"I don't get it," Cole said, climbing off the Bounty to rest alongside Lloyd atop the skyscraper where they'd anchored the ship. "We've checked the monastery, the Samurai X Cave, the Bounty; Pixal's nowhere." He sent a wary glance upward.
The storm loomed directly overhead, blocking out the sky. A strong wind rocked the Bounty, and the ship unleashed a horrible groan as it careened to one side before steadying as the wind died out.
Cole grimaced and pulled his mask over his face. "Maybe we should start evacuating. If Pix can't help power this thing, the entire city's coming down."
"I'm gonna try calling her again," Lloyd said, holding his phone to his ear and mirroring Cole's skyward gaze. "It'll be risky trying to evacuate so many people so fast; I don't think we can get them all out in time. We really should have evacuated them sooner, but we thought we had a solid plan to get the shield up back when it would have been the right time for that. Pixal's still our best option; we just have to find her."
As if to spite him, Lloyd's phone rang out. He groaned and tried again.
"Lloyd. She always answers her phone for one of us… I think she would have gotten back to you by now if she could have."
Lloyd's eyes snapped to him. "You think something happened to her?"
"The Serpenteels are after us, and no one has heard from her since yesterday. She wouldn't just ditch on us at a time like this."
Cole watched Lloyd tense at his unspoken implication.
The Green Ninja pocketed his phone. "Then we have to take this to the Serpenteels. For Ninjago."
The continuous whirs of machinery died out, and clicks echoed throughout the streets as lights died from every building and lamppost, blanketing the city in darkness within seconds.
Cries of confusion and panic swarmed the sidewalks below.
"What's going on?" Asked Lloyd's voice, though Cole couldn't see him. "Another power outage?"
The darkness below became speckled with beams of focused light like fireflies. Cole could make out the silhouettes of a few people navigating with flashlights or phone screens, and a few people began to turn their cars' headlights on to illuminate larger stretches of the street.
Even so, shadows clung to every corner and hung above the citizens' heads— cover that the Serpenteels would eagerly utilize for sneaking around, Cole realized.
"We need to get down there," Lloyd said, no doubt mirroring Cole's thoughts.
The two ninja quickly scaled down the tower and ran along the street, taking stock of the situation.
It didn't take long for a few civilians to start straggling along behind them, either awestruck to see the heroes in action or unsure of what else to do.
Lloyd stopped and turned to address them. "Stay in groups, and get to somewhere safe and stable― it's dangerous to be out in the open right now, especially alone. Try to form a large group and make your base as well-lit as you can with battery-operated lights. Spread the word to whoever you meet along the way."
"I told you the ninja had a plan," one of the listeners said loudly to another. "That's why we saw Samurai X back there; she must be working on something with them!"
Lloyd started. "You saw Samurai X? Where was she?"
The listener gawked, processing that Lloyd was talking to him, then shook himself and answered. "Just about two streets back, at a mechanic's shop."
Cole and Lloyd exchanged a nod before taking off in the indicated direction.
"Mechanic's shop?" Cole ran alongside Lloyd to speak clearly to him. "I thought she and Nya were done with the machine?"
"They were," Lloyd said. "Maybe she had some ideas for the power source?"
Cole hummed. "I don't know about that. If half the city wouldn't power the machine, I doubt a couple car batteries would do the trick." He gasped. "Oh, no, the power source! The entire city's out now! Even if we find Pixal, it won't be enough!"
"We'll… we'll think of something." Lloyd slowed near where the listener had directed them to stop. "We have to."
Cole had to assume that his heart's rapid pounding wasn't only because he was running. His throat tightened, threatening to constrict his breathing. He suppressed a gasp when a few large, icy raindrops splattered over his gi and quickly met his skin.
The duo stopped and looked up and down the street. They wordlessly agreed to go to the right, where the buildings lit up in bright intermittent flickers of hot, white-blue light.
They stopped in front of an open garage structure, where a figure faced away from them, using a welding torch, which was plugged into a humming generator.
Cole shielded his eyes as he approached the figure. Welding torches proved bright enough in regular lighting; in the near-darkness around them, it was almost blinding.
"Excuse me," Cole called, blinking stars from his vision.
The figure stopped and turned, revealing glowing green eyes that highlighted most of her form, including her opened chest compartment.
"Cole!" Pixal greeted with a smile, shutting the compartment. "Lloyd!"
"It's good to see you, Pix," Lloyd said, coming forward to sweep her into a hug.
"Good to see you too, L-L-L-L-Lloyd," Pixal stammered, returning the gesture.
Lloyd held her at arm's length to examine her. "Is everything alright? You seem a little, uh, buggy there."
"I am almost completely repaired," She reported. "My system is at ninety-seven point three percent functionality."
"Repaired?" Cole took a step closer. "What do you mean? What happened?"
She sighed. "Jay. He short-circuited many of my systems. I had to drag myself here to make the necessary repairs."
Cole and Lloyd exchanged a look.
"But that is a matter for later. It seems the storm is upon us; what is our plan?"
"First, we need to regroup with Nya and Kai at the machine," Lloyd said. "Then… then we figure out if we need to evacuate."
Metallic eyebrows rose. "But evacuating at this stage would almost certainly result in casualties. We do not even have an optimal method of communication to organize the evacuation, with television and radio b-b-b-b-b-b-eing disabled."
"I know," Lloyd growled. He took a steadying breath. "It's… it's all we've got."
Cole held his hands out. "Let's just get back to Nya and Kai, then we can work on everything else from there, agreed?"
"Agreed," chorused Lloyd and Pixal.
With that, they started for the tower.
Pitch black enveloped the rooftop. Nya relied heavily on her hearing, having only intermittent bursts of lightning to illuminate her surroundings. She dared not turn on her flashlight and risk drawing the Serpenteels' attention. No doubt they would be on the lookout for anything unusual towards the skyline.
A thunderclap almost drowned out a faint sound, but Nya keenly picked up on the stairwell door creeeak open.
Heart pounding out of her chest, Nya suppressed a gasp and pulled some of the falling rain to gather around her, ready to strike.
Either the newcomer had learned to walk stealthily, or they had no footsteps to speak of, but she definitely sensed someone there, drifting out towards the center of the roof.
Soft, rhythmic clinks of metal indicated that the newcomer was armed.
She stealthily traced their path with her hands, keeping them in front of her prepared attack.
Then the rain picked up, gentle susurration turning into wild cacophony in a moment, and she lost track of their path.
The water buoyed around her gained more and more mass. She swept her arms left and right, readying to strike at any angle.
Rain collected in her hair and clothes and weighed her down. An unruly hair dripped a steady stream of water down her face. The smell of swept-up oil and gravel hung in her nose.
A burst of lightning revealed the newcomer's form to her and hers to him.
He mirrored her surprise as she called out and launched the pooling water at him.
A jet of fire met the water mid-air, the two elements resisting against each other until both attacks had hissed and fizzled away in a cloud of steam.
Nya blinked stars from her eyes when the roof went dark again. "Kai?"
"Nya!"
Nya followed the voice and planted a restrained punch on her brother's shoulder. "Where have you been? I texted you forever ago!"
"I know," Kai replied in the tone that Nya associated with him rubbing the back of his neck. "I got… tied up with something."
Nya let a sigh wash some of the tension out of her muscles. "Well, I'm glad you're here now. You had me worried. And I'm not sure I can hold the Serpenteels off myself if they show. Speaking of, where's the rest of the group?"
"Right here," Lloyd's voice rang from the stairwell, startling a yelp from them both.
Cole followed him out, and Pixal tailed them, revealing all of their forms with her bright green eyes.
"Thank the Celestial Realm," Nya said.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Uhhh, Pix has been a bit… glitchy since Jay got to her. But mostly, yeah," Cole supplied.
As if to demonstrate, Pixal's head jerked to one side, her eyes flickering off and on. "I am still functional enough to be of service."
Lloyd gave her a look, but nodded. "Just give one of us a heads-up if you need any help."
Kai went tense and surveyed her. "Woah, what happened between you and Jay?"
"A matter for another time. We have more pressing concerns to deal with at the moment."
He nodded and turned back to Lloyd. "What's the plan?"
A second of silence hung between them.
Pixal turned to Lloyd, highlighting his unkempt form.
He twisted the loose cloth of his gi in his hands, staring at the ground. "...I…"
Then a click met them and they all stood under a spotlight.
It took only an instant for them all to jump into fighting stances, following the light to its source.
A blimp hung above them, ropes descending from every side of its carriage.
Armed Serpenteels snaked down the ropes and wasted no time in surrounding them.
"I told you I sssawww sssomething on thisss roof!" One boasted to another, who rolled her eyes.
One of the serpents, who Nya assumed must have been the commanding officer from his decorated armor, slithered towards them.
"Ninjasss! You thought you could essscape our grassssp? Foolisssh!" A light crackle of electricity danced around his form. "Warriorsss, attack! Dessstroy the machine!"
The roof descended into the much-too-familiar chaos of battle.
"Ninjas!" Lloyd called. "Don't let them touch that machine! It might be Ninjago City's only hope!"
Cole narrowly dodged the jab of a sword and catapulted a loose piece of concrete at his assailant. "Easier said than done!"
Kai turned his attention back upward when a second spotlight hit them, followed by a third. "Uh oh."
Nya followed his eyes, then steeled her own gaze. "Keep going! Don't give UP!" She punctuated her last word with a mighty wave of rainwater that swept a few soldiers off their balance and left them plummeting through the air.
The ninjas punched and kicked and jabbed and dodged, but regardless, the first group of Serpenteels had already pushed them back when their reinforcements joined.
"Lloyd?" Cole yelled. "This isn't looking good!"
The Green Ninja gave his reply through sharp breaths. "Just keep them from the middle of the roof! Keep them away from the machine!"
As if to spite him, the second the words left his mouth, his heel hit the edge of the machine. He spent only a second glancing behind him, and even so, he found that when he looked forward, a Serpenteel soldier held his sword ready to plunge through Lloyd's heart.
Lloyd gasped and dodged out of the way just as the sword came down.
Right on the machine.
Cries of horror and glee mingled in the air.
Then a wave of electricity surged through the Serpenteel soldier, abandoning his body to drain away into the mechanism. His head lolled and he drooped, then fell hard, unconscious.
A hushed wave fell over ninjas and serpents alike.
"It works!" Nya and Pixal chorused.
"What isss thiss?" the Serpenteel officer demanded.
Nya and Pixal regained their composure first, smirking at their adversaries with renewed vigor.
"Have fun getting past the energy dampener!" Nya said. "Design compliments of Pixal, and implemented by yours truly."
Pixal gave a resolute nod. "If your energy is primarily electric, then you won't be able to approach the machine without draining yourself!"
Nya gave herself a moment to bask in her team's awed expressions and her enemies' horrified ones.
The officer furrowed his brow. "No matter. Your preciousss machine will be of no ussse to you if you never get the chanccce to activate it."
The grins slid from the girls' faces.
By now, the roof was teeming with Serpenteels, outnumbering them ten to one, at least.
The officer jabbed his sword at them. "Warriorsss, cut them down or chasse them out! It matterss not! Jussst keep them away."
A mocking laugh rolled over the serpents as they closed in further.
"Uh, Lloyd?" Nya said. "I don't think we can handle this many."
Lloyd skimmed over the closing army, then settled on the stairwell behind them. "Agreed. Ninjas, fall back!"
Jeers and laughs chased them out, echoing down the stairs along with their ragged breaths.
They ran out onto the street, only to find that the storm had worsened merely in the time it took to descend the stairs.
Garbage and debris littered the roads and sidewalks, and the team had to stumble their way by the few battery- or solar-operated lights here and there.
"This is hopeless!" Lloyd cried out.
"No!" Nya called back. "Ninja never quit! We'll find a way!"
"How?"
The ninjas fell quiet.
"We've faced impossible odds before," Nya said. "We'll… we'll do it again."