Chapter 93
Breaking Down

.:Violet:.

Already, they had faced off waves upon waves of Stone Warriors yet they didn't cease, it was like they had infinite amount of soldiers. Already, the ninja of wind can feel the muscles in her arms burn as she was running on Lactic Acid Energy. Her lungs felt like they were burning, whenever she inflates them it feels like she's trying to push lead off them.

"I know we always wanted a crowd but this is ridiculous!" Jay groaned from behind her.

"How can you be making jokes at a time like this?!"

"Hey, if I'm going down I might as well go down laughing!"

Violet sighed upon the team's banter as her only focus was just to keep swinging her sword and don't let her arms fall off. It was like her sword had suddenly gained so much weight and her arms are only attached by a single string. When the girl casted her eyes back to the boys, they looked a little bit tired but not as tired as her which confused Violet as she always had the better endurance… But reflecting back to the first time Violet ever saw the boys fought, she can't say she's not impressed – in fact she was beyond impressed. Their skills, speed, endurance and stamina has increased so much that they were nearly – nearly- as good as her.

"Keep fighting. Never give up because ninja never quit!" Lloyd yelled over the loud and haunting roars from the army of statues. It didn't take long until the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master used Spinjitzu and charged into the Stone Warriors. The idea went along to the rest of them and soon enough, they were all doing Spinjitzu, fighting back the Stone Army. However Violet found herself on the cool and rumbling ground, the feeling of her spinjitzu was gone. When she lifted her head and looked around, it surprised her to see she wasn't the only one.

"We're doomed guys!" Jay shouted and the sounds of metal against metal alerted the ninja of air that she was still in the war.

Instantly, she felt the air tense and in a flash, she brought her sword up and deflected the blow. Once again –or as always- upon impact, the warrior was pushed back. But there were too many and she could see three different swords coming towards her; its impossible to deflect all three of them at the same time without being impaled. Just as she was about to accept her fate, the Stone Warriors in front of her froze as if someone had just clicked a pause button. When she looked around, the whole army was frozen in place and silence washed over them.

"W-What happened?" She asked as she tried to get up without getting cut by the swords.

"They're frozen."

"We know that but how?" Kai questioned as he immediately went to her side and placed a hand on her waist and pulled her close. However to her, it didn't feel like it was the right time. Gentle, she took his hand off her waist. She was just about to whisper something to him when a voice rung out, saying something completely bizarre!

"All hail the brown ninja! What do you command?"

"The brown ninja?!"

.:Scarlett:.

Unlike the other warm days, today was freezing. Caribbean blue eyes wondered over the fields of her paradise and it was like the saturation was sucked out, leaving the area in a soft grey hue. The water that surrounded the two lone islands was as flat as a mirror. It lay without a ripple in the grey-blue water as if time itself had been frozen. The wild flowers that grew to knee length didn't flow in the breeze as there was none. Everything was silent. There were no sounds of the sweet chimes of the wind or the little buzzes from the honey bees.

It had been days since the sister of the ninja of air peered into the daunting orb that remained in the cottage, make that it has been days she have even been in the cottage. Scarlett didn't need to see the wounds and battle scars her friends obtained in this battle, just seeing Nya corrupted by the Dark Matter made the blonde run outside. Scarlett knew time here was much faster than the time in Ninjago. Now, she could live three days here while it would be a day in Ninjago. Now, it has been three days, a whole day that went in Ninjago and she knew a lot could have happened but she knew what was going to happen, she just doesn't want to see it. However she knew this new greyness in her paradise occurred because she's slowing wasting herself. Three days she hasn't eaten or slept, her mind was too active and now it was fatigue, not wanting to do anything else. The blonde knew this means she has to go back into her cottage and face the orb.

Sighing, the girl's legs took her to the cottage and once she entered inside, the orb was floating in mid-air, it's unnatural glowing light lit up the dim cottage. Biting down on her lip, she looked at the orb to see her friends were in Ninjago City near a tall skyscraper she doesn't know. Surrounding them were the Stone Army however they weren't attacking, just standing in perfect formation. Hesitantly the blonde walked towards the orb as if magnets were attracting her. Peering into the orb, she could see from a birds eye view, immediately she placed her pinched fingers on the cool surface and zoomed in and spun the orb until she could see her sister. To her utter joy, Violet was wound free with all pieces of her body still attached however her skin wasn't the fair complexion she knew, now the master of air's skin was nearly a sickly pale with sweat clinging onto her skin, her whole posture was uneven and to Scarlett's surprise, her sister was wearing a dress, kimono styled gi. It wasn't long until something ran towards the purple ninja and Scarlett had to zoom in even more to see it was a young girl. Immediately Scarlett knew this was the little girl Violet saved when the Stone Army attacked Ninjago City for the first time. With soft eyes, the blonde softly smiled as her sister picked up the girl into her arms and hugged her closely. The older sister quickly changed the view so she could see the young girl's face to see her eyes were waterfalls.

"That's weird… If the Overlord's weapon hit Ninjago City then why isn't Mabel affected?" She pondered to herself as she quickly pushed the orb away before walking into her study.

Being the First Spinjitzu Master's most trusted apprentice has its advantages. First of all she gets to hear all of his great stories from his first battle to last therefore learning of all of the evil there is or was in the land and their strengths and weaknesses. Not only that, she gets access to travel to some of the sixteen realms, one of them being the Cloud Kingdom. Of course, only the master writer knows that she and the spirit of the First Spinjitzu Master enters the Cloud Kingdom. In a way, the Cloud Kingdom was a way spirits could come together. However Scarlett didn't get along so well with the master writer, Fenwick. But due to the relationship between the trio, the First Spinjitzu Master could tell Fenwick fate that lies install for the ninja and the well-being of Ninjago since darkness keeps over-riding the written destiny. Because of this, Scarlett knows what happens. She knows the Ninja would win this battle but now it's making her doubt it since the evil at presence keeps over-riding their destinies and creating more chaos in the Cloud Kingdom.

Thinking back to the time when the First Spinjitzu Master told her about the Dark Island and the dark substance that it produces. She remembered how he told her the one flaw with the Dark Matter, saying how only some people (like one percent) can resist the darkness that comes along with the Dark matter however Scarlett couldn't think of why they can.

"Come on Scarlett." She muttered to herself and only then did her stomach alerted her of its emptiness.

.:Violet:.

"Are you serious? We're not even halfway through?!"

"Jay, panicking won't do us any good." Violet sighed as she stayed behind the five men that were ascending the steps with Kai and Zane in the lead, Cole and Jay helping Lloyd up while she stayed behind in case if Dareth accidently loses control of the Stone Warriors and they try to chase them.

"But my legs are hurting…." The ninja of whining continued to whine.

"Hey, at least you don't have an injured foot Jay so I don't understand why you're complaining." Lloyd muttered and that got the blue ninja to shut up.

The rest of the ascend was silent except for the occasional roars from the Overlord and the haunting horns. Every time it went off, Violet would always look up hoping the Overlord hasn't spotted them yet and aim for them. After a couple of minutes which seemed like hours to her, they were at least three-quarters of the way of the building and already the ninja in purple could feel the muscles in her legs burn as if they were set on fire. It wasn't until a roar was sounded from the creature above and was immediately followed by the melancholy sirens. In an instant, the girl looked up and to her utter horror she saw a cloud of thick and dark smoke heading towards them.

"Move!" She immediately shouted, only to get confused looks from the others.

Violet couldn't think but react. She immediately pushed her arms out, making the air around her channel its energy to her teammates and pushed them brutally out of the way. When she craned her head up again, she saw the cloud was within meters above her head. Swiftly, she dropped to her knees and held her arms over her head. Her elemental barrier appeared over her in a sphere however on impact, it broke apart.

It felt the caramel-haired girl was back out in the raging sea. The thick smoke crashed over her like a wave of icy cold water, sending shivers among her skin – making her fall to her side and curl into a foetus position. She hoped her element would filter the smoke but to her dismay, it flooded into her body and filled her lungs. Straightaway she could hear her name rolling off her worried friends' tongues but it all washed away, their voices echoing and fading. She could feel the smoke roaming inside of her, chilling her from the inside out. In her lungs that felt like they had something crawling in them and clawing to get out – at first it tickled but now it felt like fire had erupted in her chest. Although she felt this burning pain, she was freezing.

"Violet, please answer me-" She heard Kai shouted and as he placed his hand on her skin but it felt like it was branding iron, trying to melt her skin. Instantly a wail of agony slipped through her lips and she withered away from the ninja of fire – closing her eyes in pain. "Her skin is ice!"

The crawling and clawing sensation left her lungs but invaded her mind, making Violet grip her hair as if it would come out that way but it didn't leave. Instead sad, haunting and terrifying memories resurfaced making all the happy ones seem like they were dreams that never happened. Memories such as the day her parents were murdered in front of her and the Jamanakai Village attack.

"G-Go! You need to get L-Lloyd to the t-t-top!" Her voice came out hollow through gritted teeth.

"Violet, I'm not leaving you-"

"Go!" This time, her voice sounded like Nya's: all gritty, scratchy and growling. When she opened her eyes, she could see Zane and Cole pulling Kai up the stairs while Jay attempts to help Lloyd up.

The ninja of air tried to fight it, to prevent the darkness and Dark Matter corrupting her soul but it was too strong. Suddenly, a sinister and booming laugh echoed in her head, making her wince and wither more.

'Look at you, all weak and pathetic. I don't know why you keep trying to fight it. Let this be a lesson to you all that darkness will always win and nothing can ever beat me! Give up!'

.:Kai:.

"No! Let me go! We can't leave Violet there! No!" His voice ripped through his throat as the ninja in red tried to get out of his brother's constricting grips however doesn't matter how much strength he puts into his struggles, they wouldn't let him go.

"Stop it Kai, you're making this harder!"

"You're going to let the Overlord know we're here!" Zane and Cole shouted at him but he didn't care. Kai already lost his sister to the substance and he was not going to let Violet go either.

"He already knows we're here otherwise Violet would still be here with us!" It was anger he never ever felt before. It's not directed at his brothers but the Overlord himself.

"Kai, listen to yourself. Violet last words were for us to make it to the top, she wouldn't want you to go back or see her like that. What the heck, if Nya was hard for us to defeat together Violet would kill you! She doesn't know who she is anymore or you and anything else." Lloyd told him sternly that Kai could only sigh, knowing the blonde was right. "Come on, let's reach the top and fulfil Violet's wish okay?"

And with that, the ninja of fire nodded and shrugged off his brothers before marching ahead with heavy steps and closed fists. He just wanted to stop right there and punch something. The anger that was welling up in him was too much to handle and he hated it, he absolutely hated it. Sending a quick glimsp back, he saw Cole took his original spot next to Lloyd and help him up the stairs while Zane remain next to him.

"She'll be fine Kai-"

"But how if she's one of them? Say if we do win this, what happens to them? What happens to her?" Kai's voice wavered along with his closed fists.

Groaning, he kept his amber eyes on the steps in front of him knowing that if he did look into Zane's or another one of his brother's eyes the anger would wash away and grief and remorse would crash on him. It was like Violet was already gone, how could they hope once Lloyd defeats the Overlord everyone will be back to normal? The two closest people to him are gone and in less than two days as well.

"Have hope Kai, she's strong. Do not think you're the only one thinking like this. We are all angered and sorrowed that Violet is gone. Yes she's your lover but she's our sister too. We will win this Kai and everyone will be back to normal; the people of Ninjago, Nya and Violet-"

"Look out!" Jay's frantic voice was sound after the sound of the horn was heard. Both Zane and Kai turned around as fast as they can to see Cole was surrounded by the thick cloud of smoke. The Overlord is picking us off one at a time!

"Go w-without me!" However unlike Violet, Cole showed more resistance to the dark substance. He wasn't on the ground –he was kneeling- and he didn't look to be in pain… just losing to the darkness.

"Come on, we need to move on!" Kai declared as he quickly grab a hold of Lloyd's other arm and together with Jay, they both helped Lloyd up the stairs. "He's picking us off one by one, we need to go faster!"

"It's a shame Lloyd, if you were still a kid we could carry you."

Sorry to end it there folks but I think I'm over my writer's block! Reason I ended it there because I knew if I didn't, this chapter would be fairly looong. But I'm sure I know why I have writer's block. I've planned every episode where Violet gets to do her own thing and I don't have to write word for word of how the episode goes however with the Stone Army, since it's in the short period of time, I can't add in something different, therefor the writer's block. But I'm thinking to skip the battle with Lloyd and the Overlord and just skip to the part when they win. It'll be easier for me since everything else until then is exactly the same as the episode and nothing special.

Also sorry for the two week wait, I had so many exams, assignments and assessments I didn't have enough time to cramp in study and writing. I got two more today and then another two in a few days. But thank you all for being patient and MASSIVE THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! There's so many that this author will be too long XD. And I like to announce that you all have brought my story up to be the 3rd most reviewed story in the Ninjago Achieve so big thanks to you all. I found out at school and I started screaming and crying XD. Hopefully now that the exam load is light, updates may be quicker but that's a maybe…. AND OMG! SCORCH TRAILS IS OUT! I hate it that Wes Ball changed the book but THOMAS BRODIE SANGSTER!

Okay, you guys probably don't want to hear me fangirling over the Maze Runner but big thanks to you all and I'll see you all soon! Xoxoxo – ZaneLoverFan88