It was an incredible sight, almost too surreal for their own liking.
The group stood in place as the lights flickered ever so slightly at the rhythm of everyone's breathing at the moment.
The ninjas all looked down at a bloody pile in front of them, their expressions all varying due to their personalities.
"No way..."
"Is this even real?"
Hushed comments overlapped over another.
Taking a deep breath, the red ninja advanced forward and bent down, examining the corpse currently laying unmoving.
"Karloff has been killed tonight." He confirmed quietly.
Standing behind him, Nya turned her eyes over to everyone else in the room with her. Nobody was missing. There were the other elemental masters, Lloyd, Harumi and the ninjas.
She sighed and moved her glance to the corpse now laying in front of them.
"So, now what?" She gave a concerned look over to her brother.
"We gather information, easy enough, right?" Kai replied to her. He made sure not to tamper with the evidence.
"You say that with so much confidence. Everyone pretty much don't have alibis." Lloyd remarked, not even taking a second to examine the injuries of the corpse like Zane and Kai had done so.
That was a valid point, the detective of this round didn't know where everyone had gone off to, everyone pretty much scattered and it wasn't like the ninjas had any idea what everyone's roles were.
"Then let's start looking," Kai insisted, standing up from where he had been crouching from. He turned to look at his friends with a serious look on his face.
His eyes were fixed on the earth ninja, who only gave an uncomfortable look in return.
"Cole, where were you the entire time?" The fire ninja questioned.
The black ninja shifted a little, "I was upstairs, why? You can't seriously think it's me, right?" He tried to protest.
The ninjas all turned to each other, implying the continuity of a pressuring atmosphere. Even if she was watching by the sidelines, it made Harumi rather nervous.
She took a deep breath and tugged on her shirt, blinking a few times and continuing to watch the scene unfold before her very eyes.
"Instead of looking at me now, let's ask everyone else, shall we?" He paused and started pointing fingers, "Lloyd, Jay, Nya, Zane, Harumi! You could've asked them first, why me?"
Jay, who was by the kitchen stove, that was rather close to where the living room was,
put the mittens away onto the counter. He just finished preparing the muffin batch for tonight.
An exhausting job but definitely a fun one. Jay didn't have any baking experiences however the others insists that it was a spell casted onto him so that he knows the steps by heart.
"If you phrase it like that, Cole, that's pretty suspicious of you. Are you trying to hide something?" Jay questioned.
Cole went silent. He stammered a bit as he couldn't believe that Jay, of all people would begin thinking he's suspicious.
Lloyd thought for a second. "Hmm, now that you bring it up, Jay. You're right, he is kind of acting suspicious at the moment." He agreed.
Flabbergasted that his team was betraying him like this, "Lloyd?! You too?!" Cole exclaimed.
Kai, who felt somewhat responsible for bringing this up, intended to sort things out and fully re-explain himself.
"Calm down, Cole. We're not suspecting anyone—" he was interrupted by the black-hooded ninja again.
He clenched his fists and glared at everyone who dared antagonize him in this moment.
"Oh yeah?! The last time I saw Nya, she was the closest to the living room!" He accused.
Now Nya gave a stern glare at the black-haired ninja for that one.
"What?! That's not true!" She retorted in return.
It was becoming too much for Harumi, she turned to Lloyd, hoping for some comfort, but noticed how he too, was fuelled up in this feud.
She gulped and approached both Nya and Cole.
"Please stop, please stop, don't actually fight—that's what Zephyr wants us to think." She whined, keeping her hands in front of her, in case someone jabbed her out of the way.
The bickering didn't quiet down.
"We can talk about this peacefully, please stop.." she didn't want to see her family get torn apart because of one simple game.
She has grown to hate conflicts, especially if it's between her loved-ones.
"I say, we vote off Nya right away!" Cole continued, trying to get everyone to agree with him.
Everyone had concerned looks on their face, Good or Bad, no one knew what each other's roles were.
Kai, knowing his sister was in danger for this one, "What? No, no, it's not her, she's not on the Evil team!" he protested in order to protect her.
Nya, appreciative of this gesture, stood behind Kai, as he kindly stood in front of her to protect her from Cole's intimidating regards.
The black-haired ninja didn't buy any of that. He crossed his arms and tsked.
"Why are you suddenly getting so defensive and why are you assuming that you're the leader of this whole investigation?!" Cole continued.
Kai growled, yelling back at the ninja. "Maybe because you've all gotta trust me when I say I'm the detective!"
A wave of chants going: "Liar!" was heard.
As the earth ninja was going to answer, the lights suddenly shut off, leaving both Good and Bad team to panic.
Back at the island's main hub, five people were watching from a large screen. Their eyes go wide as the lights dimmed off, all except for Zephyr. He smirked and brought a hand to rest his head on his palm.
"This is getting mildly interesting now, about time some arguments are heating up." He commented, all while remaining that amused smile on his lips.
Matias, who had his arms crossed, "Eh, I don't know man. They all seemed pretty freaked out, especially Harumi Jade." He replied.
Zephyr kept his eyes on the screen but replied back to his friend nonetheless. "She's just that sensitive, cute, no?" He chuckled mainly to himself.
Ava and Matias, who glanced at each other after hearing their boss's response, rolled their eyes.
Knowingly, the three didn't acknowledge the other spectators in the room with them. Garmadon and Mirage Leviathan were watching with sharp eyes.
They were also listening in to that conversation. Not many would be able to do so for they didn't have an oni's special hearing.
"That Zephyr guy kind of scares me, honestly. What do you think he's planning to do with the others?" She asks quietly, turning to him for some advice.
"I don't know." Garmadon replied dryly.
Mirage thought for a second, not knowing that Garmadon wasn't in the mood to discuss such things at the moment. He'd much rather watch how the match goes.
Yet, she still continued with a concern of her own.
"Isn't it a little suspicious though? He's practically revived Master Chen's old habits and created a tourney again. Why is that?"
Now, that's the one that got Garmadon to speak.
"He's kept my son and Harumi awfully close so far. I'm keeping an eye on him, I don't want him hurting them both." He insists, narrowing his eyebrows. No sign of anger was shown on his face though, he was pretty good at hiding that.
He looked right through Zephyr, watching as he laughed and joked around with his friends.
The Spellcaster then turned around himself and noticed Garmadon staring at him with a neutralized-look. He gasped and waved back at him, matching the exact expression the oni had on his own face.
Returning back to the house where the first event was held, everyone was all around the living room table, the TV flashed black and white.
They had been discussing about who to vote off and as silence was picked up, their decision has been made.
Kai, insisting that he was the detective and most went along with it, stood up from the couch he was sitting on.
"You, you're getting voted off. Most votes goes to you,"
He narrowed his eyebrows at the appalled man, now looking at him with wide eyes.
"Neuro."
The master of the mind had been awfully silent a couple of times, but only engaged whenever his life was put in danger.
That was why both Nya and Kai found it odd, meanwhile, Cole was pretty much on a rampage against both of the Smith siblings.
"Please tell us your role before leaving." Kai inquired. He had wanted to be a good detective, except no one believed him that he was.
Neuro sighed and took out a piece of paper that he kept. It was a note that he wanted to pass on to someone but he never had gotten to do so.
It was written: "I'm the clown, so be careful of who you choose. I think you should go after Cole and Kai next, maybe shut them up a little." It was meant for the murderer, wherever they were.
That just caused the detective including the rest of the teams to glance at Neuro worriedly. He had tried to contact the murderer and if that note managed to go through and reached their hands, then what?
Lloyd coughed, bringing Neuro's elimination back as the central topic. "You're the clown then? That means someone gets voted out along with you, right?"
Neuro simply nodded. "Yes, that is correct."
The fire ninja raised a brow. The clown means that Neuro was aligned in a neutral party the entire time. It explains why he never really participated in mild group discussions nor showed any hints of a malicious compliance.
But seeing as that was his role, that only left the group with one answer.
"So, who are you going to vote out along with yourself?"
The clown's abilities was mainly to take someone out with them when they get eliminated.
Neuro thought for a second before pointing at a green-haired elemental master, he chose Tox.
The woman looked at him with a little bit of confusion and slight offense.
"Why me?" She asked, wanting an explanation.
Neuro simply walked out of the door, expecting her to follow along.
"Dunno, you gave me those Dark team vibes. I'm really sorry for this." He placed his hand on the doorknob. From there, due to crossing a supposed barrier separating the main island and the illusion that would be their arena, he couldn't head back to the group now.
But that also meant that Tox was tugged along by force. She felt her body move without telling her legs to do so and she growled, following Neuro unwillingly. She couldn't stop walking.
"I'm innocent, trust me! I have done no wrong. Whatever your mind powers say—if you used them, they're wrong!" She protested, not wanting to go.
Neuro opened the door, not responding to her pleas and he stepped out, both of them did.
Neuro and Tox were eliminated in that moment along with Karloff, who was killed by the murderer.
Neuro was the clown and Tox and Karloff were both survivors.
The game continued.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not even taking a second to recover from Neuro's willing elimination, the lights began to flicker. They found themselves staring at the same scenario again.
There was going to be another casualty right this second.
"I'm kind of nervous, please just give us a break already."
"Neuro knew what he was doing, huh? I bet he would be smiling if he could right about now."
Voice toppled over one another, it was difficult to tell who was speaking during the dimmed out lights.
There was more chatter, people struggled to stay in place as rough movement was heard not too long later. Chairs were tossed over, many bumped onto the side of the table, it was a mess.
"Oh, who are you?" Shade was heard asking out of the blue. It was barley audible, as many would rather yell out nonsense, hoping it would make the murders stop.
There was a brief pause after his question—afterwards, it was followed with a surprised 'Oh?' of his.
"You gave me a muffin, thank you Muffinman." Shade thanks gratefully.
Lloyd thinks to himself in that moment: 'Jay gave Shade a muffin this time. We all saw him by the stove earlier.'
Many were possibly thinking the same as he was. Though, no one ever voiced it out.
"Hey, that's my head you're holding stop—"
Whoever was behind all this, had held the nindroid's head and slammed it against the kitchen counter, several times, hoping he deactivates.
The murderer was certainly on the loose, for in the next second, the lights turned back on.
Then, everyone saw the atrocity, which was Zane's deactivated system. Wires flew out of his head and his eye twitched once and a while, electric bolts surrounded him. No one but Jay dared approach the nindroid.
The scene looked like this, Zane's body was slammed head-first into the table counter. The closest to him was Jay, who had the muffin tray out. He looked at his best friend's corpse with much shock.
Kai and Nya were by the stairs, having a full view of the whole scene itself, they also saw who was the most closest to certain people too.
As for the elemental masters and Harumi,
Turner was on the stairs itself, therefore, behind the detective and the water ninja. Skylor and Camille were sitting on the couch.
Harumi and Lloyd were by the walls, they were the closest to the two girls mentioned earlier.
As for any others that were unmentioned, they were possibly upstairs.
The investigation begins the minute the light had turned back on and Kai had a good idea of the scene.
"If we analyze this situation more closely, everyone—" he was interrupted by again, the black ninja.
Neuro's note to the murderer had gone to waste as the two blabbermouths were still alive. No one knew if that was a clever move by the murderer or not.
"It's Jay, it's definitely Jay." Cole responded, having taken into account that Jay was the closest to Zane.
The blue ninja, took that in very badly.
"What?! It wasn't me, it wasn't me Cole! You've got to believe me!!" He begged, overthinking as usual as he tried to convince his best friend that he wasn't the murderer. Due to that, he failed to realize the most important hint.
"You were the closest to Zane, you definitely took him out!" Cole repeated, it seems that he as well, has forgotten one very important information.
The blonde boy glanced over at Harumi, in which she turned to look at him as well. They both had the same idea here. They both nodded to one another.
Harumi approached Jay, "It can't be him," she stated confidently. It earned the silence of the two arguing ninjas.
Cole raised a brow, "Oh and what makes you say that? Are you forgetting that he's right next to Zane?" He demanded proof.
Harumi shook her head and pointed at the muffin tray. "No, I have not. But it looks like you're forgetting that Jay is the muffin man. The reason why he was in the kitchen was because he was making muffins for the others." She explained.
"So?! My point still stands, muffinman or not!" He instantly jabbed back. It was at this time that Harumi knew that Cole has definitely forgotten, she snickered.
"I regret to inform you that each person can only have one role in this event. That's what the rules state." Harumi mentioned again.
It didn't shift even a muscle into Cole's mind. He was just to survive this mess, he didn't want to be close to death again like in the previous tournament. Almost as if he was....scared.
"Huh, how do we know that Jay isn't actually just faking it?"
"Cole, you're going too far." Kai warned.
"You know I can't actually bake, Cole. Remember when I burned Nya's birthday cake that one time?" Jay responded back, trying to clear his name here.
It left the black-haired ninja silent. That was true, back then, his baking skills were very much terrible, still are. However, in this competition, they were flawless.
He went in a deep spot for thinking.
"Well I...I just..."
Harumi turned back to everyone else. She pointed at Cole and began speaking in an elegant and convincing manner.
"There, you see that? Don't you all think Cole is on the wrong at the moment, he just accused Jay, which is quite obvious by now, isn't the murderer because of his role." She said, then lowering her hand down to speak once more.
"Not to mention, he's extremely defensive at the moment. Do you think he's hiding something?"
Kai and Nya looked at one another, she did bring up a fair point. Plus, trying to get Cole to admit he isn't on the Good team had been Kai's intention all along. As Detective, that's a case he needed to settle.
"Okay."
"Fair point."
Mutters of agreement filled the room.
Cole, who was shocked and furious at this point, shook his head rapidly. "I would never! I'm not even evil, I can tell you all my role right now then!" He exclaimed, as a last-ditch effort to survive.
It was too late, everyone had decided to vote him out. Cole had been eliminated from the game.
There was an invisible knot that tied around his arms and pulled him to the door, Zephyr's doing, for sure.
The black ninja yelped and shook his head again, however it didn't give out any effect. He was still brought to the door.
"No no, it's not me! I'm the saviour,I'm actually the saviour!" He revealed his true identity.
Lloyd was surprised, he raised a brow and learned his head forward, as if wanting to reconfirm what he heard. "Really?"
Darn, he was on the Good team all along. Shame.
Just like that, Cole and Zane were both eliminated from the game. Their roles respectively being; Saviour and Good Physic.
The game continued on to the next round.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taking a second to breathe, the lights didn't flicker immediately after the elimination had been done. The ninjas exhaled.
"I'll try and find a way out of here. We lost so many people already." The green ninja stepped away from the group and held on the railings.
A voice called for him from behind. The white-haired girl stood there, not wanting to watch him separate from the group.
Harumi blinked at that. Trying to find a way out of here was more dangerous than it actually implied. "But Lloyd, that's breaking the rules, what if Zephyr punishes you if you do manage to find a way out?" She worries, following him shortly.
He shakes his head then eyes at the ninjas, who were sitting back down on the couch, listening to Lloyd as he spoke. He turned his eyes back to her, his fists clenched at her response.
"I'll be back, Rumi. Don't worry about it, I won't get killed, I'll be careful. Keep yourself safe." He gave a sweet smile. He started going up the stairs.
Disagreeing with him, "Please don't let him go alone, guys, you're getting me right? We can't let him." She urgently turned back to the others, waiting to be heard.
"Why don't you go with him?" Turner pointed out, dashing off to the stairs to join Lloyd.
That was a good question, why didn't she go with him? She gulped, shaking her head at the master of speed. She had her reasons as to why she can't go. However, she didn't know if the elemental masters would take her seriously.
"Well you see, I'm quite useless if something does happen to him upstairs. I still have no idea how to use my powers." She told him, a little embarrassed in all honesty. What would the elemental masters think of her now, will they look down on her for being one of the participants of this particular event?
Turner and the other elemental masters turned to one another, nodding to each other that it was practically a rather valid point. Up till now, they never knew the former quiet one was an elemental master.
Two figures stood up to be in front of Harumi as well as the green ninja. It was Turner and Camille.
"It's okay, we'll go with Lloyd." The purple-haired woman smiled at the white-haired girl.
The Jade empress gave an appreciative smile, she had thanked the two of them and watched as the three all fled upstairs.
For the meantime, she returned to the living room and observed the scene. Everyone stilled for the couple of seconds
"Man, I miss Cole. Even if he did get into the game too much, he always loved games, whether it's video games or not." Kai chuckled, as he was leaned onto the wall.
Jay nodded, taking the tray out from the oven. There were now freshly baked muffins on the counter. "And Zane too, he didn't deserve to go out like that." He contributed.
Everyone had listened in, till suddenly,
The lights turned off again.
There was ruckus, but no one freaked out like they had in the previous nights.
"What's going on upstairs?" Jay had asked among the darkness.
There was running, it was heard through the floorboards above.
"I'll handle this."
"Are you sure?"
A conversation happened from upstairs in the middle of the darkness. There was too much going on, no one could see anything.
Glass shards broke.
Heavy breathing.
The lights turned back on again.
Everyone, including the ninjas left inside of the living room, gasped as they all saw each other again.
There was only one thing left on their minds, that was to obviously see what had happened upstairs.
They all stayed close to one another and climbed the stairs, dreading to see what had happened this time.
What they didn't expect to find however, was a terrified Lloyd who instantly ran out of the room he was just in and launched himself down the stairs to meet with the others.
It only left the group in a disturbed state.
"It was Camille, I saw her...she, I left for just a second and I saw her with the knife in hand and.." Lloyd muttered out, his eyes wide as nothing but fear were left in them.
Kai supported him, he held onto his arms.
"Slow down, take a deep breath, where were you when the crime happened?" He inquired, his detective instincts popping up.
When Lloyd had caught his breath, they all had continued walking back up the stairs and the first thing that was noticeable was that the curtains had been drawn out and the windows were open.
"I was in the storage room, I was piling up boxes to try and open the window closest to the ceiling and then.."
They walked inside of the room, closest to the stairs. Inside, was a terrible sight.
There stood Camille, covered in blood and held a knife. The ninjas' eyes directed to what laid under her feet, a body in a white suit, it was a purple-tinted Turner, murdered in plain sight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first to react, was the blue ninja. He spoke up at the scene and directly pointed fingers at the purple-haired woman.
"Okay okay, it's obviously her! It's obviously Camille!" He accused. It didn't take too much thinking from the others.
Camille chuckled and dropped the knife, stepping out of the room, leaving a trail of blood from her heels.
"Oh my my, it seems I was caught. I had wanted to get out of here sooner but I didn't anticipate that the lights would come out so soon." Camille said.
Unbelievable. The ninjas couldn't believe it.
Camille, was really the murderer.
"Why did you...kill Turner?" Harumi questioned, equally as terrified as Lloyd was.
"I said I was gonna find us all a way out! You didn't have to kill anybody!" The green ninja yelled, truly and utterly disappointed in the purple-haired elemental master's actions.
It went silent for a little longer. No one wanted to say anything.
But everyone's sights were fixed on the idea that the murderer, the cold-blooded murderer stood in front of them all, they were at a risk of death.
It was getting harder and harder to lie, but there was no point to it anymore, the murderer had been found.
Harumi's breath hitched. She raised a finger at Camille.
"Everyone, let's vote her out. There's no other evidence that says otherwise." She decided.
The one who interrupted, was the red ninja.
"Now hold on, I haven't examined the body yet—" he was stoped by Camille, as she held the railing, her fingers leaving a blood trail on them.
"Oh no, she's right. I am the murderer."
That confession earned a couple of raised brows from Nya and Kai. That sure was a bold claim. But sure, it could be said without care since the game was technically over now, right?
Wrong.
There was something that didn't sit well in the detective's mind about all of this. He had wished that he had more time to analyze the body however, but everyone immediately voted her out.
Could there be a way to prove Camille's innocence, if she had one?
The purple-haired girl opened the door, to leave the mansion for good. Camille had been eliminated.
An uproar of cheers were heard from the other ninjas.
"Wooo! We did it!"
"We really took her out!"
Respectively, Jay and a few other elemental masters celebrated.
They all went back downstairs.
A voice was heard from the intercom, Zephyr's voice, it was.
"Turner's role was Medic."
The ninjas gave sad glances as they all settled back on the couches.
Jay returned to his usual spot in the kitchen,
The elemental masters kept their heads low.
Another sentence was heard.
"Camille's role was Witch"
.....
what?
Everyone's hearts sank as the murderer had not been found yet.
Nya walked over to her brother, whom she noticed was deep in thought. He barely paid attention to the rest of the group.
"Is something wrong, brother?" She asked him quietly, turning back to face the group first to see if anyone was listening through.
When confirmed that no one was, Kai sighed. He shook his head and turned back to her.
"It's just, it doesn't add up." He admitted vaguely.
It earned an eyebrow raise from the water ninja. "What doesn't?" She asked for further explanations.
Kai then said, "The killing. The cause of death was internal bleeding, we saw it briefly from Turner's stab wounds. However, there was something peculiar about the body, it was a slightly purple-ish colour when we first saw it, right?" He began explaining.
Nya nodded at the information. Yes, she in fact saw Turner's body back upstairs in one of the bedrooms. He could have been mistaken for a plum had he not had hair.
"Yes, what about it?"
"Lloyd claimed to have seen Camille with a knife. But a knife didn't do this type of injury, it was a potion." He cleared out his main concerns to her.
Nya was quick to understand the situation at hand. Without asking too many questions, she agreed with him.
"That's right, Camille's role was witch, a person who carries a potion of life and death with them. So do you think she's the one that killed Turner?" Nya wanted her brother's opinions on the analysis she picked up so far.
He nodded, his eyes showing a deep grey dullness in them as he had found the mystery to this whole murder.
A set-up.
The murderer and the witch planned this.
"The witch killed tonight, but the murderer had not. The murderer is still out there."
The game continued.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a five minute grace period since the last elimination. Everyone was hard at work, investigating.
In the boiler room,
"What, are you sure about this?"
"I'm positive. I looked into it and my role doesn't lie, Nya is the twin."
"Thank you for telling me this, I'm sorry you have to die for this to work."
Two people were discussing. Their identities had not been revealed.
In the kitchen,
Jay had given the muffin of the night to Lloyd.
However, Kai wasn't too fond of that decision of his.
He walked around the house, spotting Nya who walked up to him.
"Found anything yet?"
They had been looking around the house for any clues left behind.
He shakes his head unfortunately.
"No, I haven't. But I do have a favour for you to ask." He says to his younger sister.
She listens to him willingly. "What is it?"
His eyes were looking deep into hers before shifting slightly over to the two green-dressed people in the house with them.
Nya noticed who he was looking at.
Lloyd and Harumi, calmly speaking to one another from the other side of the room.
"I'd like you to keep a close eye on those two for this round."
"Why's that?"
He heard Nya ask from beside him.
He narrowed his eyes. The smiles on the two's faces becoming more and more curved.
"I feel like those two are hiding something."
Just like that, the Smith siblings agreed that Kai would be watching over Lloyd and Nya would handle Harumi.
They hoped for the best that those two won't turn out to be the cold killers behind all of this.
But they always had to make sure those two didn't try anything behind their backs.
It took only a second for them to detect their first activity. Harumi and Lloyd nodded at each other before walking away from one another.
That's when Kai and Nya too, needed to split up.
Nya kept an eye on the white haired girl, she was going upstairs. The water ninja had no idea why she would be doing that.
As for Kai, he had seen him walk inside of the boiler room, raising a brow, he had followed him inside.
That's when he received his final hint.
"What the—?!"
There was an orange sleeve trapped from inside one of the tubes.
Kai gulped, he felt his heart drop.
He approached the sleeve ever so slightly and with a hitched breath, he opened the tube.
Skylor's body was burning in a heated tube full of water.
Kai didn't have enough time to process what would happen to him next.
The door behind him shut and a laugh was heard.
"Now that you've seen me, now you'll die." The murderer smiled with poisonous fangs, as he had just trapped his prey inside of a room for him and him alone.
Meanwhile, the others were investigating already. They had heard the reports come off of a dead body being found by the intercoms like it always occurred.
Everyone was there, except for two people.
Lloyd and Kai were missing to the scene.
"It's Lloyd, he's the murderer. He's with Kai right now and if he's not here then—" Nya paced back and forth, worrying as her brother's theories might all be coming together.
Not many agreed with her though. Many retorts were heard as in: "Lloyd would never" and "He discovered Turner's body, no?"
That wasn't the point, that was an act.
"Body was in the boiler room, that's what it said. Let's go check and find if Kai is really there or not." Harumi stated to the group.
"Well, we'd need to see for ourselves, no?" Nya agreed with her, she was ready to go and rescue her brother.
However, one person mildly interrupted them all. A man with grey hair.
"We can't, the body is already burning." He remarked sharply.
Nya growled, not allowing a comment like that to get in her way from solving this. That's why she was never fit to be a detective, her tempter can lead her to forget many important details.
"How do you know? Where's Kai?!"
"I have no clue."
The two didn't acknowledge over their bickering that there was loud banging coming from the boiler room.
A cry for help, really.
"What Ash said is a little suspicious, no?" Kay intervened, indirectly not taking Nya's side in all of this.
The master of smoke grew tired.
Why couldn't everyone just think properly for a second?
"No? I was just stating facts. The announcement did said the body was in the boiler room, right?" He said.
Jay pretends to listen, "I don't believe it." The blue ninja rolls his eyes.
The master of smoke couldn't believe the situation at hand at the moment.
He wasn't the murderer, it can't be him.
"Why? It's literally the truth, Jay." Ash retorted.
But no one wanted to listen to him, no one wanted this situation to make sense.
Nya shook her head. "Vote him out, quickly! So I can go and see my brother!" She yelled.
It was blasphemy. Outrageous behaviour.
Thank goodness it was just an event in a tournament, or else,
Ash was voted off.
His role was scout.
Skylor's role was Spy.
The game continued.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next night, was a very short one.
Desperately, the fire ninja slammed his fists on the door, wanting to break out.
It didn't work.
He kept up. He knew he could get out of here.
"Let me out! Let me out! I'll tell everyone it's you!"
The murderer sneered, they stayed behind the door.
"Hmm, I'm afraid not."
Kai growled, resorting to kicking the door open. It didn't work.
"You won't kill me, you won't! I have the evidence with me right now that it's you!"
Again, the lights had turned off.
But no one was killed.
The murderer didn't kill anyone tonight.
The game continued.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The last round began, as numbers plummeted down.
The green ninja was seen returning back to the living room where he met up with Harumi and Nya, it instantly raised suspicions.
"Where have you been, and where is Kai? He was with you." Nya shot him a question.
Lloyd raised a brow at her, he sighed and started walking off in the direction of the boiler room.
"He's here actually, we've been discussing Skylor's murder actually." He explained, leading the two of them towards the room.
Nya's face immediately softened.
Discussing?
So maybe they were wrong about this. Maybe Lloyd was innocent, what if they were tracking down the wrong person?
They eventually arrived in the room, where Lloyd opened the door to them. He sighed again, and brought his hand down to his pockets.
"The final clue was following me all the way here, Kai.." the green ninja snickered and pulled out a dagger.
He stabbed it directly into Kai's chest as he tried to call for help behind the door.
Lloyd, the murderer and puppeteer of this whole game, killed the detective.
Before anyone could even react or scream out to warn the others, Nya's wrist was grabbed by the white haired Jade empress.
Mortified, "Harumi, you too?!" She tried to pull her hand away. It didn't work, the girl's grip was too strong.
Harumi nodded. "Well you see, you both were so caught up in finding the murderer that you didn't acknowledge the assassin trying to get on your good sides." She cheered.
Like the murderer had done so, she used her free hand to pull out a knife she kept previously throughout the entire game.
Unlike the murderer, the assassin only had one kill they could use for the whole game.
"I'll be back, Rumi. Don't worry about it, I won't get killed, I'll be careful. Keep yourself safe." That's what Lloyd had told her earlier when he was going to go upstairs and allow Camille to kill Turner for him.
"Keep yourself safe." That was the message that Lloyd had secretly given to Harumi, stating that she should keep herself safe and out of suspicion so she could use her final kill for the finale.
She stabbed the water ninja repeatedly and chuckled.
Game over.
As the two siblings' corpses fell to the ground, the two knew that their gig was done.
The house's lights remained on and the front door was open for them.
"Yeah! We won!" Harumi cheered, her ominous character disappearing at the sound of the confetti going off from the intercoms.
Lloyd, giving a sweet smile, brought a hand in the air for Harumi to grab.
They both high-fived one another, they had won the first round of the Tournament of Elements and they did it together.
"We win these!" Lloyd chuckled, celebrating like Harumi had done.
A list appeared on the screen,
Good team
Detective: Kai
Muffin man: Jay
Saviour: Cole
Twin: Nya(twin is Kai)
Survivor: Shade, Tox and Karlof
Medic: Turner
Good physic: Zane
Spy: Skylor
Evil team
Murderer: Lloyd
Assassin: Harumi
Dark Physic: Pale Man
Witch: Camille
Scout: Ash
Neutral team
Clown: Neuro
There, it displayed everyone's roles.
The first event of the Tournament of Elements ended shortly afterwards.
The contestants were free to leave the arena, disguised as a house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having free time for themselves until the next would start, the two partners in crime had sat down by a clearing near the main building and looked over the calming ocean.
"For your first time, you did really well, Rumi." Lloyd smiled at her, he was incredibly proud of her for staying attention and following his instructions, no matter how subtle they were.
Smiling back at him, "Thank you, Lloyd. I really appreciate it. You did very well too. We make a great team, don't we?" She giggled quietly.
As they sat on the grass, it was quiet.
It really did feel like a fever dream, they couldn't believe they had pulled one such thing off in the first place.
They weren't sure if such an event would happen again in the future.
As Harumi looked up at the sky, she had just remembered how much she loved this scenery.
There were flowers everywhere and the cliff they were on, breath-taking.
They didn't realize it, but as their gazes turned back to face another, they found each other leaning into the other.
There was no stopping it, they didn't even realize such a thing was happening.
Under a brimming sun, a flower-covered cliffside, a glistening ocean and a soft wind,
The two had finally gotten some time for themselves after such a long event.
Two figures watched amongst the bushes behind them.
Lloyd's trailed up to cup her cheek, he smiled at her. Just like she had done, he continued to lean.
Harumi blushed even more, her left hand, the one that was holding on to Lloyd's other hand.
Their cheeks reddened, innocence blossoming for a second.
Their lips, only inches apart from one another,
"Hm, what are you doing, Lloyd?"
Garmadon and Mirage had been there the entire time, watching the two teenagers being 'this' close to interact with one another.
His appearance obviously scared the two apart.
"Woah!"
Perhaps a little...too much.
The two teenagers had toppled over and fell to sea below them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Resurfacing, Lloyd and Harumi sighed, paddling their arms around to try and get to shore.
The one who had the displeased look on his face was the green ninja. He groaned and swam to shore, his attire becoming all soggy which only made him more uncomfortable.
"Seriously..." he gave a displeased glare in his father's direction. "Why did you do that?"
Innocently, the man glanced in his direction.
"I don't know what you mean." He replied shortly.
Lloyd and Harumi weren't pleased.
"What was the whole conversation about trying to find a way out, then?" The oni lord wondered.
"That," Harumi begins with a small smile, "that was acting. It was also a way for us to interact with each other in front of the public, seeing as we were both the murderer and assassin." She explained.
Then it occurred to her as to why he could be asking such a specific question.
"Why, were you watching us?"
"From the main hub, yes." It was no secret for all of the spectators on the island.
Harumi gave a nod of understanding before trying to swim back to shore. But she always found herself swimming back to where she.
Garmadon, who didn't really understand much of her explanations aside from a couple of words, simply nodded and turned his head away for a second.
Mirage sighed, she wanted to bring their attentions to something else.
"Anyways, the ones who were eliminated just came up on the leaderboard." She told the two, quiet in her voice.
Lloyd, who was squishing the water out from his sleeves, gave a curious glance at the former oni princess. "Really, who didn't show up?" He asked.
Mirage. didn't give a look or regret nor relief when she pronounced the names of the ones who were eliminated the first round.
But judging by the silence that was held for any longer than usual, Lloyd and Harumi, glanced at each other, growing worried.
"What's wrong?" The blonde prompted the both of them, asking them both to continue.
There was nothing wrong, actually.
Garmadon sighed, taking over.
The two teens weren't sure whether they wanted to hear this or not..
"Ash, Shade and Jay didn't return when the event was over." He told them, pure neutrality heard in his voice. It was if he really wasn't on anyone' side.
It was no shocker that people would get eliminated out of a tournament of all things.
However, bad memories still struck down the green ninja as he remembered what had happened back in the first tournament.
Harumi, didn't take it too lightly. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
It'll be alright, they're weren't gone for good, just...just eliminated. That's all. It's a game, it's just a game. It's fine.
"See over there, there's boats. They must lead back to Ninjago. I'm sure Zephyr is sending them back home." Lloyd pointed over to the side of shore. There were two boats by the dock.
It seemed to make her breathe a little easier.
That's right, they're going home or they'll be here to watch.
Yeah, Zephyr's a good guy.
"Well, you should get out of the water now." Garmadon advised her, turning his attention back to the white haired girl.
Nodding at his advice, Harumi swam to shore.
Or at least, she tried to. She swam, kicked her legs, paddled her arms. But just couldn't move.
Dead weight, dead weight, what was keeping her from returning back to the sand.
"What's going.."
She felt it. There was something keeping her down....something tugged around her leg.
No one had noticed at first, the green no ha threw a banter at his father about rudely interrupting his moment with Rumi, meanwhile Mirage watched, a little surprised at their interactions.
She continued to swim, with several struggles. She felt herself becoming heavy and her legs being strained slightly as she tried to stretch and pry away whatever was clinging onto her leg. Bad idea, she only began to sink.
She paddled, desperately trying to swim back to them but only struggled more and more. She yelped, adding more force in her paddles to alert the others back on shore. The waves grew bigger as her palm slapped the tides, making as much noise as possible.
The son and father fought, the former oni princess turned her head in Harumi's direction, her ears catching on the exaggerated noise. She just about caught the white haired girl going under.
"Something's gotten Harumi!" She tightened her ponytail and ran to sea, instantly diving in the water and swimming after what had gotten the white haired girl.
That made the two stop arguing for a second.
"What?!"
They shot a glare at one another before running after Mirage and stopped just when the sea touched their shoes.
The pigtailed-girl dove and dove deeper, spotting Harumi really quickly. She was continuously sinking, but to what?
Mirage squinted her eyes and swam closer, the cause of the whole situation appearing before her very eyes. There was a creature with them.
She couldn't break free, as much as Harumi tried to, the two girls could barely make out that a creature almost like a squid, was pulling her deeper into the ocean.
Her eyes widening in surprise, the former oni princess charged up her abilities, a purple aura began emitting from her hands.
"Oh no, you stay away from her!" She protested through complicated circonstances, water flew in and out of her mouth and she was forced to tightly shut her eyes for a second as the stinging sensation of the sea water got in her eyes.
"Mirage..! Mirage!"
The former oni princess fired her beam of destruction towards the beast. It yelped and faltered for a second, it still didn't let go of her though. She had to try a little harder.
Taking out one of her poison-daggers, she flung herself at the creature and thrashed it, she poked it on the side with the handle of her weapon and cut a few of its tentacles off. She fought with the monster for a little while, eventually it had released Harumi.
Not having any air for the meantime, Harumi tried returning to the surface on her own. She gasped, her oxygen running quick. She had to alert somebody that she wasn't doing so well at the moment.
Mirage let go of the creature for a second, having attempted to stab it. The creature raged and swam quicker, its canines showing to bite at the pigtailed-girl, whom she dodged really easily.
There wasn't much time left, more and more oxygen bubbles were lost and Harumi found herself sinking deeper down the ocean.
She reached a hand out, "H-Hey you...!" She attempted to call to the both of them.
The two continued to quarrel and lunge at each other.
Harumi continued to sink.
Sand got in her hair and seaweed wrapped themselves around her like a Queen's jewelry.
"You're not...trying to hurt us, are you?"
She failed to stay afloat.
Her eyesight was blurry.
Seashells were adding colour to her robes.
"Look at you, you look so friendly."
She grabbed one of the shells weakly and with the last remainder of strength she had left, she threw it at the surface.
The two had noticed a shell from below trying to make its way to the surface. Mirage noticed Harumi and turned to the creature for guidance before swimming down to help her.
"Just breathe alright, I'll bring you up." She whispered, holding onto her, she lifted her body from the sea bottom and held her tightly.
More and more, the girl was losing air.
The creature that Mirage tried to attack earlier held the seashell in its mouth before lowering it to the ground. It looked at the two girls in confusion, wondering why Harumi was semi-awake.
"You've been lonely down here, right? Is that it?" Harumi smiled lightly and brought a hand to wrap around Mirage, as support.
The creature nodded and came a little closer, seeming to trust the girls a little more. It shot a glare at Mirage however, the former oni princess understood the message and put her daggers away.
"I won't hurt you if you won't hurt us." Mirage said to the creature with a friendly smile.
It surprisingly barked.
The creature moved a little closer to the girls and as gently as possible, grabbed Harumi by the hood and gestured Mirage to climb on top of it.
The former princess hesitated but ended up swimming on top of it and held it by the ears.
With everyone on, the creature began bringing those two back to the surface.
Its head sticked out and it barked, the sun reflecting on its scaley skins and tail, it tossed the two girls onto the sand.
"What in the world is that?!" Lloyd jumped out from the spot he was sitting from.
Garmadon, who was behind him, didn't make any remarks. It was if seeing this type of creature was normal for him.
They were staring at a puppy, octopus, mermaid and dragon hybrid.
No one has ever seen one of these before me
At least, him not being scared is what everyone had thought by Garmadon's statue-like reaction. But he couldn't particularly fool everyone there. Mirage rolled her eyes and got off the creature.
"If you're scared, you can say it, you know?" She told the son of the first spinjitzu master, her hands squeezing the water out of her pigtails.
Garmadon shook his head, crossing his arms.
"No way, I'm not scared. I'm not scared of anything." He claimed briefly.
The hybrid approached Harumi, who was now laying on the beach, and dropped a coconut beside her.
Garmadon dashed off, finding the closeness enough for his own liking. He hid behind a rock and watched as Lloyd knelt down and checked if Harumi was doing alright.
"What do you think it wants?" Lloyd narrowed his eyebrows, not exactly sure as to why it was so attached to his loved one all of a sudden.
Grabbing the coconut after having recovered, Harumi threw it to the side and without any surprises, the three watched the hybrid run off towards the brown-sphere.
"It just wants to play, I think." She coughed a little. Lloyd, having heard that she was alright, wrapped his arms around her.
"You doing okay though?" He wanted to make sure she was fine. Harumi nodded and hugged him back before pulling away.
The creature had returned to them, dropping the coconut beside them. Harumi and Mirage chuckled, Lloyd was the only one left confused.
He picked up the coconut and examined it, not sure whether the creature damaged it in any way.
"Uh...what does it want me to do?" He inquired.
Harumi pointed in the distance them back at the coconut.
"Pretend it's like the ball you use to play fetch with Nix. It wants to play." She explained to him cheerfully.
He shrugged, gave the ball one more inspection before throwing it a few centimetres away. His confusion was resolved when the hybrid came back with the coconut and set it down beside him.
Oh. It was just like a dog.
It didn't look like one at all. Well, its head was the face of a dog, its scales resembled a dragon's, its legs were tentacles and it had an extra edition of a mermaid tail onto it.
He didn't have much time to think because the two girls had screeched in cuteness and rushed over to pet the creature.
"Awww, you're just the sweetest!"
They had both said in union.
Lloyd, though, didn't see what was so safe with a creature like that.
"Uh...are you sure its safe?" He tried.
"Look at it, it's a cute lil' puppy!" Mirage cooed, continuing to give the creature head pats.
"Don't be a baby, Lloyd!" Harumi laughed, giving the creature a little chin rub before smiling and bringing her head to touch its head.
He sighed. Well, it couldn't be helped.
He did own two dragons after all, he might as well fade his fears and uncertainty.
He took a step forward, then another one, another one, until he was close enough to place a hand on its head.
It was a soft.
His eyes widened slightly as he began lowering his hand down then brought it back up. He began to pet the creature, looking at its excited face was more comforting than scary.
He chuckled and got closer to the two girls, he kept petting the creature.
"Hey, you're right...this guy's quite friendly.." he admitted, forgetting his fears from before.
Mirage grinned, "hehe, you told you so." She jabbed at the green ninja.
Garmadon, however, watched as the three teenagers were now being hypnotized by this puppy's charms. He didn't understand what was so cute about it, it looked more scary than affectionate, really. He lowered his head back down to the rock.
Rumi didn't buy it though. She raised a brow and glanced towards Garmadon's direction.
He gave an annoyed and tired smile.
"No, I'm not petting that thing." He stated. He didn't want to have his mind changed.
Harumi pouted and reached a hand forward fo him, the other remained on top of the creature as she, Mirage and Lloyd kept petting.
"Awww come on, Garmadon, it's not deadly." She told him.
He shook his head, "What if it bites me?" He was a little nervous.
'It won't, it didn't bite any of us yet!' was what she had wanted to say. But that would only make him more stubborn. She thought for a second.
Before smirking and turning her back away from him. She focused back to her friends.
"If you say so, such a cowardly and non powerful oni you are, hm?" She mocked.
It was a joke, of course.
Or rather, bait.
Garmadon's ego getting mocked, instantly lured him in.
He left the rock and approached the three teenagers, who now had the biggest smirks on their faces.
"I'm not! See look, if you insist," he huffed and placed a hand on the creature. He was met with a surprise, he didn't think the creature would be that soft. Nor did he expect the creature to just sit by and accept him like this.
"Huh.." he continued to pet the creature, his guards lowering down.
"It's just like petting Cloud, right?" Harumi smiled at her victory of convincing both Lloyd and Garmadon to trust this hybrid.
The oni lord, now defeated, nodded.
"I suppose so.."
The four continued to play around the hybrid on the beach before saying goodbye and returning back to the main building.
It was nighttime now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She opened her eyes to a foreign sight. It was a city, not just some city however, it was Ninjago city with the flashing lights and the busy people.
There stood several prisoners, all tied and blind-folded. They were set up by executioners nearby. Many crowds were watching, including the white haired girl.
She recognized who the targets were judging by their hair styles and haircuts. Not to mention, there were pets there too.
As usual, as she sees them every night, Lloyd, Garmadon, Opal, and Mistaké were there.
Including her beloved pup, Cloud and Nix.
But what she didn't expect to find however, was Lilla, Jade and Kaityln joining them for execution.
What was going on?
She couldn't sit here and just watch right? That would be wrong, so incredibly wrong, she wouldn't know if she'd forgive herself.
So, Harumi stands, she pushes her way through the crowds to get a better look at the targets left to die.
She had noticed a man with brown hair and a dark green streak, he was happily declaring a speech among these people. She knew him too, that was the spellcaster Zephyr.
Why was he here again?
Ah, she gets it now, it's s another nightmare.
That's why she didn't feel defenceless, more fed-up of the same memory over and over again? She was glad she wasn't all chained up in that room anymore though.
She watches as Zephr moves to his left, approaching the last row, he reached Lloyd.
She saw in the glimpse of an eye how he pulled a sharp dagger from his pockets. A wicked smile was on his lips.
No, she couldn't let that happen to Lloyd!
"No you won't, I'm done being haunted by you!"
Alas, she charged onto stage, earning many gasps from the people in the crowds.
They all backed away as she tackled Zephyr down, using her fists, using her legs to send a flying kick—anything to bring him down.
Having not expecting the sudden attack, Zephyr faltered. He hissed and dropped the dagger as far away as possible. He gripped on her wrists and tried to push her off him.
"How dare you!"
He was furious with her now.
Having escaped punishment for just a second, a certain blonde-haired girl struggled beneath the ropes tied on her hands. She yelped, wiggling to the left and right, trying to loosen these ropes up.
Harumi and Zephyr fought and fought, failing to notice the escape of Jade from her death trap.
She loosened the ropes just in time and glared at Zephyr with an angry look.
As a last ditch effort, she ran up to the spellcaster and thought for a second: What would be more affective around him? She was a mere mortal, not some elemental master like the other ninjas. Come on, she needs to think..
"Leave her alone!" Jade yelled, running over to Zephyr and picking a brick up from the road below her. She pulled it back a little and with the momentum, threw it at Zephyr.
The spellcaster, stood up, leaving Harumi to fall back down to the ground and push Jade out of the way. The blonde had fallen in a lake nearby the centre of the city.
Clearly unpleased now, Zephyr cast away his attention from Harumi to Jade, who helplessly swam up to the surface and coughed water out. That was unpleasant to the max....
She looked up, her clothes all soggy, to find Zephyr angrily approaching her, dagger in hand.
"NO DON'T!" Harumi cried out, standing up from the ground and running over to the spellcaster.
With a strict eye, "This is what happens when those who were meant to die escape punishment." He raises the dagger.
Jade whimpers, Harumi shuts her eyes.
"DON'T! SHE'S JUST A CHILD, SHE HAS A WHOLE LIFE TO LIVE FOR!!!" She begged.
No avail.
Zephyr snickers, digging his weapon deep into the blonde girl, who fought for freedom minutes ago. He didn't bother to pull the weapon out. He only stood up and smeared the blood off his fingers.
"Pathetic, now, Harumi. You couldn't even save her." He laughed.
This can't be real.
Jade wasn't really dead...
Can't be....
She wasn't even there with them!
She's back home safely.
Yeah.
Yeah....
It was just a terrible nightmare again.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In a bed full of sweat, Harumi woke up in a panic. She gasped for air and squirmed, pulling the bedsheets close. She looked around, for any signs of Jade and Zephyr. She found none, just a sleeping Cloud by the edge of her bed.
She takes a deep breath.
It's okay, it was just a nightmare.
Jade's very much safe right now.
She tries to go back to sleep but couldn't find the possibility to do so when she hears a rather loud noise from across the wall. She couldn't make out what it was...it was, chattering maybe?
Curiosity grew to her as she stepped out of bed, looked at Cloud one more time before leaving the room to let the puppy sleep.
She closes the door lightly and looked around, mainly to see if the coast was clear....in which it was. It was very liberating to have it that way since Harumi can explore around without getting caught in the first five minutes.
She walks a few metres away from her room and continues to look around....there were many different rooms, in which she assumes belongs to the elemental masters.
She wonders where her family was staying.
Looking back ahead of her, she sees a cloaked figure, her eyes squint slightly at the appearance of an unfamiliar symbol largely printed on it. It was a purple symbol, that she had no knowledge of.
Though, she could have sworn Garmadon, Mirage, Opal and Mistaké told her something about it once.
She could possibly ask them?
Deciding that she had wanted to know more about the said individual and symbol, she follows them.
She makes sure to be very quiet, hide behind walls if they ever turned around to check if they were being followed. Harumi had thought it was a genius plan, to avoid getting caught.
It only made her lose them.
She hid through far too many corners that she lost track of which corner the figure had walked off to. She gulps, coming out of her hiding spot and cluelessly walking around the hallway.
"Dammit.." she clenched her teeth. "Where did you go..?" She continued to look around.
She turned her head too late, bumping face-first into a wall. The white-haired girl's reaction was unavoidable.
"OH FOR FSM' SAKE!!!"
She rubbed her cheeks and forehead, the parts that were impacted by the accident. She looked merely disappointed in herself for losing he target as well. She failed to realize her yell had caused an unhappy guest to open their door and come out to scold her.
"Harumi, what are you doing here?" yawned an elemental master. Oh phew, she thought someone would be mad at her.
"Sorry, I just...uh, got lost." Her cheeks reddened, whispering out an excuse before her eyes turned to fully look at the person.
Instead of embarrassed, she became ten times more humiliated.
The elemental master standing in front of her was a very confused Lloyd Garmadon, out in his usual green pyjamas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Heya, Lilla here! Welcome to the official start of the tournament, Zephyr's tournament is finally starting everyone and the first event was the infamous Murder mystery game; Flicker! (Fun fact: Most of the events the ninjas are gonna play are games that me and Jdizzle have tried out in Roblox for fun!) So no worries, we definitely know how the game works, we just figured we'd add our little twists :)
Stay tuned for what happens in next week's chapter, or rather...the next event! Cya!