"How could you interrupt our duel like that?!" Skales shouted from behind a set of bars.
"I didn't ask them to do that!" Mage shouted back at Skales, "I don't even know who these guys are!"
"Well you should have fought them off then," Skales hissed at him, "Do you know how humiliating this is?!"
A sharp noise rang through both of their cells, followed by the gruff voice of the man that had taken them down, "Hey! Pipe down in there!"
Mage sighed and huffed, putting his back up against the bars to his cell. When he'd woken up, both he and Skales were in strange cuffs that blocked his powers, again. Why was there even something out there that could just block all of his powers like that?! They'd been led out of the hovercar into a large building with various cars flying in and out of holes in the side of it. After 'processing,' the two had been led off to a large room of what almost looked like cubes stacked on top of each other. Mage and Skales had been put into cubes opposite of each other. Aside from a simple toilet and bed, Mage didn't quite have that much in the cell he cared for.
"Someone is on their way to pick you up," The voice spoke up inside of their cells through speakers again, "Just sit tight and we'll get you both sorted out. Until then, I put you both in the nice cells. Don't make me go hard on you kids!"
"We're not kids!" Skales and Mage shouted in unison. After sharing a look, Mage threw his hands up and walked over to the bed, planting himself on it and crossing his arms. Skales just hissed and worked at the cuffs he had on.
Mage took his time to lay down and rest. It wasn't all bad, at least. He was finally able to get some rest from his earlier injuries, and the strange people had even put something on his back that took the burning off. Normally he just froze his injuries until he could get to a healer, but this worked well enough. It didn't feel like it was hurting him. Weighing that against the cuffs, though, was making it harder for him to really see them as purely good people.
"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't tried to fight us," Skales grumbled at Mage, "This is all your own doing."
"What?" Mage sat up in the bed, "What do you mean? You're the one that attacked us!"
"I mean all of this!" Skales angrily clarified, "...You made the choice to defy the Twins. Any sane man, human or serpentine, would know that is a foolish thing to do. They granted you mercy after your prior mistakes. You should have taken it."
"They nearly destroyed my entire home," Mage frowned, "They spent months doing nothing but invading it! I nearly lost two of my best friends to them and their plans!" Mage shook his head, "How was I supposed to just stand back and just let them win?"
"If you weren't a child, you'd understand," Skales growled, turning his head away, "Some battles aren't worth fighting."
"I do understand," Mage frowned, "I'm not stupid, you know. It's not like I'm out here fighting you because I want to. I'm not trying to fight you. I'm trying to get to the Twins! I want to stop them from doing what they did to my home to others."
"So what, you're in this for revenge?" Skales narrowed his eyes, "What a paltry motivation."
"It's not revenge, it's-" Mage slowly saw Acronix's face flash in his memories, and he slowly inhaled, then exhaled, "It was at first. I… I just wanted to show them that I was sick of feeling like I couldn't do anything to stop them. But it's more than that now," Mage reached his hand up to press to his chest, "Now it's about saving people from what I had to go through. Maybe I really am doing this for revenge… but even that can be done for a good reason. I want to save other people from this. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I did. You have to understand that, don't you?"
Skales was silent. Mage didn't see him turn his head, and so instead he laid down on the bed again. Slowly, Mage closed his eyes, letting his mind drift for a bit. It was a long while before Skales even moved, and that was just to go sit down on his own bed. The Hypnobrai slowly looked down at his feet, his swirling gaze fixing them in it. And when he spoke, it was quiet and reserved.
"Maybe you're smarter than your age suggests," Skales spoke up, "But that won't help you here. This isn't a matter of principle anymore. This is a matter of battle. And in battle, only those that have both the will to carry on and the strength to strike will survive."
"Well I've been up against someone who had more power than I did, and I made it out," Mage chuckled, "She's even my friend now."
"Then you should know that this is a foolish game to play!" Skales snapped, "You don't know how long it will be until you can't keep fighting enough to protect yourself."
"Well it's not worth planning for that, only for what you can do now," Mage smiled, "You have to protect what you want here and now. And nothing else."
Skales' gaze became rather distant with those words. Feeling this silence, Mage lifted his head up a bit to look at Skales. Seeing how the snake just sat there, he leaned back and slowly exhaled again, thinking of what he wanted to say. Thankfully, Skales spoke up again.
"You went to speak to the Queen, didn't you?" Skales asked, "You clearly went into Prime's world and stole from him. There's no better way to learn more about Ophiod than his mother. I hold no anger if you did… I just want to know."
"...Yeah, I did," Mage nodded his head. Skales just let out a sigh.
"I imagine she was wondering where her son went," Skales frowned, "What did she tell you?"
"About the fact that he's fighting hard to save someone," Mage decided to go vague here for his own sake, "And that you meant a lot to him."
Skales blinked in surprise at that. Then, much to Mage's shock, Skales actually blushed. Mage could see it from the corner of his eye, but it was gone a moment later. Pushing his luck, Mage asked, "Why is that?"
"...Ophiod saved my life when I shouldn't have been saved," Skales reached up to touch his chest, "And I've done everything I can to repay him for it. I'm… just glad to know that he sees me that way."
"It sounds to me like you're in love with him," Mage pointed out. Skales snapped his head to attention and narrowed his gaze.
"And what of it?" Skales frowned.
"Nothing," Mage shook his head, "I mean… you guys are our enemies but like. It's good to know that you mean a lot to someone and, they mean a lot to you. I know what that's like…" Mage frowned, "Even if… I did something to really hurt her."
"Hmmph," Skales shook his head, "...I respect your battle prowess if nothing else, Mage," Skales changed topic quickly, "You seem to be smart enough to think on your feet. I commend that in a warrior. Now you just have to see about surviving what Ophiod and Prime have to throw at you."
"I'll remember that," Mage smiled, "And you'll have to go about surviving what we throw at you."
Just as Mage finished speaking, the door to the rows of cells opened up. When Mage looked out towards the door, he saw none other than his friends, Harumi and Lulloyd, walking along with the man that had captured them. The three walked up to the two cells, with Harumi currently typing message rapidly on her watch.
"Hey!" Mage smiled, "You guys finally got here!"
"That's him?" The man asked. Harumi nodded between her typing.
"Yeah, he's one of my friends…" Harumi sighed, finishing fielding more messages from her friends, "Can you let him go, Commissioner Jr?"
"He didn't hurt anyone, and if you vouch for him…" Commissioner Jr. sighed, "Go ahead and let him out, guys."
A moment later, the bars to the cell split open and slid into the walls of the cube like tracks on a garage door. Mage blinked and hopped on out. Commissioner Jr. stepped forward and held up a small device he touched to the side of his cuffs, popping them off Mage's wrists before Mage could ask what he was doing.
"Thanks," Mage nodded to him, "You're, Commissioner Jr.?"
"Mhm, I work with Harumi here personally," Commissioner Jr. nodded, "Sorry about the whole, well, paralyzing thing. Normally we give Harumi's friends a pass for helping us out. But we've never seen anyone like you before."
"That's because I'm one and only! At least as far as your world goes," Mage nodded. The Commissioner Jr. just blinked and nodded his head.
"Do you think you could locate my friends?" Harumi asked the man, "They're looking for me right now and I'm not sure where they are. Not Carn and the girls. You'll know them when you see them."
"Sure, we'll get right on it," Commissioner Jr. nodded, "You need another comm then?"
"That would be great, thank you," Harumi nodded. The man turned and walked out of the room with a salute and a small stretch.
"Uh… we have company," Lulloyd pointed to the other cell. Harumi turned to see Skales, casually watching the display.
"Oh no, do go on," Skales groaned out, "I just love being ignored."
"Is it safe to keep him here?" Lulloyd asked.
"I know this place pretty well, I'm sure it'll be fine," Harumi nodded her head, "It's secure. And if Ophiod does come to try to get him, we'll know instantly. It's best to leave him here for now. We have other things to worry about."
"I'm so glad to hear that," Skales rolled his eyes, "Once Ophiod does get here, I'll be sure to pass on that you saw me as the lesser of the two of us."
"Well… only one of you can do magic," Lulloyd pointed out, "And like… I mean…"
"What?" Skales raised his eyebrow in annoyance, "Go on."
"Nothing," Lulloyd rotated his head away, "Mage, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Mage rubbed his shoulder, "I'm a bit sore and, well I don't think I wanna try taking on that mech again, but I'll be fine. What's so important?"
Harumi took a look at Skales, then she ushered the two of them out of the room. Once they left the cell room, Mage could see that the building was actually smaller than he thought. The entire building was at the top of a skyscraper, meaning they were several hundred stories high, and the walls, outside of the cell room, were entirely glass. Police hovercars flew in and out of hanger doors all along the east and western walls. The outer part of the building had landing pads for said vars, while the middle section was set up more like a large cubicle for normal police business. The cubicles were set up in a slope that went up to the top of the building starting at a fountain in the very front of the building by the front door, and a large glass office sat at the top of the slope where the Commissioner Jr. was currently making calls on a holographic display. Harumi guided them to what looked like a break room inside of a cubicle, and once inside, she shut the door and slumped down into one of the chairs.
"First, let me see your dimensional transport devices," Harumi held out her had, "I need to see what Ophiod did to it."
Lulloyd and Mage both took off their wristbands, handing them to Harumi. Harumi slowly disassembled the device by using small Rhotatae as a screwdriver to pull apart the mechanism. Once she was inside of one of them, she went silent, focusing intensely on it. After a few tense moments, she nodded her head.
"Okay, he just blew out some of the circuits," Harumi sighed in relief, "It'll be an easy fix. I have spares back at the Base. It just means right now we can't leave."
"Which is what I'm sure he wanted," Lulloyd frowned, "Why are we always on the backfoot with them?"
"Because that's just how it works," Harumi shook her head, "Right now, we need to figure out the situation with the Time Blades."
"What?" Mage blinked, "What situation?"
Harumi and Lulloyd looked at each other. Harumi went about explaining the situation to Mage in detail. Once she was certain that he understood, Harumi began to think about things. Mage went into thought as well.
"Mage," Lulloyd looked up, "You, could sense life when we were in Ophiod's world, right? Can you sense time as well?"
"I… don't know," Mage frowned, "I'd have to see a blade to, know what it feels like? And like… I can only feel it to a certain extent. It's not really something I do a lot."
"Any little bit helps," Harumi frowned, looking down at her watch, "We need to get the others together. We… we gotta collect the Time Blades now. And, if we don't do it soon then… they might find them."
"I'm sure it'll be okay," Lulloyd preemptively reached out to grip her shoulder, "They don't know about our plan yet. And, we'll get to them first. Okay?"
"Yeah… yeah," Harumi took a few deep breaths, "We'll, we'll handle this. Yeah. Okay."
Harumi took a long few seconds to keep her nerves under control. She took that time to put the devices back together for them to put back on. Harumi took her time to slowly stand up after she did.
"I'm going to patch in communicators into these things when I repair them, it won't take long," Harumi frowned, "This communication business is getting hard to keep up with."
"Uhm, Harumi?" A young cop knocked on the door to the room, "The Commish' wants to talk to you! And uh, also!" The cop turned and hefted up Aevum, stored in its hilt, straining to lift it, "I-I think this was registered to belong to the kid?"
"Yep, that's my sword!" Mage reached out and took it, making the cop blink in confusion as he just effortlessly held it up, "...Uh, here, I thought of a good place to store it from now on!"
"Looks like he got ahold of them," Harumi nodded, "Let's go, guys."
With Harumi in the lead, Mage and Lulloyd followed Harumi out of the small room and up the massive stairs that lead to the glass cubicle office. Lulloyd noted that Mage didn't seem to have Aevum on him. Once they arrived, Harumi raised her watch to scan what looked like an access code, allowing them entry. Once inside the room, Commissioner Jr. looked towards her and nodded his head.
"We found your friends on security camera, or so we think," Commissioner Jr. informed her, "Take a look."
Harumi guided Lulloyd and Mage to sit down in chairs in front of a dark oak desk. Commissioner Jr. tapped the desk to show it had a glass top, and in turn a hologram of two images was displayed. One was of Invictus hurtling towards the camera, crashing into it and shaking it, then drifting to show fuzzy feed of Over hovering in the air above him. The other was of Lloyd and Monty on the back of Lloyd's elemental dragon, the feed switching several times until it finally ended off on seeing them flying into the sky.
"Are these are… friends, of yours?" Commissioner Jr. asked with a groan.
"Yeah… they are," Harumi shook her head, "We don't have any way of communicating with them right now."
"I'll see to it," Commissioner Jr. went about starting to type things. Meanwhile, Harumi watched the screen with Over. Why he and Prime were so openly fighting in the middle of the city was beyond her!
"Do you know where they're heading?" Mage asked suddenly.
"Hrmm?" Commissioner Jr. blinked, "A little, yes. We have a general idea. Why?"
"If you can get me there, I can use mind to talk to them," Mage tapped his head, "I once contacted Neuro all the way on the other side of the World. I should be able to get to them if I focus. I've already felt their minds before so it wouldn't be that hard."
"...Do, uh, you know what he's talking about?" Commissioner Jr. asked. Harumi blinked.
"Yeah, we do," Harumi bit her lip, "If Lloyd and Monty are on the run, they're likely trying to go somewhere they've been before. Are they heading towards the outer districts?"
"Currently, yes," Commissioner Jr. nodded, "Why?"
"Then I know where they are," Harumi stood up, "Get us a car!"
"We're almost there," Lloyd nodded, "I tried to memorize the route that we took from Dareth's place. We'll be at her base shortly."
Monty said nothing, standing up behind Lloyd with the SoS drawn and looking around for anyone coming after them. Aside from the startled looks of people seeing them flying around in the dragon made of pure green energy, there wasn't anything to worry about. Monty guessed since Harumi had one pretty similar, they likely weren't looking too hard into it.
"And then?" Monty asked, not turning his head to look at Lloyd, "Then what?"
"Then… we figure out how to get a call out to the others," Lloyd gulped, "We need to just… just regroup and get our heads on straight!"
Hey, hey this is Mage! Monty and Lloyd froze, the dragon coming to a crashing halt, Anyone there?
"Mage?" Lloyd blinked in shock.
Yeah, it's me! Mage chirped out, I'm with Harumi and Lulloyd. We figured you were going for the Base so we're in the same district!
"Really? Great," Monty sighed, "Tell us where you are so we can get out of this stupid chase plot."
Actually, Harumi wanted me to relay a message to you! Mage informed them, The Time Blades are falling over the city. We don't know where they are right now, but we need to work on finding them!
"And… and how are we going to do that?" Lloyd asked.
We're working on that, Mage responded, But I should be able to sense them! Which, means I need to be close to them, but-
"And that's where I come in," A large display board, previously showing an ad for what looked like soda, on the side of a nearby building suddenly went static to display a new image.
"Andrus?!" Lloyd blinked in surprise.
Who? Mage asked in confusion. On the screen was none other than Andrus, sitting in front of a computer with a webcam on him.
"I finally traced you," Andrus was already typing away violently at a digital keyboard, "Took awhile. Had to get into some aerial cameras, but finally you all stopped! Anyways, I'm also broadcasting this to Harumi. Looks like we're in business again. Before you ask, Millie triangulated where the teleportation signal was going to fall and caught me," In the background, Millie stepped forward and bowed her head, "So that's that. You're looking for the Time Blades, aren't you?"
"Yes!" Lloyd shouted at the screen. Andrus didn't react and then went away at typing.
"By the way, this thing doesn't have an audio sensor, so I'll assume you said yes," Andrus informed them, pulling something up on the screen by his face, "Millie here was able to scan for where the other signals appeared before they disappeared. We weren't able to get them in full, but it looks like we have enough. I'll help you guys out and send Harumi the locations of where the blades were. I hacked her Borg Watch while she was in my office."
The screen displayed a large, overhead map of Ninjago City. On it, a total of eight dots appeared on the screen. Lloyd recognized two of them as being where Monty and Oni had fought, and where he'd appeared as well. If one of those dots represented Harumi and another Andrus, then that meant the remaining four had to be the Time Blades.
Harumi says the one in the park was where she landed, Mage telepathically communicated to Lloyd, She also said she's going to 'patch in communicators' into our wrist things!
"That's about all I'll do right now," Andrus nodded on the screen, "I need to get back to my headquarters and repair the damage Millie did defending me. I don't plan on getting involved anymore with this. I think I'll dip out of this story for now. I'd say good luck, but given what I've seen, it won't mean anything. So instead, don't lose!"
With that, the screen went static again, then it went back to the normal ad they had seen before. Lloyd blinked at the entire display, but decided it wasn't worth asking what was going on. Instead, he just sighed, "Did… you guys get that?"
Harumi says that she has the locations on her watch, Mage told him, One of them… was near where we last saw Over. On the screens!
"You saw Over?" Lloyd asked.
Yes, Harumi thinks she might know where he's heading, Mage informed him, But we don't know what he's doing, or what happened to him.
"Okay, let's get this whole shuffle over," Monty grunted, "We need to split up and look for the blades, right? Well right now we need to meet up. Mage, think you can guide your friends over to us?"
Yeah, I'll be there soon! Mage informed them. Soon his power of mind had faded away.
"What are you planning?" Lloyd asked in confusion.
"Getting this whole stupid situation sorted out," Monty informed him, cocking one of his pistols, "And fast."
It wasn't long before the two saw a mechdragon in the distance, and on it the faces of Harumi and Mage looking for them. Once the five met up, they landed on a nearby layer, grouping up to speak. Once the five of them had met up, their deliberation was brief. What they needed to do was simple enough: split up to find the four blades.
"I told my girls I'll meet them at our favorite hangout," Harumi informed them, "I know how to get there fast."
"I'll go with Harumi," Lloyd told them, "I want to make sure that they're safe."
"I'm taking Mage," Monty pointed at the kid, "He can sense those things, right? We got a general location, he'll help us find them once we get close. She can use her watch thing for whatever random function it might have in there."
"What about me?" Lulloyd asked in confusion.
"You should find Over," Lloyd informed him, "It's dangerous to be alone and you can cover the most ground."
"I think Over might have gone into the underground canals, we couldn't find him on any other camera," Harumi pulled up a diagram on her watch, "If the maps I pulled are right, there's only one place he'll end up. Search there and see if you can get to him."
"So, what do we do once we have all the blades?" Mage asked.
"Once we have them, we meet back up at the Base and fix your wristbands so we can get out of here and use them as fast as possible," Lloyd informed him, "Got it?" All of them blinked in affirmation.
"One thing," Monty moved to hand something to Lloyd, "Take this."
When Lloyd saw what Monty held, he nearly blasted it out of his hand. In those ghostly hands was none other than the Mask of Hatred. The purple sheen of the mask, the swirls of white and hints of yellow painted into the demonic eyes, and the sheen of the carved wood made his entire body freeze in terror.
"I… I can't," Lloyd shook his head, "We should destroy it. How, did you even get it?"
"Stole it from Oni right before you got there," Monty waved the mask, "Stop being a baby and take it. It's a weapon. We need all the help we can get right now."
"It's… no!" Lloyd shook his head fiercely, "Monty, that thing it… I can't!" Lloyd stepped back, "I couldn't do it before, I couldn't and… and…" His breath caught in his throat, "You have to keep it."
"You're the only one of us that have experience with these dang masks, and no offense, but you can't really do anything useful right now for us," Monty narrowed his eyes, "This thing will give you a chance if you think you're about to get taken out. So stop being squeamish and take it," Monty hissed, "I don't care if you haven't gotten over your feelings about that girl you were going on about. This isn't about her. Last time you didn't listen to me, this whole mess happened. So maybe take it from someone that does stuff like this for a living, and TAKE it."
The group was mostly silent. Lloyd eyed the thing with disgust, confusion, terror, reprehension. He didn't know what he wanted. Slowly, his hands reached out and gently took hold of it. The moment he did, he almost dropped it like it was on fire.
"Here," Harumi reached out and took the mask, stashing it on her belt of her robes, "I'll hold onto it. We'll use it if we have to, alright?"
"...Fine," Monty growled, "But don't hesitate. We're against people that want us dead. Not just defeated, dead. So remember that."
Lloyd took a moment to process what Monty had given him. Slowly, Harumi reached out and slowly held his hand, letting him focus. After a bit to think, Lloyd smiled a bit. He put aside his worries, and instead looked to the group around him.
"Alright… let's do this!" Lloyd put his hand out. Harumi, Mage and Lulloyd joined, "NINJA-GO!" Mage was delayed in saying it, and Monty didn't even move to participate. With that, the five have their mission set: recover the blades and continue the mission.
"So," Lloyd asked Harumi as the two drove off in a hovercar, "What is this 'favorite hangout' you all like to go to?"
For a moment, Harumi didn't answer him, focusing on her driving. Lloyd was impressed with her skill, given that she was having to manage traffic both to her sides, front and back, as well as the lanes above and below her. She never dropped her speed, and somehow was managing to go past any and all stoplights before they turned. Granted, they were hovering in a sea of bright lights and cars, so how she even saw them, Lloyd didn't know.
"Well, it's Mizuko's favorite hangout really," Harumi clarified, "We just go there sometimes to see if she wants to do anything. It's called the Sim Dome," Harumi tapped something on the car's dashboard, causing a hologram to pop up in front of Lloyd of a giant dome with 'SIM' emblazoned on it, "It's basically… do you have virtual reality yet? Think of it like that, only you're in a room, and you don't have a helmet. And everything around you is real."
"...What?" Lloyd blinked.
"It's for entertainment," Harumi switched lanes fast enough Lloyd gripped the door, "You can live out the idea of being a pirate, ninja, whatever you want. The simulation detects if you're going to get hurt and will stop you from it. Mizuko goes there a lot to stimulate going to the beach, since she doesn't leave the city all that much. It's all one giant mix of special fibers to simulate touch, chemicals to act like water, all that stuff. I'm, not creative enough to go there enough."
"Uh… huh…" Lloyd nodded, acting like he understood, "So your friends are there?"
"Yes, and once we get there, we're in luck," Harumi tapped the dashboard, revealing it was plugged into her watch to display the map Andrus had given them, "The blade landed somewhere in the district nearby. Once we meet up with them, we should be able to get there quickly. If we're lucky, nobody will find us."
"If we're lucky," Lloyd pointed out, "Which so far, we're not."
"...Yeah, I know," Harumi sighed, "...The good thing is I know these streets. So if we have to, I can use that to outsmart them. And then…"
When Harumi trailed off, Lloyd leaned over, "What's wrong?"
"It's just… this is spiralling so far out of our control," Harumi frowned, "I don't know what to do anymore. I don't know what's happening. I just, I just want to make Ophiod and Prime stop. I don't know what Oni wants, really. But I can't help but… but feel we deserve this in some way."
"What?" Lloyd blinked, "Why?"
"Well… not that," Harumi sighed, weaving through more traffic, "But I just don't like this. I know that it's not my fault, but I can't help it. I can't help but feel that way."
"...You shouldn't," Lloyd reached up and looked at his hand, "It's… my fault. All of this. Literally all of it. If I hadn't let them take my power, they couldn't have even got here. We're fighting them because I messed up. We failed. And I just…" Lloyd's eyes spaced out, "...Every single person that died because of the Twins, died because of me."
Harumi was quiet for a moment. The weight of his words was one that Harumi knew had to be addressed. But she knew it was important to say it carefully. She took them up towards the very top lands of traffic, towards the tops of the entire buildings. Once there, the sky above them was visible again, a night of light-polluted stars and a shining sky that was slowly turning to the early morning lights.
"...You know, Lloyd, I used to think that about things a lot," Harumi told him, "And I know it's easy to think that. And… I used to think that… that well. That what happened to dad, was my fault too. And… and now, I don't know anymore," Harumi shook her head, "Meeting you, meeting all of you, it's just made me think about so many things. About how, our lives are all so different, but because of the smallest of things. One choice, one little change in events, and we all end up so different. I don't even know if we're the same person all the time, but I know this," Harumi paused, "I think, we can only be responsible for the choices that we make. Not that others make. Just… just the ones that we make. And with my dad, I made the choice not to wear these robes… but you never chose to have your power taken. So you can't sit there and blame yourself. What you can do now is choose to fight, right? And that's all you can be expected to do."
Lloyd was silent for a long time. Slowly, he raised his head, looking at her for a long while. Harumi was… something. She was someone that he wasn't sure what to make of. Not as a daughter, or as something else, but as his friend. She was like him in so many ways, but hearing her say that… it just made him think. He had to take his time to answer.
"I, I know you're right, but I can't help but feel this way," Lloyd reached up to grip his chest, "But… but if you guys need me, then I won't let myself think about it. I'll focus on what we gotta do. And so, we'll do this, together," He looked up, "Thank you, Harumi. I couldn't ask for a better friend right now."
"Right now?" Harumi smiled a bit, "What about some other time?"
"I'm not sure, I'll have to ask Monty when he's free," Lloyd smirked. After a moment to process it, the two burst out into a long laugh together. Not one that fully alleviated the tension, but one that made him feel much better than he was before. One that at least gave him something to focus on. And after that time, he looked forward to seeing they were indeed approaching something brand new.
The massive Sim Dome was indeed in front of them. The entire building was, as the hologram suggested, a gigantic dome. The building had a large hovering parking lot around it in a large ring, where most of the people that were using it were parked. Harumi moved to drive over it, instead moving towards the front door and hoping out. From the posters outside, the glowing lights, and various other things, the place reminded Lloyd of the indoor amusement parks he sometimes saw around ninjago City.
Waiting in front of the massive Dome was none other than Harumi's friends. Carnelian, Mizuko, Ren, Olive and Forte were all present. Harumi drove up to the front, then hopped out . Once Lloyd followed, the car clicked into autopilot, driving itself over into the first available parking spot a long, long way away. Once the two were out, Carnelian hopped over and hugged Harumi tightly.
"Okay, seriously, you have got to stop getting into these dangerous situations, I feel like I'm gonna get a panic attack and I'm not even 30!" Carnelian gasped out, snuggling up into Harumi, "I mean, I'm guessing that you were in danger."
"I was, I was, but it's okay. We're gonna do this together now, I promise," Harumi smiled, "You girls are doing a lot for me, thank you. I uhm… wait a minute, Forte, what about your concert?"
"Well, we were in the middle of starting and then the power went out! Said some huge explosions were in the power generator district and shut it down! So I came here when Mizuko called me," Forte pointed at her, "Can you believe this?"
"...Yeah, that was probably Prime," Harumi sighed, "Sorry about that, Forte. But we're glad to have you."
"All members of our group had arrived," Olive nodded her head. By now, her Nindroid body was indistinguishable from her original form, "I am ready to assist in whatever the mission is."
"It's 'The gang is all here!,' Olive!" Mizuko threw her arms around Olive, hugging her tightly from behind, "Hey Lloyd! Do you remember me? I'm Mizuko! Master of Water!"
"Yeah, I do, but thank you," Lloyd smiled, then blinked, "Is… that a ninja uniform?"
Mizuko looked down. She had on currently what looked like a bellhop uniform of sorts. Her outfit was a fusion of a knee-length skirt along with a tight red suit top with a bit of a white undershirt showing at the collar, as well as a small hat on her head that leaned towards her left ear.
"Oh, sorry, I got the message right as my shift ended at the cafe," Mizuko smiled warmly, "And I didn't know how long I'd have to change."
"Before you ask," Ren raised her hand, "None of us know all of the jobs she has."
"...Right, uhm, anyways," Lloyd nodded to Ren, "It's good to see you again, Ren, and you too, Olive, girls," Lloyd smiled, "It's good to have some friendly faces right now."
"Given what has been happening in the city, that's true," Ren brushed her hair back, "Harumi's message wasn't clear about what we would be doing, though."
"Yes, given that the situation is like this, we should know the details," Olive stepped forward towards Harumi, "What do you need our help with, Harumi?"
"Get Carn off me and I'll show you," Harumi rolled her eyes. Carnelian grunted and let go, stepping back and crossing her own arms. Harumi tapped her watch and pulled up a hologram of Andrus' map. She looked to Lloyd, affirming he was ready for it.
"Right now, we're going after something we lost when I went to go and get the Time Blades out of the Vault," Harumi grimaced, "And, well, thanks to one of the guys after us, they got teleported all over the city. We've ruled out the locations where Lloyd and myself were sent, so these four spots here must be where the Time Blades went," Harumi pointed at the spots on the map, highlighting them with a gentle flash, "Got that so far?"
"Where did this map come from, if I may ask?" Ren rubbed her chin, "I know these areas and… they're very odd locations."
"Uh… from Andrus," Harumi frowned.
"Ugh, that guy?" Carnelian groaned, "Should we even trust this map then? Last time we trusted him we ended up involved in whatever that dumb scheme he had going with that gang."
"Hey, Andrus is pretty cool!" Mizuko piped up, "He's just quirky! And he did warn us that we were going to help him out!"
"Without telling us what he was planning," Olive informed him, "He has a habit of recruiting us for missions without showing us what our part to play in them is."
"Look, I know Andrus has done that before, but this time I know that this is a good map," Harumi shook her head, "I asked him for it, or, well sorta. We can trust it."
"Hey, whatever it takes for us to get to the action," Forte smirked, "So, where are we heading?"
"It's only a district over," Harumi pointed to one of the marks on the map, "If we're lucky, we won't have anything to worry about when we get there."
"Then what are wea waiting for?" Carnelian threw her arm around Mizuko, "We should get going right away!"
"I know that area, it's known for having these huge hanging gardens!" Mizuko smiled, "It's pretty neat. I used to work there tending all of those huge hanging vines!"
"Why am I not surprised?" Carnelian rolled her eyes, "So, when do we leave?"
"Right away," Lloyd informed her, "We need to get there as soon as we can."
"Well, in that case…" Carnelian suddenly grabbed Mizuko and Harumi, then her eyes flared up amber and red. In front of Carnelian, a massive amber fire dragon formed. The beast was red on the base, with scales having rippling patterns of amber through its body. The dragon was smaller than Harumi's own, but looked far faster and more aggressive. Carnelian blasted fire in her feet to drag Mizuko and Harumi up onto the back of her dragon.
"Then we're flying!" Carnelian laughed, "Let's go, girls! And you too, Lloyd! I'm riding with these two!"
Before Lloyd could react, Carnelian was flying off into the distance from the entrance to the dome. Lloyd turned to face the others, who all just shrugged at him. Olive leapt forward onto her own appearing jagged ice dragon, while Ren created a sleek and thin form dragon that oozed a deep purple along its body. In the distance, Mizuko leapt off Carnelian's dragon to form her own lithe and serpent-like water dragon. Lloyd, not to be left behind, formed Ion to go after them. Forte was last of all, with her cyan and white sound dragon.
"Let's gggoooo team!" Forte pumped her fist in the air as they quickly took off, heading off to reclaim what they'd lost.
Monty hadn't given Mage much time at all to do anything but quickly take after him. Monty had blasted wind right from his feet and gone off into the distance. Mage had gotten enough of a goodbye to Lulloyd before he was off on his own mechdragon. Mage had spent the first ten minutes just trying to catch up to Monty, who wasn't even looking to see if he was following. Mage was resorting to using gravity just to keep up!
"M-Monty, can we slow down?" Mage called out, "P-Please? It's, we're going fast!"
"If you can't keep up, then don't bother coming with me," Monty put his hand on the SoS hilt, "I can do this on my own… yes, I can! Shut up!"
Mage blinked in confusion, but decided not to question it. Instead, he just pushed a little harder, forcing himself to gain speed and catch up to Monty. The two were flying over the layers, avoiding the flying traffic by weaving in and out of the lanes. Mage wanted to go down on the ground and use speed, but he didn't know if he could follow Monty doing that. So he just sucked it up and followed after him.
"According to that map I saw, it looks like we're off to some sort of mall," Monty shook his head once Mage was close enough to hear him, "Which is just great. I'm sure that they didn't even notice that something teleported in out of nowhere. So we'll have to deal with people everywhere. Wonderful."
"I… I mean this is a city!" Mage gasped out, "I don't know what else you would expect!"
"It's called being annoyed, learn it," Monty growled, "Let's just get these things and get this whole stupid plan over with."
Mage went silent for a moment, "Why are you so mad at them?"
"Because this entire plan was stupid," Monty snapped at him, "You should see that. We could've been doing something to try to defeat those three, but no. Now we're going off into the city on a whim to collect blades form some random guy on a screen's map. Loving this so much!" He gripped the sword, "I don't know him, how could I trust him?!"
"I uhm, are you okay?" Mage blinked.
"I'm fine!" Monty spat, "Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself."
"I'm fine too," Mage held one hand up to his chest as the two zoomed through the streets, "And what happened, happened. We shouldn't be angry at them for it. We're working to fix our mistake, isn't that what matters?"
"What matters is getting that blade back," Monty hissed, "Not about some mistake. You realize that once we get these things, we're summoning the Time Twins to fight them, right? This isn't about us going and just getting them for some quest to turn int for a hundred gold, we're going to use these things to actually fight the guys that have gotten away from us each time. And we could have done this in secret, but no, no now we have those guys on us all over again, so we can't even do that! So even when we get these, we'll have to use them immediately and likely fight them and the Twins. So if this is about fixing a mistake, well, if you all had listened to me, we wouldn't have this mistake to begin with! Get that, Mage, or do I need to get you some crayons and draw it out for you with a song?!"
Mage waited for Monty's rant to be over before he responded calmly, "Monty, I know this isn't a good situation. But trying to get angry won't help. I'm not an idiot, I know that this is bad! But getting upset won't change it. Whether you like it or not, what's done is done and we have to deal with it. That's what my dad taught me, and it's what got me through stopping an entire war. So we have to focus on the blade. Let's do this first, then get mad later!"
Monty looked at Mage, not responding to him immediately, his eye catching the SoS on his back. After a moment, Monty just rolled his eyes and looked forward. Mage accepted that the two of them had done what he needed to, and in turn just went quiet. He didn't know where they were going, and somehow Monty seemed to. That, or Monty was just guessing.
After a good ten minutes of flying, at the point that Mage was beginning to actually crave asking for a break, the two broke out between two buildings to see a massive structure. The structure was some sort of large open-aired mall, and the span of a small city in it of itself. The entire thing was roughly made up of four large buildings that were shaped almost like large arches, with stores all along the outside and small glass layers that wrapped around them in rings and went up to the top. At said top was a series of catwalks connecting them, and various banners and screens hanging from said catwalks. Cars flew into holes in the ground, and elevators were present almost everywhere to carry people up from the underground. Just at a glance, Monty estimated at least three hundred stores were present. But that wasn't counting the fact that it looked like there were stairs to keep going underground for even more stores, which just made the place seem even more massive.
"That thing is as big as the Fire Tribe…" Mage blinked, "They even have the steeped buildings too!"
"Well you'll have to have fun looking through it with me," Monty sighed, "According to that map that… weird guy gave us, it's somewhere here. But the signal puts it dead in the middle, so of course we can't do that."
"Should we fly in overhead?" Mage asked. Monty shook his head.
"This place is bound to be filled with cameras, and right now I still don't know how those guys found us the first time, so let's play this safe," Monty grunted, "At the very least, we have the chance to get lost in the crowd. Get a disguise up, I'm gonna find someone to possess."
Before Mage could respond, Monty had dropped down in the sky like an anchor. Mage quickly followed after him, focusing on himself and disguising himself to the same oddly-shaped version of himself he'd used for Clutch, changing his hair to reflect black instead of blonde. When he landed, Monty raised his hand and slowly pointed to one of the elevators to the underground section. As the doors opened, Monty waited for people to exit. Mage watched as a large amount of men, women and kids walked through. Monty waited until the last person was about to leave, then shot his hand out, clamped their mouth shut, and dragged them into the elevator just as the doors shut closed. The blue tubular elevator shot down back underground like a bullet.
When the elevator rose again, 'Monty' walked out. The one he'd chosen to possess was none other than a girl in a large red hoodie, one which had a band name on the front of it. The hoodie was down, but Mage noted that he'd used the hood to wrap up the hilt of the SoS. There were two lumps on the girl's hips for his twin pistols. Her hair was, oddly, a neon orange with blue strips. Monty reached up and brushed the hair back and slowly sighed.
"Well fun," Monty spoke through the girl's voice, one that sounded just as tired as he did, "Let's see… student at Borg U, name is Aly, nothing really that important. Oh, she was here to get a new shirt. Remind me to steal something for her."
"...Sure?" Mage blinked, "You're not worried about possessing a girl?"
"The part of me that cared died when I stopped living," Monty waved her hand, "Come on, let's go. She knows this place, I'll prod her memories and get us around."
Monty led the way, sticking the girl's hands in her pockets and ushering them towards an entrance. As Mage got closer, he noticed that it seemed there was a wall of sort, almost like a dome. However, he only noticed it due to being close; from afar, it wasn't noticeable. As they got there, there were more drones like the ones Monty had taken out earlier that tried to take his weapons, standing in front of a sliding door. As he got close to them, removed one of her hands to his guns, ready to take hold of them and blast his way past them if needed. Thankfully, the drones didn't move, and he passed by without another thought. Mage hurried after him.
The moment that the two entered the door, the entire world shifted. The theory that they were inside of a dome was proven correct. The sky itself went from the lights of the buildings and skyscrappers, to a massive disco-like barrage of blue, purple, pink and yellow. The colors spread out in tune to a massive electronic score playing from the air itself. At first, it sounded deafening. However, it quickly turned background noise, and the flashing lights of the dome became nothing but a detail.
The two had entered in front of one of the massive arched buildings. It seemed that it was indeed an arch, reaching up with stores all along its front. It appeared many of them were selling clothing, but upon closer inspection, it was more like an eclectic mix of 'accessories' with clothing just being one of them. The ground itself was black and purple, but as they walked, they left behind shimmering footprints of blue like paint on a canvas.
"Wha…?" Mage blinked, "How…? Are they doing something with light?"
"Place is covered in a transparent dome from the outside," Monty waved Aly's hand, "This is the fashion dome. Apparently at night it's like this, during the day it's brighter. Great," Monty rubbed his head, "This is like Ronin would think I'm into at first glance."
"So… are the others covered too?"
"Yeah, the other three got their own," Monty stuffed her hands back into the hoodie, "She doesn't go to them often. But whatever. Let's just worry about ourselves right now. Let's do some recon."
"Uh… meaning?" Mage asked.
"We walk around and figure out what the heck this place is like and if the blade fell here," Monty grumbled, "Given how many stores there are, this will take awhile. Let's see if they still use maps here and get started."
Mage looked around the building, trying to take in everything he was seeing. Monty just waved the girl's head, forcing him to follow. As the two entered the strange mall-dancefloor hybrid, they were quickly swallowed as massive crowds filled the area around them, and soon swallowed them into their masses.
"Here," Prime pointed at a screen on Invictus' display, "Looks like Invictus finished scanning for energy signatures that cropped up when Over did. Ruling out the ones where Over, you Oni, and Lloyd hit down, we got four places to investigate."
"One was likely from Harumi," Oni informed him over the comm, "She was present at the time."
"Hrmm… looks like we got one here in the Hanging Gardens, one at some massive place and another one at a park… and the last one is the docks," Prime huffed, "Four places, three of us. One of them is likely where Harumi hit down, so we'll have to check them all."
"I will take the docks," Oni told him, "I am closest to that area, if my memory of the city is correct."
"Hrmm, that works…" Prime nodded, "Oh, Ophiod, I got good news. I intercepted something interesting when I looked into this. Looks like the police have your friend."
"Which place is closest to the station?" Ophiod's distorted voice came through a magic spell on Prime's ear.
"Hrmm… Gardens, looks like," Prime informed him, "Go there then. I'll take… oh… the big place. Looks like a huge shop of some kind. I'll scout it on foot, then worry about if I gotta bring Invictus in. I already stirred up a hornet's nest with it."
Author's Note:
And so the story moves on! I realize it's been awhile since I said this, but thank you to everyone who is reading this story as it goes up! It means more to me than anything to know that people are enjoying this story! Hearing your comments has helped me work up the urge to write even more, and I am pleased to say that I am working hard at completing the story! I will remind everyone to check out Universal Deviation if you want to read more about all these characters and my tumblr, Bionic Stars, for skits and random updates about the story! Thank you all again!