I wrote this chapter entirely on my phone, so if you see any mistakes, please point them out so I can fix them. This is also why it's shorter than usual.
INFJwriter: That is ingenious! Well, I can't wait to read it!
TheAmberShadow: Good guesses! But, of course, I won't be telling you if they're right or not. I'm glad you're liking the story, and I'm afraid that PIXAL doesn't have her own body in this, but now I'm seriously considering giving her one! Not sure when, though. And the eye color thing is pretty cool! Cole's future being uncertain actually makes a lot of sense. And what I meant about him dying was that the mirrors show a certain time ahead, so if Cole died before then, he wouldn't see anything, but his friends (who'd still be alive at this future point in time) could.
Erio99: Haha, glad you like it! Kaze being the Overlord would be quite the twist, but I'm afraid that's not who he is.
Chapter Six:
Hysterical
The picnic area was ruined, the table snapped in half, the top of the grill lying in a ditch, blood staining the leaves. The two bodies had been removed, and the area was surrounded by bright yellow police tape, but other than that, the place was exactly how they'd left it.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Jay, his voice quiet. Never know when someone's eavesdropping. "For all we know, this could be a massive trap!"
Seamus shook his head, now wearing a copper red jacket and jeans, squinting into the trees, "They'll be here."
"How can you be so sure?" asked Lloyd. Above him, a squirrel scampered across a tree branch, rustling the leaves and making Jay jump.
Seamus raised an eyebrow in Lloyd's direction. "Who's the one that has actually met Soren?"
"My sensors detect a small group approaching from the East." said PIXAL.
Zane nodded. "PIXAL says someone's coming."
"How many?" asked Nya. Zane was silent for a moment.
"Four. Approaching from the East."
Immediately, they all turned to face East, hands reaching for their weapons. For a long moment, there was nothing but the tweeting of the birds, the soft blow of the wind, ruffling their hair and clothes.
Then came the sound of leaves crunching underfoot, and four figures wearing white appeared between the trees, two of who were carrying a large, brown sack. Big enough to fit a person.
"Doro." said Seamus, looking surprised, "Chikara, Nokoribi, Yuki. Figures they'd send you."
"Wait, those are their names?" asked Kai, "Like, their real names?"
"Dewer." said one of the White Women, presumably Doro. "We had expected you to leave after delivering the message. This... complicates things."
"No, it doesn't." said Zane, taking an almost threatening step forward. His eyes shifted to the sack. "Where's my brother?"
"Unconscious." said Chikara simply.
"I'm just here to make sure Echo-Zane makes it back to Ninjago." Seamus explained. The women still looked suspicious, but they pressed no further.
"Fair enough." Doro nodded at Nokoribi and Yuki, the two carrying the sack. They nodded back and stepped forwards, setting the sack down on the forest floor, but they didn't back away. Instead, they pulled out six pairs of handcuffs, their dark, shiny chains clanking and rattling against each other. Vengestone.
"Is, uh, is that really necessary?" asked Cole, eyeing the handcuffs warily. The two women just stared at him, faces as blank as a new sheet of paper.
"We're coming willingly." said Lloyd, crossing his arms, "You don't have to cuff us."
Nokoribi and Yuki looked at each other, then at Doro and Chikara. After a moment, they turned back to the Ninja and former slave, and slid the handcuffs back under their white rags.
Surprised, but no less relieved, the Ninja stepped forwards, Zane's eyes darting down to the sack. He moved to grab it, but Yuki lashed out, grabbing his titanium forearm in a vice like grip.
Tense silence descended upon the destroyed picnic spot. Slowly, Zane raised his eyes to the women's, secretly startled by just how strong a hold she had on his arm.
"Zane," Seamus hissed from behind them, although it sounded incredibly loud in the previously solid silence, "Don't."
The nindroid wasn't entirely sure what he was being told not to do, but he got the message. He took a step back from the sack, Yuki letting him go immediately, his electric blue eyes glaring into her blank, unnaturally white ones.
"Well," Jay chuckled nervously, breaking the silence, "Not that this hasn't been fun or anything, but, uh, how about we get this thing up and moving?"
The four women stared at him, causing the blue wearing boy to shift uncomfortably. Then Nokoribi reached out and grabbed Jay's wrist, who gave a rather unmanly squeak at the abrupt move, only for Kai's fist to connect with her jaw.
There was enough force in the blow to knock Nokoribi's head to the side, but she recovered so fast it was almost as though she's never been hit at all. Releasing Jay's wrist, she pulled her own fist back and aimed for Kai's face, which the fire ninja ducked, only to be kneed in the chin, his teeth slamming into his tongue and filling his mouth with the copper taste of blood.
The others sprang into action, both Ninja and White Women alike, clashing together in a flurry of kicks and punches.
Kai twisted around, grabbing Nokoribi's arm and moving to flip behind her, but Nokoribi grabbed the arm holding her other and flipped him, slamming him onto his back and forcing the air out of his lungs.
There was a loud, pained scream, and Kai's head snapped towards the source just in time to see Jay collapse onto the ground, Chikara standing over him with a long knife in her hand, crimson sliding across it and dripping onto the leaves at her feet.
With a cry of rage, Kai spun himself around, gaining a surprised gasp from Nokoribi as he twisted her arm and kicked at the back of her knees, knocking her into the dirt.
Kai leaped to his feet, clicking his fingers together and igniting a ball of flames, the red and orange mix dancing across his palm and on the tips of his fingers harmlessly.
He pulled his arm back and launched the fireball like a catapult, sending the flames soaring through the air. Chikara turned around, looking up just in time for the fire to hit her right in the face.
She screamed, so high pitched that it made Kai's ears throb, clawing at her shawl as it caught aflame, the smell of burning hair and flesh hitting their nostrils and making Nya gag.
Kai's victorious grin fell, replaced with horror as he watched Chikara scream in pain, yanking her shawl off her head and throwing it onto the ground. Her face was shiny and red, blood covering half her head, her hair charred and burned and still burning, smoke lifting off her in clouds. She held her trembling hands up to her face, as though tempted to touch it but not daring to, tears leaking out from beneath her closed eyes. This must have only made things worse, because she opened her mouth and screamed even louder than before. The smell of burnt hair and flesh had only gotten stronger, and out of the corner of his eye, Kai saw Jay roll onto his stomach and vomit. At least he was okay enough to do so.
Something rammed into him, knocking him back into the dirt, and Nokoribi raced past him and grabbed Chikara's hand. Doro and Yuki snapped out of their own shock and shoved the closest Ninja to them into the dirt, following Nokoribi as she dragged a blinded and screaming Chikara into the woods, and they were soon out of sight, Chikara's screams able to be heard for miles.
Kai stumbled to his feet, heart thumping, fingers trembling. Numbly, he turned to look down at Zane and Lloyd, the other two that had been shoved to the ground, who stared back at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths.
"O-Oh god." Cole groaned, looking greener than usual, "That- I- I think I'm gonna be sick..."
"Jay?" Kai said, hating how his voice shook ever so slightly, "You okay? "
"Huh?" Jay blinked slowly, pressing a hand against the hole in his shoulder, the blue fabric stained red, "Oh. Y-Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little, uh, s-sore."
"Let me see." said Zane, moving to kneel beside his wounded brother, who let out a small hiss upon removing his hand. The nindroid glanced at the abandoned sack, sitting on the forest floor, unmoving. During their brief fight, they'd moved away from it, Seamus starting to make his way over to Jay and Zane, rummaging through his bag for what they guessed to be something to help stop the bleeding.
Kai nodded at Zane and started making his way to the sack, the nindroid looking relieved before turning back to Jay, gratefully accepting a roll of bandages from Seamus.
The fire ninja knelt besides the sack, starting to struggle with the knot. "Alright, Ech." he muttered, "How 'bout we get you home, yeah?"
The rope gave away, and he opened the sack, his golden brown eyes taking in the rusty metal and wires inside, before widening just as the countdown reached zero.
The blast sent birds flying into the sky with screeches of terror, squirrels skittering into trees and rabbits leaping for cover. A green, see-through dome appeared around a small group near the blast, the sound of the explosion leaving their ears throbbing and ringing, the ground shaking and trembling like a small earthquake.
Not too far from the site of the explosion, screams of agony turned into giggles, and then into hysterical laughter.
Echo was quick to learn that Kaze wasn't one for much talking. Perhaps it was simply his personality, or it could have been that he was too weak to do anything but sleep.
The hunger pains in his artificial belly had increased, rumbling loudly in the silence and gnawing at his insides like starving termites that had just been introduced to a house made entirely out of wood. But from the way Kaze looked like a living skeleton, Echo doubted the termites would be satisfied anytime soon.
"How do you know my brother?" Echo asked, leaning against the rocky wall next to the little window. Kaze sighed.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"Oh." Echo stared at the wall across from him, memorising the cracks, the dents, running his dirty fingers across the uncomfortable floor, "How long have you been here?"
"I don't know." He heard Kaze shift, probably in a useless attempt to get into a more comfortable position, "Why do you ask so many questions?"
Echo blinked. "I suppose I am just curious."
"Curiosity killed the cat, you know."
"But satisfaction brought it back."
Startled silence. Then Kaze gave a hoarse laugh, and it was rather obvious by the sound that it had been quite awhile since he'd done so. Echo smiled.
"I've never heard that part before."
"It's not very well known, is it?" Echo hummed, "My father taught me all sorts of riddles and sayings like that."
"Really?" said Kaze, actually seeming interested. This had been the longest conversation they'd ever had. "Like what?"
"Well..." Echo racked his memory unit, delighted to have a distraction from the termites eating away at his insides, "He taught me that the darkest nights produce the brightest stars. He taught me that a broken crayon still has the ability to color." Kaze remained silent. Echo continued.
"He taught me that every gear, every screw, is important. That if only one were to go missing, the whole thing would be broken."
"What about the spare gears?" Kaze asked, "The ones that aren't needed?"
"If there are spares," said Echo, raising a finger and running it along his metal chest, scraping at the dried dirt and mud, "If there are parts that aren't needed in the project, he'd keep them, and use them in another."
Kaze remained silent. Echo dropped his hand back to his side, leaning down to look through the bars into the others cell. Kaze lay on his side just out of reach, his back to the window.
"Do you know any sayings?" the nindroid asked.
Kaze was silent for a long moment, before rolling onto his back and pushing himself up on his elbows, a slight frown on his brow as he turned to look at Echo. "Well... there was this poem that I really liked when I was a child..."
Echo waited patiently for him to continue. Kaze shrugged.
"I-It's really stupid, just forget I said anything."
"But I want to hear it"
"It doesn't even make any sense-"
"Pretty please?"
Kaze faltered, looking at Echo hesitantly. Finally, he sighed, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "Fine."
Echo grinned, immediately regretting it when his faceplate burned as though a hot knife had been pressed against it. He waited, shifting impatiently, as Kaze gathered his thoughts and did his best to remember the poem.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, "Skinny and stout, I'll tell you a tale I know nothing about; Admission is free, so pay at the door, now pull up a chair and sit on the floor."
Echo almost asked why he would sit on the floor if he had pulled up a chair, but caught himself. He didn't want to interrupt.
"One bright day in the middle of the night," Kaze continued, "Two dead boys got out to fight. Back to back, they faced each other, they drew their swords and shot each other."
Kaze's eyes had glazed over, staring at the ceiling but not seeing it. Echo laid down on his side, his head right up to the bars. He found that he quite liked the poem so far, despite being utter nonsense.
"A blind man came to watch fair play, a mute man came to shout 'Hooray!' A deaf policeman heard the noise and came and killed those two dead boys."
Kaze went silent, frowning as he struggled to remember the rest. Echo scooted closer to the bars, wanting to hear more.
"Er... Oh! He lived in the corner in the middle of the block, in a two-story house on a vacant lot. A man with no legs came walking by, and kicked the lawman in the thigh."
Kaze looked away from the ceiling, locking eyes with Echo. A small smile was tugging at his lips, although he didn't seem to notice.
"He crashed through the wall without making a sound, into a dry creek bed and suddenly drowned; the long black hearse came to cart him away, but he ran for his life and is still gone today."
A drop of cold water fell from the ceiling, landing on the back of Echoes neck and making him jump. Kaze didn't seem to notice.
"I watched from the corner of the big round table, the only eyewitness to the facts of my fable; but if you doubt my lies are true, just ask the blind man, he saw it too."
Clapping broke the silence that followed, making both Echo and Kaze jump in surprise, hearts leaping into their throats. Echo twisted around as the door to his cell opened the rest of the way, revealing a ghostly man with slicked black hair and small, intelligent eyes with a wide smirk to boot.
"I never knew you to be one of such... poetic nonsense." the ghost hummed, his voice either high pitched or really deep. Echo was having trouble telling which one it was.
"What are you doing here?" spat Kaze, glaring at the new arrival through the windows bars. From the way his pale cheeks were hinting pink, Echo realized he must be slightly embarrassed about being caught speaking poems.
"Oh, I'm just here for the nindroid." said the ghost, stepping further into the cell and grabbing Echo's arm, not seeming to even notice his desperate struggles, or the ticking that filled the air out of nowhere.
"What?" gasped Kaze, "Why?"
"Now why would you care, Kaze?" the ghost asked, spitting his name as though it were an insult, or a swear word.
"Who said I do?" Kaze snarled, his eyes turning as hard as ice. A cold breeze ruffled through the open door. "I'm just curious."
"Well," said the ghost, dragging a still struggling Echo out into the hall, where two guards waited, "I'm afraid your curiosity won't be satisfied for quite the while."
Kaze opened his mouth to say something else, but he never got the chance. The cell door slammed shut, and the ghostly man dragged Echo down the hall, followed by the stoic guards. Perhaps it was just Echo's imagination, but he could have sworn he heard hysterical laughter drifting out from one of the other cells as they passed.
Again, I wrote this on my phone. Next chapter I'll hopefully be able to write on the computer, and it'll most likely be longer too. As for the poem Kaze said, I don't own it. And there's also a bit more to why Julian abandoned Echo, hence why he taught him all those things.
Let's not forget about the bomb. Sure, Lloyd was able to make a shield, but you must remember that Kai was right in front of it. And just where are they taking Echo?
Stay tuned, because there's more coming your way!