"Hiya!" Rose's outline was barely seen in the smoke even when she was two feet away from Tanaka's sight. She pulled out a small knife and started cutting the bonds, "Thanks for doing this… sorry we took so long…" she rubbed her eye from the gas floating through the cave base.
Tanaka stood up first and helped Ella get to her feet, leading her outside where Misako was busy wrapping up the mess with the lookouts. He gave a thumbs up and she gestured to the others to finish tying the soldiers up and to move in again together.
"Nice job…" Garmadon grinned and looked back at his wife.
"Thank you, I see you and Rose did a lovely job yourselves," she brushed against him. "If we manage to at least catch one of the generals… that'll put some ease on the men…" she held her chain sickle at ready, swinging one end, ready to start whipping it around. Inside Rose's team was circling Samukai, and of course, being the coward he was, held his hands in the air.
Kirchon grimaced at the pathetic skeleton general and held his axes, ready to keep on going. "You are pathetic Samukai!" the six armed general scolded in his heavy accent. "Ve shall never surrender!" some of the six armed men shouted and raised their weapons up as well in agreement with the general.
"Wu, Kasai… we really need you right now…" Misako's eyes widened, seeing a lot of people were about to get hurt in a few seconds. A couple of beats of almost silence and two Spinjitsu tornadoes whipped in, knocking the others back. "Where's Arcturus though-" the woman with the braid felt something grab her by her tunic and low and behold the Anacondrai general had her in grasp, another hand slipping around her throat.
"Why it's been a while my dear," he hissed, looking at Garmadon with a sneaky smile. "Whatever shall you do to save your woman you pathetic creature…?"
Her eyes begged him to not jump into something stupid because he would no doubt get maimed by the Serpentine general. "I would watch yourselves… I have several more warriors and assassins gathered around this place…" he chuckled. "Like I would fall prey to your silly idea you called a trap you ingrates of humans…"
In the back, behind the large group, Ed and Edna looked at one another and pulled out several more contraptions from their bags and nodded in silence. Edna struck a match and lit a small wick that followed into a metal shell though she hesitated at first. "Edna… just do it… there'll be enough time…" Ed prodded her.
His wife nodded, lighting the fuse at last. She launched it high over their friends, right to wear Kirchon and Samukai stood. "SHRAPNEL BOMB!" she warned everyone and there was a frenzy to hit the deck and make sure they wouldn't get hit by such a dangerous weapon.
Arcturus shoved Misako into Garmadon's arms as he disappeared and took cover himself. Misako pushed her husband down first right when the little bomb went off.
After the smoke had cleared, there were several groans and wails of pain, primarily coming from the several Serpentine and Kirchon and his men. The skeletons were blasted to pieces themselves. It caused so much damage for such a tiny ball.
Garmadon shook his head, hearing a ringing in his ears, seeing almost double of everything. He squeezed his eyes shut in hope of redirecting them. "Ahhh…" Misako dragged her legs around, leaning against the boulder they sat behind. "You… okay?" she huffed.
He opened his eyes again, vision returning to normal. "Oh gods…" he shook his head, "You got hit!?"
She shook her head, "It's… it's nothing…" blood stained her pants and small tears were seen in it. "Would have done the same for me…" she smiled a little before trying to move her legs again.
"Damn it…" he looked over and saw many of the enemies were down. Skeletons mainly laid in cracked pieces and were the least bit damaged. Arturus' body was found behind several other Serpentine and was mildly damaged with cuts along his purple and black scales but he was breathing.
There were very few, but among other casualties Ed's left leg also injured. "Edna right?" Garmadon sat up with an angry look on his face. She nodded, helping her own husband to stand on one leg, knowing what would be coming next from him. "What the hell was that!? You could have killed us!"
"Garmadon…" Misako grabbed his pant leg, looking very mad at him; she didn't want the poor woman to get scolded just for doing what she knew would fix such a situation. She may have made the fuse to short so they could all take cover but it wasn't like she meant it.
Edna frowned, "Oh I'm sorry but I think I just landed us three generals…" she snapped back. "I didn't mean for anyone on our team to get hurt… but what were you going to do Garmadon? From what your wife and other team mates said, you never think any plans through and almost get yourself killed on a regular basis when it was just the six of you…"
He kept his mouth shut after that comment and looked back down at Misako, deciding to carefully pick her up. She smiled a little; proud he didn't bark back and cause more of a spat when there was his wife and her husband to look after besides arresting the other enemy soldiers.
"I think you need Namiko to heal you…" he finally said, looking at small slash marks in several places in her legs. There weren't too many but it was enough to make her hurt.
She nodded, biting her lip. "Yes…" she looked back at the generals and did a double take; Arcturus was now gone. "Oh no…" she closed her eyes. "All of that and we didn't even get the worst of them all…"
"I'm calling father…" Wu walked up to them. "Lock Kirchon up and send Samukai's boney butt back where he belongs…" he looked at Misako's injury. "I'll hold things down here with Rose, Tanaka, and Crevan while you see Namiko with Kasai… tell her I said hi," he smiled.
"Thanks…" Misako breathed, in pain but just felt like falling asleep in her husband's arms from the adrenaline wearing off.
Namiko sat on the porch of her house, watching Kai pretend play with Hiroshi, using toy swords. He looked very happy and into the little game the old blacksmith was playing with him. The two year old was hacking and slashing randomly while Hiroshi was trying to correct him and his moves.
"No no no Kai," the gray haired man laughed trying to get the little boy to stop for a minute, "It's slash down, slash up, parry," he demonstrated with one hand on his sword. The little one kept doing his own thing though, squealing with laughter.
His mother looked off down the road and she saw a small cart with a horse. She squinted to see its rider and covered her mouth. "Well hello there ma'am…" Kasai gave a lopsided grin. "Might you tell us where a bunch of weary travels could lodge for the night?" he laughed.
At the sound of his father's voice, Kai turned around and gaped before darting right over to the black haired man, dismounting from the big horse. "DADDY DADDY DADDY DADDY!" he chanted as Kasai scooped him, kissing him repeatedly. It had only been four months but he missed the toddler more than anything.
"What are you doing here?" Namiko slowly got up with the help of Hiroshi. She kissed him hello.
He looked back at Misako who waved a little and then he looked back, "We require your… expertise…" he licked his bottom lip. "Sorry to say it had to take something like this to make me come back home… for a while at least…"
Garmadon, you guys can have the guest bed…" Namiko stepped up on the porch, "I'll get my little medical kit…"
Misako was lying back on the guest bed, slowly and painfully removing her pants so Namiko to see the injury better, "Oh no…" she sighed. "Well… first… I need to remove the shrapnel…" she looked it over. "It looks like… four… five… pieces…" she tied her hair back. "Not too bad but I can only imagine the pain you're experiencing now…"
"No shit…" Misako clenched her teeth when she saw Namiko get their little first aid kit out. Some had to be in deeper than the other ones.
"Sorry in advance Mimi…" the brown eyed one had a guilty look on her face. "I'll see if I have any numbing stuff…"
Garmadon grabbed her hand because this could take a while.
"Father!" Wu brightly smiled when he saw the old Spinjitsu Master walk into camp, "We've missed you!" he decided to go for a hug.
"Where's your brother or Misako?" he looked around, wondering where the two might have sneaked off to. They were two of the few in charge after all.
The son sighed, "Shrapnel bomb got Misako so Kas took her and Garmadon back to his place so Namiko can work her magic, plus I'm sure he wanted to be there when his daughter's born…"
"Ah yes," his father nodded and they walked into where they were holding the prisoners. The man with the sighed, shaking his head, "Another mess of yours I must clean up Samukai…" Masuta folded his arms in his sleeves then glanced at Kirchon, "And yes… how can I forget you? If only my wife was here to smack you herself…"
The two captives both were ignoring the man in the tan robes. "Well Samukai will be thrown back you belong and I am taking you, Kirchon, to the prison… it will be nice there, you see, there have been many more added since you left… I'm sure though Arcturus broke most of the best utilizing ones out to serve him… but nonetheless I shall mop up you terrible lot…"
"Taking them off then?" Rose placed her hands on her hips. Masuta nodded and she smiled, "Nice to see you again Master," she nodded back. When he left she looked around, "Tanaka and Crevan headed back to his village nearby I take it?"
"Yea, Ella went with them also," Wu yawned, feeling tired. "I just hope Misako's alright…" they walked out together. He hated seeing her always going through some form of pain. It amazed him how the older woman could keep pushing through it all.
"Psh she's a tough old battle axe," Rose laughed, elbowing the much shorter brother. "You think a bunch of little shrapnel is gonna phase her? She's the ninja of earth Wu! Rock solid and all that?"
"Yea I know…" he wiped one eye tiredly, ready to get some sleep at last. "Goodnight Rose, you know to wake everyone first sign of an attack…"
"Of course," she walked off in the other direction than the tents.
Kasai bounced his son on his knee, sitting in the living room, "That Misako friend of yours is a tough girl… I can barely hear her," Hiroshi looked surprised. "Are you going to stick around for a few more days? Nami's getting awfully close…"
Kasai nodded, "I'd like to… I hope I can…" he sat back and closed his eyes, "Thank you for taking care of them for me… you have no idea how much I appreciate this".
The old man laughed, "They've been an absolute joy Kas… Kai here might even become a samurai when he's all grown up!" he pointed to the giggly boy just happy to have his daddy back home with him.
"Da?" he looked back, "What sa… sa-"
"Samurai?" His father raised an eyebrow.
"YA!"
"An ancient warrior who used swords! They were guards to mighty kings and regents! People even called them heroes!"
Kai turned around leaned against Kasai's chest; "I wanna be he-ro!" he looked up.
The black haired ninja smiled, noticing how much his little boy changed over the past few months, how pretty much all his teeth had grown in, how Namiko let his brown hair grow a little longer than he always liked it, now sticking up in odd directions. His eyes seemed a little different as well, a new spark of fire in his umber irises.
"Why of course you'll be a hero little one…" he kissed his nose. "The greatest of them all!" he cuddle the boy he missed for too long. "So… why don't you tell me what you and Hiroshi have been up to?"
His former master chuckled, "Well Kas, believe it or not, you little boy actually started calling me grandpa the other day…" Kai nodded looking up.
Kasai's eyebrows went up in surprise. Hiroshi hadn't been around Kai that much, sure when he was an infant the old blacksmith visited once or twice when he could, but Kai was just an infant at that point. Still, he liked the idea; Hiroshi was really like a father to him now anyways.
"All done with that part…" Namiko threw the bloody cloth and fabric away and rubbed her hands together, "Now comes the nice part…" she laughed, holding her hands over the bloody spots the metal was wedged in. Seconds after her hands glowed their gold magic. The wounds sealed up and it looked almost like nothing had happened, just leaving faint marks. "Some flesh will remain a little scarred but any damage to muscle is fixed up. You still might wanna rest though for a day or so".
Misako nodded; relieved the pain was gone at last. "Sound good…" she stretched her legs a little more, head sinking into the pillow on the bed, almost falling right asleep.
The brunette got up, "I'll you two alone now," she shut the door behind her.
"I was scared that you'd bleed out ya know…" Garmadon flopped down next to Misako, pulling her a little closer to him. "Then again; I always worry about you no matter what…" he kissed her cheek.
She smiled and cuddled closer, "Thank you for shutting that trap of yours like a good boy," Misako pinched his cheek a little before he swatted it away.
I love the idea that Edna, though incredibly sweet and an awesome mom, she had a bit of a mad scientist way of thinking... like her and Ed liked chemistry and making stuff explode for either enjoyment, or just a part of their job. I also like to think an little bit younger Edna had some fire in her spirit when it came to defending a creation or something. IDK, just my little things I threw in XD
Of course the whole concept of Hiroshi is just my own creative thing that I know would so not ever happen on the show... but I when I first had Kasai become a blacksmith under him, I remember how I had Kas' dad abandon him as a young kid, so Hiroshi could have been like a replacement...
I just hope since this entire story is based around a couple loose facts and a couple solid ones with a bunch of OCs chucked into it that I'm at least doing an OK job at development and stuff...
Ugh I'm so tired and thinking too deeply XD two days of work will do that I guess... thanks for reading! I love ya guys and hanks for putting up with me ;D
~Mar
