Happy Friday everyone, time for another update. So I'm letting you know that this chapter would be turning on and off with the past and present of Lucas. So I'm letting you know so you're not confused whatsoever. Plus I had to watch a few parts over and over from the movie they made to be the exact thing. Anyway enjoy. :)
Chapter 20: Where Were You?
It has been seven months since my friend's, Kuzca, sacrifice has passed on. I am alone now in the Underworld. Storm hasn't return in over a year now. I tend to wonder if I'll ever see him again. I turned seventeen last month and I still miss my scaly friend. And my once blind friend. But it's what he would've wanted. To be free from Samukai's control and be reunited with his wife and son. A happy family reunion. I hoped he found his way to the light and his family.
In honor of my friend's sacrifice, I did an honorable memorial for him. I went to his village from where he grew up with his spear and robes. Even though the village has been abandoned for years, it was still breathtaking. The sea. The air. The view. Everything that Kuzca told me about from his stories. It was magnificent. And in honor for him, I went over to the cliff edge, from where he said he married Mylee, and struck the spear shaft into the ground and threw the robes over the spearhead facing the ocean. It's what he would've wanted too. To be home with the ocean. And I could've even sworn I even heard his voice in the winds saying: Thank you, Lucas. For everything.
After the small funeral and shrine, my training has been somewhat lack-y. I'm still focused with my training. But whenever I'm with Samukai to reach the surface, it's difficult. He killed my friend. With Kuzca as the gatekeeper, the doors are sealed forever; no way reaching to the surface. For Samukai, being the king has not only made him that, but as an alchemist as well. Potion brewer. He has created an elixir to act as a portal to reach the surface. He even managed to enhance the potion so that the vehicles can travel through the portal whenever.
The same goes with my Spinjitzu vehicle. I'm able to use my bike to travel to the surface to train or whenever my uncle gives me a day off so I can gather supplies from Jamanakai Village. And as usual I have to give my sai's back so Sherra can guard them. But I prefer to use the hidden path near the doors that Kuzca showed me. That's how I can do stargazing and play my flute in peace. Kuzca couldn't leave the mountains, but he loved my music when he stayed in the tunnel. And my memories will stay forever with me of him as a friend.
...
"And I'll miss my skeleton friend forever." Lloyd read out with an old black journal in his hands. His green emerald eyes were slightly wide in interest as he sat on the floor of the walk-in closet of the shared bedroom.
I had my back pressed against the wall near Zane and Jay's bunk as I heard everything. I would peek through to see my cousin gazing into the black book. He found my journal. The one I had since I was thirteen. The only thing that too will return me to the past. My memories first. Then my journal. But how did he find it in the first place? I had it stored away in one of the boxes in the closet that I share with my brothers because they too store their personal belongings. But still, how did he stumble onto my journal? Sure am not gonna get answers if I stay hidden. I stepped out of hiding and stood in front of the doorway. My shadow casted over him and blocked his source of light from the early morning sunlight emitting from the window of our room. Not angry at all, but curious. "Lloyd?" I asked him. "What are you doing?"
Lloyd jumped in surprise after he lifted his head to see me and quickly closed the book and hid it behind his back. Like he can hide that from me. He can be sneaky all he wants, but I saw that. I gave him a slightly hard stare with my hazel grey eyes and heard him sigh in defeat. I won this round. The green ninja slowly removed his arms from his back to reveal the black book and stared at it. "It's your journal." he replied quietly and soft and held it out to me. "I found it."
What was he scared about? I just surprised him that's all. Not mad or anything. I reached down to grab the book gently and freed it from his hands. I ran my fingers over the rough leather and binding as cracks were forming from age and slowly opened it. It brought back memories from my first entry at thirteen to my last before I joined the team. And there were still a few blank pages of the once ivory colored pages. I couldn't help but give off a quiet chuckle at the sight of my handwriting as it improved over the years. Sloppy at first, then better, well written. With my tutor in the Underworld from the Darkley's Boarding School, I was eligible to receive a diploma like any high school student, but at a young age. I closed the book and sat next to Lloyd and pressed my back against the wall. "So where did you find it?" I inquired.
"Uh...I..." he stuttered to reply. He's hiding something else. Lloyd drew in a deep breath and sighed. "I have a hidden stash of candy hidden in the closet and a week ago I bumped my head on the shelf and this box fell and I was curious to know what it was." So that's the reason how. Candy. He has a sweet tooth for that to have a stash hidden in here. "So when I realized it was yours," he continued. "I wanted to see what was inside and found your journal. So every morning I would wake up early, eat a few pieces of candy, and read your journal." He sighed. "I'm sorry if I invaded your privacy."
So it's a sugar reason. Somewhere he has a stash of sweets and accidently found my journal. Well of course I forgive him. He's my cousin. He was just curious as all kids are. I looked at him and chuckled and ruffled his messy hair. "You're fine." I said to him. "But I'm curious though. Why are you up early when everyone else is still asleep? Usually you always hate waking up early and are the last one up."
Lloyd shifted himself to lean against the wall. "Well after I found our journal, I wake up every morning to know more about you and what happened." he replied. The small ninja then averted his gaze to his bare feet. Something was troubling him now. "Lucas, I'm sorry to hear about your friend." His voice cracked in the end.
I looked at him confused. Why was he sorry? Kuzca sacrificed his life to protect me and that's what he intended. I came out unharmed, but still had a broken heart that my friend was gone. But I'm proud though that he's free from Samukai. "It's alright, Lloyd." I told him. "It's what he would've wanted. To be free."
"So that's why you snapped at Cole last night then." Lloyd chastised lightly. "You kept the coins as they're all what you have left of him." I looked at him and nodded. "Okay. So I noticed the date on the journal and that's around the time Uncle started forming the team to find the weapons, from what the others told me. Where were you when that happened?" he prompted, wanting to know more in person than a book.
I sighed at him and quickly poked my head out to spy on the others to hear their snores. Cole's heavy snore as a car's muffler meant he was in a deep sleep. Jay's normal mumbling about him and Nya. Kai's muffled snores with the pillow over his head. And then there's Zane with his silent snore with his hibernation mode still buzzing in his head. To that, I gave a small smile as they were still asleep and retreated back. We still have time. I looked down at Lloyd with a smirk. "First things first." I smirked. "How about the stash of yours?" I asked and poked him in the stomach.
Lloyd gave out a small chuckle and stood up walk deeper into the closet until he was under a shelf. He pushed a board and it slowly caved into the wall and moved it aside. A hidden compartment. That little sneak. Lloyd reached into the hole to have his entire arm inside and pulled out a Ziploc bag of candy. How did he find the hidden compartment in the first place? My cousin walked back to me and pulled the bag apart to open it and held it out to me. I eyed the various chocolates, fruit-flavored gum, and other sugary sweets. Which one? I found my pick and pulled out a cherry flavored sucker and unwrapped it and popped the hard candy into my mouth. Lloyd fished around the bag to pick out a green apple flavored hard candy and unwrapped it to pop it into his mouth. "So what happened while the others were above ground?" he asked while sucking on his candy.
I pulled my sucker out of my mouth and twirled the paper stick between my fingers with the melted harden sugar of artificial cherry flavor on top. Nothing much happened while the others were grabbing their weapons. I had to stay in the Underworld so my father couldn't see that I was alive. So I had cabin fever while I was down there. I brought myself back and placed my treat back into my mouth with the paper stick at the corner of my mouth like it was a toothpick. "Nothing much." I replied while trying to keep saliva from drooling out. "This is what I did while the others were out..."
...
"The Fearsome Dragon!" Garmadon commanded. I had my legs spread apart with my right knee bent as I leaned to the right. One of my hands was over my chest while the other was over my hip. My fingers were like lightning bolts as they faced over the opposite wrist. I looked like a dragon with its mouth open like it was about to breathe fire. Or water. Reminds me of Storm. He's still gone. "The Poisonous Snake!' Garmadon commanded my second stretch.
I shifted my legs to have my right leg straight out in front of me while my left leg was behind me and my left foot was balanced on the balls of my foot. My hands shifted from my chest and hip and had my fingers together like arrows and had my left hand near my chest while the other was out like my right leg and both in an angle. I looked like a cobra ready to strike. And to make it convincing, I even hissed like a snake. "Now what?" I asked.
My uncle smirked at me with his arms behind his back as he stood in front of me. I watched him with my eyes as he circled around me to be behind me. He's planning something for me. "Now attack!" he demanded and removed his arms and threw two shurikens at me. I quickly saw what was happening and got out of my stance and jumped. I brought my arms to my chest while twisting my body over the two pieces of sharpen metal and could see them grazing underneath my stomach and landed in a crouch. I drew out my sai's and threw them and the blades caught the cloth of his kimono on his shoulders and pinned him to the decorative detailed walls that you would see in any monastery that separated him from the throne to the center. My uncle kept smirking at me. "Very good, Lucas." he complimented and freed himself and tossed my sai's to me.
I caught my sai's by the handles and slipped them through my belt to sheath them and bowed. "I think I'm ready." I insisted.
Garmadon's smirk turned to a sneer look and shook his head. "Not now." he denied. "You'll get your chance, but now isn't the time. By now..." He was interrupted with the sound of heavy boots scraping the ground. We turned around to see Samukai entering from behind the throne and sat down on the throne. Something was bothering the murderer of my friend. He looked nervous and uneasy. "What is it, Samukai?" he asked cold and dark.
The King of the Underworld looked nervous and rubbed his four bony hands. "Master, I have failed." he said scared. Oh this should be good. "They have learned Spinjitzu and they have the scythe." He hung his head in defeat. He deserves it. Hope he gets punished.
To what he's referring to was the ninja. My father's students. My uncle's plan to steal the Golden Weapons has finally come and we found the map to the other locations. My father gave it to an old friend of his to hide for safety, but the owner of a blacksmith shop has been dead for over a year now as I've been told from rumors. Now that Garmadon found the location by using the Reflective Pool to spy on my father and search, he sent Samukai and the skeletons to attack Ignacia Village to steal the map and a girl. I don't know who she was or I never met her yet, but why her? Now that my father knows that Garmadon was striking, he found the other four elemental ninjas, excluding the Green Ninja as he was nowhere found in the Reflective Pool. Where was he?
I turned to face my uncle to expect an angry look on his face, but instead he simply smirked. Why? "Good." he said calmly. I was stunned while Samukai looked surprised. "Then my brother was with them."
Samukai nodded and raised a fist to argue. "If I can gather my army," he offered. "We can easily ambush them at the..."
"No." Garmadon stopped him to make him flinch. Why was he like this? He's never like this. He was even angry at me for befriending Kuzca. What was he planning? "Let them think they're winning."
Samukai and I looked at him confused. "I...I...I don't understand." he replied confused. You're not the only one.
"Everything is going to a plan." Garmadon stated and began to chuckle lowly. Samukai and I looked at him confused still as he decided to let this...slip by him. Let them think they're winning. What does that mean? I watched Samukai bow to my uncle and left the room. Why was he letting go free? He should be punished for failing to steal the Scythe of Quakes. Garmadon stopped chuckling and turned to me. "I must go my apprentice." he said. "I have some things to attend to." and left for the doors. I was alone in the throne room. And I hated being alone in the Underworld since my friends were gone.
...
"So what did you do then while the others were...busy with winning of the weapons?" Lloyd asked while popping a piece of chocolate in his mouth. How much sweets does he really need? He's supposed to stay fit and cut down on sugars. Same goes for Cole on cake. But still for him. He had three fruit-flavored hard candies, four suckers, a sour jawbreaker, and now chocolate. He's gonna feel sick before breakfast.
I pulled the sucker out of my mouth that I was still sucking on. My saliva melted the harden sugar to the stick and I've been chewing on it for some time now. I hope he has at least some mint gum to chew on from his bag of goodies. I put the paper stick back into my mouth like it was a toothpick. "Well Lloyd, I did what any ninja would do." I said while watching him pop another piece of chocolate into his mouth. "I spied."
...
With me alone in the throne room, after yesterday's failure, I walked over to the basin of crystalized water and peered down into it to spy on the ninja. "My father and his students." I demanded and the pool began shifting around to show my father with his students. One red, black, white, and blue. The ninja. Fire, earth, ice, and lightning. I watched them trek through a snowy trail to an icy volcano. Where were they going? I transverse into the lair, as I was in shadow form, and saw frozen skeletons in blocks of ice. And they didn't look like Underworld type. Normal dead people. I watched the ninja walk up to the center to see the two golden shurikens; The Shurikens of Ice. The second weapons. They were gonna grab them now. Where was Samukai? I watched the three hoists the white ninja up to grab the shurikens and instantly froze into ice. I couldn't help but turn my head away to laugh so they couldn't hear me. I watched them escape from the ice dragon and use the ice ninja as a sled to my father at the bottom and crashed into a pillar. I couldn't help again and laugh at them.
...
Days after the ninja found the shurikens, I used the Reflective Pool to spy on them again to see their progress. I could see them climb up to a mountain top and the sky became dark with lightning flashing in a vortex. On the mountain top was an end of a...nunchuck and the thick chain-links floated to the other end into the clouds. That means they're after the Nunchucks of Lightning. The white one warned the others they were being followed by the skeletons and climbed up while avoiding floating debris in the sky. The blue ninja climbed to the top and grabbed the weapons and did a happy dance in celebration and a bolt of lightning struck near him to reveal a blue dragon. The dragon roared at the ninja and the blue one jumped off into a freefall with the others behind him. As they flew past the skeletons, wings sprouted out from their backpacks and glided away from the floating ruins. They were like hawks or some kind of bird to glide across like that. They continued to glide through the sky until they reached the Forest of Tranquility and set up camp for the night. I couldn't help but laugh as my father was dancing like a fool. I turned away as now they needed the Sword of Fire to have their weapons. But still, what's my uncle planning? I shook it out of my head and went to my room to retire.
...
"Tornado of Creation!" A voice shouted.
I snorted in my sleep and opened my eyes. That didn't sound like any of my uncle's shouts. It was less deep than my uncle's. But whose then? I climbed out of my bed and spun around to be into my suit and ran to my window. I gazed down to gasp in surprised to what I saw in the courtyard. The ninja. What were they doing here? I noticed in their hands weren't their golden weapons they stole. But regular weapons? What happened to them and why are they still doing here? I watched them stand back-to-back as they were surrounded by skeletons and the spiders. I smirked at them. They don't stand a chance to them like I do.
"Earth!" the black ninja shouted and created a dusty brown tornado with chunks of rocks. His Spinjitzu.
"Fire!" the red ninja shouted and spun into a fiery red tornado. The skeletons slowly stepped back to the threat.
"Ice!" the white ninja shouted and disappeared into his white Spinjitzu with shards of ice.
"Lightning!" the blue ninja shouted and was enveloped into a blue tornado with lightning crackling.
"Ninja-Go!" they all shouted and merged together. What were they doing? I gasped in surprise as I watched the merging Spinjitzu tornadoes into one and watched it climb up to the ceiling. What are they doing? I watched their elements emit off the tornado as it grown large by the second. I watched the skeletons, spiders, vehicles, being whisked away into the vortex The wind blew dust from both the ground and tornado and then my hair as it drew closer in amazement. I gave out a yelp of surprise and jumped away from my window and laid my hands over my head as I laid on my chest to avoid any flying debris.
I felt the wind easing down and carefully lifted my head to see my room was a mess and carefully stood up to my window to blink in surprise to what was in front of me. A giant ferris wheel made of bones that caged the skeletons. What was that? What was did they just do? I couldn't help but chuckle as Nuckal was eating cotton candy and Kruncha smacked him for being an idiot.
"Come on." the fire ninja encouraged. "There's no time to waste." and then they ran inside the fortress. What are they doing? There's got to be a reason why they're here. I turned away from my window and out of my room. I ran down the halls to reach the main hall and pressed my back against a pillar to hide from them. I carefully peered through and watched them head for the end of the hall; the stairwell to the throne room. They were heading for my uncle. The ice ninja stopped in his tracks and looked up to me and I quickly hid from him. That was too close. "Come on, Zane!" the fire ninja said.
I carefully peered to see the ice ninja was gone and took off running down the hall to the staircase at the end of the hall and moved a cinder block aside to a long narrow tunnel that'll lead me to the throne room. I found this spot when I was eleven and used it to spy or listen on Garmadon's plans or Samukai. But I only used it once as I thought it was useless to use and haven't used it for six years. But was now gonna use it again. I got down to my stomach and used my forearms to crawl in. It was a bit small and narrow, but I fitted in fine. After a couple minutes, I spotted light pouring through a grate to stare down below in shock to see my father in the center with Samukai and the Golden Weapons, but not mine. How did he get here? And what's going on here?
I watched the elemental ninja took a step forward, but the fire ninja stopped them. "No." he said. "This is Sensei's fight."
I watched my father jump, with the Sword of Fire, and sent a stream of fire at the skeleton king. Samukai dodged by jumping to the side and threw the two shurikens from his lower arms. My father deflected the first one, but the second one hit the blade and froze the blade to the ground. Samukai started swinging the nunchucks over his head and lightning was crackling as he kept swinging them. The ninja looked scared and worried as my father was struggling to free the sword from the ice and freed as Samukai sent the high voltage bolt and rolled to the side to land in a crouch. I can't believe I'm saying this, but: 'Get him, Dad!'.
Samukai growled and struck the scythe into the ground and the floating isle split into three chunks to make my father a bit unbalance and both bone bridges broke and fell. Samukai threw the shurikens again, and with foul play, he quickly sent a bolt and struck my father in the chest with the golden sword out of his hands. I couldn't believe. Neither could the ninja. My father was shocked as he lost. Get up, Dad! "Bring me the four weapons." Garmadon commanded while sitting on the throne.
Samukai looked at him, the weapons in his hands, and then the sword and picked it up. "No!" he shouted and turned to face my uncle. "You will obey me now!" Garmadon began chuckling. Wind started to howl and the weapons were shaking in the skeleton's hands. He even looked scared. "Huh?" He made a huge mistake.
My father recovered and jumped back to be with his students. "No one can handle of their power at once." he stated.
The wind started howling louder with the weapons shaking faster in the scared skeleton's hands. "Selfish fool." said Garmadon. "Did you think I wouldn't plan on your betrayal?"
The weapons were losing control and Samukai couldn't throw the weapons from his grasp. "What's happening to me?" he asked, frightened.
Garmadon leaned against the throne with a cocky smile. "You fallen right into my master plan." he answered. His smile turned to an angry snarl look. "Not even I can handle all of their power." I raised an eyebrow, as well as the ninja did. "But now that they are combined, it'll create a vortex between space and time. Allowing me to finally escape this ghastly place." So that was his plan. Not just to steal the weapons, but use the king as a guinea pig to help him escape. Kuzca was right. One day he'll betray himself for power. I heard Samukai murmured an 'Uhoh' and screamed as he was lifted up and was converted into ash.
Samukai. The once King of the Underworld and murderer of my friend was vanquished.
The weapons clattered on the ground and my uncle moved to the center as an electrical blue vortex opened with lightning crackling and emitting. "Father would not want you to do this, Brother." Wu cried to his older brother.
Garmadon turned on his heels to face his younger brother. "Father is no longer here." he hissed. I shielded my eyes as the light was growing intense. "Good and evil. There's always been a balance. Where I go, the balance can be destroyed. Soon I will be strong enough to posses the weapons. So I can recreate the world into my image." He turned to face the portal, but stopped and pointed at my father. "You." he hissed coldly. "You were always his favorite." He turned back and entered. The portal closed after him and he was gone. My uncle escaped. I was now alone.
...
"And that's where I was after your father escaped, Lloyd." I finished up my story. "He escaped through a portal and traveled to the realm where those things that attacked us during the Solstice Battle. The Dark Realm." I pulled the paper stick from my mouth and placed my middle finger under it and bent it with my ring and index finger into two. I have two minature sai's now. "That's where he was able to grow his arms and find a shard for the Twilight Mirror." And his other arms. I'm still keeping those a secret. "Now you know."
"Oh I see." Lloyd acknowledge and sealed his bag of sweets closed. "So what did you do after he escaped and you were alone?"
"Basically anything." I stated. "I was seventeen and didn't know what to do. I left the Underworld to live on my own as I didn't have him to train me or I didn't want to be with the skeletons. So all winter I worked at the tea shop in Jamanakai Village and kept training to stay fit until he returned." I came to an idea and peeked out of the closet to see the others still asleep and turned to Lloyd. "Since the others are asleep, want to make breakfast before Cole does?" I asked in a whisper.
Lloyd smiled. "Can we make chocolate chip pancakes?"
I chuckled and smiled. I know he had a bunch of sweets, but I think everyone should have some. "Sure Shrimp." My cousin's smile grew wide and went to hide his candy. I stood up to stretch and looked at my journal and slipped it into the deep pockets of my sweatpants and waited by the door to the hall for my cousin. I heard the closet door being shut quietly and the soft pads of feet running on the floor and silence. I felt a surprise weight on my back and realized it was Lloyd for a piggyback ride to the kitchen. I allowed it as I care for my cousin and we both quietly left the room without disturbing the others. Time for breakfast.
Hoped you liked it. Like I said before, it kept switching on and off of Lucas in the past and present and I had to watch the Underworld fight and escape over and over to be the like the movie. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this week's update and see you all next weekend. :)