As the ninja walk out of the gift shop, Lanterns in hand, they leave separately. Each ninja making their way over to their locations of choice, to remember, and celebrate, the lives of those close to them, who have passed. Lloyd and Misako were going to head to the Corridor of Elders, to remember Garmadon. Zane plans to head to the Birchwood Forest, to celebrate the life of his father, and creator. Jay was going to celebrate with his family at the junkyard. Cole said he was going to see his father, while Kai and Nya were heading to the Blacksmith Shop to remember their parents.
Before they leave, however, an old friend of their parents drops by, stopping the ninja in their tracks. He shows them around the new exhibit, the hall of villainy, while Kai keeps his distance, an odd aura emitting from the somewhat eccentric old man. Kai notices as Cole disappears, but his familiar energy signature is even muffled, scattered, preventing a track of him.
He goes to speak of it, only for his voice to fail, something forcing his silence on the matter. Kai glances at the painting of Yang, as it seemingly smiles at him, before he follows the others out. As originally planned, the ninja split up, as each go their own way.
As the moon glows green in the sky, Kai and Nya sit together, held in each others arms, when Kai notices the lantern flickering between red and green. His staring catches Nya's attention, as she too notices the flickering, the two of them glancing at each other in concern.
"You know, I could still tell you what happened to your parents." A familiar voice catches their attention. "But you have bigger things to worry about."
"Chen?" Nya asks in shock. Kai opens his pocket dimension, moving to take something out, only for it to fizzle out and disappear, much to his frustration. Instead, he fires out a burst of flame. Before it can hit Chen, an Anacondrai jumps up, taking the hit.
"And assorted sidekicks." Chen adds with a deranged cackle. At this, Kai hands his sister a sword from his sheath, before he dashes back into the shop, opening a compartment, revealing his recent work. Within, the Golden Weapon, reforged by Kai, sit with a shine. He takes the Sword of Fire, the only Golden weapon that had been imbued with Elemental Power so far, as he returns to find Nya fending off both Anacondrai.
As she fights, he finds an opening, using Spinjitzu to get behind one of the resurrected Serpentine, using the sword to pierce through the thick scales, cooking it's internal organs, watching as the fire slowly turned it into ash.
"Well, this looks like fun." A familiar voice notes, as a gateway opens, several figures emerging.
"Vex. Good to see you again." Kai sighs slightly.
"I'm not so sure that it is." Vex retorts grimly, eyeing Chen as he unleashes a weapons pod. "Take it down." He orders, as plasma bolts immediately tear through the mechanical monstrosity, a few also tearing through Chen, as Nya dispatches the last Anacondrai.
"What do you mean?" Kai asks.
"We're not here by choice." One of the soldiers answers bitterly. Aircraft begin flying overhead, passing through larger gateways, before they are followed and fired upon, one being hit and spiraling into the ground, impacting with a small explosion.
"How is this happening?" Nya asks, awed at the technology and materials used in the armour, weapons, and vehicles that pass through.
"Something tore through the void of all Realms. I can feel it happening all across the land, and not just here. It's happening in every realm. Armies are being split between them, and some are merging, or appearing, with no one to lead them." Vex explains, watching as yet another aircraft is shot down. "Most of those I have encountered are ones who have already died in battle." At this, Kai looks to the moon, it's glow brighter than before.
"You came to find the epicenter." Kai assumes, as Vex too looks at the moon.
"I'm the only one with any kind of control where I end up. This lot, however, I found on the way." He gestures to the soldiers by him. "And it seems, that we have found the Realm which holds the Epicenter."
"Something else set this off." Kai notes. "Today is The Day of the Departed, or, Halloween, in other Realms. The Eclipse is a rare occurrence, but shouldn't cause this."
"Anything unusual happen recently?" Vex questions, as Kai stiffens.
"Yeah. There was something I noticed." He growls slightly, eyes searching the atmosphere, before finding an anomaly. "There." He points to the glowing island. "Yang's Temple. Haunted beyond belief. I think I know the trigger. But we'll need some specialized help. Give me a sec." Kai goes inside the Shop, returning the Sword of Fire to it's compartment, before walking back out, looking to his sister. "You didn't see anything." He warns.
"We fought Chen, and were saved by them." She smiles knowingly, gesturing to the newcomers. Kai smiles in return.
"Come on. We've got to cross a large amount of Ninjago for this." Kai summons Ash, jumping on her back, Nya following suit. "You able to track my energy signature?" He asks Vex, who nods.
"We'll get there. We'll see if we can commandeer a vehicle that can hold us all, too." Vex assures, as Ash rises into the air, taking off towards the Junkyard, the closest place to their current location.
As they arrive at the Junkyard, the familiar sight of Samukai has Kai in a rage. The Skeleton that took his sister at the beginning of all this, the one who caused him pain. With a tap to Ash, he leaps off her back, leaving her with Nya, as he brings out his katana. Samukai, noticing the new arrival, tosses Jay's mother away, forcing Jay to dash and catch her, allowing the four armed skeleton to block Kai's strike, pushing him back with strength that stems from magic.
"Jay, smokescreen." Kai orders, as Jay drops smoke bombs around the area, allowing Kai to disappear, forcing Samukai to stay and prepare. He begins to spin four blades around at inhuman speed. As Kai goes to strike him from behind, the skeleton manages to block. "You may have been a proud warrior once, the king of the Underworld, but then you became a pawn to Garmadon, and now, a pawn to whoever brought you back." Kai mocks.
"I wield great power, foolish Ninja." Samukai retorts, bringing one of his blades away from the sword lock, spinning it before attempting to behead Kai, who ducks, and cuts the arm off, the arm and blade still carrying momentum from the swing, as it flies up, before Kai catches it in his other hand, holding the smaller weapon as a Shoto.
"That power, shall only consume you, just like the Golden Weapons." Kai warns, going on the offensive once more, using an agile form to pass through the skeleton's guard, slicing through another arm, before cutting him apart, using his powers to push him away, as he falls to pieces. "Revenge is so much sweeter, when left to boil in time." He tosses the blade he borrowed from the long dead skeleton away. A mental signal is all that is needed for Vex and his group to open a gateway and pass through in an armoured car. As Vex takes note of the dead skeleton, he looks to Kai.
"Finally got rid of the knockoff Grievous?" He questions with a smirk.
"You've got your answer in pieces." Kai retorts with a grin, as he finally turns to Jay and his parents. "You good?"
"We'll be fine, darling. Who're your new friends?" Edna asks.
"Fellow warriors, would be an apt description." Kai admits with a frown. "We need Jay's help."
"No need to ask." Ed chuckles. "We understand when he is needed. As long as he returns in one piece."
"We'll do our best to ensure that." Vex assures.
They find Zane cleaning up a pile of Nindroid pieces, allowing them to simply pick him up and make their way to Yang's Temple, each on their dragons. As they reach the Temple, they bear witness as Cole chases Yang as he goes for a rift, stopping him, and fighting him. Vex and his men go to lend a hand, but Kai signals for them to stop.
"This is Cole's fight." He warns, as they return to watching. As Cole fights, and eventually makes peace with Yang, as his students are freed from the curse, they reach the rift, returning to life. With peace returned between Master and Students, Cole attempts to bring Yang to the rift with him, only for Yang to refuse, letting himself fall, as he slingshots Cole into the rift, moments before it closes, the Eclipse ending, everything returning to normal.
Cole returns, having made it just in time, the only remaining proof he had been a ghost, the scar of glowing green that remains on his head. As the ninja celebrate his return, Kai walks to Vex's side.
"I think that should fix things." He notes. "You should be able to return the others back to their realms."
"Not all of them." Vex sighs. "Those who passed here, cannot be returned. The spirit is stuck within the Realms of this land."
"Then let us bury them. They fought for what they believed in. They'll be welcomed as people to remember through the years." Kai assures. "Besides. The vehicles they leave will help the future. I can use the parts to make armour for the warriors, weapons too. I can smelt and use metallurgy to create new metal compounds, and Nya and Jay can use the scrap to build inventions."
"Then it will still be put to good use." Vex affirms. "I'll leave that to you. Jut know, it may take a few days to return everyone."
"I figured. Take care, wherever you are." Kai bids farewell, as Vex begins to guide those lost to their homes.
As the days pass, Kai continues to stockpile the metals and compounds from crashed vehicles, smelting and using his metallurgy to tinker. Through the metals, he finds a few gems, from tech and styles none of the memories Vex left him could replicate.
The ninja would help with testing strength, by using their elements to replicate natural, and magical, attacks and effects. With each discovery, ideas run rampant in Kai's mind. With the amount of materials, as well, he begins to arm the local protectors of every town and village, to help them defend when the Ninja cannot be there.
Kai's prized findings, however, are from the corpses of soldiers. Their weapons, he puts some in his pocket dimension, but the rest, he pulls apart, finding small pieces of powerful and resistant metals, and shards of Kyber. This meant that some of the soldiers who died, were Vex's own. Kai ensured to use the parts well, with a glance over to the Golden Weapons, a smile adorns his face.
A/N - Now, we know that some Realms, and Curses, are more powerful than the Null, but that can't be the only thing. There are some Magicks and Magic types that can overpower the Null. Dark Magic, like what is both used, and emitted, during this specific Eclipse, is one that has the potential to do so. It's not so much overpower, in this specific case, but cause anomalies. The Day of the Departed is a day of spirits, of those who have passed. The Null holds souls that are in that category. Yang's ritual and spell simply dragged more into it, than what he had planned.
Kai's fight with Samukai is a near replica of when Kit Fisto fight Grievous in the Clone Wars. The whole point of that, was to how Vex calls Samukai the Knockoff Grievous, so I thought it might work here. It's also one of the few fights against Grievous that actually can be used to deal killing blows, even if it didn't go that way in the show.
I do plan on having images and schematics, drawings, done of modified Golden Weapons that have Kyber within them. It's just gonna be a question of which design I go with.
Rant over. Take care and stay safe.