A/n: Wow, only one more chapter after this one! We'll reach a conclusion soon, I promise.
Kai ran toward Chen, and threw a punch. However, Chen dodged it, cackling.
"You seem to have forgotten that what you do to me happens to Skylar." He said, pulling out a knife and making a large cut in his arm. Skylar gasped, clutching the newly formed cut on her arm.
"We can't fight them!" Zane said.
Suddenly, Chen whistled, and an army of nindroids wearing crystal necklaces appeared behind them.
"Can we fight them?" Jay asked.
"No." Misako said, "They are connected to our allies. You'll hurt them."
"Got it." Kai said, "Fight without fighting."
The ninja ran forward, and began to use The Art of the Silent Fist. The nindroids attacked from all sides, overwhelming them.
"Do you remember what to do?" Hurumi asked the other girls. They nodded, and ran back into the palace. After making sure no one had seen them, she followed.
"Foolish ninja!" The Overlord taunted, "You cannot beat me!"
"Us." Chen corrected.
"Us." The Overlord sighed, "Quit ruining all of my lines!"
"They're right!" Jay exclaimed, "We can't do this forever. We'll get tired eventually."
"I know." Lloyd admitted, "But I don't what else to do."
"Keep fighting!" Kai shouted.
"Where did everybody go?" Cole asked.
Jay looked around, seeing what he meant. Misako, Skylar, PIXAL, Nya, and Hurumi had all disappeared. Hough, he didn't know when.
"I don't know." Lloyd admitted.
"Perhaps they have a plan." Zane said.
"They did seem to know what they were doing." Kai said.
:::::::
"Ready?" Skylar asked.
Her friends nodded. They were currently climbing the stairs to the roof of the palace. They'd planned for this, but Skylar was still nervous.
"PIXAL, do you have the chip?" She asked.
"Yes." PIXAL said, holding up the microchip she'd taken from the Samurai X Cave just before she was kidnapped by The Magician. "I thought it might come in helpful." She explained.
"And it will work? On crystal, I mean?" Skylar inquired.
"I had to make a few adjustments, but yes. I should work." PIXAL explained, "However, I just finished, and have not been able to test it yet."
"Well, I'd say now is as good a time as any." Skylar told her.
When they reached the roof, Skylar was horrified. There wasn't any blood, but the five ninja were trying to take on the nindroids army by themselves. And, they weren't fighting.
Skylar knew why, of course. If they did, they could end up hurting their friends. Still, if they got hurt in the process, wouldn't it all be for nothing?
"Let's do it." Hurumi said, nodding at PIXAL.
The female android took out her microchip, pressed a secret button somewhere on the side, and set it on the floor. There was a mechanical whirr as the chip started to stretch, making itself larger. When it was finished, it looked like a giant magnet. Which is exactly what it was. PIXAL pressed another button, turning it on.
However, what was different about this magnet was that PIXAL had designed to attract crystal. And not just any crystal, the specific kind Cryptor and the villains kept their life forces in.
Within seconds, hundreds of crystals had been pulled off the necks of the soldiers and were sitting on the magnet. Chen cackled.
"Well, isn't that smart?" He smirked.
"And what do you plan on doing with those?" The Overlord asked smugly.
"We're going to smash them, and free ourselves from this realm." Nya said.
"Very nice." Cryptor cackled, "Of course, there's just one flaw in that plan of yours. One that should not be overlooked."
"Oh, yeah?" Skylar asked.
"And what's that?" Nya inquired.
"If you smash those crystals, you'll die." The Overlord explained.
"Well," Jay said from the ground, "That probably would have been nice to know before."
"Does it look like we knew before?" Skylar shot back. Jay didn't answer.
"What should we do?" Misako asked, "If we smash the crystals, we'll die."
"But, if we do not, everyone down there will die." PIXAL added.
They all turned to Skylar.
"I say we do it." She said, "It's our lives versus hundreds of others. There's no choice to be made in the first place."
"You're right." Nya agreed, "We'll do it for Ninjago."
They turned, and walked back to the edge. PIXAL gave Zane an apologetic look, and he instantly knew what they were about to do.
"No." He said, "They're going to smash the crystals."
"No." Kai said, but it was too late.
Skylar, PIXAL, Nya, Hurumi, and Misako had each taken a necklace, and were holding them above their heads.
"For Ninjago!" they shouted in unison, and then threw the crystals to the ground.
"No, no, no!" The Overlord screamed.
"They're smashing the crystals!" Chen shouted.
"To be fair, you did tell them how to free themselves." Morro said.
"The price was death!" Cryptor shot back, "I didn't think they'd actually do it!"
"Then that's your fault for not planning ahead." Morro said.
"Don't you sass me, mister!" Cryptor told him. Morro just rolled his eyes.
Skylar could feel a burning sensation in her throat. The world started to spin, for real, this time, and she was proud to die alongside her best friends. Then, the world went black.