RISE OF THE GUARDIANS

Part Two: A New World

Chapter VIII


Country Mart on U.S. Highway 82; Billingsley, Alabama
Earth
Monday August 6, 2018…

On a beautiful clear afternoon, Mack decided to take a drive through the countryside in his white pickup truck to help clear his head. After about a half hour of driving, he looped around on the highway that ran through the community of Billingsley to go back home.

On the way home, Mack stopped at Country Mart to fill up on gas and grab a snack. While filling up his truck, which he called Old Faithful, his friend Pete pulled up to the adjacent pump in his red Jeep and the two talked while pumping gas into their respective vehicles.

"You're looking a little stressed," Pete observed.

Mack sighed. "I'm starting to wonder if I have any clue what I'm doing."

Pete cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I don't know how to look for these 'Guardians.' Sensei Garmadon thinks they will be revealed to me by the elemental energy in me interacting with the energy in them; like Cole, Jay, Zane, and Kai were revealed to Sensei Wu."

"Any idea how that actually works?"

"Nope," Mack shook his head. "I identified Zee because of her bond with Morro. But I have a feeling that was just an easy break for us."

The pump handles both clicked, signaling that the vehicles' fuel tanks had been filled. Mack and Pete went inside to pay for their respective fill-ups.

"No better feeling than cruising down the highway on a full tank," Pete mused when they were back outside, to which Mack responded with a small smile.

Pete also observed that some clouds were quickly gathering around them. "Hey, it's getting dark. I thought it was supposed to be sunny all day."

Mack looked to the sky and frowned. "Hmm… Well, you know what they say about Alabama: if you don't like the weather—"

"Wait fifteen minutes," Pete finished the saying and the two laughed.

Suddenly, Mack made a strange sound—a combination of gasping sharply and crying out in pain or distress. He would have fallen to his knees had Pete not caught him and helped him stay upright by holding him by the arm.

"Whoa, are you okay? What's going on" Pete asked.

"I don't know. I think—" Mack gasped again, and Pete could swear that he felt some force pull Mack's arm out of his hands.

Pete was confused and not far from panicking. "Dude, should I call the other ninja or something?"

"No time—we gotta go." Mack managed to regain his balance and walked towards Pete's Jeep.

"Go? Go where?"

"It's pulling me somewhere; I think this is what Sensei Garmadon was talking about. There's a location in my mind but I need to keep my focus on it or I could lose it, so I need you to drive—I'll tell you where to go."

Pete facepalmed, past the point of asking questions, and got into the driver's seat of the Jeep while Mack got in the driver's seat.


Per Mack's directions, Pete sped through the community of Billingsley and ended up on the back roads in the woods on the other side of what might be considered "downtown" (even though the area only consisted of a post office, small library, town hall, and water service headquarters, all in the same building).

They continued on the back roads until they were in a little place called Vida. By this time, the sky was completely overcast with dark clouds that looked ready to burst with torrential rain.

"Take a right," Mack directed. The turn would take them down an old dirt road in the woods.

"Okay, but there's not much down that way," Pete replied. "Only Kasey's house and that old abandoned church."

The pull led them to stop in the driveway that led up to Kasey's house. As soon as Pete cut the Jeep's engine, the heavens dropped their payload.

"My goodness," Pete exclaimed, "it's coming a monsoon!"

Mack didn't reply, eyes fixed on Kasey's house. "This is it," he whispered.

"What?" Pete snapped to face Mack. "What do you mean?"

"Come on."

Mack got out of the Jeep and walked through the torrents toward Kasey's house. Pete hurried to follow after realizing what was going on.

After making his way up the steps to Kasey's door, Mack knocked on it.

The door opened and revealed Kasey, who looked confused upon seeing them.

"Mack? Pete? What are y'all doing out in this weather?"

"The weather is why we're here," Mack replied.

Kasey frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Mack held out his hand. "Take my hand," he said.

"Why—"

"Trust me."

Kasey looked past Mack to Pete, who nodded his head and moutheddo it. She looked back at Mack and met his eyes, full of conviction. She suddenly understood; she knew what was happening.

Kasey had a choice.

She knew that if she joined hands with Mack, she was in the fight. She would be trained to unlock power that slept within her, just as Zee had, and she would become a warrior. She would stand beside her friend and face down the evil that threatened to destroy everything.

Could she handle that? Was she worthy?

Kasey closed her eyes and took a deep breath; then, she opened her eyes and grasped Mack's outstretched hand.

Immediately, the rain stopped, and the sky cleared. There was not even a drop a water on Mack, Pete, the ground, or the Jeep.

"Whoa," Pete said behind Mack, who breathed a big sigh of relief.

"I'm one of them, aren't I?" Kasey asked as Mack released her hand. "The ones you're searching for?"

"Yes," Mack replied. "The element of water is in you."

"Alright," Kasey sighed. "I'm ready."

"Are you sure?"

Kasey laughed nervously. "I mean, I'm terrified. But this 'Queen of Darkness' has to be defeated, right? If that's my duty, then I'm ready to do what I have to do."

"I appreciate your courage," Mack smiled.

"Rikayla is strong," he continued, "and I know this is sudden. But you were chosen for a reason."

Kasey nodded with determination. "Should I move into the Elemental Temple?"

"I would recommend it—we have much work to do to train you and help you unlock your elemental powers. Soon, you will learn to swim in the vast ocean that is the power of water."

After watching the scene from the woods, Scio and Dubito looked at each other, nodded, and teleported away to report to their queen.


The Ninja Residence; Ninjago City
Ninjago

As Nya finished her afternoon training, she noticed Sensei Wu and Misako observing from a corner in the training room.

"We came to ask if you'd care to join us for a walk in town," Wu called.

"Sure," Nya shrugged. "Just let me quickly freshen up."

It would be good to get out of the house for a while—waiting for the ninja to return with no hint of an update on their progress (or safety) was taking a toll on all three of the residents of the house who had stayed behind.

Sensei Wu said he could sense that the ninja were making progress, but that was the extent of detail he was able to provide on their status.

Haven taken a quick shower, Nya put on some fresh clothes and met Wu and Misako on the porch, from which the trio walked toward Ninjago City.

"Nya," Wu said as they were walking, "I don't know if I have explicitly told you this, but I am proud of your decision to listen to your calling to be a samurai, rather than a ninja."

"It's something I wrestled with ever since I discovered I had elemental powers," Nya replied. "I wanted to hone those powers, but I never really wanted to be a ninja."

"And I was narrowminded to think that one must become a ninja to master one's elemental powers."

"You're not narrowminded, Sensei. You were teaching me the only way you knew how—and it worked."

"But now," Misako interjected, "you have absorbed those teachings and are able to continue on the path originally set before you."

"Yes," Nya nodded. "And learning about the way of the ninja was a big part of understanding my place."

"You are a gifted warrior, Nya," Wu said. "And again I say, I am proud of you. Whether as a ninja or a samurai, I know that you have as significant a role to play in this war as anyone else."

By this point in the conversation, the trio had reached the city and were surrounded by restaurants and other businesses.

Suddenly, one of the businesses' alarms started blaring. Nya looked around and found the source of the very loud noise, a jewelry store, inside of which were three men wearing ski masks holding up the store with baseball bats and crowbars.

Before anyone knew what was happening, Nya had burst into the store and used her samurai skills to disarm and incapacitate the robbers without even drawing a weapon. A minute later, police arrived at the scene and thanked Nya for her service before taking the thugs away.

The jewelry store tried to give Nya a pair of diamond earrings in thanks, but she refused, insisting that she was doing her job and that Ninjago's safety was the only reward she needed.

"A warrior's spirit and a servant's heart—a fine pair of virtues," Wu observed with a wide smile while looking on at the scene.


The Plains of Insanity
Realm of Madness

Rikayla's army continued to grow both in number and in strength. As they trained on the vast Plains of Insanity, Rikayla stood on a cliff overlooking them. The spot was, second to her perch overlooking the Eternal Gorge, the most common place to find the Queen of Darkness.

Scio and Dubito appeared some distance behind Rikayla and were intercepted on their way to speak with her by Tenebris.

"Hold it there," Tenebris ordered.

"We need to speak with Rikayla," Dubito said plainly.

"She is distressed."

"We have information for her," Scio said, emulating the bluntness of his twin.

"You may deliver your information to me," Tenebris said, crossing his arms.

Scio narrowed his eyes and got within a couple of inches of Tenebris's face.

"Careful, Tenebris," he said.

Dubito also closed in and got in Tenebris's face. "Standing between your master and her most loyal allies will earn you little favor in her world to come."

Tenebris snarled at the twins. "I will bring you before her."


Things are shifting, Rikayla thought as she observed her soldiers training. Only amassing more strength will tip the scales back in our favor.

"My queen," Tenebris's voice from behind Rikayla pulled her out of her thoughts.

The Queen of Darkness turned to face him and saw Scio and Dubito closely following him in approaching her.

"The twins have returned," Tenebris said.

"Leave us," Rikayla ordered.

Tenebris bowed and left, but not without a scowl directed at the twin scouts.

"Dark one," Scio addressed, "we have a report."

Rikayla frowned. "This had better be more substantial than the last one."

"He is recruiting more elemental masters to his cause."

Dubito continued where Scio left off, "It appears that the elements choose these individuals and reveal them to the Green Ninja through various phenomena."

"He just recruited a water master," Scio said, "revealed by a sudden downpour on what should have been a perfectly clear day, and he will now be training her. He has also recruited and trained a wind master."

Again, Dubito continued the report. "The one called 'Morro' formed a relationship with this girl and suddenly, one day she started training with the ninja and eventually unlocked her powers."

Rikayla took a deep breath, considering all this and the possible implications. "I see," she said.

After pondering this information for a few moments, she spoke again. "Okay, here is my plan: I will send Magno and Bruta with a squad of soldiers to lie in wait for the next time the elements unveil one of these sleeping elemental masters.

"When it occurs, they will ambush the Green Ninja before he can recruit whomever it is that the elements have revealed."

"Will we be able to stop him from recruiting the next one?" Dubito asked.

Rikayla smirked. "I don't plan to. I only need my forces to stall him so that I can get to his target first."


The Shadow Palace
later that night…

A dozen fierce warriors stood before Rikayla, who was sat upon her throne in the Shadow Palace's throne room. The warriors' leaders, Magno and Bruta were with them.

Magno and Bruta were husband and wife, and they were large semi-humanoid creatures (one might say they resembled trolls) with primitive armor and blue and red eyes, respectively. Like Rikayla's other allies, Magno and Bruta's skin was jet-black as was their clothing and armor.

"I sense a gathering of elemental power on Earth," Rikayla addressed her warriors. "The next elemental master will be revealed soon."

"These soldiers are ready," Bruta replied in a thick drawl. "You have created and molded them well."

"And I have chosen their commanders well," Rikayla said. "I know that you will not fail me."

"Never," Magno growled.

"Your mission: you will go to Earth and close watch the Green Ninja and his allies. Soon, there will be an unusual event, probably a weather phenomenon, that the ninja will investigate. This will lead them to the next elemental master whom the elements have chosen.

"You must ambush the ninja en route, so that I can find this elemental master first—I will sense when the person is revealed."

"Are you going to kill this elemental master?" Bruta asked.

"No, it would only very slightly delay our enemy. Another elemental master would simply be chosen to take his or her place. Instead, I will ensure that this person understands the gravity of the decision to take sides with the enemies of the Queen of Darkness."


The Hut; Billingsley, Alabama
Earth
Sunday September 23, 2018…

In many places, September signaled the beginnings of cooler weather and the first signs of autumn. But in Alabama, September was known to be brutally hot—and dry.

So, one could understand a great deal of confusion when the residents of Billingsley woke up one peculiar Sunday morning to see a raging blizzard outside their windows.

Churches cancelled their services, and almost everyone was without electricity in their homes.

And the Green Ninja knew what it meant, as did the rest of the ninja.

"Look," Mack drew his allies' attention to his phone, where local weatherman Mark Tempest was trying to describe the bizarre blizzard.

"… and it appears that this thing is rotating about a stationary axis here to the southeast of the small town of Billingsley in Autauga County. Now, I don't want to be the 'tin foil hat guy,' but it's possible this is some kind of government experiment—"

Tempest was cut off as Mack put his phone away.

"Government experiment?" Morro scoffed.

"Well," Mack said, "if you didn't know there are elemental masters hidden among the population, what would you think was going on?"

Morro shrugged.

"The epicenter of the blizzard—we need to go there, right?" Kasey asked. She had just unlocked Spinjitzu and her elemental powers a week prior, and was gung-ho about doing "hero work," as she called it.

"Yes, I know the area," Mack replied. "There are a few houses on a county road over there; one of them is probably our target. It's about a mile and a half from here, and we'll have to walk."

"Why not just teleport?" Lloyd asked.

"This blizzard is unnatural," Mack explained. "Elemental energy is flooding this region. It could be extremely risky to amass the amount of power required to teleport under these circumstances."

"And obviously we can't ride our dragons if we want to keep a low profile while on Earth," Zane added.

Several of the ninja whined at the thought of walking a mile and a half through the cold and snow.

"Come on, guys," Jay piped up. "Walking's good for ya!"

"How many of us are going?" Cole asked.

"All of you should go," Garmadon said. "I know from my time here three years ago that the people here are NOT equipped to deal with heavy snow, so there's a good chance you might run into some people who need help."

"Good idea," Kai agreed.

"Alright," Mack clapped his hands. "Let's not keep the last Guardian waiting."

The ninja dressed in warm clothes, rather than the expected ninja gear. Therefore, instead of strapping them to their person, the ninja had to hand-carry their weapons.

Unaware that they were being watched from the shadows, the ninja set out to trek across the snow and find the Guardian of Ice.


The ninja were about halfway to their destination, the epicenter of the blizzard. They had already helped two separate people who had crashed their cars trying to drive on the icy roads.

"We can go the rest of the way through these woods," Mack suggested. "It'll save us some time."

But out of the woods to which Mack was pointing, fourteen dark figures emerged. Two of them were around nine feet tall, and the rest were normal human height. They all sported a look that was unmistakable: charcoal black skin, matching armor and various swords, daggers, and spears—these had to be Rikayla's soldiers.

"So," one of the large soldiers taunted in a feminine but trollish voice, "the enemies of the queen, huh?"

"Who's asking?" Kai snapped back.

"The Army of Eternal Darkness, that's who!" the other large figure shouted. This one had a similar drawl to the one who previously spoke, but his voice was masculine and gruff. Where the female had red eyes, he had blue.

Jay snorted. "Army of Eternal Darkness? That's the best the dreaded Rikayla could come up with?"

"Oooohh," said the female troll. "The blue one is mocking our master. What is the punishment for such offense, Magno?"

The male troll, his name revealed to be Magno, howled in response, "PAAAAIIINN! PAIN FROM MAGNO AND BRUTA!"

"CHAAAAARRRGE!" the female troll Bruta yelled, and the two trolls and the dozen soldiers accompanying them rushed the ninja.

The dark soldiers and the ninja clashed. Mack moved to lunge at Bruta with his sword, but she unexpectedly produced a burst of energy that knocked the Green Ninja down. He looked up in time to see Magno do the same move against Lloyd and Jay.

"The big ones have some kind of shockwave ability," Cole observed.

Kai was next to Cole and so heard Cole's observation, and he had an idea. "Hey, Cole; I'll distract him so you can get close and pin him down."

Cole nodded and moved to sneak around Magno while Kai taunted the troll to attack him.

"Come on, ya big oaf," Kai called, shaking his rear end at Magno.

As Magno became enraged, he lunged at Kai; Kai jumped out of the way and Magno lost his balance, at which point Cole shoulder-checked the troll. Magno fell to the ground with a great thud and Cole pinned him down.

Bruta was not to be defeated so easily. Apparently, the trolls also had the power of telekinesis, as Bruta was ripping up trees with unseen hands and hurling them at Morro.

The ghost master of wind managed to deflect the projectile trees by sustaining a whirlwind around himself. However, he was getting worn down, and Bruta knew it.

"Running outta gas?" Bruta snarled. "I can do this all day."

Morro squinted and displayed his signature smirk. "You shouldn't have let up."

Morro sent a concentrated jet stream around Bruta's ankles and used it as a rope to trip her. Bruta fell hard and stayed on the ground.

Mack was fighting two of Rikayla's soldiers when he suddenly felt a disturbance. He was only distracted for a split-second, and he immediately snapped back to his senses and defeated the two soldiers with a serious of fierce, bordering on vicious strikes. The soldiers' bodies faded to black mist as they hit the ground.

"We need to finish this, now!" Mack yelled to the others.

"What's the rush?" Cole grunted, struggling to keep Magno pinned.

Mack put down another dark soldier. "Rikayla is here, in this realm; I sensed her presence. She's at the source of the blizzard."

Bruta had gotten to her feet and was fighting off Jay and Kasey, who were trying to pin her in the same manner that Cole had pinned down her counterpart. When she heard what the Green Ninja said, she produced a shockwave to shake the lightning and water masters off.

"Then our work here's done," Bruta said before spitting on the ground.

"Mag', get your butt off the ground," she shouted.

"He won't let me go," Magno whined, referring to Cole.

"Let him go, Rocks for Brains," Bruta snarled. "We ain't fightin' no more, and my husband won't hurt you unless I say so."

Cole looked at Mack, who nodded, and Cole released his opponent.

"Good boy," Bruta condescended.

Magno stood up and hung his head. "I tried, babe…"

"It's alright, love," Bruta rubbed Magno's back. "We did our job. We're going home."

The four soldiers who survived the fight with the ninja gathered around their trollish superiors.

"Hey, ninja," Bruta called. "Make sure you don't forget, we're getting stronger every day. Can't wait to see y'all again."

With that said, the dark figures all teleported away.

"You okay?" Morro asked Zee, who was sporting a cut on her left arm.

Zee smiled at Morro's concern. "It's just a scratch, one of those jerks grazed me. I got him back, though; he didn't leave with his allies."

Morro smirked. "That's my girl."

"What was that all about?" Lloyd directed to Mack.

"No time to explain," Mack shook his head.

"Summon your dragons; our low profile isn't top priority right now—we have to get to the epicenter of this blizzard, fast."


County Road 40, Autauga County

Danny thought this blizzard was weird, but he didn't ask questions—he was the kind of guy that just went with it.

Plus, his 8-year-old little sister Emily had a chance to play in the snow: a rarity in this area of the world.

"Good throw, Em!" Danny laughed after Emily landed a snowball on his forehead.

"Haha," Emily gloated, "I got you, Bubba!"

Danny smirked. "Yeah, but now I'm gonna get you!"

Suddenly, Danny rushed at Emily and picked her up, swinging her all about while she giggled wildly. After a few spins, Danny put her down, the two of them laughing.

Danny noticed a thin black mist several feet from him and Emily; as he watched over Emily's shoulder, the mist thickened into a dark cloud and collected into a human-shaped figure. As the cloud dissipated, a gray-skinned woman with black, white-streaked hair wearing an ostentatious black winter coat and a golden crown, and holding a black hammer was revealed.

"Hey," Danny knelt down and took Emily's shoulders, "Go inside."

Emily stuck her bottom lip out. "But I wanna play in the snow…"

"Later," Danny said firmly. "Right now, I need you to go in the house. Hey—how about you talk Mom into fixing us some hot chocolate?"

Emily couldn't keep a smile from creeping across her face at the mention of her favorite treat.

"Okay, Bubba," Emily relented. She hugged Danny and went inside, never noticing the dark figure that had appeared only several feet behind her.

Danny fixed the woman with a hard stare. "I know who you are," he said, recognizing the crown from Danny's description of his visions of Rikayla.

"What are you doing at my house?" he asked coldly.

Rikayla cocked her head to the left. "What's your little sister's name?"

"You don't talk about her," Danny snapped.

"How old is she?" Rikayla pried.

"I said," Danny's blood boiled, "you don't talk about my sister."

Rikayla scoffed and stood up straight again. "Then let's talk about this winter storm. Isn't it strange to see snow this time of the year?"

"So what?" Danny squinted.

"This blizzard swirling about your home means something: you've been chosen to become an elemental master and join your friend the Green Ninja in his fight against me."

Danny's eyes widened slightly. "Mack's a solid guy, always been there for me—I'd fight by him any day."

"Well," Rikayla shrugged, "you do have a choice. I thought you'd like to consider your little sister—and the fact that I know what she looks like and where she lives—before deciding whether to take Mack's side in this fight."

A mix of fear and rage came over Danny's face. "Are you threatening my sister?"

Rikayla approached to within a few inches of Danny. "How much, exactly, is she worth to you?"

"This much: since you threatened her, I swear to you right now that I will do everything in my power to put an end to you. You can just add one more to your 'enemies' list."

Rikayla snarled and shoved Danny in the middle of his chest. Danny staggered back and Rikayla raised the Hammer of Night, whose head now 'glowed' with a black and purple aura, ready to strike.

At that moment, Rikayla was blasted away by a blinding beam of green light. As the Queen of Darkness landed in a heap yards away, Danny looked for the source of the blast.

After blinking the afterimage away, he found Mack and the other ninja dismounting their energy dragons in his yard. The ninja formed a wall between Rikayla and Danny, also blocking her off from his house.

Rikayla got to her feet with some mild pain from being blasted by Mack's energy attack.

"The Green Ninja," Rikayla said. "Finally, we come face-to-face. I knew you wouldn't disappoint."

"I didn't think you'd risk fighting us until the Apex comes," Mack taunted, "when you have a splinter of a chance of beating us."

Rikayla scowled. "I'm not here to fight. While you were being introduced to my elite warriors, I was hoping to show your friend some reason, prevent the fight from happening, and spare all of you a humiliating and painful defeat in a couple months' time."

The Queen of Darkness smirked at Danny through the wall of her enemies.

"But your friend here has real spirit. I shall enjoy ripping that spirit from him when we meet on the battlefield."

Rikayla was then consumed by a thick, black cloud which dissipated into a thin mist and then into thin air. She was gone.

Mack sighed in relief. "You alright, Danny?"

"Yeah," Danny replied, "thanks to you." He shook Mack's hand.

"She was threatening to hurt Emily if I joined you, so I swore to her I would help you defeat her."

Mack nodded. Anyone who knew Danny knew that he could never hurt a soul, but that he would do anything for his little sister.

"I suppose she told you why we're here, and about the blizzard?"

The group noticed that the snow had stopped falling and the sun was starting to peek through the thinning clouds.

"Yes," Danny nodded with confidence. "I'll join you. I'll move into that temple of yours, I'll become an elemental master, and I'll lay down my life, if need be, to defend my sister and anyone else Rikayla threatens."

Lloyd grinned. "I like this guy! Welcome to the team."

Emily came running out of the house, as did her and Danny's mother. The former immediately ran to wrap her arms around her big brother, while the latter looked confused to see armed people at her house, three of which were some of her son's best friends.

"We'll give you all some privacy," Mack said. "September heat is returning fast; the roads should be safe to drive tomorrow, so just come to our place then."

"See you tomorrow, Mack," Danny replied. "Thanks for showing up right on time."

Mack nodded and he and the rest of the ninja teleported away, no longer having need to worry about interference from overabundant elemental energy in the area.

"What is going on here?" Danny's mother asked after a moment of shock.

"Who was that scary lady, Bubba?" Emily asked. "I was watching in the window; I saw her push you and then your friend Mack hit her with a laser beam. Him and the others were riding dragons!"

Danny knelt down to meet Emily's eyes.

"Em," he said, "that lady is someone who has really bad plans that Mack needs my help to stop. I'm gonna have to be away from home a lot to prepare."

Emily looked disappointed at the prospect of not having her brother around.

"You mean like when army soldiers have to go away to protect their families?" she asked. "Like Daddy had to while I was still in Mommy's belly?"

"Yeah," Danny managed to keep a bitter tear from breaking through. "Kind of like that. I don't want to be away from you and Mom, but I need to so I can protect you. Do you understand?"

Emily smiled. "Yeah, Bubba. I understand."

Brother and sister embraced.

"I love you, Bubba; you're my hero," Emily whispered in Danny's ear. This time, the tear couldn't be contained and fell down his cheek.

Danny motioned for his mother to join the embrace, which she did, holding close the two most precious things in her world.

The next morning, Danny went to the Hut with his belongings, ready to move into the Elemental Temple. After showing Danny around, the now assembled eight Guardians sat down to write an oath that would make their bond official. They would take the oath as soon as Danny made the connection with his element of Ice and unlocked his powers.


The Elemental Temple; Billingsley, Alabama
Earth
Friday September 28, 2018…

An impressive four days later, everyone gathered in the fountain room of the Elemental Temple as Garmadon administered the oath to Mack, Lloyd, Zee, Kasey, Cole, Kai, Danny, and Jay. Zane, Morro, Anna, and Mack's parents, brother, and grandmother (who had volunteered to make ninja garb for the three new ninja) acted as witnesses to the ceremony.

The oath was as follows:

I swear to defend the innocent,

Fight for justice,

Repel evil,

And in these duties,

Fulfil my destiny as a Guardian.

When the last line of the oath had been repeated, a wind filled the room. The Guardians knew that the search for the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu could begin at last.


In case you're wondering… yes, September really is the most brutally hot time of the year in Alabama. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the state was 112 degrees Fahrenheit (44 degrees Celsius), and that was in Centreville (south of Tuscaloosa) on September 6, 1925.

Yeah, Alabama Septembers can be ROUGH…

However, this year has been an exception. The weather has been rather mild so far this September due to a tropical storm and other low-pressure systems coming through the South the last month or so.

Anyway, have a nice day, my friends!