OK, this is great! We are getting closer and closer to the grand finale! Please follow/comment/leave a review!
This is a shorter chapter, but it's just as juicy.
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Chapter 22: Time's Up
Over four years had passed since the Overlord's return to power. In that time, much has changed in Ninjago. Through the orders of their new Emperor, the Supreme Councilmembers spread their forces throughout the realm:
The Skulkin and Ghost forces remained as the permanent crewmembers of the Garmatron II, which flew as the Overlord's personal command ship, flying over the skies of Ninjago as a constant reminder of the Dark Army's power. At the request of Chen, the ship's first target after they overthrew Ninjago City was the comlete decimation of the Island where the crime boss and his cultists had spent decades in exile.
With the full might of all serpentine factions, Aspheera and Pythor reclaimed the Viper Pyramid and the Lost City of Ouroboros. With Aspheera's magic, the desert lands that surrounded the two Serpentine Capitals turned into lush green fields, accessible only to Serpentine and the Overlord himself. The Viper Pyramid became Aspheera and Pythor's seat of power, and the City was home to all Serpentine, including Chen's faction and the Vermillion.
The Stone Army, Nindroids, and Sons of Garmadon became the bulk of Ninjago's land forces, with the Nindroid gunships as the land's personal armada. Shortly after complete domination was achieved, the Sons of Garmadon ransacked Kryptarium Prison. They killed the Warden and the Guards, freed all of the prisoners and put the Commissioner's forces behind bars, and handed Captain Soto and his crew over to Nadakhan.
Nadakhan's Sky Pirate Fleet conquered the seas and the skies above them, policing any and all who traveled through their space, taking over surrounding land masses in the realm such as Metalonia. After spending about a year torturing the Captain who put him in the Teapot of Tyrahn, the Djinn personally executed him and his crew.
Sensei Yang and his own small faction of Ghost students destroyed the Temple of Airjitzu, and with the help of slaves they captured through conquest, they rebuilt the structure into an established complex: The Dark Army Academy. There, Yang and his students inducted orphans and small children into their order, under the model of Gene.
Krux and Acronix, with their wisdom in combat and power to manipulate time of a single person as a means of torture, served as the personal advisors and torture masters within the Overlord's Palace.
General Vex had been given the entire region of Ninjago's Ice Tundra and the Frozen Wasteland as his own domain. With command of his Dragon Boreal, and the thousands of Blizzard Samurai at his disposal, he had claimed the Ice Temple where the Golden Shuriken's of Ice were once hidden as his own fortress.
Under the guidance of the Overlord, Omega had his army of Oni spread across Ninjago, spreading fear and chaos wherever hope and talks of revolution sprung up. With his dark magic, Omega had helped aid the Overlord and the Time Twins in rebuilding the Palace, turning it into a dark towering structure in the center of the City. This directly opposed the humble nature of the Palace when the Royal Family had lived in its walls.
With the combined might of every faction, people were captured and enslaved throughout Ninjago and put into camps. There, the Dark Army had their prisoners mine deep into the land for Dark Matter pockets, as well as become experiment's for the Overlord's sick pleasure.
Within the span of 3 weeks, The Dark Army had conquered the entirety of Ninjago's realm. Since then, Ninjago's innocent have known nothing but oppression and injustice.
And that was over four years ago.
In Safehouse Zero, the Resistance had been training. Sensei Lloyd had made good on his promise; after the 13 of them were back at full strength, they began running guerilla tactics against Dark Army forces. What started out as simple acts of vandalism quickly grew to minor attacks against traveling task forces. They've never been seen or captured in the act. However, they failed every attempt to free any imprisoned slaves captured.
The hollowed out cave became the familiar home to them. Once they established themselves as the Resistance, they created a new symbol: A caricature representing Wu's face (WU CREW SYMBOL) surrounded By a circle of Lightning for Jay, Water for Maya, Fire for Ray, and a black line in honor of Mystake's Oni side. The very symbol was painted on the large wall on top of the cave's elevator entrance.
"C'mon, Brad! You can do it!" Dareth was pushing the young man past his limit as he attempted a spinjitzu-airjitzu combo attack.
"Alright everyone, cover your ears!" To the far side, the Mechanic and Clutch were practicing their aim with flying drones. Clutch hadn't lost his touch.
"That's it, Zane! Push harder, their flamethrowers sure will!" Kai and Zane were pushing beams of their respective elements at each other.
"Well done, you two. Your strength has not lost itself to your boasting." Pixal kept adding weights to the bars that Cole and Karlof were currently bench pressing.
At the seat in front of the computer screen, Lloyd watched his friends in their strides, smiling. Although there was very little to be happy about, the past four years have taught him to enjoy the little things. He looked behind him to see two figures quickly approaching him. Ronin, and Nya, the latter of which was wearing her upgraded her new Samurai X armor she was testing. "Hey, are you two going to train?"
"I just did, Lloyd. Ronin says he has picked up a transmission from Safehouse One!" Their haste alerted Lloyd to the screen, where he indeed noticed a blinking red button. "Dammit!" Quickly pressing it, he and the other two looked up to see the staticky image of Cyrus in his secret lab. "Cyrus, what's the word?"
"Lloyd, you need to get the R.E.X. over here! I've finally-" The image began to dissipate until they couldn't see or here him. In frustration, Lloyd kept pressing in several command keys before giving up.
"Shit. Ronin, you heard him. You and Nya take the R.E.X. to Hiroshi's Labyrinth. Hurry!" The two nodded, running down the nearby stairs towards the small assortment of vehicles, prepping the red jet before they opened the hatch and turned on their camouflage, flying out towards Cyrus.
The jungle that surrounded Hiroshi's Labyrinth was no stranger to the occasional traveler. But with no clearings wide enough to establish a village and the general distance from any settlements, having more than a small handful of people in the area was considered extremely rare.
So when Ronin and Nya accidently flew directly above a traveling caravan of 20 Nindroids on regional patrol, they panicked. "LOOK OUT!" Ronin quickly defaulted to evasive maneuvers and flew back around and low to the ground to avoid any incoming missiles, hovering roughly a foot above the green. It took them a few seconds to notice the Nindroid patrol wasn't attacking, but rather looking around confused.
"Ohhhh… We are still invisible..." Nya slapped her forehead from her immature reaction, quickly looking to Ronin. "Think they heard us?"
His eyes were incredibly wide, adrenaline still racing. "YES. After those maneuvers, and their heightened robotic sensors, they DEFINITELY heard us." They both turned to see one look in their general direction before pointing at them. "Over there!"
"SHIT!"
"Well," Ronin shrugged before pressing a big red button. "Here goes nuthin'." A small torpedo launched from the invisible craft's lower hold. Once it was out of the hold, it could be plainly seen by the nindroids. But before any of them could run for cover, and 20 were disintegrated.
"Let's hope none of them got word out to their Master."
In the throne room of the Dark Palace, the Time Twins stood at either side of their master, who sat prominently on his throne. Large 100 ft. black pillars held the ceiling up, and 10 torches with purple fire lit up the room. "Krux, where are they?"
The elder time twin quickly put his hand over his earpiece before leaning forward towards his master. "They have just entered the Palace, My Emperor. Do you wish to see them now?"
Clearly annoyed by the query, The Overlord threw up all four arms out of impatience, causing both twins to take a step back. "Yes! Send them in here NOW!"
"As you wish, Master." He signaled at the two Stone Army warriors at the throne room's entrance, who immediately moved to open the large doorway. As the doors were pulled open, the three could clearly see General Kozu and Cryptor walking through, quickly followed by Sensei Yang and a dozen young Ninja in black and purple gi.
The two generals bowed to their creator and moved to either side, making the way for Yang. He bowed fully down onto one knee, staring at the throne. "My Emperor."
"Rise, Yang. These are your first graduates?"
He rose to his feet with a nod, turning to the 12 students behind him. "Yes, My Emperor. These 12 were the eldest of the new regime of Dark learners, 11 of which were bottom feeders in this very city. They are eager to prove themselves to you." The students all bowed to the Overlord in the same fashion as Yang. The Overlord, however, payed little attention as he turned his head back to Yang.
"And the 12th?"
Yang nodded to the one in front, whose black-and-purple gi style was a direct contrast to the others (he had black arms and a black hood, and a purple torso with black stripes.) The single student stood up and took off his hood, revealing none other than Gene.
"Gene here has proven invaluable to our project, becoming a prominent leader to these students. It is my recommendation that he is given leadership over this band of student, if you agree My Emperor." The Overlord stood up from the throne, grabbing his Dark Dragon Blade as he approached Gene. Yang stepped backwards, the other students remained bowing down in their Emperor's presence, and Gene stood perfectly still, showing no emotion.
"I will be the judge of that, Yang." He circled Gene, inspecting the young man as he did. Coming back to face him, the Overlord swiftly raised his Dark Dragon Blade to Gene's neck. The student didn't even bat an eye.
"Impressive. I have been keeping a tab on you, Gene." The ginger finally turned his head to look the Overlord in the eyes. "I am honored, My Emperor."
"Yes, ever since you helped the Red Ninja kill Skylor." Gene's stomach immediately dropped, worrying for his own safety now. "Um... M-my-"
One of the Overlord's black hands was held up to shush him. "You certainly proved your metal that day. First, killing the other students and Elemental Masters on their ship, then killing the other spy. You don't suffer rivals, Gene. That is why I am granting you leadership over the new regime of students. Your own taskforce of Ninja." He rose his blade once more, this time placing it on his right and left shoulder in a knighting fashion.
The student exhaled in relief, bowing his head. "Thank you, My Emperor."
"Rise." The 11 other students rose to their feet, facing Gene and the Overlord. "Your first task as the New Regime of the Dark Army: Find the surviving Ninja! My other forces have been... fruitless, thus far. A Nindroid caravan was attacked not only 20 minutes ago in the Jungle at the edge of Hiroshi's Labyrinth. Go there and pick up any trails you have. Even if it's not a Ninja, bring them here for my torture masters to take care of."
Krux and Acronix grinned at the last statement. The 12 students all bowed forward. "We will not fail you, Master." In marching formation, they exited the room, along with Yang and the two generals, leaving the Overlord and his advisors.
"No, you will not."
The R.E.X. continued to fly just over the trees for the next hour while in camouflage to lose any trail they may have left. "Ronin, we need to get to Cyrus now!"
"I know that, but if we do so with an easy trail to follow, it would all be for nothing!" While she disagreed with the general action, the Master of water couldn't help but concede to his logic. "I suppose so. But it's been an hour already! Let's land now, the Safehouse is just below us!"
With a nod, Ronin set down the invisible R.E.X. in a clearing just in front of a massive tree. The two disembarked and nocked three times on the large tree. After several seconds of waiting, a doorway within the tree slid open, revealing an elevator similar to the one in the Monastery. Nya let out a small laugh as the elevator door opened, never failing to remember the similarity with Safehouse One and Zane's Birchwood Forest home.
Once the door opened, a very tired looking Cyrus was revealed. "Ah, finally!"
"Uh, how long you been going at it this time Borg?"
"No rest for the weary, Ronin! You must come in, now! I've FINALLY cracked it, and our time is short!" With the three boarding the elevator and the tree door sliding back into place, they failed to notice the 12 dark figures hiding in the trees. The one closest, who's color scheme was different from the other 11, shook his head with a wicked laugh.
"No, Cyrus. Your time's up."
OK, I am really enjoying writing Gene's character this way.
I am glad I got this out now, I will have plenty of time to work on another, perhaps two other, chapters this weekend. I think this story will be over within a week and a half, but don't hold me to that!
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