Flames were engulfing the left half of the village.
"Ellies, where are you?" Ronin demanded into the head sets they had been equipped with in Skylor's training.
"West side of town near the market!" Lloyd replied. "Is it the bandits?"
"There was a fire arrow attack from the tree lines! Lord Garmadon wants you to meet him near the mayor's house. ASAP."Lloyd and the others arrived in record time. Garmadon was looking ticked off at the world... well more at the bandits encroaching on his land.
"Ronin, take Skylor, water, and fire to keep an eye on things here and get the fires put out. The rest of us are hitting the strong hold."
"Yes sir." Ronin huffed, nodding at Skylor and the two elementals assigned to his squad. Fire and Water? Kai frowned... no one had really told them their elemental abilities.
Garmadon sighed. "You two. Kal and Nancy." Were there not a zappy button just a few inches from Garmadon's fingers, Kai might have dared to correct him.
"Move it!" Ronin snapped. "No slow pokes on my squad."
Skylor moved to keep up with Ronin, flipping her braid back across her shoulder. "You heard him."
Lloyd silently followed behind his father as they trekked through the overgrown forests on the east side of the village. Behind them, the screams of terrorized villagers echoed off the valley walls.
But Lloyd was focused on his father. A deep rooted anger had settled in his chest, an all consuming rage that burned his insides.
He hated the man leading his troop, hated the man who brought nothing but pain and destruction. Nonetheless, Lloyd would help him... but only because innocent villagers were at stake.
And then his uncle had just... shown up. And what was with Kai and Nya calling Wu their uncle? As far as Lloyd knew, Wu and Garmadon were his only relatives. Well aside from his mother. Could have been on their side. It seemed though, that whatever the case, Wu had screwed Kai over too.
Garmadon silently stuck a fist in the air, halting their progress. His fingers rose to his lips as he crouched behind a bush and motioned for them to look. A clearing was housing a band of leather clad bandits. It seemed that they had fortified the outskirts.
"I need another bucket of water!" Skylor called. Nya's arms burned as she grit her teeth and pulled on the rope, grabbing the bucket as soon as it reached arm's length and transferring the water to Kai's pail.
The fires raged on, barely contained by their futile attempts to put them out.
"So, any chance of this getting put out?"
He could see Skylor's jaw twitch as she passed water down the line. He had to admit, he was drawn in by her amber eyes and soft face... but there was a hardness in her eyes that Kai could see just as easily.
"Not a clue." She admitted. "It would be nice if Nya could call in a rain a storm."
The rope slipped from Nya's grasp, a surprised look on her face. Call a rain storm? She couldn't do that. Maybe she was supposed to be the elemental master of water, but it wasn't like she could summon it at command.
She found herself getting stressed. Could she summon a rainstorm? Just like that? What if she could, and the village burned down because she didn't know how?
"Nya! Another bucket!" Kai called.
Shaking it off, Nya shook her head and continued her job thoughtfully.
"Take cover!" A villager cried. Nya looked up to see a new wave of flaming projectiles shooting from the tree lines.
Kai bolted, dragging his sister and... possible love interest? by the arm. The arrows moved faster than they could run, and a flaming arrow grazed his arm before stabbing into the ground.
"Move move move!" Skylor cried, grabbing him by the shoulder pad of his armor and jerking him under a porch roof.
It saved the from getting speared, but before long, flames were licking the even that building.
"This is their camp." Garmadon hissed quietly. "A majority of their troops are back towards the tree line. If we can knock their leader out, the others will fall."
Lloyd glanced at the others. They weren't trained to the extent he was. Sure they'd managed the katas that helped one learn the motions, but two days was far from enough time. What could he do though?
"On my signal, initiate maneuver twenty-seven."
"Maneuver twenty-seven?" Jay asked dryly. "What the heck's that supposed to mean?"
A long suffering sigh escaped the dark lord's mouth. "Fan out, surround, and attack on my signal."
Lloyd didn't need to be told twice, disappearing through the bushes with the silence of a ninja. Of course he was one.
Cole and Zane went right and Jay followed Lloyd's path.
They kept the clearing in eye sight, fanning out as instructed. Zane didn't totally appreciate taking orders from the antagonist of their story. He assumed the others didn't like it all that much either, but choice wasn't on their side.
It rarely was.
Garmadon hadn't clarified their signal. Was it an attack? Garmadon's furious shout was pretty evident of that.
Sword clanging, furious shouts, and a chorus of new ones. Four recruits lunged from the woods. By far, Lloyd was the most advanced fighter. He was dropping them like flies, non lethal take downs.
Jay tackled one, using a move he'd learned from one of Garmadon's many beat downs.
The ground rumbled as Cole slammed a fist into the dirt. Rocks shot off the ground, pelting a small cluster of warriors.
Zane dodged an axe swinging over his head. Pulling his blaster out, he fired at two, hitting three in the chest.
They tensed up, collapsing.
"The fire's too strong!" Ronin bellowed over the roaring flames. "We need to evacuate the village!"
"No!" Skylor called. "There's still a chance! Nya can summon a rain storm."
"I can't!" Nya cried. "I've been trying and trying!"
Skylor left the line and grabbed her shoulders, digging her fingers hard enough to leave welts. "Nya. You can."
The black haired teen looked at Skylor brokenly, eyes wide in frustration. Trying to summon in this storm was like trying to will anything beyond your control... impossible. Guilt bubbled up inside, hot tears pricking the back of her eyes.
Ronin growled, knowing full well that Nya was no where near capable of doing as Skylor asked. He might as well save her the trouble. "Evacuate this village... Now!"
Lloyd dropped the last warrior with ease. They hadn't been very difficult to defeat. A few slashes and bruises, but beyond that no injuries.
Garmadon had the chief of the bandits on the ground. He was shouting something, something Zane, Cole, and Jay couldn't understand. Garmadon replied back in the same language, short blocky syllables.
"Uh... know what they're saying?" Jay asked, holding his arm. Lloyd could tell that his shoulder was dislocated.
Lloyd narrowed his eyes. "The chief is telling my father that he has disgraced the first spinjitzu master. Apparently he was attempting to liberate the land from Harumi's reign."
"You can understand that?" Zane queried, brow furrowing. "It is an ancient language that barely even I have scratched the surface of in my studies."
"Yeah, it's dragon tongue... something of a second nature to me."
"How would a bandit know that?"
Lloyd didn't answer Cole's question because he didn't have an answer. Clearly, there was something beyond his understanding at work.
"Lord Garmadon." A heavy drawl echoed through the camp. The flap of a tent pulled aside, revealing an elderly lady, stooped at the waist, hobbling only with the aid of a stick. "It's been a long time, child."
Garmadon growled in surprise, taking a few steps back.
"Mystake."
Meanwhile, the elites ushered what remained of the villagers onto a grassy knoll beyond the farthest houses. The fire had ravaged the town, sending massive billows of smoke into the air.
Nya watched numbly as people lost everything they had ever owned. Could she have prevented this? Could all of this had gone away if she knew how to use her powers?
She would never find out.
For the village was gone.
Okay, So a bit of hectic chaos for you here. This chapter was a bit short because I finally got around to a one shot requested by my dad. Every time I mention fanfiction he says that I need to write a story about Darth... So I did... And if you like Dareth, you might want to check it out. It's called Dareth's Grand Adventure. That being said, this story is starting to heat up. I've got a lot of elements to twist into this... and I'm not referring to the elemental powers either. There's a lot of possibilities here, and picking and choosing which stories I insert, how I manipulate them, and which characters to put in weird places is a whole lot of fun. So stay tuned to see where it goes.
LunaPikazard12: I'm glad that destiny line got you laughing. Kai and Skylor's ship should really kick it off soon here. As will Jay and Nya. I've got an idea for that one for sure! Naturally no one walks away from a battle completely unscathed, but I'm saving major injuries for later.
FireWriter316: Glad you liked the plot twist. That's going to be a hot topic later in the fic.
Bookkeeper2004: In a way, yes he is. He definitely had a connection with most of them at one point or another.