"Wow, it looks just like how it did before it got destroyed." I commented as I looked around the new bounty.
"Yeah, apparently someone had collected the blueprints for the design and the townspeople made it as a token of thanks." Zane said, "they nailed every last detail."
Apparently there was something happening in Ninjago and we were going to investigate, just waiting for everyone to get on.
"Okay, everyone's here, full speed ahead!" Lloyd ordered to Nya who was standing at the control panel.
The ship suddenly lurched backwards, causing me to stumble over and painfully hit my chin on the floor.
"I said forwards not backwards!" Lloyd said, looking at Nya.
"Sorry, someone must've wired it wrong." Nya replied before flipping a switch and we started moving forwards to the city.
The closer we got, the stronger a sense of dread loomed over me.
This can't be good.
We got closer to the city and I looked to see the city slowly being engulfed in a black cloud.
Oh no.
They're here.
"Guys? I'm getting a lot of distress calls from UHM." Zane said from his spot near a bunch of monitors.
"We're too late..." Cole mumbled, staring at the city.
"Is there any way to speed this up?!" I asked Nya.
"Everybody hold on!" She cried as I quickly grabbed a hold of a railing before she pressed a button, making the bounty go faster towards the city.
We hovered over the city, just out of the reach of the cloud, looking for anyone in trouble.
"There's policemen stuck in a circle of the weird cloud, let's get them." I heard Lloyd say.
I whipped my head over to see the ninja climbing down ladders, towards the cloud, remembering one tiny detail that no one knew.
The cloud would be immune to the ninja's elements, going in there as a mortal was practically a death wish.
"Wait guys!" I called but they didn't hear me, "do they have radios?"
Nya nodded and handed me one.
"Guys!" I said into the radio, hearing the ninja helping the officers up.
"What is it (Y/n)?" Jay asked as I saw the officers trying to get up.
I went over and helped them aboard the bounty. "The cloud is immune to the elements, you don't have a chance against it."
"Well now we know that, fall back!" Lloyd instructed, the five of them staring to climb up the ladders themselves.
I watched from the top, noticing a cloudy tendril slowly heading towards Cole's foot as he climbed.
"Cole, watch out!" I cried, sending a small blast of destructive energy towards the tendril.
It struck the tendril, making it recoil away but allowed Cole to get up safely.
"It-it touched me!" Cole panicked. "It felt so cold..."
"You're alright now." I reassured him.
"We need to save anymore survivors!" Lloyd instructed, and we went off to look for more survivors.
———
I walked around on the deck, offering anyone some water or snacks.
We spent the last couple of hours getting anyone we could out of Ninjago, but I still knew that there were thousands in Ninjago that were stuck and had succumbed to the darkness.
I looked across the city, it was completely covered in the dark cloud, except for the skyscrapers that just peaked out from it.
I felt guilty, I was at a loss of how to stop it, I only knew that destruction possibly could work, but this entire cloud was made out of destructive energy, so who knew if it would actually work.
Once the water and snacks were gone, I noticed the ninja in the bridge and talking, but I wasn't too sure what it was they were talking about.
I tried to listen in from my spot of the deck, but the chatter of the citizens drowned out what they were saying.
I headed over to where they were to see what they were discussing.
"I don't know if we can fight it, but I know someone who can." Lloyd said, glancing over to me.
I blinked. "Me-? But I don't-" I started.
"No, my father."
I took a step back as the ninja exchanged concerned glances. "There's no way we're letting him out of prison."
"Why not? He's probably one of the only people who could help us stop this." Lloyd replied.
I scowled. "Have you forgotten that this man disowned you, reigned over the city and killed Mistaké? We can't trust him to help us!"
"Okay, so let's say we didn't ask him for help, do you have an idea of how we can stop them?" Lloyd asked, leaning against the railing and crossing his arms.
"I....don't know." I admitted, looking away.
"Look, I don't trust him either, but this is the best thing I can think of." Lloyd replied. "Let's set course to Kryptarium Prison."
I stomped away, finding a secluded area away from people, and glared out to the horizon.
"(Y/n)?"
I glanced to see Jay standing nearby nervously.
"Yes?" I asked, wincing a little as the tone sounded more annoyed than I was.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, the Oni are attacking Ninjago and we're going to get the man that killed one of my kind and betrayed everyone to help stop an invasion of Oni. The day keeps on getting better and better." I replied sarcastically.
"Hey, I don't trust him either, but it's Lloyds idea and currently the only thing we can think of..." Jay said timidly.
I frowned. "I know that, it's just...I don't know if I can ever forgive him for killing Mistaké..."
I wiped a tear away and looked at Jay. "I'm sorry for acting like this, it still hurts..."
"I know how you feel, it's going to hurt..." Jay said, pulling me into a hug.
I returned the hug for a few moments before pulling away. "Thank you."
———
"Well, well, well, look who's back." Garmadon said from behind the glass to his cell.
I glared at him, squeezing Jay's hand slightly as we stood there.
"How do we stop it?" Lloyd asked, stepping forwards.
"Why don't you ask your Oni friend there?" Garmadon asked, looking at me with a sinister grin.
"She knows as much as we do, you're one of the only people who would know." Lloyd explained, drawing his attention back to him.
"I'll tell you, you can't, you would succumb to the darkness if you went into it. The only way to defeat an Oni is with another Oni." Garmadon explained.
Is that why I didn't know that? Not being around many of my kind for centuries?
"Usually we would obey a leader..." I input, remembering the nightmare from last night.
"You need me, and the other one can help as well." Garmadon continued, ignoring my comment.
Kai laughed. "That's not going to happen!" He said before looking at Lloyd, "it's not going to happen, right?"
"What choice to we have? Two Oni are better than one." Lloyd said. "Open cell 1!"
The glass keeping Garmadon in lifted up as he started to chuckle, causing most of us to exchange glances.
What did we just sign up for?
———
I glared at the demon walking around freely in the bridge. He didn't seem to be doing anything suspicious so far, but I was watching him carefully.
We were currently heading back to Ninjago City to put a stop to the Oni, the people we had rescued we left in Kryptarium Prison as it was one of the safest places to be currently.
I had a bad feeling about Garmadon, so did everyone else, but he was just walking around and not doing anything harmful, yet.
The ninja were talking amongst themselves, shooting glances towards the demon before looking at each other.
I could hear what they were saying, but I tuned it out as I watched Garmadon walk amongst the monitors and panels of buttons. I saw him glance around before he pressed a button, making the sound of the engines stop.
The ninja looked up in confusion before looking at him.
I grabbed the railing behind me.
"Did he just-" Zane started before we started to drop out of the air like a pile of bricks.
I screamed along with the others who were frantically trying to find something to hold onto to keep them from flying off the ship.
"Ahhhh!" I heard Jay cry, who had grabbed onto the same railing as me, but his grip was slipping.
I wrenched myself forwards and grabbed onto him to make sure he wouldn't fly off as Nya screamed about the ignition switch. I looked fearfully at the ground coming closer and closer, is this how we'll go?
I shut my eyes, ready for it.
I'll see you soon, Mistaké.
I felt the floor beneath me level and slowly opened my eyes to see that we weren't dead and back up in the sky.
I was still a little shaky as I slid to the ground, letting go of Jay and taking a few deep breaths.
"That button should be labelled." Garmadon pointed out before walking off.
"It is labelled! It says, don't push while in motion!" Nya yelled to Garmadon as he headed for the lower deck.
"Perhaps it would be wise to accompany your father Lloyd, to prevent further...mishaps." Zane suggested as I stood up along with Jay.
Lloyd groaned and stomped after him. "I can't believe I have to babysit my own father." He muttered angrily.
I leant against the railing before hearing Kai talk to Nya.
"So Jay and I will be cleaning the lower deck" He said.
"Ok then." Nya replied to her brother with a mysterious smile.
"Hey, I'll lend you two a hand." I said, walking over to them.
"Uh, no! I mean, no thanks, we can handle it with our own two hands! Yeah...me, him we'll have four hands!" Jay said quickly.
"Ok, then..." I said, watching them walk downstairs, whispering to each other.
———
"All hands to the bridge." Zane said into a microphone.
I moved from where I was standing over to one of the computers, Garmadon replacing the spot with a grin.
I watched as Jay, Kai and Cole all walked up to the bridge, sending Garmadon glares as they looked at him.
Garmadon cleared his throat before speaking. "The Oni entered this realm through a portal or rift between our world and theirs. There are only one or two ways this is possible, and I'm willing to wager it would have been through the Realm Crystal." Garmadon explained.
My eyes widened, it was still intact? I thought it was buried long ago with the Spinjitzu master.
"To stop the darkness from spreading the crystal must be destroyed." Garmadon finished.
Zane's fingers flew over the keyboard typing so fast that I couldn't see the buttons he was pressing.
"The Realm Crystal is currently housed in the new high security vault below Borg Tower." Zane read off the screen.
"That's smack in the middle of Ninjago City!" Nya cried.
"Uh, we just escaped from there, remember? It's engulfed in a giant black cloud of destruction and now you're asking us to turn around and go back?!" Kai asked in disbelief.
"I ask nothing, I am telling you that if you wish to stop the darkness, the crystal must be destroyed." Garmadon said slowly.
"And I'm telling you, forget it! Just one of those black cloud tentacle things touched my foot for a second and nearly froze me solid. We wouldn't even last a minute inside the darkness." Cole said.
"You?" I asked, standing up. "You are correct, though mortals such as yourself cannot enter the cloud and leave unscathed, only descendants of Oni blood such as Garmadon and Lloyd can go in there as well as full-blooded Oni like me." I explained.
"Yes, (Y/n)'s right. I am Oni, I can enter the darkness, make my way to the crystal and destroy it. I will of course, require a weapon."
"Ha! Fat chance!" Cole said.
"Do you really expect us to hand you a sword and let you go?" Lloyd asked.
"If you wish to live, then yes." He replied.
"Well forget it! No way! I wouldn't trust you with a...uh..."
"A pillow!" Kai suggested with a smile.
We all paused and looked at him with a 'really' look.
"It's the most harmless thing I could think of..."
"It's not going to happen! You're not going anywhere, not without me! I'm your son, remember? I'm Oni too." Lloyd said.
"No, you are 'part' Oni. That means you might survive." Garmadon said, pushing him away.
I rolled my eyes.
"And neither are you Garmadon. I'm the only full-blooded Oni on this ship, you may have more Oni blood than your son but you still have dragon blood and creation, that still makes you part Oni." I said in annoyance.
"Whatever." Garmadon said, walking off.
"We'll just have to find out." Lloyd muttered with a glare.
I leaned on the balcony on the lower deck, we were on our way to the city and were almost there. I could see the dark cloud of destruction and had a bad feeling.
I volunteered to go along as well since Garmadon and Lloyd needed as much help as they could get, though I wasn't too sure if our plan would succeed.
"Wow, will you look at that." Jay said, coming up behind me.
"Yeah, pretty creepy." I replied.
"Yeah! But also kind of beautiful in some sort of weird way, isn't it?" He said.
"Destruction is not beautiful." I said, looking down at my hands.
"Well I just meant the colours and the clouds....or not. Uh never mind."
I didn't reply, only looking back at the city and hearing Jay gulp.
"It's times like these when you realise what's really important in life." He said, walking to be able to face me, hand behind his back.
"I guess so." I replied, looking at him with a half smile.
"So uh, um, (Y/n)....I've been wanting to ask you something for a while now, after we first met..." He said nervously.
"Ok, shoot." I said, looking at him.
Jay cleared his throat a couple of times before kneeling onto the ground.
"You ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, uh.....AH!" He said before screaming and falling back.
I turned my head to see Garmadon peering over my shoulder.
"What do you want?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
"Absolutely nothing." He replied with a smirk and walking off.
"Ugh, I don't like him, what were you going to say?" I asked as I helped Jay up.
"Uh.....it can wait." He replied rubbing the back of his neck and looking away.
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