And Here's the second chapter of the day. Please enjoy the read!
"So Lord Garmadon is hallucinating himself?" Tox asked dryly. "That's too precious!"
"It means maybe the Garmadon we knew back on my father's island may not he dead after all." Skylor pointed out. "Alright, Dareth, I want you to act like a Chen's noodle delivery boy."
"Do I get to deliver your puffy potstickers?"
"No... but I promise all you can eat potstickers after this, alright?"
Dareth greedily rubbed his hands together. "I can live with that."
"Good... Now the rest of us have to figure out how to get inside."
"Maybe I can help with that."
The voice came from behind, arriving silently like a shadow. The three masters and ... well... brown, spun around on alert.
"Shade!" Tox gasped. "I thought you bailed with Griff and Karlof!"
"For one, they didn't bail. They had perfectly legitimate reasons for leaving. Two, I pretended to leave because I wasn't a team player. I have methods of getting info that the ninja would never approve of. I finally got a lead which led me here... guess we're on the same track."
Dareth gulped. Shade had tortured someone for info on Lloyd? Man, he must have been committed to the task at hand.
"Think you can get us in there?" Neuro asked, handing the master of shadow the binoculars and pointing out the window.
"No fire escape... means we'll have to scale the outer wall... and do it quickly. I think I can do it though."
Shade nodded. "I'm down for it."
"Good... then we have a workable plan."
"You fought valiantly, ninja..." Chen sneered, pacing before the captured elemental masters. "But my cabal of ninja haters made sure to out your plans out of commission!"
Chen and Garmadon each had something in common. They were crazy. Except unlike Garmadon, Jay could see crazy swimming in Chen's eyes as the tyrant paced in front of them. They were in chains on their knees before Chen.
The battle had started out pretty well... then quickly taken a dive bomb to failure as they got overwhelmed. The SOGs, Chen's former associates, Pirates, and gangs had all united under Chen's command to form a group with one singular purpose... destroy the ninja.
The fight had lasted for hours, but they just hadn't stood a chance.
"But this isn't all of you." Chen sighed, shaking his head. "Oh well. We'll find them after we take over ninjago!"
"Come on!" Kai groaned. "We literally did this whole 'take over Ninjago' thing months ago! It failed then, it'll fail now."
"Wrong!" Chen laughed, insanity lurking in his eyes once more. "I'm not Lord Garmadon. I'm better than he is!"
Chen turned to his 'army' gathered in the sand. "Go! Go take Ninjago! wreak havoc! burn buildings! Raze the city to the ground! And bring me everyone who allied themselves with the ninja!"
Dareth readjusted his noodle hat as he approached the door of apartment 118. With a box of Chen's noodles clutched in one hand, he knocked on the door with the other.
He could hear a peculiar scraping sound stop from within. Okay... just gotta get him to uh... gulp... open the door.
"Chen's noodles." Dareth called.
Shuffling, heavy footsteps, a deep yet chillingly familiar voice. "I didn't order noodles."
"Uh... yes, you did!" Dareth replied. "One hot and steamy regular noodle for-for Garmadon."
The growl from the otherside of the door made Dareth's knees quake. Without any warning, the door was thrown open, hands gripped Dareth's collar and yanked him inside. He was vaguely aware of losing his noodle hat.
Dareth chuckled nervously as Garmadon towered over him.
"What did you say your name was?"
"Uh hehe... Uh-um Daret-Daren?"
"Daren... what?"
Get a grip. You're the brown ninja. You don't get scared of chickens like Lord Garmadon.Putting on a fake face of confidence, Dareth shrugged. "Just Daren. Noe do you want these noodles or not?"
"As I said before. They aren't mine."
"Well their on the house-" Daren saw Shade appear in the window across the room and shift through it. "If you complete the Chen's noodle trivia quiz!"
Wind tore at Skylor's jacket as she slipped across the window sills. It was rough going, scaling the outer walls of the building and using small nearly nonexistent ledges to get to the window smack dab in the center of the wall.
Shade was surprisingly adept at it, moving carefully as he went.
He made it to the window first.
Tox and Neuro had opted to get their escape vehicle ready.
"Skylor." Neuro's voice chirped through her ear piece. "The ninja were captured at Kryptarium. A mob of criminals is making its way rapidly towards Ninjago."
"Thaaat's not good." Shade muttered. Why couldn't things just go right for once?
"It gets worse... They want all of us..."
"Okay... we gotta get Lloyd first and then get to safe ground. Get the vehicle to the rendezvous point."
"This is happening way to much these days." Shade pointed out.
"I know. Now can you get through that window or not?"
"Just give me a minute!" Shade snapped, reaching the window and shifting through it.
"You see Daren I could have sworn I've seen you before."
"Nope! Never seen me! I've just been... you know... serving noodles?"
He glanced past Garmadon to see Skylor outside the window... she wasn't going through though.
"What are you-" Garmadon spun around, but Skylor was gone.
"Question number one... uh.." Dareth tapped his chin. "Who owns chen's noodles?"
"You're kidding right?"
Shade closed his eyes as he moved out from behind the curtain. Garmadon's attention was back on Dareth for the time being.
There was a narrow hallway with a living room on the end... bookshelf. Perfect. He slipped down the hallway, feeling a little more at ease now that he wasn't in the same room as a homicidal maniac.
Okay... bookshelf... not very big. Neuro said... Art of War... no you idiot Moby Dick! Moby Dick Moby Dick... where are you Moby Dick? Aha!
Shade plucked Moby Dick off the shelf, or rather just pulled it forward. The book shelf visibly shifted slightly, and Shade pushed it aside. He winced when it creaked, but thankfully that blasted brown ninja was so loud.
In the wall was a door with a latch. He quickly undid it and opened the door. A draft cold draft bit at his skin as he stepped down two steps. The secret room looked to double as a bunker, furnished more as a kitchen than anything else.
He glanced around, and upon rounding a corner, saw Lloyd curled up on the floor.
"Hey Greenie!" He hissed, causing Lloyd to stir slightly.
Shade dropped to his knees and checked Lloyd over. His Gi was soaked in red blood, face a few shades paler than normal. He was wearing bandages already soaked through with blood.
"Come on..." Shade muttered, putting a hand on Lloyd's knee and shaking slightly. They say let sleeping ninja lie, and Shade quickly wondered if maybe he should have listened.
Lloyd's eyes flew open, and despite the pain it clearly caused, sat up and shoved Shade back.
A little startled, Shade just sat there as Lloyd's collapsed back.
"Now I know I've got problems." Lloyd muttered to himself. 'I'm seeing you of all people."
"You're not seeing things, kid. We've been looking all over for you. Now Dareth's out there distracting your father! We gotta go."
Lloyd nodded, realization dawning on his face, along with one of his usual hope filled smirks. It made Shade actually somewhat optimistic... which was scary.
"You know..." Shade remarked, slipping a knife from his boot to slice through the zip tie holding Lloyd's arm in place. "-you're not looking so hot."
Lloyd huffed out a pained chuckle. "It probably looks better than I feel?"
"I hope not. You look worse than crap."
The Zip tie snapped, letting Lloyd's arm fall free. "Think you can stand?"
"Well I'm not letting you carry me out bridal style." Lloyd retorted. Guess his sense of humor wasn't damaged.
"Shame."
Shade propped Lloyd up enough to get his arm across the master of shadow's shoulder... before standing all the way up. "Alright... easy urg... does it."
"Gah! Forgot about... my side..." Lloyd gasped, his vision swimming as he bit back a wave of nausea.
"Just take it easy. I've got you." Shade assured, not liking how pale the kid had gotten.
Lloyd took one step before a wave of dizziness took over and forced his knees to buckle.
"Woah woah..." Shade held on tight and fought to regain his balance. "Sure you don't... grr...want me to carry you?"
Lloyd took a rattling breath. "I'm ... good."
"You'd better be. Now let's get out of here."
Shade took most of the green ninja's weight since the kid couldn't support his own weight.
"And what year was the Puffy-"
"Stop!" Garmadon growled. "I've had enough of this!"
Dareth gulped as he saw Shade help Lloyd limp out of the hallway and into the living room.
They were almost free, almost out... but then Shade made the fatal error of putting his foot down on a creaky floorboard.
And Garmadon whirled around.
Lloyd looked momentarily terrified when Garmadon spun to face them. He could feel every muscle in Shade's frame stiffen as he guided Lloyd a step back towards the window.
"What do you think you're doing?" Lord Garmadon demanded, his voice laden with hostility.
"Isn't it obvious?" Sensei Garmadon asked. "Leaving... and you'd be wise to let them."
"I'm leaving." Shade snarled icily. 'And I'm taking greenie with me."
"I don't think so..."
"Go, Shade! I got this!" Dareth danced in front of Garmadon. "Prepare to face the wrath of the turtle strike!"
Dareth bent at the waist and ran into Garmadon, causing the big guy to stagger just a little. Shade just gaped at Dareth, and Garmadon tossed the master of brown aside like a kicked puppy.
"Let them go." Sensei Garmadon commanded sharply, standing between Shade and Lord Garmadon.
"Shut up!" Garmadon sneered.
"Uh... No one said anything." Shade pointed out. Lord Garmadon really had gone looney hadn't he?
"He's hallucinating his own good side..." Lloyd explained quietly. All this movement was taking it out of him, and Shade could see his eyes slipping shut.
"Greenie... Just stay with me." Shade shook him lightly, which seemed to do the trick.
Garmadon watched Shade take another step back. He could easily end this now. Engaging in a fight would make Shade either drop Lloyd and fight, or hold onto Lloyd and make a retreat... or try. Killing Dareth would be easy, same with Lloyd. One throw of his sword... but that all seemed to easy... and the thought of killing his own son... What once would have been easy, now seemed like an impossible task.
It wasn't that he loved his son. No he told himself absolutely not. This was just what was easy. Let Lloyd go. Let someone else take care of him so Lord Garmadon could kill him later. That seemed plausible... It would mean giving up his hide out... perhaps he could move to some volcano somewhere.
"Go." Garmadon growled."Just... get out."
He pointed to the door, which Dareth barrelled out of. On the upside, they wouldn't have to carry Lloyd down the side of a building. Skylor, who'd been eavesdropping from outside, breathed a sigh of relief.
By the time Shade made it to ground level, Lloyd was barely able to keep his head from sagging against his chest.
Skylor was there with the get away car.
"They've reached the edge of the city." Neuro informed Skylor and Shade as they eased Lloyd into the back of the noodle van and onto a makeshift stretcher.
"After Lord Garmadon attacked last time, I had a safe house built into the noodle shop. The bunker has enough supplies to last a while."
"Then let's hit the road!" Tox growled, jamming her foot down on the peddle.
The car jerked, and Skylor was forced to hold Lloyd in place.
"Easy, Tox!"
"Yeah yeah... take all the fun outta it why don't you."
"How is he?" Neuro asked, glancing over the back seat. Lloyd was drifting in and out of consciousness, his face permanently set in a pained wince.
"Hard to tell right now." Skylor replied, giving him once over... "But it doesn't look great."
"This is your bunker?" Tox gasped. The bunker was huge, almost like a palace with lots of room to move and roam. There were a stack of sleeping mats in the corner, and a pile of blankets, a fully finished living room with a sixty inch tv screen, a bathroom, and a fully automated kitchen.
"Yup... Welcome to home sweet home until whatever... that is... up there gets stopped.
Shade and Neuro set Lloyd's stretcher down in the sleeping area.
"Do you have medical supplies?" Neuro asked quickly.
"Yeah, under the bathroom sink. You patch Lloyd up, and the rest of us will figure out how to help our mutual friends currently being held hostage by my father."
So... Lloyd's rescued, but the story isn't over! Keep tuned to see what happens with Garmadon, Chen, Lloyd, and the ninja!
Zena Airale: Uh oh. No heart attacks please!
Hypothetical Alien24: Oooh soo many questions. And I will get to answering them... in upcoming chapters. No spoilers though! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.