"Darkness," Zane said, as the others continued to look at the dark man, stunned by his sudden appearance.

"Oh, are you surprised by my presence? Heh heh. I suspected you all would be..."

After Darkness said this, the ninja and kunoichi took a step forward, while revealing their weapons. The guys with their elemental swords, the girls with their platinum weapons.

"Go," Kai said to Raven, Lloyd, and Violet.

"What? But we can't let you fight him alone," Lloyd said.

"You must retrieve the Viporeon pearl before Darkness, and you must also protect Raven," Auria said to Lloyd.

Then Flare said, "Yeah Golden boy, remember he's after Raven too."

Although Lloyd didn't want to leave them to fight alone, he stood back and nodded as he gestered to Raven and Violet to continue up the stairs with him. Violet and Raven nodded as they started running up the stairs with Lloyd, while the ninja and kunoichi took another step towards Darkness.

Darkness snickered and said, "Hm... do you really believe that all of you can stop me now? Is that it? I am beyond all of you... but, if you insist, I guess I could spare some time."

Darkness smirked, as he started taking a few steps towards the ninja and kunoichi.

"Be careful everyone, and be light on your feet. We don't know what kind of power he has," Auria said.

"Well, we'll have to stop him no matter what, but let's stick to that plan too," Kai said, as the others agreed.

'This is going to be pretty fun, but...' Darkness thought, and then he looked up and saw Lloyd, Raven, and Violet running across the next platform.

'I wonder how strong thisGreen ninja is? But let me take care of these foolsfirst...' -Darkness

Darkness stopped walking and lowered his head, and the ninja and kunoichi stood still.

After a moment, Flare gasped and yelled out, "Jump Away!"

The ninja and kunoichi did as commanded and leapt away. When they looked back where they were standing, up from the shadows on the floor, came black spikes that stuck upward in a quick instant. The ninja and kunoichi gasped when they saw this.

"WHOA look at that!" Jay yelled out.

"Oh man, we could've been skewered!" Cole also yelled out.

"Thank goodness you picked that up Flare," Christa said, as she turned to Flare, who nodded towards her.

When the spikes retracted, the ninja and kunoichi jumped back together, but they stood more forward away from where the spikes came from.

"Hehehehe," Darkness chuckled, as he turned sideways and pulled his further arm back. Then Darkness unleashed his attack, as he pushed his hand forward, and a black, fiery liquid was unleashed in a horizontal wave from his hand towards his opponents. Auria, Jay, Flare, and Christa jumped over it, while Kai, Cole, and Zane ducked under it matrix style. When Kai, Cole, and Zane stood up, Darkness was already standing in front of them.

"HOW-" -Kai

"OH-" -Cole

"WHA-" -Zane

...was all the three ninja could say when Darkness pushed his other arm forward, which sent the three guys flying back into the staircase by some invisible force.

"OOF!" The three ninja yelled out, as Darkness just laughed at them.

Flare, Christa, Auria, and Jay landed on the other side of Darkness, and they turned to see the guys go flying into the staircase.

"What the- what was that?" Flare asked, as Christa took a moment to think.

"He... just pushed them back, without even touching them," Jay said, in surprise.

'He pushed them back... with what? An invisible power? Could it be...' Christa thought, but her thought were cut short.

"Yo, we have to help them!" Flare called out.

Jay and Christa snapped out of it, and then they all went running towards Darkness. Auria stood back and looked up real quick to see Lloyd, Raven, and Violet running up the third staircase.

'Darkness is very fast. We have to stall long enough for them to escape the cave with the pearl... but he's only toying with us now...' Auria thought, as her fans started to glow.

Then she jumped up really high and flew just past where the others were. As she descended, she saw that Darkness had turned around and was attacking Flare, Jay, and Christa with a black whip that had a glowing white string to it. He was trying to hit the three Ninja, while they dodged and attacked, which he also dodged their attacks as well.

As Auria was about to land in front of Kai, Cole, and Zane, Darkness pulled back the whip and threw it towards the three Ninja. Once it touched the floor, a burst of swirling wind pushed back the three Ninja.

"WAAH!" Flare, Christa, and Jay yelled out, as they went flying across the platform near the first staircase.

Darkness just laughed some more, and right when he turned, Auria just landed in front of him while attacking with a vertical wind strike. Darkness' eyes widened, as he blocked himself with one arm. He was hit with the powerful attack and went flying back a couple of feet, but he didn't fall. He swipped the hand he used to block outward, and thus pushed off the wind attack. Auria looked at him sternly, as he just smiled. Then his smile faded off, as he looked to see that Kai, Cole, and Zane were up and in front of him. He heard shuffling behind, as he noticed that Flare, Jay, and Christa were behind him. The ninja and kunoichi surrounded Darkness in a circle, as they all attacked him at once.

"We're almost there!" Raven yelled out as she, Lloyd, and Violet climbed the fourth staircase.

"AAAHHH!"

The trio stopped at the top of the fourth staircase and turned to see the ninja and kunoichi sprawled around on the floor, as Darkness stood in the middle smiling.

"Oh no!" Raven said in shock and concern.

"This can't be," Lloyd said in disbelief.

"They have been subdued by him. He did it so easily," Violet said in a low voice, as they looked on and saw one of the kunoichi stand up.

One minute before:

All the ninja and kunoichi attacked at once with their elemental powers. As the elemental beams went straight for Darkness, he just smirked. Right when the elemental beams were about to hit, Darkness started spinning clockwise in a black tornado that started to spin the attacks around with him. The ninja and kunoichi stopped using their powers and watched in amazement, as Darkness continued to spin with their elemental powers spinning around him.

"How... how? H-He's using..." Jay started saying.

"He's using... Spinjitzu!" Kai yelled out, as the ninja and kunoichi looked on in shock.

When Darkness stopped spinning, the elemental attacks were reflected away from Darkness upward. The ninja and kunoichi ducked down and then they stood back up, but then Darkness started his next attack. He was spinning counterclockwise this time, and his black tornado had a crimson-glow spiraling in the center. Then he stopped spinning with his hands outward and legs apart, as the crimson energy spreaded out in a circle outward and hit each ninja and kunoichi that surrounded him. They all flew back and hit the floor, while yelling out from the impact.

They were sprawled out on the floor, as Darkness smiled and started to laugh, but he was cut off when he heard shifting behind him. He turned to see Flare standing up, breathing a little hard. She held out her scimitars of light and dark, while looking at Darkness with grave intent. Darkness just smirked at Flare, seeing that it was her stubborness that gave her the strength to stand right after his attack. Then he looked at the scimitars and he tilted his head to the side and said,

"Hmm, I wonder... why are you fighting me with a broken weapon?"

Flare was surprised by his question and she replied, "What? My weapon is not broken."

Flare looked down at the scimitars, and then back at Darkness.

Then Darkness said, "I've been around a very long time stubborn child, and if memory serves me correctly, which it does, there was only one scimitar and it was double the size of each of yours."

Then Flare said, "But I have merged these halves before and they became larger, half dark and half light!"

Darkness picked up his arm and moved his hand back and forth while clicking the roof of his mouth with his tongue.

"No stubborn girl, you only merged the power, not the weapon. It cannot be what it once was unless you can truly see it, but I'm sure you'll figure it out... and it's true name too. But for now..."

Darkness tipped his hood like a hat, while smiling with vague eyes, "Gotta go."

Before anyone could breathe another breath, Darkness vanished at light speed. The other ninja and kunoichi were rising up, but the guys were a little unorthodox.

"W-Where did he go?" Zane asked.

"He's going after them!" Flare yelled out.

Raven, Lloyd, and Violet continued climbing up after seeing Flare get up. They were on the fifth platform running, until shadow spikes appeared in front of them and they stopped. They heard laughing and they turned to see Darkness standing not too far away, with his hands behind his back. Lloyd and Violet stood in front of Raven while she stood behind them. Darkness looked right at Raven and his eyes softened just a bit to see her innocent face and eyes. Then he turned to look at Lloyd and Violet, which brought an amusement to his eyes and dark intent.

"So, you wish to stand in my way huh Green ninja? And you Violet... well, I'm not so surprised by you. I'm more curious." -Darkness

Violet's eyes closed a little more, as she looked at Darkness with much fury. Lloyd also stood looking at Darkness with anger from hurting his friends... and... something else... but... he didn't understand what it was... sadness... he couldn't decipher it, but he had no time to do so because Darkness' hands were glowing dark blue and grey.

"It seems as though you have also unlocked your golden powers dear boy. I hope to test them out," Darkness said, with his devious smirk.

Lloyd and Violet stood ready to fight, while Raven turned and saw that the shadow spikes were gone. She turned back to Lloyd and Violet, and she tried to whisper,

"Guys, I'm making a run for it to get the pearl, stall him."

Lloyd and Violet nodded. Then Darkness had an idea they were planning something, but he just wanted to see what Lloyd and Violet could do.

Lloyd gathered some of his golden power in his hands and shot a beam at Darkness. Darkness used the dark blue and grey energy in his hands to shot his own beam back at the Lloyd's attacks. During this standoff of power, Raven started running up the sixth staircase. Darkness noticed, and he added more power to his attack and cancelled off Lloyd's attack. Lloyd was surprised that Darkness easily cancelled him off, and especially when Darkness appeared in front of him ready to strike.

At this moment, Violet was able to use her grappling hook that had a double silver hook at the tip and was able to secure Darkness' hand before he could punch Lloyd. However, Darkness was able to swiftly kick his foot up with enough force to send Lloyd flying back pretty far. Lloyd was taken by surprise from the kick and was breathless for a moment.

'W-What force...' Lloyd thought, as he tried to breathe.

Darkness turned to Violet with an expression that showed 'Your next.' Violet's eyes widened, as Darkness pulled Violet towards him by her grappling hook. Violet quickly pulled out a knife she carried on her back and was going to strike Darkness, but then he brought his hand in front of him towards her, which stopped her movement in mid-flight. Violet was looking around in confusion as to how she was trapped in mid-air. Then Darkness flicked his wrist and Violet was pushed away. She hit the floor and was holding her ears.

'What- what is th-this noise?! AAHH!' Violet thought, as she still covered her ears in a fetal position.

Darkness just smirked and turned to see that Lloyd had summoned forth his Golden dragon to fight.

"Ah... the magnificent golden beast! It's been too long, but I have business to attend to of course," Darkness said with a sadistic smile.

"Then I'll get right to the point," Lloyd said, as the Golden Dragon roared and a wave of golden power surged towards Darkness.

However, Darkness held his forearms in front of him, side by side while his arms were glowing black and every dark hue you could think of.

As the wave of golden power clashed with Darkness' arms, there was sparks, lights, and tremors throughout the ground. Yet, to Lloyd's dismay, Darkness just broke through the golden wave by pushing it away with his arms. Then, before Lloyd could react, Darkness appeared right in front of him, standing on the Golden dragon with one normal leg while the other leg was glowing black, green, and red.

"What-!" was all Lloyd could yell out before Darkness kicked him right off of the Golden dragon with his powered up limb.

Right when Lloyd was thrown off, the Golden Dragon disappeared with a roar. Darkness back flipped off the disappearing dragon and dusted himself off with an arrogant sort of smile.

'He's pretty strong, but...' Darkness' thoughts were cut short when he noticed a shadow below him and looked up to see Lloyd in the air coming down with golden energy in his right hand, ready to punch him.

Right when Lloyd was about to make contact, Darkness moved his right hand around and grabbed Lloyd's wrist. Then he grabbed Lloyd's arm and flipped him over on his back, crashing onto the floor. Lloyd yelled out from the impact, and then Darkness planted his foot on Lloyd's chest while holding his wrist.

"Interesting. You hold the same power as the First Green Ninja, and the Golden dragon style. But you seem to be missing something. How disappointing..." -Darkness

Darkness pressed his foot harder on Lloyd's chest, which made Lloyd grunt in distress from the pressure.

"All well," Darkness said, as he smirked while Lloyd looked up at him in discontent.

"It's been pretty fun boy," Darkness said and continued, "But as I said I have some business to attend to. I think you know what I'm talking about, I mean, who I'm talking about."

Lloyd gasped a bit since Darkness' foot was still on his chest, and then he looked at Darkness with fury, as Darkness smiled wickedly and his eyes glowed a much brighter red. After a moment, Darkness disappeared while Lloyd yelled out the best he could,

"R-Raven! RAVEN!"

Lloyd turned over and was able to stand up, as he saw Raven turn towards him right in front of the seventh staircase. Then Raven gasped, as she saw Darkness appear on the sixth platform a short distance from where she was. Darkness looked at Raven with a slight smirk and amusement, as Raven looked at him in shock. She stepped back, as her hands went towards mouth, while Darkness slowly took a step forward.

"Hello dear child, it's so nice to see you again," Darkness said, as he smiled sweetly with a devious hint in his eyes.

Raven just continued to back up, as she looked into his glowing eyes and felt fear creeping up her spine. However, Raven stopped backing away, and shook her head as she thought,

'No! I-I can't be afraid. Not now... I can't let the fear win.'

Then Raven stood her ground and lowered her hands, as the fear slowly departed from her. Darkness noticed this, and he saw a boldness in her eyes as she stood her ground. He continued to slowly advance, as his smile widened, and he said,

"Well, well, dear one. I see your much more confident to stand before me."

Raven's expression became more stern as Darkness approached, but then her eyes widened when Darkness lifted up his right hand towards her direction. His eyes became a little darker, as his hand began to glow with a dark energy. Raven's hand slowly moved towards her water staff that was strapped on her back. Darkness just smiled more wickedly as Raven became a little nervous, but she still stood her ground.

The other ninja and kunoichi were running up the stairs and caught up to Lloyd and Violet. Lloyd was able to finally catch his breath, and Violet was able to shake off her confusion. Then they all started to run up the stairs to where Raven and Darkness were.

Then a roar was heard and trembling was felt in the ground. The ninja and kunoichi stopped running and looked around, as did Darkness and Raven. Then, from the almost bottomless pit, a large white dragon climbed up and planted himself between Raven and Darkness. He stood up tall with his wings spread out and his four heads growling furiously.

"Ultra Dragon!" Lloyd called out in delight, as the other ninja cheered on, besides the girls who were amazed at the awesome dragon.

Raven's mouth hung open, as she looked at the large white beast standing before her. Darkness' eyes widened, seeing the beast before him, and he said,

"So, you escaped. How interesting. Last time I saw you, you were in chains."

Raven looked towards Darkness, stunned at what he just said. Ultra Dragon snarled dangerously at Darkness, who just chuckled.

"I'm pretty surprised that your here, but apparently your intrusion has wasted too much time, and I have a schedule to keep." -Darkness

Darkness looked towards Raven, who looked back at Darkness. His evil and hollow-looking eyes made Raven nervous on the inside by just looking at them, but she kept her composure on the outside.

"Dear Raven, I must go now. But don't fret. We'll meet again of course..." Darkness said.

Darkness took a bow, and then he looked up at Raven with a dastardly smile, as he vanished again.

After a moment of silence, the other ninja and kunoichi ran up the stairs to meet Ultra dragon and Raven.

What do you think?