Sorry for the delay! I forgot to write this chapter until yesterday. There's much more action here I think, and gets kind of intense at the end, or so I'd think if this were an actual cartoon, haha. You can probably tell from the title what's going to happen.
Anyways, hope you like it!
Chapter 36: Verge of Defeat
The falcon lead Cole and Lloyd to the spot that it saw some of the Five in. Fortunately, the falcon was leading them right to where Tylor, Jarle, and the other One were, along with Jay, Kai, Reyna, Brisa, and Zoe.
A few minutes later, they made it to where the falcon wanted them to be, and they saw a fight ready to start. The ninja had their Blades out, ready to take on Jarle, and also Tylor, it seemed. The kunoichi, however, seemed to have their Blades yanked away because they out of reach and past Jarle and Tylor.
"Need some help?" Cole called out. Everyone turned around and was stunned to see the black and green ninja.
"Yeah, we could use some…" Zoe muttered and looked at her enemies.
"Where's Nya?" Kai demanded to no one in particular.
"She's fighting some fire that the fire and wind dude made," Lloyd explained. "Like, she's stopping it, not literally fighting it." Knowing the red ninja, Lloyd knew he would have to add that second part because he was always concerned about his sister's safety.
Jay and Kai's eyes opened wide. "Wait, she's all alone?!" Jay cried out.
"What if that guy comes back, or Palmer?!" Kai shouted.
Lloyd and Cole exchanged looks. "That's very true…" Cole said quietly.
"ENOUGH!" Tylor roared and stepped forward. "You!" he pointed to Kai. "If you don't want that water girl hurt, I can very well call Palmer and Allen here to transfer the pain to you!"
Kai's eyes bulged once more. He knew very well that if a fight started and all Five were in one place, they could blast Edgeham to oblivion and wipe it off the map…them and the townspeople included.
"So, how about it?" Tylor challenged. "Would you rather have them fight you or her?"
Everyone turned to look at the always-proud ninja. He gritted his teeth. "Everybody, stay here. I'm finding her." He turned around and ran off to the direction of the fire.
"Wait! Kai!" Jay shouted after him, but the fire ninja paid no attention. He kept running. "Well, I guess we have to fight them."
"Yes, you do," Jarle said menacingly. He rubbed his hands together and got in a fighting stance. Cole got ready and took out his Blade, Quakesmasher, while Jay still had Voltstriker in his hand.
After nobody made a move, Jay and Jarle got impatient and somehow charged at each other at the same time. Voltstriker glowed blue and had lightning running through it, but Jarle twisted the light in front of Jay's eyes and made him temporarily blind. It gave a free opportunity for Jarle to land a quick punch on Jay, making the ninja stumble and fall backwards.
Meanwhile, Reyna charged in with nothing but her hands, and using the physical strength and movement she gained from training, she managed to swipe her Blade quickly from next to Tylor before he could strike. Tylor, however, seemed to take his sweet time, and he blocked Reyna's attack with his hand, but she shot out vines afterwards from the Blade and sent him stumbling backwards. She reached for Brisa's Blade, but fearing the last guy, she retreated.
Brisa and Zoe ran to help Jay. They both tackled Jarle at the same time and he fell on the ground, which gave Jay enough time to get up and zap him. Brisa ran to pick up her fallen Blade, and she noticed the other man standing there, smiling, not moving an inch to stop her. She picked it up cautiously and went back to help against Jarle.
Cole helped Reyna in her fight. He used Quakesmasher to throw rocks at Tylor, but he dodged every single one. The next one, he threw a big rock, with Tylor smashed right through it in one punch.
"As strong as you think you are, Cole, I am stronger," Tylor said as he walked up calmly to the couple. Reyna stretched out her hand to do something with her Blade, but with a reaction as fast as lightning, he used his Dark Earth powers to quickly swallow up whatever she did. When the dark rocks crumbled, there was nothing left of the plant powers Reyna had used. The dark material consumed it.
Angered, Reyna burst into her Spinjitzu. "NINJA GO!" she cried out and turned into her dark green tornado.
"Reyna, wait!" Cole cried out before it was too late, but the teal kunoichi made it late by not stopping. Tylor grinned and completely stopped her in her tracks by surrounding her with a shape similar to what he did to Cole in their first battle. But this time, Cole was ready, and with his Blade, he cracked open the wall of rock Tylor made around Reyna in two hits.
Tylor looked impressed. "Wow, I'm surprised. But that's not even the height of my power!"
"And ours neither!" Cole shouted back at him. He ran forward with his Blade, ready to attack, but Tylor brushed it aside.
On the other side, Jarle was actually amused by the attempts of Jay, Brisa, and Zoe. Zoe was near useless, so Jarle didn't bother with her. Brisa could only tickle him with wind, leaving the only thing he should actually care about to be Jay. But the lightning ninja was actually proving more troublesome than he thought, mainly because he had the two kunoichi to distract Jarle.
"You kids are so annoying!" Jarle bellowed. He shot Dark Ice at the feet of the kunoichi and froze them both. Brisa desperately tried using Skydancer to cut through it, but it wasn't working. Jay didn't want to zap it for fear of hurting them badly, so he was by himself against Jarle.
Far away, Kai found Nya controlling the fire as best as she could, and he saw Palmer and the One named Allen creeping up from behind her.
"Nya! Behind you!" he shouted out as she turned around to see the Two. Kai jumped in and tackled them both down. "Keep taking on the fire! I'll take these two!"
"But…you'll need help!" she cried out and lost control of her water for a moment.
Both Palmer and Allen threw Kai off of them and stood up. "So, you're Kai, huh?" Allen said. "I'm destined to fight an angry, impatient boy like you?"
"If that's your description of me, then yeah!" the red ninja spoke fiercely.
Both Allen and Palmer laughed. "So, Kai, how do you plan on taking on both of us, let alone one?" Palmer tauntingly asked.
This actually scared the fire ninja. "I…I will!" The Two laughed again, and Palmer started the fight by throwing around some weaker Dark Water attack at Kai, but luckily Kai ducked and dodged it. Allen swiped his hand and sent a slice of Dark Wind at Kai, but the red ninja was quick to block it with his Fire. Then the Two quickly overwhelmed the fire ninja with multiple attacks, one after another, and sometimes at the same time, but Kai endured.
"Kai! Let me help you! The fire is almost gone!" Nya cried out. She felt pained to see her brother beat like that.
"No…it's okay…" he managed and just barely caught a punch from Allen to block it, but the One used his Dark Fire and gave some nasty pain on his hand.
Come on, you stupid fire! Hurry up and finish so I can help Kai! Nya was itching to help him so badly. At last, the desire within her to help him burst into energy, and in a whirlwind, she stopped the fire and swallowed up Palmer and threw him out.
"Great, you learnt Spinjitzu," Palmer told her with his signature grin that was meant to make him look nice.
"Th-that was Spinjitzu?!" Nya said in happiness and shock.
Palmer nodded. "But that's not saving you. Nothing will." Palmer ended his talking with a quick blast Dark Water, but Nya brushed it aside with her Blade, Hydroslasher. Then it was her turn to attack, and she sent Water at him, but he easily countered with some of his own. He leaped at her Blade with lightning on his hand, and she stuck out her Blade, ready to throw him off to the side, but his hand touched the Blade that was slightly moist, and the lightning travelled to her hand. The Dark Lightning left a bad sting.
Meanwhile, Kai was having a better chance thanks to not being attacked by both of them. He seemed to be pretty even with Allen, but his enemy didn't seem to be the least bit tired, while Kai was. He didn't know how much longer he could keep up on the defensive.
"Kai, what are you doing?!" Nya yelled out at her brother. "You're usually the offensive ninja, not the one who fights defensively!"
Offensively… Kai thought. She's right. I don't win like this. It's not like me. So with the help of some adrenaline rush, the fire ninja started blasting fireballs from his Blade and his hand. Allen couldn't respond to the quick speed of Flameleaper and kept getting hit. That was until he got fed up and blew Kai off his feet with the swing of his hand.
Nya screamed, but she was quickly stopped when Palmer hit her. "Pay attention to your opponent!" he roared. "Just because you're a girl, DOES NOT MEAN I WILL GO EASY!" He quickened his pace which Nya just could not keep up with. She begged for Hydroslasher to do something, or for her Spinjitzu come into play, and then she thought of how the ninja were able to use it at will. They followed the motions of the training course. She slipped away underneath a punch and did the motions, and then she launched into Spinjitzu and tossed Palmer into the building that was burning earlier. Then she headed forward to Allen, who liked he was about to finish Kai. Allen was also sent flying, and he landed on the ground.
The water kunoichi stopped spinning. "You know, I realized something. We shouldn't fight separately, but we need to take these two down together."
Kai smiled as his sister helped him up. "You bet. We're going to finish them together."
The siblings heard laughter, and it was from both Palmer and Allen. "You two together cannot stop us," Palmer said as he got back up easily.
"Yes, we are more than strong enough to take both of you on," Allen said from behind them.
"But, alas, it is time for us to leave," Palmer sighed. He sprinted past them with Allen right behind and ran the same way Kai had come.
"Cowards!" Kai shouted out.
"Kai! Stop provoking them!" the cyan kunoichi scolded. "They're right. We can't beat them."
He looked at her with disbelief. "Then what was all that about beating them together?!"
Nya looked confused for a moment, but then she rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Oh, silly. That was to inspire confidence in you! I knew we couldn't beat them, so I tried intimidating them, if that could work at all!"
Kai groaned. "We need to go back there. The others will need help." His sister did not protest, and they ran back down to help their friends.
"Lloyd! Are you going to help us?" Zoe practically screamed at the green ninja, who was frozen in fear since the beginning of the fight.
He snapped out of his long trance. "Oh, uh, yeah! I'm coming!" Lloyd recklessly charged in at Jarle, but he was sidestepped and then shoved into the wall. He was about to throw Dark Ice when Jay zapped him with lightning.
"Cool! That response time was as fast as lightning!" he exclaimed at Voltstriker.
I try, Voltstriker told the blue ninja.
Right then, they heard footsteps pounding behind them and saw Palmer and Allen running towards them.
"Oh no, what happened to Kai and Nya?!" Brisa cried out loud. A bit behind them in distance, they saw Kai and Nya as well.
"Tylor, Jarle, I don't really think there's much of a point in staying around here," Palmer said when he was in earshot range. "Let's just give the girl her parents back and leave. Our job here is done."
"Hey, you can't run away like that!" Reyna was fuming at Tylor.
"I didn't say anything about running." Tylor maintained a straight posture with his head up that asserted dominance. "I can't leave an easy fight when I see one!" He jumped up and swooped in at their heads, hitting them both as they stumbled backwards. He then delivered one strong punch to Cole and the earth ninja was sprawled out on the ground.
"Cole!" everybody screamed at once.
Tylor looked back at Jarle, Palmer, and Allen, and all three understood. "Heads up!" Jarle said to Lloyd, who was looking at the knocked-out Cole. The green ninja was punched in the jaw and went down as well, while Brisa and Zoe could only scream and watch as they saw another teammate go down too.
Allen used his Dark Fire to knock Kai backwards, and it burnt right through his gi on his left arm. Nya was hit by Dark Water, and felt suffocated, and due to that, she collapsed. Jay was horrified and didn't notice at all that Palmer sent Dark Lightning at him, shocking him and also burning his gi in his stomach region.
Only person that could possibly fight any of them was Reyna. Brisa and Zoe were trapped in the Dark Ice, which if wasn't broken soon enough, could permanently damage the two kunoichi's legs.
Reyna was close to tears. Here, all of her brothers and sisters were knocked out of action for one reason or another. She couldn't let them down. The tears began to escape her eyes. No, I must stay strong, for everyone here that would depend on me! For Brisa and Zoe, who are the only ones watching what I will do, and to everyone else that can't…especially you, Cole. The nature kunoichi looked back at the ninja she really liked, on the ground, like he was lifeless.
Accept it, Vinewhipper said in her mind. Reyna was surprised and looked at her Blade. Accept that this is your limit right now, and that you can't take on all of them.
No way. Isn't the whole purpose to be a kunoichi to not give up? Reyna ridiculed her Blade.
There is only so much you can do alone, it replied. There are times when you must accept defeat.
The teal kunoichi was genuinely shocked. How could Vinewhipper, a sword that she was supposed to become best friends with, tell her to simply give up? B-but I…I have to stay strong! For Cole and all the others!
If the Blade had a head, it would probably be shaking it right now. Reyna, you must understand that you cannot always be strong. Accept this, and you will never be weak again!
Reyna lifted her head up, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She knew what to do.
Hmmm, so what do you think will happen? What will Reyna do, being the only who can fight still while everyone else is missing in action? I'm sure the last thing Vinewhipper says to Reyna kind of gives it away, but that was kind of what I wanted. Foreshadowing.
Hope you liked it!