As the ninja, kunoichi, and samurai informed Marcell of their journey so far, Sensei Wi and the parents arrived to where they were, being escorted by Bronze and Andrex the vampires.
"Ah, how nice to see some old faces, and new faces too," Marcell said, as she walked over and bowed respectfully to the older people.
"It's nice to see you again, Marcell," Misako said as she bowed back, as well as the others with her.
"In better ciircumstances," Garmadon added, which made Marcell nod and say,
"Definantly."
"So you are Marcell the Vampire Queen. Your sister has spoken fondly of you," Reine said, and Marcell looked towards her with wide eyes.
"Your highness. You truly are free from the crystal prison," Marcell said, and Reine nodded.
"It's all thanks to my husband and Dr. Julien," Reine said with a smile, and Marcell nodded.
"That's great news to hear, your majesty," Marcell said.
"You can call me Reine, or Sensei Reine," Reine said, and Marcell nodded and said,
"Alright then, Sensei Reine."
Marcell looked towards King Terrin, who stood next to his wife.
"Well, I feel honored to have such royalty before me. The King and Queen of the Viporeons," Marcell said, and Terrin nodded.
"Yes, we're in a pretty difficult situation with Silva, then Darkness, and now Kerri," Terrin said, and Marcell tilted her head.
"Who's Kerri?" Marcell asked.
"We were about to get to that," Flare said.
"Do tell," Marcell said.
After informing Marcell about Kerri and her dark deeds, Marcell nodded while in deep thought.
"Well, isn't this a predicament," Marcell said, still thinking carefully.
"What is it sister?" Lucy asked in concern, and then Marcell snapped out of her thoughts and explained,
"Well, since we've been apart, we have been here in this city creating mechanisms of all sorts and sending them to Darkness. He gave us explanations and diagrams of what he wanted us to make, and with the Serpentine, it made it much easier to craft those things. My concern is that I'm not sure where Darkness goes when we give him his stuff, or what he plans to do with it. He's cleverly vague, which is very irritating after awhile."
"What kind of contraptions did he ask you to make?" Sensei Wu asked, and Marcell replied,
"I have the blueprints if you want to see."
Sensei Wu nodded, as Marcell looked towards Pythor and said,
"Retrieve the blueprints."
"Yes, your highness," Pythor said. However, as he passed by, Pythor looked towards Terrin, who gave him a quick glance back.
'He's not a Serpentine. Why is he the King of the Viporeons?' Pythor thought.
After Pythor returned with the blueprints, Marcell showed them to the Ninja crew. The blueprints showed a lot of different pieces and parts, but there was another blueprint that showed a full machine. The full-machine blueprint was in the shape of a tall 'C' with a black circular metal base. The 'C' part was half black on the bottom and half silver on the top. On the top on the tip, was a metal piece that was in the shape of a needle that aimed towards the base. There were also ten, thick, black needles that stood around the base, aiming towards the ground.
"What is that thing?" Nya asked, taking a closer look.
"I'm not sure. It doesn't look like anything useful," Jay said.
"Well, if Darkness wants it to be made, then it can't be for no reason," Flare said.
"Good point," Jay said.
"Did you already construct these devices?" Auria asked Marcell.
"Yes. We made each of those large machines parts, and we made like five of these 'C' shaped ones," Marcell replied.
"Are they still here?" Cole asked.
"No. We sent them out to Darkness already," Marcell replied.
"Did you try to follow Darkness, to see where he was putting these things?" Christa asked.
"I sent Pythor to follow him since he could turn invisible, but a sand storm came and he lost track of them," Marcell said while looking towards Pythor a little disappointed, as Pythor looked away.
"So we have no idea what Darkness is doing with this stuff or where he is? Well isn't that a great disadvantage," Kai said.
"Well then, Mister Obvious, how about you travel across the desert and track Darkness on your own while keeping a low profile, OH! Wait a minute, YOU CAN'T," Marcell said as she walked up to Kai, annoyed, and continued,
"Your clothes are so bright and red that a blind person would STILL have a clear shot of you!"
Kai backed away slowly when he noticed Marcell's fangs were showing since she was annoyed. The others watched nervously, besides Terrin, Reine, Sensei Wu, Garmadon, Violet, and Flare. Flare was giggling while holding her hand on her mouth.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you or anything. I was just saying we're at a disadvantage," Kai said quick to try and ease the situation he was in.
Marcell signed.
"Yeah. Well anyway, we'll have three days before we can leave," Marcell said as she left Kai alone, which made him sign in relief.
"Three days?" Misako asked.
"Yes. We need time to prepare for our journey out of this desert. Darkness came here yesterday, and he'll probably be back in a week or more. He takes his time, that arrogant son of a- well anyway, three days and then we go IMMEDIATELY! Understood?" Marcell said, and the Ninja Crew nodded in agreement.
"I'll have more time to train," Raven said, as Auria, Christa, and Flare nodded towards her.
"You've done very well in harnessing the power of wind. I think your ready for a greater challenge," Auria said, and looked towards Flare, who nudged her fist into her hand and said,
"It's time I showed you what the power over shadows can really do."
Raven became a bit nervous, but then she breathed in and out, and replied,
"Okay, I'm ready to learn."
Raven went in a fighting stance with a smile, as Flare sniffled a bit, while she wiped away a fake tear and said,
"I'm already proud of your fighting spirit and we haven't even started yet."
"Hey! Not here, this is my office. We have an open arena my people made. You can train there," Marcell said.
"Your office is a whole arena?" Jay asked.
"... Yes," Marcell answered.
"Shall I guide them there?" Violet asked Marcell and she replied,
"Go ahead."
Violet gestured for the ninja and kunoichi to follow, as they nodded and walked behind her. Dareth, of course, walked next to Violet and smiled at her as she smiled back.
The older adults stood with Marcell for a while.
"Marcell, what else information do you have?" Sensei Wu asked.
"Well, Darkness doesn't come around so often so there's not much to tell besides what I already told you," Marcell said and continued, "But..."
"What is it?" Garmadon asked.
Marcell took a moment to think, and then she said,
"Besides the 'C' shaped mechanism, I believe that the other pieces of machinery are part of something much bigger. The only problem is, I can't think of what it might be."
"That's why we have to stop Darkness as soon as possible," Misako said.
"But we have no idea where he is, or when he will strike next," said.
"Hold on. Pythor followed Darkness towards that direction," Marcell said, as she pointed towards where she was mentioning.
"Over there? But isn't that in the direction where-" Dr. Julien said, but was cut off by Misako as she said,
"Where Ninjago City is."
After a moment of silence, Sensei Reine said,
"He could be hiding out in Ninjago City. It's not like any of us have been there this whole time."
"That's correct my love. That would be the perfect spot," Terrin responded.
"I'll tell Zane to send the Falcon to investigate," Dr. Julien said, as he headed towards where the ninja were going.
"I hope everything's alright over there," Reine said.
"Let's all hope that everything is well," Sensei Wu said, although he couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.
We're getting closer...
