Lloyd's POV
"What do you mean 'both of them'? How can one person have two elements?" Jay questioned.
"You guys didn't see?"
"No, we arrived late to the fight, remember?" Cole reminded me and I thought about how to explain what happened.
"Pythor tried to kidnap her while she was out, but I guess she woke up in time to start fighting back, so when I came in and he took Xia hostage, Aeria broke the window and started commanding the wind, as we already knew about from back in the canyons, but then she had two spheres of darkness in her fists as she fought him. The only other time I've seen something like that was with-"
"The Overlord." Kai finished my statement.
"Exactly, I think that's why Pythor was after her. He wants to control the Darkness the way he couldn't with the Digital Overlord."
"Well, we don't have to worry about that snake anymore." Nya stated proudly, "The Warden just sent word that they placed him in an upgraded cell that he won't be getting out anytime soon."
"Still, we need to find some way to get Aeria to tell us how she got two elements and why she's evil." Kai stated while crossing his arms.
"Kai!" I started to scold him.
"Lloyd, she's a relative of Morro, the guy that tortured you, turned you against us, and has been haunting your dreams for weeks now, that has to make her evil too." Kai argued and I thought back to all the restless nights I've had for the past few weeks where Kai usually finds out and stays with me until I'm able to fall back asleep like the brother who would always look out for me as he promised me before Morro took possession of me.
I guess it's understandable why he's a little suspicious about Aeria, but still...
"Kai, as Lloyd has reminded us, we can not be too quick to judge someone based on who they might be related to or associated with." Zane pointed out, making Kai grunt in response.
"Hey uh speaking of 'associated with', where's Ronin?" Jay asked and we all looked around to see he was gone.
"Oh boy..." I silently slapped a hand to my forehead.
I don't need a sixth sense to see where this is going...
Meanwhile...
Aeria's POV
I was busy trying to find another way to escape the room I was in on this, from what I found out after breaking the window, was a flying ship for about an hour by trying to pry the metal frame around the window out so I could make my escape from wherever these color-coded do-gooders were holding me. I stopped after a little bit since the hand I used to break off the bed leg earlier still had some splinters in it despite my efforts to pull them out with my teeth and they were throbbing in pain. I stopped to lean my forehead against the frame in exhaustion when the door silently opened and closed behind me.
"What do you want Ronin?" I asked without having to turn around to know who was behind me.
"What? Can't a guy can't say hi to his former mentee?"
"You weren't my mentor..." I muttered as I dropped my arms to my sides in defeat then held my right hand in pain.
"Ya might want to fix that hand before you try to escape again." Ronin recommended as he came over to me holding a roll of white bandages and some tweezers.
"I don't need your help, I've been doing just fine on my own without anyone's help." I muttered.
"Said the girl who was living in a place that's worse than an actual dump."
"Don't even go there." I finally turned around faced him with an indignant glare, "It's because of you and that stupid bet you made that I had to disappear."
"Hey, it wasn't that bad."
"You made me steal from a person who could've killed me. All for a stupid sword." I retorted back angrily, but he just sighed and told me,
"Point taken, but these guys aren't going to be like I was. They actually want to help you."
"Why are you defending them? What do you have to gain here?" I asked suspiciously, looking at Ronin with my uncovered eye.
"Business-wise, nothing."
"That doesn't sound like something you'd be into." I crossed my arms and tilted my head a little.
"Trying sympathy for a change. These guys want to know about your second element and they'll just keep asking. Unfortunately for you, they're persistent that way." Ronin put the stuff he brought in on a table that was in the room and started to leave before stopping at the door to tell me,
"They might not've seen it, but I did. You're afraid of your new power, it's controlling you instead of the other way around, and you don't know how to get back control over them. These guys can help you, if you let them. Door's open when you change your mind."
Seconds before he closed the door behind him, I felt my face pinch up in thought. Finally, I made a decision I still wasn't so sure about,
"Two weeks."
"Come again?" Ronin came back into the room to face me and I sighed before saying,
"I will let these guys try and help me for two weeks. If they're unable to help me get these powers under control, I'm leaving and disappearing to where even you won't be able to find me again."
"Deal." Ronin stuck out his hand towards me to shake.
"Ugh... caught up in a deal where you're involved always ends in disaster." I grumbled as I grudgingly shook his hand.
"Not always."
"The scar on my eye begs to differ." I deadpan glaring at him through half-opened eyes.
"Door's unlocked. Just try not to break anything else." Ronin turns and, finally, leaves the room. I looked at the table where the tweezers and roll of bandages are and I sigh as I picked them up and began to remove the splinters that were still under my skin.
I hope I don't end up regretting this... I thought to myself as I wrapped my hand in the bandages.
When I finished, I hauled the bed mattress back into its frame and lay down on it. As soon as my head hit the soft-as-a-marshmallow pillow, I started blinking my eyes to try and stay awake until my vision turned hazy and I succumbed to sleep.
Back to the Ninja...
Lloyd's POV
"Why would Ronin risk talking to Aeria if he knows she hates his guts?" Jay asks, confused.
"I don't know..." I say as I think to myself about what Ronin could be planning.
"So that I could get her to stay." Ronin stepped in and we all looked at him, surprised he's unscathed.
"Uh heh heh you got her to stay?" Jay asked with disbelief clear in his tone.
"Yeah? Only problem is she's giving you all two weeks to help her or she's leaving again."
"Two weeks!" Cole repeated.
"To help her with what exactly?" Zane asked.
"I really need to catch you up on this too, don't I?" Everyone but me nodded their heads.
"She doesn't know how to control her new powers, the ones the 'Overlord' had. It might look like she does, but she doesn't and you all are the only ones who could teach her."
"But in order to do that, won't she need to trust us?" Xia asked.
"Where should we start with that?" Jay asked and put a hand to his chin in thought before his stomach started to growl loudly and he chuckled,
"Heh heh.. maybe we should start with dinner, I'm starving."
"Ditto, it's almost time for dinner. Who's cooking tonight?" Nya asked and they all grimaced when they remembered it's Cole's turn to cook, despite him still being a ghost still.
"Alright fine, I'll go see what I can make." Cole phased through the wall toward the kitchen as everyone shuddered at what he might make.
"We might as well order some food since we all know whatever he makes is going to be a dry disaster." Kai suggested as he picked up the landline that they kept on the Bounty, "What should we get?"
"I vote noodles." I spoke up automatically thinking of Skylor's restaurant.
"Cool, Ronin, you want anything?" Kai asked, dialing the phone.
"As enticing as that sounds, I'm gonna head back to the shop to take care of some business. I'll be back in the morning." Ronin whistled for Rex when it pulled up beside the Bounty, he went out on the deck and boarded it, waving to us as he left.
Eating Time Skip
"Oh man, that was good." Jay rubbed his full stomach as he finished off his noodles.
"Hey, I could've made something that would've been good too." Cole tried to defend himself.
"Uh, do you not remember giving us food poisoning from your clam chowder?" Kai raised an eyebrow as he asked.
"I am still confused as to how you got clams and made the chowder without getting wet." Zane pondered as he and Xia began gathering everybody's dishes and trash to clean up.
"Hey, did we leave anything for Aeria?" I asked and my question was soon answered when everyone avoided eye contact.
"I mean there are a few puffy potstickers left, some broccoli beef, other than that uhh..." Jay mumbled.
"I'll go see if she wants to eat, then I'm hitting the sack myself. Night everyone." Everyone said 'goodnight' as I took up a plate, put the puffy potstickers on it, spooned the last of the broccoli beef onto the plate, and grabbed my fortune cookie, that I didn't want to eat, and walked over to the room Aeria was staying in.
I knocked a few times waiting for an answer, but when she didn't answer, I slowly opened the door to find her asleep on the bed in her regular clothes with no blanket, even though the window was open and the cold night air was washing into the room right on her.
"I guess she's pretty worn out from today..." I thought about all the times she used her powers, possibly without even knowing what she was doing the whole day, thinking she exhausted herself in doing so.
I placed the plate of food on the small table next to the bed and picked a blanket from the closet that she must've not looked in.
When I brought it over to Aeria and placed it over her, she stirred and her eyes squeezed shut even tighter as a small whimper escaped her mouth and she shifted around making her hand come out from under the blanket
"Uhh..." I cautiously took her hand in mine and when I did, I was transported somewhere, one that looked like the forest, but was devoid of life or color of any kind.
Suddenly, a person ran right past me and tripped on the ground a few feet away from me.
"Hey are you alright?" I went to go help the person up, but when I got close enough, I saw it was Aeria and she looked terrified as she got back up and started running again.
"What's…?" My question went unfinished as I turned to see what she was running from; what looked like a thick fog of purple and black with small purple sparks lighting inside.
"None of this is real…" I slowly backed away in the vision, causing me to fall out of it or something since I ended up back on the Bounty, still holding onto her hand, but she seemed a tiny bit more relaxed than before, settling back into a more or less peaceful sleep, breathing softly and slowly again.
"What was that?" I whispered to myself as I let go of her hand and left the room to go to my room and sleep.