AL1321: Okay, we're super late, but we swear, it was totally unintentional! It was the end of the year with finals and now my parents made me get an actual job (well one that will become a job one I work 100 hours)!
do0m: I had finals, and horrible surgeries, and now I've been kidnapped to another state for a family event!
AL1321: Unfortunately, things will only get slower from here... I'm going to Canada soon and do0m is going on other trips and then college, so the chances of us meeting to write are kinda slim. We will try to upload another chapter before the end of the summer, so please understand... pretty please? This chapter is extra long, if that counts for something.
When the rest days were over, the ninja had learned one thing about the stone soldier - it was really good at not being in any record they could find. In fact, the only unusual event that week was a mysterious call from the museum.
"Sir, I understand you have a problem, but could you please give us some details?" Nya asked for the fourth time.
"I'm afraid it's easier to show you than explain," The director explained over the phone.
Nya sighed before ending the call. "Great. We can't even tell if all of us are necessary."
"So they expect us to go in completely blind?" Cole questioned.
"Yeah. They just kept saying we'd need to see it."
"Aren't there any details? If not Lane might be tempted to overpack again..." Moppet remarked.
"When you say overpack," Zane began.
"She means that Lane could bring anything from a bathtub to a steam roller." Alexia replied. "On one camping trip Moppet said Lane brought two different sets of plumbing tools."
"So?"
"There was no running water at the campsite."
"...So?"
"Zane, there was no plumbing of any kind in a two mile radius."
"Ah."
"Let's just go and hope for the best," Jay said.
At said museum...
"Oh, thank heavens you're here!" The director sighed.
"We heard there was an emergency?" Sensei Wu questioned.
"Yes, come, come, quickly!" The director insisted. "This way!"
The director led the group to a marked off area, though Lane and Moppet continually lingered at the exhibits, fascinated by the history.
"We are not here to be tourists." Alexia groaned, dragging the two by the collar.
"But... but the history! Think of what we could learn from this!" Lane replied pleadingly.
"Lane, it's a cartoon world. I think if we learn anymore, we'll just get confused. The plot was never meant to be fully fleshed out."
"...Point taken."
Back with the group, the director began giving actual details. "The Stone Warrior exhibit opens tonight, and this couldn't have come at a worse time!"
"What couldn't have come at a worse time?" Kai asked.
"Ninjago City appreciates your destroying the Great Devourer some time back, but it appears its' toxic venom has seeped into the city's sewer system, and has had the most unusual aftereffect."
"Does this mean I was possibly swimming in that crap when Kai and I were in the sewers last week?" Alexia asked Zane, who nodded. Alexia sighed, "I'm taking a second shower when we get back..."
The director stopped in front of a door marked, 'Gift Shop,' before opening it. Inside were many small figurines which were screaming and had glowing eyes. "The toxic venom has somehow brought our product merchandise to life! It's unruly! I-I didn't know who else to call!"
Moppet gasped. "T-that's what Lloyd and I saw in the cave!"
"You saw a one foot figure hopping around in that bloody cavern?" Cole asked.
"No, it was our height. But that's kind of what it looks like." Lloyd explained.
One of the figurines jumped up onto Zane's shoulder, smacking him with its' tiny sword. Zane crushed the figurine, causing it to fall over, lifeless.
"We've got this. I think we can handle a few toys." Jay said confidently.
"Please, could you contain the fighting to the gift shop? The doors to the new exhibit will be open soon. Thank you!" The director quickly closed the gift shop doors, leaving the ninja in the room with the multiple figurines.
The immediate reaction from the figurines was to attack in droves. In Lane opinion, they were really quite unimaginative in their battle tactics; all they did was throw heavy objects at their opponents' heads.
"Alright, time to get down to business," Lane said, pulling out a sledgehammer.
"Where did you get that?!" Cole asked.
"I wanted a blunt-force weapon,"
"...Got anything else?" Alexia asked, trying to destroy figurines but failing as her sword wasn't the best for demolishing.
"No, you told me to not overpack this time."
"Damn..." Alexia cursed, sheathing her sword and grabbing two commemorative baseball bats from one of the sales bins, giving one to Moppet. "Batter up!"
Alexia and Lane ran forward, demolishing the figurines. The others moved to help, but Moppet held up a hand for them to wait. "Stop. This is our fight."
"What?" Jay questioned.
"I have trained since childhood for this. Do not refuse me this chance to prove myself."
"You've trained for this exact scenario?" Kai asked.
"I have intense whack-a-mole skills," Moppet replied seriously before turning to the fight and loosing a war cry, "BONUS MALLET!"
For the next thirty seconds, the female ninja smashed, demolished, and generally just destroyed anything moving object... including a near smashing experience for Lloyd's head when he stepped aside too suddenly.
"They're enjoying this too much..." Cole remarked after seeing Alexia use one figurine as a baseball.
"It's our inner barbarians coming out!" Lane said cheerfully. "We would loose the outer ones too, but that requires funny costuming, and I left those at home."
Finally, the insanity of the destruction ended with Moppet declaring, "New high score!" before she put down her bat. "That was fun. Can we do that again?"
"They have all been destroyed," Zane responded.
"...Aw..."
In fact, it turned out one lone figurine had escaped destruction; it opened the door, shouting squeaky profanities, and hopped away. Sensei Wu, being closest to the door, ran after it through the halls of the museum before crushing it with his foot.
Behind Sensei Wu, a door opened. revealing an older woman. Sensei Wu turned around at the sound, and gasped softly. "Misako!"
"Wu," Misako replied, smiling. Sensei Wu began to slightly stammer as Misako continued, "It's been a long time."
"So, uh, you going to introduce us?" Jay said, clearing his throat. The ninja had left the gift shop looking for Sensei Wu, and Jay spoke for all of them in their curiosity.
Sensei Wu nodded, coughing slightly. "Yes. This is Misako, Lloyd's mother."
Everyone gasped as Lloyd froze, staring at Misako. "My-my mother?!"
Misako gave a gasp of surprise before walking towards Lloyd. "Lloyd? My little boy? You're so much bigger than I remember,"
"Yeah, well it's been a long time," Lloyd interrupted, flinching away from Misako's attempt to hold him.
"I didn't want us to meet like this," Misako explained. "I have a reason why I've been away,"
"Well I don't want to hear it!" Lloyd retorted, storming off to another room.
"Lloyd, wait! Please!" Misako begged, but Lloyd just slammed the museum door in response.
"Let me get this straight. You're Lloyd's mom, who Lloyd hasn't know his entire life," Moppet questioned.
"Yes. I didn't want to leave him at Darkly's, but I didn't have any other options," Misako replied.
"Does this reason include, but is not limited to, any of the following; Lloyd's safety, Lloyd's health and comfort or the destruction of one or more people?"
"Yes."
Moppet nodded before adopting a grim look. "Alright, I'll handle this. Nobody follow me, this is between me and Lloyd." The young girl opened the museum door before closing it behind her, following Lloyd to his current position.
"...Should we go too?" Cole asked after a few moments.
"I think we should leave this to Moppet. She seems to have taken personal offense, and I don't want to be in the crosshairs of that," Lane argued.
In a room with a GIANT hole...
Lloyd sat at the edge of the bottomless pit, sulking. He had thought his entire life that his mother had died, or was running from something. To know that she was perfectly fine, working in some random museum without a care towards him was... was infuriating! And now he was supposed to be perfectly fine with his mother abandoning him?!
The door to the room opened, causing Lloyd to groan. "I don't want to talk to you!"
"Well, I was going to give you some comfort food, but in that case," Moppet began.
"Oh, sorry Moppet," Lloyd sighed. "I thought Misako followed me."
"You mean your mom," Moppet corrected.
"No, I mean Misako. She's not my mom; she hasn't been my mom for years,"
Moppet sat next to Lloyd, handing him a piece of fudge. "Fudge always makes me feel better."
Lloyd looked at the piece of candy before shrugging and taking a bite. "Thanks,"
There were a few seconds of peaceful silence until Moppet got up. "Lloyd, you should really talk to your mom."
"No! She's been absent my entire life. I have nothing to say to her."
"Lloyd, just a week ago you yelled at me that you missed out on having parents! Now when you have the chance, you're willing to throw that out the window?"
"I-I don't want her to be my mom!" Lloyd shouted, rising. "She left me at Darkly's! My father gave more thought to me; when I was in danger, he saved me!"
Moppet stared at Lloyd before delivering a hard slap to his face. The green ninja, unprepared, grunted in surprise. "Take your own advice! You said I should be thankful my parents love me; it's clear your mom loves you and cares about you. The same goes for your dad. Now go and talk to her or for the love of pudding I will lock the two of you in a room with no food until you talk."
"Yeah right!"
Two minutes later...
Moppet shoved Misako into the room before slamming the door and barricading it with several planks of wood. "Now start talking! You're not coming out until you have an acceptable mother and son relationship! And don't think that the others are going to save you, I locked them up in a different room!"
"No you didn't!" Lloyd shouted back.
"You're right, but we agree with Moppet; you need to work out your problems," Alexia replied.
Moppet sat down by the door. "I'm standing guard, you guys... can do what you want."
Lane grinned, "I'm going to be a tourist!" She left as Alexia said,
"Lane, LANE, stop- Aaaaaand she's gone. Great. To hell with this, Moppet, you're dealing with her when she comes back; I'm getting pizza," Alexia grunted.
Back in the room with Lloyd...
"Lloyd," Misako began.
"Be quiet," Lloyd grunted. "There's nothing you can say."
"Well, I'm going to talk anyway. I didn't want to leave you on the steps of Darkley's; if I could have I would have taken you with me! I would have raised you myself."
"But you didn't! You never called, never sent a letter! You didn't even come to any of the open houses!" Lloyd yelled. "I was the only kid without parents or grandparents or other relatives! I was completely alone!"
"Lloyd, stop!" By this point Misako, normally calm and composed, was in tears. "I never wanted to leave you there. Thousands of times I cried myself to sleep, wondering how you were. The school never bothered contacting me since I wasn't dark like the other parents. All I knew was that you were safe in the school. Do you honestly believe I abandoned you? Then your father did the same when he left to fight your uncle instead of remaining with us."
"That still doesn't give you the right to just leave me behind without a word! You're just as bad as Dad is!"
Misako just sighed. "Then what do you want from me, Lloyd? Do you just want to remain angry with me for the rest of your life? Do you want me to disappear and never see you again?"
"I," Lloyd stopped. His blind rage was starting to diminish, and he didn't really know how to answer his mother's questions. "I... I want my life back. I want the years that stupid Tomorrow Tea stole. I... I wish I'd had a normal childhood," He admitted quietly, hugging his knees.
Sitting next to her son, Misako enveloped Lloyd in a hug. "I will never stop wishing that I could have given you a normal life. And I know your father feels the same; you were his entire world when we were together. If your father had never been bitten, I know he would have been the best father. But fate never allowed us to be a family; all I can do is be thankful that now destiny has given me another chance at being a mother."
The tender moment was somewhat ruined by the doors of the room opening. "There, now you can come out," Moppet remarked, satisfied.
By now everyone had returned to the door, including a slightly comatose Lane; she was currently muttering on and on about how something was, 'completely illogical, ill-conceived, and frankly childish'. Zane was supporting her, and he was trying his best to calm her down. Alexia groaned, shooting Moppet a look which said, 'I blame you'.
"So... what is this room?" Jay asked.
Misako rose walking towards the tapestries in the room. "The bottomless pit is where I found the Stone Warrior, which is being shown this evening as a part of Ninjago's history." Lane mumbled something about the physics of finding something in a bottomless hole before dissolving into her neverending confusion once more. "I came here after leaving Lloyd at the boarding school to do heavy research on Ninjago mythology and prophecies."
"Why would you need to do that?" Cole questioned.
"Before Sensei Wu and my husband knew who would be the Green Ninja, I knew it would be Lloyd, and I knew he would eventually have to fight his father. By throwing myself into these studies, I hoped to prevent the final battle between good and evil; I wanted to save Lloyd and his father," Misako replied. She pointed to the tapestries in front of her and began a familiar story.
"Long before time had a name, Ninjago was created by the First Spinjitzu Master,"
"Yeah, but everyone knows that," Kai interrupted before earning a swat from Sensei Wu, who wanted them to listen.
"You've only heard half the story. In Ninjago, there has always been balance between good and evil. So you know about how the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago, but what if I were to tell you in order for there to be light, there must be shadow. And within shadow, there is darkness. The blackest of darkness. Darkness that existed from the very beginning. An evil spirit called the Overlord," Misako explained.
"Did you know about this, Sensei?" Zane inquired.
Sensei Wu sighed. "I had hoped if I'd kept the secret, that name would never be spoken again."
"The balance was at stake," Misako continued, "and their battle could have gone on for eternity. Each side powerful, neither could conquer the other, until the Overlord created his indestructible warriors: The Stone Army. The Spinjitzu Master did what he could, but he knew he would soon be defeated. So instead of losing the war, he divided Ninjago in two. And lucky for us, since then, there has been no trace of the Overlord, or his Stone Army; until my recent discovery."
Moppet coughed, "Um, there has been more than a trace of the Stone Army."
"What do you mean? Did you find one of them?" Misako asked.
"More than that. We followed a Serpentine into the old thieves caverns, but it turned into a Stone Warrior while inside. It started talking to something through a portal, but we couldn't understand what it was saying," Lloyd replied.
"Then perhaps it was a lone Stone Warrior. If the Overlord had returned, he would have revived his entire army by this point," Misako mused.
"So the battle between Light and Dark hasn't been resolved yet because it never finished," Alexia reasoned.
"Where is this Dark Island? I've never heard of it," Cole pointed out.
"Disappeared, I presume. But the legend states that so long that the balance between good and evil remains even, the Overlord shall remain trapped from this world," Misako responded before looking to Lloyd. "I have always feared that your father's ambition would ultimately lead to a shift in the balance. That is why he must be stopped."
"We have each felt the power of the First Spinjitzu Master, passed on the form of the elemental weapons. But now that power has been inherited by the Green Ninja, which is why only Lloyd can defeat the ultimate evil, or else all of Ninjago will fall prey to its' darkness," Sensei Wu remarked.
"But... that's a paradox in itself," Alexia countered. "If a balance must be maintained, like Yin and Yang, then the final battle is an impossibility! For anyone to succeed, light or darkness, the other would have to be destroyed. Then the balance would get thrown out the window and we'd probably be facing the end of the world."
"That's why I devoted my life to this research. I felt I had to find a way to stop the final battle from occurring," Misako responded before placing her hand on Lloyd's shoulder. "Leaving you was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Misako whispered, tears again in her eyes. "But faced with saving you and the world, I had no other choice."
Lloyd nodded feebly before hugging his mother, the weight on his heart gone. "So you've found a way to avoid me having to face Dad?"
"No, but I believe there's still hope," Misako smiled, causing her son to smile in return...
...but yet again, the tender moment was quite rudely interrupted by screams of, 'it's alive!' coming from nearby. More screams were soon heard along with a loud thud as something large and heavy landed on the museum floor. About two seconds later, a GIANT (extra emphasis on the size, of course) Stone Warrior broke, or, more precisely, smashed through the door.
"Okay, will somebody please tell me, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Jay screamed, terrified.
"That's the Stone Warrior I found in this pit!" Misako responded, fear enveloping her.
"The Devourer's venom must have awakened it," Zane deduced.
"Aw, great! Kai, Alexia, take care of him!" Cole ordered.
"Us?" The pair asked in unison, uncharacteristically unconfident. When Cole nodded, the two sighed, pulling on their hoods and pulling out their katanas. Kai ran out first, jumping to strike the first blow...
...only for his katana to shatter on contact. "Well, that played out differently in my head," Kai noted.
Alexia, wisely, stopped trying to attack, not wanting to have to replace hers as she had grown fond of the sword (evidence in her naming the weapon after her 8th grade lab experiment, 'Spikey'). At least, she stopped attacking until the Stone Warrior grabbed her boyfriend by the leg and started shaking him like a rag doll.
"You, you, you... BAKA-INFUSED PIG-HEADED ASSHOLE!" Alexia cried, grabbing Lane's sledgehammer (it was on the floor where Lane had dropped it after coming to this room in her comma-like state) and slamming it repeatedly into the Stone Warrior's leg.
"The Overlord made his Stone Army from an indestructible material found only on the Dark Island!" Misako warned.
"You could have mentioned that earlier!" Kai groaned, blood rushing to his head. Alexia merely snorted in response, continuing to hammer away at the Stone Warrior.
"LET HIM GO YOU... BAKA... MORONIC... STUPID... MIDGET!" Though quite repetitive for an insult, Alexia's tirade did the trick in getting the Stone Warrior to drop, or throw, Kai, who landed in a nearby vase. It was certainly not an act of kindness, however; Stone Warriors, believe it or not, did have feelings, and this one was very offended at being called a midget, particularly since it took pride in its' height. So it reached for Alexia, who only just dodged before throwing her weapon at the Stone Warrior's head. It barely grazed the Stone Warrior's cheek before it landed on the ground, at which point the statue promptly stepped on it.
"I think you made it angry!" Moppet squealed.
"Lloyd, use your powers," Sensei Wu advised. Lloyd nodded, concentrating and creating a ball of green energy in his hands. After allowing his powers to focus for a few more moments, Lloyd fired a beam of energy at the Stone Warrior, forcing it to move back with a flash of light. The celebratory moment of victory was crushed by the Stone Warrior stepping back into the room, completely unharmed, and looking more angry than ever, though its' attention had now shifted to Lloyd.
"Uh, just one question... How are we supposed to destroy this thing?!" Moppet questioned Sensei Wu.
"You can't," Misako whispered, causing everyone to gulp.
The ninja (excluding Lloyd, who was protecting him mother, and Moppet, who was trying to hide behind a still out-of-it Lane) rushed forward, attacking the Stone Warrior. Each was soon thrown, punched, or kicked out of the room, soon to be followed by the others.
"Ugh, this is going to be a lot harder than tiny figurines in a gift shop," Alexia muttered, helping Kai to his feet.
"RUN!" Jay yelled, though there really was no need; everyone was already well on their way out of the Stone Warrior's range, trying to find a safe haven from the monster. Unfortunately, despite its' size, the Stone Warrior was fast on its' feet, causing it to catch up to the ninja rather quickly. The group ran upstairs, and managed to close the doors to the second floor exhibit before the Stone Warrior was inside.
Zane unloaded Lane from his back, and Alexia shook Lane's shoulders. "C'mon, Lane, we can't keep carrying you!" Alexia told her, but Lane merely continued to mumble.
"S-Sis... I'm scared," Moppet whimpered, causing Lane to snap out of her confused haze.
"Sorry..." Lane muttered, holding her head. "You're right, cartoon histories are way too weird to be understood."
By this point, the Stone Warrior had begun pounding away at the door, causing fear to re-ignite itself in the room. "This thing is unstoppable!" Cole groaned.
"Indestructible, to be precise," Zane corrected.
"That door won't hold for much longer," Kai reminded.
"Then let's settle this like men... with rock, paper, clamp! Loser has to take it on while the rest of us escape!" Jay suggested.
"No way are we leaving this up to chance!" Lane argued, getting up off the floor. "Someone get me a whiteboard, I'll make a plan," She announced, cracking her knuckles.
Alexia wheeled one in, and Lane began writing furiously. "Where'd you get that?" Kai asked, panic momentarily forgotten.
"Nowhere..." Alexia replied evasively.
Lane continued drawing and writing while holding out her left hand, where Moppet placed a new marker. After about thirty seconds of writing, Lane finished, triumphantly gesturing to the full whiteboard. "There, it's flawless!"
While the majority of the group saw meaningless scribbles, Moppet and Alexia were nodding as they read a clearly defined plan. "Wait a minute, what's the trampoline for?" Alexia asked.
"Oh, oops, that's leftover from my first attempt at this," Lane muttered, erasing that detail.
"Sis, where are we supposed to get a rocket?" Moppet questioned, confused.
"Well, it was either that or a bottomless pit. Our ability to find a rocket stands at 2.37%, but our ability to find a bottomless pit, which is a statistical impossibility normally but in this world may be possible, stands at about 0.000092%," Lane replied.
"You mean like the bottomless pit in the room we were just in?" Alexia remarked.
"...Really? I have got to work on my observation when I'm semi-unconscious," Lane muttered. "But with that, the plan does achieve a 63.85% chance of working, up from a 26.93% chance."
"I thought you said this plan was flawless!" Lloyd said, exasperated.
"It is flawless on the drawing board, but then again almost everything is."
"She does make a good point," Zane said, now understanding the scribbles on the board.
"Fine, we'll give it a chance!" Cole conceded.
"Good, because you guys are the distraction! Well, you four, I need Alexia and Moppet to help set this up, and Lloyd's the bait once it's done," Lane noted.
"WHAT?!" The male ninja chorused.
"You heard me, would you rather face this thing head on?" Lane demanded.
All of them quickly shook their heads, groaning. "Be quick, we have no idea how long we can keep it occupied!" Kai told her. Lane nodded, grabbing her helpers and bait before leading them to the long route back to the pit room.
"Good luck," Lloyd said.
"Be careful!" Misako yelled to her son, who nodded before leaving the room. "I can't believe he's Lord Garmadon's son."
"Don't forget, he's your son as well," Sensei Wu told her.
"He's had a good teacher," Misako remarked.
"You mean, teachers," Sensei Wu corrected, motioning to his remaining students.
Five minutes later...
The Stone Warrior broke down the door, only to be met with a silent room. It cautiously moved about the room, trying to find the annoying little vermin which had attacked him.
From the floor above, Jay motioned to Cole, who nodded and jumped from the railing, landing on one of the fossilized skeletons. He cut the supports with his scythe before leaping off the bones, and said bones landed on the Stone Warrior, dazing it for a few moments.
"Whoa! Direct hit!" Jay cried, elated. The male ninja, plus Sensei Wu and Misako, slid down from the upper floor via a skeleton and admired their handiwork.
"Did we get him?" Cole's question was answered by a low growl, and mere seconds later the Stone Warrior began to emerge from the pile.
"Do you think Lane is ready with her plan?" Zane asked worriedly.
"I hope so!" Cole responded as the group began to run away from the enraged Stone Warrior. As the group continued to run, Misako notice the tapestries hanging from the banisters.
"This way!" She slid down the nearest one, and once Misako had safely landed on the lower floor, the others followed suit. The Stone Warrior was right behind, and crashed down onto the ground floor with a thud. The group was scattered by the impact, leaving Misako the only one in front of the Stone Warrior. It began chasing her, and though she at first managed to hide behind a large vase and pillar, the Stone Warrior quickly found her and the chase resumed.
It was only as Misako passed the room with the tapestries on Ninjago's creation that Misako ceased running. "Mom, this way!"
"Lloyd!" Misako ran into the room, relieved at her son's safety before remembering that a giant monster was chasing her. The Stone Warrior came closer and closer, but Lloyd skillfully backed away to just before the roped off area, which curiously was missing its' bottomless pit.
"Hey loser!" Lloyd shouted. "Paper beats rock!"
The Stone Warrior, undeterred, sprinted towards Lloyd. "Now!" Lane cried. As Lloyd grabbed his mother and jumped out of the way, Alexia and Moppet, at opposite ends of the room, each pulled their end of a long, thick rope tight and waist high. The Stone Warrior, surprised, tripped (and nearly made the two girls lose their balance although they were able to let go of the rope in time) and landed in the roped off area. The paper covering the bottomless pit held for less than a millisecond before tearing, and the Stone Warrior fell face first into the pit. There was a moment of tense silence before everyone cheered.
"Lloyd, thank goodness you're safe!" Misako whispered happily, hugging her son.
The others, now recovered, entered the room. Alexia quickly hugged Kai before berating her best friend. "Why the hell did you have to use him as bait?!"
"Hey, Lloyd was bait, Kai was a distraction! Besides I used Zane too, so there!" Lane retorted.
The two girls continued to argue, showing no sign of stopping, so after the first ten seconds the others decided to ignore the escalating fight.
"Misako, come with us. Help us fight the good fight," Sensei Wu implored.
"If that's alright with my son," Misako replied. Lloyd smiled.
"Hey, the more the merrier!" He said, returning his mother's hug, and for once in the chapter the tender moment was not interrupted, despite the bickering in the background.