Summary: Saldana and the Lotus Ninjas must prevent Azalea from getting the final piece of the Akuma Rings.
Saldana was meditating peacefully in mid-air on a building rooftop as she wasn't able to detect her daughters' essences with the help of her powerful magic.
"I'm not getting any contact from neither of my daughters. Where are they?" Saldana wondered.
Suddenly, a black magic circle appeared itself behind Saldana. The mystic sorceress landed on her feet and turned around to watch Angel drop right out of the magic circle.
"Angel!" Saldana exclaimed.
Saldana ran up to help Angel on her feet.
"Saldana, Azalea captured the girls!" Angel cried.
"My daughters...!" Saldana gasped in horror.
"All she told me is that we have to give her the last Akuma Ring if we ever want to see them again! And she says you have it!" Angel added.
"What?" Saldana asked in confusion.
The Lotus Ninjas were confined within hexagonal aviary cage floating in a space that contains a galaxy cluster.
"I can't believe where we are right now!" Ella shouted angrily as she crossed her arms over her chest. "After everything mom taught us, we ended getting captured just like that."
"I'm starting to side with Ella on this one." Lee agreed. "Despite everything we did on that train, I don't think we're ready to fulfill our Dragoness birthright."
"I know what you mean, but that doesn't mean we can't give up on our family legacy!" Ellie said optimistically. "When we were fighting against those Shadow goons, it felt like we were powerful back there as if the arts of the Dragoness flowed through us."
"It's clear to me that maybe we haven't been fighting the Lotus way. The first thing we need to do is find a way out of here." Donna said.
"Let's do what mom taught us: wisdom is within us." Ella said. "We just need to focus, meditate deeply, and revealed our path to success."
Ella, Lee, Ellie, and Donna sat crisscrossed in a meditative position and floated in the center of the cage with composed faces.
Meanwhile, Luna was combing Azalea's hair from the back and Nova was scrubbing Azalea's feet as Azalea began chewing a grape from the bowl of delicious fruits floating up next to her.
"Bathing in the mystic energy will enhance my strength and power to wield the Akuma Rings and the Heart Stone. Something that not even my sister couldn't do." Azalea said proudly. "And make sure you get in between the toes."
Nova growled in annoyance and clenched the foot scrubber.
"Be patient, little sister." Luna said to Nova with a wicked grin. "I mean, Azalea is right. We're hitting close to the master plan."
Evelina observed Luna and Nova within the shadows as she narrowed her eyes at their sneaky motives.
In the Crete Fortress, Saldana and Angel gathered to sit on the floor inside the dojo room.
"So, what made Azalea believe that I have the last Akuma Ring?" Saldana asked slowly.
"Azalea said it's the possession of her sister Calluna, who carried it down to her last descendant: you." Angel explained. "Maybe you have the ring securing somewhere around your room."
Saldana lifted her left arm up in the air and her hand glowed in bright white light. All mystical artifacts glowed in white magic light and began flying everywhere from their position as they all circled around Saldana and Angel in a thick swarm. As Saldana looked around, she found a black lock metal box and letivated it in her right hand. She magically unlocked the box that revealed the white Akuma Ring.
"So, Calluna kept it all along to pass on down to me when the time comes." Saldana said as she stared up the last Akuma Ring. "But I can't give it to the Shadow Clan. In the wrong hands, its power will doom us all."
"But we have to rescue your daughters." Angel said. "Can you contact your ancestors for help?"
"That is it!" Saldana exclaimed.
Saldana sat cross-legged on the floor and magically set up a ring of chalices and lighted candles around herself. Her eyes glowed in white corona-like light and she was ready to cast the ancient Dragoness spell.
"Korera no kotoba o kiite, watashi no sakebi o kiitekudasai, hantaisoku kara no rei, watashi ni kite, watashi wa anata o shōkan shimasu, ima ōkina jūjika o watatte kudasai." Saldana casted.
After Saldana's incantation was completed, a ring of chalices transmuted together into a large Lotus Clan symbol with the Dragoness sorceress at the center. The ghosts of all past Dragonesses appeared through the clan symbol and made a circle around Saldana as Calluna floated in front of Saldana once again.
"Saldana Rozu, you have summoned the ancient spirits of your Dragoness family of the Lotus Clan once again." Calluna said. "We've been watching your daughters for quite some time and we are aware that they are trapped in Azalea's domain. For a long time, I seperated the Akuma Rings to keep the world safe from their dark powers. But now, Azalea have collected them all, except the last one that you carry before you."
"We are not giving Azalea the Akuma Ring. Casey and I are going to save my daughters." Saldana said. "We just need to assemble a team of powerful mystics."
"I know just the mystics who can help us!" Angel said to Calluna. "We can ask Camellia and Magnolia for help. We already know Raven's mother Magnolia is a very powerful mystic fighter, but Saldana's mother Camellia can disarm enemies without harming them."
"Smart girl. I know the spell to assemble them to join you." Calluna added. "All you have to say is 'Hanarete hikisaka reta to watashi wa anata ni yobimasu. Umareta subete no Dragoness no shinpi o kaeshimasu'."
"Hanarete hikisaka reta to watashi wa anata ni yobimasu." Saldana casted. Her body started to glow in bright white energy in a corona-like effect. "Umareta subete no Dragoness no shinpi o kaeshimasu!"
As Saldana finished her spell incantation, thick tendrils of white light streamed up behind her and stretched up to the ceiling as they flew down and washed over the ghosts of the two Dragoness ancestors in a large, white spherical shield. Saldana and Angel stared in utter surprise at what the white mystic sorceress has just unleashed. All the white spherical shields then collapsed to show the two Dragonesses alive to support Saldana and Angel against their fight with Azalea.
Saldana gasped as she turned to see her mother Camellia, who was smiling softly at her. Camellia has tanned skin, long lavender hair styled in a long high ponytail, and purple eyes. She wore a long-sleeved sea-green qipao dress tied in a pink obi with white lotus flower motif at the center and pink combat boots. Magnolia has fair cream skin, long red hair styled in a long, braided ponytail, and light turquoise eyes. She wore a sleeveless pale red qipao dress with gray armor that covers the rest of her arms tied in a red obi and iron gray combat boots.
"Hello, Saldana." Camellia greeted.
"Mother..." Saldana smiled.
Saldana ran up to hug Camellia, who hugged her daughter back. She then waved her hand back and then put her hand up in the air to release white magic that formed a swirly portal at the wall. Raven and Azazel walked through the portal, which then closed itself in a flash. Raven saw her mother Magnolia, who started walking in front of her and puts her hand on her daughter's cheek. Raven looked at her mother with a teary-eyed smile. Magnolia even welcomed Azazel to the family with a proud smile. After the family reunion, the whole team are ready to go and save the world.
"Now, let's go get my girls!" Saldana declared.
Angel took out an octahedral device in his hand and twisted the device in 180° position in a bright green glow, activating the device to float in front of the team and opening up a mystical triangular portal.
With that, the Dragoness team hopped inside through the portal.
The Lotus Ninjas continued to meditate into their cell cage into a galaxy clustered space.
"Okay, I'm going to be the first to say that meditation thing isn't working for us!" Ella groaned in frustration.
"Yeah, it's obvious this Lotus Clan stuff is, well, hopeless." Lee said.
"Can't say I'd agree to that." Ellie concurred.
"Yeah, but our mom will flip her head off if we don't stick to the Dragoness manual." Donna pointed out.
"Well, I say let's ditch this Lotus manual and be a well-oiled Dragoness team our way." Ella said as she landed on her feet.
"Yeah!" Donna, Lee, and Ellie cheered.
"So, what's the plan, Ella?" Lee asked Ella.
"Simple. We smash!" Ella replied with a grin.
Ella infused her right fist with red magical energy and punched the glass of the cage that opened up a large hole for her to get out through. She jumped and landed on top of her cage, blasting the glass of her sisters' cage with red magical energized blasts that left Donna, Lee, and Ellie exchange deadpan expressions.
"Wait a second! We could've used our magic to break out that whole time?" Lee questioned.
Suddenly, the Lotus Ninjas were pulled out of the galaxy clustered space by a mystical force and landed on their feet just in time to look up at the very tall swirling staircase in front of them, where they saw intense mystical energies from above.
"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that the Akuma Rings and the Heart Stone are up there!" Donna said.
"Let's move!" Ella ordered.
The Dragoness team knelt silently in front of a tall free-standing bell tower structure. Azazel stared at the image of the Shadow Ninjas guarding the entrance of the tower from the team's position with his telescopic vision.
"There's several ninjas securing the tower entrance." Azazel said.
"Here's the plan." Saldana said. "While Raven, Angel, and I snuck inside the temple to rescue my daughters and secure the Heart Stone and the Akuma Rings, the rest of you create a distraction to keep the ninjas busy."
"Alright then. Let's move!" Magnolia ordered as she began crafting her energy sword out of her magic.
Magnolia, Azazel, and Camellia charged forward to unleash their powerful magic against the Shadow Ninjas. Saldana, Raven, and Angel managed to sneak inside the temple without being spotted.
Saldana, Raven, and Angel arrived at the top of the tower that housed sixteen individual crystalline platforms arranged in a crop circle-like pattern. They also spotted the Shadow Quartet, Luna, Nova, and the Shadow Ninjas standing on all sixteen individual crystalline platforms.
"Get them!" Luna ordered the Shadow Ninjas.
The Shadow Ninjas jumped high towards the Dragoness squad. But Saldana engulfed her hands with intense white magical energy and leapt into the air to strike all of the charging Shadow Ninjas with several quick energy blasts with extraordinary speed that sent all the ninjas flying off the temple.
Luna, Nova, and the Shadow Quartet only stared at Saldana's powerful speed and power in awe.
"Whoa...the ultimate moves from one of the living Dragoness herself..." Nova gasped.
"So mesmerizing..." Luna breathed.
Saldana gathered magical light in her hands and opened them to release several homing beams of light that inflicted Luna and Nova flying and landing on their backs. Angel slammed her katana sword to the ground and created four pillars of black energy that shockwaved the Shadow Quartet altogether. Raven then charged a large sphere of dark magic between her hands and fired it at the Shadow Quartet in form of a beam that knocked them out to the ground.
Saldana walked forward and glared directly at Azalea, who was sitting her throne chair on the central crystalline platform right in front of a phage-like machine, which showcases a clear panel as the body and sported a large red gem-like ornanment on the top that contains the Akuma Ring and the Heart Stone.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't one of my little sister's descendants." Azalea said with an evil smile.
"I am here for my daughters. Release them at once!" Calluna demanded.
"Not until you give me what I want." Azalea said.
Azalea summoned two floating mechanical hands through two black magic circles and fired black laser beams at Saldana in fast speed. Saldana quickly avoided the laser beams with remarkable speed and fired intense, bursting white magical energy blast from her right hand that hit Azalea in the stomach. Azalea formed a large sphere of black energy in her right hand and released it at Saldana in the form of a large energy beam, but Saldana evaded the energy beam with a full split and swiftly got back up on her feet. Two Dragonesses clashed their magic briefly with glaring faces. But Saldana eventually gained the upper hand by creating several white blades of magical energy that rapidly attacked Azalea from multiple directions and sent her landing at her throne chair with a groan.
"Very impressive. You definitely carry Calluna's warrior spirit." Azalea said. "But I have no time for games."
Azalea snapped her fingers and summoned a large black magic circle above her head, sending three mechanical hands to grab Angel, Raven, and Saldana all at once and bringing them close in front of her.
"And now, the final Akuma Ring." Azalea said.
Azalea lifted her hand out in front of Saldana and magically levitated the Akuma Ring out from Saldana's right boot.
"No!" Saldana cried.
Saldana's hand enveloped in white energy, but she was being squeezed her tight by the grisp of the mechanical hand.
The Lotus Ninjas suddenly appeared on the crystalline platform after already defeating the Shadow Ninjas all the way to the top and looked forward to see their family and friend at their sight.
"Mom?" Ella asked happily as she and her younger sisters smiled at the sight of their mother.
Saldana, Raven, and Angel heard Ella's voice and turned their heads to see the Lotus Ninjas safe and sound.
"My daughters!" Saldana smiled back.
Saldana then turned her head to see Azalea holding the last Akuma Ring in her hand.
"Is that the final Akuma Ring?!" Ella shrieked in shock.
"No!" Raven cried.
But it was too late. The last Akuma Ring phased into the gem-like ornanment, causing all the Akuma Rings to enter the Heart Stone and radiating the mystical artifact into a black color filled with scorching mystical energy. Azalea stared up to see the vibrant Heart Stone inside the gem ornanment as Nova and Luna watched the whole scene with proud smiles. Ellie, Ella, Lee, and Donna quickly combined their magic to destroy the mechanical hands and freed their family and friend as they all looked on the scene in horror.
Azalea entered into the clear panel of the machine with a sinister laugh, but the Heart Stone turned the gem ornanment in black color that revealed the face of Lady Shade. Black magical tentacles flew out from the electrocuting gem ornanment and tied Azalea up. Azalea let out a painful scream as the electrical current was coursing her body from the magical tentacles.
[Flashback]
Some time ago at the Celestial Spire...
Calluna and Azalea stood outside in front of a modern sized house on a little platform surrounded by bluish-green grass at the top of the temple that was floating in the air around the surrounding mountains with smaller floating rocks leading towards it.
"Come on, Calluna. If we don't do this, the human threat will harm all of the mystics and mythical creatures!" Azalea warned.
"Azalea, I can't keep arguing about this with you!" Calluna said with a sigh.
"If the humans discover our magical potential, they will experiment us to their own selfish cause! If only you let me test my..." Azalea argued.
"NO!" Calluna shouted angrily. "Your robotic experiments are dangerous against our own nature! You will cease immediately! You had no right to decide the future of magic by messing around with technology!"
"Then, you're a fool!" Azalea shouted back.
Azalea stormed off, leaving Calluna alone with a sad look on her face.
"If you won't join me to stop the humans, then I'll do it myself." Azalea said to herself.
[Flashback Ends]
Azalea's transformation with the radiant Heart Stone was finally completed as she stepped out of the machine panel in her new form. She was completely clad in a violet-blue suit of woman's armor complete with a breastplate, pauldrons, vambraces, cuisses, poleyns, greaves, and sabatons with black trimmings. Underneath her armor is black inner layer. Her armor also includes a black cape attached to the pauldrons and a large helmet that hides most of her face along with a black diamond that is encrusted slightly above the forehead of her helmet.
"At long last, I can finally end the human threat once and for all!" Azalea declared.
"Not on our watch!" Ella shouted.
Ella sprang into the air and charged forward at Azalea with a series of rapid red magical energized punches, but Azalea summoned a black-tinted force field around herself to repel Ella that sent her landing in front of her family. Ellie, Lee, and Donna then charged forward at Azalea with a series of rapid magical energized punches and kicks, but they were repelled and landed on top of Ella by Azalea's force field.
Then, Azalea's shadow started manifesting in the shape of Lady Shade with many tentacles behind her.
"O! M! G!" Lee exclaimed as she and the others looked up in surprise.
Azalea's shadow extended its tentacles longer and rapidly thrashed the Lotus Ninjas, Saldana, Raven, and Angel before sending them flying onto several crystalline platforms unconsciously.
"What sheer, intense energy!" Azalea grinned amazingly. "I should've went after the rings and the stones years ago!"
"Lady Shade." Nova spoke as she and Luna knelted in front of Azalea. "What are your orders?"
"Lade Shade?" Azalea asked in confusion. "I'm Azalea, not Lady Shade! With this power, I will destroy the humans and start the age of bionic mystics!"
Azalea lifted herself into the air with a dark smile and her shadow transformed into a swirly portal to the surface.
"Evelina, grab the Shadow Quartet and follow!" Azalea ordered Evelina.
Evelina nodded her head and grabbed the semi-conscious Shadow Quartet under her arms. She and Azalea then flew through the portal that disappeared in a flash.
"Something's not right!" Luna said. "We have to find what went wrong!"
Luna waved her tessen around to create a large green mystical portal as she and Nova quickly ran through it.
Magnolia, Azazel, and Camellia arrived on the crystal platform. They leapt off the platform and ran over to check on the Lotus Ninjas and the Dragoness squad, who were waking up off the ground.
"Is everybody okay?" Camellia asked.
"Yeah, we're okay." Ella replied. Her eyes widened in utter surprise at the sight of Camellia and Magnolia. "Grandma? And Great-Grandma Magnolia?"
"But how?" Ellie asked as she, Donna, and Lee stared at their Dragoness relatives in wide-eyed shock.
"It's kinda a long story." Magnolia said with a small smile.
"Mom...we're sorry." Ella said to Saldana. Her sad tone made her younger sisters lower their heads in shame. "We tried to follow the way of the Lotus Clan, but...we just couldn't do it."
"No, Ella. I am the one who should apologize." Saldana said. "I was wrong to make you follow the Dragoness way."
"So you're not mad?" Ellie asked.
"Of course not. When it comes to be a Dragoness, it was never training, or rules, or even tradition at all. It's about being yourselves as a Dragoness." Camellia explained.
"Even in death, every past Dragonesses have faith in how special you each are, including me and Camellia." Magnolia added.
The Lotus Ninjas exchanged smiling nods. Lee waved her hand back and brought it forward, Ellie waved her hand back and forth with a grabbing shape, Ella twisted her hand into a fist and opened it in the air, and Donna moved her index finger in a circle as they pointed their magic to alter their qipao dresses back into their leotard attire.
Ekron suddenly teleported in front of Angel.
"Ekron, you're just in time!" Angel said as she hugged Ekron in her arms.
"Okay, you guys stop Azalea, and we'll recover and follow!" Saldana ordered.
Donna pulled out four purple shamballa beads from her bracelet and tossed them in the air to create four futuristic jet-like brooms based on their own signature colors. She then moved her index finger in a circle and pointed her magic to open up a large purplish-white portal right above everyone. The Lotus Ninjas soared together towards the exit.
"So, what's the plan?" Donna asked.
"We don't have one!" Lee called out. "We're going to fight Azalea on our own way!"
"That's how we roll!" Ella shouted.
"That's right, baby!" Ellie cheered.
Donna smiled as she and her sisters kept flying through the portal.
A black swirly portal suddenly appeared inside an empty multi-purpose indoor arena. Azalea, Evelina, and the Shadow Quartet arrived through the portal and they landed on the floor.
"Heh, this will do." Azalea said. "All humans will learn that the greater threat to my people and their way of life is them. Time for a take over the surface makeover!"
Azalea enveloped her hands in blazing black magical energy and giant black crystals began forming around the floor from different directions.
"Azalea!"
Azalea stopped and looked up at the source of the familiar voice, where she saw the Lotus Ninjas arriving through the portal from above and landed on the ground a few feet away.
"We're not gonna let you mess with humans!" Ella declared. "We're taking you down right here right now!"
The Lotus Ninjas charged forward towards Azalea, who quickly sent out her shadow to attack the Lotus Ninjas from multiple directions. The shadow flew upward and then came crashing Ella down from above. The shadow then sunk down into the ground and came up to punch Lee and Ellie from underneath. The shadow randomly disappeared out of sight and reappeared to jab at Donna that sent her flying across the floor. Evelina and the Shadow Quartet watched the fight from the bleachers.
"Did you girls really believe you were ever a match for me?" Azalea questioned. "You should've joined me when you had the chance!"
Azalea's shadow rushed out to knock the Lotus Ninjas away with her swift kick.
Luna, Nova, and the Shadow Ninjas arrived in the arena's press box to observe the fight between Azalea and the Lotus Ninjas.
"I still don't understand." Luna said. "Why didn't the transformation work?"
"It could be a flaw in the Heart Stone." Nova suggested.
Unknown to Luna and Nova, Angel disguised herself as a Shadow Ninja and overheard the conservation. She quietly stepped back and snuck past all the other Shadow Ninjas as she stood in front of the keyboard and began typing a message on the LED screen that reads "Hey, girls, it's Angel! The Heart Stone has a flaw!"
Two Shadow Ninjas gripped Angel's arms on either side and lifted her up in the air as Luna and Nova stood in front of Angel with their glowing tessen fans.
"You again? What are you up to this time?" Nova demanded.
A large white portal appeared on the floor that caught everyone's attention. Saldana, Ekron, Azazel, Raven, Magnolia, and Camellia hopped out of it into the press box.
"Let's have some fun!" Magnolia grinned.
Saldana, Ekron, Azazel, Raven, and Magnolia started beat up the Shadow Clan members in rapid speed while Camellia summoned her magic to disarm two Shadow Ninjas that held Angel without harming them. Angel took out her katana sword and joined the fight with an excited smile.
Ellie and Ella were lifted into the air while grasped by Azalea's shadow's hand as they noticed Angel's message on the LED screen.
"Hey, look!" Ellie said. "Ella, it's Angel!"
"The Heart Stone has a flaw." Ella said. She and Ellie exchanged confused eyebrows. "It has a flaw this whole time?"
Meanwhile, Azalea's shadow kept holding Ella and Ellie in her grasp while dangling Lee and Donna in the air with her tentacle from her back.
"Lee! Donna! Angel says the Heart Stone has a flaw!" Ellie shouted to Lee and Donna.
"How sad. Despite all that power, she's still not as powerful as she so-called claim to be." Lee remarked with a smirk.
"Donna, any ideas?" Ella shouted to Donna.
"Already got one!" Donna shouted back as she scanned the Heart Stone with her high-tech sunglasses and detected a small crack on the Heart Stone. "The reason the Heart Stone has a flaw is because it's cracked!"
"So, if we could hit it, we could destroy the Heart Stone along with the Akuma Rings that were fused with it?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, pretty much!" Lee said with a shrug.
Ella, Donna, Lee, and Ellie powered up their magic to break free from Azalea's shadow before joining together far away from Azalea, who started approaching to them as the Heart Stone was cracking slightly.
"Alright, girls, if we're going to destroy the Heart Stone, we have to launch all-out attack that'll take her down." Donna explained.
"It'll be our pleasure!" Ellie grinned.
The Lotus Ninjas sprang high in the air with their intense magical energy fists and soared forward to scatter around Azalea in different directions.
Evelina and the Shadow Quartet noticed the Lotus Ninjas' plan, but they ended up being surrounded by Saldana, Ekron, Azazel, Raven, Magnolia, and Camellia that were prevented them from joining the fight with Azalea.
"Sorry, but you girls have us to deal with now." Azazel said.
Donna performed purple magical energized spinning kicks that hit Azalea rapidly from an upside-down position and striked her with a flying upward drill kick with both legs. As Azalea began falling to the ground, Ella drew her magical energy and unleashed a sudden barrage of red magical energy bolts at Azalea in low and high directions. Ellie delivered a series of four high-damage orange magical energized somersaults to Azalea that knocked her into the air. Lee gathered intense blue magical energy in her palms and then released a powerful blue concussive blast that engulfed Azalea whole.
But unfortunately, neither of the four mystic kunoichi's attack affected Azalea.
"Oh, is that really eh best you can do?" Azalea asked ominously.
Azalea's shadow released several large tentacles that took hold of all of the Lotus Ninjas dangling in the air.
Angel sprinted forward with her katana sword in her hands from the bleachers and into the field. Evelina noticed Angel and tried to give chase, but Raven got in her way and into her fighting stance. In response, Evelina entered her combat stance as well. Angel sprang high in the air and quickly threw her katana sword that successfully hit the Heart Stone by the sword handle.
Azalea's large shadow sunk into the bursting Heart Stone in a tornado-like fashion that caused the mystical artifact to break itself out of the armored helmet in a massive explosion. The Heart Stone laid on the floor in a black color as Azalea was now covered with black veins all around her body.
"No. This can't be! How…were you able…to defeat me? My magic...is being drained." Azalea said weakly.
"You're down and out!" Angel declared.
"And we won!" Ella cheered as she, Ellie, Lee, Donna, and Angel put their hands together as high fives.
Raven, Azazel, Saldana, Magnolia, and Camellia watched the Lotus Ninjas and Angel with proud smiles as Evelina and the Shadow Quartet are encased inside a black energy sphere by Raven's dark magic.
Saldana then directed her eyes just in time to see black electricity sparking from the black Heart Stone.
"Oh no..." Saldana gasped in shock.
Suddenly, a vortex with black lightning appeared above the Heart Stone that was starting to glow radiantly. Everyone stared in horror as the Heart Stone unleashed a massive shadow that began shaping its form into a feminine shape.
"Yes!" Nova smiled widely. "It's working!"
"The Heart Stone has successfully taken Azalea's life force!" Luna smiled extensively.
The shadow's feminine shape materialized into an all-powerful Lady Shade completely clad in a violet-blue armor. She has pale white skin, long wavy voluminous black hair that stops behind her back, and striking grey eyes. Lady Shade stood right in front of the drained Azalea, who only gasped in horror.
"Long lives Lady Shade!" Luna and Nova cried as they kneeled in front of Lady Shade.