Skylor would have preferred something sneakier, involving several different covert teams. But not one of the Ninja would agree to be placed in a team other than the one going after Lloyd, and so she led the rather large group of eight, nine with herself, through the hall towards the main lab.
They'd infiltrated from the back of the island and easily taken control of the outpost on that side. Hadn't even had to kill anyone. From there, it was easy to sneak into Chen's complex.
She wished they'd split up. They could do with a distraction, as well as a team to head for Clouse's workshop and another after her father. But ninjas were far more stubborn than she.
And, to be honest, she didn't really think any of them trusted her but Kai. That was probably the real reason.
They were almost there when a scream of agony split the air.
"Lloyd!" she shouted, abandoning all attempts at subterfuge as she took off. The rest were hot on her heels. The massive lab doors weren't even an obstacle to the the gang of Ninja, easily crashing beneath the combined force of at least six different attacks.
A glowing green shield blocked any way further into the huge room, easily enclosing a good three-quarters of it. Swirling and sparking in that amazing way only Lloyd's power seemed to.
Clouse was within the massive shield, sweating heavily and smirking triumphantly. Lloyd was chained to the glass wall behind him, mouth gasping and eyes blazing bright even through the slightly distorted lens of the green shield. The screaming had cut off, but probably more from an inability to breathe than any lessening of pain.
Kai, raging beside her, raised a flaming fist and pounded against the shield. Lloyd visibly was thrown back with every strike.
"STOP!" screamed Skylor, grabbing Kai's arm. "You're hurting him!"
"How could I be-" began Kai.
"This is Green!" she cried out, gesturing to the beautiful shield. "The shield is Lloyd's! Clouse is controlling it! Every time you strike it, you hurt Lloyd!"
"This is... Lloyd's?" mumbled Koko, aghast and bewildered. Yeah, Master Wu had explained that Green was actually the element of Energy, the force that connected all things, that it combined traits of all the major elements and was stronger than any of them alone, but they still hadn't pictured anything like this!
"How would you know that?" demanded Cole, obviously ready to attack the shield himself. The rest of the Ninja were also positioned to strike.
"Because a few years ago that was me!" she shouted back.
Most of the group were thrown back at this revelation and now eyed her with open pity and horror. Naturally, Garmadon only cared about how this affected Lloyd.
"So how DO we get to that flea-bitten son of a yak to destroy him and rescue my son?!"
"You don't," replied Clouse triumphantly. "My tests show the Green Ninja can keep this amount of output up indefinitely. Go ahead and attack it - I'm sure the Green Power can take whatever you can dish out. While you scramble about trying to get in, I'll have plenty of time finishing up a weapon to destroy the lot of you!"
"Hit... It..." gasped Lloyd.
Clouse turned to stare in surprise at his prisoner, who should be struggling to breathe, let alone speak.
"No! What that will do to you-!" argued Skylor.
"Hit! ... It!" repeated Lloyd, slightly louder, regaining his footing and trying to stand up instead of just hang there. Considering he was obviously in extreme pain, even that small movement seemed an enormous strain.
Garmadon and Wu needed no more prompting, launching simultaneous attacks at the shield, only to be thrown back.
Lloyd cried out, but quickly regained strict control of himself. He closed his blazing eyes, face lined with strain, fists clenched tight. Before their eyes, the green shield seemed to smooth over, thin out, harden. It suddenly looked... fragile. Maybe he couldn't take it down, but he was definitely trying his best to help them.
Clouse cursed and rushed to his controls, abandoning his project on the floor.
Lloyd's blazing eyes opened again, finding his family and crying out, "Spin...jitzu! GO!"
He obviously wouldn't be able to hold whatever he was doing for long, and after a shared look of determination, his family launched into spinjitzu tornadoes and bashed against the shield. It shattered and dissipated before their combined might.
Lloyd went limp.
Skylor and Garmadon charged for Clouse, her to grab the keys to the chains and him probably to slaughter the man. Wu allowed his brother a few punches and kicks, only stopping his brother when he went for the throat.
Koko ran to her son's side, along with Kai, Nya, Jay, Cole, and Zane.
"Please say we didn't kill him! Say we didn't kill him!" jabbered Jay. "We killed him! We killed him! Someone tell me I'm wrong already!"
"Not... dead..." whispered Lloyd, still limp in his mother's arms.
"Oh, thank goodness," breathed Zane, looking almost faint in relief. He set a hand on his brother's head.
Kai was crying, clinging to Lloyd's hand along with Nya. Jay was just behind them, wringing his hands in anxiety before he rushed forward to grab Lloyd's other hand. Cole was helping Koko support Lloyd to take his weight off the straining chains.
"Stupid drug... Can't even sleep," grumbled Lloyd, opening his eyes. They were strained with pain and probably the effects of the drug he mentioned, but at least no longer glowing with power like earlier. For a second they thought his eyes had turned black, but it was the pupils of his eyes completely blown as wide as they could go. He groaned and narrowed them, obviously struggling to see.
Skylor had arrived by now and quickly unlocked the cuffs on his ankles, then wrists. He fell forward, his mom struggling to support his weight, and Cole kindly but firmly took his brother from her. With his earth-enhanced strength, Lloyd's weight was nothing.
"I hate that one," said Skylor softly. "It should last about twelve hours, then you'll really crash."
Lloyd grumbled but snuggled to get more comfortable in Cole's arms, his mom a safe hovering presence, his brothers' and sister's concerned voices around him, the sounds of his uncle and father beating up and interrogating his torturer nearby.
"Told you, Sky," he whispered weakly. "You can date Kai now. My blessings," he giggled, sounding ever so young and way too old at the same time.
Skylor didn't know whether to groan or blush or thank Lloyd in return.
Kai shyly took her hand.
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
"I won't ask again," growled Garmadon. "Tell us where Chen is or I remove your head!"
Clouse's eyes bulged with terror when the former evil warlord swung an absolutely enormous sword down from his back and swung it up.
"I give! I give! He's in his project room!"
"What project?" demanded Wu.
"I don't know!"
The sword pressed to his throat and a staff punched into his gut. He gasped and it took a minute to recover.
"I really don't! He took six coils of Green Energy, locked himself up in there, and demanded not to be disturbed! I have no idea what he's doing! If it were my choice, I would have used those coils for a shield around the island, not some secret who knows what!"
Garmadon smashed the hilt of the sword against the side of Clouse's head, knocking the worm out (and then some), which for him was really holding back. His son would be proud! He turned to his brother.
"We have to find Chen," said Wu. "He's up to something. Six, why would he need-"
His eyes fell on the six Ninja, Koko, and Skylor. Six Ninja. Five main elements and one essence...
"Garmadon - the First Spinjitzu Master's seal!" he gasped.
"No one's that stupid!" retorted Garmadon. "Not even I would-" He paused, remembering who they were dealing with. "Ugh, that's right. Chen's an idiot with a god complex."
Wu turned back to his students, sister-in-law, and Chen's daughter.
"Chen is attempting to release the Great Devourer! We must hurry!"
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
Chen's armies were still mostly oblivious to everything going on, and the group was smart enough to keep it that way even without any further instruction. Skylor took the lead, being the only one to know where Chen's project room was, and Cole fell into the last position, still cradling a weak Lloyd, who would hopefully stay down and focus on recovering.
Lloyd was the type to always insist he was fine and try to get up and fight no matter what state he was in. Right now, though, Cole doubted he could even stand or see straight. He kept flinching at even the softest noises, and his head kept turning, eyes flickering from side to side, even as his body otherwise lay disturbingly limp in Cole's arms. That drug was some nasty stuff.
Wu had explained hurriedly that the Great Devourer was a legendary snake that grew larger every time it ate. It's venom was a terrible poison that, instead of killing its victims, turned them evil.
The First Spinjitzu Master, Wu and Garmadon's father, had sealed the beast on this island after it had bitten a young Garmadon. The seal should've been invincible, being locked by the very elements that had been used to create Ninjago. Earth, Water, Lightning, Ice, and Fire, plus Green Energy - the essence that tied the five major elements together and flowed through everyone and everything.
It was hypothetically possible for Energy alone, having traits of all five major elements, to unlock the seal.
"That's... what he was doing with Amber," mumbled Lloyd weakly.
Wu nodded. "That's surely why he took in Anita, and later why he experimented on Skylor. He was trying to manipulate and control Amber to break the seal. It is related to Energy after all, just as Metal is related to Earth, but they are considered sub-elements for a reason."
"He would get so angry when I couldn't do what he asked," confessed Skylor, in obvious distress at what she was hearing. "And I was never able to combine the elements we collected, not like he wanted me to. He always complained it too weak."
"Too weak to break a certain seal," growled Garmadon.
They came to another large metal door and smashed through, much as they had into the laboratory where Lloyd had been held captive.
Chen was waiting for them.
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
Author's Notes: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I promise the last chapter will be out this coming Monday! Hope you all enjoyed the rescue scene and are eager for the showdown with Chen! What do you all think of the reveal of Chen's insane plot? Do any of you have ideas about what's going to go down next chapter? I'm curious to see if any of you have figured out my ending! Or even what's to come in the sequel! If you REALLY think you've gotten it, please tag your review with POSSIBLE SPOILER at the top, or maybe just PM me so we can chat about it!
As always, double thanks to my beta Sunny Lighter, as well as my regular reviewers Bookkeeper2004, EMPFangirl02, Carrie2sky, Watcher321, and Fabro de Omres! Also to all my guest reviewers and those who make a point of following every chapter, even if they don't have time to drop a review just right now!