Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 78: The Unexpected Allies

"Are you OK?"

Dazedly she blinked and saw the kid standing in front of her. She opened her mouth and tried to breathe. No air came in. She lay still, refusing to panic. The breath had been viciously knocked out of her, now she had to wait for it to come back.

At last she finally gasped and coughed. Limbs quivering, she pushed herself up.

The little boy stared at her uncertainly. "You've got some, um... stuff on your face." She reached up and touched the side of her face. Drawing her hand back revealed a mess of blood and what looked like a chunk of flesh.

"It's all right," she said blankly. She wiped the gore off on her pants.

Several loud, feline snarls made her look up. A few other Moon Tribe warriors had witnessed the destruction of their fellow werecat, and they were not happy about it. A few men and women in human forms began to advance, accompanied by more of the giant cats.

Skylor stood in front of the boy. "Stay behind me. I'm going to get you and as many other people as I can out of here."

With that, she gripped the blaster and began firing. The werecats had no idea what hit them. The great explosions of red heat shattered cobblestones and buildings, causing destruction wherever she aimed. Several enemy warriors fell under her blasts. Others jumped away and fled.

They all looked shocked. They had never seen a weapon like this before, aside from the guns the Ninjago City police force carried. They found themselves helpless before Skylor and the foreign blaster.

She fired shot after shot, trying to hit as many opponents as possible and not hitting the villagers at the same time. The little boy cowered behind her, watching the battle with wide, round eyes. Slowly she and the boy inched their way to the edge of the town square.

At last she caught sight of a street leading out from the neighborhood; a passage of escape. She gripped the boy's shoulder and shook him, shouting, "Run that way! Get away from the fires!"

The kid nodded and fled. Skylor turned her attention back to the main street, where a cluster of villagers stood terrified, staring helplessly at the burning buildings and clashes between ninja and werecat.

Gesturing with her katana, she shouted, "Over here! Villagers!"

A couple of the men saw her, and spoke frantically to their wives. The group started toward her, and Skylor gestured to the open entrance.

"This way! Go, go!"

The families began running. One exhausted woman carrying a small toddler tripped and fell. Skylor darted over and helped her to her feet, while motioning to the others to continue onward. The villagers raced on ahead while Skylor helped the mother.

Several werecats, who had either been helping their wounded tribe-mates to safety or had been searching for the human adversary with the exploding boom-stick, caught sight of Skylor through the thin haze of smoke. Warriors in nekomata and human forms raced after the fleeing villagers as soon as they realized some of their prey was escaping them. They snarled furiously.

Skylor pushed the mother toward the entrance, then turned and fired several shots. The werecats fell back with startled yowls. The survivors, dodging and getting behind cover, glared at her with unsuppressed hatred. It was clear to all in this battle that Skylor was virtually unstoppable with her blaster.

Across the wide main street, Lloyd was putting his tekko-kagi claws to good use. He found himself in constant hand-to-hand combat with some Moon Tribe warrior or another. He remembered Matilda's training and swiped to and fro, keeping his head low and his feet light, much like boxing. In this way he was able to drive off several humanoid Moon Tribe warriors. All of them seemed astonished when the green-pelted ninja summoned what looked like silver claws out of his hands.