Floor below the Top of the tower:

The room where Auria and Zane were in had finally brightened up when they defeated all thirty lizarians that were hidden around the dark walls. The last one was tricky since he hid on the ceiling, but Auria was able to sense his movement as she instructed Zane on where to attack and he shot an ice shard at it.

"That's that huh?" Auria said, as she twirled her fans in her hands.

"Yes. That was the last one. Let's go up ahead," Zane said, and Auria nodded.

"Hey guys! Wait up!" Jay called, as he and the other Ninja came up the stairs to the room.

"Oh thank goodness your all alright," Auria said, as she and Zane approached the others.

Christa hugged Auria as she hugged back.

"We cleared out the other floors below, and we figured you might need our help," Christa said.

"But it looks like you two took care of that," Flare said, with a nod.

"Where's Lloyd and Raven?" Kai asked Zane.

"They went up ahead to challenge Darkness," Zane replied.

"Then why are we standing around, let's go!" Cole said, and the Ninja quickly headed to the elevator.

As the doors closed, Flare sensed what was happening on the floor above, and her expression grew into confusion.

"What's up Flare?" Kai asked when he noticed her expression.

"Darkness isn't up there..." Flare said, as she sensed three presences filled with light.

The elevator doors opened before anyone could ask what Flare meant, as they stepped out of it and felt wind on their faces. They looked ahead and saw Lloyd, Raven, and Ryan standing together on the center of the roof. The Ninja quickly ran over to them.

"Lloyd! Raven! Ryan?!" Christa called, as the three turned towards them.

"You guys found him," Jay said, referring to Ryan, as the Ninja stood before the three.

"Yeah. Darkness wasn't here, but he used his powers on Ryan to make him attack us," Lloyd said.

"We were able to save him with platinum power, and release this tower from Darkness' influence," Raven said.

"But it's not over yet. As I was just about to explain to Lloyd and Raven, Darkness is going to activate his true plan," Ryan said, as the Ninja noticed that his eyes were Platinum-colored.

Ryan arched an eyebrow and answered the unspoken question, "I was born with this eye-color."

"Ooohh," The Ninja said in unison as they relaxed, and then they became more attentive to what Ryan was going to say.

"Alright, let me explain, and try to keep your questions at a minimum since there may not be much time," Ryan said, as Kai nudged Jay's shoulder, and Jay looked at him with furrowed brows and nudged back.

"Tell us what is going on," Auria said, as she waved her hand at Kai and Jay to stop messing around.

Ryan breathed in and out, as he knew that this information may surprise them, and then he breathed in and began,

"While being controlled by Darkness, I could feel his true intentions and see in glimpses what his true plan is. He doesn't want to rule the world like he stated in the Evil meeting, no… he wants to get revenge on the world for taking everything away from him and abandoning him as a monster. Darkness… wants our world to become what he had become… broken, empty... He's planning to destroy our whole world, and he's going to use the machine that he made the Vampires and Serpentine build in parts to do so. He's assembled it out in the desert somewhere, and he added extra parts of his own design and power. He'll be able to easily survive it's destructive power… but no one else…"

Silence could only be heard from the group, as they all grew pale, while the wind passed by as though it didn't hear what Ryan had just said. Ryan continued,

"That's why he sent the people he assembled at the Evil meeting to round up all the citizens of Ninjago and the other villages to the underground… he already sent them to their burials so that he wouldn't have to clean up when the machine fires. That's why he tried to get all or any of you to join him beforehand so that he would know who to send away to keep them alive while destroying everyone else. Seeing as none of you agreed to it, he's just going to destroy everything then."

After a while longer of silence, since they were waiting to see if Ryan had anything more to add, the Ninja realized he was finished as they all looked away to take in what he said:

Kai turned away with his hand on his forehead, as he shook his head, while beads of sweat trickled from the side of his temple.

Flare looked upward towards the sky, as she placed her hands on her face and breathed out to try to relieve the tension she felt inside.

Cole turned and walked a few feet away as he placed his hands over his eyes, and was breathing in and out slowly to calm himself.

Christa didn't move from her spot as she looked downward and placed one hand over her mouth, while her other arm wrapped around her waist, as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

Zane turned away as he looked towards the ground with a sorrowful expression on his face, and he placed his hand on his arm while his grip tightened and his teeth were clenched.

Auria closed her eyes and breathed slowly, as she held a sad expression on her face, while she tilted her head downward and to the side.

Jay stood almost frozen in place, as he tried to speak but his voice made no sound, while tears accumulated around his eyes. He closed his mouth while he bit his lip, as a lone tear rolled down his cheek.

Raven stood in place, as her lip slightly quivered and two tears rolled down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and turned her face away, as her hands clenched into fists as well as her teeth.

Lloyd lowered his head, as his hair covered over his eyes. His teeth were gritted, and his shoulders were tense while his hands were curled into fists and slightly shaking.

Ryan kept his expression calm, as his eyes softened into sadness while he watched the Ninja's silent shock and sorrow being expressed before him. He looked downward as he quietly signed, while he clenched a fist on his chest.

As everyone silently took in this devastating information, they reflected on how far they had gotten through their journey, realizing how many hardships, trouble, surprises, and close-to-death-encounters they had dealt with and overcome. It seemed to not mean as much if their whole world was about to be destroyed with them too.

Did all of their trials and troubles mean nothing?

Did overcoming all of those hardships really help?

Does anything have meaning anymore if they were all going to be eradicated together?

These thoughts and feelings swept around everyone in the room, as they felt discouraged while half of them began to let their tears fall with no shame.

However, hearing the mumbling cries of his fellow Ninja, Lloyd couldn't bear to hear them suffer anymore. He shook his head, as he raised his head up with tears clearly shown on his face while taking a few steps forward towards where the desert was. The ninja, kunoichi, and Ryan looked towards Lloyd, as they saw him facing towards the desert with a determination in his heart that could be seen almost radiating from his eyes.

As they all looked at him, each one began to wipe away their tears and stand stronger than when they entered the room. They all looked towards where Lloyd was looking, while Raven walked ahead and stood next to Lloyd with the same resolution that he had.

"We didn't come this far to die. We've been through a lot together, and we're not going down without a fight. Ninja. NEVER. Quit. We're going to stand together against Darkness, and stop his machine from destroying our home. Enough is enough. This will be our last stand," Lloyd said, and the others agreed with nods and 'Mhmm's.'

"We'll make Darkness see the Light," Christa said, as she slipped on her Platinum gauntlets, and everyone brought out their weapons.

"Ryan, do you know exactly where Darkness is?" Lloyd asked, and Ryan stood next to him.

"Let me see..." Ryan said, as he closed his eyes for a moment.

When he reopened his eyes as they glowed, Ryan was able to see the way to cross the desert until he saw the machine near a certain tomb. Ryan's eyes stopped glowing as he replied,

"He's near the Anacondrai tomb. The machine doesn't look like it's on. You might be able to make it there before he starts it up."

"Thank you Ryan, for all of your help," Lloyd said, as he nodded towards him, while Ryan nodded back.

"One more thing. Ryan, can you let the others at the bottom of this tower know what's going on, and that we're going to deal with Darkness?" Raven asked.

"I will. Be careful, and win," Ryan said, as the other Ninja stepped forward near Lloyd and Raven.

Ryan stepped back, as the Ninja stood together before him. Lloyd and Raven turned towards Ryan and smiled, as he smiled back.

Lloyd and Raven ran forward as they jumped off the roof and summoned the Gold and Silver dragons. The other Ninja jumped on the backs of the Gold and Silver dragons, and then they flew forward. Lloyd and Raven slowly descended while moving forward, as Jay and Auria jumped up and summoned their flying platinum vehicles to fly forward. When close enough to the ground and just outside of Ninjago city, the rest of the Ninja jumped off of the dragons and summoned their vehicles as they drove forward.

The Ninja rode at about the same speed together, heading towards the Anacondrai tomb to finally confront Darkness once and for all.

Oh snapple! The final battle will begin soon! I've been waiting so long to write this part!

See ya soon. :D

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