"I'm in position," Harumi stated calmly, standing in the middle of a raised train track.
"Team B is in position as well," Sun's voice came over the comm Harumi had in her ear.
"Team L is too," Lulloyd's voice came over, "Just, tell us when to do it."
"Wait until you see the train," Harumi informed them, "Then blow the tracks. We'll only get one shot at this, so make it count."
"Because nothing bad ever happens when you say that," Monty's exasperated voice sounded off, "Incidentally, how many weeks till your retirement, Harumi?"
Harumi took her hand off of her comm, not wanting to deal with Monty's sass. Her team, Team A, stood on the middle of the tracks. Behind her stood Lloyd, Zane, Cole and Garmadon. Lulloyd and Sun each had a similarly divided team, stationed at specific tracks a good distance away. It seemed that this version of Ninjago was sadly far behind her own, meaning that they were still using trains. They were sleek trains, all designed by Borg Industries and made to run on a clean-burning fuel, but they still relied on rails. It was so primitive to Harumi.
With the destruction of the Nindroid production line, the Emperor's fortress was that much more vulnerable. They, however, needed to gain even more of an advantage if the plan to take down the Emperor was to work at all. That plan involved the trains, specifically what was inside of them. According to Nya, each train was fully automatic and contained power cores that were highly unstable and easy to turn into explosives. Given that the trains were all that was allowed outside of the barrier the Emperor put up, it was also vital to shut them down. Zane had decoded a message that stated a shipment of weapons was coming from the palace and being sent out to aid in suppressing some of Sun's allies in the north. Their objective, therefore, was two fold: to steal the power core and weapons for their own plans, and ensure the train didn't leave the city.
To that end, their plan was simple. Once the train was in range, Team B and L would blow out a large portion of the track using both the Bounty and Shadow's arsenal. The train would be forced to take a detour that would force it to loop almost entirely around the city to get to the exit station. That would take it right into the path of Harumi's team, Team A. They would board the train and complete the heist, then link up with the other two teams to transport the stolen goods to a safe location.
"Do you think there will be someone onboard?" Lloyd asked Harumi as he walked up to her.
"This Emperor has been extremely cautious looking at his fortress," Harumi pointed out, "I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't want to just send a train out with no protection. We did just blow up one of his main safeguards."
"Be on guard," Garmadon warned Cole and Zane, "Once we are onboard, we do not know what to expect. We have only fifteen minutes at most to complete our task. If the train leaves the city before we complete our mission, we will have to rework our plans until we can find another shipment."
"Speaking of shipments," Nya came in over the comm, "I think we're about to have a big one!"
Harumi looked down the tracks. Sure enough, in the distance, a little silver, purple and blue train was starting to slide down the tracks. It was designed in a very curvy and sleek fashion, with about ten cars it seemed. The middle car was black compared to the rest, which Harumi assumed the power core lay inside. She looked down to her Borg watch. If her estimations were correct, she could use this to bypass security and disengage the core from the train by hacking into the main system. To do that, they needed to get onboard.
"Isn't it getting a little close?" Jay asked over the comm.
"Steady," Garmadon replied firmly, "Wait until the last moment to hide our presence!"
The train kept coming. Harumi was trying to scan it with her eyes to find any sort of information on who was onboard. There was nothing she could see that gave her any hint of what was going on. She looked back to Garmadon, nodding her head to him. She looked forward and traced the distance that the train had to them, counting down as she raised her hand, waiting… waiting…
"Now!" Harumi thrust her arm down.
A few seconds later, there were two soft 'pops!' in the distance from both directions. If all went according to plan, then the train would be forced to reroute itself from its path. Harumi raised her hands up, summoning a large disc she held onto. Lloyd readied Airjitzu, while Garmadon, Zane and Cole readied themselves to use stolen Nindroid jets to propel themselves. They each waited for the train to turn.
At seemingly the last second, the train did indeed turn, the front glowing as it directed its path directly for them. The device made hardly any noise as it came at them, making the preparation all the more difficult. Once it was close enough, Harumi waited again for the last second. They were in the open and exposed, but they needed to be. There was no other way for them to board safely, especially since the train was moving so fast.
Just as the train was about to strike them, Harumi heard the sound of it sliding along the rails. Lloyd immediately grabbed her arm and twisted into Airjitzu, sending them up into the air. Garmadon, Zane and Cole activated jets they had hooked to their feet, soaring up as gracefully as they could. The train shot out under them, speeding along and away from them. Lloyd dropped his Airjitzu, now holding onto Harumi as she shouted and plunged the disc she had formed downwards. The disc struck the roof of the train and caught, and instantly the full force of the train's forward momentum was shot right into Harumi's arms. The girl held on as tightly as she could as the wind cracked against her, threatening to drag her off and away like trash in the breeze. Lloyd helped with his weight by taking a sword and plunging it into the roof for a handhold.
Her three other companions each simply grabbed onto the roof and clung on. The city was now whipping by them so fast it was difficult to fully make out each building. The wind was freezing. The train kept turning, making holding on even harder. Slowly, Lloyd looked around to find an access hatch, one that was nearly flush with the roof itself. He slowly pulled out his other sword and plunged it down to slowly crawl over to it. When he reached it, he held his head down and banged it with his fist. When it refused to open, he pulled up one sword and began to jam it open. The others held on as tightly as they could as Lloyd slowly wrenched the thing open. When the doors finally did, Lloyd reached out with arm and leg to pull the others towards him. Soon, each of them had jumped down into the car.
Lloyd, being the last one inside, landed with very sore arms. The car they were in had no seats, and in fact was filled with computers. There were windows behind the computers, but many computers were built into large screens and displays that were placed awkwardly in front of them. The car was large enough for them to stand rather comfortably, but otherwise seemed less like something to be transported and more like the back of a high tech news van.
"We have entered towards the back of the train," Zane informed them, "We must be swift if we are to complete our mission. Follow me."
Hefting up his crossbow, Zane took point. The group followed after him, with Lloyd and Harumi taking a spot in the back. They each looked around nervously, expecting for something to happen as they went. It seemed that, for now, they were alone. The cars were perhaps twenty feet long and perhaps eight wide, with the ceiling being well above their heads for them to climb to if thy needed to get out.
As it turned out, moving from car to car was a swift process, as there was no gap in cars. A strange elastic-like material formed a conduit that stretched and turned to mean it was impossible to even tell that they were crossing cars. They had entered the car second to last, meaning there were two cars between them and the power core.
Once the team entered the next car, they were met with a rather stunning sight. The car had no windows, and instead was lined with weapons. Rifles, cannons, swords, shields, all of which had a slightly technological slant due to being manufactured by Borg Tech. The walls, from floor to ceiling, were lined with them, each in racks that looked like they were meant to be simply deployed out in the open and utilized. All in all, there were enough weapons in the room to outfit at least 100 soldiers, and that was with each person taking two weapons.
"This is what the Emperor was sending?" Cole picked up one of the Nindroid rifles, "What's he using all this stuff for, anyways?"
"The Emperor has more than just Nindroids deployed in the field," Garmadon replied flatly, "He has men that fight for his cause. Many of our allies are attempting to liberate cities that have far less of a presence than Ninjago City. These weapons are here to ensure that those fighting for him have the advantage."
"They're meant to outfit his armies that need supplies to drive out any rebels," Harumi muttered, scanning several of the rifles in the room with her watch, "And meant to be given out quickly. We can't let this leave the city."
"Then we have no time to lose," Lloyd declared, "Come on, let's go!"
The next cart was more or less the same as the previous one, though this one had far more explosives inside of it. In fact, one wall was almost all missiles that looked like those to go to Nindroid vehicles. While Harumi hadn't seen any vehicles before, Lloyd recognized them. He filed away in his mind they needed to make sure that these weren't taken out. He'd seen firsthand what just one security drone could do.
Finally, the group reached the power core. This car, unlike the others, was circular rather than rectangular. A large washer-shaped platform allowed them to walk around a large black and blue ball that was suspended in an electric field. The ball hummed and pulsed, with sections of its surface raising up to reveal the blue color was from a completely blue center. This center would spark out into the field, seeming to be the source of the energy. Aside from the core and some curved windows on either side of it, only a few screens were in the room.
"That thing is a lot smaller than I thought it was," Lloyd could see it was maybe only four feet in diameter, "What do we do with it?"
"The train stores power that the core releases, so after removing it we will have time before the train stops," Garmadon informed them, "Harumi will stabilize the core and allow us to extract it. If all goes to plan, Sun's team will be standing by in the Shadow to receive our signal and retrieve the core."
Seeing Garmadon's waiting gaze, Harumi made her way up to one of the screens and began to tap away. She pulled a cord out from her watch to plug into the screen, thankful that it seemed ports had not changed much since their inception (that, or Borg just didn't like updating his hardware). As she worked through the layers of security with her watch, she looked up to the core and nodded.
"I can get into this," Harumi affirmed, "Give me two minutes and I'll have this thing ready for you. A minute thirty if everything goes well."
"Well then," A voice suddenly sounded from a speaker built into the train walls, "I guess it'll be my job to make sure you don't get those minutes."
"Morro!" Garmadon hissed, "Prepare for battle!"
There was the sound of someone walking into the cart. A blast of wind caused the screen Harumi was using to be blown off its stand, with Harumi only narrowly recovering her watch. Both green ninja stood in front of their three allies as Morro slowly walked around the core, letting the chain between his knives drag around on the floor. The scraping it made filled the room, sending a chill down Lloyd's spine. When Morro stopped a few feet from them, he was grinning heavily. His scarves flapped behind him, striking the sides of the car they were in despite there being no breeze.
"The worst part about this is this is the happiest I've ever seen him," Lloyd drew both his katanas and held them out, "I almost don't want to fight him."
"You think the Emperor was going to let you get away with simply destroying one of his armies?" Morro asked with that grin still plastered on his face, "After the last fight we had, I was eager to get back at you. It seems the Emperor's guess that you would want this train was correct. I volunteered myself to ensure whatever you wanted with this train, you wouldn't get."
Cole turned towards the exit to the train, trying to make a run for the weapon-filled stores that were behind them. Almost instantly, Morro reared back his arm and flung one of the knives at Cole. The chain seemed to grow to unnatural levels as it, combined with his power of wind, sent it soaring right for Cole's leg. The knife cut into him, causing Cole to fall over. The knife soared back to Morro's open hand, nearly slicing Harumi's cheek open in the process.
"Cole!" Zane reached down to help him stand up, "Are you alright?!"
"Yeah… fine, totally fine!" Cole growled, forcing himself to stand up, "Just going to-" As soon as Cole put weight on his cut leg, he immediately fell over again. The leg looked almost completely limp, and as Cole tried to stand up again, the leg gave out once more. Cole planted the bottom of his mace into the floor to stand up using the handle, looking at his leg in confusion.
"My ability was perhaps used a bit too, inelegantly last time," Morro grinned, "Would you like me to tell you why your friend now has to do hop-scotch on one foot?"
In response, Harumi charged up a green beam of power, sending it right for Morro. Morro dodged by leaning backwards, then he gathered wind up in his lips. With a large burst of it, he expanded the pressure in the room to break apart the glass that surrounded the cabin. As wind was sent whistling into the cabin, he raised his hands up and laughed as he used it to sling the group backwards.
Lloyd managed to plunge a sword into the floor as he'd done on the roof, holding on tightly. Harumi slung Rhotatae discs at Morro, who simply swerved his body left and right to avoid them. Zane even managed to fire off a bolt before his body was slammed into the back wall too. Garmadon drew out his dagger and went to throw it, only for Morro to reach out with one hand and use the wind to throw Garmadon's arm into the bit of wall between the broken glass and door to the next car.
"Let's not have any of that now," Morro laughed, "I'd say that you're about to feel a real nice BREEZE!"
Suddenly, the wind inside the circular car began to rotate around. The resulting force caused the five of them to go whipping around inside the car, shouting as they were churned around. When Morro felt he'd done enough, he thrust both of his arms out, sending them all out the windows and off the train. Lloyd, Zane and Garmadon went flying one way, while Harumi and Cole went flying out the other way. Morro himself leapt out of the train, using the wind around him to send him rocketing right for Garmadon.
Harumi acted fast. As Cole shouted and flailed his arms to stop himself, she reached out and grabbed his arm. She formed an explosion of green power behind her, sending them flying back in the direction towards the train. The action meant they were flying wildly in the air, making aiming her discs to get on the train impossible. Luckily, a massive mace was the perfect weapon for Cole to swing with one arm and smash a window open of the back car of the train. The force took hold of them as they clung to the mace, the edge of the weapon caught in the lip being all that kept them from flying off.
Morro went flying right for Garmadon, who was being flown backwards too quickly to stop himself. Zane loaded a special bolt into his crossbow, then fired with robotic precision. His bolt struck the roof of the back car of the train, revealing it to be connected to a cable. Zane reached his hand out to grab hold of Lloyd's leg, who in turn shot out to grab hold of Garmadon's left arm. As soon as Lloyd grabbed him, Garmadon threw his other arm up to block a blow to his face by Morro's knives. Morro laughed as he used his wind to put pressure on Garmadon. Just as Zane tugged the crossbow to reel them in, Morro knocked Garmadon's arm aside to sink a knife into his right shoulder. Garmadon shouted in pain, but managed to yank it out before Morro could do any further damage.
Cole looked back to Harumi, still clinging to her arm. Harumi nodded to him, just as Cole shouted and heaved Harumi over his shoulder. The force allowed Harumi to slam onto the roof of the back car, reaching out to grab Cole's arm and heave him up. At the same time, Zane reeled the others in, allowing all five of them to cling to the top of the caboose tightly.
"I hate trainnnssssss!" Cole shouted, digging his mace in to hold on.
With a burst of wind, Morro came flying back to the car. In a single pass, his burst of wind yanked Lloyd and Zane from the roof like blowing dust from a table. The two went tumbling backwards, only managing to narrowly cling back onto the roof. Morro laughed as he shout around and went in for another pass, only to this time try to sink his knives into Harumi. She spun around and raised up her feet, curving them to form a Rhotatae disc that the knives bounced off of. She tried to fire it at Morro, but the speed of the train meant she lost the disc before she could even redirect it.
"The wind up here is too strong for my Rhotatae!" Harumi shouted, "I can't control it!"
"The wind is too strong for a lot of things right now!" Lloyd countered, "We need to find some way to stick to the roof!"
Garmadon suddenly shouted. His right arm, bleeding somewhat, stopped obeying him. His hand loosened, causing him to start to slide down the roof and off the train. Quickly, Zane loaded another bolt and wrapped a cable around Garmadon's leg to hold onto him.
"My arm has gone numb!" Garmadon shouted, "Morro's ability is at work!"
"But, I thought it made your whole body leak oxygen so you suffocated!" Lloyd shouted.
"If your muscle loses oxygen, it shuts down!" Harumi shouted, "He must be using it to only affect the specific muscles he's attacking instead! It takes less time!"
Morro came ready to try to blow them off again. From his laugh, it was clear he was enjoying this immensely. Before he could attack, Lloyd picked one of his sword sup and flung it at Morro. The action made Morro swerve out of the way, stalling him long enough to make him have to try to catch back up to the train.
"We're just sitting ducks up here!" Cole shouted, "And I can't move my leg!"
"Zane!" Garmadon shouted, "Is it likely for there to be Nindroid armor on this shipment?!"
"There is a high probability!" Zane shouted back, "If we check the cars past the power core, we are likely to find them!"
"Those armor have magnetic clamps built into the legs!" Garmadon shot his gaze back to Harumi and Lloyd, "If we can obtain them, we will be able to fight on top of this train!"
"Then we need to get into the cars again," Harumi thought for a moment, "I might have an idea! Lloyd, get ready to use your Spinjitzu!"
Lloyd blinked, but did as Harumi asked. As Morro began to catch up to them, Harumi had Lloyd plunge his remaining sword into the roof. Lloyd used it to begin to stand up. The train continued to speed along, making it difficult. Harumi clasps Lloyd's hands to the hilt, then made a circle with her head. Lloyd looked at her with a ludicrous gaze, but Harumi nodded her head. Lloyd gulped, then looked up to see Morro approaching them.
"NINJA-GO!" Lloyd shouted, spinning into Spinjtizu. This time, he held onto the sword. As the force of the rotation began to take effect, the sword began to actually cut a line into the roof. Harumi reached out and added her weight to the sword, clinging to it. It took an amazing amount of strength to keep Lloyd centered and holding on, but slowly, they carved out a sloppy circle in the roof. Once finished, Cole shouted and slammed his mace into it, causing it to break apart and send Lloyd and Harumi inside. Quickly, Cole and Zane followed suit, followed last by Garmadon clutching his limp right arm.
"Go!" Garmadon shouted. Quickly, Lloyd took point. His sword had bent from being crushed by the caved in roof, so he abandoned it as he ran. Just as they reached the second to last car, Morro landed in the back car, a feral grin on his lips. He reached forward with wind, ready to blast them out of the car again. Just as Zane managed to help drag Cole along, he slid a divider out from the wall and slammed it closed. The wind struck the divider and blew it apart, but it gave the group time to rush away.
"You guys go ahead," Cole shouted as they neared the entrance to the third to last car, "I'll slow him down!"
The group gave Cole no time to argue. They continued on into the car filled with Nindroid weapons. Quickly, Lloyd drew a Nindroid rifle and two new swords, while Harumi threw a rifle back to Zane. Zane nodded thanks to her and loaded it onto his back. Garmadon grabbed what looked like a riot shield and strapped it onto his limp right arm as he ran. Behind them, Morro shot into the car with Cole, laughing as he sliced his knives at him. Cole blocked them both with his mace, then reached forward and grabbed hold of Morro's shirt. He swung both the mace and Morro overhead, driving him into the side of the car and destroying a computer as he did.
Morro, however, seemed unfazed by this, using his feet to strike Cole's face and kick him back while he landed on all fours. Morro raised his knives up over his back and shot forward like a predator, going right for Cole's chest. Looking around, Cole grabbed a chair and swung it, knocking Morro's arm aside and sending Morro rolling about on the floor. Cole got up to his feet, hefting his mace up and moving to stand in the entrance to the next car.
In the meanwhile, the four of them managed to round the power core room and made their way into the next car. Just as Zane had predicted, the room was filled with gear that resembled Nindroids, but was clearly meant to be worn by people. Lloyd wondered if it was tech that Borg used in that weird Cryptor suit of his. Speaking of Borg, he made a mental note to keep a far, far closer eye on him. If this was all it took to tip Borg into full on villain, he needed to be more careful about him.
Quickly, the four of them grabbed hold of the legs of the armor, slotting metal boots onto their feet. As soon as they put weight on them, a humming noise accompanied it and the boots fixed to the floor. Lloyd moved his foot around, finding that his foot remained fixed until he rotated his foot forward or backwards. Once he put any pressure on it, the magnetic clamp let go. It would take getting used to, but was doable. Zane took an extra pair for Cole.
"It seems with Morro here, our plans are changing," Garmadon informed the group, "We must be more careful now. Our objective is the power core. Harumi, can you still access it?"
"If you get me to it, I should be able to," Harumi gulped, "But we're running out of time. We've already wasted four minutes! We only have…" She looked down at her watch, calculating the train's route based on the available maps of this Ninjago City, "Eight minutes to get the core off this thing before we end up outside the city!"
"Morro will complicate that," Lloyd growled, "We need to distract him somehow!"
"I can do the hacking remotely, but if anything interrupts the signal, we'll have to restart it," Harumi looked down to her watch, "I need to plug into the terminal again to start the sync!"
Garmadon looked back to the divider they'd thrown between them and the power core car, "That will be difficult."
"I'll get Morro's attention and draw him outside the train again," Lloyd told them, "Harumi, start the sync. Zane, once he's there go find Cole and give him those. Garmadon and I will handle Morro," Lloyd looked to all of them. Once they all nodded, Lloyd gulped, drew the two swords he'd taken, and then ran into the power core room.
"Morro!" Lloyd shouted, "Come and get-WOAH!"
Before Lloyd even finished, Morro had leapt into the car and flung a knife at him. Lloyd dodged it and tried to grab the chain, but once the knife was lodged into the wall Morro flicked the chain up to smack him in the face. Lloyd took his two swords and looped them behind the chain, inhaled, then yanked the chain back as he jumped backwards out the broken window he'd gone flying out of before. Morro, in surprise, was yanked along with him. Lloyd slammed hsi feet to the side of the car, feeling them catch and leave him dangling upside down as a result. Morro simply held onto his weapon, the knife still lodged in the inside of the car. Morro tried to blast Lloyd with wind, but Lloyd quickly scrambled up the side of the train by using the boots he wore as footholds.
Once Lloyd made it to the roof, Morro was already moving to blast his way back into the power core room. Lloyd charged up his green power and flung a ball at Morro, clipping his shoulder. Morro let out a little growl and quickly burst his way up onto the roof. He landed again on all fours, the chain connecting his knives flapping in the wind. Lloyd held his swords out, this time confident he could at least stand up for now. Morro brushed a hand through his scarves, then his hair.
"You really think challenging me is a smart idea?" Morro chuckled, "Unlike those other foolish members of the Hand, I was trained personally by the Emperor. If you value your life, you might want to go and beg for mercy."
"And if you value your life," Garmadon climbed up the side of the car to stand beside Lloyd, "You would realize it was foolish to challenge us!"
"I don't have to concern myself with the opinions of weak little rejects!" Morro shot back, "But, if you insist…"
Morro remained crouched low as he raced right for them. He slashed his knives to try to attack them as he got close, leaping up as he did. Garmadon swung his limp right arm to block the knives with the riot shield, while Lloyd in turn caught the other knife on his sword. When Lloyd tried to swing the other sword as Morro, he twisted his body to plant his feet on the shield and leapt off of it, pushing Garmadon down while leaping over Lloyd's head. He hit the ground and rolled, then raised his hand to send a burst of wind at them.
The wind gust hit Lloyd and caused him to fall backwards, but his feet remained planted by the magnets. Morro didn't let him take full advantage of this, though, as he raced forward again to try to stab at Lloyd. While Lloyd deflected one entirely, he only managed to make the other slice his cheek. Almost instantly, he felt his cheek going numb. He shook his head and tried to ignore it, pushing him back up and moving his feet out. Morro snuck up behind him and blasted him in the back with wind again, nearly throwing him forward. Instead, Lloyd stopped himself and readied a ball of energy in his hand. Seeing this made Morro back off, giving Lloyd time to swing around and face him.
By now, Garmadon was moving again. He used the shield arm to stabilize himself as he ran forward swinging a kick to hit Morro's arm. Morro was sent skidding backwards as he barely managed to guard from it. Lloyd and Garmadon nodded to one another, then both rushed Morro. Lloyd made it first and slid forward on one foot to force Morro to leap into the air. Garmadon came in at that moment, turning his dagger around to the hilt and thrusting it up to strike Morro's chest. As Morro was sent backwards, Lloyd focused himself and spun into Spinjitzu, racing forward to where Morro would land. He sucked Morro into the tornado, landing several successful hits on him before the train's momentum threatened to slide him off the roof altogether. He sent Morro flying off the train before he landed and reaffixed his boots to the roof.
"Guys!" Harumi's voice sounded out as she, too, crawled onto the roof. She turned her watch to show Lloyd a progress bar on the top part of it. It looked like they needed to buy three minutes for the program to fully upload.
"Get ready," Garmadon informed them, "If he interrupts us, we'll only have one more chance to remove the core again."
"Then let's make sure we buy that time," Harumi inhaled sharply, "Here he comes!"
Garmadon, Lloyd and Harumi were spread out over the roof of the power core car. Morro soared overhead and landed across from where Harumi stood. Seeing a new opponent, he blasted off with wind to soar right towards her, slashing with his blades. Harumi formed a Rhotatae disc and fired it off at him, making Morro dodge to the side and slash from her left. She swung her body back and raised her knee, catching his elbow and knocking him back. Lloyd rushed forward, slashing his blades at Morro. The assassin dodged his body from each slice, then turned to deliver one of his own. Once he did, however, Harumi fired a disc at his unprotected back. This managed to strike his upper back and break apart, causing him to growl in pain as he felt the blow. He turned his attention to Harumi before leaping up into the air to avoid Lloyd's counterattack. As Lloyd stumbled forward, Morro landed back down on the roof to strike.
A dagger struck the roof beside Morro, allowing Garmadon to teleport to the spot and swing at Morro with the shield. As expected, Morro leapt up to try to use it as a platform. When he tried, however, Lloyd swung his blades at Morro. Morro was sent rolling back, overwhelmed as he rolled back onto the roof. He growled as he sat up, ready to make another lunge at them.
The sound of a gun firing off caused Morro's eyes to widen and for him drop down. A crossbow bolt and a laser went flying. Cole was sitting down on the roof, his numb leg affixed in a sit-up pose to the roof while he twisted his core to fire with the Nindroid rifle Zane had taken. Zane was standing upright, reloading his crossbow to fire again. Morro tried to roll out of the way as Cole fired again, but now Garmadon was there to meet him. He swung his knives to knock back from Garmadon and then did a backflip over Lloyd. When he landed, he gathered wind in his hand and swung them out in an arc, sending a cone of wind that blew them all backwards.
"You all think you're winning against me, don't you?!" Morro shouted at them, his smile broken a bit, "I can see it in your eyes! You're all thinking you've finally got me on the run, don't you?! Maybe you should remember that the wind is my element! I control the wind, just like with this weapon, I'll control your breath!"
Morro reached his hands into the air, concentrating. Cole tried to take another shot at him, but found the rifle was out of ammo. He tossed the useless thing aside and tried to stand up using his mace again. Garmadon slowly began to back away as Morro began to rotate air in massive cones around each arm, both moving in opposite directions. He focused his mind, then he brought his arms together.
When the two of the wind funnels met, they began to cause the entire air around them to churn. Suddenly, Lloyd felt wind rapidly rushing up from behind his body. Morro was sucking in wind into the two funnels. Lloyd tried to fire off a shot of green power at him, but it hopelessly was sucked up and compressed into the point. Harumi didn't even dare use her Rhotatae. The force of the wind being sucked straight towards Morro began to drag the group forward, save for Cole who was too far back. Lloyd forced his foot up and took a step back, then hunkered down against the roof. Harumi did the same, looking up at Morro in confusion.
Once Morro had fully compressed the air around him, he let out a shout and leapt up into the air. Suddenly, all the air that had been compressed in those two streams was released. The air shot out like whips, slamming into all of them on the roof and rocking the entire train. As Lloyd clung down to the roof with all he had, he heard a whistling noise. Morro was coming down right at him from the air, using the massive burst of air to keep Lloyd down. Lloyd tried to move, but it was too late. While he managed to shimmy to the side, Morro's knife came down and sliced his back. He grunted in pain while Morro went for another strike. Zane raised his crossbow and managed to make a shot, amongst the wind, to force Morro back before he could do more damage.
After almost fifteen seconds, the wind stopped. Lloyd, however, wasn't able to get up. The muscles in his back, the ones that he would need to remain upright, were completely numb. Morro landed on one foot and laughed, grinning to himself as he spun around to let the chain around him dance in the wind of the train.
"Like I said, I don't need to use my ability to make you suffocate," Morro smirked, "I only need to use it to make those very special muscles you use to move around! Now Cole can't stand up, Garmadon's arm is as limp as his team, and I think you'll find it's pretty hard to dodge a blade when you can't even get up!"
"Lloyd!" Harumi shouted dramatically. She rushed over to him, getting down on her knees like she was checking him. In reality, she tilted her watch so Lloyd could see they had only about a minute left before they could extract the core. She tilted it so both Zane and Garmadon could also see what she was doing.
"I think it's pretty clear now that you can't beat me," Morro grinned, "And once we make it to the barrier of this city, you won't be able to go on! All I need to do is stall you until we get there, and then just pick you up off the ground when you get fried like bugs!"
"He wasn't like this the first time…" Lloyd groaned out.
"That's because he wasn't serious last time," Garmadon informed him, "This is Morro showing us his full strength. We would be wise to make sure we don't test him further."
"Now then, because I'm obligated to ask, if any of you want to bow down and offer me your heads, I'm sure the Emperor might be able to make some sort of pardon for you," Morro held out his knife at them, "Unfortunately, I'm not able to offer that to you, Garmadon. I'll make sure to tell your brother that you went down honorably."
Lloyd twisted his body until he could see Garmadon's face. Hearing the mention of his brother was enough to make his eyes narrow. He looked down to Lloyd, a fierce gaze in it. He was ready to end this after Morro toying with them again.
"Call the Shadow," Harumi whispered, "I might have an idea."
Garmadon looked at Harumi in confusion, but he didn't object to her. Slowly, he reached his left arm under the shield to heft it up at Morro, while discreetly hitting a button on his wrist. The action would summon Sun in the Shadow. Garmadon looked at Morro with an unwavering gaze, not giving away what he'd done. Morro looked at Garmadon expectantly.
Morro reached up and began to undo the scarf around his neck. Lloyd recalled their function from their last fight, and sure enough Morro flung the scarf forward and wrapped it around Garmadon's shield, causing the scarf to tighten up like it was made of metal. He yanked it forward, ripping the shield from his arm. Morro flung it off the side of the train, letting it go flapping and flying away into the city. The five of them were treated to see what would happen if Morro flung them off.
"Time is ticking!" Morro shouted at them, "Right now, you don't have that long before this train reaches that barrier! I think you should think real hard whether or not you want to go out one way, or the other!"
"What is your plan?" Garmadon hissed.
"This," Harumi slowly stood up, then put her arms up in the air, "Fine! I'll accept the Emperor's pardon! I'll join you!"
Lloyd looked up in Harumi in pure confusion. It must have been somewhat convincing, since Morro let Harumi walk all the way up to him. Almost instantly, Lloyd started to understand what she was doing. It was a simple gambit, but one he didn't know how she would pull off. This was her stalling.
"Well then, it's so nice for the pretty lady to be the one to change sides," Morro smirked, "I do hope that you won't mind me taking some precautions here."
Morro unwrapped both of his scarves, sending them flying out at Harumi. They both wrapped around her body like snakes, binding her arms to her sids and her legs together. Morro then yanked her forward, wrapping an arm around her and grinning as he held her up against his front.
"I've seen those little discs you throw, I'm sure you can understand," Morro looked over to the others, "I didn't mention that the offer was only good for one of you! It looks like she's the only one that actually understands what the Emperor is capable of. Now then, why don't we go ahead and make sure your free ride ends now?"
Morro wrapped his arms around Harumi, then began to make the same compression of air again. Harumi was able to see how he was doing it. The two opposite funnels were actually moving around a fixed point, and it was at that point all the wind he was gathering was being pulled into that point. The two funnels he made was keeping it from escaping, but also condensing it. When he released it, the spinning motion created the 'whips' of wind that was being sent out at them. Morro also was doing it so the wind didn't have any impact on him, and even Harumi barely felt a breeze being less than a foot away from it.
"Try to dodge this, and I'll throw her off the train, just like this!" Morro demanded, "Any final words?"
Harumi looked up as subbutly as she could. Just off in the distance, she could see something flying towards them. The train was nearing the edge of the city, and only the blown out parts of track were keeping it from going straight. They would be forced to turn three more times before they were at the barrier and had to get off.
"I have some," Harumi spoke up.
"Oh, really now?" Morro asked, turning her head to face him, "Why not say them to me?"
Harumi opened her mouth. Instantly, Morro recoiled. In the curve of her jaw, Harumi had formed a Rhotatae disc. She used her tongue to angle it up, then 'fired' it. The disc didn't have much power, but it went almost point blank into Morro's face. The action caused Morro to shout and clutch his head, causing his control over both the wind and Harumi to falter. The wind burst apart in all directions, violently sending all of them skidding around over the roof. The force wasn't enough to tear them up, but enough to make them skid with their attached feet. Harumi, however, wasn't done yet.
Just as Morro began to recover, she felt the scarves loosening. Mimicking what he did, she shot the scarves out and wrapped them around Morro. Morro looked down to find himself ensnared in his own attack. Harumi yanked him forward, then saw the Shadow. Just as the ship was about to fly by, Harumi yanked Morro to the edge of the train. Sun, in the cockpit of the Shadow, immediately saw what she wanted and angled it down. Holding onto the Shadow was Monty, several of the ninja, and Mage. Harumi looked Morro in the eye, then threw him off the train.
Morro had only a moment to shout before he hit the deck of the Shadow. Sun twisted the control to send them flying away rapidly from the train. Quickly, the others went to subdue Morro. Morro shouted in rage, struggling against them as Sun was sent flying away as fast as he could.
"That was your plan?" Cole shouted from his spot far in the back, "What was that?!"
"I've used that one before," Harumi turned around, "It's pretty effective to throw someone off a building to break their focus. Of course, we normally capture them, but I don't know how long Sun can keep him occupied."
"Then we must hurry with our objective as soon as possible," Garmadon informed them, "Harumi, are you ready?"
Harumi looked down at her watch, then nodded her head. Quickly, the group began to rush their way down to the interior of the middle car. Soon, all of them, including a wobbling Cole, were there. Lloyd had to be helped down by Garmadon. Once they were inside, however, Lloyd noticed Garmadon's arm was moving again.
"It seems Morro's ability has fallen out of range," Zane responds, seeing Cole shaking his previously numbed leg, "You should feel your back returning to you in a moment, Lloyd."
Lloyd focused, trying to feel it. When he forced himself to stand upright, he found that, indeed, his back was back. His cheek, too, was feeling far more lively than before. Harumi nodded, then made her way over to the terminal. When she started to type into it, her eyes widened.
"No!" Harumi hit the screen, "Morro did something to this! I've gotten in, but he's at the core to detonate upon removing it!"
"What?" Zane began to type on the screen, then narrowed his eyes, "The system safety locks have been designated. This core is in critical condition. Once we remove it, it will not be long before the entire train goes up."
"We need to get rid of the weapons on this thing too, right?" Lloyd looked to Garmadon, "Wouldn't an explosion also set off those missiles in the cars behind us?"
"It would," Garmadon shook his head, "But the damage could damage the city! We can't remove it while inside the barrier!"
"Then we'll just have to extract it the second before this train leaves the station," Cole declared, "Someone call the Bounty!"
"Already on it," Lloyd hit his earpiece, "Lulloyd! It's Team A! We're going to need an extraction, and we're cutting it close! I got an idea!"
The train continued to wind through the city, undaunted in its task. There were no drivers, and it seemed there were no others onboard. The five of them crouched down in the whistling core car, looking around to see if something was happening.
"I-I don't know about this," Lulloyd stated nervously, "I-I mean I can do the first thing but, my dad never taught me how to catch… well, I mean he did a little bit…"
"Everyone is delaying Morro in the Shadow," Lloyd informed him, "We can't do this any other way! You're the only one fast enough to catch it!"
"I… okay," Lulloyd affirmed, "Just, for the record I don't like this!"
The five of them were able to see the end of the tracks. The barrier had a small opening that it allowed the train through, one that looked like a gate that could open and close. As the train approached, the gate opened up. It was perfectly sized to let the train through, nothing more and nothing less. The barrier was a crackling translucent purple, and just looking at it made it clear it wasn't going to be pleasant to touch it.
"There!" Harumi pointed. Destiny's Bounty came flying in, piloted by Nya. Standing at the front of the Bounty was none other than Lulloyd, holding what looked like a massive brick-built pool stick. He leaned forward, using the horns of the dragon emblem on the front to line it up. The Bounty was flying right up along the outside of the barrier, and dipping right at the level of the train. He looked down straight to the train, then shot his head back to Nya.
"Lower the anchor!" Lulloyd shouted. Instantly, Nya dropped the anchor.
Just as the Bounty became level with where the train was heading, Nya hit the thrusters. The Bounty placed the barrier to its port, then tipped to starboard. Harumi looked down at the terminal, then she hit a button to cause the core to shut down. The train's front car went through the gate, exiting the barrier in full. Just as the Bounty was about to collide with the fraint, Lulloyd thrust the stick forward. Like hitting the opening shot to a game, Lulloyd's stick perfectly struck the core and sent it flying out of the train. As the Bounty soared up over the train, the lowered anchor gave a chain for the five to grab onto. Time slowed down for Harumi as she and Lloyd leapt out to grab hold of the anchor, just as it was about to scrape the top of the train. Garmadon, Zane and Cole leapt out and grabbed hold of their legs, allowing them to chain up into the sky. The bottom of Garmadon's feet just barely scraped the train's roof as the Bounty soared up into the sky as its hull skimmed the barrier.
As the core went flying out into the sky, Lulloyd focused. The Bounty righted itself, giving Lulloyd time to rapidly build up fishing nets from around the Bounty to his pool stick to create a massively oversized net. Harumi watched the core they were after go soaring through the sky, ready to strike the ground somewhere and render all their efforts useless. Lulloyd lowered his net and swung, attempting to catch the core just as it was out of reach. With a single bounce alongside the lip, the core fell right into the middle of the net, allowing Lulloyd to scoop it up in a moment of victory.
Just as the last of the train exited the barrier, the core care began to spark violently as its safety features failed ot stop the acceleration of critical a small controlled burst, the middle car of the train eburst out into flames. Said flames leaked back into the cars behind it, more importantly to the missiles in the weapon cars. It only took a few seconds of that before the entire train was sent violently into the air by the explosion of all four of its back cars. The force ripped the remaining cars well off the tracks, causing the entire train and parts of the track to go flying in the air. Several of them struck the barrier, and instantly began to char and burst apart. The Bounty went soaring away as the train filled with weapons to combat their allies was completely sent into flames.
"Lulloyd!" Harumi raced over to him and hugged him tightly, "That was a great catch!"
"Really?" Lulloyd blushed, "I-I uhm, I mean, thanks!"
"Indeed," Garmadon hefted himself up, "We have obtained our objectives for the day. We did not manage to recover those weapons, but they will not fall into the Emperor's forces' hands. Sun!" Garmadon pressed onto his comm, "What is the status of Morro?"
"He has escaped from our confinement," Sun declared, "He saw the train's demise and fled back to the palace upon seeing it!"
"Such is the way of an assassin," Garmdon frowned, "That is of no concern to us. Return immediately! We have obtained what we came here for!"
"Two victories down," Lloyd declared as Lulloyd rolled the core out of his net, "Just one more to go."
"B-Blasted thing!" Borg shouted, trying to sit up. By now, the explosions had long since stopped, and it had been seemingly hours since Sun had humiliated him, "G-Get up! Respond to me, you stupid useless body!"
There was nobody around. The fools must have knocked out the central network the Nindroids used to communicate, meaning that right now the robots were without guidance. Borg had designed them in a network, and normally there were terminals all over the city to kick in when one went down. With that security tower that Sun had recently destroyed gone, however, the signal to activate the next tower wouldn't be sent. Right now, Borg was left with a splintered army of tin cans!
"H-Help!" Borg shouted, shutting his eyes trying to sit up, "I cannot move my body! This building wasn't built to withstand that sort of beating! Someone, help me up, please!"
Something touched Borg's forehead. Suddenly, a cold feeling shot through him, causing his limbs to work again. Quickly, he tapped some emergency buttons, making the Cryptor armor fall away. Borg sat up quickly, gasping as he used his desk for support.
"M-My stars, thank you! Thank you! I-I will be sure to offer you-" Borg looked up, then his eyes widened as his body prostrated instantly, "O-Oh, my, my Emperor! I-I didn't, I didn't see you there!"
The Emperor stood before Borg in all of his glory. His body was once more a solid mass, styled to be wearing clear battle armor with purple and black as the only colors present. His face was somewhat obscured by shadow, letting out only his purple pupiless eyes out to the cowering man below him.
"Rise," The Emperor stated calmly, "I have heard of your troubles. It seems that there are forces at work here that we have not accounted for."
"Y-Yes, yes my Emperor! There was a boy here today, oh such a nasty child, he looked like something out of a children's show!" Borg declared nervously, standing up and dusting himself off, "He was able to use more powers than I'd ever seen! Why, he even said he used mind to make my body unable to work anymore!"
"I see," The Emperor turned to look out the broken glass of Borg's office, "Ever since that mechanical beast fell, forces are at play beyond what we had envisioned. We will need to move carefully from now on."
"Y-Yes, of course, my Emperor," Borg nodded obediently, "I will have this facility back online as soon as I can get it! Until then… oh, what do you plan to do?"
"I have sent the boy out to study them," The Emperor stated calmly, "Whether he succeeds or he fails, we will have learned what is going on. I have planned for this, and soon I will have all of them right where I want them…"
The Emperor took another step forward the opened window, "Whoever they are, whatever they want, it is not their place. They have entered my world. They will soon know of what that means for them."