I had a lot of fun writing this. I'm not sure if it's because I just thought it was fun, or if it was because this chapter was written entirely while I stayed in a town that was founded back in 1565. You be the judge. Please enjoy.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Everything
He felt weightless, unable to do anything as he felt the soles of his feet leave the ground. Every second Lloyd started falling backwards felt like it stretched out for an eternity. Laurie looked absolutely terrified, her face extremely pale and Rhea turned around long enough to catch a glimpse of what she had done. Her brown eyes widened indefinitely and she took a lunge forward, trying to grab on to one of Lloyd's arms. It was to no avail though. The boy knew there was no way to stop the fall.
Crack.
A sharp pain ran through the back of the green ninja's head and he slowly opened his emerald green eyes to see that his journey had halted. Glancing slightly behind him, Lloyd could still see the buildings of Ninjago City sprawled out as far as the eye could see. Disoriented, he looked down to see the ground still far below him. Without much effort, Lloyd managed to get back on his feet yet again, shaking slightly as he realized he was back on solid ground. What had stopped him? There was absolutely nothing on the side of the rooftop.
"Lloyd, are you alright?" It was Laurie, running towards him as fast as she possibly could. He could tell she was in pain. There was a slight hitch in her step and she gripped her right side painfully. Glaring daggers at Rhea, she made her way over to her brother and knelt down. "You're okay, right?" she questioned, her eyes wavering slightly. He only nodded in reply, still confused about what had exactly happened. Unsteadily getting to her feet, Laurie pulled him into an embrace. He stiffened at her touch, immediately noticing the wound on her side. Before he could say anything, a loud roar ripped through the silence.
All three of them turned their attention towards the area where the sound had come from. Something was slowly separating itself from the dark, night sky. It was large and approaching rather quickly. Lloyd felt a smile begin to form on his face. He knew exactly what was coming and, much to his relief, it was going to help. "Hey, boy!" the green ninja shouted, his grin only widening. As the four-headed dragon came closer, Lloyd could gradually the silhouettes of the ninja growing. "You were right, Laurie. Your plan worked after all."
There was no possible way that this was actually happening. "A dragon?" she asked, slightly confused. Since when did they own a dragon? Dragons just did not exist. She had always refused to believe the stories her mother use to tell her. Only a few dragons still inhabited the land according to her. Well, this was the oddest dragon she could have ever imagined. It had four heads, three of them similar in appearance to one another, but the fourth was visibly different. Streaks of either red, brown, blue, or yellow adorned their faces. The features that caught the orange ninja's eye were definitely the teeth. If Lloyd had not seemed so excited by the creature's sudden manifestation, Laurie would have sworn that it was going to kill them.
Cole pulled back on the reigns slightly, feeling the dragon fight him. "Slow down, boy," the black ninja chastised, pulling back on the reins once more. "You're excited to see Lloyd, I get it, but let's not crash, alright?" The creature reluctantly slowed its descent speed, letting out several loud groans. Both large wings flapped slowly, pounding against the slightly chilled air. The rooftop of the tower grew closer and Cole pulled the reins harder. "Easy now. Let's make this a smooth landing."
"Get out of the way!" Jay yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the warning. Laurie threw an arm around Lloyd's shoulders and the two backed up, the orange ninja keeping her gaze glued to Rhea. The young girl backed up as well, her eyes wide with both fear and amazement. That animal was so beautiful and yet so powerful. All of the ninja would be down in a matter of seconds and then it was all over for her. She secretly hoped that they would just finish her quickly. It would be much better than what her father would probably do to her for failing.
"Don't walk too far back," Laurie warned, though she could not see the edge of the roof. "I thought you were going to fall back there, Lloyd. What stopped you?"
Solely focused on his friends, the green ninja gave a small shrug. "I-I'm really not sure," he confessed, deciding that it was best to stop where they were. There was a large and open space for the dragon to land in front of them. "It was almost like there was a wall behind me, but there wasn't anything there." The others were almost here, Cole carefully attempting to navigate the landing. A small grunt escaped Rocky's mouth, followed by garbled groans from the other three dragons. "Something's, wrong," Lloyd stated plainly.
Laurie looked up, noticing something rather strange. As the dragon attempted to drop on to the fading tar of the roof, it seemed as if the air directly in front of it rippled. "You can do it, boy" she heard Kai call out, his words of encouragement wavering on the edge of anger. "They're right there. What's up with you?" She could feel the air around her almost quivering with unwanted energy. Again and again the dragon tried to land, but seemed to be stopped by something that was not there.
"You've got to be kidding me," the orange ninja breathed, feeling a cold chill run up her spine. She released Lloyd and rushed across the open space, quickly closing the distance between herself and the winged beast. There was a foot separating them and, inhaling deeply and praying that her theory was wrong, Laurie reached out to try and touch the stark white scales on one of the dragon's heads. Just as she had expected, when she was only inches from the creature's snout, her hand hit something solid. The air wavered and Laurie's heart dropped. "There's some kind of force field around us," she observed, banging on the invisible object in front of her.
It was reminiscent of the dream she had the previous night. She turned her head towards Lloyd who was also leaning out to touch the air in front of him. He was here with her though, very much unlike her dream. Shaking her head slightly to clear her thoughts, the orange ninja turned back towards her friends. "You can't get in," she shouted, feeling a surge of adrenaline course through her veins. The pain that had been steadily growing her side subsided for the moment. "We're stuck in here."
"Try again," Kai urged, leaning around Nya to see what was happening. Laurie was so close. He could see the bottom of her dress was in tatters, cut and ripped. A section of the material was darker towards the side of her abdomen, but she did not seem to take much notice of it. "Come on, Cole, try to get in. They need our help!"
The Ninja of Earth let out a long and loud sigh. "You know as well as I do that it's not going to work, Kai." He turned his gaze on his brother who just crossed his arms over his chest. Well there was no reason to act like that; there was nothing they could really do at this point in time. "Laurie, Lloyd, hang tight, okay? We're going to back to the apartment to see if Sensei can help at all." Laurie nodded in response and gave a small wave just as something slammed behind her.
Growling, the dragon launched several attacks towards the roof, all of which were deflected by the barrier. Laurie flinched involuntarily; backing away from her brother's pet and bumping into Lloyd. "Yeah, I think I know how this force field was made now," the green ninja said, turning Laurie around to face in the same direction he was. She was still slightly on edge from her scare with the dragon and what was in front of them did not calm her nerves.
There stood the Overlord and his faithful stone companion. The slamming sound that had caught everyone's attention had been the sound of the roof access door forcefully shutting. From what Laurie could discern, the metal doorknob had been crushed and deformed, making it almost impossible to try and open the door again. The most obvious difference that Laurie could see involved the Overlord himself. He seemed significantly smaller and thinner, the thick black shadows that made up his form were beginning to lighten.
"These individuals were never part of the fight. There is nothing worse than uninvited guests," the Overlord hissed. His voice sounded strained and faint. "Rhea, why is the girl still alive? Why has this been so difficult for you?" He watched as the young girl swallowed hard and her facial features twisted as if she were prepared to argue. "I have wasted much of my energy forming this barrier. It will not last forever and I fully expect this to be over within the hour." Rhea nodded her head solemnly and retrieved her remaining weapon from her hair, gripping it tightly.
The ninja looked down upon the scene, utterly confused. "Well, I suppose that these are the individuals that took Lloyd and Rhea," Zane stated plainly, his dark blue eyes focused on the shadowy figure. With a deafening roar, the dragon charged forward, hitting the invisible barrier once more. "We must head back to get Sensei as we planned. I do believe he could aid us."
"We can't just leave them here," Nya replied, tightening her grip on Jay's shoulders. "They needed help, that's why they were signaling." She could feel a strong gust of wind blow her black, chin-length hair around and she shivered. "I know there's really nothing we can do right now, but I just don't feel right leaving them here."
Rhea inhaled deeply and leapt forward, taking Laurie by surprise. Her foot made contact with her stomach just as the orange ninja was attempting to block. Laurie stumbled backwards, the pain in her side suddenly flooding back. The adrenaline that had been quelling the pain had almost completely vanished now. Gritting her teeth against it, Laurie regained her balance and threw a punch that Rhea managed to dodge. As the young girl retaliated, the orange ninja ducked underneath of a roundhouse kick and conjured up a small whisper of wind. It barely even managed to move her own hair. She needed to calm down and just focus.
The green ninja gazed on and narrowed his eyes. With renewed anger, he clapped his palms together and quickly separated them. A ball of green energy formed in his grasp and he threw it at Rhea. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and suddenly dove to her left, somersaulting along the tarred roof before landing in a crouch. With wide eyes, Laurie watched as the attack approached and hit her square in the chest. Every nerve in her body was burning and tingling before her back hit the invisible barrier. She crumpled to the ground, disoriented and breathing heavily.
"Laurie!" Kai and Lloyd shouted simultaneously. The young boy rushed forward, his face slightly pale. Rhea jumped into his path, shoving him backwards. Her expression was stoic, but her dark brown eyes betrayed her, showing a hint of concern. She did not need to write her thoughts down on paper; the green ninja could discern what she was attempting to tell him. Stay away. There was no way, of course, that he was just going to allow his sister to be killed, especially since it was his fault that she was so broken now anyways. "Let me by, Rhea," he yelled, beginning to push past her. Biting her lip and closing her eyes, the young girl took the handle of her weapon and clubbed Lloyd in the back of the head.
She watched him fall to his knees, her ice blue eyes burning. The adrenaline was beginning to return and Laurie propped herself up on her elbows, the textured surface of the roof scrapping up her skin. This should not have been happening. Lloyd was not part of this feud. "Laurie, are you alright?" Kai called out. Slowly, the teenager turned to see her friends still hovering close by on the dragon. She gave a small nod in acknowledgment. Honestly, she was not alright. Physically she was injured and mentally, Laurie was just completely broken. The worried looks on everyone's' faces were clear.
Kai could tell she was lying. Laurie had always been a terrible liar. "Is Lloyd okay?" he questioned now. The red head looked back towards her brother who was now getting up on one knee. It looked as if the blow had only disoriented him. Once more, she only nodded, not able to find any words at this point in time. How could she? Everything that was happening was just unexplainable. "You two have to hang on," the Ninja of Fire continued. "You have to protect Lloyd until we can get in there." Her freckled face visibly fell as she pushed herself on to her knees. "You can use your Spinjitzu, Laurie. You can protect him!"
She tensed up at the word; Spinjitzu, a form of martial arts that she could not seem to fully accomplish. Cole and Jay had told her that she had killed Kai in a vortex previously, a memory that still eluded her. Laurie could only remember using it once in the desert on a Fangpyre and once outside of Dareth's dojo after Zane had been trying to teach her how to control her emotions. Now Kai wanted her to use that to protect Lloyd, to protect herself. "I-I don't know about this, Kai," she hesitated, looking extremely apprehensive. "What if something bad happens?" There was an overwhelming sense of déjà vu consuming her.
The red ninja gave her a small smile and just shook his head. "You've been training so hard. You're not the girl that came to us a few months ago. You've changed so much, as a person and as a ninja." He could feel the slight dusting of blush tinge his cheeks. This was the conversation that should have occurred at the ball. "There's no doubt in my mind that you can do this. Everything that's happened has been to prepare you for this moment. I believe in you, Laurie."
Her breath caught and there was a pressure in her head. The orange ninja placed a single hand on her forehead and used the other to keep herself from hitting the ground once more, squeezing her eyes shut. It was painful, like a fire had been lit inside of her brain, spreading throughout the entirety of her skull. This conversation, it had happened before. Well, not exactly word for word, she remembered that. Her eyes snapped open, focusing on the ground. Wait, she remembered that; talking with Kai out in front of the dojo before she tried to perform Spinjitzu. She had been as nervous then as she was now.
More images started to flash before her, almost as if they were selections from a movie reel. Sitting with Kai outside of Ouroboros as they were searching for Lloyd. Finding Fangtom out in the desert with his staff. The vortex that Kai had dove into just to save her. A kiss. Belinda breaking into the apartment and threatening to kill Kai. "Belinda," Laurie breathed, feeling the pressure begin to subside. "She lied. I never gave up my memories to save myself. I did it to save Kai." A warmth began to spread through her body and she steadily got to her feet. Kai believed in her; Kai loved her as much as she loved him.
And Laurie remembered absolutely everything.
Okay, well I am so pumped to just write and write now so yay!
Thanks for reading and everything. I would be nowhere without you guys. See you next Friday. :3