"We need to jump."
"No! There's still time...we...we can figure something out."
"Misako, it's not worth it. We need to go before we're poisoned."
"Maya, listen to me,"
"No. You listen to me. Lloyd would have wanted us to save ourselves. Why should three people have to-"
"Don't you finish that sentence. He's alive. I know it. We just need to find him. Lloyd's smart. He must've hid underground where the snakes hide. That is unless the gas reached him."
"The walls and windows aren't enough. Look, it's saying the protective layer is at 5%. I know you want to save Lloyd. I know. But we can't save him when we're dead. Put your mask on. I'm leaving now. With or without you."
An hour earlier...
"The gas is settled. I think we're okay to leave. But just incase keep your hoods on. We don't want to breathe in anymore of this toxic gas." Lloyd said as he looked out a window in the front room.
"You know I'm still curious how Borg turned mercury into a gas. It's normally a liquid." Cole shook his head.
Lloyd stared at him in shock.
"What?" Cole shrugged.
"Nothing! I just didn't think you were interested in chemistry..." Lloyd said.
"My mom loved it. She was the brains in the family. My dad was a performer so he didn't have much time for science. My mom was the one who got me interested at such a young age. We did stuff like that all the time before...before she passed." Cole faced away from the both of us. His tone turned sad. I had no idea his mom died. And it sounded like he was so young, too.
I walked up to Cole and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, I had no idea." I whispered.
Cole grabbed my hands. "It's alright. Really." He still sounded so sad. His voice cracked like he was about to start crying.
"Hey," I moved myself from hugging his back to hugging him from the front. "I've realized that's it's okay to...not be okay about some things."
"Maya, it was a long time ago. I'm okay." Cole smiled but I could tell it was fake.
"Alright, tough guy. But I'm watching you." I tapped his nose with the tip of my finger. Cole raised his hands up in the air indicating he had nothing to hide, but I know he did.
"G-guys?" Lloyd said staring out the window again. "Look." He pointed to the sky.
"What is it?" Cole asked as we both walked over towards the window.
"Am I seeing things or is that-" I started.
"It's Jay and Kai!" Cole yelled.
"They're flying their dragons. They're probably looking for us. Come on! We need to let them know we're okay." Lloyd said running towards the exit.
Cole and I followed after him, throwing on our hoods. I was limping pretty badly. Cole stopped once he realized I was far behind him. "Come on, I gotcha." Cole threw my arm over his shoulder and helped me jog to keep up with Lloyd. Once we were outside, Lloyd brought out Bean again and Cole brought out his dragon. "You come with me this time." He said sternly. Lloyd was already in the air chasing after the boys before I could hop on Cole's dragon. I managed to scoot my way up behind Cole's saddle. Cole hopped on after I was secure. "Here wrap your arms around my waist," Cole gently grabbed my hands and wrapped them around his waist. I smirked at him. "What's that look for?"
"You just can't keep your hands off of me can you?" I smiled at him.
"M-me!? You're the one hugging me right now." Cole scoffed.
"Only because you moved my arms for me."
"Touche. Touche..."
"What's his name?" I asked.
"Rocky. It's after one of the first dragons I had ever had." Cole smiled and patted Rocky's neck.
"That's sweet." I pet the side of Rocky.
"Up, Rocky. We need to catch up to Lloyd." Cole gave Rocky a slight kick and gently the dragon lifted his beautiful wings. Tinted golden brown, Rocky's wings captured the rays of sunlight like a dream catcher. The light that shown through touched my gloved hands. I embraced the warmth through the glove. I didn't want to expose myself anymore than I had to the gas. I clenched my fingers into fists and my hands started to shake. I felt useless. My powers felt so weakened since my entire body was covered but my eyes. I started thinking about my fighting gi. The more light I absorb throughout my body the more secure and controlled I feel. I wanted no sleeves like Cole's (except right now he was wearing a jacket because he also didn't want over exposure) and less of a hood. Maybe just a scarf like Nya has. And I don't want gloves either. I'll wear wraps incase I get in a fight, but I refuse to wear these bulky gloves.
"Maya. you're tensing up. Relax a bit. Just don't look down, you'll be fine." Cole was oblivious. He should know by now I'm not afraid of heights.
"Yeah, sure." I didn't want to tell him my powers were bothering me. He was my coach after all- the only thing he would do was fuss over me. I released the tension in my hands but continued squeezing my arms around Cole.
"Cole! Lloyd!" Jay screeched from his dragon.
"Jay! You're alive!" Cole yelled and laughed at the same time.
"Um i'm still alive?" Kai raised his arms as he flew his dragon in front of Jay.
Both Lloyd and Cole led their dragons to fly on the side of Kai and Jay's dragons. "Lets land on that building. I think it's safe. The Bounty should be nearby, too." Cole said.
All four dragons slowly lowered to the ground. Lloyd, Jay, and Kai's dragon disappeared before they touched the ground, making them jump. Cole didn't want me to jump, assuming it was because of my leg, so he let Rocky touch the ground. Cole jumped off the side first and held out his hand for me. I grabbed his forearm and braced my one good leg for impact. The jolt of me barely hitting the ground radiated in my other leg. I winced when I landed but shook out of it almost immediately. Cole never even noticed.
"Did you hear from Nya?" Jay tugged Lloyd's shoulder.
"Yes," Cole started. "Her and Master Wu are okay. They could only get in contact with us. The bombing must have caused some destruction by the radio towers."
"That's what we were thinking. We were able to talk to Zane and Misako but it was for a very short period of time." Kai said.
"Are they alright?" Lloyd looked longingly at Kai.
"They're okay. Nothing hit them. My guess it was because they were in the air. The last thing I heard was that they were both trying to get the Bounty's system back online. That's why they landed on the North end of the city." said Kai.
"Thank god," Lloyd said and sighed.
"Im glad everyones alright, but what's our next move? The streets are full of snakes that have just been screaming for twenty minutes." I huffed.
"I think we should try to find Nya and Wu then meet back at the Bounty. We have no chance now at leading these snakes back to their underground temples. They're too sprawled out." Lloyd looked over the ledge eyeing the hundreds of snakes on the street below.
"Good idea, I need to know that Nya's still safe. A-and Master Wu of course." Jay stammered.
"Then it's settled. We'll go to the last location where Nya was on my gps, then go from there." Cole said turning on his watch.
"What if she's not there? What if they ended up trying to find us instead?" Kai added.
"We'll know when we get there. Let's just go with Cole's plan and head from there. Nya's smart. She knows we're looking for her, she would leave tracks knowing that." Lloyd said.
"I got it pulled up." Cole said looking down at his watch that was currently in GPS mode.
"Lead the way, buddy." Jay said.
One by one, everyone formed their dragons in mid air. Cole took his time with me *blush* to make sure I was settled before he took off. Once I was all set, he led the way. We came across an old hospital building that Ninjago was actually going to tear down soon. Our faces grew with worry since it looked like the building took a couple big hits from the bombs.
"It says she was on the north corner, I think 12th floor. But again i'm not sure exactly." Cole yelled.
"Why were they even here? The building is abandoned." Kai asked.
"It makes it the perfect candidate for a hiding place from the snakes. It's smart, actually." Lloyd said.
"I just hope she's still okay." Jay sighed.
There was a busted in wall on the back side of the building Cole spotted. It was big enough to land one dragon at a time. Cole and I went first, then as soon as Rocky disappeared, the others took turns landing as well.
The walls surrounding us were dark and dry. It was like what you would see in a horror movie. They had moved all the furniture out. Nothing was left but empty rooms that were now filled with rubble.
"Nya! Master Wu!?" Jay yelled.
"Shhh! We don't know what we're getting into. I bet even a scream could make something collapse in here." Cole covered Jay's mouth with his hand.
"Cole, are you getting anything on your GPS?" Lloyd asked.
"We're a bit east of her last location. We need to head west down this hallway. They might have gone to another floor but we will start here." Cole said.
"Alright everyone, fan out. Make a grid. We need to find them before anything else happens here." Lloyd said pointing his finger at the ceiling that looked like it could have collapsed any minute.
We had only been searching for what seemed like minutes before we heard something. A voice, but we couldn't make out what they were saying. Slowly, it became more clear. Cole and I looked at each other then the others. It was Nya.
"Get down! Get away from the windows! More is coming! Run!" Nya found her way up the stairs staring all of us in the face with panic filled in her eyes.
"Nya!" Jay ran over to Nya and embraced her with a hug.
"Jay, I love you but we need to move." Nya kissed Jay on the forehead.
"What do you mean 'more is coming'?" Lloyd raised his eyebrows.
"Master Wu and I were able to reach Misako and Zane. They said more bomb jets like the last are on their way. We need to get to the basement. Now. All of us. Master Wu is already there waiting for us." Nya waved her arm in a panic motion.
"Wait but what about Zane and my mom? Are they okay?" Lloyd asked.
"They should be okay. They're landed on a building but it's pretty far away. They should be alright even if gas hits them." Nya said.
"But they're so exposed to a bomb! We can't just leave them-"
"Lloyd, look, I understand. If you know me, I do, but we need to leave or your mom won't have a son to come back to." Nya put her hands on Lloyd's shoulders.
"Come on, we need to go." Kai said.
Everyone ran and followed Nya. Cole had an adrenaline rush and ran at the front with the rest of the gang forgetting about me. Lloyd stayed behind and helped me hobble as fast as I could.
"We're at ground level, you go on without me. I'll be right behind you. I just need to see if I can still see the Bounty." Lloyd said letting go of me.
All I did was nod. I didn't really think about what he was saying. It didn't hit me until I ran about half way down the basement stairs. I knew what he was doing. He wasn't going to hide with us, he was going after Misako and Zane. "Shit." I said to myself. I looked down the stairs at the others. Then I looked back up. "What are you doing, Maya?" I ran back upstairs. I needed to get to Lloyd before he left. I made it back to ground level and looked outside. There he was already on Bean. "Lloyd! Stop!" I said trying my best to run towards him.
"Maya go back inside! It's not safe!" Lloyd yelled.
"I don't care! You can't go. It's too dangerous." I grabbed his saddle.
"If you know what's best for you, you'll go inside." Lloyd said sternly.
"You don't get to tell me what to do." I hissed.
"This time, I do. My mother's life is on the line and I am going to save her. Goodbye, Maya."
"No no no- wait! Lloyd!" Bean raised himself on the ground causing myself to lose the grip of the saddle and fall flat on my leg. I screamed. I looked at the bandage and it began to turn blood red. I had to have spit my wound further down. Lloyd didn't notice that I fell on my leg, he was already in the sky. I took a second to breathe and then I remembered what Cole said: "To form your dragon, you don't have to face your fear. You need to understand your fear and be able to control it."
"Control your fear, Maya." I took a deep breath and remembered what I feared most: the unknown. The unknown of my future, my powers, myself. I don't know if I will be evil like my father was. I don't know if my powers will turn me over to the dark side. I don't know...who I am going to become. And you know what, I will take it one day at a time. And that is okay. Today's nightmare is tomorrow's history.
I felt my powers begin to surge inside of me. Not like it has before, but it felt like a cool summer breeze blowing against my hot angry skin. I closed my eyes to connect more deeply with this feeling. It felt as if something was being pulled out of my body. It wasn't painful, but it wasn't comfortable ether. My hands were shaking. I needed to blast some of my power or else I felt like I could explode. I took my hands and formed a light sphere around myself.
The pressure was released. I opened my eyes to find myself sitting on a saddle of a dragon. Not just any dragon; my dragon. It was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen in my life. Its radiance gave me chills. The crown of its head was gold with a stripe of purple going down its nose. The body of the beast shown with bright colors of gold, orange and purple. The wing's were the most magnificent of all; everything that I felt inside me shown through its wings. Brilliant golden and purple shades of all kinds surged through both the dragon and I. I felt a sense of excitement and fear at the same time. "Control your fear, control your dragon." I repeated to myself. I took the reins made of umber colored wood, that had the sign for light engraved in them, and gently squeezed my legs together. My dragon began to go upwards. I started laughing. How thrilling this feeling was!
Once I got my sense of direction, I followed Lloyd. At what seemed the speed of light, my dragon managed to catch up to Bean. Lloyd realized what I had done and immediately stopped in his tracks. "M-Maya...how did you-"
"She's my mother too." I yelled at Lloyd as we both seemed to have paused our dragons in mid air. Before Lloyd could say anything else, I reached the rooftop of the building the Bounty had landed on. My dragon disappeared as soon as I knew it needed to. Lloyd landed after me and ran towards me.
"Maya! How did you unlock your dragon? You don't even know Spinjitzu yet." Lloyd stopped me from walking when he jolted my shoulder back to face him.
"I don't need Spinjitzu to form a dragon. You of all people should know that."
"You controlled your fear, didn't you?" Lloyd said disregarding what I had said.
"If I hadn't, would my dragon have formed?" I snapped.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know you cared for my mom-our mom like that."
"I guess you don't know everything about me after all." I turned back around and continued my jog-hop towards the Bounty.
"What's that supposed to mean? Maya!" Lloyd yelled.
"I means you don't know what it's like to live your entire life alone!" I gasped as I stared at Lloyd's startled face. My chest began to pound. Tears filled my eyes and my heart started to break all over again. "You don't know what it's like to not know if you're going to end up evil like your father was because your power is destructive. People say I won't be evil because I have the element of light flowing through me. What they don't understand is that light doesn't mean good or evil. It means being able to see or not. It's a poison, really. But Lloyd, I am so, so blind. I cannot see. I am so blind to what my future holds for me. That is my fear. I've finally come to terms with it. If I become evil, so be it. Your destiny is different than mine, and that's okay. You're so good, Lloyd. You know who you are. I don't know what I am. Who I am. If this power decides that, then I am okay with it. I am okay...with not...knowing."
Lloyd took a couple steps backwards before he could even let out a stutter. "M-Maya...I..."
"Just don't. I want to find Misako and Zane and just get the fuck out of here." I wiped my tears aggressively. I was just about to climb up the Bounty's rope ladder before I heard the squeal of jets flying by.
"We need to get inside. Now!" Lloyd picked me up and practically threw me onto the ladder. I wasn't expecting it, so I almost slipped but my foot caught one of the steps.
We both scrambled up the ladder, falling over as we reached the top deck. Lloyd and I both looked up. A jet flew right over us, dropping a bomb. I was frozen. I couldn't move. Was this it? Was this the end? Suddenly, I felt something hit my stomach, knocking me halfway across the Bounty. My head smacked against the post that held up the sails. I realized that Lloyd had knocked me out of the way with his power. But he didn't get out of the way. He looked at me with sorrow in his eyes. Then it hit. The bomb took off half the ship, the front side which Lloyd was on. Gas and debris clouded the area. I was dumbfounded. I started running into the gas to try to find him, but I felt something pull me away and into a sealed off room in the back of the ship. It was Zane.