Summary: After successfully infiltrate the mysterious mansion and gather information on the mysterious yokai, the Lotus Ninjas must find a way to escape.
The Lotus Ninjas woke up with groans.
"Is everyone okay?" Lee asked.
"We're good." Ella and Ellie replied.
"Oh, wow." Donna said with wide eyes.
Lee, Ella, and Ellie followed Donna's stare that led them gazing around and found themselves trapped in a large hexagonal glass cage floating inside a large jade-colored void-like room with floating transparent blue technological cubes everywhere.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Ellie asked.
"Uh-huh." Lee and Ella confirmed.
"Just look at this place. It's like some kind of technomagic fusion." Donna said with an eager smile. "It's glorious. Scientifically, speaking, of course."
"Okay, we already got what we came for. All we need to do now is get out of here." Lee said.
"And how exactly are we supposed to do that?" Ella questioned. "Because if I remember correctly, we're stuck in here."
"And what about these weird cubes?" Ellie asked, staring at the hovering cubes through the glass.
"It's possible they must be surveillance." Donna said. "Judging by its technology to observe us without any chance of escaping."
"Then, we need a plan fast." Lee said.
"Not a problem." Donna muttered.
Donna lifted her glowing hands forward. Her earth magic formed sharp stones behind the hovering cubes. She snapped her fingers, making the stones to fire through the cubes and destroy all of them in explosions. Ella then infused her right fist with fire magic and pressed her hand on the glass, melting it into a large hole for her and her sisters to get out through.
"We're free." Ellie said. "But what now?"
Suddenly, the Lotus Ninjas were pulled out of the void by a mystical force. Once they were unconfined, the mystic kunoichis landed on their feet outside in the hallway.
"Well, that's that." Ellie said with a shrug.
"What's our escape route, D?" Ella asked Donna.
Donna stomped her left boot on the floor and closed her eyes, concentrating on seismic vibrations throughout the entire room. The seismic vibrations notified Donna of a vent that is connected to the floor above them.
Then, Donna opened her eyes and turned to her sisters.
"Found it." Donna responded. She looked up and pointed her finger at the steel white sidewall shaft on the ceiling. "It'll take us straight to the roof and into the city."
"Let's move." Lee ordered.
Ella lifted her index finger and created a small ball of fire at the tip. She aimed and shot the fireball at the shaft cover, causing it to melt into an opening hole. Ellie then manifested a gust of wind around herself and her older sisters. She shaped the wind into a tornado as it carried the mystic sisters inside and zoomed up through the opening.
A male ocelot yokai quickly stepped into the room through the sliding door. He stood in front of the mystics sitting on their thrones.
"Great empresses." The ocelot yokai spoke.
"What is it?" The elderly mystic said.
"The Lotus Ninjas. They have escaped." The ocelot yokai informed.
All three mystics' eyes narrowed.
"Spread out and find them." The mystic empresses ordered. "They cannot escape out of this mansion and expose our existence."
Ellie's tornado bursted through the vent on the mansion roof and soared through the sky until it landed the mystic sisters to a building rooftop before vaporizing out of thin air. The Lotus Ninjas looked around and found themselves completely alone.
"Man, these yokais back there were no joke." Ella groaned.
"At least, we've got all the information to stop Baku." Ellie said.
"Any ideas how, D?" Lee asked Donna.
"I wasn't able to get on that part when the yokais attacked us." Donna said. "We need to head back to the fortress, so I can search and analyze the information."
"At least, it's over with those yokais back in that mansion." Ellie said.
"Not for long."
The Lotus Ninjas quickly jumped on their feet. They looked up to see Enzo and his yokai squad standing right in front of them. Lee, Donna, and Ella gave their youngest sister serious looks on their faces.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Ellie said sheepishly.
"You four have violated our home. And for that, you will face the consequences." Enzo said. "By force."
Enzo and his yokai squad hopped down in front of the Lotus Ninjas. As they charged forward with their laser blasters, the mystic kunoichis summoned their elemental magic and charged forward as well. Together, the Lotus Ninjas fought all of the yokais with their magic-based attacks and their swift punches and kicks. Their magical combat combination successfully defeated the entire yokai squad down, which left only Enzo and four yokais left standing as they stepped towards the Lotus Ninjas with their laser blasters.
Then, Lee detected an immense evil aura coming in their way.
"Girls, Baku's here." Lee said to her sisters.
Lee looked up at the nearby building. Ella, Donna, and Ellie followed Lee's gaze and saw Baku on a nearby rooftop.
"Ellie, it's mist time!" Lee said to Ellie.
"Roger that!" Ellie said with a nod.
Lee and Ellie sprang up in the air above Enzo and his recovering yokai squad, combining their magic circles together and releasing thick white misty fog that surrounded them and obscured their vision at the same time.
"What's going on?!" A female yokai shouted.
"I can't see!" Enzo shouted, looking around with caution.
Ellie manipulated the wind, focusing and gathering the large number of wind streams into a large cloud. Ellie, Lee, Ella, and Donna hopped on top of it.
"Hang on tight." Ellie said.
Ellie controlled the cloud and then started flying over the buildings at fast speed, leaving Baku to chase after them.
As Baku continued slithering after Ellie's cloud, he stretched his arms out forward towards the mystic kunoichis. But Ella quickly released fireballs that instantly hit the yokai's arms upon contact. Baku then charged large spheres of reddish-black energy from his hands and tossed them at the Lotus Ninjas. Ellie avoided the large spheres from hitting her cloud while Lee, Ella, and Donna fired their magic that attacked Baku at all once. While Baku managed to dodge some of the attacks, only Donna's and Ella's magic hit him three times. Lee's magic successfully restrained Baku around with tight chains of solid water, allowing Donna and Ella to unleash a synchronous assault with earth and fire magic that drove the shadowy yokai to the ground.
"Take that, freako!" Ella shouted.
"Now, let's head back home." Lee said.
Ellie nodded and rode her cloud high into the sky.
Baku growled. He freed himself from Lee's water chain and slithered high in the sky. He searched for the mystic sisters, who were nowhere in his sights.
But then, Baku caught the sight of the Lotus Ninjas heading right into the cloaked fortress entrance.
Looks like I'm getting my time of the night after all. Baku smiled to himself.
As the Lotus Ninjas hurried back into the fortress, they ran into the dojo and found Saldana lying on her bed with cold sweat. They ran up to watch their mother twitching her arms and legs.
"M-Mother..." Lee gasped with concern.
"Oh, no. What...what happened...?" Ellie asked.
"We don't know. She was feeling well before." Aaliyah said.
"And then, she was sweating." Irma said. "Like struggling with a bad dream. At least, that's what Phantom analyzed a minute ago."
"Bad dream?" Ella repeated.
Ella, Lee, Ellie, and Donna collectively realized the cause of their mother's cold sweat.
"Baku!" The Lotus Ninjas exclaimed.
"Who?" Aaliyah and Irma asked.
"A dream-terrorizing yokai." Ella replied. "Long story."
"From what I can tell, Baku must've sent our mom into a dream world. And knowing mom, she doesn't take two minutes to know the difference between reality and fantasy. No doubt she's fighting to wake up." Donna said.
"We can't just leave her like this." Lee said.
"When Baku was chasing us, I couldn't find his weakness. I just need a minute to study the file." Donna answered.
Phantom's eyes suddenly flashed and lifted her arms in a threatening position.
"High alert! High alert! An intruder has entered the fortress!" Phantom reported.
"Uh-oh, I think he found us." Ellie gasped.
"Ya think?" Ella said sarcastically.
Baku emerged from Phantom's shadow, making the doll-like automaton jump away. Phantom started extending her fingernails and lashed them towards Baku, who dodged and then grabbed the doll-like automaton's arms before tossing her out of the dojo and into the living room.
"Phantom!" Donna shouted.
"Remember, don't get hit by his dream spheres!" Lee ordered.
Ella charged forward and launched a series of fireballs at Baku from her hands, which Baku smacked the fireballs away with his stretchable arms and then punched Ella straight to the wall. Ella groaned and slowly stood back up. But the minute she recovered, she came face to face with the shadowy yokai. Baku formed a reddish-black ball in his right hand and fired it at Ella, causing a bubble of reddish-black energy to engulf all around the red mystic kunoichi and making her fall asleep in an instant.
"Your dream is mine." Baku said.
Aaliyah charged to attack Baku with her tanto sword. But Baku swiftly evaded the series of sword slashes and then pressed his reddish-black ball into Aaliyah's chest, encasing her into a large bubble and becoming the next sleeping victim to the shadowy yokai's attack.
Ellie charged straight at Baku and fired dozens of spheres made of compressed solid wind at him. Baku managed to avoid the wind spheres and swung Ellie around by her legs before tossing her to the wall like a rag doll. Ellie tried to get up, but she got enveloped in a reddish-black bubble and instantly fell asleep. Irma took out several yellow marble balls from her pocket that electrocuted Baku with extreme electrical currents all around his whole body. But Baku shook off the electric current and swiftly grabbed Irma's arms, throwing her into a deep sleep inside a reddish-black bubble he conjured up.
Then, Lee released concentrated beams of water from her hands to attack Baku one by one.
"Find anything, D?" Lee asked in alarm.
"I'm working on it." Donna replied, staring intensely at the display screen that was pulled up from her dark purple flash drive in her hand.
Baku slithered away from the rapid water blasts until he enlarged his hand and seized Lee tightly. He enlarged his other hand and enveloped the blue mystic kunoichi in a reddish-black bubble. But Lee began fighting the sleeping effect of the shadowy yokai's power.
"Your struggling is amusing but sad." Baku said mockingly. "But in the end, you're just gonna end up like the rest of them."
"No...I...won't!" Lee shouted.
Lee fought Baku's power with everything she had. But she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Donna gasped when she turned around to see her sisters and her friends falling asleep one by one in defeat. She moved her eyes to Baku and fired multiple glowing green seeds from her hands that exploded the shadowy yokai on impact. Baku recovered and then turned to face Donna, who quickly made her flash drive disappear out of sight.
"Cute trick, but not strong enough." Baku said. He formed a reddish-black ball in his left hand. "It's over. It's lights out."
Baku tossed his energy ball that hit and engulfed Donna in a reddish-black bubble. Donna screamed and then fell asleep on the ground.
"Permanently." Baku said.
Baku laughed victoriously and vanished out of the dojo.
From the living room, Phantom stared at the sleeping mystics and humans alongside Ekron, Ryoko, and Izuna with utterly concerned expressions.
To Be Continued…
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