Alright, I want to get this done, I am three seasons behind in writing, and I will not stand for it much longer! I will catch up! Not by the time ns6 airs in the US, but I will get this done, because I have big plans! So, let's get on with the story. The date is Jan. 26, 2016. Let's see how long it takes me to write this.
"Space is a story that has not been read fully. It is a land filled with new possibilities and discoveries. While there may not be peace on earth, maybe one day, man will look to the skies and think that there is a whole new, unopened door, one maybe with peace and an entirely new start for all of humanki-"
"Hey, Apollo the Brit, do you want to stop monologuing, or do you want to start being useful?" Cole shouted at Rylan as he floated through the empty area they stowed away on. It was like being inside a robotic version of a tin can. Rylan smirked. "What's the matter, drifter? Mad you can't stay on the ground because you don't have magic?" Rylan called, walking around. He was the only one who wasn't floating. Cole crossed his arms and drifted away, muttering about how unfair Rylan's magic was.
Jay, however, was having the time of his life. "Is this the greatest thing ever, or what?" He called excitedly to the others while mock swimming in the air. "Where are you?" Kai called exasperatedly as he flailed his arms about, trying to find some balance in the low gravitational room. "We're trapped in space and you... where did you go?" He threw his arms out, nearly overthrowing what little balance he had maintained. "Guys, we're in space! I thought this is stuff only Fritz Donnegan gets to enjoy!" He started a small dance, the spacewalk, he dubbed it. "Uh, Fritz Donnegan is from a comic book, dude! This is real!" Lloyd called, and seemed to be having more trouble than the rest of them. "Well, you got me hooked on the character! Would you lighten up and not step on my dreams of being a real Starfarer just yet?" Jay whined, crossing his arms.
"We have to find a way to take control of the ship," Lloyd called out, trying to gain any balance. "If they get the Golden Weapons back to the Overlord, Ninjago doesn't stand much of a chance!" The green ninja's warning turned to yelling as Kai crashed into him, knocking off his balance. "But there's no access to the rest of the ship," Kai reminded them, rubbing his head. "The only way out is through the same airlock we came in," he said. "And if my memory serves correct, space has a way of taking one's breath away, in the negative sense," Zane added.
"I volunteer Rylan to go first!" Cole called. "Oh, I'd be able to survive with my magic, but I doubt that if you follow me, you'd be able to do the same," Rylan said, walking over and pushing Cole abruptly, throwing off the black ninja's balance greatly. "Whoa! Hey!" Cole shouted, throwing his arms around in a desperate attempt to undo Rylan's damage.
Zane drifted to the front of the compartment where the computer was located to check for any updates on the nindroid's status. "Enjoy it while you can, Jay," He called. "Because in five minutes, the entire ship is scheduled to lighten up," he informed them gravely. Rylan walked over to him, shoving the ninja out of his way as gently as he could, and avoiding being kicked in the head while at it."The supplemental boosters are set to detach," Zane informed them. Not one ninja knew what he was saying, but judging by his tone, it wasn't good.
"Uh, I'm a ninja, not an astronaut. What does that mean?" Kai asked. "The portion of the ship we are currently stationed will soon detach and we will be abandoned in space with it," Zane said, starting to type furiously. Rylan frowned at the screen. "I'd never thought I'd say this, but I wish my brother was here. He is a tech wiz, and he would know how to prevent that," he said.
Suddenly, the image on the screen began to flicker and shift between images of Sensei's Wu and Garmadon, Pixal, Nya, and Alexus. "Hello?" Nya called, "Kai? Anyone? Can you read me?" she spoke into her headset's microphone.
They were gathered at Borge Industries, waiting anxiously for anyone to respond. "We read you loud and clear," Kai called on the other side of the screen. The room burst with cries of relief and yells of "They're alive!" Alexus ruined it with an triumphant "In your face, Artimus!"
"Good to hear you boys," Sensei Wu said. "We're going to help you get home safe. Pixal was able to find the blueprints for the rocket," he informed them. They pulled it up onto the ninja's screen. "You need to escape the cargo hold before it's too late. Near the front of the ship is an A2 storage compartment. Inside are emergency spacesuits."
"That will be a doozy," Cole muttered. "We can't get the spacesuits unless we go outside," He gestured, accidentally smacking Lloyd in the face and sending his drifting uncontrollably away. "The problem is, we can't go outside without the spacesuits. Any other suggestions?" he asked the others.
Sensei Garmadon blocked his mic. "They are completely out of their element," he hissed to his brother. "Even if they get through this, what chance do we have of getting them home?"
"Uh, we can still hear you," Kai informed them bluntly. Alexus snorted, earning her a smack upside the head from Nya. "We could really encouraging words right about now," Lloyd injected.
The two teachers looked at each other while Alexus was wheezing into her hand. Finally, Sensei Wu said, "If you can not change your circumstances, change yourself."
"Hmm... can anyone else figure that one out?" Kai asked, looking to his team members and Rylan. "His wisdom usually takes a while to set in," Jay started, "but we don't have a while!" he shouted at the screen. "Zane," Pixal pushed past them. "You're the only one who can survive outside the ship."
"She's right," he muttered. "I'm the only one who doesn't need oxygen, I must go alone," his voice was low and his stare was distant, undoubtedly making mental calculations about the probability of his success. Meanwhile, Alexus was wondering where this sudden dramatic side of him came from. Her thoughts quickly switched to if Rylan could magic up some spell so he wouldn't need oxygen either, but quickly abandoned the thought in favor of Hamilton lyrics that had been pressing on her mind.
Zane turned away from the computer and glided to the exit. He sealed the door shut and got ready. "Go get 'em, Zane!" Kai pumped his fist encouragingly. Zane braced himself and opened the door to the outside. Immediately, the mass vacuum of space sucked in out, giving him the sensation of something familiar to that of being sucked through a straw. He was nearly thrown out of the rocket because of the sudden wind rush and into the vast expanse of the endless, dark space as he lost his coordination in the air. Quickly, he grabbed a tether attached to the rocket and held on for all that he was worth. Once the air rush had eased up, he pulled himself up and closer to the rocket. He grabbed a handle bar next to the door and moved himself so he was gliding around the front of the ship.
Meanwhile, the nindroid in the control center of the rocket had their sights on the comet as she flew ever closer. "Approaching comet," General Kryptor informed his subordinates. "Prepare to disengage supplemental boosters."
Zane peaked up and into the control room, but right as Kryptor turned back, he lost his grip in an attempt to hide himself. He yelled as he was soaring without control away from the rocket ship once again. He grunted as he desperately flailed his arms to hopefully catch something in his grip to hold onto and steady himself, but it was no avail, the timing was off, he was too far away...
Much too far as he had flown too far from the rocket so he was nowhere near it anymore. The wiring of gears echoed in his artificial ears and head, his breathing had become heavy and senses became clouded as he panicked. He tried to recollect his senses. "Come on, Zane," he whispered to himself, "You can do this. You can get back." His voice broke at the last word as emotion flooded through him. He had to get back, his team depended on him. It was all up to him, and he couldn't let a bad grip be the end of him. He closed his eyes and his brows knitted in concentration. He quickly ran various scenarios of different techniques to use for a successful way back. Eventually, it all led down to the one perfect scenario. He opened his eyes and shot crystal shards of ice from his hands, effectively, the force of motion in a little motion environment gave him the control he needed to soar back to the rocket, everything now perfectly controlled to his will.
He was back and exactly where he needed to be in seconds. He gripped the edge of a wing, gasping as the wiring wasn't so loud anymore as he calmed down. But he still wasn't done. He quickly drifted to the door of the spare suits. It had a combination lock, but it was no match for his quick hacking skills.
The other ninja and Rylan watched the clock countdown with anxiety eating up at them. "Come on, Zane, where are you?" Lloyd whispered as the clock reached 20 seconds and counting. They continued watching the clock with desperation, down on earth, the feeling was mutual.
"Booster separation on my command," Kryptor's voice came over the intercom before he started counting down from five. Alexus's hand started trembling from her suppressed anxiety attacks. She grabbed it, holding it still before anyone could notice.
"Disengage."
On earth, the air was growing heavier with anticipation, staring at the com. "We made it!" Lloyd's voice suddenly rang, breaking the tensions. They interrupted into cheering, filled with the relief that oxygen was one less problem the ninja had to worry about. "We have our spacesuits and found one way to change ourselves," he informed them. Alexus's hand stopped trembling as hard as it was before.
On the rocket, the ninja and Rylan were holding onto a wing. "At least now we can stay on this ride a bit longer."
Now that the air of success had waned, Nya stepped up. "Alright, to commandeer the ship, you have to get to the cockpit," she started. "You'll find an access hatch just ahead of you." Alexus was wondering whose genius idea is was to have a hatch on a rocket so conveniently located, but she figured it might have been a school bus situation.
"You know what's also ahead?" Cole's voice broke through the com, agitation ringing through it. "A desolate void of nothingness! If anyone one of us falls off..." he trailed off, not wanting to complete the thought.
"What a pathetic group of scared monkeys!" Mission control heard a voice behind them that shouldn't have been familiar. Artimus was in the corner of the room, leaning back in a chair with wheels, his arms folded behind his head while he watched them, smirking.
Alexus groaned, loudly, just to get her point across. "Is that my brother?" Rylan's voice cut through, sharply. Artimus pushed himself off the wall and wheeled over to the control panel, taking Alexus's headphones off her head. "Relax, dear brother, I'm merely partaking to viewing your failure... again."
"We are not going to fail!" Kai's agitated voice rang. "And we'll take it slow. Together," he gave Cole and the rest of his team a reassuring nod. However, the second the words left his lips, the thrusters on the rocket fired, sending them in a panicked state while they clinged to the wings with a renewed desperation as the rocket soared faster through the darkness.
However, it was only short-lived and the ending was met with a bunch of groans. "I can't wait to see the expressions on the faces of those metal chrome domes when they find out we've stowed away on board!" Jay jeered as they began climbing and drifting towards the hatch. "They're Nindroids, nimrod, they don't have expressions," Cole quickly burst his bubble. He was agitated with the fact that Rylan was just simply walking along the ship, albeit unbalanced like he just spun around in place a dozen times.
"Oh yeah?" Jay turned, his voice full of challenge. "Well, Zane has expressions."
"Zane's not like them," Kai interjected. "Do we really have to go over this right now?" Jay groaned again. "It's just so quiet. I'm only trying to fill the space. Get it?" he started laughing at his own joke, much to the annoyment of mission control, Artimus turned the headphones back to Alexus before rubbing his temples.
The boys continued climbing, but quickly were faced with the sinister robots appearing out of the hatch they were climbing to. "So much for our surprise attack!" Cole warned, being the furthest up, "Look out!"
They ducked as a sudden onslaught of nindroids with laser blasters fired at them. Jay pushed himself forward to grab onto an antennae just as a nindroid launched itself into the air with boosters on its feet but clinging to the massive rocket with a magnetic attachment.
It aimed its pistol, being only feet away from Jay, who simply pulled back the antennae and released, so it made the droid lose it's balance, sending it drifting aimlessly and helplessly in space while he gained his footing while grabbing the pistol.
His teammates cheered him on as he jumped to the side, firing his new weapon and grabbing hold of a rung. "Not Jay, Fritz Donnegan!" he declared. "Fear isn't a word where I come from!" Alexus, who had been listening in, tried to force the headphones to Artimus, who furiously declined.
"Oh man," Lloyd groaned, "I'm sorry for introducing him to that."
"Don't be!" Kai brushed him off, inspiration striking him. "If we can't change our circumstances, that's one way to change yourself." The ninja pushed themselves up from their cover spot and gaining their footing. Kai tried to ignite his fire, but found himself incapable of doing that, seeing as fire needed oxygen. Lloyd covered him by utilizing his powers into a protective sphere around him as they began to push forward.
Cole ripped off a hunk of metal and threw it to the line of enemies, with a wishful, "Hope we didn't need that." Zane send his ice through the air, freezing two droids and detaching them from the rocket.
As they continued pressing, a droid jumped forward to Cole. Reflexively, he began to twist into his spinjitzu, only to be stopped short as he suddenly lost his balance from his feet not being anchored to the surface and was sent drifting, twirling aimlessly through the vast space. "Guys! A little help, please?" he called.
Alexus yanked the headphones from Artimus and tuned in, a pit forming in her stomach.
"We can't use our spinjitzu in zero gravity," Zane called. "There's too little resistance."
"Too little?" Lloyd exclaimed, the force on his power making a bead of sweat break from his temple. "I'd say that the resistance is a bit more than we can handle at the moment."
Jay walked over to a nindroid and literally knocked on his head, sending him turning in the air. "Haven't you heard, Scurge? No free rides." With that, he send a high kick to the tin, sending it flying further into the dark, but also realizing Cole's situation, who was drifting further with every passing second.
"Jay! Don't let Cole get away!" Kai called. Fearing that Jay would lose his momentum if he broke character, as a desperate after though, he called, "Fritz! Save him!"
"I'm on it, Commander Kiflin!" Jay informed. "More like Major Armstrong," Alexus muttered, her bad habit of making jokes in desperate times coming in.
Jay launched himself forward, flipping through the air over a nindroid before kicking his back and turning forward to face the next one. He quickly pulled a rubber pipe loose and used the air surging from it to blast the nindroid off it's feet. "I just blew you away," he laughed once more at his own witty remark.
Meanwhile, Cole was nearly at the end of the rocket, and going further as the thrusters picked up again. "Help!" he called, breathing heavily as he clawed at empty air, the twisting motions upsetting his senses. Jay looked at Cole, projecting his path of flight before looking at the rocket and finding a tether for probably use on outside repairs at his feet. He slide the mini hatch away and grabbed one end before hooking it to his suit. "Fritz Donnegan to the rescue!" he called before jumping and launching himself off the side of the rocket, towards where Cole was in threat of becoming nothing more than one of the many white dots lined across the sky.
Jay held his arms at the side, quickening his soars. Once he was close enough, he reached out and grabbed his partner by the ankles. "Gotcha!" he announced, making mission control relax slightly. "Next time, don't get carried away."
Zane and Kai make quick work at pulling the tether back to the rocket while Rylan covered them, putting up a transparent shield. No one noticed how much sweat had broken along his forehead and was quickly soaking his shirt. No sorcerer had ever gone to space, and he was using a protective barrier typically meant for deep sea diving, stabilizing the pressure around the wearer for walking across the ocean floor, if they choose. He wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to hold out, the mental strain of conjuring such a strong spell, on short notice and for someone who rarely practiced it, was going to start taking it's toll soon.
Finally, the rocket was close enough for them to enter the comet's small atmosphere. It veered to the right, sending them straight for the tail, and a bunch of debris, rocks the size of large potatoes rushing at them at high speeds, and yet, they pushed on. "You are almost to the cockpit," Sensei Wu's voice flickered through the coms, but it was garbled and hard to make out. "Just make sure to continue your course and focus on the task ahead."
"Sensei? I'm getting interference, I can't hear you!" Kai called, ducking with the group, trying to better the communication.
If the old man replied, he didn't hear it because a boulder, the size of a smart car soared past them, nearly taking Kai's head with it. "Asteroids," Zane whispered as more rushed at them, increasing in size as the rocket continued getting closer, just as Lloyd lost control and his shield disappeared.
"Find cover!" Kai shouted, and they all ducked at their makeshift dugout. It didn't last long, for in the next second, an asteroid took it out, probably would have crushed the ninja if they were a second slower. "Cover, what cover?" Cole shouted indignantly, pointing to the metal that was soaring away.
Some nindroids in their ever calculating coolness, began to retreat, down to the hatch and sealing it shut, leaving many of their own to fend for themselves, even clinging to each other. It didn't help, as a single asteroid took out three in one go, another taking out a fourth in the next second.
Back onto earth, mission control was calmly panicking. "They can't hear us because of the asteroid shower," Sensei Wu informed the others. "They must be preparing to land," Pixel added. "We have to warn them about what else is on that comet," Garmadon looked at his brother, both of them sharing a knowing look of memories left behind. "What's on that comet?" Alexus asked, trying to untangle her earbuds.
Before she could answer, Nya awkwardly cut in. "Yeah, uh... We're not alone either," she was looking at a computer with the front door security on screen. Alexus sat up in her seat. "What do you mean we're not alone?" she asked, the panic growing in her voice as she walked over and looked over her mentor's shoulder.
An organized brigade of nindroids were climbing up the steps of the building as they watched. They quickly turned their attention to the other screen, with the front entrance of the building showing. A large explosion, dulled by the surprisingly low quality screen, sent the glass shrapnel remains of the door scattering everywhere with dust rising and nearly blocking their view. It was gone quickly, and revealed Pythor leading the nindroids and the weaponized Cyrus Borge through the lobby.
They backed away and looked around the room. "We must go," Sensei Wu informed the group. "But we have to warn them!" his brother argued, before they turned to face each other. "We can't just leave them without telling them what else is out there!"
"What is out there?" Alexus cried. "Grab everything you can!" Sensei gestured around the room. She groaned before pocketing her cards, earbuds, and phone before looking around. Artimus had disappeared. "That freaking jerk!" she cried while Nya shoved a monitor into her arms. "No time, you already knew he was a snake!" the older girl berated her apprentice before looking around.
"This way!" she pointed to the break in the glass window. "Slow your roll, Matt Murdock!" Alexus cried before Nya started shoving her over.
On the rocket, they were so close to the comet that if Kai reached out, he could have touched it with his hand, but they still hadn't slowed any. "Looks like we're coming in hot!" Suddenly, Lloyd's grip slipped and he was set flying, just like the debris, but the ninja were quicker.
They quickly formed a human train, grabbed each other's hands and stretching before Jay grabbed Lloyd's wrist firmly. "HOLD ON!" Rylan shouted, desperately torn between holding Kai's hand with his right and Zane's with his left while keeping his mental state stable enough to manage the spell that was keeping him from not freezing to death or suffocating. He looked at the rocket was seemingly taking a nose dive onto the solid rock surface of the comet, and he closed his eyes before the moment of impact.
They were kept waiting a bit, and the ship seemed more jostling and he opened his eyes. They had entered the atmosphere in one piece, but were currently weaving and dodging throughout the stony arches that lined along the course. The rocket moved surprisingly quick and easy for it's huge size, never skimming the rocks.
On the top floor of Borge Industries's main building, the elevator dinged, and Pythor slithered out, looking around the room. "Ha, the cowards have fled," he scoffed once he saw no one was in there, warm blooded or otherwise. The other elevator dinged, and Borge, and the nindroids carrying a large cylinder container stepped out. "But Arcturus has landed," the Overlord in the container rasped. "Prepare the factory."
The nindroids, Borge, and Pythor stepped back as the container hissed, the locks decompressing and opening the doors, letting out a purple fog and the Overlord.
The Dark Lord was nothing but a pitch black entity with glowing red eyes, looking much like a demon shadow had solidified. "The Golden Master will rise on their return!" he declared, throwing his arms out.
Unbeknownst to them, however, just under the window sill, on the window washer platform, the team of five was listening in on their plot.
"He's vulnerable. We must fight him now," Garmadon whispered to them. Alexus handed the computer monitor to Nya and slowly slid out her silver blade. "No. Not until we get the Ninja home safe," Wu countered, and Alexus, admittedly relieved, slid her sword back into the hilt and took the monitor back. "We must get back in contact, we need to find somewhere we can't be found," the old man continued. "I know just the place," Garmadon muttered.
Suddenly, the platform started shaking, and they looked up, only to discover that Borge had found them, and was using his laser vision to cut at the steel cords that held them steady. "They found us!" Nya cried. Alexus quickly handed the monitor back, and they made the mistake of looking over the edge. "I'm not Sherlocking this crap," Alexus muttered as she pulled out her sword and steeling her nerves.
"Don't lose those computer components! We need them all!" Nya called to the others while Alexus shuffled past them to the cord that wasn't being hacked at, just as the other broke. She quickly grabbed the ledge and reached for Pixal's hand, only for it to slide out of her grip and send her falling onto the other ledge, a piece of equipment bouncing off of her and nearly off the ledge if not for her calculating reflexes.
They were swinging from the momentum of the drop, and Alexus struggled to hoist herself up. "Hurry, use our momentum. Together!" Sensei Wu ordered, having spot a ledge nearby. They began to push themselves forward as Borge began cutting the other cord, snapping it as they swung at the ledge.
"Now!" Sensei called, and the four of them jumped. Alexus, having made it onto the top, jumped before grabbing onto the last remaining cord and holding tight. Sensei Wu being the furthest, threw a piece of equipment as he didn't make it to the ledge. Sensei Garmadon threw himself at the edge, grabbing onto his brother's hands and struggling to pull him up. "I've got you, brother," he grunted.
The other nindroids caught onto the commotion and starting firing their lasers at them. They gathered, Nya pulling out her steel fan to deflect the blasts. "Great! Now we'll never get out of here!" she called. "Leave that to me," Pixal reassured her, closing her eyes and holding two fingers to her temple.
Nya kept her covered, but a blast rebounded and nearly shot the combat boot off of Alexus's foot. "Oi! Watch it!" she shouted, clinging to the cord, hoping that the sweat on her hands wouldn't be her demise. With her shouting, though, she alerted the enemies to her own, even more vulnerable position. "Pull her up!" Pythor commanded.
"Over my dead body!" Alexus called, pulling her deck of cards out of her pocket. Using her teeth, she snapped the rubber band off of her cards and put them back in the pocket. Curling her legs tighter and shifting all power to her left arm, she reached into the pocket with her right arm and flung a card at the overgrown snake, nailing him in the eye and probably scratching his cornea, if snakes had corneas. She didn't dwell on it too long and flung another card at the nindroid who had grabbed hold of the cord and was pulling her up. It hit it's optic lenses, but the plastic of the card was too flimsy to do real damage.
Alexus groaned before snatching the cards that fluttered down and stuffing them back into her pocket before sliding down the cord further. "Hurry!" Nya urged Pixal, trying to project the blasts at the nindroids that were hoisting the cord up. Once Alexus had ran out of sliding room, she pulled out her sword and held it above her head. "Alexus, stop!" Wu shouted. "Hey, it's either this or a worse fate, and I like choosing." She started hacking at the rope, despite the calls of the others, until the sword was snatched out of her hand.
"Idiot, if you need help, just call next time," Artimus was examining her sword while clinging to the sill next to her, one handed and two feet planted firmly in a pose that resembled Spider Man. He slid the sword in a hilt around his waist before holding a hand out to her. "I'm going to kill you if you keep taunting me like this. Aren't you supposed to be a villain?" Alexus rolled her eyes but accepting his hand. He hoisted her onto his back. "I prefer the term 'morally grey,'" he countered before they disappeared and reappearing at the platform with the rest of the group a second later. "I do what suits my best interests and right now, keeping you alive is one of them," he explained further, adjusting his slightly disheveled shirt.
"Get them, you imbeciles!" Pythor shouted. They backed up as they heard the whirring sound of a helicopter approaching. Behind them, a areal craft shot it's own defense system laser at the nindroids, making them back away. "Good thinking!" Nya complimented. "You're still linked to the security forces?" Artimus asked. "Let's get out of here!" Alexus pushed past him and jumped into the craft after Nya.
Garmadon almost closed the door, but Artimus hopped in. "She's too reckless to leave without superior supervision," he pointed at Alexus. "Besides, I'm an technological genius, if you need insentive to not push me out."
Before Alexus could protest, Nya clamped her hand over her mouth. "We need all the help we can get. Floor it!" Artimus shut the hatch and they sped off through the sky. "I hope the city can survive without us," Garmadon muttered, now that the tensions were quieting down. "So the ninja, I pray," Wu inputted.
Rylan opened his eyes and examined his surroundings. He was sprawled on his back, the ninja not too far from him. His head was thudding, but he still kept up his barrier, surprisingly. He saw up, seeing that the others were coming to and looked around.
The comet, he realized, was dark. There were jagged stone spikes jutting out as far as the eye could see, resembling a forest, which would make the area he was in the clearing. The sky was filled with stars, untainted by city pollution, with waves of blue lights dancing across the atmosphere. It was almost magical in the charm, and he knew was that would look like.
"Ugh, we survived!" Jay exclaimed before bending to his knees and attempting to kiss the ground out of relief. They gathered together to further access the next step. "Nya, are you there?" Lloyd asked into his com. "Dad? Wu? Anyone?"
No response, not even static. "Maybe the others didn't make it," Kai suggested before walking forward to look at the crash site of the rocket. They walked inside, but the lights were dark as they wondered the halls. They entered the cockpit and found it just as void as the rest of the ship. "They're all gone," Zane remarked. "They must have already left for the weapons," Cole offered as they wondered around. "Quick, let's take the ship before they get back!" Jay rushed to the front, only to groan in frustration.
"Agh, they took the launch key!" he complained. "Are you telling me this entire ship starts up with a simple little key?" Kai threw his hands up in exasperation. That was possibly the dumbest fail switch he had heard of, but it was really effective at the moment. "Come on, tell me one of you knows how to hot wire this thing?" Cole pushed his way next to Jay.
Rylan stumbled to the control panel next to Jay. "I-I can t-try hacking it," he offered, but his voice trembling from the vertigo that had suddenly washed over him potrayed the strain. "Hey, are you okay, buddy? You look really pale," Jay reached over to his shoulder tentatively. "I-I'm fine, just the mental strain of this spell that's keeping me alive kinda took a toll on the crash. Now, I'm not the tech expert like my morally ambiguous brother, but..." he pressed his hand to the switch and closed his eyes.
He almost threw up on the panel then and there from the sudden flash of heat that washed over him, making him sweat all over and his vision became spotted, turning white, making him loose control of his limps. It was like his mind was separated from his entire being, but only for a few seconds, because a sudden thud to his head made him open his eyes. He had fallen on the ground, hitting his head on the panel on his way down.
Jay and Cole grabbed his arms and led him down to the ground on his back gently. Zane walked over and pressed his hand onto his forehead. "You are developing a fever," he muttered. "I'm fine," Rylan insisted, trying to push himself up, but Cole pushed him back down. "No more magic, not until you're feeling better, at least."
"Cole, I'm shocked. I thought you would like to eliminate the competition for Alexus's hand," Rylan joked. "Don't tempt me, Apollo," Cole smirked.
"Hey guys!" Lloyd's voice cut in from the entryway. "Come and see this!" Zane and Jay hoisted Rylan up and draped his arms over their shoulders and dragged him out the door, following Kai, Cole, and Lloyd down the hall.
They rushed through a door and onto a catwalk, leading into a large hangar. "They took lunar rovers," Lloyd pointed at the only one in the dock. "Looks like they left tracks to follow."
They loaded up, six men in a two-seater vehicle before speeding off. Needless to say, it was crowded.
"Move your gas tank, I can't see!" Jay complained. "Your blaster is in my rib," Kai groaned. "That's not a blaster, that's my leg!" Jay tried adjusting his position. "Zane, you're squeezing my arm," Cole called out. "I thought that was the accelerator," Zane stuttered sheepishly, relaxing his grip. "I think I'm going to throw up," Rylan moaned, clutching his stomach. "Not on me, please. Aim for Kai," Lloyd nudged Rylan's head away from his back. "HEY!"
It didn't get any more comfortable after that, especially when they went over a particularly rough hill, jostling the ride even more. Still, they continued on, following the path until they came upon an entrance to a cave, a golden glow radiating from the mouth. "This must be where the Golden Weapons landed."
They parked before getting too close and climbed out. "Stay here, be our escape," Lloyd told Rylan, who was stretching his legs out. "Got it. Keep low." They crept inside and just followed the glow as it got brighter until they were in the outskirts of a cavern, with plenty of pointy rocks to hide behind.
They crouched behind one, getting as close as they dared and watched the nindroids with their minor mining equipment. "There's the weapons," Cole whispered, pointing at the small crater in the center, molten gold protruding from it. The source of the glow and surrounded by the nindroids, leaving them no chance to get close if they even wanted to.
Kai pointed to a faraway nindroid with something shiny dangling from it's neck. "There's the key," he whispered. They watched as a nindroid reached out for the gold, despite the desperate warnings of their commander. The second it's artifical hand touched it, it began to spark haywire, before ultimately just turning into a mini explosion of sparks and a hazard warning, causing the other nindroids to backup in fear of that happening to them as well.
"Only the Overlord can withstand the power of all the weapons combined," the nindroid commander, Kryptor, warned. "No one directly touches it."
"Those are the Golden Weapons, all right," Jay muttered. Zane was analyzing the scene until he felt something crawl onto his hand that was resting on the rock. He relaxed his gaze and lifted his hand. "Hello there, little friend," he greeted warmly to the beetle-like creature with acid green, glowing wings drawing the other ninja's attention.
"Oh, would you look at that?" Jay gushed before taking it from Zane. "Can you believe it? It's an extraterrestrial life form!"
"It's a bug, and it's not what's important right now," Cole scolded, but admittedly, the squirming of the insect reminded him of Alexus's fear of all things with 6+ legs. "Oh, there's so much we could learn from it!" Jay explored, letting it climb onto his arm and up onto his shoulder. "So much we could teach it! I'm gonna call him Glowy." Suddenly, the bug took off, flying in a beetle-like way. "Oh look, Glowy and fly. How cute," he beamed, almost feeling proud as it landed on his helmet.
A flickering static noise interrupted them, as Sensei Wu's voice came over the communicators, but it was just a jumbled mess. "I couldn't make that out, Sensei," Kai responded, "What did you say?"
On Earth, in the monestary that Garmadon had established after the final battle, mission control, Artimus, and Misako had a make-shift transmitter set up. "The alien life. They're dangerous," Sensei Wu called monitoring the screen. Nya was checking the power supply while Alexus was holding an antennae up, balancing on Artimus's broad shoulders in an effort to get a better signal.
Nya pulled out a book, in order to try and better inform the ninja. "A few years ago, scientists studied a meteorite that had fallen to Ninjago. It most likely came from the same comet you're on. Inside the meteorite, there were fossilized remains of some kind of parasite that feeds on metal alloys."
On the comet, however, they were duly listening to her history lesson as a swarm of the beetles had surrounded and crawled all over Jay and Zane, flying around them as well. "They tickle," Zane chuckled, along with Jay. "Stop it, silly Glowy," he chided, much like an over-affectionate pet. It wasn't until a beetle bit into Zane's face that they started to realize what was wrong.
"Do you hear me?" Nya shouted over the com, finally something they were able to pick up on. "Whatever you do, don't come in contact with the parasites. They eat through metal!" Kai's eyes widened with realization.
"Ooooh, so that's what you needed to warn them about," Alexus muttered, reaching out with the antennae, keeping her balance.
Zane suddenly gave a shout of pain. "They're eating through my exoskeleton!" he called. "Bad Glowy, bad!" Jay exclaimed as they all started swatting at the endless swarm of parasites.
"Ruddy idiots," Artimus muttered as he listened to their panicked screams.
The noises they were making, however, were unfiltered and loud, alerting the nindroids to their presence. They watched for a minute as the ninja ran like chickens with their heads cut off, then were alerted to a couple careless bugs that wandered into the golden weapons only to disappear into smoke a second later.
"The gold must remain intact. Back to the ship!" Kryptor called.
The nindroids hurriedly loaded onto their rovers before pulling the golden weapons out of the crater and onto the back of a vehicle. Uniformally, they sped out of the cavern, leaving the ninja to their problems.
"What do we do? Any ideas, guys?" Zane called. All that Cole had to offer was an indignified, "Space. Why did we come to space? If I could change any circumstance, I'd change ever coming to here in the first place!"
"If you can't change your circumstances, change your mind," Lloyd reminded them. "Now's not the time to be quoting Wu," Jay brushed off. "No! I finally see what he means! This is just like the Starteeth! Come on, I've got an idea." He started running, leading the others away quickly.
They loaded onto the rover, with Rylan at the ready. He wasn't better, but he wasn't worse. They were quickly speeding off after the nindroids for the ultimate space race. The nindroids, on their vehicles, pulled out their blasters and fired at them, with Rylan dodging and weaving any critical hits while still managing to catch up.
"Sensei meant instead of focusing on how wrong things are, focus on what's right!" Lloyd called. "We have to think positive. Those parasites aren't just a menace, they're a weapon!" They watched as the bugs flew past them and to the closest rover, swarming the forces on there, distorting the enemy's vision, distracting the shooters.
The distortion of the driver caused them to veer too far to the left, causing them to spin out and veer into a face of the rock wall on one side, the root uplifting the tire and causing them to flip. Their partner didn't fair much better. They lasted longer, but when the driver lost control of the wheel and drive headfirst off the cliff of the trail, it was over for them.
Coming up was a break in the road, but the rock uplifted enough for a small jump. The Nindroid in lead sped up, and did a barrel roll in the air, losing all their men, and the attatchment that was housing the golden weapons, but not the golden weapons itself, while managing to land on it's tires.
The next three had similar results, but one crashing onto the edge of the cliff. The ninja were quickly approaching, not slowing down, but not confident either. They barrel rolled, but landed on their tires after a heart drop of uncertainty.
"Let's go get that launch key!" Kai declared while Zane opened the windshield. Rylan stayed driving while Jay, Cole, Zane, and Kai spinjitzu-d their way onto the closest rover, immediately engaging into combat with the armed forces there.
Zane kicked a droid off the vehicle, sending it almost onto the one Rylan was manning, but Lloyd kicked it further away. Cole even managed to hijack it, throwing the nindroid out of the driver's side, before they spun back onto their vehicle, leaving the empty one to drive off the edge before they moved to the next.
Kai threw the driver out, the only one there before jumping back before it exploded while Zane started on the 2nd to last one. There was a jump on the road, sending him and the other droid into the air, where Zane punch, kicked, and uppercutted his foe before slamming his feet onto him. He froze the gears of the 2nd last vehicle, making it spin out before using the droid as a protective footing on the golden weapons before he had to grab onto the net, inches away from death before he let go, falling back onto their vehicle.
Kai spun onto the last vehicle, knocking a nindroid out of the way and standing in front of the windshield.
"You can keep your gold," he assured the droid before swinging in, knocking it in the head and grabbing the key. "I got it! Let's get out of here!" He called, pulling himself out of the driver's side and onto the roof, where he was able to jump back onto their vehicle, which had caught up.
The last vehicle crashed into the wall, flipping onto it's top and sending the last nindroid out of the windshield. They laughed as they passed, waving before disappearing around the bend.
Rylan drove them back to the rocket, their victory sweetening the air and he felt only the slightest bit better. "We would make excellent pirates!" Jay called. "Ninja pirates, yeah that makes sense!" Rylan jeered, earning much laughter. However, they skidded to a stop once they approached the rocket, the good mood disappearing instantly.
A swarm of those parasites had eaten away most of the outer shell and more than likely the inner shell as well. "It's destroyed!" Lloyd's hallowed tone called out. "How are we gonna get home?" Jay asked the question none of them had the answer to.
"You're not the only ones who can adapt!" a coarse voice called behind them. They turned and saw the nindroids, with the golden weapons and net, standing proudly. Suddenly, the mini boosters on their feet ignited, sending them into the air. "So long, ninja!" Kryptor called out as they ascended into the sky, taking the golden weapons with them and disappearing into the vastness above them.
Kai, with a heavy heart, contacted mission control. "They got away. We failed," he informed them. "I repeat, they got the Golden Weapons."
"Are you on the rocket?" Nya asked, worried, the prospect of her brother dying far from home quickly filling her mind. "Can you stop them?"
"No. The ship is destroyed," Kai informed her, his heart heavy with the idea of his sister dying alone, from grief or the Overlord, he wasn't sure which was worse. He gritted his teeth and swallowed. "We're not coming home."
Artimus dropped Alexus off his shoulders and approached the controls. "No! Rylan is a Siller, he can teleport you home!" he shouted, his expression breaking, for once, not a stoic blank canvas, but of pure rage portrayed by his scrunched eyebrows and gritted teeth. Nya recognized the hurt and fear in his eyes, figuring that's what must have been in her own.
"I swear by any listening supreme being, Rylan Siller, if you die on an asteroid, I will tear your girlfriend apart," he growled, his voice low. Before they could properly register his threat, Artimus snapped his fingers and Alexus disappeared from the room. He stood tall as Nya held her knife to his throat. "Bring her back, now!" She shouted, pushing him against the wall. "Not until I get my little brother back." He retaliated before snapping his fingers again and disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.