Salt: A Ninjago story

3: Cockroaches

Lloyd had followed the shadows to the outskirts of the city, where the neon was sparse and only served to highlight the seedier areas. The buildings were modern; poor and bare of ornament. Every so often a cluster of gems would reveal themselves amongst the grey render; a hamlet swallowed by the cities creep.

Despite the depressing surroundings this shadow ninja had a mighty spring in their step. Glimpsing flashes in the dark he could make out they were slight and small. Their jumps and bounds seemed to defy gravity as they moved from ground, to tree, to wall, to roof. If they could, Lloyd imagined they would leap once again and reach for the moon. Perhaps this one may not be so in thrall to its master and wish to fight for good. 'I can hope'he thought. He held back as the ninja dropped down into the courtyard of a modest older property. From over the ridge tiles of the roof he observed the ninja knock out a code on an ornate door and enter. Two quick raps followed by three with a long gap and then a further three fast. Who knew how often they changed the code, it could be hourly, it could be that each ninja had their own code. He was having a very impulsive thought and had made it down to the courtyard before sense had caught up with him. He looked around the deserted space and gaged his escape route. There was just the one door, so if the code didn't work, any threat would come from there. He could simply scale the walls back over the roof and away. He turned his hood inside out to hide his elemental symbol and raised his knuckles to knock the code on the door. He waited. There was no response. He was about to abort when the door opened.

A child moved around the door and stood in the gap 'old code' she said.

'So why have you opened the door?'

The child was silent and then answered 'I liked the look of you'.

Lloyd looked down at the girl 'I'm not sure your master would approve of your reasoning'. There was no need to pretend; the child obviously knew he was not meant to be there.

'Oh, my Master approves of my reasoning' she smiled a smile that should have been pretty, but was malicious and sly.

He was suddenly aware of a shift in energy behind him, Lloyd took a long breath in and closed his eyes 'Where did they come from?' he asked himself. He released his breath and span, stunning the child in the doorway with an energy block and swiping through the air as he turned, activating a tsunami of energy particles that hit the stealth squad like a hurricane. He grabbed the child before she hit the ground, threw her over his shoulder and leapt up the thick twisted vines that grew up the walls. Levering himself off the window ledge he swung up and over on to the roof. The child was thrown free and started to come around. The black clad squad were righting themselves from the cobbles and powering forward toward the wall and him. He heard Master Wu's words 'Flight not fight' He looked to the girl, who was now on her feet. Obviously her Master was not quite as wise as his. With a look of excitement on her face she sank into a fight stance, fists raised. 'Well that's not gonna happen' Lloyd said sarcastically to her as he sent a gentle pulse to knock her down the slope of the roof.

He was away and running, looking back to see the girl catching hold of the edge of the roof to stop herself from falling. He was relieved to see it, but not the way she then barked angry orders at the ninja squad that were now sliding onto the roof and taking flight after him. He was well ahead of them traversing the staggered roofs of the suburb, but there wasn't much variety to loose himself in. He took to the streets, leaping to land on a fire escape, jumping over the rails to catch a drainpipe and swing onto a ledge before somersaulting to the ground into a run.

He didn't need to look. He knew they were still coming. Without knowing the area, he couldn't plan an ambush and so kept running, hoping his training and experience was superior to theirs. He skidded out onto a dimly lit main street, and looked, which way to run. He picked a direction on instinct to see the black shapes of the ninja scuttling down the walls into his path like so many cockroaches. He turned and ran the opposite direction to see the same. There were masses of them, they had multiplied somewhere on route and he was hopelessly outnumbered. This was it, they had him surrounded, but this wasn't going to be their ambush it was his. He had only moments to centre himself, find the control needed to disable his attackers and flee again.

He stood still and lowered his head. Closing his eyes he brought his hands together and let his thoughts settle, letting the thud of his heart focus him. Harumi's lips flashed in his mind and a green light burst from him. It took him by surprise and his body arced at the force. He had to fight to pull it back under control. As the smoke cleared around him, his breathing was harder and his heart thudded faster. She kissed his fingers 'well done my love'.