Summary: When the Lotus continue to rest within their father's mysterious mansion, a mysterious masked woman wishes to challenge them that is lurking in the manor.
On a bright sunny morning, five girls gathered in the living room as they are assigned on different cleaning equipment to tidy up the mansion. Ellie and Ella got the dusters, Irma got the vacuum cleaner, Aaliyah got the window cleaner, and Donna got the mop. All of them put on their game faces as if they are ready to complete their ultimate challenge.
"Everyone ready?" Aaliyah asked determinedly.
"Ready." Ellie, Ella, Irma, and Donna replied.
"Fan. Out!" Aaliyah said.
With that, five girls took off to clean up the mansion. Donna mopped the floor up and down the stairs. Aaliyah sprayed the windows with the glass cleaner and wiped it spotless with a rag, Irma vacuumed every carpet rug from upstairs and downstairs, and Ella dusted the fireplace while Ellie cleaned the chandelier upside-down from the ceiling.
One hour and a half later, the girls stood with proud smiles as the entire mansion was sparkling clean.
"Job well done we did, girls." Donna said.
"Yay!" Ellie cheered as she and Aaliyah high-fived each other.
"Hey, how Lee's coming along?" Irma asked Ella.
"She's getting better." Ella replied.
"As long as she sticks to my homemade medicine, she'll be back in shape in no time." Donna said.
"We better go check on her." Aaliyah said.
Lee dove in the pool and started swimming with perfect timing. She swam in underwater running stroke with swift speed. Once she reached the end of the pool, she then turned around to head towards the other side of the pool with a small speed boost.
Ekron and Ryoko cheered while Phantom applauded.
"Well done, my daughter." Saldana said surprisingly. "I could sense your strength growing back within you."
"Thanks to the healing properties of this pool." Lee said as she stayed afloat in the pool. "But where are the girls?"
"I sent them to do some chores around the mansion." Saldana said.
Ella, Ellie, Donna, Irma, and Aaliyah walked into the pool chamber room.
"Looking good, Lee. You're really coming along." Ella said with a smile.
"Thanks." Lee smiled back.
"Hey, Irma and I are thinking about heading out to pick up some pizza." Aaliyah said.
"Any requests while we're out?" Irma asked.
"Get some gummy worms." Ellie requested.
"Oh, and chocolate truffles from my favorite bakery." Lee added.
"Sure thing." Irma said.
"Take Phantom, Ekron, and Ryoko with you. in case of absolute protection." Saldana suggested.
"Good idea." Irma said. "We'll be back in a few."
Ryoko flex behind Irma and Aaliyah before roaring out a white portal. Irma, Aaliyah, Phantom, and Ekron walked through the portal one by one. Ryoko flew straight down towards the portal as it closed and disappeared right out of sight.
Lee sat on the edge of the pool. She lifted her hands as she was ready to manipulate the pool water. But she sharply put on a worriedly surprised look on her face when she realized something was wrong. Normally, water would be controlled by her command in appearance. But somehow, her hands are still completely normal.
"What?" Lee muttered.
Lee tried to manipulate the pool water, but her magic isn't responding to her whim. That greatly concerned her mother and sisters.
"My powers." Lee gasped.
Lee then tried to control water from the pool again, but she was unable to use her magic. No matter how hard she tried, nothing happened.
"Hey, Lee. Are you okay over there?" Ellie asked.
"I'm fine. Just stretching my arms, that's all." Lee assured.
"Lee, I understand you wanna train so much." Donna said. "But you gotta give yourself time to heal."
"Yeah, but…" Lee said with a frown.
"Your sister is right, Leona." Saldana agreed. "Perhaps, mediation should help. Join me in the dojo."
"Hai, mother." Lee said as she stood up on her feet.
Lee and Saldana walked away, leaving Ella, Donna, and Ellie exchange concerned faces.
Lee and Saldana mediated quietly on the floor in the dojo room. But Lee was having a hard time concentrating during the silence.
"I can't...focus..." Lee said with a heavy sigh.
"Something's troubling you, Leona?" Saldana asked.
"Sorry, mother." Lee apologized as she opened her eyes. "I don't mean to dishonor our mediation. I'm...I'm just frustrated."
"I can see that. Explain, my daughter." Saldana said as she opened her eyes as well.
"It's my magic. No matter how hard I train or swim into full recovery, I can't seem to use my magic to control water anymore." Lee explained as she crossed her arms over chest. "It's like it's there within me, but refuses to come out. And worse of all, I don't know why."
"Leona, just like your sisters, your magic requires intuition, healing, and most of all emotionality." Saldana said.
"Emotionality?" Lee asked.
"If overdoing anything or severely overwhelmed, you will deplete yourself, which leads to imbalance." Saldana explained. "The water element sustains and provides a sense of peace and tranquil. On one side, it can be soothing and serene. But it can be rampant to another. As the leader, you must be one in body and spirit."
"Unlike my fight with the Shadow Clan." Lee muttered sadly as she looked down with a frown.
"Perhaps, we should end meditation for now." Saldana said as she levitated herself up to her feet. "Help yourself some refreshments in the kitchen."
"Hai, mother." Lee bowed.
Lee walked out of the dojo as Saldana stared at her daughter with a concerning look on her face.
"It would seem that Leona is very dispirited from her fight with Lady Shade." Saldana said. "I've taught my daughters to prepare themselves for the evils that lurks in the shadow." Her eyes moved to a black kitsune fox mask hovering behind her. "It's time for them to face you with everything they learned."
Lee arrived at the kitchen. She sat down on a dining chair and began drinking a cup of blueberry mango tea. Ella, Donna, and Ellie entered the kitchen. They quietly saw Lee looking depressed at her tea. After exchanging worried faces, they walked over to comfort their older sisters.
"Are you okay, Lee?" Ellie asked, placing her hand on her distraught oldest sister's shoulder.
"I'm fine." Lee answered with an assuring smile. "Just resting up, that's all."
"Well, just forget to take my homemade medicine." Donna said with a soft smile. "Trust me, you'll be all healed in no time."
"And what exactly did you put that medicine of yours?" Ella asked as she leaning against the wall behind Lee with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Half of cup of dried rose hips, half of cup of dried elderberries, and half of cup of hibiscus flowers. And to add delicious flavor, I used two cups of fresh strawberries, raspberries blueberries." Donna explained.
"As long as the taste is not coming out of me, I'm not complaining." Lee joked.
Ellie, Donna, and Ella giggled by Lee's joke.
Then, Ellie's eyes moved away from her sisters and looked at someone with surprise eyes.
"Uh, girls? Who's that?" Ellie asked, pointing her finger forward.
Lee, Ella, and Donna collectively followed Ellie's finger as they stared at the masked woman appearing out of nowhere in the kitchen. The mysterious woman has a curvy body with long black hair that is styled in curly locks in the front with folded curls in the back that is pressed by a curved plate. She wore a dark silver, traditional qipao with smaller silver claw patterns around her neck, long sleeve-like white gloves that nearly reach her shoulders and expose her hands from the wrist, and black knee-high boots. She also wore a black kitsune fox mask on her face.
Lee quickly stood up out of her seat. Donna took two steps back as Ellie jumped behind Lee while Ella moved herself away from the wall with a glare.
"Whoa, where did she come from?" Donna exclaimed. Her eyes moved down to see a white lotus-shaped necklace in the woman's left hand. "Is what I think it is?"
"She got mother's necklace!" Lee gasped in shock.
Ella engulfed her fists with blazing flames.
"You mess with the wrong girls, freak!" Ella shouted.
Ella charged forward to the masked woman.
"Ella, wait!" Lee yelled.
The mysterious woman's irises glowed bright white behind her mask. She blew out a white sparkling powder from her mouth, causing Ella to fall asleep on the floor instantly.
"Ellie, you go high! Donna, go low!" Lee ordered.
"Got it!" Ellie and Donna nodded.
Ellie and Donna charged forward at the mysterious woman as they summoned their elemental magic. But the mysterious woman swiftly punched Ellie hard in the face and then kicked Donna in the stomach repeatedly, knocking them down into the state of unconsciousness.
The mysterious woman turned her head to Lee, who is the last one standing while the other three mystic kunoichis are down and out.
Magic or not, I can do this. Just watch her move and strike for an opening. Lee thought.
Lee charged forward and delivered a series of rotating, upside-down kicks to attack the mysterious woman. But the mysterious woman backflipped away and moved forward with remarkable speed. Before Lee could react with quick reaction, the mysterious woman knocked the blue mystic kunoichi with a single powerful punch to the gut.
Lee glared at the mysterious woman one more time and then collapsed to the ground.
Lee slowly woke up with a groan. She blinked when she found herself in a transparent bubble inside an empty room.
"Where am I?" Lee muttered.
Lee sat up on her knees and turned her head to see Ella, Ellie, and Donna are awake inside the transparent bubbles as well.
"Greetings, young mystics. I am Vixen."
Lee, Ella, Donna, and Ellie looked around for the source of that unfamiliar voice.
"Vixen?" Ellie repeated.
"Indeed. I have been watching you four for some quite time." Vixen announced. "And you girls can't call yourselves kunoichis, especially the way you all fight."
"You better take your words back, missy! We are kunoichis!" Ella threatened.
"Oh, is that so?" Vixen questioned in a mocking tone. "If you dare want to claim the title, your four must face and conquer my challenges. The rules are very simple. Survive the challenges and you will earn the kunoichi title. But if you fail, let's just say, you don't want to find out."
Donna magically erupted earth spikes out of the ground and directed them piercing the bubble that she's trapped in. Ellie created several blades of wind at the bubble wall. Ella began punching the bubble wall with her flaming fists. But neither of their attacks have any effect on the bubbles.
Ella, Ellie, and Donna turned their heads to Lee, who was floating at the center of the bubble with her eyes shut and her face composed.
"Hey, Lee. What'cha doing over there?" Ellie called out.
"How can you be meditating in a time like this? We're trying to escape here!" Ella shouted.
"I know that, but we need to remember what mother taught us. We must clear our minds and discover the correct path to victory together." Lee said.
"No offense, but I don't think meditation is gonna help." Ella said. "In case you haven't noticed, we all already tried bursting out of this bubble with our magic."
Lee's eyes suddenly popped wide open.
"Wait a minute! Ella, you're a genius!" Lee gasped.
"Wait, she is?" Ellie asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey, I'm the one with the brains around here, you know." Donna said with a glare.
"It's like what Vixen said. She has been watching us for a while. Not to mention, she watched our fighting style." Lee grinned.
"Yeah, so what's your point?" Ella asked.
"Vixen has known our strengths and our weaknesses, and how to beat us in single combat. She also knows how we'll react when we were trapped in the bubbles and how to escape." Lee explained. "She knew Donna would pierce the bubble with her earth magic. She knew Ellie would slash her air magic to her bubble. And she knew Ella will punch the bubble with her fire magic."
"Okay, so what about you?" Ella asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Honestly, I don't know." Lee replied with a shrug. "Besides, did anyone even bother to pop the bubbles instead of using magic against it?"
"Seriously? That's your suggestion?" Ella said with a raised eyebrow.
Ella tapped her index finger to the bubble wall, causing it to pop instantly. Ella landed on her feet with a surprised face. Lee, Donna, and Ellie popped their bubble prisons as they landed on their feet.
Lee, Donna, and Ellie looked at Ella with smirks.
"Never mind." Ella said.
"Now, it's time to begin the second challenge." Vixen spoke. "Don't count yourselves to be easy this time."
Suddenly, four bright white portals appeared underneath the Lotus Ninjas. Lee, Ella, Ellie, and Donna screamed as they got whirled into the portals to the unknown.
Lee slowly woke up with a groan. She got up from the floor and blinked when she found herself in an empty cubic room. She looked around, where the entire room has hard stone walls, but it has no windows nor doors.
"Hey, where am I? What is this?" Lee questioned.
"I'm glad you asked, Leona."
Lee startled by the sound of the familiar voice. She lifted her arms up defensively as she searched around for that voice coming from the unseen speakers.
In an unknown location, Vixen was watching the Lotus Ninjas in their individual rooms from the holographic screens.
"Welcome to your second challenge." Vixen announced. "Each of you has been placed inside an impassable room. And Leona, if you want to escape, dodge while you can because it's time to crank up the heat."
The stone walls of the cubic room cracked itself into large fissures that caught Lee's alerting attention. Every wall was filled with molten fire and fireballs came out firing one by one. With a slightly unnerved face, Lee swiftly evaded each fireball coming in her direction.
Vixen shifted her stare onto the next holographic screen, where Ella looked around found herself inside a tranquil forest-like room that has lush tall trees, abundant grassland, and verdant flowers all around the place in every corner.
"Greetings, Rafaela." Vixen said. "Ready to smell the flowers?"
Suddenly, giant colorful roses rose from the ground. They turned their attention to Ella and started shooting multicolored glowing seeds at her.
"What the heck?!" Ella exclaimed in panic.
Ella evaded the glowing seeds that exploded on the ground upon contact with side jumps and backflips as fast as she can.
Vixen shifted their stare onto the third holographic screen, where Donna was standing a massive cumulonimbus cloud on the clear blue sky area as she stared up at several metallic saucers floating from above with her eyes widened open.
"Hello, Donatella. Let's see if you can avoid going for a spin from the saucers. Just don't get beamed." Vixen said.
Donna immediately hurried away from the saucers charging after her. But one saucer managed to immobilize her with a green energy ray. It generated a large tornado that lifted the screaming Donna and spun her around with great force.
Vixen shifted their stare onto the final holographic screen, where Ellie was trapped inside of a circular capsule-like cage hanging over a large whirlpool in the middle of the brick room. She frantically looked down with frightening eyes.
"And of course, I save you best for last, Michelle." Vixen said. "If you failed to break free, you'll be under the sea...literally."
The cage started descending itself towards the whirlpool in a slow pace.
"Okay, this is not funny! Let me out of here!" Ellie screamed.
"If you all are worthy of kunoichi, pass the challenge." Vixen instructed.
During the past hour, the Lotus Ninjas kept focusing on the challenges that Vixen have set up for them. Ella kept running away from the glowing seeds, Lee tried evading the rapid tossing of fireballs, Donna kept getting whirled rapidly by the beaming saucers, and Ellie tried escaping out of the plunging cage.
Then, the sound of Ellie's frantic screaming caught Lee's attention.
"Ellie! Is that you?" Lee shouted.
"Yeah, it's me!" Ellie shouted back.
Lee noticed that Ellie's voice was coming from the right side of the room. Her eyes widen when she then heard Donna's screaming from the left side of the room.
"Donna!" Lee gasped.
"Lee!" Donna gasped back. "I can hear you through the walls!"
"Hey, Donna! Can you hear me?" Ella shouted through the wall in Donna's confined room.
"Loud and clear!" Donna shouted back.
"Good. Because we could really use your big brain right about now!" Ella yelled as she kept running and flipping from the glowing seeds.
"I would love to, but I'm in the middle of a giant cloud running away from UFOs right now!" Donna yelled back as she hurried away from the beaming saucers. "I can't take another big whirlwind!"
"You think you're in a tight spot?!" Ellie hollered as she looked down at the whirlpool in fear. "I'm struck in an unbreakable cage and there's a crazy whirlpool under me!"
"And you think you got it bad?! I'm running for my dear life from flying seeds from crazy flytraps!" Ella retorted as she got down under the large vine.
"Speak for yourself! One touch of these fireballs and I'm toasted for real!" Lee yelled as she evaded more incoming fireballs with side steps and backflips. If only I can get my magic up and running! It's like what mother once told me. I have to be the leader in body and spirit. But I can't be one if I haven't let Lady Shade and the Shadow trapped me. I messed up back there. I got my butt kicked. I'm losing my magic. And worst of all, I let everyone down. I...
Then, Lee's eyes widened as she immediately realized what she just said. Earlier, her water magic wasn't responding and she couldn't figure out why. After her brutal fight with Lady Shade and the Shadow Clan, her emotions started inclining with her powers. Ever since she's feeling down, her water magic was beginning to diminish due to her anguishing state of mind.
As usual, mother was right. Lee thought with a small grin.
Lee closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, they glowed bright blue. She took aim at an incoming fireball and fired a concentrated beam of water from her left hand to quench it.
With a confident smile, Lee puts on a strong-minded face.
"Girls, I've figured it out!" Lee shouted. "Vixen trapped us in these rooms based on the four classical elements. Except we're standing in the room that is the opposite of our powers!"
"You're onto something! Fire torches earth!" Ella yelled.
"Earth crumbles air!" Donna shouted.
"Air storms over water!" Ellie cried.
"And water wipes out fire!" Lee smiled. "Let's do it!"
"Got it!" Ella, Donna, and Ellie nodded.
Ella engulfed her entire body in a blazing fiery aura. She slammed the ground with her fists, generating a massive shockwave that charred the roses and the entire forest-like room into crisps. Lee spun herself around while submerging herself into a cyclone with water energy, expanding rapidly and washed the entire room in rapid speed. Donna enveloped her hands in purple light and raised them up, summoning sharp stones to pierce all the incoming saucers that destroyed them all at once in an explosion. Ellie gathered an orange ball of wind energy in between her hand and then fired a single destructive beam that destroyed the capsule-like cage and transformed the large whirlpool in solid ice upon contract as she landed on her knees on the icy surface.
"I'm glad that's over." Ellie said with a relived sigh.
Suddenly, four bright white portals reappeared underneath the Lotus Ninjas.
"Spoke too soon!" Ellie cried.
Lee, Ella, Ellie, and Donna screamed as they got whirled into the portals again.
"These ninjas have proven to be more resourceful than I anticipated." Vixen admitted. "They've mastered their individual tests, but one last challenge remains. Let's see if they have the training and knowledge to survive intact."
Now, Donna found herself within a darkened room.
"Hello?" Donna called out.
"Donna!" Ella shouted.
"Ella!" Ellie cried.
The lights suddenly turned on. Donna's si
Donna touched the wall and turned out the power outage. Her smile grew when she spun around to see Ella and Ellie in her view.
"Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" Ellie smiled.
"Sup, Ellie!" Ella smiled back.
"Never thought I'd be so happy to see your faces again." Donna grinned as she and Ellie high-fived each other. "But where's Lee?"
"Don't know." Ella shrugged.
"Do you guys hear a whirling sound?" Ellie asked.
Then, a portal appeared above the three sisters. They looked up to see Lee falling through the portal.
"YAHOO!" Lee laughed.
Lee crashed on top of Ellie, Ella, and Donna, causing them to fall on the floor in a pile at the bottom.
"Found her." Ellie groaned.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Ella said sarcastically. She looked up at Lee. "You can get off of us now."
"Oh, sorry. My bad." Lee apologized.
Lee helped her sisters on their feet. But Donna saw someone that caught her attention.
"Uh, girls? Guess who found us?" Donna said.
Lee, Ella, and Ellie turned their heads to see Vixen standing toward them.
"Oh boy." Ellie said.
The Lotus Ninjas immediately summoned their elemental magic from their hands as they huddled together to face against Vixen.
"You four may have passed two challenges, but you all will face your third and your last." Vixen said. She posed into a fighting stance. "Me."
"Ok, Lee. What's the game plan?" Ella asked.
"Donna, you strike this masked freak first and keep her off balance. Ella and I will attack next with a striking combo. Ellie will take her down with her…" Lee instructed.
"Say it! Please say it!" Ellie begged.
"With your power of awesomeness!" Lee grinned.
"Yes!" Ellie beamed.
"On three, girls!" Lee said.
"One!" Donna shouted.
"Two!" Ellie yelled.
"Three!" Ella cried.
The Lotus Ninjas jumped in the air. Vixen created four large orbs filled with white energy and released them at the four mystic kunoichis, who quickly scattered away. Donna summoned plant vines from her hands and launched them around Vixen's legs, pulling her forward and delivering spinning kicks from an upside-down position that knocked her off balance. Next, Ella charged and sprang into the air with a back flip before launching a large fireball at Vixen. Then, Lee gathered intense water energy in her palms and released a large water ball radiating a dome of magical light that attacked Vixen repeatedly.
"Ellie, go for it!" Lee ordered.
Ellie charged forward with a thumb-up. She channeled her air magic around her fist and slammed it into the ground, creating a small whirlwind underearth Vixen and propelling her in the air. She then enveloped her legs with air energy and performed five backflipping somersault kicks at Vixen. That move instantly knocked the mask off of Vixen's face.
Once Vixen crashed to the ground, the Lotus Ninjas gathered together and high-fived each other with triumphant smiles.
"Yeah!" Ellie, Lee, Ella, and Donna cheered.
Ellie, Lee, Ella, and Donna then turned back to Vixen. But their eyes widened wide in shock and surprise. Vixen was…their mother!
"You did well, my daughters. You passed." Saldana said calmly.
"What the?!" Ellie exclaimed.
"I can't believe it!" Ella gasped in shock.
"Oh snap!" Donna muttered.
"Mother!" Lee cried. "I…I don't understand."
"The challenges were meant for you, Leona. I honestly didn't expect your sisters to be involved." Saldana said as she hovered up on her feet. "You have suffered injuries both physical and spiritual. But it was more than that. Because of your hurting emotions, your magic has become harshly weakened. And once you finally realized the problem, you were able to push past your suffering and move forward with confidence."
"I understand, mother. Thank you." Lee said with a bow.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but all of those challenges have made me hungry." Ellie said as she collapsed on her knees.
A white portal appeared in the room. Irma, Aaliyah, Phantom, Ekron, and Ryoko walked out of the portal altogether. Once the portal closed, they all noticed something happened when they caught Saldana's outfit.
"Uh, what did we miss?" Aaliyah asked slowly in confusion.
Few hours later, everyone sat around the large dining table, chewing on the pizza slices.
"I'm glad you got your magic back, sis." Ellie said, putting her hand on Lee's shoulder.
"Trust me. It's good to have them back." Lee smiled. She puts on a serious look on her face. "And now, I believe it's finally time to return to New York and take down Lady Shade. And this time, we do this together."
Ella, Donna, and Ellie drew their elemental magic from their palms. Lee drew her water magic from her palm as she and her sisters raised their hands in the air together.
"Yeah!" Ella, Donna, and Ellie cheered in unison.
Bare with me. Thanks to my job, I know the chapters are slow, but I'm not giving up on it. Enjoy and review.