Heya! Look who's back again with the the next chapter! In less time than before! ;D
Jens: Hey, Jens! Long time no see! And thank you! Here's those ninja interactions I mentioned in the PM! ;)
Rosa: Yep. :)
Crazyredmanelion: Oh, he'll be even more hot-headed soon, but I guess you'll have to keep on reading to find out!
Alexandria: Don't worry; I will.
They were everywhere. Everyone was freaking out. A public hysteria at its peak. Something Cole never wanted to witness—heck, something that nobody would want to witness. Panic and fear hung in the air, inflicting its brutal wrath upon everyone within the area. Cole and his brigade, too, experienced its immense power; edgy and tense. The people also, who were screaming in terror and running for their lives.
"Karloff does not like seeing people like this. We have to do something," the master of metal said to nobody in particular, but Cole caught his drift. The sight—least to say—was absolutely horrendous. Buildings laying in ruin, clouds of dust saturating the air, injured civilians struggling to escape—almost too much for even the ninja of earth to bear. More than anything he just wanted to look away, but as weird as it sounds, he found himself unable to peel his eyes from the appalling sight.
Instead, Cole looked to his right, catching a glimpse of Jay and his party through an alleyway another street over. They were on the ground, while Vivia and Kai's groups were to sweep the perimeter in search of any survivors. So far the casualties were minimal, but Cole knew how quickly things could take a turn for the worst. Very quickly, as he'd discovered barely a month ago. Especially since both crises that came to mind were linked to the Overlord.
Jay noticed Cole looking in his direction, winked, and kept on moving. There was no time to waste. Time was not on their side.
It was on the enemy's. The odds were stacked against them.
"Guys, I'm getting bad vibes here. Someone's nearby," Toxikita spoke up, sniffing the air. "I can smell it…"
"How can you smell anything out here?" Shade stepped ahead of her, extending an arm which in turn blocked her path. "All I can smell is smoke."
The green-haired girl snorted. "Are you sure you're not just smelling yourself? Or Ash?"
"Guys, focus," Cole whipped around, chiding the two. "You never know when someone might be listening—"
"Too late."
Before any of them had time to react, red-hot lasers were zooming past, each originating from a new direction. Some missed Cole's head by mere inches, one even coming as close to singeing the hair on the back of his neck, but that was all it took. Now, his head was in the game.
Suddenly, the earth began to tremble underneath their feet, buckling with loud cracks and pops. Instantaneously, a solid, seven-foot barrier of stone sprung up around them, encasing the five inside. As of now an impenetrable fortress, but that did not mean it would stay that way for long.
"What the hell was that?" Toxikita pushed past Shade once the dust settled, headed straight for Cole. And she did not look happy. Not one bit.
The black ninja fixed her a stern look. "I'm the master of earth. What else did you expect?" he asked, one brow elevated slightly higher than the other.
Her mouth was open and ready to respond, but instead she chose not to. Grumbling, she backed away, yet her gaze still remained. Cole could tell that she didn't trust him, but Cole didn't fully trust her either. A five minute introduction is not enough time for anyone to get to know one another, much less gain their trust.
Without warning, the ground began to quake once more, except this time it wasn't Cole. But Toxikita didn't know that.
"For the love of—Would you knock that off?" she got up into the black ninja's face, though his expression remained indifferent.
"I'm not doing anything," Cole spoke slowly, evenly. "How about you ask the killer robot's outside why the ground is shaking? Because I'm sure they'd be able to deliver you a much more believable answer, since you don't seem to trust my word—"
Crash! Dust shot up into the sky. Battle cries rang out. Fragments of rock went flying everywhere, jagged, menacing and closing in for the kill.
Fast on her feet, Toxikita released a burst of her acidic poison, disintegrating the projectiles midair. Bolobo used the turned-up soil to form a thick vine shield around them, Karloff went metal, and Shade phased into a shadow, while Cole dove straight into combat.
Twirling into his brown cyclone of earth, the black ninja instantly took out six droids, flinging them back over the remaining barrier as he went along. With fluid, precise blows, he managed to incapacitate about twenty more nindroids, but he wasn't finished yet. Oh, he was just getting started.
Just as he was about to take on the next wave, the flicker of something interrupted his focus. Enough so, it caused him to fall out of tune with his spinjitzu, ultimately tripping over his own feet—no, one of them had tripped him—and falling to his knees.
"Need a hand?"
Cole looked up to see the smug face of his fire master brother, who was holding out a hand. With a terse nod, Cole took him up on the offer, allowing Kai to yank him upright once more.
As the duo prepared to perform spinjitzu once again—lining up back-to-back—it was then that Cole realized what he had tripped over. His throat tightened, stomach coiling into tight knots at the gruesome discovery: a young woman, blood staining her clothing from head to toe and trailing from in between her lips and down her chin.
"K-Kai—" Cole somehow managed to choke out through his shock, his throat going dry. He had never come across something so horrific in his career as one of Ninjago's main protectors, and seeing this... No, it was just too much.
"What? Cole?—Oh my God…." the brunette's resolute exterior crumbled away, only for an expression of horror and great confusion to take its place. But that look was also short-lived, recognition soon flooding his wide eyes. From what Cole gathered, she was someone Kai knew.
Wait—I-Is that Nya? No, it can't be… the master of earth could only stare blankly, too dumbfounded to do anything else.
"Cole! Help me!" Kai called out frantically, trying to lift the girl's body, but finding that he was unable to do so himself. He was just shaking too badly.
Shaken from his trance, Cole rushed to his brother's aid, dropping to his knees at her side. Efforts combined, the two were able to stabilize her frame between the both of them, then began the perilous trek to safety.
Meanwhile, Jay was in a pinch of his own. Nindroids and stone warriors alike swarmed around his group, but that wasn't the main issue. Instead, it was the unrelenting, fun-sized nindroid that refused to let go of the hood on his sweatshirt, half-strangling him in the process.
In hopes of freeing himself, the lightning ninja swung blindly behind his head, until his knuckles finally connected with the hard, unforgiving metal of the little twerp. As much as it hurt his fist, Jay couldn't risk losing anymore oxygen, so he held in his screams. But to his dismay, his punch didn't loosen Mindroid's grip by even the slightest. In fact, his sweatshirt collar seemed to get even tighter with each ragged breath he struggled to intake.
Gasping for air, Jay fumbled for the hem of his hoodie and as soon as he had it, tore the fabric in two. Along with his sweatshirt, Mindroid clattered to the ground, leaving the redhead in nothing but a pair of tan khaki shorts. To make things worse, Chamille whistled at him.
"Hey, guys! Look, it's the topless ninja!" she exclaimed in a mocking tone, and eyes from both sides of the fight locked on Jay's bare, not-so-muscular torso. Next came the laughter, which made the blue ninja feel even more self-conscious.
With his cheeks getting redder and redder by the second, the blue ninja broke into his traditional azure whirlwind, taking out some unsuspecting stone warriors in the same movement.
Creating a distraction, eh? Jay thought as he moved down the line, tossing his opponents into the air as if it were nothing. Was that what Camille meant to do? Or did she just want to embarrass me in the middle of battle? Either way, Jay still didn't like what her unconventional ways of thinking entailed.
"Not so fast!" the master of speed shouted as he raced past a gang of nindroids in a white blur, leaving behind their badly damaged frames in heaps of crumpled metal and live wires as he rocketed along. Solo, Gravis hovered abovedealing swift blows to those that came a little too close for comfort, but otherwise did nothing else of value. Jacob however, was playing a poorly executed riff that cause all of his opponents to cover their ears and howl in discomfort. Effective, yet not to his own side. They too, were struggling to fight the urge to press their hands over their ears. In fact, some even did.
"You're lucky I'm the master of form!" Chamille called out over the ear-piercing noise, now donning a pair of bright green headphones over her ears. "Otherwise I'd smack you upside the head with that banjo of yours!"
"That is no banjo," Gravis calmly interposed. "That is a sitar," he gestured to Jacob, who was both jamming and tuning out their pleas to stop.
"Oh for the love of—Would you quit that?!" Jay shouted louder than anyone else, finally and successfully breaking the musician's trace. And he could tell, since Jacob's head shot up the moment his voice got through to him.
"Wha—Oops..." Jacob stopped once he realized what he was doing to his comrades, except at the worst possible moment. Weapons drawn, a burly stone warrior lunged straight for Jacob, blades arcing as they bore down upon him. Jay cried out in alarm, just in the nick of time to alert Gravis of their current situation.
With little to no effort at all, Gravis brought down his elbow, ultimately throwing the warrior off balance and onto the asphalt where they belonged. Not even a second after, the gravity was intensified in the brute's spot, pinning him to the pavement. The warrior let out unintelligible bursts of sound as he struggled to climb to his feet, but quickly found that it was no use. He was grounded, both quite figuratively and literally.
"And there's more where that came from," Gravis commented unceremoniously as he took to the skies once again, floating off to deal with more of the rising threat. Jay and Chamille both exchanged a look genuine surprise, before getting back to work.
NinjaChief547
"Please, you gotta help her..." Kai desperately pleaded with one of Cyrus Borg's on duty construction workers, one of which also happened to be a part-time paramedic. But all he could do was stare on hopelessly, unsure of what he could do to help. It appeared as if the woman was too far gone, and it would be even harder to break the devastating news to the distraught young man before him.
"Kai, I don't think she's..." Skylor tried her best to sum up what both her and the worker were thinking, yet she couldn't manage to utter the words they both feared the most. She had offered to go to Borg Industries with Kai instead, leaving Cole to do what he did best: fight. But now—she wasn't so sure her decision to stay behind.
"No, she can't be. She has to be alive," Kai insisted, obstinately refusing to believe the inevitable. The unavoidable demise of the woman lain on the steel plating between them. But the despairing look that Kai gave Skylor next, was one that she couldn't bear to face. She turned away, wincing at the gory image still imprinted behind her eyelids. Too much for even her to handle, and that alone said something.
"Kai? Is that you? Oh thank goodness!"
Kai and Skylor both perked up at the sound of the foreign voice, eyes scanning the room for any sign of the man behind it. But as soon as they pinpointed the source, they had no trouble identifying a very panicky Cyrus Borg exiting one of the main elevators. As quickly as possible, the fretting inventor wheeled himself toward them, halting once his eyes landed on the battered body of the woman lying between them. Lifeless, so it seemed.
Before Cyrus Borg had the chance to speak, Kai interrupted him. "Cyrus, you've gotta help us," he rushed out as he tried his best to scoop up her deadweight frame.
Uncertainty flickered across Borg's features as he gazed down at the bloody corpse, yet he somehow remained calm. "W-Well, I-I'll see what I can do..." Borg steered himself the rest of the way toward them as soon as he regained the motor function in his upper half, stopping just in front of the three.
Lifting the woman, Kai allowed the engineer a closer look at her many injuries, those of which all appeared to be stab wounds caused by a recently sharpened blade.
Dumbstruck, Borg could only stare with emotionless eyes. "I-I'm no doctor by any means," Borg mused, completely lost to reality, "s-so I'll see what I can do—"
"Wait!" Skylor suddenly blurted, her right hand flying to the unidentified woman's forehead. Before Kai or Cyrus could process what she was doing, a golden aura formed around the woman, both eliminating the blood and cleaning up the various cuts and scrapes marking every inch of her skin. Beside the stab wounds, there was one mysterious, deep gash across her forehead, but in the blink of an eye it too was gone, perfectly healthy flesh filling its place.
And in a flash of blinding yellow light, the woman was practically a brand new person, skin reformed without any traces of her previous wounds. Not even a nasty scar across her forehead, where there most certainly should have been one.
Astonished, Kai and Cyrus couldn't peel their eyes from the new person before them. She looked nothing like she did before, every speck of blood staining her clothing and soaking her dark hair was gone. Not to mention the pink, newly formed skin peeking out from underneath what was left of her distinctive red and silver outfit.
"T-There..." Skylor muttered after a tense moment of silence, removing her hand from the woman's forehead. Next, she wiped away the thin sheet of perspiration that had accumulated at her hairline, then deposited the sweat onto her orange kimono. "She should be fine now—"
"What was that?" the fire master interrupted her, bafflement troubling his features, yet awe could also be detected within his voice.
"What was what?" Skylor repeated his question, her hazel-green eyes locking with his of a brilliant amber. "All I did was heal her," she replied sparingly, her arms slowly folding over one another.
In response, Kai shot her a glare, one of which was hot enough to melt metal. At the same time, the construction worker decided that he was no longer needed, at first walking, jogging, then flying up the titanium flight of stairs.
The engineer rolled his chair between the two elemental masters. "I believe what Kai is trying to say, is how did you do that?"
It took a moment for the mistress of amber to respond, running her fingers through her gnarled ponytail to smooth it down. "I'm the Mistress of Amber," she gave a subtle shrug, "which means I can absorb any other elemental power, so long as I come in contact with the true handler."
"Yeah, I can understand that part, but who did you come in contact with?" Kai questioned, exchanging a doubtful glance with the disabled man across from him. "Don't get me wrong; The Resistance is huge, but from what I've seen of it, none of the members have that ability."
Realization spiked in the redhead's features. "Oh, right. I almost forgot," Skylor shook her head, scrubbing a clammy hand down her worn out face. "You haven't met Ashlynn yet. She's the mistress of healing, which means that she can heal—"
Ashlynn. The name. Kai knew that name. And she was not the mistress of healing. No, she most certainly wasn't. She had taken control of his body, made him attack his friends...
What if Ashlynn and Skylor were the same person? Considering all that had happened lately, that wouldn't be too far of a stretch...
No, that couldn't be possible...
Without intending to, Kai found himself leering at the other elemental master. Thoughts were running rampant throughout his mind, thoughts that were far too muddled to distinguish from one another, giving him a headache. Along with this came a sharp pain in the back of his skull, accompanied by a faint throbbing in his temples and the twitching of his slashed eyebrow. Only a minor side effect of his overactive brain, something he was quite used to by now.
Or was it from being in close proximity to Ashlynn? He didn't know. Maybe he was overthinking things again, like he always did nowadays. Maybe the mistress of healing was another Ashlynn, through the chances of that happening were slim to none. A rarity.
But Kai did not have the time to dwell on the questionable topic, for the garbled sound of static came over the intercom system in Borg Industries. It startled those that were least expecting it, yet somehow Kai had the feeling someone would check in with them sooner or later.
"Come in... Ronin to Borg Industries, come in..." the resonant voice of the con artist bounced throughout the lobby, and Cyrus fumbled to answer the call.
"Y-Yes? Cyrus Borg here?"
An audible sigh could be heard from the other end of the line.
"...Good. And bad," Ronin inhaled sharply. "Nindroid Forces found our Resistance base two or so minutes ago, and from the way things are looking, we're gonna need reinforcements. You still have some of those security nindroids, right?"
"What? They've discovered the location of your base?" Borg rehashed, as to make sure he was hearing things correctly.
"Unfortunately," he muttered glumly. "So about those security droids? Ya got any on hand?" Ronin asked again, this time his tone holding a note of impatience.
"Y-Yes, and no," Cyrus answered with melancholy. "As of now all my droids are preoccupied protecting the Golden Armor, and it'd be a major hassle to move them over there in the short amount of time we have. But I do have an idea. One that can not only immobilize the nindroids, but destroy them. Permanently," the inventor put emphasis on his last word, evoking a sense of finality.
That seemed to be the answer Ronin was hoping for. "A-Alright then, but you'd better hurry up. We're kinda getting our assess handed to us right now, so the sooner the better."
"That I can assure you of," Borg waved him off, before terminating the transmission with the jab of a button on his armrest. Next, he turned to Kai.
"What is the range of your elemental powers?"
"What? Now what does that have to do with anything?" the master of fire inquired, a brow raising as the rest of his face gained distinct lines around both his eyes and mouth.
"That is preposterous; it has everything to do with everything. Now answer my question."
"Fine. I dunno, about 30-40 feet? Could be more, though," Kai shrugged nonchalantly.
"Perfect," Borg mused in the darkest voice both elemental masters had ever heard him use before, a tone that caused Skylor to take a reflexive step back. Kai, on the other hand, remained perfectly still.
"What's perfect?" the mistress of amber asked with caution, simultaneously sneaking a look back at the brunette. But Kai did not meet her gaze, instead turning his attention down to the unresponsive girl in his arms.
The inventor laughed, a breathy one at that. "The durability of his fire element, of course. With the added kick from my Elemental Enhancer, Kai's fire should be able to wipe out the entire fleet of nindroids in one go. Well, if Kai estimated correctly, that is."
His comment finally succeeded in getting a rise out of the red ninja. "Hey!"
"Hold on, an Elemental Enhancer? You're kidding me," Skylor's brows knitted together, a visible sign of her dubiety. A matching expression crossed the fire master's face as well, except with a tinge of irritation.
"I'm afraid not. You see, this device," Borg pressed another button on the arm of his chair, "has the ability to increase the span of any elemental power by 100%. As of now Kai can now shoot his fire around 30 to 40 feet, but with aid of my Elemental Enhancer, he'll be able to cover up to 4,000 feet in a single blast," he stated with a prideful grin. "Impressive, huh?"
At this, both Kai and Skylor fell short of a response, mouths falling ajar.
"I'm glad you both agree with me," Borg replied, then gestured to the unconscious woman the fire master was cradling. "But first we must find a safe place for her."
NinjaChief547
"Cole! Mind giving me a lift?" Jay called out to his brother, who was busy trying to hold back a legion of bloodthirsty stone warriors.
"Kinda busy right now, Jay! Why can't you ask that air bender guy?" Cole gritted out, ducking under the razor-sharp blade that threatened to scalp him right then and there. Seeing how close the sword came to the earth master's head in itself was almost too much, and Jay couldn't hide the shiver than ran through him.
"Careful. We don't need any unnecessary fatalities," came the smooth voice of aforementioned, sounding from just above.
"Hey! We were talking about you!" the lightning ninja exclaimed, brows furrowing as his patience reached its final thread. "Now help me get up there!" Jay pointed to the ruins of a nearby business, which was on the verge of collapse. A few more minutes or so, and it would.
Which Jay did not want to happen. Not yet. He had a plan, as dangerous as that sounds.
"What exactly are you trying to do, kill us all?" Chamille's voice rose above the rest, drowning out Cole's cries of protest and the rest of the fight overall.
"No! Now just keep fighting! In order for my plan to work, I need to get as high as possible!" Jay replied over the commotion, directing his gaze back up to the master of gravity above. "Could you please help me?" he implored, the desperation in his voice now patent.
It took a moment or so for Gravis to respond, but when he did, it was as if a thousand weights had been lifted from Jay's chest. Literally.
"I shall," he said at last, and with the wave of a hand, the blue ninja took flight.
"Whoa!"
"Wait a minute, what's he planning on doing?" Griffin Turner skidded to a halt, watching the shrinking figure of Jay as he ascended higher and higher into the smoky sky.
Shade materialized right next to him. "Doesn't matter right now. We must keep fighting."
"Right," the speedster nodded, before taking off once again.
Unbeknown to those on the ground, the airship R.E.X. hovered above, taking in the scene with one of its several high-tech cameras. On board was Ronin, Violet, and Nya, Ronin navigating the airship through the thick haze nearly blotting out their vision. Earlier they had almost collided with a skyscraper, something that none of the passengers wanted to do. They had a mission, and they were all determined to complete it.
"Ronin! I'm all ready! You can open the hatch!" Nya called out, now donning he Samurai X gear and waiting for her mech to be deployed.
"Alright! Just wait a sec!" Ronin answered her, then turned to the woman seated across from him. "Make sure to hang on. The change in pressure could suck you out of this ship, which is something that I don't have the time or patience to deal with."
Violet nodded her understanding, before checking her seat belt to make sure it was locked. When finding that it was, she gave a firm nod.
"Good. Nya! You ready?"
"Ready!"
"Got it. Now!"
With the press of a button, the airtight doors retracted, and out jumped Samurai X in her mech, fully functional and equipped to engage in battle. As Ronin had said, the cabin pressure did fluctuate, but not as much as he'd exaggerated. Though just enough so that the displacement was noticeable.
Just then, Violet's hand-held communicator started blaring, and she just about dropped the device out of fright. Thankfully she didn't, otherwise it would have been sucked into oblivion. And at a crucial time like this, that was not an option.
Finally, the doors were hermetically sealed shut again, no longer acting as a vacuum into the open air. However, that still didn't seem to be enough to calm Violet down.
"You okay?" the red-hated man asked once his passenger had somewhat settled down, yet she still clutched the device to her chest as if it would disappear if she did not hold on tight enough.
"I-I am fine; do not worry about me. B-But Cyrus Borg wishes to speak with you again," the immortal woman croaked at last, moving to connect the communicator to the R.E.X.'s system via a USB cable.
After a few moments or so, the transmission crackled to life, Cyrus Borg's grim face appearing on screen.
"What's up?" Ronin was the first to speak.
"There's been a change of plans," Borg stated in a flat tone, his features reflecting the dire situation at hand. "I need you to come to Borg Industries to pick up Kai. If P.I.X.A.L is not busy at the moment, it'd be appreciated if you could send her over. I require her assistance."
The brow above Ronin's missing eye lifted. "For what?"
"That is none of your concern. Just get here, and fast." And with that, the inventor faded from view, disappating into gray fuzz.
Ronin looked to the blue-eyed woman seated across from him, who simply shrugged.
"Alrighty then, now where's that robot?"
NinjaChief547
"GRAVIS! NOT SO HIGH!" the blue ninja of lightning screeched as he rose higher and higher into the air, more than too high for his liking.
But then his fear caught up with him, and everything suddenly became much worse.
Almost instantly, he froze in place. Stopped moving. Suspended above Ninjago City. A fall from this height would most definitely be lethal, even though he was the master of lightning and possessed some control over the wind.
"Ohhhhhh-AHHHHHHHHH!" Jay began screaming at the top of his lungs. This wasn't my plan at all!
"Need a lift?"
Jay's head snapped back and forth, until his electric blue gaze finally landed on Ronin's airship next to him.
"Uh, yeah!"
"That's gonna cost ya, you know."
"Ronin, we do not have time for this," Violet chimed in from the background, her voice denoting strong disapproval of Ronin's acquisitive attitude towards everything. Couldn't he just be generous for once and expect nothing in return?
Then again, she did know Ronin like the back of her hand. And generosity wasn't one of his strong suits.
"Fine..." the con artist grumbled after a moment, before giving in and letting down his ladder. More than grateful, Jay nabbed one of the rungs, heaving himself up one at a time until he finally made it into the cockpit. Once he was there, he tried to reel in the rope ladder, but found himself unable to do so. He was shaky, and it didn't help that one look down made his head spin and his knees weak.
Instead, P.I.X.A.L grabbed him by the back of his ninja suit, practically dragged him inside, then went to fetch the ladder herself. As soon as she returned, she wasted no time in cutting straight to business.
"So what is your plan?" the robot questioned, unnatural green eyes starting directly into Jay's soul. Gulping, Jay's eyes flitted off to the side.
"Um..." the redhead refused to face her, turning his head as far as it would go in the opposite direction.
"Just tell her. Don't want her going all 'terminator' on you—"
P.I.X.A.L shot Ronin a look, and if looks could kill...
"Um, guys? Hello?"
"What?" the droid snapped, eyes narrowing as they zeroed in on the shirtless ninja. Once again, Jay floundered.
"I-I, uh, planned on throwing down a lightning bolt and short-circuiting all of the nindroids?" Jay squeaked, giving a sheepish shrug of his shoulders.
"That's actually..." P.I.X.A.L deliberated for a moment, and Jay cringed in anticipation of her response, "...a brilliant idea! However, the probability of you shutting down the entire army in a single blast is slim to none."
"Oh..."
"Luckily, I have a way around that. But first, we must go to Borg Industries."
Oh dang, looks like the ninja have their work cut out for them. Will their plan work? Who is the mystery woman? And what is up with Skylor? 0_0
Find out soon, in the next chapter of The Overlord Origins! (This time I'm serious.)
Ninjachief547...
OUT!