The first thing that Harumi felt was a slight sting on her eyes. The more she thought of that odd sting, the more it slowly dawned on her something was pressing down on her eyes. That feeling of pressure was, in fact, all around her. Her body had a pressure on it she normally didnt' feel. And it was with that sensation she realized she was underwater.
A sudden shot of awareness went through her. Her hands lit up with green energy, expanding outwards until the two orbs met at her chest. From there, the energy expanded to form a sphere around her, one that pushed the water away from her body. This allowed her to cough, expelling water that she'd nearly swallowed when she must have first hit the water. Doing so allowed her to orient her body upwards so she could look around.
The water around her was murky. A deep green tinted blue surrounded her in all directions. As she looked down, she could watch the blue slowly become darker and darker, until looking straight down showed almost no light at all piercing what was under her. Directly behind her, however, she could see something. A vertical slice of black piercing the water's homogeny.
Harumi let her bubble around herself vanish, the water rushing back in. Her energy fired out of her hands, propelling her through the water like jets. A few seconds of this soon brought her towards the strange shape, which revealed itself to be wooden. Behind it, she could see other stripes that became murkier with distance. Were these… pilings?
A building pressure in her chest reminded her of the fact she couldn't stay underwater. She needed air. Her right hand used her elemental power again to force herself upwards, the other hand holding the piling to ensure she was moving up. It took several seconds, but soon her head breached the surface of the water, allowing her to take in a massive gasp. From the shadow over her head, she looked up to see she was underneath one of the many walkways of Stixx. She could hear rain from above her. Waves were rolling fiercely around her, but the dock broke most of their speed.
She took a few moments to breathe, coughing up water to focus. She… she'd been thrust out of the building? Was… who was it that did it? The ninja. Or, her father's ninja, in this universe. They'd attacked them. She swam her way towards the edge of the dock, the waves violently rocking her body. Had she been swept all the way out from Ronin's place?
The water around Harumi began to rapidly swirl around her. The unnatural movement pressed against her chest, and she yelled out as it did so. She brought her fist up and smashed down into the water with a blast of green energy, yet the water only dispersed for a moment before it wrapped around her chest like a band of iron, yanking her out from underneath the dock.
Pouring rain rapidly began to smack against her head as the storm above her raged on. The water around her began to twist into a cone, pulling her upwards from the water level. As soon as her waist was at the level of the docks, she looked forward to see a face that was familiar to her, and yet radically different.
"You said your name was Harumi, right?" Nya shouted over the storm around them, "I would really hate to have to hurt another gal like me. Give us the Realm Crystal and we'll leave you alone!"
"We… we don't have your… Realm Crystal!" Harumi got out between her coughs, her eyes worryingly looking to the water still twisting around her chest and encompassing her body, "We don't! You don't have any reason to fight us!"
Nya's eyes narrowed. Harumi looked to her hopefully, but then Nya's hand wound backwards, sending her body flinging towards the ocean once more. Right before she was dunked back into the waves, her body was lifted right back up. Nya's other hand extended, manipulating the water around her to squeeze Harumi tightly.
"I'm not playing games with you!" Nya shouted again, "Just give us the Realm Crystal! That's it! Do you really want to fight me here?"
Harumi didn't respond immediately. Instead she focused, wiggling her right hand upwards until her palm was facing Nya. A small flash of white-green pulsed as a Rhotatae disc formed within it. Nya managed to dodge it only on reflex as it cut through the water and arced straight towards her right hand. The brief dodge was enough to disrupt Nya's control, as Harumi had hoped. This was Nya right after her True Potential, if she recalled, afer all. At first, she formed green energy in her hands, but quickly snuffed it out and instead simply climbed back up the dock instead.
"I really don't want to fight you, Nya!" Harumi reached up to drag her soaking wet hood over her face, "But if you insist on attacking me, I'm going to defend myself! We don't have the Realm Crystal to give you!"
Nya leaned back, her right hand behind her and pointed towards the water level. She pointed her other hand with Harumi, her palm opened. Harumi narrowed her eyes, watching as water from the crashing waves was pulled up in a large cylindrical tube. The water shot through her right hand and wrapped around her back to her left hand before firing straight at Harumi. In a flash, Harumi formed a Rhotatae disc in her hands and held it vertically, thrusting her arms forward so the spinning disc struck the water head on. The stream was cut in half and passed around her harmlessly.
"Tell me why you even need the Realm Crystal!" Harumi shouted to be heard over the roaring wind and water.
Nya didn't respond. Instead, she thrust both of her hands forward, causing the spray from both sides of the dock to swell upwards and crash against Harumi. She had only enough time to brace herself by releasing a small burst of green power from her hands, preventing her from being crushed between them. Despite this, the force on her legs knocked her over, sending her to the dock with a hard thud. Thankfully, it seemed Nya didn't see the energy she produced yet.
"Had enough yet?" Nya shouted out to Harumi, "I can keep going if you need some more convincing that you're no match for me."
Harumi responded by her feet slamming together and forming a Rhotatae disc. She fired it but held it between her feet for a brief moment, causing her to slide backwards once she released it. The disc was easily swatted aside by Nya, but it slid Harumi far enough away she could get to her feet again.
"Why won't you listen to me?!" Harumi's tone was tinged with impatience, "I don't want to fight you, Nya, I just want to talk!"
"If you won't give up the Realm Crystal…" Nya inhaled, then shut her eyes, "I'm done talking."
Rather than risk to see what Nya was about to do, Harumi shot her head behind her to look. She didn't know Stiix well, but from what she saw, she could make out Ronin's shop in the distance. She indeed must have gotten knocked into the ocean and swept down here. Running along the dock would take too long. She had to get there quickly. Praying the storm would hide her element, she turned her back to Nya, ran and jumped over the edge of hte dock. Green energy formed under her until her dragon soared into the sky. The rain for a brief moment passed through the dragon's scales, then the dragon bellowed as it raised its wings to scatter the rain in every direction. Harumi gripped the reins as soon as they formed, thrusting them towards Ronin's shop.
No more than ten seconds after her dragon formed, however, Harumi felt something stalling her. She looked behind her, only to see Nya atop her own light aqua dragon. Harumi could see that her dragon's back leg was caught within the jaws of Nya's dragon, and with a violent crack of its neck, Nya's dragon sent Harumi's dragon towards the piers once more. Harumi brought her hands together and fired a Rhotatae disc in front of her before leaping from her dragon onto it. Her dragon faded from existence as the disc carried Harumi into another painful drop onto her face against the wooden planks.
"I don't know how you can make a dragon like that," Nya responded as she dismounted her own dragon to stand beside Harumi, "It almost looked elemental. That is some impressive chi. But tricks like that won't get past me."
Harumi whipped around onto her back, her right hand forming a rhotate disc that shot out into Nya's chest. The projectile carried Nya backwards away from her, allowing Harumi to stand back up and ready her fists. She lunged forward with her left foot, sending her fist right into Nya's left shoulder. The impact sent her falling backwards, which Harumi followed up with by bringing her right hand down to strike the wood beside where Nya's head hit.
When had Nya gotten so much control over her water powers? If her timeline was correct, wouldn't she have just learned them? Even if she hit her true potential, this was at the level of a seasoned master. Something was wrong here. A little pressure could figure that out.
"I've been trained in hand-to-hand combat since I was five," Harumi called out, "And that's only because I begged him to teach me so early. I can defend myself, Nya. Now, will you listen to me?"
Nya brought her right arm up, trying to hit the side of Harumi's head. Harumi pulled her arm up, using her forearm to block the blow and instead grabbed Nya's outstretched arm with her other hand, pulling Nya's arm across her body. Harumi's foot came to press down on Nya's other arm.
"Now you can't attack me," Harumi stated calmly, "I want to help you, Nya. Why are you after us?"
"Can it, sister, you think I can't attack like this?" Nya growled back at Harumi, her hands tightening into fists. The pier underneath them rumbled for a moment, then between the slats of wood, water sprayed upwards in jets. Harumi felt a jet directly strike her in the jaw, disorienting her for a moment. That was all Nya needed to strike.
Nya rolled her body onto its side, lightening the tension Harumi still had on her arm. Her foot came out to strike Harumi's leg, further disorienting her. With Nya now on her stomach, she closed her eyes to let another stream strike her in her own chest, propelling her body upwards directly into Harumi. Harumi was knocked onto her back, only for a gush of water from the side of the pier to send her flying over the edge.
"I'm in my element," Nya smirked, but her frown slowly lowered when she saw Harumi gripping the edge of the pier against the waves, "Give up the Realm Crystal. You can't win."
"No!" Harumi shouted even as the waves buffeted her body back and forth while she desparately clung on, "I don't have it!"
Nya looked down to Harumi, then her body began to glow with aura. Flashbacks to Kai's attack appeared in Harumi's head, and she let go of the pier with her right hand to gather her energy up into a ball to strike at Nya. The second she did so, however, a sharp searing pain in her shoulder made her shriek out. She had just enough time to see what looked like a blue fin before her body was propelled into the water.
Harumi took in a breath the second she hit the water out of shock, one she was thankful for as soon as the waves submerged her. On pure instinct, she rapidly formed green spheres around her hands and grew them to fully envelop her body, forcing the water away from her. She outstretched her arms to maintain her elemental shield, then looked to her shoulder.
What she saw made her grimace. A large circular set of bites were torn into the fabric, perfectly showing the line of pain that was firing through her shoulder. Now her outfit had two areas she had to patch up. Whatever had attacked her was gone, but the pain lingered long enough to tell her that whatever happened was real.
A bit of motion caught her eye. Her head snapped to the side just in time to see a light blue colored creature darting through the water. From its speed, she couldn't make it out. Her eyes tracked it for a second before it was out of her field of view. She snapped her body to follow it, but it disappeared into the black depths below her. She silently cursed the storm for making it impossible to see anymore than a few meters below her.
The same pain suddenly blossomed forth in her foot. Harumi shot her head down, only to see something clinging to her. It was a shark, perhaps as long as she was tail, pulsing with that same aqua coloration Nya had. Its eyes looked lifeless, but its body was thrashing with it. The shark had hold of her foot, its teeth wrapped around it, and its body jerked as it started to drag her down.
With her elemental shield around her, Harumi couldn't manifest another elemental strike. Instead, she brought her other foot up and began to strike the forehead of the shark, her heel driving into the space between its eyes. After nearly seven kicks, the shark let go and disappeared back down into the ocean, leaving her with a foot and shoulder both seething in pain.
Another flash of motion caught Harumi's eye, but this time it wasn't the shark. She turned around to see Nya floating in the water, her arms crossed in front of her. A sudden flash of fear when through her mind. Nya was watching her use the Green Power, and this time the storm wasn't hiding it! For a moment, Harumi considered dropping her shield… but she knew the damage was done, if any at all. Instead, she focused on Nya. Her expression wasn't smiling; instead, it was filled with an annoyance, impatience and… was that hesitation?
Harumi didn't get time to ponder that last bit. The shark had come up on her again, this time from behind. The corner of her eye caught sight of the flash, and she instinctively hardened the shield behind her. The shark, however, passed through it, its nose striking her back and sending her forward, nearly falling head over heels as her shield tried to roll about in response to the sudden shift in forces.
How did it get through my shield?! Harumi thought furiously, That shark must be Nya's chi! Are chi not affected by…?! Had Ronin mentioned that or not? She didn't remember.
With the shark gone, now Harumi was on edge. Falling into the water was a problem. Her chest as already tightening with the lack of air, and she guessed Nya could freely control that shark in the water. Nya herself wasn't moving in to attack her; did that mean she was confident her shark could wear her down?
Another bite to her other foot caused Harumi to gasp out, losing her air as she felt the shark trying to drag her down once again. This time, rather than try to kick it off, Harumi withdrew her shield, causing the water to rush back to surround her, but allowing her hands to move down and fire a massive blast directly into the shark's head of green power. Just as she feared, the shark didn't even react to the energy that passed through it harmlessly. To follow up, Harumi formed a Rhotatate disc in hand that indeed buried itself into the shark's head, causing it to withdraw with what sounded like a cry.
Instantly, Harumi scrambled her way to the surface, using her energy blasts to propel her upwards. As soon as she broke the surface, she desperately gasped in air, only for her face to crash into a wave. Her sense of direction spiraled into nothingness as she was forced back down under the water.
Harumi thrashed about, seeing the surface rapidly becoming darker and darker while a force yanked her away from it. A jerk of her head let her see the shark had hold of the back of her gi. She thrust her arms backwards, but the angle made it impossible to grab. Her hands came together to form a disc, only for a massive jerk to her right arm to break her concentration. The shark had whipped its tail around to break her Rhotatae form!
The surface was rapidly fading from sight. The shark was dragging her down fast, faster than she would have expected something of its size to do. She turned her head to see Nya still hovering in the water, having moved slightly near the surface. Did she need to breathe down here?
The shark wasn't letting go. Was Nya trying to drown her? The thought sent a massive burst of alarm throughout her head. She was thinking of this Nya like her own, the one that had taught her how to hold a spear, how to think quickly… the one that would have ended any fight face to face. Was this the same Nya? The shark was still making her sink… she had to act.
Elemental powers didn't work on chi. Harumi felt her chest tightening again as the pressure on her head started to increase. She didn't have long left. She thrust her hands out to her sides, closing her eyes as her hands cupped. Two small glistening white discs formed and launched from the, firing off into the ocean on either side. Nya turned to look at the discs, then looked away. The second she did, Harumi stared directly at Nya as the two discs turned in the water and sped directly towards the swimming ninja. Just as Nya turned to see them, the two arced around and flew around to strike her directly at the base of her neck.
Just as Harumi hoped, the shark immediately let go and vanished as soon as the sudden shock washed over Nya. Harumi didn't waste time. Her hands extended and once more she used her elemental power to jet herself from the water level. Her speed, however, was nothing compared to Nya's reaction time. Nya twisted in the water as her shark formed in front of her and sped towards her in the span of a second. Just as she was about to reach the surface, the shark once more took hold of her clothes. At that second, Harumi's hands broke the surface and formed two elemental orbs of energy.
This time, Harumi knew what to do. She aligned her feet together and focused, forming a disc between the curves they created. When she fired, the force sent her spinning, just fast enough to dislodge the shark from the centripetal acceleration. As soon as it was gone, she yanked the two massive balls of energy around her hands down into the water and brought them together, extending them into her shield once more. Just as she had hoped, the two bubbles had captured air inside of them, allowing her to slightly exhale and inhale again.
Harumi brought her hands in front of her and aimed forward with a massive disc at the ready in her hands. Already she felt a wave of exhaustion creeping over her from forming so many discs all at once. The discs were made of her own energy, and even charging one took effort. Combined with her constant thrashing and she already felt her body quivering. The air she'd trapped in her bubble was finite, however; she had to conserve strength.
Nya was gone. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was, but the second she had, Harumi felt a twinge of fear. The murky waters let little light in past the first few meters, but even then she'd seen Nya before. How had she disappeared in the time it took her to form her shield?
A massive force crashed into Harumi's shield from under her feet. A strain formed on her as she forced her shield to hold from such a massive strike, pushing her in the water due to the force. She snapped her head around, but whatever had hit her was gone.
No more than ten seconds had passed before another strike sent her soaring in the water. Harumi felt it in front of her legs, but could only see a flash in the water before it was gone. She thrust her head around to try to look for what attacked her, but it wasn't there. Even if it was, the blackness of the water would make seeing it near impossible.
Another strike, this time behind her back. Harumi nearly fell forward in her shield, only managing to stay upright by bracing her leg against it. The impact caused her lungs, already beginning to burn from holding her breath, to exhale hard and take in another long gulp. She silently berated herself for that. She only had maybe two or three of those left!
She had to see what was attacking her. Harumi focused. The previous attacks had all come from areas she couldn't see. She'd just gotten attacked from behind, lowering the chance of that happening again. Whatever was attacking her was trying to break her shield most likely. Meaning that it was most likely to come from a spot she wouldn't be expecting…
Just then, Harumi saw it. Right behind her head, a flash of blue. Instantly, she spun around and fired the disc in her hand. It passed through her shield, charging with the green power it came into contact with, then flew directly towards what was attacking her. The creature in the water spun its body, taking the disc bursting onto its side. The brief hesitation in its movements allowed Harumi to commit it to memory.
Nya shot her gaze towards Harumi with a gaze that betrayed both shock and praise. Nya's entire body was pulsing with the blue aura the shark had been covered with, notably on her arms, legs and back. Her hips had sprouted a shark's tail that thrashed in the water behind her, allowing her to change direction quickly. Fins had colheased on her elbows, cutting through the water with ease. Her hood was gone, and her hair floated around her. Her eyes had taken on a blue glow to them, and Harumi swore her teeth looked far more shark-like than before. With a rapid flick of her tail, Nya swam far faster than any human could hope to match, disappearing into the darkness below.
Harumi was putting the pieces together. When Kai had fused with his chi, it had given him that strange skin. Nya must have fused with her shark, giving her the attributes of a shark. On land that might not have been useful, but underwater? Harumi felt her mood sinking with the advantages this gave Nya. If water breathing was on the list of those attributes, her hope of perhaps waiting Nya out for air was moot. She'd swam fast enough to strike her shield with an incredible force as well, only sinking her hopes even further.
Another strike, this time in front of her, startled her train of thought. This time she was unable to stay upright and fell backwards, her back pressing into the energy wall. Before she could even get up, Nya struck where her back was, jostling her around further. By some miracle, Harumi kept her mouth shut.
If Nya was trying to break her shield, it wouldn't take long before lack of air and energy would get to Harumi. Her limbs were trembling from overuse of Rhotatae and maintaining the shield. If Nya was going to wear her down, it was working.
Another strike came, but this time, Harumi felt it above her. She shot her head upwards, only to see Nya pressing down on the shield with all her strength. Her shield began to rapidly descend down into the darkness, and the increased pressure made Harumi's arms feel weak from maintaining the force to match it. Harumi gasped out for air one more time even as the light from her shield was soon swallowed up by the blackness of the water around her.
There were many times in Lulloyd's life that he questioned how it had ended up this way. When he was first inside of the Temple of Fragile Foundations had been one of them. The time with the Giant Jellyfish. Being thrown overboard into shark infested waters and having to wrestle each shark individually to get out. Being forced to master-build a bridge to span the entirety of one of the docks, and being made to defend it against mutant flying piranhas while also managing each ship coming into the harbour so he had enough fish to stop the piranhas from attacking the pet shops placed for some reason right by the docks.
The point was, Lulloyd was one that knew how to react to odd situations without most people's normal hesitation as to what was going on. Thus, he was able to push aside Wu swinging his staff at his head while Zane's hand waved, causing his wolf to disappear and ice to form in his palm instead.
Lulloyd leapt off his back foot, sending his body up into the air. Once his back was horizontal, he felt the tiny breeze caused by Wu's staff nearly connecting with him. After a flip in the air to land on all fours, his head rotated to see a mass of white coming straight for him. His hand moved to his sword, spinning his hand so the sword hit the ground and pushed him just out of the way as the whiteness passed him by. Ice struck the wall behind him, growing into a massive outcropping of icy crystals.
"Your reflexes are above average," Zane's robotic tone came from the ruins of what was once Monty's bed, "I would advise you not to retaliate against us, however. This will only go badly for you."
"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!" Monty shouted, still standing in the middle of his ruined room.
"I, uh, was trying to dodge getting hit here?" Lulloyd defended. Monty's furious gaze snapped to him, making Lulloyd realize he shouldn't have spoken. Monty's eyes shut tightly.
"I wasn't talking to you LULLOYD!" Monty punctuated his statement by thrusting his hands out, two miniature vortexes forming and firing out to wrap around Lulloyd and Zane, "Just GET OUT!" Monty's hands shut, causing the wind to wrap around the two. With a snarl, Monty's eyes shot open and his hands flung towards the hallway, sending both of them out through the doorway and into the wall opposite the door.
Lulloyd would have liked to say that hurt, but he'd seen the business end of a Warlord Staff too many times for a simple toss into a wall to do much to him. Unfortunately for him, his reaction time was slightly slower than the android that didn't process pain, meaning Zane already was to his feet when Lulloyd got to his.
Lulloyd raised his sword just in time to bat away a pair of metal shurikens. Lulloyd let the impact of the shurikens push him backwards so he could get a running start, spinning his curved blade towards Zane. The Nindroid swerved to the right, then left as Lulloyd's swipes came down with robotic precision. When Lulloyd geared up for a third, Zane slid a shuriken out of his arm and into his hand to block the blow overhead.
"The hallway is a very poor space for battle," Zane's other hand began to crackle with ice, "Perhaps we should take this to another room?"
Before Lulloyd could stop him, the entire floor had become a sheet of ice. Lulloyd lost his footing and disconnected blades with Zane to flatten his back to the wall. It was at this moment that Lulloyd saw Zane begin to gather what he suspected was aura. Zane threw his shuriken into the ice below, and the aura poured into it to form a creature that leapt forward into Lulloyd.
With a snarl, the wolf yanked him forward and sent him sliding across the ice past Zane. He came to a stop with a crash into the counter of Ronin's shop, sending a burst of pain through his head. From this position, he could see Monty had far more than just guns hidden under the counter. Lulloyd groaned and rolled himself over to begin climbing steadily to his feet.
"Strange," Zane spoke as he stepped through the doorway, "My sensors indicate that hit should have caused minor damage. Yet your arms appear to have a much higher pressure threshold. After the battle, I would appreciate it if you would allow me to analyze your body."
"Yeah… definitely not the Zane I know…" Lulloyd forced his vision to stop spinning and gripped his sword tightly,, "And… what makes you so sure you can beat me?"
"I would prefer to keep that information to myself," Zane paused, "PIXAL, run battle analysis."
Lulloyd half expected to hear PIXAL's voice, but nothing came of it. Instead, Lulloyd gripped the counter and rotated his arms back to his sides, sliding up onto the surface. He slid across it and further into the store's interior, his sword drawn. He needed distance between him and Zane to be able to make any sort of battle plan.
Already he could hear his father's advice firing off in his head. His eyes roamed around to take in his surroundings. The room wasn't very large. Behind the counter were two windows rain was beating against; to the left of that counter and one of the windows was the doorway Zane was in. To his sides were various sheets draped over boxes and boxes filled with weaponry of all sorts. He had to make use of all of this, or else he'd be at a disadvantage. As if to emphasize his position, Zane extended his arm. The wolf from earlier ran towards him, circling around Zane and taking stance directly underneath it. It bared its fangs towards Lulloyd.
"If you would like to run, I will not pursue you," Zane shook his head, "However, I will advise you that the rest of my allies are waiting at the entrance to Stiix for you. If you relinquish the Realm Crystal, I will let you go without capture."
"Why would you guys even want the Realm Crystal?" Lulloyd asked curiously, " I mean, you can't even use it! I mean… uh, I mean you can but… we don't even have your Crystal!"
"It is not my place to tell you why we require it," Zane shook his head, "Give it to us, and we can avoid this needless battle."
"We can't," Lulloyd shook his head, "Because, we don't have it!"
"I… don't want to fight you," Zane's voice dropped a pitch, "We both know that you have it. It would make this easier for all of us if you give it to us. We need it. Please… it will make everything that is about to happen much easier for you."
Lulloyd felt this grip on his sword twitch. What was Zane talking about? The way he was talking wasn't anything like what Zane talked like. Something was up, something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but he already heard his father's advice echoing in his head.
An unsure enemy, that's one that you can take down no matter how strong they are, Lulloyd. Lulloyd focused his gaze on Zane and the wolf. His fear of having to fight the Ninja was one he had to get over. Zane and the others were here for something, and right now everything was going sideways. Harumi had been blasted out into the rain by Nya, and Lloyd was upstairs with Jay. He had to defeat Zane so he could help them!
"If you think that I'm lying, then!" Lulloyd forced a smile, "Come and make me tell the truth."
Zane gave Lulloyd a curios glance, one that Lulloyd couldn't fault. Garmadon had been teaching him how to act in battle, namely getting rid of his nerves. Forcing such a direct line wasn't Lulloyd's usual leading move, but he had to get Zane's attention. To his relief and fear, Zane seemed to take him up on that offer.
"If you are challenging me, then I believe I must accept," Zane leaned back on his right leg and slid out another pair of shurikens, "However, I am not responsible for what is about to happen here." To emphasize his point, the wolf let out a growl that pierced the room.
Lulloyd likewise braced himself. He focused his thoughts on Zane. What he knew about Zane came to his forefront. He could use ice, which seemed to work the same way that it did in his world. He had that strange wolf, which he knew little about. He seemed to have a good number of shurikens inside his body, which meant disarming him would take awhile. He'd have to either trap Zane, or knock him out. Given that he looked to be made of steel, he doubted that he could do the latter. But, could he even trap a literal robot?
Zane attacked first. The wolf leapt forward over the counter and straight for Lulloyd. He sidestepped the creature and struck the ground with his foot, turning it into tiles. He kicked each tile up into the air, using his foot to rapidly kick each tile towards Zane. After kicking four, he landed on the ground and saw the wolf skidding and turning around to launch another attack at him. It crashed into his chest, causing him to drop his sword and go flying back. When he stopped sliding and looked up, the wolf was already rushing him down again.
Lulloyd thought fast. He was near the front door. He turned to the side and saw a massive map on the wall, supported by a large rod. He reached up and grabbed the rod, then heaved it over his shoulder in front of him. The impact caused the rod to snap, but managed to knock the wolf backwards. Chi animals were solid, it seemed. The wolf disappeared on impact with the floor. Lulloyd wasted no time and dove to his right, grabbing a wooden staff out of a barrel in one hand and a hockey stick from another. Brandishing the two, he looked to Zane and ran forward.
Zane launched a flurry of icy blasts from his hands, ones which Lulloyd crossed his weapons across his body to take on. As soon as they were frozen in ice, he leapt hard towards Zane, his body blurring as he moved as quickly as he could. The two weapons turned into clubs with the ice's added weight, both of which came down to strike the doorframe. Zane looked to Lulloyd in confusion, but Lulloyd, still holding onto his weapons, hooked his foot around Zane to sling him into the store's interior. Zane stumbled a few feet, but Lulloyd now was between him and the door.
Cut off your enemy's escape! Garmadon's words came in his head again, Force him to fight on your turf! Oh, and make sure that turf has shark cannons everywhere, trust me it'll make fighting way easier! Lulloyd ignored that last bit.
Zane didn't take his new positioning lightly. He put his hands together again, forming aura. His wolf leapt up from his shoulders and landed by his side, then slowly began to stalk around him. Lulloyd watched it with trepidation. Something about it was making him nervous, and it wasn't just that he had no idea how it worked.
Lulloyd let go of the weapons he'd been holding, leaving them behind him. Instead, he kicked the counter and caused it to flip up two swords for him to grab. He was thankful Monty kept so much stuff under the counter. Or was it Ronin? Both of them, he settled for both of them.
The wolf once more attacked first. Lulloyd watched it leap forward, land, and change direction to lunge for his right. Just as he turned his body to defend, Zane had launched another shuriken towards him. Lulloyd leapt into his air, his body turning into a rectangular blur as he somersaulted to land on the other side of the weapon. His foot extended and kicked the wolf away, following up with a swipe of his blade to send it back. Zane grabbed the frozen staff and readied to trow, trying to track him, but Lulloyd dodged back and forth with his master-builder enhanced speed.
Zane's chi tried once more to attack by launching at him, but Lulloyd kicked the base of the counter, causing it to turn into bricks. He waited for the last second the wolf would hit him, then grabbed its head and leapt over him in a maneuver Garmadon had taught him for mounting sharks. Rather than ride the shark -or, wolf, Lulloyd supposed- he landed behind it and kicked the counter again, causing it to entirely break apart. He rapidly put pieces together, forming a crude statue of a man with a massive hammer. By kicking the arm, the hammer hinged down, smashing in front of the doorway to fully cover it. The wolf leapt out of its path at the last second.
Lulloyd landed and kicked the remaining bricks he hadn't built towards Zane, each one ending up knocked aside. Lulloyd saw the wolf gearing up for another strike, but instead he brandished his sword at it. Zane looked to the wolf, then made a whistle. The wolf growled and slowly backed away from Lulloyd, landing in front of Zane and stalking in a circle around him once more.
"You're fast," Zane raised a shuriken to his chin, "Far faster than my records indicate one should be able to move. Your strange ability to rebuild matter is also something I have never encountered before. Tell me, where does your speed and power come from?"
NEVER reveal your abilities to your enemies, Lulloyd. Anyone that says it's the honorable thing to do has already lost! And don't spend three minutes explaining something you just did, that's just wasting time you could use to do it AGAIN! Lulloyd shook his head, "I don't have any reason to tell you that."
"Your general demeanor has changed since the battle has begun," Zane stood upright, straightening his posture, "You are far more serious than in our last bout. Perhaps I have not been serious about fighting you. I will rectify this mistake on my part."
Lulloyd's pupils narrowed in confusion. Zane stepped back, his wolf stopping and remaining a few paces ahead of him. Zane thrust his left arm out, causing his wolf to snarl and leapt straight towards it. Rather than bite him, however, the wolf seemed to be sucked into the open palm, disappearing with a flash of white. The white aura around Zane seemed to grow in thickness and then shrink drastically. Zane opened his eyes, revealing they now longer had pupils and were now a strange pure white. Atop Zane's head, a pair of wolf ears formed, an organic feature standing out starkly against his metallic body. A tail likewise formed from his waist, thrashing for a moment before it straightened out behind him. The features somehow looked alien and completely natural to Lulloyd at the same time.
"I believe now I have evened the playing field, so to speak," Zane's voice had a strange reverb to it. Then, with a single crouch, he vanished.
Lulloyd blinked, and in that single moment he felt something behind his back. He turned around to see Zane had landed behind him, crouched over as though almost on all four. Lulloyd leapt away fast, conviently landing by his own sword. Before he could grab it, however, he saw a flash of silver as Zane's shuriken nearly caught his hand. As Lulloyd leapt away, the shuriken flew straight as his head, and he ducked to the ground to avoid it. Even that action was followed by him flipping onto his side to avoid a kick from Zane's foot.
Trying to regain his ground, Lulloyd looked to his right to see a crate filled with what looked to be three-pronged weapons. He ran towards it, his hand outstretched to grab one from the top. The box, however, suddenly went flying across the room, scattering the blades in its wake. Lulloyd whipped his head to the source of the blow, only to feel a fist connect right into his gut.
Gasping, Lulloyd stumbled backwards into the center of the store. Zane stood in front of him, his still glowing eyes narrowed at him. Lulloyd rotated his right arm out of socket to grip his left arm. Zane looked to him for a few seconds, then nodded.
"It appears I have been able to match your speed utilizing my chi abilities," Zane looked to Lulloyd, "Now we can see which one of us can utilize that speed to its fullest extent."
Lulloyd watched as Zane disappeared again. He turned around, but Zane wasn't there. Instead, the kick came to his left side. Lulloyd hissed out in pain once the strike came, but managed to stay afoot. His right hand shot forward to grab at Zane's leg, but it wasn't there when he twisted his hand to grab it. Instead, Zane had leapt backwards and grabbed Lulloyd's arm to throw him forward. Lulloyd shouted in shock as he hit the ground, groaning out in pain before he blearily looked around for something to use.
His sword was a few feet away. Lulloyd took his gaze off of it, however. He had to make it seem like he wasn't going for it. Instead, he turned his eyes to the strange three-pronged blades he'd seen earlier. He leapt up to his feet and shot out for them, his right hand reaching out for them.
Surely enough, Zane appeared right between him and the blade. Lulloyd, however, was ready. He flung his body to that his shoulder struck Zane. Despite the pain that caused him, it meant his momentum was halted for him to then kick off Zane to change direction. His left hand grabbed his sword from the floor when he reached it, and he rolled around back to his feet holding his weapon.
Lulloyd resisted to urge to say something, however. Just as he thought, Zane wasn't giving him any time to rest. Instead, Zane was already coming at him. He twisted his body around to intercept the attack, one which Zane ended up having to dodge instead. Lulloyd used the distraction to leap away and put distance between him and Zane. This time, however, he was leaping to put his back against a wall. Once he managed to get close to a wall adjacent to the counter, he gulped in some desparately needed air.
Zane was… fast. Too fast. Kai had somehow gotten that armored skin, perhaps this super speed was something Zane got as a result of this chi fusion thing? If it was, then he would either have to wait until Zane unfused, or deal with it. Given he couldn't remember how long the former would take, he had to defeat Zane with his new abilities.
How could he deal with that speed? He had to think. Garmadon's advice started to go through his head. Half of it was completely unusable. The other half seemed to be inapplicable to the situation. He was thinking as fast as he could, as Zane would attack any second.
Okay, Wu used to say this one. Ahem. If you can't deal with your enemy, deal with yourself. For some reason, that was what Lulloyd thought of. Deal with himself though? What did that mean? He wanted to take more time, but Zane was on him again.
With his back to the wall, Lulloyd could deal with Zane's attack with far more accuracy. His sword classed against shuriken once, thrice, seven times, no it was ten times when Zane finally backed off. Lulloyd felt his body starting to shake. He was using up so much energy, he might soon collapse just from running so fast. He had to defeat Zane soon.
"If you surrender now, I will cease our fighting," Zane stopped in front of Lulloyd, still hunched over slightly ready to pounce, "As you can see, the difference in our abilities is slight but significant."
"I-I won't let you defeat me!" Lulloyd shook his head, "I can't let you defeat me! I don't have your Crystal, I'm only defending, myself!"
Zane's eyes slowly narrowed, then he sighed, "If that is your decision, then I will do my best not to have reservations about our battle."
With that Zane disappeared, and once more, Lulloyd began to frantically wonder what to do even as his eyes were glued to the seemingly disappearing Ninja in front of him. Garmadon had prepared him for many things, but not this. Zane struck once more, sending a shot of pain through his left arm. Perhaps his father hadn't prepared him for anything at all.
"Realm Crystal, now!" Jay shouted.
Lloyd stared at the hole that Nya had blasted behind Lloyd. The floor in front of him also had a massive hole from Lulloyd, making this room far more open then it should've been. His instincts were telling him to go after Harumi, but a massive wasp nearly as large as his torso stood between him and the outside. It seemed to stand sentry between the hole and rain, while Jay covered the hallway.
"Is that thing your chi?" Lloyd asked pointedly. Jay blinked and cocked his head.
"Uh… yeah, what else would it be?" Jay pointed his nunchucks at Lloyd, "The real question is where is your chi? Shouldn't you, you know, have it out by now?"
"I… don't like revealing it so early," Lloyd improvised, "You know, I like to challenge myself!"
"Really?" Jay shook his head, "That's a weird challenge if you ask me!"
"Yeah, it's, something that I was always taught to do," Lloyd shook his head, "Trust me, you wouldn't understand."
"You're right, I wouldn't!" Jay spun his nunchucks in the air, "But if that's the type of fight you want, then that's the one you're gonna get!"
Lloyd's eyes turned as something flashed behind him. The wasp behind him began to rapidly emanate electricity, striking the ground and sizzling as the sparks dispersed into the wood. Lloyd blinked, but suddenly what looked like a spear shot up from the ground where the spark stopped right in front of him. As he stepped back, another one shot up, just barely missing him. The wasp continued to eminate sparks, pouring into the wood and launching the strange spears at him.
Lloyd looked to Jay, who was still spinning his nunchucks. Lloyd backed up towards the edge of the hole, trying to leap his way over towards Jay. Without warning, sparks suddenly moved up into the wall and then shot spears out straight from it, causing Lloyd to yell out in surprise and throw his body back closer towards the wasp. The wasp simply buzzed at him.
"I'm not gonna let you get close to me!" Jay declared, "You'll have to handle my chi!"
Lloyd groaned, then turned his body towards the wasp. He planted his feet into the ground, readying himself. Just as he suspected, more spears shot up from the ground right under him. Lloyd immediately ran forward as soon as they appeared and grabbed and swung his fists towards the wasp, ready to breaka it. As soon as he did, however, the wasp disappeared.
Lloyd blinked, stunned as it seemed simply gone. He heard too late Jay's charged up nunchucks already discharging a blue bolt right for him. Lloyd saw it too late, the impact causing a thunderclap that sent him out through the hole in the building. He grabbed the edge of the hole at the last minute, preventing him from being flung out.
"Bullseye! Alright, tell us where the Realm Crystal is… hey wait!" Jay blinked in confusion as Lloyd easily climbed back up and stood up with only a small shake of his shoulders, "I'm sure I put a lot into that shock!"
"Yeah… I've gotten shocked a lot. And burned. Crushed. Oh, and frozen. Also…" Lloyd's hands began to glow with green energy, "You might say that lightning is apart of who I am."
"Nu-uh!" Jay frowned, "I'm the Master of Lightning, I'm the most lightning thing you could ever be! I won't let you just steal my thunder like that!"
Lloyd rolled his eyes at Jay's pun. Jay began to spin up another strike, but suddenly stopped. Instead, he let his nunchucks drop and his wasp appeared beside him. As it began to eminate sparks, Lloyd noticed that all those sparks were coming right from its stinger.
"You checking out my chi?" Jay asked while the sparks began to travel for Lloyd, "You should! Trust me, you do not want to get stung by that!"
"So… your primary attack with it is stinging someone?" Lloyd asked. Jay's hand stopped for a moment.
"Yeah, what else would a wasp do?" Jay shook his head, "Why does everyone think chi can't be literal? It's an animal and ohmygosh!"
In the span Jay had begun to talk, Lloyd had slung a massive green energy ball towards Jay. The ninja dodged, his wasp disappearing as his concentration was broken. Jay countered by letting his nunchucks send a burst of lightning throughout the room. Lloyd countered in turn by forming another energy ball and catching the lightning full on. The ball turned a hard blue and began to crackle before he lobbed it right back at Jay, who had only enough time to have his eyes widen before it collided with his face.
Jay shouted as his body convulsed with the electricity sent right back into his body. Lloyd watched him go down and shook his head, "Didn't Wu teach you talking during fights is your biggest weakness?" Lloyd looked around, then settled on using the bedsheets to tie Jay's arms behind his back, "I guess Morro never taught you that green power can reflect and absorb your guys' power, huh?"
Jay let out a little whine in response. Normally, Lloyd would have reservations about using the green power, but with Harumi having gone into the ocean, his mind wasn't thinking about it. Instead, he needed to get out there fast. Lloyd dragged Jay over and hooked the makeshift rope to the bedposts, then rushed quickly towards the massive hole in the wall where Harumi had gone flying. Looking back at Jay, Lloyd shook his head and leapt out into the rain with a cry of 'NINJAGO!' as he spun into his Spinjitzu to the pier below.
Monty stared Wu down with eyes that could freeze something colder than Zane's ice. The ghost had produced a katana from behind his bed, the pistol still in hand. The SoS shown as lightning outside lit the room up with a sudden flash, still sheathed. A twirl of his hand holding the firearm collected the capes scattered across the room with a breeze and violently stuffed them back into the large wardrobe. Just to make sure they didn't come out, Monty used his wind to rotate the wardrobe so the opening doors faced the wall.
"Your control over wind has grown considerably, Monty," Wu spun his staff and pointed it towards Monty, "You've become a true master of your element."
"Can it, Wu, I don't know why you're here but I'm not having any of this," Monty snarled, "Get. Out. Of. My. Shop."
"Ronin owns this particular establishment, doesn't he?" Wu's lips betrayed a grin, "That would mean you cannot tell me to leave."
"Oh, is that how you're going to play this one?" Monty spat, "Then let's go ahead and-"
Monty didn't even finish his statement. His gun fired three times in rapid succession, his hand not even flinching with the knockback. Wu crouched and slid to the floor, avoiding his head being shot off. His free hand shot out and grabbed a piece of broken wood, throwing it perfectly so it knocked the gun from Monty's hand.
The ghost raced forward, bringing his sword down towards Wu's left shoulder. Wu rotated his staff up to intercept it, then followed with a kick to Monty's abdomen. The ghost just looked down at the foot passing through him and solidified his right hand to jab towards Wu's chin.
Wu responded by breaking their sword lock with a cry of 'hhooyah!' as his fist struck his own staff. The force rattled Monty, unsteadying him for a few precious moments. Wu followed up with planting his staff into the ground and swinging his body horizontally, kicking right at Monty's sword. The force sent the blade off into the wall. Monty retaliated by his other hand creating a vacumn that sucked the gun back to him, cocking, and aiming for Wu's chest.
This time, Wu didn't have time to dodge. Wu was knocked backwards as the bullet embedded in his staff, having barely moved the staff into place in time. He didn't get time to recover as Monty unloaded the remaining two shots at him again, making Wu once more have to gain two new bullets in the wood of his father's staff.
Instead of reloading his gun, Monty drew his hand holding the gun back and threw the firearm, adding some wind to increase its speed. Wu reached up and caught the gun in his free hand, only to have it shot away as Monty had another pistol in hand.
Another shot forced Wu to dodge down and to his left. He weaved back upwards, jumping forward even as Monty fired another shot. The bullet made Wu bob down and weave around again. Monty leapt backwards, giving him more room to fire two more shots, both of which were right in the middle of Wu's path. Wu responded by using his staff to anchor himself and leaping up into the air, somersaulting, and landing in front of Monty.
Too close for him to fire, Monty forewent the gun and instead opened his mouth, blowing out with the force hard enough to Wu back. The Master leapt away instead, but Monty used the space to draw the gun up again and fire the remaining two shots before Wu had even hit the ground. Wu once more used his staff to intercept the blows.
Monty planted his back foot, only to hiss in pain. He turned around to see the back of his foot had splashed a tiny bit of water that was leaking from the floor above him. The leak was towards the exterior wall, but cut off his space to work with. He once more tossed the gun aside and sent a burst of wind out of his left foot to hit a floorboard, causing two semi-automatic rifles to launch into the air. He darted forward and caught them, slammed them against his momentarily solid sides to jam the clips in, then held them both at slight angles and fired them rapidly.
Without true mass to steady the guns, Monty released a tiny stream of air from his hands to hold the guns steady. The spray struck the wall to Wu's left and tracked the fleeing Master until he moved in front of Monty's dresser. Monty responded by pulling his guns in closer, forming a perfect V that closed in on Wu's feet. Wu leapt off the ground and kicked off the wardrobe to jump forward, then rolled as he hit the ground and leapt up again for Monty.
Monty raised one rifle up fired hard at Wu, the muzzle flashing which every bullet that came out. As the gun clicked, Wu brought his staff down. Monty lowered the empty gun and raised the still filled one, firing hard into Wu's staff. Wu gripped his weapon to remain holding it, but the force made his momentum slow and land further in front of Monty. Monty threw his two guns up in the air and brought his left foot out in a kick, hitting Wu in his hip. Wu slid backwards from the force, and once the guns came back down, Monty caught them and opened fire with what was left in one of them, while his other hand worked quickly to reload the other.
Wu moved fast, his staff seemingly taking each bullet head on. Once his other gun was out, Monty tossed it aside and put both hands on his other gun. His shots went right for Wu's feet, making him either back up or weave to avoid the gunfire. Monty took a few steps forward to distance himself from the water still dripping in from the ceiling.
Once Monty's gun clicked again, the ghost groaned in anger and tossed the gun aside. He stared at Wu, looking for any sign of damage he'd inflicted on the Master. Aside from seeing Wu's breath coming with a bit of a labored pace, he saw nothing. The ghost started to frown, then he instead chuckled.
"Wow, you're just as fast as I remember you being," Monty drew a taser from inside his plate armor, "Your attacks are weak though. I thought you could outsmart anything."
"I never knew you had fallen so far, you would resort to such petty weapons for your battles," Wu gestured to the guns strewn around the floor, "That is not the path of a ninja."
"You're right," Monty shrugged, "I'm not a ninja. I'm a ghost. No need to worry about honor when you're already dead, you know."
"I would prefer not to fight you any further, Monty," Wu sighed, "Seeing this only reminds me of the potential that you had. To see how far you have truly fallen… it pains me to think this is what your life truly is. Running errands with a thief is not what you were meant for."
"I'm getting tired of talking," Monty laughed, "So how about I go ahead and take you out already?"
Monty punctuated his statement by firing his taser, the two prongs launching out for Wu. They were far too slow for them to even think of hitting home, but Wu had no sooner dove to his right before Monty was atop of him, bringing a massive punch right into his face. Wu took the blow, his head twisting the opposite direction. Monty grabbed Wu's back and slammed his knee right into Wu's torso, then brought his elbow down on the back of Wu's head. He finished his assault by kicking Wu in the chin, sending him onto his back.
Wu opened his eyes to see a glimmer of gold coming for his head. He rolled to his left, but once more Monty was atop of him, this time with his taser ready. Monty jammed the weapon right into Wu's right arm and activated it, sending the volts into Wu's body. Wu's eyes narrowed in pain, his lips curling into a grimace. His other hand fought through the shock and knocked the taser aside. Monty brought his foot down on Wu's tased arm just to follow up before Wu managed to slide away.
Monty held the SoS in hand, its surface glimmering off the dull gray light in the room. He wore a small tiny grin on his face. Wu slowly got up to his feet, using the hand that Monty had just tased and stomped on to wipe his face and pick his staff up from the ground. Monty's eyes betrayed a bit of surprise Wu had barely taken any damage from his assault.
"So… not only do you resort to weapons of a coward, but you will abuse the powers of that sword you should not have to defeat me?" Wu leaned forward on his staff, "Is that truly even a victory, Monty?"
"Any victory is a victory," Monty shook his head, "Anyone that tries to claim winning honorably is the way to go are the ones that end up on the pile first. Now…" Monty hovered the blade in front of his face, nodding his head, "Maybe I can get you out of my shop when I know your every move!"
Monty thrust his other hand forward, sending a massive vortex out towards Wu. Wu thrust his staff out in front of him to intercept it, pressing him hard against the wall. Monty thrust the SoS into the air, slicing with it three times, each one sending a small slice of compressed air at Wu. Wu, still pressed into the wall, slid down the wall and slid from side to side as each slice hit the wall. Wu narrowed his eyes, only to feel his left foot being knocked out from under him as he was staggered. Monty followed up by rotating the SoS in hand, then using its hilt to drive a massive uppercut into Wu's chin.
Monty looked to Wu again, expecting him to fall to the ground. Wu, however, instead simply looked down at Monty with eyes laced with anger. Monty just scoffed and punched Wu directly in the gut, making Wu's anger only seem to grow. Wu lashed out with his hand, gripping Monty's wrist where he knew Monty would have corporeal and shoved Monty away.
"You cannot beat me with dirty tricks, Monty," Wu hissed, "I have fought in wars, I have faced down hundreds of foes at once, and have defended Ninjago for years. Give us the Realm Crystal."
"Firstly, I don't have it. Secondly, even if I did have it, I would have sold it to you, though right now the price for buying it is GET OUT OF MY STORE!"
"Such anger," Wu shook his head, "An unstable mind will lead to an unsteady blade."
"Still trying that?" Monty growled, "You must be a really sore loser."
"This is a fight I will not lose," Wu struck the ground with his staff, "This is your last chance, Monty. My ninja are taking care of your allies. If you hid it with them, then it will swiftly be ours."
"Allies? Those guys are just here to help Ronin," Monty shook his head, "I couldn't care less what happens to them. In fact, let your ninja get them out of here, it's a lot quieter without them."
"Then this shall be a swift conclusion," Wu chuckled, "A team with no loyalty i-"
Wu ducked to the side as a bullet flew by. Monty held another pistol up, bracing his arm with the flat end of the SoS. His eye twitched as he fired off another three shots, each one making his body quiver.
"If I hear one more stupid lesson from you, I'll take you head off!" Monty spat.
"Hmmph, I believe you have seen how that will go by now, Monty." Wu straightened himself up and shook his head.
Monty didn't even take another moment. Surrounding the SoS's blade with a column of compressed air, he shouted as he swung himself back into the fray of battle. As blade and staff clashed, the room was filled with the sound of metal, gunfire, and the rattling of the walls with the full force of the ghost's element.
And thus, we get into the fight that I spent the most time on. I love anime, if my subtle (cough) references haven't shown that already. One thing I love about anime are Shonuen titles, or battle anime. A lot of how I write action is inspired by watching those fights, and thus, when I wrote these chapters, I decided to write four at once and then impose them on one another.
A lot of how I write Monty's fighting is based off of the scene where Morro burns his hands on the Realm Crystal. My theory is this: ghosts have to focus to solidify parts of their body to interact with the world. When they do, those parts will act like normal humans. If a sword cuts them, they won't loose the arm unless it's made of deepstone/vengestone, but they'll feel the pain of it. To fire a fun, Monty has to keep his hands solid to actually pull the trigger. There will be more explinations as to his mechanics later, but this is one I wanted to get out.
Happy first Ninjaverse of 2020!