I stood on the roof of a building overlooking the City, the wind whipping my hair against my face. The smell of moisture and hot dogs from a nearby street vendor's cart filled my nose, reminding me of my old life in the City. The smell of moisture was most likely from an approaching storm though.
"Just like old times, huh?" I heard Lilly say to my right. I turned to look at her, her hair and hood whipping in the wind. Yeah, it was just like old times. I could even remember the times before we joined the team. It wasn't that long ago after all. The times when I didn't know who Lilly truly was. The time when she wore that mask. That guy Anthony. The time Lloyd visited my family's shop...the happier times before Luo died.
I smiled a little bit, recalling all the memories. "Yea."
"Well, we might as well get going. Who knows when Ronin and the others will reach the building," Lilly sighed, then turned towards Hunter, "You ready to go?"
"I've been ready!" the orange ninja pulled on his hood in a flash, looking determined. "I'm ready to kick Little Debbie's butt! I'll stab his leg!"
Lilly chuckled. "Alright. Try not to get hurt, okay Karma?"
"Me? How about you, since you're the one getting stabbed left and right," I replied, expressing some concern.
"I'll be alright. I'll heed your words though," she smiled before turning back to Hunter. He joined her at the ledge of the building, his eyes still filled with determination. I swear, with this much determination he could defeat an evil flower!
"See ya guys later," Hunter waved before jumping down onto another roof with Lilly and disappearing into the sea of rooves that were the City. I turned to Lloyd, who was pulling his hood over his head, his eyes changing from red and green to just green.
"Ready to do this thing?" he asked, making sure his katana was in it's sheath. I pulled my scarf over my nose and nodded, the wind now waving my scarf with my hair.
"Alright, let's go," Lloyd nodded in response, running in the opposite direction that Lilly and Hunter went, then jumping on the roof below. I followed him as closely as I could, trying not to outrun him. I had to admit, he was a pretty fast runner, but I could beat him. I wasn't on the track team at my school for nothing anyway.
We jumped roof to roof until we met a ledge with rooftops that weren't within jumping reach. I was about to suggest trying to go a different way, but Lloyd jumped instead. He hung onto the side of a building, then jumped onto a flagpole. He swung once on the flagpole and threw himself onto another side of a building, then jumped onto the nearest rooftop. I blinked, both surprised and confused. Am I supposed to do that!?
Seeing as that was my only way to get over at the moment, I stepped back, looking at my path. I then ran forward as fast as I could, jumping and using the explosion from an orb of darkness as a boost. I grabbed onto the flagpole and swung on it once, then let go, using a darkness orb's explosion to boost me again. I reached out hoping to at least grab the edge, but I slipped. Before I could cry out and fall though, I felt someone grab my arm.
"Gotcha," Lloyd said quietly as I looked up at him. I then proceeded look down, curious as to how far up we were. I started to feel dizzy as I could see cars were just merely dots below, and they continued to become smaller and smaller as Lloyd pulled me up. I stumbled when I was finally pulled onto the rooftop though, falling on top of Lloyd.
We both looked at each other in surprise for a moment, my face steadily growing warmer as I continued to sit there. Then, Lloyd began to laugh, and I joined in too, out of nervousness.
"So, I'm guessing my uncle or anyone else hasn't even trained you in parkour yet," Lloyd slowly sat up, paying no mind to the fact that I was sitting on his legs. I couldn't help but wonder if he was blushing under his hood like I am right now. It's hard to tell.
"Nope. They probably should though, right?" I replied, thinking back to what I did earlier. Lloyd nodded.
"Yea, but you did pretty well back there," I could tell just from his eyes that he was smiling. I could feel my face growing even warmer.
"I did?" I asked, beginning to feel a little bashful. Lloyd nodded.
"Yeah. So, I'd say you could get the hang of it quickly...unlike Jay," he said positively, before glancing at the building in the distance. "We should probably get going..."
I instantly got up off his legs, beginning to feel even more anxious than before.
"Yeah, you're right. L-let's get going," I stuttered as he got up. Did I make him uncomfortable!? I mean, I was sitting on his legs...and I did fall on him. But he was laughing earlier! Though, was it out of nervousness like mine? It could have been.
After jumping and running on a few rooves and having to attempt this thing called "parkour" again, we finally made it to the rooftop closest to the entrance we were going to take. I blinked in surprise as to where our entrance was though.
"You're telling me it's just a random door placed on the building with no stairs leading up to it or anything!?" I exclaimed in disbelief, gesturing to the door ahead. What was the architect even thinking!?
"Well, I didn't technically tell you anything, but yes. This should be easy though," Lloyd shrugged, producing a yoyo from the inside of his gi. I blinked again. Easy!? This is easy!? Do I have to hang onto the door knob or something!? What even is this!?
I watched Lloyd swing the yoyo onto a conveniently placed flagpole above, proceeding to run and swing himself towards the door, kicking it open. I had to admit, I was kind of amazed, but my thoughts were focused on something else. How am I supposed to get over!?
"Don't worry!" Lloyd called to me, throwing the yoyo back, "Use that!"
I caught it, looking at it like it was an object I'd never seen before. Won't the string break under my weight!? Then again, it didn't break under Lloyd's weight, but still.
I threw the yoyo onto the flagpole anyway and swung myself towards the open door. Once I let go, I slid onto the hard floor, breathing a sigh of relief that I made it. The yoyo however...did not.
"Uh, sorry I dropped your yoyo, Lloyd," I apologized as I got up. The green ninja shrugged.
"Eh, I can buy more at the dollar store for fifty cents. No big deal," he said as he walked down the hallway. I followed him, anticipating what was ahead. Are Ronin and the others already here? Or are we ahead of them? Or are we seriously late to the party because of our goofing off? There was only one way to find out.
Same Time, Same Place
Using yoyo's as grappling hooks, Karma accidentally falling on me, etc. God, could I make this any awkwarder!? Lloyd thought to himself as he walked down the hallway with his teammate, Well, at least she couldn't see me blushing earlier, or at least I think she didn't.
He had to admit, he has never been good with liking someone anyway. He had a crush on a girl in his class at Darkly's once, but never confessed, as he didn't know what to do. Now, he takes advice from Kai and even Jay sometimes, but doesn't really know if it's right to take advice from them. Kai does the total opposite of what he says to Lloyd around Lilly, acting more like a dork instead of the supposed "cool guy" act he tells Lloyd to use. The master of energy has also seen Jay's luck with Nya, deciding that the master of lightning's advice wouldn't be the best to follow. He didn't even dare take advice from his uncle or even his mother.
Lloyd shook his head. No, I need to focus on the mission. I can't be thinking about relationships right now! What would Uncle Wu say!?
"Hey, is the hallway getting darker?" he heard Karma say, snapping him out of his thoughts. The master of energy proceeded to look around, noticing the lighting in the hallway had grown much darker, to the point where he couldn't quite see what lied far ahead.
"Yeah...that's odd. You think they didn't pay the electric bill or something?" Lloyd chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. He felt a bit of relief when he heard her giggle.
"Ha, yeah, maybe," he could tell just from her eyes that she was smiling beneath her scarf. Looks like I don't need to pull Kai's stupid "cool guy" act to make her smile, Lloyd thought to himself, smiling as well.
Suddenly, he could feel a third presence with them in the hallway. Being able to sense different forms of energy, he could tell it was human energy, but where was it coming from? Lloyd stopped where he was immediately, trying to see if he could find its source.
"Lloyd? Is everything okay?" he heard Karma ask as he looked around for it's source, finding nothing. He began to feel scared, remembering the only other time something like this happened. The museum. The guard. Being possessed. Lloyd slowly began to panic. No! No! This can't be happening again! There can't be another ghost coming for me!
"Tell me, are things looking up for you two?" a voice whispered from above, making Lloyd freeze. He slowly turned his head to look upwards, his eyes becoming wide when he noticed Alex above, lying on the ceiling.
"Boo," he smirked, before falling off the ceiling and kicking Lloyd through the floor and onto the hard floor below. Lloyd gasped as his back slammed against the floor, knocking the wind out of him. Alex placed the blades hidden within his sleeves against Lloyd's partly exposed neck, continuing to smirk.
"Isn't it great that you all are entering this place at different times? I get to pick you all off one by one! Wonderful, is it not!?" the master of psion laughed, as if he were some kind of evil mastermind. Lloyd struggled to get out from under him, but found himself to be stuck under Alex, the young man being heavier than he expected.
"Try all you may, but you-" before Alex could finish speaking, he was kicked off of the master of energy by Karma, who helped Lloyd up immediately. Lloyd's back throbbed in response to movement, causing him to wince.
"You alright?" the master of darkness asked him, expressing concern. Lloyd nodded in response, some of the concern fading from Karma's face.
"OK," she said before sprinting to Alex and proceeding to fight him, smacking him around with her staff as if he were a baseball. As Lloyd ran to assist her though, Alex started to use teleportation, making Karma become exasperated and confused, allowing him to land more hits on her. The master of energy ran in immediately, throwing an orb at Alex and then pulling his katana from his sheath, backing up until his back touched Karma's. They proceeded to step to the side in a circular motion, watching for the master of psion.
"Psst, he has to move his hands in a motion in order to teleport. Try to grab him while he's in the process of doing that," Karma whispered to him. Lloyd nodded, scanning his surroundings for the master of psion. Suddenly, the onslaught began. Slashes came from everywhere, and Alex moved his hands faster than Lloyd had ever seen. Parts of his gi became torn, his hood was ripped off, revealing his face and hair. Parts of Karma's scarf were torn and she had tiny cuts on her shoulders and face. Lloyd attempted several times to catch Alex's arms, but fell unsuccessful, only gaining cuts on his gloves. Though, in one swift movement, Karma caught Alex's arm and pinned it behind him, pointing the butt of her staff at his chin.
"Lloyd! Now! Drain him of his energy!" she shouted as the master of energy turned around. His heartbeat sped up.
This was it. he thought, I'm going to end it all. The thought gave Lloyd joy, but also disgust. He'd kill Alex if he did this, but would also have his friends live in harmony again. This wouldn't be the first time Lloyd has killed something anyway. The thought of killing still sickened him though. He may say the word like he's going to do it, but he never wants to.
Though, Alex would go out silently without pain. He would simply feel sleepy and then slip into a permanent slumber. Problem solved. The City is saved. Yet, Lloyd was scared to do this. He was disgusted too. He never wanted to kill. He may have killed the Overlord once, but he had no choice, and the Overlord returned anyway.
The master of energy sighed, then closed his eyes, deciding that if he didn't see it he would forget it. He heard movement as he swung his hand to what he assumed to be Alex's shoulder, passing it off as a struggle as he drained the master of psion of his life energy. Something felt weird though. Alex's shoulder felt as though it were half bare, causing Lloyd to feel confused. Wait, wasn't he wearing a long-sleeved shirt? the master of energy questioned himself in his thoughts. Lloyd slowly opened one eye to see why it felt this way, but ended up opening both eyes wide in shock, freezing in place.
His hand was not on Alex, it was on Karma. The movement could have only been Alex replacing himself with Karma. Her shocked eyes glanced at Lloyd once, before they closed and her body went limp, causing her to collapse to the ground. Lloyd began to tremble as he watched her collapse, tears stinging his eyes as Alex laughed.
I killed her...
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