Chapter 109
Split in Half

.:Violet:.

After that little chat, Jonah encouraged her to try again at the arrow to which she agreed. So far, another two hours and no improvement whatsoever. It was enough to slowly drive the ninja insane.

"I don't understand. I've been at it for hours, why isn't it working?" She groaned as she sat on the ground.

"Did you even get any sleep last night?"

"…No."

"Well that answers it. You need sleep."

"No, I'm fine," Violet replied as she got back up and loaded another arrow.

"You'll exhaust yourself."

"I said I'm fine," she answered firmly and let go of another arrow and to her surprise, it sailed right passed the tree.

"And that proves my point," the youngster told the ninja as he stood up and limped over to the arrow that sailed past. It didn't go too far, just into another tree. When he came back, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. "Get some sleep; trust me, you'll need it."

"You don't understand…" Violet softly muttered as she turned away from him and her hand softly held the other hand with her engagement ring on it.

"Nightmares?"

"Ones that feels so real no matter how many times I tell myself it isn't."

"About the people you lost?"

"No… You won't get it, trust me. The same dream has been reoccurring nonstop for the past few months… Sometimes I handle them okay, other times not so well. I just don't want to concern you so don't worry about it."

"But I do Violet, you're my friend," the boy spoke softly as he gave her a small smile. "I know you don't want to fall asleep in case if these… nightmares come back but without sleep, parts of your body will stop functioning correctly. Just get some sleep okay? Look, I've heard people say when you're really tired, you automatically go into a deep sleep and not dream of a single thing. Maybe you're tired enough that you won't dream of anything; so what do you say?" And a bright and hopeful smile appeared on his young face.

"Then I'll go to sleep when I feel like I'm about to collapse," Violet answered firmly before loading another arrow and turning around to face the target – trying to ignore the way Jonah's hopeful face fell.

Her breath brushed against her lips as she exhaled and inhaled deeply. Lifting her bow that was loaded, she aimed and released… to only hit around the centre.

"I guess I can't talk you out of it so while you have fun, I'm gonna whittle something," Jonah said with sadness subtly lacing into his voice.

"Knock yourself out," Violet muttered while trying not to feel sadden and guilty. Trying to brush off the image of Jonah's sad face, she aimed again before shooting to only hit the edge of the target. It was like her aim was getting worse every time. Her shoots are straying away from the centre… Maybe it was because she didn't get sleep but the ninja was definitely didn't want to risk having the dreams again.

This time, the violet-eyed girl decided to do something bold and different. She loaded three arrows onto her bow and used her fingers to help level them. She aimed for the tree, not for the dead centre. When she let go, she had the top arrow going high into the tree, the middle one going just above dead centre and the bottom arrow hitting the last ring at the bottom of the target. She supposed it was a slight improvement but it didn't work.

"The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire, not the things we fear."

That was what Sensei Wu has told her when she first became a ninja. At the time it didn't make sense but looking back to it now, Violet realised that back then she was afraid to disappoint, that was the main reason she didn't want to be a ninja in the first place because she was worried she would fail the people when she would fail to protect them. But what does she fear now that keeps her away from shooting a specific target? Her fear relating to Vincent and drowning doesn't affect her shooting and she hasn't even been thinking about it… okay maybe once but that shouldn't be the thing that redirect her focus from the thing she most desire – which is the get the arrow to that specific spot and see what happens to the other arrow.

Was she afraid of disappointing people? She already done that and got over it; people have chances, sure her's may be limited from time to time and consequences submerges with each chance but that's life, not everyone is a perfect hero but she hopes to do the best she can which is probably why she wanted to split from the team, to do everything right in the one chance – not the hero Kai think she's trying to be… Or is that what a hero is? Trying to do it all in one go? Either way, all this thinking is hurting her head.

Violet loaded another arrow and tried to keep her mind clear. She aimed and she shoot. She missed her target. "Come on Violet, you got this," she whispered to herself as she got another arrow. She loaded it slowly and lifted up the bow. Hope blossomed in her chest when she felt this arrow would be different… like it may hit the target. Taking a deep breath, she aimed. Exhaling, she shot the arrow. She watched as it sailed through the air and hit the bark of the tree. Well, this arrow was different. Sure it didn't hit the target but it did something else that amazed her. It shot so deep into the tree that when she got closer, only a small apart of the arrow was visible, the part with the fletches. She walked to the other side of the tree and saw the tip of the arrow poking out.

"Not what I wanted but that's interesting…" She mumbled to herself and took all her arrows out but the centre one. She had a hard time yanking out the interesting arrow but eventually did after two minutes. She wasn't too disappointed to see it completely damaged – she expected it entirely.

Violet got back to her spot… This time she wondered if she was going about this the wrong way. So she concentrated how the wind and air felt against her skin: cool and smooth. She focused on the sound of it, how it rustled the leaves in a soft crunching manner. She attempted to taste it, for some reason she thought of the water she had at the brook before she met Jonah. Deciding, this would be enough, Violet loaded an arrow and drew her arm back. Inhaling, she aimed and concentrated on these traits of the wind. Exhaling, she let go. The arrow spun in the air and shot through the fletch on the middle arrow, knocking it off. Improvement. Finally!

Violet tried to contain her excitement and as she loaded another one, she focused on her surroundings, aimed and fire. This time, it wasn't even near the centre, just in the second ring, frustrating the ninja. This time, she went through all the senses and traits of the wind, the velvety touch of it, the light shade of lavender blue (the colour of the wind), the crunching sound of the leaves and the very, very, very faint sounds of a chime (a sound she recalls from her first training session with Scarlett) and the taste of fresh spring water. When she fired, she watched with astonishment as the arrow whizzed straight through the air. The arrowhead met with the nock of the centre arrow but to her bewilderment, the tip of the moving arrow pierced through the nock. The momentum of the arrow caused it to continued pushing, splitting the arrow in the tree. But it all happened so fast, her violet eyes met with the new arrow in dead centre with the previous arrow in two slightly curve strips… like a peeled banana.

"I-I did it," she gasped as she stepped forward and accessed the damage – not that she was mourning the loss of a good arrow but she was absolutely filled with exhilaration from what she just witnessed.

"You did?" She heard Jonah's voice and the shuffling of feet and leaves but she paid no attention to him, just the arrows. "Do you think you can do it again?"

"Let's try shall we?"

After a couple failed attempts, Violet was able to do it again and she watched Jonah's shocked expression to the splitting of the arrow.

"You're the legend." And upon this she laughed and tried again. Miss but the next one hit the arrow. "What did you do differently this time?"

"Figured out my sensei's infamous words of advice in forms of riddles and metaphors," she laughed, "The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire, not the things we fear."

"And what did you fear?"

"Well I first realised that whenever I tried recalling all his teaching methods with the bow just nothing worked because that wasn't the only teachings I got… And I didn't think of them because I locked out the memory of my sister because I was afraid to remember her death because I let that weigh heavier than the good memories we had together like you said."

"It kind of make sense…"

"Don't worry, it doesn't make a great deal of sense to me but it's better than nothing."

.::.

She woke up to a rumbling start. The ground beneath her body shook softly, vibrating with partly steady beats. She didn't recall going to sleep and she doesn't even recall having a single dream – meaning the deep sleep with no dream theory is right. But putting that aside, Violet looked to Jonah to see he was whittling something but the vibrations were getting bigger.

"Jonah, do you feel that?" Violet asked in a hush whisper as her head turned around, looking for danger.

"Feel what? Why are we whispering?" He whispered back but Violet decided to ignore him for time being. She feared for the worst. Violet swiftly used her elemental powers to fly through the foliage while ignoring Jonah's gasp and demand for her to come back.

Once she broke through the thick foliage of leaves, Violet squinted her eyes at the brightness of the mid-afternoon sky. The forest was a lot darker than this but Violet forced herself to quick adjust to the brightness and look around for any machinery.

There was no breeze to rustle the leaves, no birds that sang sweet melodies, not a single insect dared to make a sound and no critter moved. It was deathly silent and there was no movement in the vast forest that spread around her. It wasn't until she could hear the soft hum of machinery, confirming that the Nindroids and the Overlord was near. Violet craned her head to where she could hear it and in the distance, she could see two tanks made fully of dark metal and smoke coming from the massive exhaust pipe that was above the tank rather than the back. Once it hit the tree line, the sound of crackling wood echoed throughout the forest, causing a haunting breeze to fly by her. Her purple eyes widened at the sight of trees snapping off their trunks and falling to the ground, causing the whole ground to vibrate which she felt throughout the tree she was currently resting on.

"Violet, did you feel that?" She heard Jonah call out from underneath her. She looked down to the youngster who stood by the trunk of her tree, looking up towards her with worry clouding his latte brown eyes that held so much youth.

"It's them. I have to leave," she informed him and drifted back towards the ground.

"What?!"

"I have to leave now Jonah, if not they'll come here and they won't take mercy on you. They will kill you," Violet spoke firmly as she gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze and quickly dart to her belongings. She packed all her daggers in a quick rush however she left her archery repair kit and half of her arrows here. "I want you to have this."

"But you're going to need it more than me."

"Jonah, I don't have time for conversations. Look, it's likely I'm going to get captured and I reckon I'll probably have at least two days at most to try and outrun them but they got tanks. I can't fly otherwise it'll seem like my team isn't with me. Remember, why I told you I left in the first place?"

"Yeah…" The boy sighed sadly. Violet gave him a soft look.

"I'll make sure to visit when everything is over."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I won't die; I'm too difficult to get rid of." And this stirred a nervous laugh from the boy. As Violet turned to grab her bow, she felt a pair of arms wrapping around her – similar to the hugs Lloyd used to give her when he was twelve.

"Thank you for everything Violet."

"No worries kiddo." And she stood up and put her bag on and bow in hand. She didn't bother packing food, thanks to Jonah she'll probably pick up some edible berries while on the run.

"So goodbye?"

"Goodbyes? Nah, see ya later?"

"Sure. See you later Violet," Jonah said with a sad smile. She returned the sad smile before running off. She didn't run straight from the camp and the incoming Nindroids, it would mean they'll go through Jonah's camp and capture or kill him. Instead, she ran north since they came from the east.

.::.

Hours have passed since she has left Jonah and his camp and the only breaks she had took from running was to only fly up and look to see how far back the nindroids were. She was relieved to see they change their course towards her rather than Jonah's camp but even so, she didn't like the idea of the nindroids capturing her… but if it means her friends and family will be safe then it's worth it. But as she ran, the terrain around her changed; changing from a forest to a jungle. The greenery were a bright green, the thick foliage have thinned out, vines coated the trees like webs of massive spiders and exotic plants could be seen. Some she was still able to recognise being edible but some she hasn't even seen.

The warm humidity of the jungle made her feel sticky and suffocated. Her clothes and hair, slick with perspiration, clung to her skin. Violet have discarded her jacket long ago and stuffed it into her bag while running – that was the hardest thing she has ever done in her life… well not as hard as trying to shoot another arrow. However, Violet didn't cease her speed. She swatted pesky insects out of her way; sweat rolled down her skin in thick, salty beads. She could feel her heart throbbing inside her chest and banging against her ribcage with a quick beat. Her skin felt like it was roasting. After a few steps, Violet was vaguely aware of the stinging in her legs. After another few minutes, the ninja found herself stumbling over twisted roots and rocks. Her lungs felt like they would burst and her throat was so dry. She forced herself to stop.

The caramel-haired girl leaned against the rubbery texture of a tree and leaned her head against it. The trunk felt surprisingly cool against her sweaty forehead. Never had she ran for that long before at that speed. Violet knew she was breathing but the air just won't go in, it was like her lungs were constricted in a tiny cage. With the lack of oxygen towards her brain, dizziness hit her hard. Slowly, Violet let herself slide down the trunk of the tree and onto her knees, her forehead firmly against the rubbery bark. Her breathing was hard and harsh; her chest rose and fell heavily; and her legs felt like jelly. Training to be a ninja at first was harsh, since Violet wasn't fit and way beyond thin from living on the streets; she was always exhausted and often frustrated at the end of the day but this exhaustion was very much different because she can't just call it a day – if she does she'll be the Overlord's prisoner much quicker. She just needs to keep pushing herself until the power is shut down…

Violet head slowly turned to the side to see the falcon perched on a twisted root; its head gently leaned to the side to match her angle. She gently stroked it feathers. She hasn't seen the falcon since the day she met Jonah, she just hoped it brought good news that the power is out – not anymore delayed days.

"Hey guys…" She spoke with a forced smile, trying to not look so exhausted. The falcon's eyes glowed blue and a light projected from it to form a picture of her team who were all surrounding something.

"Violet, what wrong?" Came the Kai's panicked voice.

"Running away," she laughed softly but winched; her throat was too dry which made her voice croaky and it hurt to laugh with her agonisingly sore lungs.

"What?!"

"Kai, panic won't do anyone good," Zane's voice said as he pushed Kai from the screen. "What happened Violet?"

"The day after our last message, I met a young boy who lives in the forest as well got attacked by a bear but don't worry, it didn't hurt me and I killed it but it hurt the boy so I stayed with him until this morning when I first heard and felt the Nindroids' tank rolling into the forest. I've been running ever since to put some space between us until you guys shut down the power… Please tell me you're a day away at least!" She croaked.

"Ummm… About that…" Cole's voice muttered as he turned away.

"We're about two to three days away," Nya told her. "We had a little run in with Nindroids."

"How little?"

"We saw them on the way towards the power station and have to find another route to avoid being seen otherwise they'll inform the Overlord that you're not with us."

"I guess the delay isn't a bad thing…" Violet sighed as she took out a bottle of water and took little sips.

"How far away from them do you think you are?"

"Well it'll take their tanks a while to get through the forest… I think I'm currently a day ahead of them."

"That's good right?"

"Yeah," Violet said softly, "Is that all?"

"Yeah… That's about it," a sigh escaped from Nya. Violet could tell through the hologram they weren't fairing that well either, she could see the deep bag underneath their eyes telling her how hard they are trying to get to the power station quickly without getting spotted at all.

"Can I speak to Kai privately if that's okay?"

"Sure." And one by one Violet watched as they left the screen, Kai looking deeply concerned.

"Are you okay Sumire?" He asked softly.

"Same can be asked about you."

"I asked first."

"I… I think I'm alright," Violet sighed as she turned to face the falcon properly. "They haven't gone away… I don't think they will," she whispered with remorse lacing into her croaky voice, knowing that Kai understood she was talking about her nightmares.

"I'm sure they'll vanish overtime Violet, you just need to give it time… I'm just afraid you might stop breathing like last time and I won't be there to wake you up."

"I know but it hasn't happened yet, I'm still here see?" And she gently smiled as him, "but I don't understand why I still have them. However, I found out that if I put myself in a deep sleep, I don't dream anything."

"Deep sleep? Are you telling me that you're forcing yourself to stay awake so your body will shut down on you?!"

"Well… Yeah, I've only done it once though Kai," Violet rolled her eyes but stopped when she heard a twig snapping. She turned her head around but immediately cringe when dizziness hit her with full force.

"Violet? What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing… But how are you guys? You all look tired," she quickly redirected the conversation to him but as he talked, she tried listening for anything else, seeing for anything else or even feel the vibrations in the ground but nothing. Although, she did catch a few words here and there through Kai's recap such as them not getting sleep since they're trying to quickly make it to the power station.

Another twig snapped.

Violet slowly closed her bottle and placed it in her bag while drowning out Kai's voice and paying attention to her surroundings. She wasn't alone anymore.

When she placed her bottle in her bag, her hand clasped around the hilt of her two daggers and she looked around with sharp eyes. The dizziness was long gone, her breaths quietened but she wasn't sure if there was any point in doing so anymore if her enemy (or in this case, the Nindroids) know where she is.

"Violet… Is there something wrong?" Kai asked and instantly, colours of black, silver and purple appeared with narrow red eyes, surrounding her entirely. Immediately, Violet pushed her hands up, causing a strong gush of wind to blow out from around her. It seemed the falcon noticed and took cover but the Nindroids were blown back, not far but enough for her to escape. "Violet!" She heard Kai's frantic cries but she ignore him.

She grabbed the falcon and quickly took off into the air, only to feel something catch onto her ankle – momentarily bringing up the nightmare of Vincent dragging her deeper into the ocean but when she looked down, she saw one of the Nindroid's chain had caught around her ankle. The owner of the chain jerked harshly, yanking her out of the air and onto the ground – along with the falcon rolling out of her hands. Being swift (while ignoring the throbbing pain throughout her body), she got up and grasped two daggers and held it out as she crouched down in a fighting stance, to intimidate the robots.

"We need the girl alive, not dead," a voice commanded throughout the army of Nindroids that surrounded her. Violet managed to single him out to be the leader of the ground but she couldn't dwell on the fact for too long when five from the group of twenty came towards her.

Trying to be swift and agile as she can with her exhaustion, she dodged and weave between their attacks and weapons nevertheless when a beam came straight for her, Violet quickly brought her daggers in front of her and the beam recoiled off and hit another nindroid, blasting a clear hole through his circuits and shutting him down. She then quickly flipped over two swords and kicked one of the Nindroid's head but cringed immediately when her foot flared up in pain.

She managed to defeat one but she can't win easily against the other nineteen nindroids. While fighting, she caught the falcon quickly perching on a tree, Kai's frantic cries were cut off but she knew it was probably still recording, to let the others know whether she can defeat them all or be captured. After thrusting her arms out to let the wind push the nindroids back, she attempted to fly away again, this time dodging the chain that tried to grab her again. Suddenly, out of mid-flight, Violet felt something barge painfully into her stomach and pushing her back to the ground with startling speed.

The jungle surroundings rushed by as a blur and the impact was excruciating. Her back crashed against the dirty and rocky ground, sending currents of pain to rush through her body, and her limbs and head followed after – hitting the ground. The vibration of the impact shook every bone, spreading from her back to her fingers and toes almost as if lightning had struck her down. But her body didn't remain still, the force she was knocked down still caused her body to rebound off the ground and hit it again, only to have her back scarping the harsh ground. The sensation made goosebumps and the hairs on the back of Violet's neck to rise but it was all dull to the piercing pain that ruled her muscles, bones and skin. Without looking, Violet knew that the smooth skin that existed seconds ago no longer existed. It didn't take much common sense to know her body would be covered in bruises, cuts and wounds from landing on a couple rocks and broken sticks.

"Bound her and you, send a message to the Overlord immediately that he was right, the pesky ninja led us away from her team."

.:Kai:.

"Violet!" His voice ripped through his throat with such fright that by the time he had finished yelling his voice was so hoarse he wasn't sure he couldn't speak – not that he could anyway. He couldn't breathe at the sight that was introduced to his amber eyes; it felt as if someone was choking him.

He heard the others rushed into the cave to see what the matter was but he paid them no attention, his wide eyes watched the hologram to see Violet falling to the ground from the Nindroid that came out of nowhere and knocked her out of the sky. The fear that gripped at his heartstrings also sat on his face like a pillow, over his mouth and nose; enough air gets by it, allowing the body to keep functioning, but it's crippling all the same. Kai agonisingly watched at Violet's body hit the ground and bounce off before hitting the ground again and skidding to a stop.

He couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't want to anyway but now he was seeing something his eyes won't ever be able to erase. The absolute horror completely paralysed him. Her body just remained on the ground, withering in pain with a grimace painted onto her face. The skin her black tank shirt let exposed was covered in dirt, greenish bruises that are yet to form into purple, blue or even black and cuts however her shirt was torn in various places leaving little cuts to be shown through the slit of the broken fabric. Same went for her the rest of her clothing

"What?! I thought she said she was a day ahead of them!" The ever infamous Jay shouted as he started pacing the cave.

"With their tanks going through and knocking down trees, it was just a troop of twenty we saw which meant that they knew they wouldn't make fast enough progress by the tank."

"But she should have known they were coming, like she wouldn't she have been able to sense anything?!"

"Don't forget Jay, they're the Overlord's robots that can fly and vanish like Violet, only difference is that they don't get tired."

"Who cares? We need to get her now!" The bender of fire yelled, cutting out their conversation before walking towards the exit of the cave however Zane's voice stopped him.

"Kai! It would be unwise to go out to save her now, we cannot defeat an army of Nindroids, our best chances are for us to continue on towards the power station and shut off the power then we can save her."

Alrighty, another long chapter for you wonderful readers! I just came back from a performance where I had a few solo pieces but lucky for me, I was able to tackle my stage-fright and perform them with a single mistake (because stupid me left the first page of one song overlapping the other so I couldn't see the first couple of notes for every line). But thank you to you all for reviewing, it made me sooooo happy that there are still some of you that are reading despite my ever-so-slow updates. So major thanks to: ALookIntoMyWorld, ElementzGirl7, Dark Yugi, Kai4Ever, Bl0ndie, KaitheHotHead1, CarlyShi208, the Guest and all my silent readers!

ALookIntoMyWorld: Yes, I have mentioned it before but only once so I don't blame you for missing out. Jonah is fourteen years old. But thank you for informing me about the Beta Reader thing :)

Dark Yugi: Happy Belated Birthday!

I'll see you all next time! Xoxo – ZaneLoverFan88