Raven gasped, as Auria's eyes widened.
"Silva is your mother?!" Auria clarified, and Ryan nodded and said,
"Yes, she is. She may be evil and stuff, but she's still a good mother. Weird huh?"
Auria and Raven stood in some shock, until Ryan took a step forward. Raven stepped back, while Auria held her fan forward and stood her ground.
"I'm sorry girls. I have a mission to complete now. No hard feelings." -Ryan
"Ryan, you don't have to do this. I am aware of your feelings for Raven, so I wish for you to reconsider your actions, if you may." -Auria
Ryan took a moment to think about Auria's request.
'To think... they really believe...' Ryan thought, but then he straightened up and said, with actually sincerity,
"I'm sorry," as he disappeared.
As both kunoichi looked around the room swiftly, Ryan was right above them with his feet planted on the ceiling. Auria heard a light breathing from above and swifty looked up to see Ryan. He descended from the ceiling, as Auria swept one of her fans upward, which sent a wind slash right towards him. Immediately, Ryan put his hand in front of him, as a dark energy engulfed his hand and cancelled out the wind attack. Then Ryan landed on the floor, as Auria jumped back and attacked with a series of wind slashes. Ryan dodged most of the slashes and was able to block off the rest. Then Ryan did a back flip while trying to kick Auria's fans out of her hand. He was able to hit one, but Auria moved her other hand back.
As the fan flew across the room, Raven was able to catch it. When Ryan got his footing in front of the room door, his eyes slightly widened when he saw Auria and Raven spin simultaneously with the fans, and use a powerful wind slash right towards him. Instead of dodging, Ryan blocked himself, as he was sent flying through the door and wall from the impact of the wind attacks. A cloud of dust stood in the center of the hallway where Ryan flew to. Raven and Auria walked out the room, as Raven gave Auria her fan. Raven grabbed her water staff and carried it on her back, as Auria walked onward, step by step, towards where Ryan was in the cloud dust.
When the dust cleared after Auria swept her fan over it, her eyes widened and she gasped.
'Where did he go?' Auria thought.
In that moment, Auria was sent flying across the hall with a heavy blow to her back.
When Auria was hit, Raven tried to run after her, but she was snatched up by Ryan. He lassoed Raven with a dark energy rope and carried her on his shoulder, as he teleported to a new location. Raven screamed right before the teleportation.
As Auria rose up from being knocked in the head, she saw that the other girls had ran out of their rooms with their fighting gear on. They ran up to Auria.
"What happened Auria? What's all the commotion?" -Flare
"And where is Raven?" -Christa
Auria replied quickly, "Ryan came and he took Raven away."
The girls eyes widened in shock.
"He took Raven... We have to hurry before he escapes," Nya said.
"I'll wake up the boys and fill them in," Misako said, as she ran out of the building.
"Alright, let's spread out," Auria instructed, as the girls nodded and ran out of the building.
Christa ran towards the castle to inform King Terrin and the Viporeons.
As Misako ran out, the guys were already suited up outside.
"Misako, what's happening? We heard a crash," Garmadon asked.
Misako replied, "Ryan happened. Auria fought with him, but he was able to take Raven anyway."
"What?!" Lloyd said, in shock, as panic slowly rose in his heart.
"He took her?!" -Jay
"No way." -Cole
"But Auria should have been able to stop him..." -Zane
"How is that even possible?" -Kai
"The poor girl. There must be something we could do." -Dr. Julien
"Ryan may not have gotten far, we can still catch him," Misako said, reassuring.
"Then we mustn't waste anymore time. Spread out and find Raven, quickly!" Sensei Wu commanded.
"Yes Sensei!" The ninja said in unison, as they ran forth in different directions.
"Oh, I hope they find Raven before it's too late," Dr. Julien said, as Misako turned to him and said,
"Don't worry. I know they'll find her... they have to."
Misako turned away sadly at the last part. Sensei Wu put his hand on Misako's shoulder and said,
"The ninja will find her. I guarantee it."
Misako smiled at Sensei Wu and nodded. Then Sensei Wu quickly stepped away from Misako when Garmadon walked towards her to give them some space.
"As you said, Ryan couldn't have gotten far. They should be close to finding him soon," Garmadon said.
Misako looked towards Garmadon and nodded, as she hugged him.
Each of the ninja ran across the city to see where Ryan could have gone.
Lloyd, Kai, and Auria ending up meeting in front of the forest entrance from the city:
Auria stood before the entrance and was about to enter when she heard her name being called.
"Auria!" Kai called out, as he and Lloyd ran towards her.
"I believe Ryan ran this way," she said with a meek tone of voice.
"Auria, what happened with Ryan? How could you let him escape?" Lloyd said in a worried and a little angered voice.
"Lloyd-" Kai said, but was interrupted by Auria,
"I'm sorry I let him slip away. Even though I was unaware of his powers, I should have been more careful..."
Auria turned towards the forest with her platinum fans in each hand, as the fans started to glow.
"It won't happen again," Auria said in a sort of darkened voice, which surprised Kai and Lloyd.
"Let's go. I'll take the right, Kai the left, and Lloyd center. Let's move!" Auria said, as Kai and Lloyd agreed.
The three ninja ran through the forest quickly towards their directions.
"He's not here...here...here..." Cole said, as his voice echoed in the cave entrance where they first came through.
"He's not here," Jay said, as he continued to hop from building to building around the city.
"He's not here," Flare said, as she ran across the edge of where the water was that surrounded the city.
"So you see, Ryan came here and now he took Raven away and everyone is looking for him and Raven now," Christa said, as she took a breath.
Terrin's back was turned from her, as he looked out the window and saw everyone including the Viporeons, searching for Raven. Then the King turned towards Christa, with glowing blue eyes and a stern yet tranquil expression.
"Let'ssss go," King Terrin said, as his fangs appeared and his body glowed a violet-blue.
When the glow was gone, he was no longer in his human form, but in the form of a snake. His body was all black with neon blue designs in diamond shapes and silver outlines. His eyes were blue with two black slits for pupils. He had four silver spikes that bended back, while two of them stood curved up at the top of his head. His fangs were thin but long enough to go just passed his chin. He had what looked like shoulder armor on his shoulders of a bluish hue. His tail was long, and it had short, silver spikes across the back with three around the tail.
Christa stood in attention, as he passed by her. She followed as close as she could behind him, since he was moving very fast out of the castle.
"He's not here," Zane said, as he stood in front of a fountain within the forest.
A rustling was heard behind him, as Zane spinned around and readied his ice sword.
"Zane?"
Zane lowered his weapon, as a Grey Kunoichi stepped out from behind the bushes.
"Auria," Zane said.
"Darn! Where could they be?" Kai said, as he jumped across the trees in the forest.
"Raven, I'm coming," Lloyd said, as he ran passed the trees across the forest.
Her eyes fluttered open, as Raven tried to look around. As her focus grew clearer, she realized that she was sitting near one of the fountains around the center of the forest. She tried to move, but she realized that her arms were tied together. Also, her water staff was leaning on the center part of the fountain shaped as three birds back-to-back with wings spread and water coming from their mouths. Raven tried and stand up, which she did pretty easily with just her legs. She was about to jump into the fountain water to get her staff, until she heard a voice that made her immediately turn around.
"Hello Raven."
Raven turned to see Ryan standing a few feet away.
"Ryan. What are you doing?" Raven asked.
"Kidnapping you apparently." Ryan replied, nonchalantly with a shrug.
Raven looked away, and then she looked at Ryan and said,
"Ryan, please don't do this. Let me go."
Ryan closed his eyes to think about it. Then he opened them and said,
"As I said before, I'm sorry. I don't have much of a choice. If I let you go, my mother may grow suspicious..."
"But Ryan, why follow Silva if you don't want to?" Raven asked.
"She's my mother. I love her. I want her to be content," Ryan replied.
"But Ryan-" Raven said, but was interrupted by Ryan.
"Also... I'm not as good as you think," Ryan said with a devious look in this eyes that made Raven nervous.
"I don't agree with the plans, but I do agree with the domination of the world. Although, I could easily do it myself.. all well. It doesn't matter I guess, except..." Ryan stood silent for a moment.
"'Except' what?" Raven asked.
Ryan shook his head, "Nothing, let's go."
He seemed annoyed at this point, so Raven asked,
"Ryan, what's really going on? Tell me!"
Ryan walked closer to Raven, as he placed his hand gently on her shoulder.
Then he said, "Raven, I do like you, but that's why I would prefer to bring you to my mother. I wouldn't want you to get hurt, especially if my mom was to get you herself. Raven just-"
An angered voice interrupted Ryan, saying,
"Get away from her!"
Raven and Ryan turned to see Lloyd standing not too far away. Ryan turned towards Lloyd, and both guys had a stare down. Raven knew this wasn't going to turn out well, so she slowly manuvered her way into the fountain water, and started making her way towards her water staff.
'I have to stop them before this gets out of hand,' Raven thought.
Lloyd and Ryan stood in their stare down. During this time, Lloyd was confused because of what Ryan said, and he thought,
'So... he likes Raven? But he seems to like her a lot... NO! He's not taking her away from me.'
Also, Ryan thought, 'This kid won't give up huh?... I wonder how much he heard? Well, by the way he's looking at me... just enough. But I won't let him take her so easily.'
Both guys stood their ground, and then they immediately ran towards one another.
'Your not taking her!' Lloyd thought.
'Let's see what you got,' Ryan thought.
Raven was able to walk towards her water staff without being noticed. She turned around and was able to tilt her hand in a certain way so that the points on the tip could cut the ropes around her hands.
"Yes!" Raven said, as she threw off the ropes and grabbed her staff. She turned and saw that Ryan and Lloyd were already fighting.
"Oh no," Raven said.
As the two guys ran towards one another, Lloyd shot a light energy ball at Ryan, as Ryan shot a dark energy ball at Lloyd. The two attacks cancelled out on contact. Then Lloyd used ice on the ground below Ryan, but Ryan was able to teleport away behind Lloyd. With dark energy in his right hand, Ryan was going to punch him, but Lloyd was able to duck under the punch. Then, as Ryan staggered a bit from missing the punch, Lloyd kicked him. However, Ryan looked at Lloyd as if he didn't feel a thing, which made Lloyd confused. Then Ryan grabbed Lloyd's leg and tossed him away. Lloyd was able to spin and land, but Ryan was already there, and he kicked Lloyd, which sent him flying back a few feet.
Lloyd was flat on his back, but then he saw Ryan coming down with a finishing blow. Lloyd barrel rolled to dodge the attack and jumped away. Ryan came down and hit the ground. A dark electricity emitted from Ryan's hand through the surrounding ground, which uplifted the earth around it, and cracked it in many pieces. Ryan shifted his eyes towards Lloyd, as they made eye contact. Lloyd was amazed by Ryan's power, and Ryan looked at Lloyd in annoyance since he missed.
Then Ryan stood up straight and put his hands together, as a dark energy ball of red and white manifested in his hands. Then Lloyd nodded and stood up straight, as a light energy ball of green and gold appeared in his hands. Lloyd and Ryan had another stare down. Then they both yelled out, as they unleashed their attacks at one another. The stream of power of each attack went charging towards one another. The impact of each attack was great, but Lloyd and Ryan stood their grounds, as they fought for control.
Flare was able to sense a dark presence in the forest, and she knew it had to be Ryan. She found Cole, Jay, Nya, Misako, Sensei Wu, Dr. Julien, Christa, and King Terrin.
"I know where they are," Flare said, as she led them towards the forest.
Kai was still searching, and he heard a crash somewhere. He followed where the sound had come from.
Zane and Auria also heard a crash and they decided to follow where the sound had come from.
Unknown to everyone, Garmadon had already ran over to the forest, following where Lloyd had run off to. He was looking around until he heard a crash.
"Lloyd!" Garmadon said, as he started running after the sound.
As Lloyd and Ryan continued their struggle for power, Ryan called out to Lloyd,
"So Lloyd! Are you ready to give up or be obliterated?!"
Then Lloyd yelled back, "The only one who's going to be obliterated, is you Ryan!"
"We'll see!" Ryan said, as the intensity of their attacks got more, well, intense!
Ryan and Lloyd began to shout out, as they struggled for control. Then a scream was heard in the form of a word,
"STOP!"
Lloyd and Ryan weren't able to react or make another sound, as they saw Raven running with her glowing water staff, and striking down right where both of their attacks met. This caused both attacks to reflect and cancel out in a wave of energy, that sent Lloyd and Ryan flying back on the ground.
As both guys stood up, the dust where Raven was finally cleared. She stood there with her water staff downward after her strike, breathing heavily. She looked around her and saw that the floor was cracked and burnt. She also saw that where she was standing, was the only area that wasn't affected.
Raven stood up and looked at her hands and her staff, as she marveled at how she was able to cancel off the attacks without being harmed. Then Raven fell on her knees, since that took a toll on her. Lloyd immediately ran to Raven's side and removed his ninja hood to speak to her.
"Raven, Raven! Are you alright?" He asked, in concern.
Raven shook off her daze by shaking her head, and then looked up at Lloyd. He was on one knee, but she still had to look up at him.
"Lloyd... I'm fine. I'm okay." -Raven
"Are you sure?" -Lloyd
"Im sure." -Raven
Raven stood up on two feet, as Lloyd stood next to her to make sure she wouldn't fall. Then she turned and looked towards Ryan, as did Lloyd.
Ryan was able to stand up, and walk a little closer to them, as he was actually shocked.
'How could she have had the power to cancel off our attacks, without even a scratch on her? How powerful is she?' Ryan thought.
At this point, Ryan stopped walking and looked down. Raven and Lloyd stood watching him to see what he was going to do next. Then Ryan lifted his head and looked at Lloyd and Raven and said,
"I see that you have much more power than I had originally anticipated Raven... Oh, and Lloyd, you still have work to do."
Of course Lloyd was annoyed by that, and he replied,
"Uh, thanks, I guess..."
Then Ryan said, "I've decided to leave you two now, but don't think you won't see me again. Especially you, Lloyd. I wish to continue where we left off, one day of these days."
Lloyd nodded, as he took a few steps towards Ryan and said, "Yeah. One of these days we'll finish where we started."
Ryan nodded, as he turned to walk away.
"Ryan," Raven called out, as she stepped forward next to Lloyd.
Ryan looked over his shoulder at Raven.
"Thank you," Raven said, which made Ryan smirk, as he turned back forward.
"Don't mention it," was the last thing Ryan said, before teleporting away in a dark flash.
Prepare for the next chapter...