Hey y'all! Only ONE CHAPTER after this one! A LOT happens in this chapter, and I considered splitting it in two, but I wanted/needed to finish by the end of next week.
I own nothing!
Chapter 24: Dirtied Hands, Clean Slate
"Fire! AIM TO DISABLE, NOT KILL!" The Mechanic's words rang on the battlefield right outside the Palace doors. Royal Guards faught against Serpentine and Sons of Garmadon members with spears and swords. Ninjago soldiers efficiently rounded up any of the Dark Army foot soldiers that tried to fight them with their guns.
But Eyezor'rai, Kapau'rai, and Chope'rai were nowhere to be seen. "Find them! Where are they?"
As the fighting surrounded him, Mohawk had climbed down the wall and crouched over Chopper Maroon's body. "Chopper? Answer me, buddy! Chopper...?"
His heart pounding, he closed the fallen lieutenant's eyes before looking at the environment around him. Several of his own men were either being beaten down or dropping their weapons in surrender. The serpentine warriors held out a little longer, to their credit, but they were still being overpowered.
WHERE ARE OUR ANACONDRAI?
Realizing the truth, he picked up a dropped Anacondrai Blade and ran through the battlefield, getting inside the Palace without being detected by the Mechanic and his forces.
"Get him, Cole!" Bizarro Kai pointed to Lloyd, who was still on his backside, and Scott who stood between the two. With a grunt, Bizarro Cole 's lava arm punched the ground and caused the floor beneath the Royal Guard to shake, knocking him down onto his side.
As the Bizarro Earth ninja silently approached the two, he failed to notice the attacker from the side. Kai's katana swiftly slashed down before him, creating a gash in his arm. As if he were confused, Bizarro Cole looked up to Kai with a head tilt.
"That was for Brad, you bastard!"
Spinning into a fiery tornado, he used the butt-end of his sword hilt to make a swift blunt to the head, knocking him off balance. Kai was getting the upper hand. Lloyd grinned, Scott cheered. Dareth, Ronin and Pixal yelled in support. Zane looked to Jay with a nod, which Jay almost returned until he saw Bizarro Kai staring at his counterpart from the Throne.
He was grinning.
Jay's eyes widened as he looked to the real Master of Fire. "Kai! WAIT!"
Unable to hear him in the rush of the moment, Kai spun once more, causing Bizarro Cole to fly back into a pillar. Looking up at the fast-approaching Kai, he held up his arms with his hands out, as if he was trying to yell but couldn't move his lips.
And then Kai's sword went straight through his stomach, piercing the pillar behind him.
"*Huff-huff* I... I got you... you bastard."
The Bizarro Ninja's eyes looked up to his own, before turning red. But not a deep red like they were when they first came into creation. A soft red mixed with black... almost like-
A HYPNOBRAI'S EYES.
Kai realized the truth too late. "No... NO! COLE!" The red-and-black swirl disappeared from his eyes, revealing his dark brown eyes to him as he began coughing up blood. "*Cough* K-Kai..."
Lloyd and Scott, realizing what was happening, ran to help. Ronin, Pixal and Zane did too. Jay almost joined before looking up at the balcony behind him, where he saw two shadowy figures:
A single Hypnobrai warrior, who appeared to be silently cackling...
And his own counterpart, Bizarro Jay, staring down at them in an uninterested fashion, as if he was somehow bored by this revenge.
"Cole! Hang on buddy, we're gonna get you help! JUST HANG ON!" Kai's panicking voice began to speed up as Cole was starting to drift off. Lloyd and Scott were both applying pressure to the wound as Zane and Pixal scanned the wound. With tears in his eyes, Zane quietly looked up to his friends, shaking his head.
"K-Kai... It's okay. J-just..." With what little strength he had left, he grabbed Kai's wrist and brought him forward. "Just take care of the kids..." Not wanting to question him, Kai nodded, allowing Cole to smile softly as he looked up into the air.
"Ahhh... I'm coming, Mom... I'm coming, Dad... You're gonna love Nya..." With his last words, the light in his eyes faded and his lava arms reverted back to their original state. In a moment of silence, Lloyd, Scott, Kai, Zane, Pixal and Ronin bowed their heads in respect, before a bright orange glow surrounded Cole. In a moment of shock, the glow brightened, before disappearing entirely.
"Wh-what was that?"
Silence answered Scott, until a soft, maniacal laughter filled the room.
"Heheheheheheh... hahahaha... HA HA HA HA!" Bizarro Kai still stood at the base of the throne, now laughing with a hint of madness. "OH, THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL!"
Zane, Lloyd, Scott, and Ronin stood up, ready to fight him as Pixal tended to Kai, who was still in shock. The four bared their weapons once again, but to their surprise, Bizarro Kai raised his arms in surrender.
"Oh, oh no... you misunderstand, my dear Ninja..." He dropped to his knees, his arms still raised and his smile still present on his face. "I surrender. The damage is already done. Besides, none of us are going to be here for much lo-"
Dareth's surprisingly powerful punch knocked him back onto the ground, out cold. The Brown Ninja had been behind him the whole time, ready to strike when it was prudent. "Scott, you have those Vengestone cuffs?"
"Uh, yeah!" He ran forward and placed the connected shackles on the unconscious wrists. Dareth looked over to the crouching red ninja.
"Kai... They still have Nya. Cole wouldn't want us to falter now. Right, Jay-? Where's Jay?"
All heads turned up to the balcony above them at the sound of Jay's elemental blade igniting. The Master of Lighting had it pointed at his counterpart and a single Hypnobrai soldier behind him.
"Jay!"
The Blue Ninja looked down to his friends. "GO! Save Nya and get the other two Bizarro Ninja! Ronin, take Bizarro Kai! NOW GO!"
They did as they were told. Ronin slumped Bizarro Kai's unconscious body on his back as he ran towards the exit, and all of the others ran down towards the underground Anacondrai Temple. Kai was last to leave, staring at Cole's body one last time. "Good luck, Jay."
Mohawk was running down the hall towards the throne room, blade in hand. Got to get the Bizarro Ninja. We need reinforcements!
Just as he turned the corner, he saw the mercenary he recognized as "Ronin" walk out of the throne room, carrying someone. Hiding around the corner, Mohawk peered to see it was Bizarro Kai, chained with Vengestone.
"Oh no..." He crouched down so Ronin wouldn't notice him as he ran towards the front entrance Mohawk had just come from, presumably to help The Mechanic's forces. Curious, the last Son of Garmadon lieutenant quietly snuck towards the throne room.
And he immediately regretted it.
Killow's body lay in the center of the once decadent jewel of the Palace, an Anacondrai Blade buried in the base of his skull as his skin appeared to be melted off. To his side, he saw the body of Cole against one of the pillars. Whether it was Cole's or Bizarro Cole's, he did not know.
Distantly, he heard two voices conversing form the balcony on tip of him. Both were Jay's. I've got to get out of here... Turning around, he began to run down the hall, not sure where he could go. "No, no, no... this can't be happening!"
"Mohawk, stop!"
His heels make a screech against the old wood at the sound of Eyezor'rai's voice. He turned to see the three Anacondrai warriors walk towards him. "It's ok, it's us. We need to go."
"Yeah... back to the front! We have to help the others!"
Kapau'rai shook his head. "The Island is lost, Mohawk. Even with our abilities, they have the numbers."
Chope'rai nodded. "But you helped us escape Kryptarium, Mohawk. You are one of us. Come on, we know where Chen kept a spare batch of airships at the Island's tip. We can use one to quietly escape when this whole thing blows over."
Mohawk stared at them, confused. "But what about the Bizarro Ninja?"
Eyezor'rai placed his hand on Mohawk's shoulder. "I fear we've been betrayed. We came in here when the battle to get their help, and we heard Bizarro Kai's ramblings. He killed Killow. This has been their plan all along, to lead us to our deaths. Now, come on!"
Before he could even process everything he had just been told, Mohawk found himself running down the hallway with the three of them, in the hopes of escape the Bizarro Ninja's approaching endgame.
After the others had left the room, Jay focused his blade at his counterpart, looking to Mezmo from the side.
"This is your one and only chance, Hypnobrai. I can only assume you were the one who hypnotized Cole, but under their orders. Run. Try to escape, if you can. We will find you. My fight right now is with him."
As his eyes began to glow a bright blue in anger, Mezmo nodded and ran towards the stairs, leaving the two Jay's alone in the room, along with two corpses. Unlike Jay, however, the Bizarro Ninja looked at him with a bored, unintimidated look.
"Too bad about Cole, huh? Didn't know if we were really gonna get to this point. Not after I had taken a few moments to consider the track record of everyone who opposes you. It's always you in the end, eh?"
"Shut it... DON'T say his name!"
With a long sigh, Bizarro Jay turned away from him and looked down at the two bodies. "You chose to come up here to face me, I didn't beckon you. You are preventing yourself from doing the right thing."
"What thing?"
Stopping our efforts to exact a great revenge. Killow and Cole were just a start. My brothers' hunger won't be satiated until everyone on this island is dust and bones."
Jay took another step forward. "Their hunger... not yours?"
Bizarro Jay scoffed. "It was, until very recently. You see, Jay..." He turned back to Jay and raised his left hand, lighting it up with a few sparks. "These powers never belonged to me. None of them belonged to us, but we took them. And when we did, we each lost what we were: True warriors of Garmadon, bred from his drakness. Now we are corrupted by your elements. I thought we'd have improved, but no, just more disappointing truths came to light because of it."
"What? What truths?"
He continued his monologue. "I'm not Ryot, Jay. I don't have any special abilities, not really. These are not mine, just as the Force isn't really yours. Neither are the cosmic powers you took from the Overlord. I'm willing to bet teleporting all your friends in this island took a good portion of energy out of you. And sure, the First Spinjitzu Master gifted that ability to you, but in the absence of the Overlord, we arose to meet you. There will always be a great darkness so long as there is a great light, and you and Lloyd make two great lights."
Jay began to drop his blade as he could tell he was being genuine.
"You'll know what to do. You need to be with the others. The prisoners in the Anacondrai Temple need you. And when you are done..." He raised his hand into a finger-gun motion. "...Clouse's study. Find the book Ninjago: Elemental Lineages. Page 64. Make it right, Jay."
Without another word, he pointed the finger gun at the base of his temple and "shot" a bolt of lightning through his brain, killing himself before Jay could stop him.
In a cold sweat, Jay processed the counterpart's warnings before heading down in the direction of the others.
The Mechanic and his men were just finishing cuffing all of the foot soldiers as they saw the energy shield break apart in the air. "THE SHIELD IS DOWN!" Serpentine and Sons of Garmadon alike hung their heads in defeat as the Royal Guards and Ninjago Military soldiers celebrated. The Mechanic smiled as he turned on his communicator.
"Captain Rex, the shield is down! We'll need a few ships to transport these prisoners and get ground troops to help those inside the palace!"
Bizarro Zane and the real Bizarro Cole stood before the circle of prisoners as the Skull began to prepare the spell. The Awakened Warriors all stood at attention, watching as an incredibly weakened Nya started screaming.
And then a part of her stomach began to glow orange, causing Bizarro Zane to laugh. Through her screams of pain, Nya stared at the Nindroid confused, as did Bizarro Cole. "What is it?"
"Don't you see? It worked! They killed their Cole, thinking it was you!" Bizarro Cole smiled wickedly at the news, while only more tears fell from Nya's face. "NO!"
"Oh, yes, my dear. I'm afraid your hubby is long gone... But don't worry, from what I can see, you won't be long behi- AUGH!"
From behind, Kai's katana slashed through the Nindroids right arm, tearing it off. On the other side, Dareth's scythe did the same to his left arm. Falling on his knees in pain, Bizarro Zane gasped and looked up in anger. "AWAKENED WARRIORS! KILL THEM! SKULL, START THE SPELL!"
On his command, the eight black Skulkin charged towards the incoming Ninja and their allies. Bizarro Cole helped Bizarro Zane get up and retreat to the opposite end of the chamber as Kai, Zane, and Dareth Spun to knock the closest three, causing them to burst into several bits. Lloyd attempted to shoot down the floating skull with his Golden energy, and Scott and Pixal ran to aid Nya.
Kai stopped to see the damage he had done against the Awakened Warrior. "Well, that was easy."
"Kai! Behind you!"
At the familiar voice's warning, the Master of Fire turned and saw the Skulkin he just broke apart put itself back together through a green magic. "What the hell?"
"They're magic! You need to destroy the skull!" He recognized the voice as he turned to the side to see a familiar face chained against the wall. "Clutch?! What are you doing here?"
"Oh, y'know, just sightseeing- I've been captured! NOW STOP THE BIZARRO NINJA FROM GETTING AWAY!"
Sword in hand, Kai ran past two approaching Awakened Warriors before he saw his sister. "NYA!" As Bizarro Zane and Bizarro Cole began to head towards an exiting passageway, he made the split-second decision to go to her instead, giving his sword to Scott.
"Take this, and stop them from escaping! Use whatever means necessary, Scott! We're counting on you!"
Nodding, the Royal Guard got up, following the trail of oil left behind by Bizarro Zane's arm sockets. Kai crouched down next to Nya, tears beginning to from once again as he noticed her weakened state. "Hey Nya... it's ok, I'm here now."
The color drained from her face, it took all of her strength to look to her side to see her brother's own eyes. "Kai... Is-Is it true? Is Cole...?"
His silence, as well as Pixal's own, confirmed her fears. "N-no."
"I'm so sorry Nya. But you're going to be fine! We are going to get you and the... babies(?) out of here!" He had only now noticed her enlarged stomach. Whatever they had done to her was clearly hurting.
"N-no, Kai... This is it for me, I'm afraid..."
"Come on, Zane, we just have to get outside... we can watch it all burn from there!"
Bizarro Zane simply shook his head. "No point in trying... We are going to suffer the same fate either way, and I do not have the strength to get us ther-"
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Both turned to see the lone Royal Guard they recognized as Lloyd's personal attendant pointing Kai's Katana at them. To his credit, he wasn't shaking, but rather showed pure determination in his eyes. "This is your only warning. Surrender! At least your Kai was smart enough to do so."
"Really?" Bizarro Zane turned to Bizarro Cole. "So that's how he wanted to play it. Interesting. I suppose we could follow his lead... But we'd rather go out on our own terms. Cole!"
On que, the Bizarro Master of earth punched the underground hall's wall, causing several rocks to fall down. Scott dove forward to dodge the debris, and before he got the chance to look up, B-Cole was standing right over him. With a swift foot down, he broke Kai's katana in two.
"Too little, too late, soldier boy."
To his surprise, Scott grinned. "Not exactly." Taking out a small blade from his sleeve, he jammed it into the Bizarro Ninja's ankle, causing him to crouch down in pain. As he did, Scott used his other hand to place one pair of vengestone shackles between his right hand and right ankle, making him fall over powerless.
"Two down, one to go." Picking himself back up, he looked at an armless Zane, who sighed in defeat as Scott placed a neck-sized vengestone shackle around his neck. "That is, assuming Admiral Walker took care of his own counterpart."
Jay ran down the underground hall, seeing the chaos before him: Clutch Powers was chained against a wall, Dareth and Zane were fighting off eight indestructible black Skulkin, Pixal and Kai were crouching over a weak, VERY pregnant Nya within a circle of random children and infants, and Lloyd was fire blasts of golden energy at a floating green skull, whihc dodged them while beginning to recite an incantation.
"Lloyd!" spinning down the stairway, taking a few Awakened Warriors in the process and hurling them across the chamber, he quickly used his elemental blade to slice through the chains that held Clutch.
"Thanks!"
"Don't mention it! Take this, and help us get rid of that thing!" Pointing to the skull, he took out a small blaster from his pocket and handed it to Clutch. With a grin, the one-eyed explorer aimed the blaster and fired several rounds in the direction of the skull, but it dodged every attack just as it was doing with Lloyd.
Damn.
Across the Island, the three Anacondrai Warriors and single Son of Garmadon had used the inner-working tunnels to get to the secret mountain cave, which had a small batch of Anacondrai Copters just as Chope'rai had said.
"They're still here! And they still appear to be in operating condition." Kapau'rai examined the closest one. "The cloaking mechanism is still working as well."
Eyezor'rai hissed in excitement. "Excellent. And it looks like Bizarro Jay's energy shield is down too. The Dark Army is no more, my friends. Let's get the hell out of here-"
"Wait!" All four heads turned to see an exasperated Mezmo coming out of the same tunnel they had just emerged from. "Wait! *Huff* Please... take me with you! The Bizarro Ninja are suicidal! the red one murdered Killow, and I watched the blue one kill himself in front of his counterpart!"
Mohawk looked down at the mention of his General. "Well... that explains the energy shield. What do you guys think?"
Chope'rai looked to Kapau'rai. "He's serpentine. The others may be a lost cause, but we stick to each other. If we are rescuing you, Mohawk, what's one more?"
Eyezor'rai nodded. "Very well. Get this Copter started! We need off before the Lightning Ninja's soldiers get here and stop us!
Captain Rex and his platoon were the first to land, putting the captured Dark Army foot soldiers aboard the airships. Looking to the Mechanic, he nodded.
"OK, men! Let's go help the Admiral!"
As Jay shot lightning, Lloyd shot golden energy, and clutch fired blasts at the Skull of Hazza 'Dur, Awakened Warriors kept getting up after being beaten down by Zane and Dareth, and Nya was holding onto her last bits of energy as Pixal and Kai were supporting her.
"Hold on Nya, just hold on!"
The former Water Ninja shook her head. "No, Kai. No... This is it-AAAAHHHH!" Her grip tightening beyond what either of them had expected, she began to scream in absolute pain. Pixal's eyes widened as she looked to Kai.
"She's giving birth."
"OH GAAAAUUUUGGHHH!" Her screams resonating around the room, the children's empty gazes began to shift towards her, and even the Awakened Warriors turned their heads in surprise. Only the Skull kept his focus from being hit by its attackers.
Pixal had gotten into position to deliver, removing the necessary articles of clothing. "OK, Nya... I need you to, erm, push."
"AUGH, WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOIINNNGGGGG? AAAAAAUUUUGGHHH!"
Looking to Kai quickly, her eyes darted back. "I see a head! PUSH! PUSH!" With another burst of energy, Nya screamed for seconds on end until the sounds of a babies cries could be heard amidst the surrounding battle. Kai and Nya looked to Pixal for confirmation.
"Nya, it's... a boy." Cleaning the baby with her garb, she handed the infant to Kai before preparing for the second child. Nya gazed at her son with loving eyes. "...Cole Jr. That's his naaaaAAAAAUUGGH!"
"The second one is coming! PUSH, NYA! PUSH!"
Kai cradled his newborn nephew in one arm as he allowed his sister to crush the hand on the other. Her screams got noticeably weaker as he began to hear the second babies own cries. After a few minutes she stopped, allowing them both to look at a nervous Pixal.
"Pix? What... what's wrong?" Nya very weakly asked.
"It's a girl, Nya... But-" As she lifted her arms to show the baby, Kai gasped. The infant was fine, but both her and the hands of Pixal were covered in blood. "No! hang on Nya!"
His sister shook her head violently as her eyes began to close. "KAI, listen... her name is... Maya. Protect her. Protect them both at all costs... Please. I'll be Cole soon. And... our parents."
With her last breath, she began to glow a bright light blue, before the light transferred over to newborn Maya. Cole Jr. and Maya, new Masters of Earth and Water.
"FINALLY! THE WATER ELEMENTAL HAS BEEN REBORN! TIME TO BEGIN!"
Kai cradled his niece and nephew in shock as a green smoke began to encompass everybody in the room, causing the island to begin quaking.
The halls shook, alerting Scott and causing Bizarro Zane and Bizarro Cole to smile. "Too late now, little man. Time for us all to join the Dark Lord."
As Ronin was exiting the Palace's front entrance and carried an awaking Bizarro Kai over to the nearest airship, he began to protest. "NO! I will NOT be imprisoned again"
Ronin tried to fight back from his struggles. "Yeah, well, too bad. I heard they've already upped the security at Kryptarium. They may have even left your cell warm for ya-" Suddenly the island around them began to quake, knocking several clones and droids off of their balance.
In a sudden realization, Bizarro Kai laughed. "YES! IT'S HAPPENING!"
"C'mon! Let's go!"
Mohawk and Mezmo hopped in the back of the working Copter in the nick of time. As Chope'rai began piloting the craft towards the cave's mouth, the island began quaking. Rocks began falling down, crushing the other aircrafts.
"Look out!"
"I've got it!"
Just as the rocks began to cave in, the Anacondrai Copter turned invisible, allowing Eyezor'rai, Chope'rai, Kapua'rai, Mohawk and Mezmo to escape undetected.
Jay looked to Lloyd as they saw what was happening. Every element was in one room: The children began glowing the respective colors of their elements. The infants in Kai's arms glowed light blue and orange, and he himself began to glow red. Zane had a silvery-white hue, and Lloyd glowed a combination of gold and green. All who were glowing were frozen in place, and Clutch, Dareth, and Pixal were being held down by the Awakened Warriors.
Looking at himself, however, Jay saw that he was only dimly glowing blue in comparison to the others. He wasn't frozen in place. "What?"
The Skull focused on him. "WHAT? HOW? YOUR POWERS... THE LIGHTNING IN YOU IS BEING WEAKENED BY THOSE STOLEN AND THOSE GIVEN!"
Those stolen... The Overlord's Cosmic powers! Those given... the Force? Jay gasped as he realized what it was Bizarro Jay had meant. "I know what I need to do!"
Mustering the force, he grabbed the skull in place, and internally smacked himself for not thinking of that earlier. In an effort to get free, the skull shot a green beam towards him. With his other hand, Jay shot a beam of cosmic energy to meet it.
creating a blinding light between the two, everyone shielded their eyes except for Jay, who was now using every essence of energy he had into using the dual abilities. His synthetic eye began sparking as he screamed, pushing the beam of energy harder.
"RRRAAAAAAUGH! COME ON!"
It was working! The beam was pushing back against the Skull's own.
"No... NO!"
"Too late, greeny!" With the Force, he pulled the skull forward, getting it caught in the cosmic beam. As if it was being sucked out of his body, the last of the cosmic energy within Jay left him and went inside the Skull, which began screaming in pain. The glows dimmed around everyone, allowing them to move freely once again.
Jay's other arm began to feel weaker as he looked up to the frantically shaking skull. He knew what it meant: He was losing his touch with the force in order to stop the creature from killing the children and his friends.
Closing his eyes in determination he quietly whispered to himself "So be it." Igniting his Elemental Blade once more, he yelled to everyone:
"Shield yourselves!"
Lloyd and Zane crouched down. Kai covered himself over the infants. As Dareth, Pixal, and Zane were being held by the Awakened Warriors still, they covered their eyes. And Jay jumped up with all his might and swung his blade down at the Skull...
Exploding it on impact. As it did, the Awakened Warriors released their hold on the prisoners as they turned to dust, and a wave of energy was released, sending Jay back into the wall and knocking everyone else back several feet.
As the dust settled, the island stopped shaking.
Bizarro Zane's anticipating smile faltered. He looked to Bizarro Cole with shock on his face. "No..."
Bizarro Kai's laughter slowly died out when he realized the quaking stopped. "No. No, no, no, nonononono. NO!"
Pixal and Zane ran to help Kai and the infants, as well as the other children who were finally beginning to seem out of their daze, as Dareth and Clutch ran to help up Lloyd and Jay.
Lloyd easily picked himself up, but all heads turned as Jay weakly groaned.
"Jay!"
"I'm-uff-I'm fine..." Getting up with Clutch's help, he lifted his head to reveal that several shards of the Skull had pierced his synthetic eye, causing it to pop out. "How do you feel, Jay?"
The Blue Ninja looked at his hands. "Like... like the Master of Lightning again. I don't have the Cosmic Powers anymore, nor the Force... but it was worth it." Tearing off a slip of material from his robes, he tied a makeshift-eyepatch around his head, to which Clutch nodded in a subtle sense of admirability.
Jay looked towards the children and Nya's body, the Kai slowly crying as he held onto his newborn niece and nephew. "Help Kai. He needs it more than me. The Mechanic and my own troopers should be here any moment now. Make sure the children are well taken care of." He started to walk up towards the Palace grounds.
Lloyd and Dareth looked at one another confused.
"Where are you going."
"Jay didn't even turn back, but they could both see and hear his determination. "I've got a book to read."
BOOM. A LOT of death. ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER COMING OUT NEXT WEEK! Please review.