Hi y'all! Got another chapter for you! As this is the 9th chapter, that means we have three more chapters until the end! Anyway, I hope you've been enjoying this fanfic. I'd love to hear your thoughts! And I hope you enjoy this chapter, too.
I don't want to leave Lloyd, even if I know he will be OK. Even though he always somehow makes it through. It goes against every big brotherly instinct I've ever had to leave him. I only manage it, though it leaves me with a horrible sick feeling in my gut, because I know everything will be over if the Overlord corrupts the Elements of Creation. I can't stay. That's the simple truth, even if it is one that I do not enjoy.
Another burst of light, like the one that had brought me here, the one that pumped enough adrenaline for me to figure out how to morph my form into a dragon's, washes over everything, searing my eyes for several moments. I pump my wings harder, speeding faster, faster, faster, using my other senses to guide me as my vision slowly, gradually, returns.
Master Wu says that when our powers are released, two things may happen, they will go back to their origin or they will find new wielders. A while ago, I would have hoped that they would just come back to us, but now I hope that they don't, or at least, not until the Overlord is defeated; the Elements of Creation cannot be corrupted. But it doesn't change the fact that giving up my powers will be like ripping a piece of me away. My powers are as much a part of me as my heart, as my lungs, as my skin. I'll survive it – maybe – but it'll still hurt.
As I land, I look up, hoping to see Lloyd gliding down to the ground. Nothing. I sigh and allow my form to shrink, my front legs reform into arms, my reptilian face morphing into the gorgeously hot human face I was born with. I take flight again, my regular Dragon Form wings pumping. As a dragon, I could cover large distances in seconds; the speed is something I sincerely miss as I struggle to make my way to the warehouse quickly, but the complete dragon body would cost me more than this form. That's what the others think, anyway.
The others are currently driving back the Crystal Warriors, their numbers are still significant despite being severely diminished.
"Good, you're back," Cole says.
"Let's get this started," Jay prompts.
"Got it," I reply, swooping down and making a show of wiping out at least five Crystal Warriors at once.
Cole, Jay, Zane, and I scatter, zooming to meet the villains wielding our corresponding weapons. Unsurprisingly, Zane is the first to disarm one of the villains holding his Golden Weapon. For a second, I am distracted by the growing crystals encasing him. For a second, I am terrified that I might have led my friends into a trap, that the Overlord knew I would convince them to do this and had planned on it. Then, ice gathers on his hands, and veins of the power glow on his arms before the crystal recedes. I sigh in relief and turn back to fighting the Crystal Warriors.
"Channel your power into the weapon," Zane informs us through our mental connection.
"Roger that," I say. I turn to Aspheera, my smile turning wickedly mischievous. "Remember me?" I send to her, giving her a five-second warning before I dive at her.
She swipes at me with my sword. If I were just a spectator, I might have laughed at the irony, but that only makes me more determined to get my sword back. I dodge the swipe, dive right under the belly of the dragonide the snake is perched on, and shoot up and lurch for my sword from underneath. Aspheera returns the attack with a wide slash. I have to roll to the side, but fortunately, it is where her arm ends the slashing motion, and I jolt forward, grabbing her wrist. She tries to knock me off, even attempting Spinjitzu, but I manage to wrestle the sword from her grip. She screams and tries to snatch it back, but I zip into the air, allowing my wings to take me as far as I can.
The lesson I learned: high altitudes while holding a weapon that is trying to corrupt me is a TERRIBLE idea. Concentrating my elemental powers into the sword requires…well, concentration. And keeping myself elevated in high altitude? You guessed it. I need to concentrate so I don't get torn apart by jet streams.
As soon as I try to keep myself from getting drawn in by the corruption, I plummet. I open my wings to slow my descent before continuing to pump fire into the sword. I drop some more. Someone is calling my name, but I can't answer. I know it was hard for Zane to stop the corruption, but I think once you get corrupted, the easier it is to fall into the darkness again. Just as I am about to get dangerously close to becoming nothing more than a splat, the darkness pulls back, and I can open my wings to slow myself down. I still land painfully hard, but at least I'm not a splat.
I hear Jay whooping as he disarms Pythor, sending the ghostly Serpentine flying. Cole is still fighting the Vangelis, but at this point, he's letting Vangelis think that he's winning. Nya is keeping the Crystal Warriors off Cole's back and keeping a strict perimeter around the warehouse clear of the Warriors.
When I turn back, Cole is wielding the Scythe of Quakes, and Vangelis and the dragonide he was riding on are stuck in a gaping pothole.
"Regroup," Cole says through our mental connection. The single word is enough for us to pull away from the battle, Nya watching our flanks, and gather on the roof of a building about a street away. A few straggler Sky Folk dot the sky as I wait for my sister to land next to me.
Just as we are about to bring the weapons together, a loud crash sends us running to the edge of the rooftop. Peering over, a patrol of Crystal Warriors march past, sending bursts that turn anyone into crystal zombies if they are hit with it at…–
"The Keepers of the Amulet! And the Merlopians!" Nya cries.
"Your signal must have worked!" Jay says, jumping up and down.
"Look! The Upply! Where have you guys been?" Cole calls down to a man, Plundar, riding a giant spider, Adam.
"We've been attacking from behind!" Plundar calls back, "You do your weird mystical ritual-thingy, we'll keep 'em off your backs!"
"Thanks!" Cole says.
Plundar gives him a two-finger salute before charging the patrol on Adam's back.
"Right, everyone ready?" I ask, bringing the group's attention back to the task at hand.
"OK, let's do this," Cole nods, twirling the scythe around with expert skill. "It's too bad. I've missed this."
Cole and Jay allow themselves five seconds to play with their old weapons before they complete the circle Zane and I had placed ourselves in.
"Good luck," Nya says, backing up to the edge of the roof.
It is part of our plan: in case something wrong happens, at least two of us will make it to help fight the Overlord. Nya isn't too happy, the tension clear in her shoulders, the way she holds herself stiffly. But she knows that Lloyd needs at least one of us. She knows it has to be us four bringing the weapons together. She knows this is the way it has to be.
We all hesitate for a split second, the thought of what could happen, the flicker of regret that we might be doing the wrong thing, the twinge of fear.
We've been called brave. The Ninja have always been known for our acts of bravery, for how we've been willing to sacrifice ourselves for the defeat of evil, for how we always seem to be able to stand up for what's right no matter how dangerous. Yet, that's wrong.
Bravery is having no fear. You just aren't scared of something. And even if we don't show it, we're terrified. We're terrified that our training might not be enough, our powers not enough, that we're not enough. We're horrified at the thought of what would happen if we let down Ninjago.
I've never minded when they called us brave. It didn't matter to me much; a compliment's a compliment after all. Now, however, I think if we ever survive this, if we are ever called "brave" again, I'll be sure to correct them.
We're not brave.
We're courageous. We are afraid, but we don't let that fear stop us. Fear is always a present enemy, our constant opponent. When our enemy isn't currently facing us, fear is the main villain, the one we have to worry about. If we had given in to fear, we wouldn't have stopped all these villains. We can't now.
We just need to remember our courage. I hope mine hasn't left me.
We snap out of this absorption simultaneously. I take deep breaths to steady myself as we get into our final positions, moments from bringing the Golden Weapons together.
"Anyone have any last words?" I ask. Just in case. At least, I'll be going out fighting evil. The perfect end for a boy with the heart of fire.
"If we do not survive this, I just want to say: I could not ask for better brothers. You have always stood by my side if I needed you, even after I had done something most would deem 'unforgivable,' and I by you. To the end."
"To the end," Cole and Jay murmur.
"To the end." I take another deep breath before adding, "On three!"
"Three," Zane starts counting down, Jay and Cole joining him on "Two." I add to the collective countdown, and the four of us, just as we had started this together, we end this together, "One."
Without giving myself another moment to pull away, to chicken out, I bring the Sword of Fire into contact with the other Golden Weapons.
Dragon Form gave me power, or at least, allowed me to borrow enough to channel my elemental powers into a more potent form, altering my physical appearance. Reuniting the Golden Weapons is a whole other story. For a moment, I am in a realm of gold, a world of pure, forever untouched power. I can only guess at its existence, but somewhere I sense a realm not yet born. When I have this revelation, somewhere my mind chirps, nothing gold lasts forever. When this realm is born, someone will ruin this power.
Rivers and seas of gold rage past me, both strengthening me and pulling energy as its prize away. My presence causes a dip in the ocean, a swirling wave of molten gold surrounding my lower legs. When I look around, I notice three other abnormal waves in the constantly shifting gold. Stand by each other to the end. I find myself diving into the sea and taking what little I know of the skill, I swim to my friends.
I fall to my knees, struggling to keep the connection between the Golden Weapons. Through it, I sense the shaking of the others as they too have the same battle. My ears are pounding, unable to comprehend Nya's shouts.
I reach Cole first, jumping out of the "water" and hovering near him. Gravity in this unborn world continuously changes, as if it hasn't yet made up its mind about how it wants to work.
Different realms, different rules.
Cole takes my hand and pulls me to Jay, who takes my other hand and joins us as we drift to Zane, the depression in the surface of the gold moving with us. Zane takes Cole and Jay's other hand, forming a circle like the one our bodies form in Ninjago.
Jay, Zane, and I have long collapsed, the only way we are continuing the Golden Weapons' connection is through our extended arms, which jerk as the weapons try to pull away. Cole has been forced to hunch over to keep from severing the connection, but he too, our strongest, tough as the mountains themselves Earth Ninja, soon joins our collapsed forms, his arms limply staying the Scythe of Quakes in the orb of piercing light surrounding the four weapons.
As soon as our hands join together, the swirling wave surrounding our legs rises, forming an open dome, slowly oozing its way to close the dome. I tense but keep our circle together.
To the end.
Through half-closed, blurry eyes, I see the orb expand, encasing us. I hear Nya shout again. She needs to get out.
GET AWAY! I scream, hoping with every fiber of my being that we still have a mental connection. But I feel the concrete roof, the feel of soft skin against skin, and I know the scales of my Dragon Form are gone. I groan as my wings start to pull back, coiling themselves into my spine, leaving an itching sensation behind. I am no longer in Dragon Form.
The others look panicked, breaking away from the circle to feel their backs, though they still are connected by at least one hand. I am the middle link, not pulling away, not willing to let go. We'll stand together.
To the end.
My vision sharpens enough to make out a silhouette of Nya flapping away. She pauses after three yards, swiveling around for a last look. I can feel her pain, her belief that this is and would never be enough.
I had thought that my mental connection with her broke the second my Dragon Form faded, but fate had granted me one last gift, one last favor for a man who had so often used his powers for good.
"Goodbye, brother," she whispers, sensing this connection.
It disappears as she does.
The dome is finished, the gold rising up. At my naval. At my chest. At my chin. I plunge the rest of the way done, and out, out of this world of gold. Out into the black.
Gold speckles the space before me, twirling into nonsensical shapes and patterns, flashing different colors. I blink as the others join me. The specks race each other, bouncing off of some, colliding and joining others. Soon, all the specks of gold, innumerable and infinite yet somehow not, are condensed into four orbs, each a different shade.
I am drawn to the gold sphere tinted with red, like a fiery sunset, the most incandescent carnelian, a blazing star. Flames pour out of my fingertips, singing the sphere, scorching it, hugging it tightly. Soon, it becomes a struggle to keep the flame coming, to feed the gnawing sphere. Eventually, my flames start to sputter, coming in sudden bursts, until, eventually, I know I have no more to give. The sphere accepts what I know to be a meager offering, and zooms away. It hovers somewhere in the center of the triangle formed by the other elementals offering their powers. An opal, silvery gold orb hovers over mine, then a sapphire blue with waves of metallic yellow, then finally, a bronze gold.
The orbs clash, bouncing and skidding off of each other, before colliding and merging. It loses the spherical shape, now a nebulous blob. It starts to twist and contort, like a potter shaping clay, invisible hands bringing it into shape.
Just as it is on the verge of having a vague shape, the space lurches, sending us against a wall that wasn't there before. I grunt as Cole crashes into me, and when Jay lands on him. What must have been the same invisible hands shaping the combined spheres pick the closest of us up, and he disappears.
If we could scream, we would have. We can't, though.
The hand goes for Cole. He, too vanishes.
I feel Zane tense behind me.
It is my turn.
I am picked up, and thrown out of the space.
I hurtle, rotating wildly as Ninjago does on an axis, flashes of scenes bustling by. I see concrete, I thrash to latch onto something to slow me down. I crash through the wall and into my body.
I am conscious enough to see a wave of purple, forking lightning crashing through the city, the strikes hitting me and the others directly. It's supposed to feel harmless, but I know what it does to us way before Shade-Me says, "Welcome back."
I am now one of the Overlord's puppets. Again.
He does not realize this.
Like its master, Shade-Me is arrogant. It sneers, a smirk on its imagined face. Well, an imagined version of my face, but you know, eviler. It's too distracted telling me how I should have given up to see that the powers that govern Dragon Form demand repayment. I used so much energy when I channeled Dragon Form; I should've realized it had to come from somewhere.
I should've realized that I would need to give back the energy I borrowed.
At least this way the Overlord can't use me for anything.
Well, I got a fun fact for you.
"Nothing gold lasts forever." is a quote from The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, and references the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost. I'd strongly suggest reading it. It's a great poem that inspired a good portion of this chapter.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Until the next chapter!