A/N) Ok so this is where it gets big! I hope ya'll have fun with it!
Enjoy!
It's as best as I could make it on short notice! Almost there guys, hang on!
It snarled and hissed. Teeth baring and gnashing, drool and blood dripped from its fangs. Cole nearly lost a hand, a foot, AND his head.
If it hadn't been for Zane freezing the monster he would have been dead meat. Now they were all in a small clearing, resting, recovering from the fright. Cole had passed out a while back, they were grateful for the pause. Unfortunately when their leader did come to, it wasn't very easy to tell him they'd been there for an entire day.
"Cole, you need to rest!" Nya yelled trying to restrain the bandaged young man.
Cole wrenched away from her, "Forget it guys!"
"Cole calm down our you'll start bleeding again."
"No, we've lost to much time!"
"It'll be ok Cole."
"NO!"
The word exploded from the dark ninja.
All were stuck silent. Nobody moved as the stared in shock at the usually mellow leader glaring at them.
"You guys don't get it! We promised she'd be ok, we promised she had us no matter what we-." He looked really pained right at that moment, "I promised." With that he ignored his stinging wounds and headed towards the mark on the map.
The silence was so thick Lloyd swore he could see it.
"Come on guys." Kai sighed, "Lets get there before he does something else stupid."
Nya shuddered, "This just came from my brother. Oh boy, now I really feel guilty."
Jay chuckled despite their serious situation.
Zane took a quick glance at the sky. The moon was rising dark already. He gulped, breaking out of his calm demeanor, they were running out of time.
The elderly woman sat there stiff, and silent. Thinking, brooding, studying. She was near exasperated hopelessness.
She stared at the same scroll, over and over again. Why was it that it seemed like the answer was right in front of her but she couldn't see it. It was like it was just itching to jump out at her, but why wouldn't it?
Misako?" Garmadon entered the quiet room breaking his wife's intense concentration.
She looked up with a faint smile taking off her spectacles, rubbing her eyes tiredly, "Yes?"
"Here, I believe you haven't eaten in three days." He handed her a steaming cup of herbal tea.
She smiled wider and took the hot cup gratefully, "Thank you." She sipped daintily, "Ugh, I just can't find the answer Garmadon, it's as if it's right there but..." She looked at her scrolls, distraught.
Garmadon kneeled next to her desk and peered at her work. He stared for a minute and felt slightly light headed.
"I'm sorry Misako, this sort of thing isn't really what I'm good at. Have you found anything on the born of the same ashes yet?"
Misako's eyes widened, she felt dizzy, like something hit her head, hard... "Wait, you said ashes..." She spoke slowly, something was coming up, she could feel it.
Quickly she put her spectacles back on, "That mark, powers from an unknown source... Ashlyn." Misako grabbed her scrolls and unrolled them, her heart pounding in her ears, "Look! Here, it makes sense now, born of the same ashes with this mark shall come a power greater then the chosen dark king."
"I don't follow my dear?" Garmadon was surprised at her sudden vivid color.
"Ashlyn, that mark I saw." Misako looked at him sternly, "You saw it, so has Wu. I didn't tell you that I have as well, but I have. She kept it well hidden, Ashlyn is the power greater then Dyron, she... Was born of the same ashes as him. She is-"
Garmadons eyes widened as he suddenly caught on. " The dark kings-"
"Sister!" Ashlyn pulled back horrified, refusing to believe this monsters words.
"But unfortunately it's true my slave." Dyron sneered obviously not happy about that fact either, "You are born from the same ashes as me. We are decedents of the cursed hero and the dark queen."
She felt sicker then before, "Then why... torture me and oppress me into nothing?" She whispered, nearly gone.
Dyron gritted his teeth, "Because of the other half of that stupid prophecy. Grandfathers half. From the dark ashes will arise the chosen dark king." He pointed to himself smugly. Then his face darkened, "Born from the same ashes will rise a power that will stop him. That's you." He slapped her face. Hard. The burning pain did nothing for her dizzy head.
"I had to fight that part with everything I had. So I subdued you at birth and kept you under control, making you believe that you were only created to serve me." he slapped her again.
Her head hit the black tree trunk with a sickening crunch.
"No... you... you took away my life. I, never knew." She coughed, spots swam before her eyes.
"Yes well, I had to do what I had to do, to keep you from stopping me earlier. Well no matter now. MY TIME IS HERE!" He cried gleefully as the dark moon rose, horrible and cold, a small silver line ran around it, the clouds hung away, the stars faded, the ground began to shake.
She gave up. Her soul couldn't hold up anymore. Her heart hurt, her body stung, her mind was broken... there was really nothing left to do except die. She closed her eyes as the earth began shuddering more violently.
Dyron stood in the middle of the circle clearing, his hands raised to the sky, his eyes glowing a sinister red, a maniacal look on his twisted face.
Croc stood further away from the clearing. He began to back away, the time to leave his master was at hand. He turned to run just as a splitting lightning bolt zapped from the sky and hit the ground around Dyron, leaving scorched marks behind.
A huge rock chunks broke and one hit Croc on the back of his head knocking him out. He missed the rest of the horrid scene.
Ashlyn took one more heaving sigh, and her eyes slid shut. Again. The last flicker of hope dying in her heart.
"ASHLYN!"
She snapped her eyes open, a flying tornado swirled around her and Dyron. Cole! They came! Her heart flipped over, they actually came for her.
She could barley see them through the whirlwind of smoke and dust and rocks.
"C-cole" She coughed out, she knew he couldn't hear her, but she still felt better saying his name.
"Hang on!" His voice was faint, but still there.
She would hang on. She could now. It would be all right.
Dyron cackled as a bolt of red lightening shot him.
Maybe not completely all right.
Outside the swirling vortex the ninja tried to figure out how to get in.
"There's no way around!" Lloyd yelled above the roaring wind.
"We'll never get there!" Jay clung to Nya, making sure she didn't fly away.
"By my calculations we are stuck." Zane surmised.
Cole glared at the swirling doom. No. They were Not stuck.
He charged right for the whirlwind, ignoring Kai's shouts about his stupidity. He jumped and slammed his hand into the ground lifting himself up with a piece of earth and surfing into the wind.
Nya gapped, "He's crazy!"
Lloyd shook his blond head, "No, he's right. Come on guys, jump in!"
They did.
On the other side Cole burst through the roaring winds and landed on the hard ground with a loud thud rolling onto his feet. He gapped as his eyes took in the terrible chaos. Dyron was encased with red clouds and lightning sparking around him.
He couldn't be touched. With a quick flash of his eyes, the dark haired ninja could tell. So he decided on a more important task. Quickly, Cole ran towards Ashlyns limp body that hung in chains wrapped around an old oak.
He broke her chains easily and pulled her small broken body to him, ignoring the piercing fear in his chest.
She was breathing labored, her eyes fluttered open weakly, "Cole?" She rasped.
He smiled weakly, barley able to breath, "It's ok, you'll be ok." He brushed the stray hairs off her face gently, his heart nearly breaking because he couldn't save her from this pain.
"Thank you." she shuddered in effort and reached up a pale hand towards his face, "But... I don't think-"
He took her hand in his, "No, it will." He kissed her bruised forehead gently, "I promise." He'd come this far to keep that promise, there was no way in hell he wasn't going to go through with it completely.
She leaned against him, slipping into unconsciousness with a soft groan.
Just then a crack of thunder blasted his ears as his friends all came rolling one by one in front of him. Granted more graceful then he did, but they we there.
"Oh!" Nya gasped when she saw Ashlyn broken. Her eyes instantly welled with tears, "I'm so sorry Cole I-"
"No, she'll be ok. Zane keep her safe, Nya help him. The rest of you guys." He narrowed his eyes, "Let's finish this."
The nodded and followed. They were indeed going to finish this. Now.
Suddenly the uproar stopped. Everything just stopped. Nobody moved. The ground crackled, before either ninja could move hundreds of undead skeletons burst from the ground, black magic lighting their vicious eyes, each sporting an evil boney grin.
"No. Freaking' Way!" Jay yelped as a skeleton swung an axe at him.
"The army of the undead!" Kai growled and punched one in the ribs, dislocating it's head, "Ok... gross."
Cole grit his teeth, he saw Dyron floating with the Eye around his neck, laughing insanely, "Take them down. Get to Dyron. Get that Eye. GO!"
The battle ensued.
But it shortly became obviouse that the skeletons were winning, everytime they knocked one down another appeared.
"We-" Kai painted, sweat dripping from his brow, "We're not getting anywhere guys!" He hit another head off.
Jay zapped three in a row, "What do we do! If we go down-"
"We are not going down!" Cole growled jumping over one and pounding a bunch with a giant rock.
I hope...
"Zane! They need help!" Nya shouted as she watched the skeletons surround her brother and his friends struggling underneath the bony, yet resilient army.
Zane nodded and handed Ashlyn to Nya gently.
"Stay out of range." He instructed calmly, before running towards the raging war.
Nya held back her fear, as she gently wrapped her arms around Ashlyn. The girl was going cold. Loosing too much blood. Oh God, what had she done?
Her stomach lurched, she swallowed hard, sick. Slowly she lifted her eyes to find the ninja in the whirlwind of war.
Somebody help...