"Kruncha, Nuckal," The Emperor raised one of his arms up, "You may stop pretending now."
With a loud chuckle, the two Skulkin turned around and made their way over to stand on either side of their Emperor. They both drew identical bone axes from their backs, holding them forward. Standing beside the Emperor, it became clear why their armor was meant to cover their bodies and was completely black and purple. Aside from their white heads, they almost looked like extensions of that strange mirth the Emperor was made of.
"Hehehe, you thought you fooled us!?" Nuckal laughed, "Not even we're that stupid!"
"You're in for a big world of hurt now!" Kruncha laughed alongside his friend. The Emperor lowered his hand down, causing the two to immediately stop.
"I suppose you must have figured now that this was a trap from the beginning," The Emperor's devilish smile curled up, "I would never risk moving my most valuable card to another location. I'm afraid that princess will be staying in my castle."
"Go!" Sun suddenly drew his sword, causing the blade of light to extend from the wooden hilt, "I will hold them back! You must escape before he is able to corner you!"
"If you believe I will let you escape, you must be delusional," The Emperor turned to his two allies, "Cut off their escape."
"Hehe, you got it, boss!" Nuckal suddenly reached up into his mouth, grabbing one of his fake teeth and yanking it out. He spun his arm rapidly in a circle like a cartoonish wind up, then shot it forward. Sun moved to try to cut the tooth, but it was too late. The tooth flew past the group, only for Kruncha's eyes to suddenly glow red. In a split second, the tooth expanded in size until it had filled the entire hallway, breaking into the walls to seal them inside. Lloyd looked back at the display in shock, while Harumi continued to pant heavily as her breath came in short, ragged gasps.
"And now to draw out my prey," The Emperor reached his hand forward. Lloyd heard something behind him, only to see something was rising up from the floor. Large black tendrils rose up from the floor, dripping as they writhed in the air. Sun, seeing this, turned and tried to slice through the tentacles as they rose. As soon as one was cut, the others lunged forward and wrapped around each of the group. Just as they had their grasp on them, the tentacles threw them out from the hallway, sending them sprawling across the floor.
"W-What was that?!" Lloyd shouted. The others groaned as they all began to rise up again.
He looked over to Harumi, seeing she staring up at the Emperor with eyes that were filled with utter and pure terror. The Emperor looked down at her, taking a step forward so he could reach out with his arm. The arm seemed to unnaturally extend to grow longer so that he could grab Harumi around the neck and heft her into the air. Harumi gagged out as her hands moved to grab at the hand around her neck, only to find them sinking inside rather than grabbing solid mass.
"Harumi!" Lloyd shouted, picking himself and drawing his sword. He was about to lunge for Harumi when he saw a massive streak of light fly by right in front of him.
Sun shouted as he left behind a ribbon of light behind him, spinning his sword rapidly. He leapt up onto the wall of computers then jumped straight off to make a run right for the Emperor. The blade that had extended from the Emperor's hand twisted down to meet Sun's strike of the sword. The impact caused a bright flash of light that nearly blinded Lloyd from looking at it.
"Who are these people, Sun?" The Emperor asked calmly while holding back Sun's strike, "They seem to be very interesting."
"People that must be saved from your tyranny!" Sun shouted, straining to try to push the Emperor's blade back. The Emperor looked down at Sun with a blank gaze, then looked at Harumi. As he looked into her gasping eyes, he shook his head.
"There is a fear in her eyes that I have not seen before," The Emperor stated calmly, summoning a second blade in another hand to swipe at Sun with, "I believe that she knows something that you don't. Perhaps after I am finished getting rid of you, I will take her back with me to study what is inside of her head."
"I shall never allow that!" Sun spat. The two blades, however, meant the Emperor was pushing him back instead. Sun's sword began to glow with light even brighter, ready to commit to a move that would hopefully cut down the Emperor's arm.
Instead, the Emperor's arm went flying off all on its own. The Emperor looked down at his severed arm in mild confusion. Mage grabbed Harumi as she fell, leaping backwards and dragging her away from the Emperor. Mage's right arm was encased in ice, specifically ice that was sharpened to a point over his hand. The Emperor looked down at his fallen arm with only a casual glance. Mage watched in confusion as the Emperor's stump grew tendrils that shot out, grabbed the arm that had been cut off, and reconnected it with a simple twitch.
"And so the mystery deepens," The Emperor turned back to Sun.
Sun gave one grunt, then he made his move. He slid his right leg out, then used both hands to twist his sword into a spin to his left. The action threw the two swords off, allowing Sun to spin his blade twice as he slid his left foot to his right. Once together, he crouched and then jumped backwards, avoiding the Emperor's retaliating strike. When Sun landed, a dagger struck the ground right in front of him. A second later, Garmadon appeared in front of Sun, reaching down to grab the dagger and yank it out of the ground.
"You brought us here to capture us, didn't you?!" Garmadon shouted at Lloyd, "This was a setup from the very beginning!"
"W-What?! No!" Lloyd looked to the Emperor, "We don't even know who he is!"
"Indeed, Garmadon. I have never seen them before in my life," The Emperor nodded his head, "But if they are fighting with you, then I will treat them as I would any enemy. Kruncha. Nuckal. Destroy them all. I will take Sun for himself. If you can, leave the girl alive."
"Y-You got it!" Nuckal pointed his axe at Lloyd, "Oohhh you don't know what's coming for you!"
"Yeahah! That's right!" Kruncha pointed his axe at Nya and Zane, "Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it DOUBLE!" Nuckal shouted, just before he reached into his armor to yank off one of his ribs.
Lloyd had two katanas in hand, crossing them to block whatever was about to happen. Garmadon, however, looked at Lloyd in shock as soon as Nuckal chucked his rib towards him. Garmadon slung the dagger straight out, causing it to fly right towards Lloyd. As soon as the dagger struck Lloyd's swords, Garmadon disappeared and reappeared right in front of Lloyd. Before Lloyd could say anything, Garmadon gripped him and flung his dagger across the room. The second that it touched the walls of computers, Lloyd saw the world shift in the blink of an eye, just like flipping a slide in front of his face.
There was a massive crunch as soon as Lloyd stopped moving. He turned around to see that the rib that Nuckal had thrown had both somehow grown to the size of Lloyd himself and embedded itself in the ground where Lloyd once stood unnaturally fast. Garmadon thrust Lloyd behind him and drew the dagger out, spinning it in hand and growling.
"Don't let them get close to you!" Garmadon demanded, "Their weapon ability is to double things!"
"Awwhhh, he's going and ruining our fun!" Nuckal pouted, reaching in to drag out another rib from his body.
"Don't worry, he won't be able to soon!" Kruncha laughed evilly. As soon as his mouth opened, an arrow flew straight over to embed itself directly inside of his jaw.
Zane rapidly lowered his crossbow to use his foot to load another bolt. Kruncha fumed with rage and yelled out as he yanked the arrow out and threw it aside. Nya turned to see that Kruncha now had his eyes on her friend, then yanked the sash she wore off and held it up in her hand. As it flew up in the air, she focused and the sash rapidly wrapped around her arm until it had finally tied up around her forearm. With a flash of light, a beautiful spear that looked to be made of water in the same way Sun's sword was made of light was in Nya's hands. She looked back to Zane, who gave her a nod.
"Showtime," Nya growled, reaching down and pulling out something from her hip. It was a canteen, and one that she tipped over and downed many gulps in a few seconds. As soon as she'd downed it, her body began to shake as the water that she'd just drank was circulated through her body. Garmadon looked over to Lloyd, then across the room to where Harumi still lay stunned in Mage's arms. Mage looked to Garmadon, and the two nodded.
"Handle your friend," Garmadon growled, "I must help Sun."
Sun was wildly swinging away at the Emperor. The Emperor was back down to one blade that he held with one hand, with the other three behind his ill defined back. He swung his mass out of the way each time the sword came for him, then blocked any that were about to impale him. He took small steps to guide Sun in a circle with the attacks, letting him have free strike after free strike while the Emperor did nothing but counter.
"You still grow stronger, Sun," The Emperor sighed, "But you have a long way before you can truly become a match for me. Consider this a test if you're strong enough to flee from me."
Sun was about to attack, but Garmadon's dagger flew by to strike the ground beside him, followed by Garmadon teleporting right to him. Garmadon drew his dagger up and pointed it at the Emperor, while Sun slowly brought his sword up by his chin to point it horizontally over his chest at the dark figure. The Emperor looked to the two of them, then shook his head.
"It seems you wish to have me take this seriously," The Emperor growled, "Then perhaps I shall."
Suddenly, the ground around the Emperor darkened. The shadows cast around the room all began to grow and lengthen until they all extended to connect to that which the Emperor cast. Sun and Garmadon took a step back, readying for what was to happen next. The Emperor slowly opened his palm, allowing the weapon he held to sink back inside of the mass of his body. When it was gone, he let his lower arms rest behind his back, while his upper arms raised up and began to charge a strange, vicious looking purple energy inside of them.
In a split second, the entire field around the Emperor had changed. The shadows suddenly shot up in the same way the tendrils had earlier, but this time they were spinning blades that rapidly rotated around the Emperor. From the hissing they made, the shadows had been shaped truly into the same sharpness as real the same time, the Emperor extended his hands, causing that purple energy to fire out like beams, striking the swords and causing them to crackle with the purple energy arcing through them. The Emperor raised his hands up, causing the swords to all raise up in the air, connected to the shadows below by a thin trail, like gum stretched out from being compressed. The charged shadow swords shot straight out at Sun.
Sun drew his sword behind him backwards, then shut his eyes. As soon as the swords were about to strike him, he swung his sword before and began to thrust his sword in a figure-eight motion, rapidly causing a beam of light in front of him to deflect the swords. Those swords that were reflected were sent spiraling out and breaking apart over the ground, melting back to join the shadow mass. Sun was slid backwards as he continued to knock away the sword, restorting to taking small steps backwards as those swords that melted were reformed and sent right back at him. Garmadon, meanwhile, began to run in a circle around the Emperor. The swords that were sent after him would melt into shadow upon hitting the ground, curling around the room to follow Garmadon in a perfect arc.
"T-This is nothing!" Sun shouted, pushing digging his foot into the ground and slashing his hand even faster, "I-Is this truly you attempting to kill me, Emperor?!"
As Lloyd took in the sight of all of this, he began to feel a fear rising up inside of him. The dark body… the purple energy… the deep voice, it was all reminding him of someone, someone that he wished he would never see again. As he saw Harumi's reaction, he knew that what he felt was likely correct.
Speaking of Harumi, the girl had finally untangled herself from Mage's embrace and reached out to form a massive Rhotate disc. She looked to Mage, who gave her a smile and then nodded. He reached out and clamped his hands around the disc, pouring energy into it that caused the disc to turn copper. As soon as she finished, Harumi focused and then released her hold on the disc, causing it to fly straight towards Nuckal.
"WHOA!" Nuckal flattened himself to the ground, letting the disc fly right above his body as he grinned hard at Harumi, "Haha, you missed!"
Nya suddenly rushed forward, spinning her spear and striking Nuckal's head with the bottom of it. Nuckal let out a wail as his head went spinning on his neck. Nya followed this up by throwing herself back onto her hands, leaning down, and then springing back upwards to drive her feet into Nuckal's chest and sending him stumbling backwards.
At the same time, Harumi twisted her hand, causing the Rhotatae disc she was controlling to arc around the entire tower and go right for Kruncha. Kruncha was too slow to dodge, and the disc exploded into his body. He cried out in pain, only to stop as he realized he felt no pain. Harumi panted and looked to Mage, who just grinned at her and punched his fist into his hand.
"Your attacks are weak!" Kruncha laughed, "Come on, Nuckal, get up so we can start clobberin' these… these uh…."
Kruncha's body felt heavy. Too heavy. His attempt to walk forward didn't work. He looked down, seeing that trying to lift his leg up felt like lifting up a million pounds. Mage giggled and thumped Harumi on the shoulder.
"You should have told me that your discs could store powers!" Mage giggled, "This is going to be fun to try out! Oh! By the way!"
Mage suddenly shot forward with speed, causing his blurred body to fly around the tower until he was over by Kruncha. He reached forward and grabbed hold of Kruncha's left arm, prying it right off. He spun the arm back and then smacked Kruncha in the head with it, causing the skulkin to growl. Mage grinned.
"I don't know why you said these guys were scary!" Mage pointed out, "They aren't even doing anything!"
The Emperor, still sending the onslaught at Garmadon and Sun, suddenly turned to look right at Mage. The shadow that Mage cast reached up and formed into shackles, pouring out to grab hold of his limbs. Mage let out a shout as his body was sent right up into the air, his limbs pulled apart. The Emperor looked the boy up and down for a few moments, then extended one of his lower arms at Mage. The arm charged up with that same purple power as Mage was too shocked at the suddenly change to react.
"Shadow Control," The Emperor nodded, "Chains." The power gathering in the Emperor's hand shot out and struck Mage. Mage let out a scream of pain as the beam hit him right in the dead center of his chest. The chains strained for a few seconds, then snapped as the power sent him straight back into the wall. A massive burst of electricity shot out as Mage was sent straight into the wall. The Emperor lowered his hand, then looked back to Sun.
"MAGE!" Harumi shouted in terror, forming up discs to try to go after him. The second she did, however, she was forced to slide back as a massive rib was flying at her. Mage's concentration had slipped, meaning that Kruncha had used one of his own ribs to send it flying right at Harumi.
"Finally!" Kruncha turned to Nuckal, "Are you DONE yet?!"
"Neneyehg not yet!" Nuckal swung his bone axe forward, catching Nya's spear. Nya gripped her spear with both hands and pushed back against Nuckal, attempting to hold him back. As she did, however, the bone axe suddenly doubled in size and, more importantly, weight. Nya was forced backwards as Nuckal held the massive axe. A second later, the axe doubled in size again, causing Nya to shout in pain as the weight of it bent her backwards. Nuckal laughed evily as he continued to force Nya back.
Zane, seeing his ally in trouble, quickly turned and raced for a ladder. He rapidly climbed up until he was halfway up, then looped one arm through the side and readied his crossbow. He fired, causing the bolt to strike Nuckal's skull. Nuckal blinked and turned in confusion at Zane, giving Nya time to focus and make her spear disappear. She slid backwards from Nuckal panting as she straightened out her back and reformed her spear just in time to down another canteen of water on her belt.
"Lloyd!" Harumi shouted, distracting Lloyd from watching the fight. She was rapidly trying to climb up the wall of computers to get to Mage embedded in it. Lloyd looked over to the Emperor, then focused and twisted into Spinjitzu. He sped across the ground, much to the Emperor's amazement as he watched the strange display.
"Their weapons must be truly impressive," The Emperor turned back to Sun still deflecting swords, "Quite unlike yours, boy."
"Is that a challenge?!" Sun forced a grin on his face, "Perhaps I should show you just how useless my ability truly is!"
Garmadon had finally stopped running around the tower, turning to look at Sun and nodding his head. Garmadon reared his arm back and flung his dagger to strike the underside of one of the catwalks. Garmadon then appeared clinging to the dagger, dangling in the air. He focused and flipped his body up to land on top of said catwalk, drawing out the dagger and looking to Sun. Sun let out a growl and his sword flared up with light. He reared the blade back, then swung it forward. The blade cut through the oncoming dark swords, right before he leapt up into the air towards the computers. He rapidly climbed up the wall and then onto the catwalk on the opposite side of Garmadon.
The Emperor, seeing this, pulled his arms behind his back and caused all of the shadow swords to fade. Instead, he lifted one foot up. The shadows under him began to form up into a step. He slowly took step after step, forming a shadowy spiral staircase that carried him up to be on the same level as the catwalk, standing in the dead middle of the tower. He looked to the two figures in front of him, then extended his arm, causing the earlier blade to emerge for him to grip onto.
"What is it you hope to achieve by fighting me?" The Emperor asked calmly, "It would make far more sense for you to simply run. Even together as Master and Student, you stand no chance against me."
"That is something for us to decide!" Sun declared, "We fight for freedom, and thus we will have far more strength than your evil could ever grant you!"
"Hrmm," The Emperor nodded, "If you truly think that…"
The Emperor shot his form arms backwards, releasing that purple energy to go flying straight towards Sun. Sun had just barely raised his sword when the Emperor was right in front of him, slashing his blade right into Sun's guard. Sun was thrown backwards into the computer wall, sending several of them into sparks as he scrambled back to his feet. The Emperor swiped the sword down, cleaving a massive gash in the computers that would have surely taken Sun's head.
Sun swung his sword, but the Emperor's blade was already there. In fact, the Emperor was even faster and was already swinging by using the ricochet of the strike. Sun was forced backwards as he desperately was forced to keep up with the Emperor's brutal swings that knocked feeling out of his arms with their strength. The black shadowy figure looked like a demon, his smile and glowing eyes bearing down on Sun as he swung again, again and again. The sounds of swords clashing was a constant throughout the entire tower, all the way down to those still fighting on the ground.
Lloyd and Harumi were still reaching into the broken tangle of wires and shards of computers to find Mage's body completely limp inside. His robe had a massive hole burned into it, and underneath his skin looked as though it'd taken a massive burn. Mage was completely unconscious, shallowly breathing from having been knocked out. Harumi, seeing him like that, put a hand over her mouth and forced her breathing back into place.
"L-Lloyd… that's…" Harumi whispered to him as she reached out to start extracting Mage.
"I know," Lloyd stated solemnly, "I… I feel it too."
"We have to get out of here!" Harumi declared. No sooner had her words came, the Emperor swung his sword hard enough that Sun was forced to deflect it, ripping a massive gash in the wall that produced a loud burst of noise as it broke apart.
"I know," Lloyd looked down at the ground to the Skulkin, "But we need to make sure that they don't give us any issues!"
The two pulled Mage up from the wall, just in time to see the two skulkin had reformed their bodies and were standing side by side. Zane was forced to drop down from the catwalk as the Emperor's violent assault cleaved apart one of the supports, landing beside Nya. Nya was holding her water spear, her body quaking as she did. The quake wasn't of fear, however, and she was staring down the two skulkin with determination in her eyes.
"Now it's time for us to show you what we can really do!" Kruncha shouted, raising his axe up.
"Let's do THIS!" Kruncha roared, raising up a bone axe of his own. The two of them looked around for a few moments, then saw scraps of the destroyed computers on the ground and picked them up.
"DOUBLE SPEED, DOUBLE SIZE!" The two skulkin shouted together. They both chucked the pieces of scrap they held. As the two pieces flew, they accelerated fast, and in a split second they doubled in size, then doubled again, and once more until they were now the size of Nya's entire body. Zane raised his crossbow, but Nya had already slid in front of the two pieces.
Suddenly, Nya opened her eyes to show the veins on her face were a neon blue. She flung her body down to perfectly dodge one chunk, then went up on one foot and spun around to strike the other chunk with her foot to send it off course. On either side of Zane behind her, the two chunks bounced off the wall and then reverted down to their normal size.
"Awwwhhh! You let her use that stupid reflex thing of hers!" Kruncha shouted to Nuckal, "You weren't supposed to do that!"
"Heyehey it's not my fault!" Nuckal whined, "Come on, let's do it again!"
"DOUBLE SPEED, DOUBLE WEIGHT!" The two picked up more chunks, then slung those right towards Nya. Nya saw the two coming, watching them speed up but not grow. She held her spear up and focused. The second the two pieces were in her line of sight, her arms snapped into place in two rapid bursts, knocking the two chunks aside with her spear. The weight, however, was enough that Nya was sent sliding all the way back until she struck Zane, who held her up as she panted, her veins still blue.
"What is going on with Nya?" Lloyd looked to Harumi. Before she could answer, Kruncha had turned his attention to them carrying Mage in the wall.
"Hey! You up there!" Kruncha reared his bone axe backwards, "Get down here! Double size!"
Kruncha literally wound up his arm, then he threw his axe right towards the three. Lloyd and Harumi quickly leapt out of the wall, just in time for an axe almost ten feet tall to lodge itself into the hole. The impact rattled the entire wall, causing the Emperor to look down for brief moment to see what his allies were doing. As soon as his attention was drawn, Garmadon's dagger went flying straight by the Emperor's head, narrowing missing him and lodging in the wall beside Sun. Garmadon appeared beside his battered student, yanking the dagger out and panting as he did.
"Clever," The Emperor glared down at the two with his pupiless eye, "Let's see how far that cleverness can take you, shall we?"
The Emperor raised his hand, causing his shadow to raise up like spikes. He jumped up and landed on top of them, then jumped. The shadow he cast on the wall shot spikes outwards wherever he stepped, letting him effectively run on the wall. When he was directly over the two of them, Sun and Garmadon's shadows would reach up and grab hold of them. Before the two could react, the Emperor threw them into the air, right up to two of the Emperor's hands glowing purple. His power exploded right into their faces, sending them both flying further up the tower until they slammed into the wall just above the fourth catwalk. The Emperor then rapidly ran along the wall, his shadow spikes allowing him to keep running until he had ascended all the way up to where they landed. Sun had just gotten Garmadon up when he had to thrust his light sword forward to catch the Emperor's blade once again.
Lloyd handed Mage off to Harumi, who nodded and made a dash for the hallway the two had entered from. The tooth hadn't yet shrunk down to let them through, but it afforded some cover for her to get Mage. Lloyd raced over to Zane, who raised his crossbow trained at the skulkin.
"What exactly can those two do?!" Lloyd asked as he arrived, "And what's going on with Nya?"
"Their weapons allow them to continually double a property of anything they touch," Zane replied emotionlessly, "And Nya is currently using her own ability. By ingesting water, she can temporarily use it to push her body's reflexes to their natural limit."
"...Okay, that's pretty straightforward," Lloyd pointed out, "How do we take those two out?"
"We don't," Nya spoke, her voice quaking as her body continued to shake, "You can't take out guys that don't get tired!"
"Yeah, that's right!" Kruncha reached down to yank out another one of his ribs, "Ohh, I'm staring to run out. How many you got to spare?"
"Uhh…. not a lot?" Nuckal shrugged. Kruncha groaned and shook himself.
"Fine, let's make these count!" Kruncha raised his rib up, "Double sharpness!"
The rib seemed to start to glisten until it had become as sharp as a piano wire. Kruncha giggled to himself as he then reached down and pulled his leg off, "Double speed!" He plugged his leg back in, then he ran forward straight towards Nya.
The sound of the rib as Kruncha swung it towards Nya was a perfect whistle. As soon as it reached Nya, however, her body bent backwards to dodge it. Kruncha shouted and kept swinging the deadly sharp rib, his foot allowing him to snap forward and run at Nya faster than ever. Nya, however, continued to dodge as her body's reflexes continued to save her from a potential bisection. She dared not attempt to use her spear to stop the rib, lest it cleave right through it.
Nuckal, not one to be left out of the action, took his own leg off and shouted, "Double… uh… double frictionlessness!" Regardless of if that was a word, when Nuckal plugged his foot back in, he was suddenly sent skidding forward across the ground, as if he was now skating on top of it, and heading right towards Zane as he raised his bone axe.
"I got this," Lloyd told Zane, "NINJA-GO!"
Lloyd spun into Spinjitzu, his tornado going right for Nuckal's path. Nuckal, seeing this, cried out and turned around to try to skate away from him. Lloyd was faster and managed to suck Nuckal up into the tornado, then land a rapid series of kicks on him. Nuckal was sent flying out of the tornado, hitting the ground woozily as he sat up.
Suddenly, Lloyd's tornado started to spin faster. Lloyd wasn't sure why, but he wasn't able to stop himself. He shouted hard as his tornado was sent right out of control until he had slammed into the wall. He groaned in pain as his Spinjitzu was cancelled and he slid down the wall. Once on the ground, Nuckal was up on his feet and laughing at him.
"Hahahaha! That was lame!" Nuckal grinned.
Lloyd stood up, growling as he did. He drew his swords once more and raced forward towards Nuckal. After two steps, however, he was running fast. Very fast. So fast that he actually flew right by Nuckal and towards the opposite wall. He scrambled to try to stop, which ended in him then sliding right by him in the other direction. When Lloyd plunged his sword into the ground, he was finally able to stop himself. He looked down at the ground, confusion in his eyes.
"Double acceleration!" Nuckal pointed at Lloyd and laughed, "Oh man that gets them everytime! You should see how stupid you loEAIYE!"
Zane had fired a crossbow bolt to knock Nuckal's axe from his hand. The skulkin quickly scrambled over to try to find his weapon, giving Lloyd time to scramble to Zane. Sure enough, after just a few steps he was moving like he was running a marathon. When he tried to wave his arms to stop himself, his arms moved forward so fast he fell on his face. He groaned and slowly picked himself up, taking great care to. Zane quickly ran over and helped him to his feet.
"If he has touched you, his ability will remain in effect until either we retreat or he is defeated," Zane replied calmly, loading another bolt, "We must be careful."
"Can't you just freeze him with your ice?!" Lloyd asked, finding just moving his leg forward to slide his legs apart.
"We are still in training to unlock our weapon abilities," Zane looked to Lloyd, "We do not have the golden weapons anymore to give us the ability to use elements."
"Right... Nevermind!" Lloyd shook his head, "I can't fight like this! I can't even move without feeling like I'm going to fall over!"
"Then I suggest you stand back," Zane stepped forward with his crossbow, "And allow us to handle this."
"You mean allow us to handle this," Harumi stepped around Zane, Rhotatae discs in hand, "Lloyd, if you can't fight, go look after Mage. I think he's okay, just knocked out."
"S-Sure," Lloyd nodded, knowing he wasn't going to be of help. He took small baby steps forward, having to stop every couple of them just to avoid sliding forward and going right across the room. Harumi watched him leave, then looked over to Zane.
"How good a shot are you?" Harumi asked, "My discs are solid."
"I am a perfect shot," Zane told her, "Let us work together to demonstrate that fact."
"You got it, Uncle Zane!" Harumi fired off two Rhotatae discs. Zane looked at Harumi with confusion, but nonetheless realized what she was doing. Harumi darted off to the left, while Zane darted to the right. Nuckal looked between the two of them, then let out a yelp as he dodged the two discs that Harumi had fired at him.
Nuckal laughed evilly, having retrieved his axe and looking towards Harumi. Just as he was about to take a step forward, Zane fired his crossbow once, then twice. The two arrows struck Harumi's discs in the air, then the discs spun around in the air to redirect the arrows perfectly towards Nuckal's back. Nuckal was none the wiser as he suddenly had two massive arrows sticking out of his butt.
"OWH! That'd really hurt if I could feel that!" Nuckal yanked them both out, "Hey, what sort of weapon do you got there, girlie?!"
"It's not a weapon!" Harumi shouted, firing off several more discs and directing them through the air, "But it works just as well as one!"
Zane was inhumanly fast to reload his crossbow, just as Harumi had predicted. Nuckal tried to skate forward to intercept Harumi, but Zane's arrow was directed to go right for Nuckal's leg. The action knocked the skulkin on his face, making his eyes roll in his head. Just to add insult to injury, a second arrow struck the back of his head. Harumi continued to spin her discs to change the trajectory of Zane's arrows, while Zane perfectly aimed for wherever her discs were going to begin with. Nuckal continued to try to get up, but the arrows weren't letting up.
"We won't defeat him like this," Zane shouted to Harumi, "But we can at least stop him from making another attack like he did on your friend."
A massive crash drew Harumi's attention for a brief moment. Kruncha had lodged his overly sharp rib right into the wall, less than an inch from Nya's head. Nya's veins were glowing still, and in the few seconds she had, she pulled another canteen off her belt to down more water. Her veins glowed ever brighter as she spun her spear in her left hand. Kruncha was able to easily slide the weapon back, but Nya had already reared her spear backwards. Kruncha made another swing, but Nya had already attacked. In a single thrust, Kruncha now had a spear sticking straight through his body.
"HEY!" Kruncha reached down with his free hand to try to yank the spear out, "Gahh! This isn't fair! Come on! This is new armor!"
Nya wasn't listening. Instead, she brought her fists up and leapt forward. She swung an uppercut right towards Kruncha, who dodged and swung the razor sharp rib at her head instead. Nya's reflexes forced her body to dodge backwards, then to snap back upwards to land a punch on Kruncha's chin. Kruncha took a step backwards, letting Nya rapidly rush in and rain a series of punches directly down on Kruncha's torso. The skulkin let out gasps and cries of shock as each punch just rattled him.
Nya continued to attack Kruncha until he'd been forced backwards into the middle of the room. She delivered a few more punches, then opened her hand. Her spear disappeared from his torso and reappeared back in her hand. Kruncha was about to ask what was going on, but Nya had reared her arms back behind her head to then thrust her spear forward to strike the stop of Kruncha's head. The skulkin was sent slamming face-first into the ground, groaning as Nya's spear remained directly on top of it.
"N-Nuckal!" Kruncha shouted, "We gotta do it!"
"What?!" Nuckal yelped as he leapt up on one foot to avoid another arrow, "But we gotta drop the plug to do that!"
"Just listen to me and DO IT!" Kruncha spat.
"Harumi!" Zane aimed right for Nuckal's head, "We have to stop him now!"
"DOUBLE SIZE!" The two skulkin shouted, looking right at one another.
In an instant, Nya's spear was sent sliding forward as Kruncha's body doubled in size. Nuckal's body did the exact same thing. Nya scrambled backwards, panting as she held her spear in hand. The two skulkin began to laugh as they continued to grow, grow further until they were almost three stories tall. The tops of their heads almost came up to the catwalk where Sun was still furiously deflecting each calm and fast swipe from the Emperor.
The tooth that was guarding the exit suddenly shrank, falling to the ground as just a regular tooth. The rib that Kruncha had been using similarly fell to the ground as just a regular piece of bone. Lloyd was able to rush out to see the source of the shadow as his doubled acceleration was gone now. Nya and Zane leapt backwards until they were standing in front of Lloyd and Harumi, who shared a look together to say they were both okay.
"Okay…" Lloyd gulped, "I'm starting to see now what you meant by those two are a bit more scary then they look."
"Heheh, YEAH!" The sound of Nuckal's voice echoing in the room was now almost deafening to those on the ground, "Take THIS!"
Nuckal raised his foot, now seemingly devoid of the extra properties, and slammed it down on top of the ground. Nya's reflexes caused her to grab Zane and yank him aside, while Lloyd twisted into Spinjitzu and grabbed Harumi. When Lloyd stopped, Harumi's world was spinning, and Lloyd just gave her a sheepish smile of apology before he saw Kruncha raise up his now similarly scaled bone axe to plunge down on top of them, while Nuckal had his other foot raised to stomp out Nya and Zane.
It seemed all four had come to the consensus that attempting to use weapons at this point was useless when they were that large. Just the weight of their feet coming down cracked the ground. Zane and Nya darted in opposite directions, making for a harder target for Nuckal to stop out. Nuckal frowned and reared one foot back, swinging it forward to try to kick Nya into the wall. Nya rolled forward at the last second, causing Nuckal's foot to crash straight into the wall and go through it. The rooms on the outside of the main room were crushed as Nuckal yanked his foot backwards out of the gape in the wall.
"How are we supposed to fight those guys?!" Lloyd shouted as he and Harumi narrowly avoided being squashed by the hilt of Kruncha's building sized axe.
"Don't ask me!" Harumi shouted back at him, "The best we can do right now is distract them so we don't get killed!"
Harumi raised her hands up, summoning a beam of green energy that shot straight up towards Kruncha's eye. Kruncha put his hand in front of his face to block it. Lloyd rolled to a better angle and fired one of his own. Kruncha's right eye was just barely clipped by it, leaving a tiny burn on his eye socket that made him look down at Lloyd with a growl.
"Is that what I think it is?" The Emperor looked aside from his battering of Sun to look at the beams of green power, "You have made some very, very interesting friends, Sun."
Sun was currently pressed into the wall, his sword holding back a combination of tentacles, the Emperor's blades, and shadow swords. His entire body was quaking as he did, and his breath was ragged and strained. For a brief moment his muscles relaxed, only for the Emperor to use that to slam him further into the wall. Sun let out a cry of pain as he did, his limbs almost fully numb just from the force of holding it back.
Garmadon rolled underneath a tentacle of shadow of his own, rushing forward as he rapidly slid his body between the Emperor's attacks. He reached out and grabbed hold of Sun's arm, then flung his dagger out in the other direction. The two reappeared a few feet away from the Emperor, with Sun immediately collapsing forward onto his knees. He heaved in breath, his limbs refusing to obey him. Garmadon reached out and shook Sun hard. The two watched the combination of attacks go right into the wall, ripping it apart with a sickening screech.
"Sun, get up!" Garmadon growled, "We can't stop now! You must get up now!"
"Yes, Sun," The Emperor turned to face Sun, "Get up. Get up and face me. I have always expected more from the grandson of the First Weapon Master… if this is his legacy, then it is sad how far he has fallen."
"Do… do not say that…" Sun panted out, shaking his head fiercely, "I am worthy of his legacy!"
"You have yet to show me your true power," The Emperor stated plainly, "What was it called again? Kinetics?"
Sun reached out with a limb shaking violently to grab onto the railing of the catwalk. He looked over the side of it to see Kruncha and Nuckal's massive forms slamming their feet and weapons down at his allies, laughing as they did. He looked up then to see the Emperor, the shadows around his swirling with malice, waiting patiently for him to make his move. Sun looked then to Garmadon, who seemed to figure out what he wanted and nodded his head.
"You wish to see my ability?!" Sun shouted, standing up on shaking legs and letting his sword hang limply at his side, "You wish to see the light that will burn away your darkness?!" As he shouted out his words, his sword flared up with light.
"If you are even strong enough now to use it, that is," The Emperor grinned, "By all means."
Sun raised his sword up to hold it horizontally out from his body. With another burst of light, the sword turned a brilliant gold. Sun swung it forward so he could grip it with both hands, and in doing so he left a ribbon of light floating in the air. The Emperor readied himself for Sun to come rushing at him by extending that blade from inside of his arm again. Sun stared the Emperor down, his eyes filled with exhaustion, anger and determination.
Then, Sun turned around and ran the opposite direction. Instead, it was Garmadon to who leapt forward with his dagger and slashed at the Emperor. The surprise was written on the Emperor's face, but he nonetheless swung his blade back at Garmadon to counter him. Garmadon spun his body out of each slash of shadow and blade the Emperor gave to him, trying to land a hit through the Emperor's shadows but finding no such opening.
Meanwhile, Sun was wildly slashing his sword in and out of the wall. The ribbon of light he formed was threaded in and out of the wall by doing so, and Sun refused to stop moving. He continued to swipe and slash into the wall, the light running perfectly along the outside of the tower. Sun was shouting in exertion as he did, slashing back and forth to trail it further, further and further still as his body continued to burn from exhaustion.
As Garmadon continued to attack, Sun suddenly leapt forward off the catwalks towards the middle of the tower. He landed on Nuckal's head, an action the Skulkin didn't even seem to notice. He rolled once he hit and ran forward again, leaping from his head over to Kruncha's own. He barely managed to cling on with one arm and then swing himself up to keep his momentum. The action burned his arms, but Sun kept going. He ran forward until he was able to leap off and onto the second catwalk, at which point he was already running again along the tower's outside and slashing his sword in and out of the walls.
Finally, Sun reached a ladder down to the bottom floor. He slid forward on one foot, his body falling perfectly into the gap to slid down the ladder. The ribbon traced his path all the wa down as he fell, grabbing the ladder's rungs just a few feet above the ground. His body was jerked to a halt, and thus his ribbon of light. He waited for a few moments to see that he'd ran a path all along the tower, then he shut his eyes and gasped out.
"Release…" Sun panted, his arms going limp. He crumped down to the ground, just as his ribbons began to light up and explode along its length.
In the span of a few seconds, the entire trail had burst out in a concentrated series of explosions. The actions ripped right into the walls of the tower, specifically cutting two large cuts that sectioned the tower apart. The force of the explosions caused the tower to then wobble and shake as its stability began to collapse. Garmadon and the Emperor had been in a safe spot from the explosions, but were nonetheless rocked apart as the tower began to slide apart.
"What?!" Kruncha shouted, looking up at the walls, "What did that guy do?!"
"It's coming down!" Lloyd shouted, looking over to Sun and narrowing his eyes, "Harumi, get Mage!"
Harumi nodded, then ran right for where Mage was still laid slumped up against the wall of the hallway. Lloyd rushed over and grabbed Sun, whom he discovered was either very muscular or wearing robes that weighed more than that appeared. He grunted hard as he wrapped Sun's arms around his shoulders, then began to drag him across the floor. Sun was clinging fiercely to his wooden hilt, no longer a sword itself, and limb in Lloyd's arms.
The Emperor looked around to the collapse of his tower, an expression of pure contemplation on his face. Garmadon leapt away, only to find that the catwalks were already began to break apart and fall. He looked back to the Emperor, then threw his dagger at the ground below. The Emperor extended his hand, causing the blade he'd been holding to launch out right towards Garmadon. The millisecond before it connected with him, Garmadon appeared on the ground of the tower, his dagger a few feet from Nuckal's foot. He yanked it up and quickly began rushing towards the hallway that their escape route was in, kicking away the tooth as he did. Zane and Nya had already rushed into the hallway and rounded into the entrance to the interrogation room.
Just as Lloyd carrying Sun and Harumi carrying Mage were scrambling down the hallway, the shadowy mass of the Emperor slammed into the ground behind them. The two turned around in terror as the Emperor raised all four of his arms, his large teeth curled into an enraged snarl. He thrust all four arms forward, purple energy firing out in front beams that met in the middle of his body. Garmadon's eyes widened, and Lloyd slung Sun onto the ground.
"Harumi!" Lloyd shouted. Harumi, seeing his point, threw Mage down and rushed up to stand beside Lloyd. The Emperor's beam fired off in a beam that shot straight for them. The two green bearers gathered their elemental energy and fired together beams of their own, meeting the oncoming purple blast right in the middle. A massive bubble formed as they collided, growing into a pulsing, crackling sphere that grew and grew. The Emperor snarled and reared his arms back to blast even more power into his attack, while the two green ninja pushed all that more energy into the attack.
The Emperor refused to let up his attack, forcing Lloyd and Harumi to continue to meet him. Harumi's breath was hiking, and it wasn't just from the strain. If there were doubts in either of their minds who this being was, it was already gone. Nothing else was able to meet their green power in this way. Nothing had produced a reaction just like this. They continued to hold their power against the Emperor, who stood still like an immovable wall.
There was a massive creaking. The two Skulkin shouted as the section of tower Sun had carved out fully slid apart, causing the entire top half of the tower to come down. Kruncha and Nuckal were quickly struck by the section, and disappeared from sight. The Emperor, turning to see this, gave one more growl and then dropped his power and stepped to his side, causing Lloyd and Harumi's beams to fly past him and cause a massive burst to the already crumbling foundation of tower. The Emperor turned his back to the two of them and held his arms out. The power he'd formed in his hands surrounded him in a bubble, extending out just as the tower's computers and concrete debris fell on top of him and obscured him from view.
The two ninja grabbed Sun and Mage from the ground and ran as a cloud of dust and death came racing down the hallway instead for them. Garmadon, waiting at the door to the room, waved them in and then slammed the door shut just as the two entered. They both slid first Sun, then Mage down the hole, then each slid down as fast as they could. They fell down until they had reached the deck of the Destiny's Shadow. The room they were in began to collapse, sending dust through the hole. Nya caught Sun while Zane caught Mage, whom he then dumped to the side to leap up into the cockpit and send them speed forward. Lloyd, Harumi and Garmadon were forced to grab onto the sides of the Shadow so as not to be sent flying out as Zane sped them away as fast as the could take them.
"Did that get him?!" Harumi shouted over the wind around them.
"It would take more than that to kill the Emperor!" Garmadon shouted, "We must get back to the Bounty, and quickly! It won't be long before he sends someone after us!"
As the rubble cleared away, Kruncha and Nuckal dragged themselves out. They both used their bone axes to stand up straight, both of them feeling pain now that theri bones were cracked from the falling building. They both took a few moments to focus, then rubbed their heads as they tried to orient themselves. When they realized their Emperor wasn't with them, however, they looked around for him.
From further behind the two, a figure emerged. The strange, ill-defined mass of blackness the Emperor was previously had melted away. The figure that emerged was tall, black skinned, and wearing a beautifully carved breastplate that covered a torso that held four arms. His eyes were still a glowing purple, but his lips had reverted to a far more human-like set of a deep purple. Upon his head, a glowing dark crown made of dark matter itself pulsed as the specks and colors continued to shift around inside.
"So," The Emperor sighed, his voice no longer filled with the deep scratchy tone that it normally was, "It appears that they have managed to escape."
"W-We're so sorry, Emperor!" Kruncha went down on all fours in penance, "It was our fault! Punish us if you have to! But punish Nuckal more!"
"Yes, punish Nuck-hey!" Nuckal got up form a similar pose to pounce on Nuckal. The Emperor, however, raised his hand up, causing them to stop.
"You two are but one of the Emperor's Hand," The Emperor closed his eyes, "I planned for this just as I do everything else. I will have him take care of this."
The Emperor reached out with his mind through the dark matter in the ground. Atop one of the tallest skyscrapers, a boy stood up. A series of massive scarves around his body billowed in the wind around his neck, and as he stood up his hair likewise was sent blowing behind him. He chuckled for a few moments, then reached down to draw out a knife from his belt.
"So, the Emperor has allowed me to play," The boy grinned, "Let's have a little fun, then!" With that, the boy ran forward and leapt off the side of the skyscraper, hurtling down in pursuit of the fleeing group.