earned enough trust to be in the same room with him, had she wanted to drug him, she would have done it already. She seemed more...somber this evening, why? Ugh, why was everything so blasted complicated with her? Just get a restraining order and be done with it! But...If she was so keen on him, why did he sense more to all of this?! He felt some type of hesitation now then he did back then, she was the one whom patched him up after his time in Hell's Forest. Her dousing become more soft, nothing lethal or even remotely deadly! It bothered him, she wasn't...In love with him, right? That WOULD explain it but then why did she play with the male staff? And more over, why did it bother him at all?! This was his stalker from high school, normal people would be happy about this but he wasn't! This what he meant by complicated, neither of them behaved in way that would considered "normal".

"Victor...How do you feel about children?" She asked.

Victor spat out the water he was drinking in shock, what?! He looked at her with a split between confusion, shock and embarrassment. What did she just ask him? She did know he was Nanny, right?

"...Your joking, right?" He asked nervously.

"No, I'm not. I do love you and I do want to have babies with you but that's impossible." She answered.

"Funny, your sleeping around makes that hard to see..." He brought up.

"Yes, I've been trying to get over you but I can't. Your too perfect and considering our history of cat and mouse, it's impossible to ask anything close to love." She explained.

"So you DO understand what you do is wrong." he added.

"Yes and all my stalking of you up to this point is disgusting as you have no interest in me but that's normal." Aretta went on.

"And it is...At least it would be if it wasn't more disgusting that I DON'T completely lack interest. Sadly, your the only woman in this manor that actually has interest in me..." He tacked on.

Aretta looked at him in confusion, he was INTERESTED in her? Even if it was because no other woman wanted him, it was a shock. Crunch knew this was a bad idea but the both of them were getting older and both wanted children, both being orphans. He had five brothers and the all died while his own Mother perished in a house fire and Father died during a robbery. Aretta came from an abusive background with a mother whom was drunk all the time, eventually dying in a car accident. But since their relationship was so unusual, maybe they could find some common ground. He doubted Aretta would go and kill him as she had many chances and didn't, he doubted she'd do it and leave their child fatherless. She went Fatherless and he was sure she didn't wanted that, he didn't want any kids he had Motherless so neither had much to lose. He took in a big sigh, here we go. He bent down to her eye level, holding up his large finger. He wanted only one thing as a rule for her to follow, one she started years ago in fact: She would belong to him and him alone.

"Here's the Deal, Ari. We'll try for children while trying our hands at an actual relationship, there's a catch to this. Once we do this: No more EXPERIMENTING on anyone else or SLEEPING with anyone else. YOUR. M-I-N-E." he warned her.

She smiled while nodding, still stunned. Was she dreaming? If so, don't wake her up! Crunch felt like punching himself but he couldn't fault anyone else as he offered it to her, if she put him into a coma, it was his own fault! He asked for it but agreeing to a relationship with his stalker! Normal people NEVER did this! But face facts too: They both wanted kids and had been around each other for YEARS without anything bad happening. Like it or not: Each were all they had in terms of perspective suitors, the only ones interested in the other and knew what it was like without either parent while raised.

The Jones sisters looked outside of the school, seeing protesters with their picket signs being shaken with vigor. These were apart of the "normal" citizens of Ninjago, the good, religious and peace loving folks that couldn't STAND having these schools here, hoping their protesting would be answered and the eyesores be torn down. The police showed up to take away the protesters, it got ugly as soon as one of them punched an officer. The lead Officer whistled, his call issued over a truck with a device that created a loud sound. This loudspeaker with it's high volume noise deterred the protesters and got them to run away,the ones unable to get away were taken away. This had been happening for a week, it would stop soon. Good, as it was almost time for the International meetings between schools to start, the first visitors would be from Darkley's American Branch. Then France, Italy and so on and so forth. It was a great way to connect and make connections should you work abroad, having an ally or two in the country was a good idea. It was also a time to keep wits about you, even if it was foreigners. These were from Darkley and St Rachael branches, they could pull something if you were careless. This was also a chance for those single folks to charm a foreign lady or gentleman or visa versa, they also could steal you away if your boy or girl wasn't watching! Vanessa already warned them that America's Darkley and St. Rachael were very competitive and had physically strong students, even the nerdy Herbalogy students were beefed up! They'd throw down with you weather or not you agreed to it, be ready to fight at a moment's notice!

Each of their guys was very attractive, Cherise being the most worried. Lloyd was already really cute, being in a strong family made him an immediate target for American St. Lucy girls. Well, she wouldn't let some over done, hamburger-loving, beer-chugging Ho take Lloyd away(Cherise! That's not nice!)! She already had a Local Ho to push away! Poor Zane was a British talking blond, Lily wanted him all to herself and wasn't having some trashy fat ass try to seduce him(Lily! You know better!)! Tiffany and Kyra already knew where they stood on the matter, Cole and Kai weren't getting any American Cherry Tarts (Girls, easy on the stereotypes!)! Nya sat away from them, the aura coming off of them scared her. Neo and Tammy just nodded, being officially committed gals themselves as of yesterday, understood the defensive stances. If you didn't keep your guard up, your guy could be taken away by some sassy American slut(What did I just say?!)! Never mind the reverse, being tempted by a heartthrob American fuck boy(Damn it!)! Don't get it wrong, Americans brought up images of either being stupidly fat, rich, powerful and or sexy(Are we TRYING to piss off the American readers!?). Not to mention as of resent years, they grew more diverse in skin tones, eye colors and body types. Blond, blue eyes and thin were a thing of the past!

Neo just giggled, slightly interested in seeing who was stupid enough to anger the Queen and her sister secret service...Both she and Tammy cleared their memories of their phones to take videos of the shenanigans and the orchestrated chaos, gotta be ready for it! The upload of Cherise pulling Lorelie by the hair this morning got killer views on their website, The Daily Scoop's Wall of Shame. This was of course on the Dark web and only Darkley and St. Rachael Students, Teachers and Graduates could see it once they got the passwords. It was how the girls got extra income, though they had thoughts about bounty hunting. Other ways were a bit dodgy as people held you responsible if anything went wrong.

Things were about to get interesting...

(Later That Night...)

A shadow ran closer to the large cave, walking over to the the large metal doors inside. The Metal itself was littered with many symbols and engravings, showing off it's bright and holy shine. The rare and valuable holy Metal, blessed by Heaven and used to make the door that kept the bowels of Hell away. keeping it looked up tight was the ever holy lock made of Holy Diamond, impossible for demon hands to touch as they'd burn asunder from it's holy aura. Some humans were lead astray by their inner demons to release it, grabbing the key or picking the lock. The key itself was charge to one Family, The Garamdons since it was the Grand Master of Spinjustu whom created to Metal Doors and Holy Lock. His sons were now in charge of the key, noone knew which brother had it as they switched guarding it.

This person didn't need it as he already knew how to pick the lock but he tried touching the lock, finding out it was impossible as days went on, he had to get said key now as time was running out. He wanted Ninjago to burn but he also wanted two fellow old classmates to burn as well since it was thier fault that he became this way, had they just let him have the lock while he was in the phase, he'd still be him.

Joker, Ace AND all of Ninjago would pay for denying him...DEARLY. He rubbed the door and it burned his hands, he began laughing. The cackle itself grew more menacing and louder with each second, showing that the singing of his hand couldn't match the pure rotting of his humanity.

This man was no longer a man but rather a man becoming a demon...

As we see, one decent into madness can occur in days or even years. Whoever this was, is a person that had did this before. After a coin toss, I got the McCoy's involved again. As we see, even the Farming community, there is NO unity. Just choosing a different brand of Milk can get a person fired, that's discrimination! Both schools get hammered by protester who want the schools gone, worried about their overall morality. Most of the adults know why the schools gotta stay, it keeps Ninjago's delicate Ying and Yang balanced, anything that knocks it off will screw them over big time!

How big? We'll find out soon enough!

Oh and to my American Readers, if your actually offended by all these Stereotypes, your reading too into it. I know damn well they aren't true...I am a proud American. (Chows down burger, sips beer and crushes can, throwing it across the room.) What? Can't a bitch enjoy a beer n' burger while writing?! Damn!