Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 34: Familiar Faces

A robber sprawled across the ground with a low groan. Standing above him, Cole gasped for breath and gripped his scythe tightly. Sweat lined his brow. It had taken a good amount of cunning as well as stamina to knock out that bandit, but he had finally done it.

Although his exhaustion was increasing, the battle continued to rage as fiercely as ever. Nearby Nya and Liana worked together to fight off three men, who slashed their swords wildly at the girls and tried to fire their pistols at the same time. Zane was up and running again, now shooting ice shards while whirling around in a Spinjitzu vortex.

Close by Zane, Sensei Wu lashed out at anyone foolish enough to draw near with his faithful staff while Matilda darted about with a slender dagger, constantly striking down villains and dodging bullets. Occasionally she would use one hand to shoot a bright blast from her wand to disintegrate someone's rifle or pistol.

Lloyd displayed his craftiness and wisdom on the battlefield with the simple hand-to-hand techniques he'd been taught as a child, swinging fists and kicking down his enemies as swiftly as Little Leaf hopped to and fro the shoulders of the humans and raked her little feline claws across their faces. Excited shouts, pained cries, squealing horses, the clash of metal and the boom of firearms—these were the sounds that split the air and rang in shrill echoes throughout the valley.

Cole started when Matilda stumbled to his side. Her pointed hat looked more ragged than ever, sitting lopsided on her head. She gripped her wand in one hand and her dagger in the other, though her fearsome scowl alone was enough to scare anyone off.

In the midst of all the chaos, she gave Cole a wry chuckle. "Just like old times, eh, kid?"

Cole smiled in spite of himself. "Yup. Old times."

Matilda took a deep breath, then launched herself at a large bandit with a big brown beard carrying a heavy sword. The man voiced a startled curse when the witch shot what looked like a flash of lightning from her wand and at his rump, and he whirled around with a furious expression on his filthy face. The middle-aged woman was not intimidated by the vast size of her opponent, and she promptly jabbed her dagger at his wide belly. As the robber swore and dodged backwards to avoid Matilda's piercing blade, Cole turned away and sought another bandit to take down.

One tall, dark-haired man who looked to be in his late forties or early fifties caught Cole's eye. A stylish black cloak attached across his thin shoulders flapped wildly with the movement of the robber. He raced around the battlefield in surprisingly nimble movements. While slim-fitting boots and a belt carrying polished pistols and daggers insinuated this was a man of wealth, scars that looked like hideous burns disfigured his face. His appearance was filthy and unkempt, and he looked as if he hadn't shaved in days.

Something about the bandit's cruel scowl and dark, glittering eyes tugged at Cole's memory. He hesitated—the feeling of déjà vu lasted for only a second, though, and with a vigorous shout he launched himself at the tall bandit.

The man whipped around and instinctively blocked the blow of the scythe with his katana. Cole reared back and lunged again, but the man swung and lunged low.

Cole jumped and avoided the sword by an inch, and tilted his weapon so that the long handle guarded his torso before swinging his scythe above his head. The dark-haired man parried this blow and slashed at Cole's heart with lightning-quick reflexes, from which Cole managed to jump back in time.

Undeterred, Cole hopped to the left, trying to catch his adversary's side with his curved blade, but the gangster swung around with him and lunged before Cole could strike. Cole snapped the scythe's blade upward, and the katana's end caught in the curved metal.