The IS academy students stood in multiple lines getting equipped to help fight against the Nindroid army while Chifuyu, Ichika, and I were helping get Tabane everything she needed to provide these girls with something to fight. I was grabbing a piece of metal to hand to Tabane to weld into a shield for one of the girls when Honne Nohotoke walked up with a familiar girl behind her. "Hunter, this girl says she knows you and wants to talk to you. She says her name is-"
"Sammie!" I spoke in shock, not thinking I'd ever see her here. She was bruised from head to toe. "Oh, my goodness. What happened." I put my hands on her shoulders.
"Cryptor." Her eyes looked to her feet. "I was trapped in the academy dorms, and your Sensei and a blue-haired girl rescued me." While she spoke of others, her mind kept thinking of someone else.
I hugged her, knowing exactly who she was thinking about. "You're safe now, don't worry. I promise you. I'm gonna get Nathan back."
"We'll get him back together," Sammie informed me.
"Together!? Sammie, you're in no shape to fight! You need to stay here with Tabane and get some rest."
"I'm not letting my boyfriend get killed by a bunch of robots when I could be doing something about it." She walked over to Ichika and pulled the sword he was handing to one of the academy students out of his hands. "I'm not going to say it again. I'm going." I could tell she was getting angry with me.
I let out a sigh. "Fine." I turned around and grabbed a shield up off the floor. "You'll need this too." I walked over and held it out for her to take. Giving me a smirk, she took it out of my hand and put herself into a battle pose. "You two may not have spent much time together, but I can tell you truly love him as much as I do." I crossed my arms.
"You're darn right I do. Now, let's finish getting everyone suited up!" It's almost like she was getting more invigorated thinking about saving Nathan.
One by one, each girl was given a sword and a shield, with some of the strongest students getting old IS unit suits that Tabane had lying around. Tabane started attaching the fake mind control pieces onto Ichika and the others to make it seem more believable that they still worked for the Destroyer.
Finally, we were all ready. Before we left, I decided to stand up one more time in front of everyone and give an announcement. "Everyone, before I head out. I just wanted to say…. thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because of you guys, I have a fighting chance at finishing this endless battle once and for all, and for that, I am grateful." My eyes began to well up with tiers, but I quickly rubbed them out of my eyes. "Now. Let's go save this dimension!" All the girls began to cheer.
At the academy, a large crowd of Nindroids stood in the courtyard watching as Cryptor led the chained Ninja, Sensei, and Cyrus Borg out to be executed. They marched up onto a wooden stage roughly six feet off the ground. One Nindroid had a camera and was getting ready to film everything and broadcast the execution to the entire world.
Once everyone was lined up on the stage, Cryptor turned to face the Nindroid with the camera and signaled the Nindroid to begin. Every device worldwide began to show the Cryptor standing before the chained heroes. Many people were shocked to see a worldwide broadcast, let alone one with the ninja in chains. "Mommy, what are they doing with the ninja?" A little girl, scared, hugged her mom on the couch in their living room.
"I don't know sweetheart." She pulled her daughter in close.
"Good evening, people of the world!" Cryptor's voice boomed over a speaker. "We have a very special surprise for everyone tonight! In fact, it involves the court jesters you see behind me!" He began to laugh, and the rest of the Nindroid army followed suit, laughing at their prisoners. "Tonight, we will end these false heroes' lives, not by sword or anything like you would have probably heard of or seen before. No, our great ruler, the Destroyer, will be the one to save you all and rid these people of this world!" Cryptor pointed to the top of the IS Academy tower, and the camera zoomed in on a room that was not there before. A room with a balcony that loomed over the school's campus. On that balcony stood the beast that was the Destroyer. He glared at the Sensei, excited to end them and prove his words from their fight correct. That there will be peace in the darkness he will bring. "But before he blesses us with this execution, we await one more individual."
As if on cue, Cryptor noticed something flying towards the island. It was Chifuyu carrying a chained-up me. "Speak of the devil! Our guest of honor has arrived!" The Nindroid army cheered as Chifuyu, Ichicka, and the other girls under the Destroyer's control landed next to the stage. Chifuyu looked up at the Destroyer, who gave her a nod of approval. She put me down and pushed me forward towards a Nindroid to bring me up on stage. My hands were behind my back in vengestone handcuffs that Tabane had put on me, with a bit of a surprise ready for Cryptor and the Nindroids.
Somewhere in Tokyo, a group of people watched the live show on a big screen projected on the side of a building. "They captured all of the ninja?" One spoke in shock.
"How could the academy staff do that to their own students?" One questioned angrily.
"If they die, what hope do we have?" Another panicked.
I was put in between Nathan and Lloyd. "Welcome to the party," Nathan said to me sarcastically. I gave him a little wink, causing him and Lloyd to look at me with confused expressions.
"Now that the gang is all here," Cryptor boomed once more, "we can get on with the show!"
Phantom Task stood by the entrance to the academy, underneath the Destroyer's balcony. "About time." Autumn groaned. "I want to get this over with so I can get some sleep.
The other Nindroids on stage turned us around to face the Destroyer. "I'm sorry." Cryptor spoke directly to us, "but there will be no last words." He began to laugh along with the Nindroid army again.
The Destroyer put out both of his claws, and they began to glow purple. "So, when are you going to start your plan, Hunter?" Lloyd asked. I said nothing and looked up at the Destroyer with no expression. "Hunter?" Lloyd asked one more time, a little more panicked. I could tell the Destroyer was aiming his attack at me specifically, as I was hoping. "Hunter!?" now all four were looking at me in panic.
With an enormous roar, the Destroyer unleashed a large power beam at me. "NOW, CHIFUYU!" I yelled, breaking my fake vengestone handcuffs. Chifuyu tossed my elemental techno blade at me, with me catching it over my head, allowing me to activate it and pull it down to my chest. The Destroyer's power beam struck my weapon and pushed me back to the edge of the stage. Using the strength of my sword, I reflected the power beam towards the base of the academy, disintegrating any Nindroid that the beam hit.
"Look out!" Squall shouted as she and the rest of the phantom task flew out of the way of the beam that hit the academy. An explosion erupted at the academy's base, causing the building to shake and the Destroyer to lose focus and stop shooting his power beam. He fell to the ground and looked at me in range.
I sliced the handcuffs off the others with my sword and gave them a smirk. "Now I'm starting my plan." I turned to the Nindroid holding the other elemental technoblades and the Sensei's staffs. "I'll be taking those now. I blasted him with an orange energy, and he flew back, causing the weapons to fly out of his hands. Everyone caught their respective weapons, and the other ninja activated them.
We turned to face Cryptor, but he had left the stage. We turned to see him running towards the academy through the path the Destroyer's beam created. He helped the members of Phantom Task up and entered the academy through its newly created entrance. The Destroyer put his hand on the balcony railing and raised himself back up. "STOP THEM!" He screamed, leaning over the balcony and pointing at us. The IS crew began striking at the Nindroids with their new weapons, shattering them completely. "They gave them the power of the ninja's weapons." He growled. We joined the crew by jumping down the stage and slicing and shooting elemental powers from our weapons at the Nindroid army.
"Can someone get me down, please?" Cyrus panicked, still being stuck on stage in his wheelchair.
"We've got you, Dr. Borg!" Garmadon shouted as he and Wu spun up on stage with Spinjitzu, throwing off several Nindroids that had climbed up to attack the poor inventor.
"We must get Hunter up there!" Wu looked at his brother, Nephew, and Nathan. "Ms. Orimura, please watch over Dr. Borg."
"I'll protect him with my life." She said, reaching over and grabbing Cyrus Borg out of his wheelchair.
"Oh, good heavens!" Cyrus let out as she pulled him close to her IS unit, still swinging her weapon and kicking Nindroids
"I can't believe you managed to save the others!" Nathan cheered as he stabbed his sword through a Nindroid and shot the ones behind it with a blast of water from the blade. "But did you think we all could take on the army by ourselves?"
"No sir, I did not." I smiled at him. A horn blasted from the rocky face of the mainland side of the island. The Destroyer and the Nindroid army turned and looked in that direction to see something they never expected. It was an army made up of the academy's students, all screaming as they rushed the grounds of the academy. The Nindroids were so caught off guard that they couldn't compute fast enough what to do. Sammie led the charge of this makeshift group, with several girls in IS units flying above her, ready to strike the Destroyer's mechanical army.
"Sammie." Nathan whispered with tears of joy appearing in his eyes. With a bang, the girls struck the Nindroids first, cutting through them and continuing the push towards the academy.
The Destroyer looked on in horror as his army began to disappear before his Oni eyes. "No….no…. NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed. He let out a roar and shot a massive blast of power from his mouth towards us.
"Lookout!" I shouted. Nathan, Lloyd, and I jumped back on stage and began to do Spinjitzu with the Sensei as the blast from the Destroyer's mouth hit us, but with the five of us combined, we could hold back his blast until he gave up. When he finished, he and I glared once more at each other until he turned back quickly into his throne room. His cloak masked his exit.
"Quickly, before the gap to the academy closes!" Garmadon pointed towards the entrance with his staff. The five of us began to run towards the entrance while Nindroid eye lasers whizzed past us. The gap was getting smaller and smaller as Nindroids began to fill the area the Destroyer's beam created. We blocked as many shots as possible, but Sensei Wu was eventually struck by one. "Brother!" Garmadon rushed back as his brother fell to the ground. The three of us ninja stopped and kept deflecting the Nindroid's attacks.
"I'm alright," Wu said, slowly getting up as the King of Shadows blocked incoming Nindroid eye lasers with his staff. "They must get inside the academy." Wu also began to fight back, as the laser didn't strike anywhere vital.
"Go!" Garmadon shouted to the three of us. "We'll cover you. Just leave!"
"They've got this! Let's go!" Lloyd said to Nathan and me, who were worrying about our teachers.
We turned back around and ran toward the tower that stood before us. As we approached the entrance, I raised my sword and blasted what was left of the ceiling. We jumped ahead of the falling debris and were covered in dust as everything landed behind us, blocking the Nindroid army from entering.
"Now what?" Nathan asked as we slowly got up.
"We do what we've been training to do from the start." I used the blade of my weapon to help me get up. I brushed some of the dust off me. "We stop the Destroyer once and for all!"
Up in the Destroyer's throne room, he stood before Tatenashi, who had her arms chained to the wall. "I'll admit, your little boyfriend is a clever one. However, if he does make it up here, he will not survive my wrath." He turned and made his way to his throne, where he sat ready for my arrival….