Chapter 91
When Darkness Comes

.:Violet:.

Finally did she and the boys were able to stop Nya by trapping her with their elemental powers. Now they were retracing Wu's, Misako's, Nathan's and Lloyd's footsteps along with the Ultimate Weapon's track to find where they were going, it wasn't until a column of light penetrated through the tense air from the clouds above the ground.

"Come on, let's move faster!"

They weren't needed to be told twice. Their pace increased and it wasn't long until they broke through the tree line that surrounded the wide beach did they see many Stone Vehicles were but one of them was huge. It was like a tank with a large helmet on top with four, curved and spiked accents. The bright light was directly shining onto it with Garmadon hunched over. The wind was tense, stirring the leaves from the ground and into the harsh winds that whipped at their faces. Near the tree line were the others.

"Sorry we're late, did we miss much?" Jay's tired voice asked as he immediately stood next to Misako but she didn't answer when a scream full of agony was sounded. When the ninja of air looked, she was shocked to see it was from Garmadon.

When Violet narrowed her odd coloured eyes towards Garmadon she saw his fingers turned into claws with a razor sharp tails. Spikes grew from the back of the evil lord's dark skin while his mouth extended into a snout with teeth like dragons protruding from his gum. Then more spikes grew over on the back of his body.

"The metamorphosis has begun!" The voice that belonged to Garmadon no longer lingered; it was deep and so raspy Violet had to rethink what he was trying to say. Then Garmadon looked to them, his beady red eyes turned into dragon-like purple eyes but they weren't like hers but similar to Nya's. It was a sickly and glowing purple.

"Metamorphosis? What does that mean?" Kai yelled over the raging winds before Zane answered.

"Metamorphosis is a biological process when someone or something changes into something else-"

"Yeah, changes into something ugly!" Cole interfered and when Violet looked back to who used to be Garmadon and saw him laughing with his clawed hands raised in the air, moving with every laughter. It wasn't until Wu's voice caught her attention.

"No Lloyd, that is no longer your father."

"But what about the prophecy? It said I had to face my father."

"You still must but now the Overlord has processed him." Misako informed and that new information made the gears in Violet's brain work harder. She remembered her father mentioning him in his letter. 'From the darkness came an evil creature called 'The Overlord' who challenged the First Spinjitzu Master to battle for the fate of the world. They both fought for a long time but neither could win or lose. Eventually, the Overlord created an indestructible army to aid him. To save Ninjago, the Spinjitzu Master split Ninjago in two, creating Ninjago and the Dark Island where the Overlord is trapped and the Spinjitzu Master sealed the Stone Army away, buried deep underneath Ninjago City.'

Which meant that Ninjago and the Dark Island was a representation of the ying-yang, Ninjago being the light and the Dark Island obviously being dark. Of course, it started to make sense to the ninja of air. The balance must have been overthrown with the Indestructible Weapon, allowing the Overlord to come forth and he must have taken over Garmadon to control his army again and to take over Ninjago.

"Unlike your father," the older scholar continued, "the Overlord won't show any mercy."

"Don't worry Lloyd, you can do this."

"We'll be behind you for all of the way."

"He's tough but you're tougher."

"But we have to act before his evil gets more powerful."

"Doesn't matter what, we will win in the end, even if it takes a long time and many attempts. Winning comes from experience and experience comes from losses. Even if you can't do it now, you'll be able do it again the next time." Violet encouraged with a genuine smile. It wasn't until a determined look appeared on Lloyd's face did she know he was ready.

"Let's do this!" And with a mighty war-cry, everyone ran towards the battle field. Along the damp sand, Lloyd let green flames exit his hands and drew a line. Immediately they jumped over it and sprang into action.

Violet twirled around with her sword posed and the edge of her dress slightly flying up and instantly she was in her spinjitzu. She headed straight for the group of Stone Warriors heading her way. Once she was within a meter of contact, she broke from her spinjitzu and jumped up high in the air. When she was at the highest peak of her jump, she thrusted her sword towards the middle of the small formation and immediately they were thrown back. But when she heard sounds of guns firing, her heart dropped and skipped a beat and she turned around, expecting Vincent to be there holding a gun at her. Instead, the ninja of air found herself face to face with one of the vehicles the Stone Army owns with its guns shooting lasers at her. Violet's reflexes kicked in and her hands dropped her elemental sword and in front of her. Her shield popped up but the lasers broke through, narrowly missing her. When they shot again, Violet barrel rolled to the right along the ground and took shelter behind one of the rocks. When she peered over, another beam was shot and the ninja was forced to duck down again. The master of air went to grab for her sword but gasp to realise it wasn't even on her. Only then did she sighed and looked to the left to see her elemental sword lying there.

"Hey! Pick on someone of your own size!" To her surprise, she heard Jay yelled and when she looked, two vehicles were ramming into each other with guns shooting at the other.

"Thanks Jay!" She called out as she scrambled to her feet and grabbed her sword. Immediately she ran over to the vehicle occupied by the Stone Warriors and she stabbed her sword into the base of it. Immediately, the vehicle was pushed back with great force. When she looked to Jay, his face was mask with shock.

"Your elemental sword is amazing!"

"Tell me about it." She smirked as she turned around only to see Lloyd was painfully punched in the stomach by the Overlord and the force of the hit pushed him off and far away from the Indestructible Weapon. Violet wanted to run over and help the blonde but she knew she would only interrupt the fate and destiny that was set out for this land. "Come on Lloyd…" She muttered but the events that followed next were like a flash of blurriness.

The master of air heard her name being called before a strong force knocked her off her feet and into a side-way tackle. From the momentum of the tackle, the landing wasn't pleasant, instead she and the person that collided into her rolled and bounced along the ground until they finally stop with Violet pressed against the ground. When she focused her eyes on the heavy weight on her, she was more or less surprised to see Nathan.

"W-What?"

"Be careful of your surroundings." He told her before getting up and offering her a hand. She took it and said her thanks to the man but she quickly looked back to the ninja in green and couldn't help but stare at awe at how far Lloyd has come to become the ninja he is today.

As the purple and green light contacted from the good and evil in this world, a bright orb of gold and white appeared in the middle. Violet focused her attention onto Lloyd and she could see the blonde's arms tremble as he tried hard to keep up with the amount of power the Overlord was using. It was slowly pushing him back, the light beam between them used to be half purple and half green, now it was three quarters purple while a quarter green. The Overlord was so much stronger than him that it scared Violet to the core. It wasn't until the Overlord stopped and shot a separate beam at the Green Ninja. The young man quickly ducked to the side and focused all of his green energy into his hands and shot it at the Overlord. Immediately, he was thrown back into the tree line and away.

But when the growls from the Stone Warriors were heard, Violet was forced to look away and pick up her sword just in time to parry the opposing sword. Although upon contact, a gush of wind pushed the Stone Warrior back. She looked back to the ultimate battle when she heard the many cries of 'no!' and when she looked, 'no' also escaped her mouth. The Overlord sped through the air like a rocket from the tree line and headed towards Lloyd. Upon contact, Lloyd and the Overlord disappeared in the dirt and rocks that were kicked up from the impact but it didn't take long until something shot out of the dark cloud. Violet thought it would have been the Overlord but instead it was Lloyd. The ninja of air winched as the young boy flew towards the ground, landing chest first before skidding along the wet sand.

But she had to drag her eyes away when she felt the air on her left tense and she quickly spun around with her sword but something hit the nook of her elbow. Violet hissed when her hand automatically dropped her sword, the blade retracting back into the golden handle and as Violet was about to pick it up, something kicked her on the back, sending her face time into the sand. The purple-eyed girl didn't waste time and quickly rolled over and got up. She rubbed her face clean of the sand and looked at the attacker which very much surprised her to be Nya. She must have broken out of Zane's ice shield…

"Come Nya, fight it!" Violet hissed as she narrowly dodged Nya's arm and the ninja of air quickly grabbed it as it went past and twisted the arm softly, still making the corrupted girl shrivel under the ninja's hold. But within a second, Nya's foot came out of nowhere and kicked her in the stomach. "Fight it! You're stronger than this Nya!"

But her words didn't reach the younger girl. Instead, Nya disappeared and placed Violet in a head lock. The girl in purple quickly grabbed Nya's head and twisted it gently to the side which surprised the samurai and Violet got out of her grips and in enough time, she pinned the girl down. Suddenly a loud crash was heard and Violet turned her head to see her home smashed into the ground, the Destiny's Bounty turned into wrecks and ruins. Tears welled up in the girl's eyes as sweet memories flooded into her head. Because of this new distraction, she was kicked off fairly hard in the stomach from Nya. The elemental master of air groaned as she hit the ground with her back and she slowly rolled onto her stomach to get up but when she looked to Nya, the girl was gone. Violet looked around just in time to see the Indestructible Weapon and Nya go through a whirling pink and blue vortex with Kai chasing after them but to only have the portal closed on him.

Slowly, she got onto her feet and wobbled her way towards where Misako, Dr Julien and Wu were crowding around the unconscious Lloyd. Her feet sunk into the wet sand but as soon as she got within one meter of the huddled group, her legs gave out and she collapsed into the sand.

"Violet!" She heard Sensei Wu's worried voice but she got onto her arms. "Violet, are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah… Nya's a lot stronger. If that dark matter made her stronger, how are we supposed to get into Ninjago City without being attacked by the people?"

"We'll get to that problem when it happens." Misako answered as her hand delicately stroked Lloyd's forehead while Wu helped the master of air to stand.

"Thank Sensei." Violet thanked the man with a smile. He nodded back with a smile of his own.

It wasn't long until the rest of the boys came over and crowed around the unconscious blonde. Just as Misako went to stroke Lloyd's hair, the boy woke up with a low groan and immediately everyone stepped back to give him room. Ever so slowly, he opened his emerald eyes and he got up stiffly.

"Did we… Did we win?" The blonde asked croakily as he looked around with large eyes to everyone. Only Wu had the courage to tell Lloyd the news.

"No… but you're alive." And they all took another step back as Lloyd got up from the ground and walked forward but with a slight limp. His face screwed in discomfort however he didn't stop.

"B-But… the prophecy-" But Lloyd's words ended short when his right ankle rolled under his weight and the blonde fell.

"Easy kid, you've been through a lot." Violet told him as she and Misako jogged forward and help the boy clad in green up but after they got him onto his feet, Lloyd shook them off and kept walking forward.

"Ow… my leg…" Violet heard him whisper as he limped off to the coast and look at the setting sun. "Did we lose the final battle?"

"That doesn't matter, what important is that we didn't lose you." Wu said but Lloyd could only sigh and walked towards one of the broken pieces of wood from the wrecked Bounty. On that piece of wood, Violet could see a yellow eight-pointed star painted on it.

"The symbol of destiny… Destiny showed us who is stronger today but destiny also wanted us around to fight another day. We didn't lose the battle, today, we just lost the fight."

.::.

Brilliant gold and orange hues bled like fire in the east over the calm ocean and the faint outline of Ninjago. The first slither of the sun peeked over the skyline in a radiant, white form. Gradually it raised, a defined circle in a vibrant backdrop. The water was liquid gold and silver, leaving the once mighty Ninjago in a dark silhouette in comparison. As the sun fully revealed itself it seemed to swell, losing its focus and spreading in contrast to Violet's contracting pupils. An easy breeze picked up and lifted to the girl's vantage point, caressing her face and softly blowing loose strands of her caramel hair. Violet would have called the sight beautiful if the thick and dark fog wasn't surrounding Ninjago which told her Garmadon's weapon has successfully turn Ninjago into his image.

No one could get any sleep; the fight they lost yesterday was still fresh in their minds and the heavy weight of defeat crushed them. While Dr Julien and Zane went to help anyone with injuries, Violet's eyes looked at the small waves, peacefully washing onto the sand. It was weird how Ninjago and the Dark Island work; while Ninjago is peaceful the Dark Island isn't and now that the balance is tipped, Ninjago is in the state of havoc and the Dark Island is peaceful. If she was a strong swimmer, she would have already left this island and try swimming towards Ninjago although she doubted that the best swimmer would be able to do it.

When she heard a thud on the sand next to her, Violet didn't bother to move her eyes from the water and to the person next to her.

"We need to talk…" She heard Nathan's baritone voice and the ninja could only sigh. Being swift, she looked over to Kai who was being treated and saw his attention wasn't on her.

"Yeah… We can't keep ignoring each other as if we're strangers." She agreed and forced herself to look straight into Nathan's dark blue eyes.

"About that night-"

"I know…" Violet could sigh before continuing to speak what entered her mind. "Please don't feel bad about it Nathan, I understand why you did it and I forgive you. You're just lonely, I know being an only child can leave you wanting more… trust me, I've been through that," She smiled softly before looking back to the water, "And I know it's probably hard to have the people who are so close and dear to you have the same resemblance because it could be rather confusing to the mind."

"Violet-"

"Let me finish please. Don't ever think you're in this alone Nathan, you could have just told me and I would have helped in any way I could. The longer you keep it in, the worse the weight on your shoulders become… And don't forget that I do care for you Nathan, you're my brother remember?"

"Thank you Violet… really."

"No worries Nathan."

"But I know Kai won't easily forgive me." Nathan sighed and Violet joined him.

"You're right. Kai's too thick-headed to understand… Just give him time and he'll forgive you sooner or later."

Sorry for the short chapter but school has been harsh on my and I got six exams and assignments done (FINALLY!) and I still have another 10+. I'm so so so so happy you all loved Mabel's POV, it thrilled me to see that everyone liked how I described the 'changing' that I may do another Mabel POV. And I think my writer's block might be over since is probably why the sunrise scene was the only good part of the chapter (smiles sheepishly). Massive thanks to: FlameNinjaofDarkFire, Kai4Ever, ALookIntoMyWorkd, Darkrainbow, MMM, CarlyShi208, I'm Rat, ElementzGirl7, MortalNinjas, bebe fou5 and all the silent readers :D I don't have anything else to say but I'll catch you all next week :) Xoxoxo – ZaneLoverFan88