I apologize in advance because I suck at fighting scenes. It won't be long and probably not very interesting. But I had to write something. Anyways, enjoy the new chapter
Cole looked out of the temple. The oni were no longer in sight. Which meant they were somewhere in the forest, making their way towards them. It was only a matter of time now. And how much time they had, none of them really knew.
The sun was going down quickly. To quickly. The sun had already started setting when they arrived. He could only guess how much time they had left. It was also a reason, he thought, why the oni hadn't arrived yet. Sun was their weakness.
If Cole had to guess, they were waiting somewhere until the sun faded completely. Giving them an advantage. In the darkness they would be almost invisible. Maybe Zane could see them with his sensors. Being a nindroids and all.
But the rest of them were screwed. Minutes, maybe an hour. That's all they had left. And only one chance.
How is it going?" he asked, closing the door.
While he had been keeping an eye on the situation outside, the others were trying to figure out how to open a portal to another realm. Or to be more specific; Lloyd was trying to.
"Not that good" the blond said. "I just don't know what to focus on."
"None of us really do. Using our element always felt natural. But using a power you didn't have from the beginning? I really have no idea" Kai shrugged.
Right. None of them actually knew what to do here. Even if they have taught Lloyd how to use his original power, this was something he had to figure out on his own. Sadly.
"I knew how to use the realm crystal itself. It used to run on sunlight. But I don't think that this is the solution in this case" Morro meant.
The blond groaned, leaning against one of the stone pillars. Indeed. Sunlight was originally the way to activate the crystal. But he too doubted that he just had to stand in the sun in order to open a portal.
And if that was the case, then there was no way they would win. It was almost night, and they wouldn't survive until the morning. Almost ten hours of fighting? No way. Just no way.
"We have to find a way now, though. If they get here before you can open a portal, then…" Harumi didn't even want to finish her sentence.
Because they all knew she was right.
"What would even happen if they got here, and we can only fight back for so long? You can't use your powers forever" Jay said. He looked nervous already. Who could blame him?
"I don't really want to think about that" Nya grumbled.
"What do you want me to do? It's not like I can just flick my wrist and-" as the blond did just that, a portal opened beside him.
"Ah-eh…." He stuttered.
"Who would've thought that? You just gotta flick your wrist" Jay laughed.
"Okay, and how do you close it again?" Kai asked.
"I would rather like to know to which realm it leads" Zane said.
He walked closer to the portal, cautious as to when it would close again. None of them knew how it would react. Especially to touch.
"Zane, I don't think that's such a good idea" Lloyd said, trying to hold his brother back.
"We need to test this. We have to know where it leads. If it is the right realm" the nindroid explained.
"Even if it is, I don't know how to open a portal to this specific realm again. I don't know how this works at all" the blond said.
He was more than worried. If Zane walked through there and the portal closed, then what could they do? None of them would know which realm it was. And even if they did and were able to open a portal to that realm again, who said it would be in the same place?
There was no guarantee at all. It was like playing with fire. You get burned, yes, but how much it hurts and how bad it gets, depends on how long you keep the same position. And Lloyd was not going to risk any of that.
"I'll check myself" he said.
"You? And if the portal closes? We'll have to take care of the oni ourselves!" Jay yelped.
"At least I can get back here. It could take hours until I find out how to get any of you guys back" or days. Weeks….
"Just like it could take you hours to get back to us" the wind master countered.
Silence followed. Everyone could make an argument both ways. All of them looked at each other, uncertain. They knew they had to act now. And fast. But the risk of being stuck was high.
"Oh, we don't have time for this" Harumi threw her arms in the air and marched right through the portal.
She could hear the others calling for her, telling her to stop, but she ignored them. She was the only one that was expandable. No elemental powers and no real reason to stay. Well, maybe there were two reasons for her.
On the other side, Harumi was met with ice. Nothing but ice. It was cold. Colder than any winter in Ninjago had ever been. It felt like being frozen on the spot. Snow and wind were rushing past her. It was so much that she couldn't even see more than maybe ten feet.
Not even the sun was clear. She could see that it was there, but only faintly. Her breath was visible in the cold air around her. But that was all she could see clearly.
This must be it. The realm they have talked about. It wasn't exactly like they had described it, but like they had discussed, time could work different here. And it must've been years since they had entered this realm. Who knew how much time had passed here?
But they were right. There was no way that anyone or anything would be able to live here. To survive here. It was the perfect realm for the oni. No food, no shelter. Nothing. They would be dead within days. If they could even die. Harumi wasn't sure.
When her whole body began to feel numb, only being it this cold realm for maybe one or two minutes, she turned around. To her luck, the portal was still there. She quickly walked through it again, landing right back in the temple.
The difference in temperature was the first thing she noticed. It was a lot warmer inside the temple. Even if it was just stone surrounding her, with no extra source of heat. The former princess was shivering hard, leaning against one of the pillars.
Apparently, it had been even colder than she had originally thought. She immediately sank down to the floor, hands rubbing her arms to warm herself up again. One minute, maybe two. Harumi swore that it wasn't longer. And yet she was colder than she had ever been in life.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Jay yelled frantically.
"I wasn't really thinking" she admitted, shivering. Harumi was honestly surprised herself that she didn't stutter. "We didn't have the time to argue about this."
A sudden heat source next to her surprised the former princess. There was nothing in the temple to radiate heat like that. Turning her head slightly, she saw Kai sitting next to her. Right, master of fire. He was warmer.
And Harumi knew that, even though he was still kinda angry at her, he was not ready to let her die just yet. With a sigh, she leaned into the warmth. She could slap herself later for that, because she also knew that Kai was seeing this as some kind of payback. She made her sacrifice. Now they were even.
"I'm guessing its cold on the other side" Nya said.
"And empty. Ice and snow, nothing else" she muttered.
The portal had closed itself as soon as she had come back. There was no way Lloyd could hold it open forever. She got lucky. Now that they knew the right realm, they just had to lure the oni onto the other side.
This could be difficult. They weren't stupid enough to walk into the portal. They must know that the connection to Lloyd was gone by now. They knew very well what was going on. If they knew their whole plan though, Harumi doubted it.
"I still don't know how to open a portal to the same realm again though" Lloyd said.
"We know how it looks on the other side now though. Ice and snow. You just have to concentrate on opening a portal to that specific realm" Zane said.
"Yeah, but-"
A loud bang interrupted them. Oh, great. They were here already. There was no way they could do another test before the door would give in.
Beside her, Kai jumped back up, grabbing his sword. Of course he brought another one. As reckless as he was, he wasn't unprepared.
"Looks like we'll have to find out the hard way" the blond said, helping her back to her feet. She was still cold, but not as much.
Not like she could fight anyway. The oni were tougher than her. This was something only the elemental masters could manage. Sure, she could kick them back, but that was almost everything she could do now. The oni wouldn't be fazed by that.
"You guys ready for this?" Cole asked.
"Is it to late to bail out?" Jay shrieked.
"YES!" everyone yelled back.
The door broke open, revealing more than enough oni. Harumi didn't even know how many there were. She couldn't see enough. She didn't need to see though.
For a single long moment, nothing seemed to happen. No one moved. As if they were trying to scan each other. Harumi held her breath out of sheer nervousness. For once in her life, she could do nothing.
And then it started
The first thing that happened, was Nya and Kai smirking at each other. Next, both of them fired their elements at each other. Water and fire. They usually didn't get along very much. But if you know what you want….
Within seconds the space was covered with fog. Now Harumi really couldn't see anything. A blue light was all she could see.
Harumi could only guess what was going on right now. It was dark and foggy. The blue light was the only thing that allowed her something to focus on.
Lloyd was still beside her, she knew it. She could feel it. After a short time, the fog faded again. The first flock of oni that had charged inside the temple were caught in the portal and send to the icy realm. Only those who noticed what was going on remained.
And there weren't many left. Harumi could count them now. Ten. Only ten were left. Apparently the oni weren't as smart as they thought if most of them were already gone, never to return. There had been at least 100 oni before, right?
The rest of them didn't loose time though, charging at the ninja again. And while Lloyd was still beside her, he was watching them with more focus than Harumi had ever seen in his eyes.
They were scanning the area every second, every little corner was in his view all the time. How he managed to do that, she had no idea. But it was more than impressive.
And at some point, when the ninja were getting the upper hand, portals opened. With wind, Morro pushed three of them backwards into a portal.
Zane used ice to freeze two of them to the ground. The portal opened underneath them this time, making them fall through it.
Jay kicked one of them with a backwards flip, causing it to get pushed into the portal.
Nya used a similar technique like Morro but using water instead. And then only two of them were left.
Fire scared them away like the sun. It was bright and warm. The exact opposite of the oni. It still took some effort to 'convince' them to go through the portal. Meaning: Kai more or less kicked their butts.
And then it was silent again. Mostly. Harumi could hear the crickets chirping outside. Fireflies were seen here and there.
"Wow that was….." Jay trailed off.
"Easier than I thought. All thanks to me" Kai gloated.
They started laughing. And Harumi couldn't help herself, she laughed too. It felt good. When was the last time she had actually laughed and meant it? She couldn't even remember.
The first time since she was a child, Harumi actually felt good. Felt like she belonged somewhere. And even if there were still a lot of things to talk about, right now she didn't want to think about any of it.
Another day was made for that.
"Do we even want to know if they are in the right realm?" Nya wheezed.
"I certainly wont check" Lloyd snickered.
"Oh, none of us will. Ever" the wind master said.
"Let us just hope that they have a hard time" Zane smiled.
The others nodded in agreement. Yeah, thinking about it wouldn't do them any good.
"Alright, who wants to go home?" Morro asked, stepping outside the temple.
"You're staying with us?" Cole asked.
"Sure" the former ghost shrugged before smirking at them. "Unless you want me to wreck some havoc."
And all hell broke loose. All the ninja throwing themselves at the wind master, dragging him with them and yelling about how they don't want any havoc in Ninjago for the next year.
Harumi laughed, following them down the mountain, back to the shore. This time, she wanted to ride back with Lloyd, and she did.
"There are some things I might ask you over the next days" he said.
The former princess was surprised. He wanted her to stay? Well…..
"There are some things I would talk with you about too" she smiled.
But it could wait until they were home.
Well, now there is only one chapter left. I'll try to write it this week, but I can't promise anything. I have finals next week and thus, have some other stuff to do.
And that is all I have to say for now. Until next time