"Those are Nindroids!" Lloyd turned to Sun, "We have to get out of here!"
"My thoughts exactly, friend," Sun did a backflip, landing perfectly in the seat of the Destiny's Shadow and quickly tapping several buttons. An energy field formed a bubble over him, protecting him from the elements as he turned the ship around. The two small wings extended to the sides as the ship banked hard to the right. The group steadied themselves against the rails as Sun rapidly steered them away from the oncoming swarm of Nindroids.
"What are those?" Mage asked calmly, peering over the railing to look back at the robots that began drawing rifles from their backs.
"Get DOWN!" Monty shouted, grabbing Mage and throwing him to the deck. Mage was stunned as Monty grabbed his gun bag, drawing out a massive rifle with a scope on the end, "Get me closer!"
"Closer?" Sun shook his head, "I'm attempting to get away from them!"
"Dang it… this is normally Ronin's job!" Monty scoffed, leveling his rifle out and twisting the scope to zoom in, "Keep it steady then. You got any guns on this thing?"
"There's a turret on the back," Sun turned his head to show the second seat connected to an energy-beam gatling gun, "Is anyone among you a good shot?"
"I am," Lloyd stood up, "He's been teaching me!"
Monty rolled his eyes, zooming back into his scope. Lloyd quickly rushed up into the seat, the chair turning around and bringing him up to grip the controls of the gun. The system looked like what Nya had installed on the Bounty 2.0, and as soon as he saw the targeting system he felt familiarity rising up within him. After a few moments to adjust, he quickly slung the gun's barrel to the horde of robots and began to fire.
The ghost fired his first shot, his body not even moving as the gun fired off. The bullet was sent right towards the targeting eye of one of the Nindroids, causing its body to violently arc with blue electricity and then fall from the sky. Lloyd unleashed his volley of fire down on the Nindroids, the lasers flying right into the darkened skies and scattering the group out. Monty sighed and adjusted his aim, firing off and sending another down to the streets.
Sun gave the Destiny's Shadow a massive jerk to the right, causing Lulloyd to go sliding off and nearly fall from the deck. Mage shot his hand out, sending a massive flash freeze of ice behind Lulloyd to catch him before he fell off. Lulloyd gripped the ice wall thankfully before reaching onto his back and drawing out his Mechdragon brick. He looked to Harumi, who looked over to Mage.
"Mage!" Harumi shouted, "Go with Lulloyd!"
Mage turned to her, blinking for a few moments before nodding his head. Sun righted the Destiny's Shadow, letting Lulloyd and Mage leap over the side of the ship. Sun stared at them in shock until the Mechdragon shot up beside them a moment later, roaring and spewing green flames as Lulloyd twisted the controls to veer the group right down towards the oncoming horde. Mage stood up behind Lulloyd, extending his right arm as his fingers crackled with electricity.
"Sun," Harumi raced up to where he sat behind his energy field, "Does this thing have an onboard map of the city?!"
"Yes, but I doubt that would help us right now," Sun stated as calmly as he could, turning them once more, "Why do you ask?"
"Are you going anywhere in particular?!" Harumi turned out towards the city, "My watch can plan an optimal route!"
"I am trying to shake our pursuers at the moment!" Sun declared, "You should get down and-"
Sun stopped as a rain of red lasers from the starboard side of the ship crashed down on his energy bubble. Harumi rapidly formed a disc in her hands and turned it upwards to protect her, the lasers shattering her disc on impact. She quickly flattened her body down as best she could, Lloyd twisting the barrel to begin firing away at the surprise attack.
Monty continued to fire shots into the Nindroids, missing roughly one in every five shots with how Sun continued to veer the ship. Lulloyd shot his Mechdragon right into the barrage of lasers, missiles firing off and taking out small groups of Nindroids as he went. Mage ran along the back of the dragon, using gravity to run along the length even as he went upside down, firing off lightning with his hands to strike Nindroids as he went. As one tried to grab onto the tail, Mage shot out his hand, eyes gunmetal as he yanked the Nindroid up off the tail and sent him flying away into the air.
"They won't stop coming!" Lloyd shouted, firing the gun even faster as he did, "They must really want us captured!"
"I have a personal relationship with the Emperor," Sun sighed, "As he does with me. Just showing my face is enough to send out all of his forces to capture me."
"Glad to know we ran into the literal one person that gets us hunted down from minute go," Monty grumbled, firing off again and snarling, "Stop jerking the ship, Sun!"
"I would prefer we not have our engines filled with laser blasts!" Sun threw back, "Hold on, I shall take us through them!"
"You're doing what?" Lloyd asked, only to suddenly feel his back thrown into his seat. Monty turned his back solid and slammed it against the railing, while Harumi gripped onto the nearest bit of faux-roof of the ship. Sun drove them straight up into the air,. The swarm followed them, firing their lasers up as they approached the massive layer of dark clouds that blanketed the city.
"Hold on, my friends!" Sun ordered. The ship hit the apex of its arc, then suddenly flipped forward to the bow. For a brief few moments, all feeling of weight was lost from them sans the weightless ghost, making Harumi and Lloyd's stomachs churn. The ship did a roll to its port side, righting itself upright and slamming Harumi and Lloyd down just as the ship shot forward directly into the confused horde.
Lloyd twisted the gatling gun forward, pointing it and rapidly firing away at the Nindroids that quickly adapted to begin firing at them. Harumi fired off Rhotatae discs, trying to take down as many as she could. Monty thrust his rifle forward, taking more shots and downing more Nindroids, some striking the deck and being thrown off by Sun rocking the ship back and forth.
Seeing the Shadow making its move, Lulloyd rapidly typed buttons on his dragon's console. The four legs suddenly retracted into the mech, turning the supplementary boosters double in size and firing straight backwards. Mage ran up the side of the dragon, bracing himself against the spines as he brought his hands together, his eyes going red as he sprayed a massive wave of fire in a semicircle around himself to attack the Nindroids that got too close. The dragon rocketed its way to catch up to the Destiny's Shadow.
"What's your plan?!" Harumi shouted over the roaring wind as the ship cut through the wind.
"Not dying is the first priority," Sun declared, "I have sent out a signal to the Bounty, they are setting up an extraction point. We must make it there before they arrive."
"G-Great, we're trading one death ship for another…" Harumi groaned, sitting upright, only to flatten down as a laser threatened to blast her head off.
Sun, seeing a patch of skyscrapers close together, spun the ship vertical and blasted forward. Both Lloyd and Harumi gripped their seats and fought falling off the Shadow as Sun rapidly began to weave them in and out of the buildings. Lasers rained out behind them, shattering glass and filling the air with reflecting bits of glistening blue and red. The force of Sun rapidly bobbing the ship in and out of the buildings continued to smack Lloyd and Harumi against the shop. Monty had long given up trying to shoot, instead just holding on calmly and waiting for it to end.
Finally, the Shadow burst out between two buildings, the Nindroid horde having thinned behind them significantly. From above the buildings, the Mechdragon came roaring down, its legs extending back out as Lulloyd did a barrel roll from one side of the Shadow to the other. Sun panted heavily as he saw the horde behind them dissipate, giving him time to reorient and smile towards Lloyd and Harumi.
"We have escaped the jaws of the beast, friends!" Sun shouted, "We should arrive there in a minute!"
The Shadow rounded the side of one of the buildings. As soon as they did, Lloyd saw a figure hovering in the air on a jetpack. As soon as he saw the shape of the armor, he immediately knew who it was. General Cryptor slowly raised a massive rocket launcher on his side, his target sights zooming in. He let out a small laugh before he let the rocket fly, sending it straight towards the Shadow's starboard.
Sun tried to swerve out of the way, but the rocket still struck the underside of the ship, blasting a massive portion of it open and causing the ship to rapidly destabilize and go down. The energy field around Sun dropped as he rapidly yanked at the now on-the-fritz controls, trying to orient them upwards. Lloyd was thrown forward from his seat, the gatling gun shorting out as he did.
"Hang on!" Lloyd shouted, crawling his way down and reaching out. He grabbed hold of Sun's arm, then reached out and extended his hand to Harumi. As soon as she took it, he focused, spinning his body into Airjitzu. The force of lifting three people up at once caused him to shoot straight up only a fraction of his normal amount, but it was enough to carry them up and over the Shadow as it went straight towards the ground and crashed into the streets below with a burst of flame.
At the apex of Airjitzu, the Mechdragon shot out, catching them just before Lloyd fell. Sun's eyes were wild and looking around in pure confusion, trying to parse what just happened. Lulloyd tried to go forward, but Cryptor loaded another rocket and fired. It burst apart right in front of the Mechdragon, causing him to yank backwards and steer them away from the attack. Cryptor loaded another rocket, taking aim and firing to let out a blast to shave some bricks off the left side of the dragon.
"It is no use," Sun ordered with a growl, "Cryptor's pursuit shall not end! His targeting system is too advanced, we must defeat him on the ground!"
"Are you sure about that?!" Lulloyd asked, only for another blast to nearly throw him from the cockpit, "...S-Sure, why not?"
The Mechdragon soared down towards the street. As they approached, the dragon rapidly reverted into a brick. The group of six dropped down into the middle of a four way intersection. Lulloyd landed, caught his brick, and traded brick for sword and posed ready for battle. A moment later, Monty came soaring down from the sky, landing beside them with an annoyed look at Lloyd. The others took similar stances. Cryptor landed on the ground in front of them, smashing his left fist into the ground and cracking it as he lifted himself up and laughed.
"So, you found yourself new allies then, Sun?" Cryptor reached onto his back, drawing a pair of purple energy-like katanas, "It appears I will need to update my information on them. Perhaps defeating them will give me what I need!"
Sun inhaled. He took a step forward in front of the group, reaching down to grab a wooden hilt. He spun it around in his hand, bringing both hands to grip hold of it in front of his stomach. He inhaled, jerking the hilt up by his right cheek. Suddenly, the space around the sword began to grow darker, turning blacker as if light was sucked in towards the sword. A massive broadsword made of glistening yellow light extended from the hilt, pointing right towards Cryptor as Sun slid his feet apart and took a knightly stance.
"Stay back!" Sun shouted, "I will take Cryptor! His Nindroids will be here soon. I must you to deal with them so I may focus on their general!"
"Like we wouldn't be doing that anyways," Monty rolled his eyes, quickly looking around, "...Where's my bag?!"
Lloyd turned apologetically towards the crashed Shadow nearby. Monty turned towards Lloyd with a rage in his eyes he hadn't even seen yet from the ghost. Monty spat on the ground in front of him, then blasted off with wind towards the wreckage to reclaim his guns. In the meanwhile, the others readied for the incoming swarm.
"I got this!" Lulloyd shouted, "I've dealt with flying guys before!" He ran forward, rapidly striking the street around them. As portions turned to bricks, he rapidly rebuilt them into a massive barrier in front of them, almost like a massive riot shield. He did the same in all four directions around them, angling them back to give them protection from lasers from above. Lloyd, Harumi and Mage gave him a nod of appreciation.
"What are those things?" Mage asked, "I didn't hear you over the… everything."
"Robots, we call them Nindroids," Lloyd growled, "They're like… they're made of metal, and run on electricity. It's, sort of like lightning."
"Really?" Mage looked up towards the swarm, "I don't think I like them."
"You shouldn't, they're being controlled by someone evil," Harumi formed two discs, "Get ready!"
"Mage," Lloyd turned to him, "How are you doing on your elements?"
"What do you- oh!" Mage gripped his fists, "I'm fine. I still got more than enough energy."
"Harumi and I aren't good against enemies in the air," Lloyd looked up to the flying horde of Nindroids, "Can you somehow force them down to the streets? We can take them out once you do!"
"I can do more than that!" Mage's body crackled with lightning, his eyes blue and the bolts coursing from one hand to the other, "You guys get ready, I'll get them for ya!"
With that, one of Mage's eyes flickered to copper, levitating him into the air with gravity. Almost immediately, the horde of Nindroids turned their sights to him, sending lasers right towards him. Mage suddenly turned to smoke, the pieces of him rapidly flying off in all directions as the Nindroids swarmed over him. The smoke shot up into the sky, reforming together to put him directly above the oncoming wave. As soon as he was, he had a massive smirk on his lips as he sent a massive wave of lightning down into them.
Nindroids dropped to the streets as their circuits were scrambled by Mage's onslaught. As soon as they struck the ground, several of them were sent flying as Lulloyd, dual wielding hammers built up from street signs, spun them about and sent them into the buildings nearby. Lloyd shot forward, shouting his 'NINJA-GO!' as he spun into Spinjitzu, rapidly sucking up Nindroids and discarding them off into the ground hard. Harumi formed green power in her hands, blasting away at them and forming Rhotatae discs to fire off into the robots.
"Your friends are rather… strange," Cryptor mused, still facing down Sun, "I've never seen data like this before. I must study them. Perhaps I should take them instead!"
"I will not allow you to!" Sun shouted, his weapons glowing even brighter as he leaned back slightly, "I shall take you down today once and for all, Cryptor!"
"Intriguing… you think your ability is enough to deal with me, then?" Cryptor laughed again, "Go ahead and try it."
Sun's frown grew, but so did his focus. He inhaled deeply, bringing his focus onto his sword. He lowered the blade in front of him, causing it to leave a trail of bright light behind it as he did. The wedge-shaped trail remained in the air even as he continued to move it, painting a golden band in the air. Cryptor held his swords out to either side of him, just waiting eagerly to see what he was about to experience.
With a burst of speed, Sun shot forward. As he did, he held his sword out, causing the golden trail to form behind him and leave a ribbon in the air. When he reached Cryptor, he shot his blade down, striking it against both of Cryptor's purple energy swords. Without stopping, Sun continued to run forward, slicing back and forth and leaving a perfect arc of each of his attacks against Cryptor. Cryptor remained still, but Sun's attacks never stopped. He sped up more and more with each strike, causing his ribbon to form even faster and rapidly merge around itself.
With one massive strike, Cryptor stumbled backwards. Sun stuck his foot against Cryptor, then he leapt up into the air and did a backflip. When he landed, Sun raced forward and swung his sword once more at Cryptor. Cryptor, staggered, caught the sword with both of his own. Sun pressed his attack against the robot, thrusting his weight against him. As soon as Sun did, his body slid forward and stopped. The second it did, his eyes burned with a golden wisp on them.
"Kinesis, release!" Sun shouted.
Instantly, the golden ribbons left in the air began to expand. Sun squatted down, then lapt up into the air on one foot. The ribbons burst violently, the entire band exploding like a band of gunpowder. The light shot out, consuming Cryptor within it due to the ribbons concentrated around him by Sun's attacks. Sun landed on the ground just outside of the explosions, the light band on his sword disappearing and leaving him with just the wooden hilt once more. He pulled his sword over his chest, then sliced it out to his side just as the light faded away. Cryptor was consumed in a massive explosion of pure light.
Sun heard something. Sun twisted around, grunting as he saw the two purple swords coming right for him. He took two steps back, planting his right foot behind him to push Cryptor's blades back. The shiny Nindroid didn't seem to have any scratches on him, and instead he almost looked to be shining even harder as a result of the attack. Sun was pushed back on his foot as Cryptor pushed his robotic strength against him.
"I almost felt a tingle with that one. Your abilities will never be enough to overcome us members of the Emperor's Hand," Cryptor taunted him, "If you give yourself to the Emperor, he may have mercy on you."
"I know any mercy I accept from him will give me nothing that I truly desire!" Sun growled, pushing backwards on Cryptor, "A freed Ninjago, a world without the darkness… none can gain that if we are to live under the constant gaze of fear that he brings to us!"
"You know nothing of how this world was before you existed, boy," Cryptor pushed Sun back, drawing his blades apart and staggering Sun backwards, "You would do well to remember your place."
Cryptor took another step forward. Then, with a loud bang that rattled Sun, Cryptor's head violently shot forward. He collapsed onto his knees, the back of his head now opened up and sparking wires and electricity. Cryptor turned around to see the business end of a shotgun before it fired again, sending his head right down into the ground and making his body jerk and twitch for a few moments.
"And you'd do well to remember there was a ghost on the battlefield," Monty scoffed, raising his shotgun up, his massive gun bag strapped around his left shoulder and right hip, "Especially an armed one."
Monty cocked the gun again, getting ready to double tap Cryptor into the ground. Before he could, Cryptor's body jerked again as he suddenly pushed himself up, reaching his hands up and clawing at his face. Monty fired anyways, striking Cryptor in the chest and sending him sliding across the ground. Cryptor raised his right arm, firing off two darts. They stuck into the shotgun, causing it to blast apart in Monty's hands. Monty hissed in pain as his solidified hands took the pain of the burst.
"Gaahhhhhh!" Cryptor's voice suddenly came out distorted and scratchy, "What have you done to my body?! Do you know how long it took me to craft this?!"
Cryptor grabbed hold of his head, jerking it about and then dragging it up off of his body. When he tossed the thing aside, the now blasted helmet went down to the ground. In its place, someone's head remained. His robotic hands reached up and clawed away at bits of scrap left over, brushing his hair over and adjusting his glasses as he did.
"You're kidding me," Monty growled, drawing a pistol from his armor, "Cryus Borg?"
"Ah, so you've heard of me?" Borg laughed, adjusting his head and putting 'Cryptor's hands down on his hips, "Well, I suppose that isn't that uncommon. I do produce all of the Emperor's Nindroids on commission, after all! Tis a very lucrative business deal, oh, I say!"
Monty raised his pistol, firing several times right at Borg before he could finish. With the press of a button, org's suit went invisible, making the shots arc off into nowhere. Monty replaced the pistol and drew his SoS, looking down into the blade's glow in the darkness. He saw Borg appearing behind him and, a moment later, Monty leapt away to avoid the energy swords slicing at his back.
"Well done!" Borg congratulated him, "Most of my opponents aren't able to track my movements! Is that perhaps due to that interesting looking sword you have there?" He suddenly frowned, "If I still had my helmet, why I'd be able to tell what it was right away."
"Yeah, normally you don't admit that," Monty redrew the pistol, aiming and firing off five more bullets into the now scrapped helmet.
Suddenly, Sun rushed in front of Monty, holding up his light-filled sword again and pointing it at Borg, "Monty, this man is my opponent! I cannot ask you to aid me in this fight.
Monty stepped through Sun, causing a shiver to go through his body and Monty's gun bag to fall against Sun's back as he did. Monty turned and scoffed, "And I can help you with this. Less talking, more grabbing my bag and fighting."
Sun gave the ghost a confused look, but picked up the bag and slid the strap on his back regardless. Monty held the SoS in one hand and a pistol in the other, ejecting the slide and slamming it down onto his belt to reload. Borg looked down Monty's body, his eyes glistening as he grinned in almost… glee.
"Objects on your body… they appear to take on the properties of your form, yet at the same time they will act as they would normally once they leave your body… yet your bag and sword have yet to do so," Borg suddenly drew up a keyboard on Borg's right arm, rapidly typing in notes onto it as he spoke, "It is if, some sort of phenomenon occurs that transforms objects on your body upon continual contact, but undoes itself once it has left it! Your guns appear to be corporeal like your hands, but also pass through your ally! I must know more about you!"
Monty shot forward with wind, slicing the SoS down and stealing a glance into its blade as he did. His slice was caught by both of Borg's blades. Monty then aimed the pistol at the SoS, firing it several times. The bullets shot straight off to the sword and up into the air, right by where Borg's head was. Borg threw his weight backwards, activating jets on his feet that sent him flying away. Monty, looking down into the blade again, shot up in the air in an arc, then blasted down with his feet up in the air to intercept Borg.
Borg raised his arm, the metal rapidly moving to form a cylindrical cannon over his left hand. He turned it towards Monty, a wild smile on his face. Monty, however, threw his body to the left just in time to avoid it, instead pointing his own pistol down to blast at one of Borg's jets. While one jet remained, he damaged it just enough to make Borg spin out and strike the pavement.
That was when Sun suddenly came forward, training light behind his sword again as he did. Sun turned to Monty, silently telling him to buy him time. Monty nodded his head, turning and angling to slice into Borg's other side. Borg devoted one sword to each of them, using his robotic suit to put pressure on them. Monty, however, turned his pistol to Borg's head, forcing him to duck and let Sun keep moving. Monty guessed Sun needed to keep moving to build up that ability of his.
Borg turned to try to blast Sun with two of those little rockets in his arm, but Monty shot a grappling cable from his arm to wrap around Borg's arm and yank it aside. The two rockets flew off and struck a nearby building, sending glass raining down on them. Sun simply leapt up into the air and onto the side of a building to keep moving, still trailing his ribbon, but Borg's unprotected head forced him to rocket out of the range. Monty matched him, using the SoS to keep predicting Borg's attacks and keep him off guard. As he did, Sun shot in and continued to strike and slice at Borg and leap away, building up more of that ribbon in the air.
Seeing how much Sun was building up, Borg began to grow desperate. Seeing his attacks were being countered at every turn, he typed in a command onto his arm. Suddenly, a squad of the Nindroids still raining firing down onto Monty's allies broke off from the main group, leveling their lasers towards Sun. Sun did several backflips, gasping and trying to look for a spot to keep moving as the lasers pushed him towards a building. Monty, seeing this, rolled his eyes and used wind to shoot up into the air, grabbing one of the Nindroids and putting his pistol back in his armor. Monty's body turned to wisps that shot into the robot, possessing it and causing it to shake as he overrode its programming. The nindroid reached out with his left hand, catching the SoS before it could fall from the sky and spinning its laser rifle to blast away at its brethren.
Sun, seeing his chance, instead ran forward into the lasers as they thinned out, right for Borg. With two massive and powerful strikes, he knocked one of the swords away from the inventor. Borg was put on the backpedal as Sun violently slashed at his blade, flashing ribbons of light right into Borg's face that he emerged from to strike again moments later. The perfect path of where Sun's attack path was now in the air, right until he leapt overtop of Borg and grabbed his back. He shoved Borg forward right into the arc of light he'd just created, stopping as he did.
Borg looked around, seeing that all around him, the ribbons had been collected, putting him in the center of them all. He looked towards Sun, just as he panted and raised his sword up. Sun shot it in front of him, releasing the stored energy. Borg, seeing just how much was around him, had only enough time to raise his arms up and cover his head before he was caught in the massive explosion of light.
The burst of color was enough to make Lloyd, Harumi, and Lulloyd, who were all still fighting on the ground, turn to look at the light as Mage shot from position to position to drive the Nindroids down to the ground. Lulloyd leapt backwards, landing behind one of the large 'shields' he created. He turned to Lloyd and Harumi, then pointed towards one of the buildings nearby. The two nodded, racing behind Lulloyd. Lulloyd struck the barrier, causing it to break apart. He rapidly threw the bricks towards the building, building it back up directly in front of the glass entrance that was now penetrated by several laser bolts. Lloyd and Harumi raced forward after the bricks, sliding into the open lobby just in time. With their cover now established, the two took point on either side of the 'shield' while Lulloyd raced to slide behind with them.
Across the battlefield, Monty landed beside Sun, leveling his gun at Borg and growling at him as he did. Sun panted heavily, holding his sword but shaking a bit from the effort he'd put into that attack. As the light cleared, the two saw Borg still standing, but with smoke rising off of his body. His armor was slightly scorched, and he was panting heavily. He slowly sat up, putting his gaze towards the two, no longer smiling as he had before.
"You… you two pests…" Borg growled, "Do you know how long it took me to design this thing?! If you keep that up, I won't be able to collect data on you!"
"Yeah, that's the point, this is a fight after all," Monty growled, "I swear, nobody knows how to just shut their mouths and just get to beating each other up anymore."
"Do not insult me, you fascinating spector of scientific intrigue!" Borg shouted, "I am a proud member of the Emperor's Hand! I will serve the Emperor until my final breath! If you think a little light show is going to stop me, I will show you just how adaptable my suit is!" He lowered his head, panting a bit as his smile returned, "Oh… oh yes, I will indeed show you why my genius secured me a spot in such an important group."
Borg typed more keys on his suit. Suddenly, he stiffened, gasping out as his arms shot. Strange liquid metal began to flow out from under the crevices of the armor, moving over and sealing up the holes that were present in the armor. The scorches disappeared as he seemed to heal back the damage. The metal moved and molded up around his head as well, reforming the helmet that Cryptor was so used to wearing. The scope, however, was now glowing a deep blue, and the metal moved to form a massive blade along the length of his right forearm.
"I've invested quite a lot in this new 'nanomachine' technology!" Cryptor's voice came in place of Borg's once more, "My suit can repair any damage done to it at a moment's notice! I find it a rather wonderous thing. I have now analyzed the impact of both your swords and bullets, and strengthened by armor against it. You two no longer will be able to touch me." It seemed Borg considered Cryptor a separate persona from his change in dialect.
"Ah, so you're one of those guys," Monty sighed, "Great. Round two."
Sun looked far more nervous than Monty. Upon seeing Cryptor reforming his armor, Sun's breathing was coming a bit faster. He looked around several times, his sword hands shaking a bit in exhaustion. Monty, seeing this, lowered his weapons, instead looking back towards where his group lay still fighting off the massive horde of Nindroids sweeping their lasers against the barrier in front of the building they were hunkered down in. If Sun was losing his nerve, they were in trouble.
A massive round of blue lasers fell from the sky, flying straight towards Cryptor. Cryptor held his new sword arm in front of him, taking the massive blasts head on. Ghost and knight turned around, just in time for a massive spotlight to shine on them. Monty immediately recognized the ship as the Destiny's Bounty, the spotlight having extended from the bottom of the ship. Upon seeing them, the spotlight retracted, instead lowering a massive metal claw that shot down towards the wreckage of the Shadow on the ground.
Immediately, Monty and Sun nodded and turned around. Before Borg could attack them, they raced away and towards the claw that wrapped around the broken mini ship. The two dodged the fire of Nindroids to grab onto the wreckage. As the claw began to retract, Lloyd peeked his head from around the wreckage and then turned to Harumi and Lulloyd.
"C'mon!" Lloyd shouted, leaping out from behind their cover. His allies had no hesitation following after him. Harumi fired off more discs towards the skies, taking out Nindroids that got too close. Lulloyd, seeing that the Shadow was being raised up by the claw, looked around and struck parts of the street, throwing them forward to rapidly build a crude set of shaky stairs in front of them. Lloyd, acknowledging this, ran in front of the two, leaping up to the last stair and holding his arms out. Both of them grabbed hold of one arm as he used the stairs to leap up into the and twist into Airjitzu. The three shot out, smashing into the side of the Shadow's former cockpit and grabbing hold just in time.
"MAGE!" Harumi shouted, trying to be heard over the battle. Mage, turned, still hovering in the air as he looked to his allies. He dodged an oncoming robot arm and sent fire into his feet, sending him straight up into the sky. The Shadow retracted up into the belly of the Bounty, just in time for Mage to throw his body horizontal and blast after them. Just as the Bounty's jets turned down to fire off, Mage shot under them and up into the bottom of the ship. The Shadow fully retracted in and the floors closed under it, letting Mage collapse onto them and the group slump off the wreckage.
The Bounty's jets shot out at full force, sending the ship into the sky. As it did, the Bounty began to rapidly glow as large discs along its body glowed. The discs vanished, and the effect grew to spread over the entire ship. The Bounty was cloaked, blending into the sky just as the Nindroids fired off towards it. Cryptor, lowering his sword, looking up towards the fleeing vessel just as the ship fully disappeared into the air. All at once, the ship vanished from his sensors, causing him to curse as the ship rapidly took off to safety.
"Is… is everyone okay?" Lloyd asked as he forced himself to stand up. By looking around, he saw they appeared to be in a massive hollowed out part towards the stern of the Bounty, looking like a massive repair area for the Shadow. Given how the claw continued to raise the Shadow until it was suspended in the air, that seemed to be the case.
"I'm good!" Lulloyd shouted.
"Me too," Harumi groaned.
"I'm...just gonna lie here for a little bit… but me too…" Mage gasped out on the floor.
"You don't need to ask that of me," Monty scoffed.
"As am I," Sun declared, fully sitting up, "Assuming that Nya has 'guised our escape, we should be safe now."
"This… wait, this is the Destiny's Bounty?" Harumi asked. Once she looked around, she moved to nervously grip onto the Shadow instead.
"Uh… yeah," Lloyd nodded, "Did you never see one before?"
"No, and the fact you just said 'one' is why," Harumi gulped, "Being on any form of the Bounty is asking for it to crash."
"Then you shall be relieved to know we have not crashed her!" Sun declared with a reassuring smile,, "Been shot at, yes. If this ship stops flying, well, a crash shall be the least of our worries."
Slowly, the group took their time to get to their feet. Despite Harumi's reservations, she nervously put her feet down and stumbled forward to regain her footing. As the others did the same, Sun walked over to take a look at the damage to the Shadow. As soon as he saw the gaping hole in the bottom of the ship, he grimaced hard and turned his head away, sighing as he put his hand on the ship.
"I am sorry, Shadow," Sun declared, "I failed to protect you. Thank you for buying the time to get to safety, even if I was not able to grant you the same protection."
"Can't you, uhm, rebuild it?" Lulloyd asked as he looked around the room, "Looks like, you got plenty of spare parts around here."
"We will need it for what is to come," Sun turned to Lulloyd, "Yet, having this ship damaged is a strike to my own heart. You see, this ship was the last gift that my father and mother gave me before they were taken from me."
"Taken from you?" Lloyd suddenly felt a cold pit in his gut, "But, you said your father was Wu, right? He's not…is he?"
"If you mean passed from this world, no,," Sun shook his head, "But, they were both captured by the Emperor. We have been fighting for years to get them back. The Emperor keeps them as slaves to taunt me…" He gripped his fist against the Shadow, "He uses them as a bait to keep me both coming towards him and preventing me from racing straight for him. It is my duty to rescue them, and to save all of Ninjago from the tyranny that black hearted man bestows on it."
The group gave each other a long look. Monty sighed and walked over, rudely yanking his gun bag from Sun's shoulders and then tossing it right at Lulloyd. He caught the bag, sighing and sticking his brick inside and slinging it over his shoulder, forgetting it was there moments later. Harumi and Lloyd worked their way around the crowded space to get closer to Sun.
"Your, outfit," Harumi gestured to his strange white robes and lack of any sort of head wrapping, "You're, a ninja, right?"
The question made Sun shake his had with a small chuckle, "I have been taught the ways of the ninja, yet I do not observe them. I am simply Sun, son of Wu and bringer of light. I am no ninja," Sun held out his hilt and turned it into a sword, "I am a knight! A defender of the weak, an arbiter of justice, and the one that will rescue this land from shadow!"
"Right…" Lloyd pointed to his wooden hilt, "Out of, well curiosity, pretend we know nothing about this world for a minute. Just humor us. What is that thing?" Lloyd pointed to Sun's sword.
Sun raised his eyebrow with a smile, putting his hand to his chest, "It is my weapon, of course. It is what I have bound my light to. I carved it from the leg of a treehorn. Their legs actually are trees, if you would believe it. It was my first display of strength, and I carry this to remind me of the fact I have come far from the boy that I once was."
Before the two could ask any further questions, Mage had opened a door to the compartment they were in. As soon as he did, there was a man standing in front of it that he immediately smiled to see. When the man didn't smile back, Mage's mind kicked in and he quickly stepped out of the way, not saying anything. Sensei Garmadon stepped past him, looking around with a stern look on his face.
The man was wearing clothes that none had seen him in before. They reminded Lloyd of the robes he'd seen Wu wearing during the Battle of Stiix. Instead of his normal robes, he was instead in what looked like a vest with leather armor fitted over it, with several straps and buckles of yellow and black fitted around his sides. Several shurikens and knives were stuck into his belt. His hair was cut short and slicked back, unlike his normal loose and unkempt gray hair. On his hip, he had a massive sheath where a large dagger stuck out, a purple blade that shone in the low light of the ship. All of it alone looked to be a far less welcoming man than they were used to, and his sharp words highlighted that.
"Sun!" Garmadon's voice boomed in the room, "Who are these people? Why did you bring them with you?"
"They are allies, I found them sneaking out of the Emperor's grounds," Sun bowed his head, "Dareth contacted me to pick them up."
"Dareth did so?" Garmadon mused, looking around and then immediately freezing upon seeing the ruined state of the Shadow, "Sun! What have you done to the Shadow?!"
"It was Cryptor… well, Borg," Monty spoke up, leaning against one of the workbenches, "I don't know which one you refer to him as. He shot some rockets at it. We managed to save it from going to total scrap."
"Do you know what this will do to our plan?!" Garmadon shouted, causing Lloyd, Harumi and Mage to all flinch hard, "We can't move through this city on the Bounty! We're taking far too many risks showing up the way we did. Damaging the Shadow will mean we could miss our window!"
"Forgive me," Sun bowed his head, "But our window may now be lost. The Emperor may discover the route that Dareth helped construct. They came from that way."
"You five," Garmadon ordered sternly, "Come with me."
Garmadon turned around, stalking his way out of the room angrily. Mage flinched as he walked by, not wanting to make eye contact with the angry man. Lloyd and Harumi shared a look together as they nervously walked after him. Lulloyd hefted the bag up and came with them, while Monty yawned and followed along as well. Sun came after them, hitting a few buttons to turn off the lights and causing a few robotic arms to begin moving and scanning over the Shadow displayed in the room.
Once the two were out of the main room, Lloyd immediately recognized that this ship wasn't the rebuilt ship that Nya had finished during Chen's tournament. The hallway they walked on was clearly the same ship that Zane had discovered off in the mountains. While it looked as though a massive section had been knocked out below deck to make room to carry the Shadow, it still clearly was the old ship. It became even more apparent when they walked up onto the main deck and he saw the familiar glass bubble that was the cockpit.
The Bounty was currently flying high above the city, and Lloyd could see that the dark clouds in the sky were indeed a massive thick layer not too far above them. They were steadily moving at a pace fast enough to jerk him forward if the ship were to suddenly stop. Once they were on the deck, Garmadon sharply turned and led them up into the cockpit. Sun continued to follow behind them. Once they entered, the group saw the rest of the gang.
In several states of being seated and standing were the five other ninja that they all knew well. However, none of them looked to be the same people they were all used to seeing. Instead, they all were wearing leather armor like Garmadon, with their ninja robes trapped behind it. Their armor was scuffed and dirty, burned in several places and dented as well. They each wore one glove with odd markings on the back of each. They were each in varying states of injury as well, most notably with Nya wearing a massive bandage wrapped around her forehead. From the state of their armor, the frowns on their faces and the injuries, Lloyd almost instantly got the impression these ninja were not the more cheerful ones that he knew.
"Woah," Kai stood up, grabbing hold of a handle and forming a tonfa made of fire on his left arm to point at Mage as he entered, "Who are they?!"
Mage, without missing a beat, turned his eyes red and the flames of the tonfa suddenly went out. Kai looked down in shock as Mage gave him a little grin and walked on by.
"Sun rescued them from fleeing the Emperor's grounds," Garmadon informed the group, "For now, they are our allies. How goes the course, Nya?"
"We should arrive at the wreckage in a few minutes, "Nya informed Gamradon, shifting her bandage as she leaned against a massive spear made of water, "Not sure what the Emperor was doing with it, but we'll know soon."
"Good," Garmadon put his hands behind his back, "How are the rest of you doing?"
"I'm fine," Cole grunted, shifting a massive mace made of earth on his own back, "No one looks like they're chasing after us."
"Could be doing better," Jay rested himself up against a small glave he was polishing on his lap, "Getting really tired of having to repair this thing after every battle, though."
"Oh zip it," Kai reformed his tonfa and pointed it again at Mage, "And I still wanna know who they are! Especially why two of them look… weird!"
Lulloyd and Mage looked to one another, neither of them sure how to explain. Mage still appeared to be something like out of a cartoon, and his smooth form made it hard to parse next to the others. Lulloyd, meanwhile, could pass well enough if he stood still, but any amount of movement made him almost confusing on several accounts.
Lloyd turned to Harumi, who nodded and stepped forward, "I'll introduce us. My name is Harumi. This is Lloyd, Monty, Lulloyd, and Mage. We're travelers that came here to help prevent an evil from rising in this place. Has someone named Krux and/or Acronix arrived here as of late?"
Garmadon's eyes narrowed, "No… but I wonder how you would know those names. The only people in Ninjago that should remember them are myself, my brother, and a very knowledgeable tea maker."
"Forgot that bit," Monty growled, waving his hand, "Let's get this whole introduction stuff out of the way. We've already gone through this once before, and I'm not really into the idea of explaining it. Krux, Acronix, they here?"
"I would suggest you watch your tone," Zane sat up from the corner, walking forward with a solid ice crossbow that looked as sharp as the look in his eyes, "While you may be allies, we should remember to treat each other with respect."
"It is actually rather timely that you mention them," Garmadon pointed out, "Given that we know where one of them is."
"Really?" Harumi stepped forward, "Where? It's imperative that we stop them right away!"
"Krux?" Kai stood up, "Isn't that one of the guys the Emperor took out the day he took over the city?"
"Took out?" Lloyd turned to Kai, "Wait, what do you mean, 'took out?' Like, he captured him?"
Garmadon narrowed his eyes, "How curious that you know of the man, but you know not of his fate. You mentioned him along with the name of his brother, a name that you should not know."
"He… wait a minute," Harumi shook her head, "You're saying that Krux is… dead?"
"Yeah," Nya turned from the console, "He turned up dead the same day that Chen's Island blew up and the Serpentine went missing."
"Wait a minute," Mage shook his head, "I fought Krux! He can't be dead yet!"
"He's most likely this universe's Krux," Monty sighed, "You were able to keep Garmadon straight, why not him?"
"Well because you guys said that it was three months before you got to my world!" Mage protested, "So, I don't know how long it's been since the Emperor came to power! It's not stupid of me to think that maybe he like, got her earlier than we did?"
"I doubt it," Harumi interjected, "Time moved parallel for us between our worlds. That means it'd only be a week since they arrived here. And judging by the state of things, the Emperor has been in power far longer than that."
"...Uh, I'm not following all this," Jay scratched his head with the tip of his weapon, only to then shriek out and rub his now stinging head, "Owh!"
"...Sun," Garmadon turned to the knight, "Are you certain you saved them from the Emperor's clutches?"
"I am indeed," Sun bowed his head again, "I have no doubts in my mind that they were fleeing the Emperor, just as we are."
"You speak as though you are not from this world," Zane added, stepping forward; once closer, the group immediately noted he wasn't the Titanium Ninja, but still in his blonde haired original form, "I believe you could do well to elaborate."
"Should we tell them?" Lulloyd whispered, "I'm… getting the feeling we're not making them trust us very well."
"What gave you that impression?" Monty sighed, "Just get it out of the way. If they don't believe us, that's their problem."
"I… well," Harumi grimaced, "This is a bit hard to believe, but we aren't actually from this world. We five all come from different universes. We're all on a mission to stop the Time Twins from Lloyd's world," She gestured to him, "And so far, we haven't been that successful."
"I mean, if you're all here," Kai shrugged, "Sounds like you don't know what you're doing."
"And we're just supposed to believe you're from other universes?" Cole sat up, "Sorry, but I'm a guy that needs to see some proof. Maybe if you can-"
In an instant, the group reacted. Lloyd spun into Spinjitzu, Harumi fired off a few Rhotatae and let them glide around her body in an arc, Lulloyd struck the floor and rebuilt the tiles into a small table, Mage's eyes began to rapidly glow colors as fire, earth, lightning and ice all fired from his fingers, and Monty raised his hand to both form wind and draw a gun from his armor with the suction force. The group, sans Sun and Garmadon, backed away from the display.
"...Okay…" Cole gulped as the group stopped using their abilities, "I… maybe they might have a point here."
"I have never seen those abilities before…" Sun raised up his sword, "And I doubt that they can be explained away with a weapon. They might be telling the truth."
"A single display of power is not proof," Garmadon shook his head, "But it is grounds for debate. We shall discuss this in turn. If all is right, we should be arriving at the wreckage…" The Bounty's computer suddenly began to beep, "Right about now."
"What's this wreckage?" Lloyd asked. Garmadon and Sun stepped forward, and the group cleared the way for them to pass.
"A few days ago, there was a battle at the base of the Emperor's Tower," Sun explained as the group began to funnel out of the cockpit, "That is the building from which you were fleeing. The Emperor encountered someone and destroyed them. We heard word that the wreckage may hold valuable pieces for us. The Emperor deposed it yesterday, and we are here to try to steal parts before he finds out."
"This, Emperor sounds pretty tough," Lloyd pointed out, "Why would anyone go up against him?"
"That's what we wish to find out," Garmadon declared as he walked to the edge of the railing of the Bounty, "Prepare the rooms! We'll fill up on salvage as much as we can!"
The Bounty was hovering over a massive landfill, one that looked to be situated just on the edge of the city. Lloyd had a strange feeling of deja vu that the Bounty had been here sometime before. Unlike the previous landfill, however, this one had massive towers made of strange black rocks. The two looked towards the sight, then over towards what was inside.
Almost immediately, Lloyd felt a cold dread fall over him. Once the others saw it, they too were silent. Sun, seeing their mutual hesitation, turned to them and raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"What's the matter, friends?" Sun turned to them, "Do you recognize that thing?"
"Yeah…" Harumi gulped, "There… might be a reason to worry about who actually died."
Laying in the middle of the junkyard was none other than the Iron Doom, split apart straight down the middle, its shell broken and empty. The once proud and mighty force they had contended with was now nothing more than scrap.