Well, here was another pretty long delay. I just found it hard to write this chapter, no idea why, but it was. Maybe I was bored because the fight was done, haha.
Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 53: The Leader
The attacks from the ninja and kunoichi were pushing the Five back, which was actually surprising them all. Nya, Brisa, and Astra were all doing it on their own while the ninja they were supposed to fight alongside with were knocked out on the ground, but they hoped they would be back up soon. After all, doing the job alone was very tiring and it could very easily backfire if the Five get a chance to attack back so maintaining constant pressure against them was key.
However, two of the ninja being knocked out on the ground would prove to be a big nuisance in a bit, but nobody realized that just yet. The plan was to force the Five to go back to their "base" but if the ninja weren't up by then, they couldn't just be left behind, could they? The problem was that they either leave the ninja behind, waste time putting them on the Bounty, or not follow the Five at all. All the options they would soon have to face weren't very good or favourable.
Eventually, the Five caught on to their plan to push them back. In hopes of destroying the plan, they began destroying the city with any spare moment they had. They could easily blow things up with one hand and use the other to defend as best as they could. Unfortunately for them, the ninja and kunoichi weren't too concerned with that because most people had left the places they were at after the Five arrived anyways.
Don't get fooled by their destruction. Stick to the plan, Quakesmasher advised Cole. They want you to waste time fixing their mess while they run away.
I was going to assume that, but thanks anyway! the earth ninja quickly told his Blade.
The Five continued to destroy things: Palmer zapped street lights, and the light bulbs inside exploded due to having too much power in them. He also shot bolts of dark lightning at buildings, breaking walls and windows as well. Allen used his dark wind to slice through things and his dark fire to cause fires. The fires were a real threat, but the hope was that a fire crew could deal with it.
Jarle used beams of dark light to blast open walls of buildings, and he froze an entire restaurant with dark ice. Everyone knew the restaurant would no longer be there soon enough because nobody in Ninjago City would know how to handle it and unfreeze the restaurant. The dark ice would crush the building eventually.
Tylor tossed dark earth around, leaving huge holes in the walls of apartments, office buildings, and even some houses. Lucas knew he could use his power to scare Lloyd and Zoe away, but he also had a feeling it wouldn't scare them away because they could continue attacking while he wouldn't be able to use the attack on them when constantly interrupted. Instead, he sent an ominous cloud of his dark energy through buildings that had been damaged by the other Four's attacks. Both Lloyd and Zoe looked terrified of the cloud and really wondered what it would do.
That answer came soon enough when they could hear screams from inside the building, even when they were so far away. It sent chills down their spines, and they knew people were dying inside the building.
Why…why couldn't they leave like everyone else?! Lloyd flared on the inside, getting angry at them when he should've been trying to save them. But the green ninja knew trying to save them would be a total waste and he might've end up getting himself killed instead by the same cloud.
As quickly as he had released the cloud of death, Lucas avoided the next incoming attacks and ran off. Seeing him run, the other Four followed his lead and began running through the city while also destroying it at the same time.
Without being told, Jay, who was still on the Bounty, went to pursue after him and the two ninja and five kunoichi were also about to follow his lead when Cole and Reyna stopped as soon as they started.
"Wait, we can't just leave Zane and Kai!" Cole realized very suddenly. Reyna nodded in agreement, having the same thought on her mind.
"Somebody needs to stay back in case they get back up…maybe even two people…" Reyna added with unease.
"Then we can't all go together!" Nya complained. After working so hard to force herself to make the plan go accordingly, Nya didn't want it to end right there.
Luckily for them, Jay managed to notice the fact that his allies weren't moving and following him. Making a mental note of which direction the Five were running in, he swerved down with the Bounty and came to ground level with them.
"I know what you guys are thinking – but get on…and bring Kai and Zane!" Jay yelled quickly from the deck and ran inside as fast as he had bolted out.
Cole and Lloyd quickly sprinted to the other side of the ship to pick up the red and white ninja while the kunoichi jumped on to the Bounty. Cole and Lloyd also jumped on very soon, but they were delayed further by the three sensei, who had just come down the hospital.
"Wait for us! We're coming too!" Garmadon shouted out at them. Fortunately for him, Wu, and Misako, Cole and Lloyd heard Garmadon's voice and somehow managed to relay the message that the three sensei were also coming with them.
The three of them also jumped on to the ship, and in moments, they were up and soaring through the sky. Lucky for them, there was enough room for the Bounty to go up in between the hospital and the other surrounding buildings. It would be a big problem if there wasn't…
As they flew through the air, it wasn't hard for the crew on the Bounty to spot the Five. They were still destroying things in their way, and even things that weren't.
That's a bad idea, Voltstriker told Jay while he was piloting the ship. The Blade was hidden in his pocket under his shirt, a very weird spot for someone to place a sword, but it worked nonetheless. He'd need the Blade's company while flying it, and they couldn't communicate if Voltstriker wasn't teaching the blue ninja. They might think the others are still following, just secretly or far behind, but their dark elements and path of destruction allow us to find them easily.
Jay nodded in agreement. The Five had practically revealed their location by continuing to destroy things, and they allowed the Bounty to follow them. A big problem was if they decided to attack the Bounty. Jay wasn't even confident enough to say that the ship was out of range of their attacks, and if it was, he couldn't make any assumption that he'd be able to dodge the attack in time, and that thought alone scared him a lot.
One good thing was that he was going slow enough so that the Five remained in his sight on the ground, ahead of the Bounty. If he was right above them, any one of the Five could easily blast the team out of the sky. He was at a fairly safe distance, but it was far from harmless.
They chased the Five to the outskirts of Ninjago City, and the desert that would be their only scenery went on and on for a very long time. The Five showed no intention of trying to stop their pursuers; in fact, they acted like there was nothing unusual about running for kilometers and being chased by a big flying boat.
They continued on and on, and soon, night had fallen which made tracking them a bit more difficult. On the map, Nya checked where they were and they were nowhere close to any city or even a town, and there was nothing familiar nearby either. They had been brought out to the middle of nowhere.
After what seemed like forever, the Five finally stopped running. Jay had no choice but to turn on the "headlights" of the Bounty to continue seeing them long before that happened. If they genuinely didn't know they were being followed that whole time, they would definitely know when the lights turned on.
The Five turned around and looked up at the Bounty and made some hand motions as if to say "come down, we won't do anything." Taking the risk, Jay landed the Bounty and everybody hopped off. Kai and Zane were fine now too, so they also came along.
"We know you came to find out where we've been living this whole time since we first met," Lucas explained without any hesitations. After all, if either of the parties should be scared, it should be the ninja and the kunoichi. It wouldn't be hard for the Five to kill them all in the dark, and there was little chance anyone would ever know about it anyways. "And I'll invite you into our little…residence. We won't harm you as long as you don't do that to us or any of our soldiers. Agreed?"
The ninja, kunoichi, and sensei were all stunned. They weren't expecting something so nice, at least not from Lucas. Palmer saying such things was understandable, as that was his nature, but the Five had probably talked over about this in the hours they were running to get here.
"That's…that's fine," Cole replied, not sure if he should be the one to give the answer, but he took charge anyways. No one seemed to object, so they entered their "residence" as Lucas called it, which went totally unseen by any of the ninja, kunoichi, and sensei.
The entrance was a tunnel in the ground and they walked forward, the Five in front, leading them. Soon enough, lights were on the walls that they walked past, and everyone could finally see what was ahead of them. They looked around at the walls, but it was very plain and there was nothing written on them like an Egyptian tomb would likely have.
They continued their walk and soon they entered a much more open space. They saw the soldiers of the Five, the Dead Army, they were called. The Army stared at them but made no motion at all towards them.
The group was lead into a much bigger room with a cold throne in the center of the room. A person sat on the throne, but the room was too dark for them to see the person's face. They all strained their eyes to catch a glimpse of the person's face, but it wasn't any use.
The person snapped their fingers, and in an instant, there were enough lights so that everyone could see each other, including the one sitting on the chair.
The ninja, kunoichi, and sensei all saw the person on the throne. It was an old man, about Wu's age, but he looked strong, fierce, and determined. Wu didn't radiate the strong and fierce part, but he was definitely determined, so there were some similarities.
The man on the chair immediately noticed something about the three sensei, but he remained quiet towards them. Instead, he decided to give them all a welcome. "Welcome, everybody, to my throne room. This is where I spend the majority of my time, sitting, thinking, and sleeping.
"That's nice, but…we still don't know who you are…" Jay muttered. Nobody else was bold enough to say that, but Jay knew the man was nice enough to not be completely strict and respected. He didn't seem like that kind of person.
The man grinned as if the answer to that question was very secretive. "You asked, so I'll give you the answer. My name is Byron, and I want the power for your Blades." He gave a dangerous smile, and everyone was left shocked that he was the Byron Wu and Misako had told them about long ago.
"Yo-you're Byron?" Lloyd asked in disbelief.
"The brother of Nekro?!" Nya was also bewildered.
"You fought your own brother?!" Reyna also exclaimed out of surprise.
Byron laughed out loud. His laugh sounded like that of a typical villain. "Yes, that's me. I fought my brother, Nekro, and my father banished me into exile. It's been a very sad and boring life, so I thought I could spice it up and have fun by trying to dominate over Ninjago!" He sounded proud and gleeful towards the end of his sentence.
The ninja, kunoichi, and sensei were all disgusted by his motives. He wanted to risk so many people's lives for his own entertainment?
"That's stupid," Kai spat. "A lot of people have had a hard life, but you don't see them being sad about it trying to look better by doing dumb things like this."
Byron felt amused. "Oh really? Is that so?" He didn't even bother countering or defending himself. He looked towards the three sensei standing at the back. "Long time no see, Wu, Garmadon, and Misako. Garmadon, I thought you were evil too…could've joined my side…" he muttered in disappointment.
The ninja and kunoichi turned back at the sensei, even more surprised that Byron somehow knew them all.
"Sensei? He knows all three of you?!" Zane couldn't understand how Byron knew the three.
"Oh, did none of them tell you?" Byron asked, unamused by the shock and suspense he was creating. "My father and the father of Wu and Garmadon were brothers."
"Which makes you…" Astra began.
"Their cousin!" Brisa squeaked.
Zoe was confused, not knowing the story. "Hold up, hold up! I've been wondering since we entered this room. Who's Byron? Who's Nekro? And why are they so important?"
"You see this clown in front of us?" Cole actually became impatient for once.
"He's the one who's been leading the Five so far, so he's an enemy," Lloyd finished the quick explanation.
"Aaaaaand who's Nekro?" the pink kunoichi re-asked that question.
"Nekro is Byron's younger brother," Misako answered that question. "When they were younger, they had a fight much like Wu and Garmadon did. Nekro won, and Byron was exiled."
Zoe looked at the two brothers, Wu and Garmadon. It was hard to imagine that they had a serious fight when they were younger, but it had to be true.
"Sensei, why did you hide the fact that you were cousins with him?" the blue ninja asked Sensei Wu.
"Yeah, I mean, it's surprising, but not that big of a deal," the cyan kunoichi elaborated a bit to not sound like they were mad at him for keeping it a secret.
"I just…didn't think it was necessary, as you said yourself," Wu admitted honestly. With the answer they got, they nodded and turned back around to look at Byron, still sitting on his throne. However, he was looking quite amused.
So Byron is a first cousin to Wu and Garmadon, and he's trying to rule Ninjago for fun...wow...what a guy. But next chapter we'll hear more about him and his backstory.
And just so you know...this is STILL the same day as I think...chapter 42 or 43. That's 10 chapters before this, and it's still the same day in the story. Pretty crazy. Anyways, hope you liked it!
