"Ugh, Karlof starving!" groaned the Master of Metal loudly, for the millionth time that hour.
Bolobo stuck his arm out of his cell and waved, "Same."
"I'm bored," sighed Neuro, laying on the lumpy cot and staring blankly at the ceiling. He'd already counted all the rivets in the ceiling multiple times. There were precisely 214 of them.
Karlof banged on the bars, demanding, "Give Karlof food now!"
"Would you shut up!" hollered Luke Cunningham, feeling cheated at being given such a boring, thankless job. These prisoners were annoying. "This ain't no five star hotel!"
"It ain't a five star prison anymore either!" shouted Tox. "This place stinks! Literally!"
Warden Noble, who had the misfortune of being thrown into one of the very cells he had once been in charge of, yelled across the room apologetically, "Sorry! It's not my fault these guys have no idea how to properly run a prison!"
Luke gave a massive sigh of annoyance and rolled his eyes. He was just about as bored as the prisoners were. "Quit that!" he ordered, yanking the metal cup out of Jacob's hands as the Elemental Master had been running it across the bars nonstop for about an hour.
Just as he was about to let loose another massive sigh, a fellow Sons of Garmadon member waltzed over. She proposed an interesting idea.
"Y'know, we've got some stale bread. We could make 'em fight for it."
His eyes lit up. True! Why throw all these good fighters in here and not use them?
He made and an announcement, "Hey, yous! Ya want food? Well, you gotta fight for it."
Tox, Karlof, and Jacob were eager volunteers.
"I volunteer as tribute!"
"Ooh! Pick me!"
"Yes! Finally some action!"
Luke raised a questioning eyebrow, mildly off put by their enthusiasm. His next words dampened the excitement. "You gotta fight each other."
The Elemental Masters made a face and slowly pulled their raised hands back into their cells. Never mind. That was too much like the Tournament of Elements.
"Aw, c'mon now. You're all chickens?" jeered a female guard.
"Ooh, roast chicken sounds so good right now," chimed in Ray in a wistful tone.
"Yeah," agreed Maya, "on a bed of steamed vegetables."
"Ugh, stop. You're making me hungry now," sighed the Police Commissioner.
Seeing as they were getting sidetracked again, Luke Cunningham ran a hand down his face. "Alright, alright." He pointed to two of the original volunteers, Tox and Karlof. "You 'n you. Fight."
Tox raised her eyebrow, stubbornly refusing. "Um, no. This isn't the Tournament of Elements."
Karlof just sat down obstinately in the middle of his cell.
Luke was about to address the Master of Sound when he piped up, "Yeah, buddy. Don't even look at me."
Chopper Maroon made a more tempting offer. "Fine. How 'bout you getta fight some of us? If ya win, then you can have some bread."
That generated some interest again among both the prisoners and the Sons of Garmadon. Nothing like beating up your enemy to really liven things up a bit.
Jacob shouted the loudest. "Me first!"
The bikers heard his plea and dragged him out first, thinking he would be an easy opponent. As Luke shoved the short Elemental Master into the center of a ring of Sons of Garmadon, he sneered, "Those chains ain't comin' off."
Jacob shrugged uncaringly as he tested the chains around his wrists. That made no difference to him. He'd totally win this anyways even without his Element. He stood stock still as he listened to Chopper taunt.
"Hey, shortstack. Come 'n find me. Come on. I'll even let ya take the first shot."
The Master of Sound swung in the direction of the voice. His opponent gave a derisive laugh as he easily dodged the blow. "Hah hah! Too slow!"
The Elemental Master kept wildly swinging, earning some shallow wounds from the dagger that his opponent unfairly wielded. In the end, Chopper's big mouth is what lost him the fight as his voice kept giving away his position to the Elemental. That and the fact that Jacob was not above (literally) hitting below the belt.
All of the males in the room winced in sympathy as Chopper went down. The Sons of Garmadon had to pry Jacob off the downed biker before he broke his face.
Chopper dazedly picked himself off the ground, not comprehending how he'd managed to lose. His cohorts and the prisoners were quick to mock him as he limped away bitterly.
The Sons of Garmadon began really getting into the fights and started to excitedly drag out more and more captives to brawl with, whether the prisoners were willing or not.
Since Jacob's first victory, the bikers were more wary and careful to keep themselves with an advantage. They had weapons while their opponents were unarmed and in shackles. In essence, the prisoners quickly became their punching bags as they released their pent up energy and rage. Very few were able to win any stale bread from the stingy jailers.
Fortunately, especially for the less skilled fighters, the beatings were brief as most Sons of Garmadon members weren't quite as sadistic as a certain purple-clad general. Also, it was just no fun punching an adversary that didn't fight back.
The brawls wore on, round for round.
Tommy and Simon had a two on two fight. The police pair lost, but not before Simon surprised everyone, including himself, by somehow getting his hands on a chair and bashing it over the head of one of the bikers, knocking him out cold.
For some reason, the Sons of Garmadon pulled out some band of musicians to fight. The only thing that happened was that the singers found their voices could go quite a few octaves higher than they thought and one guitar was sacrificed in the process of awkwardly attempting to throw it like a spear.
The mailman mysteriously managed to not get pummeled. He didn't exactly win, but he wasn't a loser either. He just outran and evaded each biker until they got bored with him and threw him back in his cell. Apparently, biking around the entirety of Ninjago was a great way to build stamina.
Jacob, who'd been placed in a cell closer to his fellow Masters, murmured to them, "We gotta bust outta here."
He made a face as he felt his "prize" of moldy bread crumble in his hand. Surprisingly, the Sons of Garmadon had indeed kept their word and given the few winners a piece of bread. Their generosity was probably due to the fact that they weren't about to eat that stale rubbish.
Karlof was skeptical. "This better not be like Master of Sound's 'escape' in Tournament of Elements."
Jacob shook his head and chuckled embarrassedly, "No, no, no. Not me. That's the last time I try hatching an escape plan. Tox? Sounds like you've been in here before. Got any ideas on how to break out?"
Tox rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Hey, just 'cause I've been here doesn't mean I know how to escape." However, she looked around, eyeing her fellow Masters. "Anyone know how to lock pick or pickpocket?"
They all shook their heads and she scoffed, "Okay, you're all useless."
"Well can you?" challenged Gravis.
The Master of Poison had a smug expression. "I can pickpocket."
"You really shouldn't be proud of that skill," commented Neuro.
"Yeah, but it's what's gonna get us outta here," she smirked. All she had to do was wait for her turn to go against these losers, then she was sure she'd be able to nab something useful in the middle of the tussle.
After a number of dull fights against civilians, the Sons of Garmadon turned their attention back to the Elemental Masters. They were wary to attack because they couldn't necessarily kill them and they assumed the Elementals were more knowledgeable in combat.
Bolobo didn't offer much in the way of an interesting, violent fight, considering that he had an injured leg which may or may not have been infected by this point. It hurt a lot as he hobbled around. Still, he managed to land a few decent punches before going down.
Gravis was okay at fighting, though he wasn't the best warrior out of the Elemental Masters. He missed his Element. With it, the fighting would be a breeze. All he would have to do was pick these fools up and throw them. Ugh, he had to now abide by the stupid laws of gravity. He lost but only because they sent two goons against him.
Neuro wasn't afraid to admit that he getting too old for this. He was a psychologist, not a trained fighter. Sure, he could pull off an impressive somersault for his age, but without his Element, he was practically fighting as blind as Jacob. He somehow managed to pull out a victory by closely reading his opponent's body language.
Karlof lost, much to his shame, but that was only due to him going up against four other armed people. He earned multiple cuts that stung but powered through, managing to knock out two of his opponents before being pinned and beaten.
However, being the Master of Metal, he was able to gather useful info during his drawn out brawl as he noticed the glint of metal keys hanging from the belts of a few Sons of Garmadon. He pinpointed the one who seemed to hold keys to the prison cells, Chopper Maroon.
Ray and Maya were brilliant warriors, even in Vengestone chains, considering that they hadn't wielded their Elements for years anyway. The bikers' loss was their own fault for allowing the duo to fight together. Much to the bikers' mild panic, they came close to accidentally slicing the chains off their captives in the middle of the brawl.
Tox was one of the last few the Sons of Garmadon dragged out. Most were pretty wary of her fangs. She grinned wickedly at them as they debated whether or not to fight her.
"You sure ya wanna fight her?" questioned Nails with wide eyes.
Just to scare him more, Tox flashed her fangs at him. She along with her fellow Elemental Masters chuckled at his cowardice as he visibly gulped and shuffled backward a step.
"You betcha. We got a score to settle," declared Mohawk bitterly. He patted the hilt of his katana, glowering at the Master of Poison.
His tone of voice pulled Tox's subtle attention from the keys at his side to the bandage encircling his upper arm. Oh, he must've been one of the guys she'd bitten. Well, kudos to him for not cowering away like some others.
Luke tapped Mohawk on the shoulder with a cruel grin adoring his features. He held up an object that looked almost like a medieval torture device. Chopper gave a savage smirk as he took the crude metal item in his hands and turned towards Tox.
The Master of Poison's eyes narrowed into slits as she realized what it was: a muzzle. She sassed, "What? Still can't handle me in chains, coward?"
Mohawk didn't say anything and opened the cell door. It took the efforts of multiple members, but they finally managed to wrestle the foul contraption onto Tox and lock it into place. The other Elemental Masters voiced their extreme displeasure at such rough treatment of the Master of Poison.
This action served to further Tox's rage against them. Still, she tried to focus in on her objective as she dodged violent blows from Mohawk: get the keys. It was hard to stealthily grab them when dozens of eyes were fixed on the fight.
She tried a different tactic from gracefully twisting around slashes of Mohawk's katana while subtly reaching for the keys. Somehow, the biker was deceivingly quick and agile, always cutting her off before she could grasp them or land a strike. She tensed and braced herself. Brute strength was more Karlof's technique than hers.
Mindful of his katana, she plowed into him. As they both tumbled down, she gave a subtle smirk of triumph as her fingers closed around the keys. She quickly rolled away from the biker and got to her feat, earning a light slash against her side in the process.
Neuro's countenance also lifted as he noted Tox's skillful achievement. His face fell again as he realized he hadn't been the only one to take notice.
Chopper called out, pointing to his friend's side, "Yo, Mohawk! Where's your keys?"
Tox mentally cursed the biker's observational skills. Oh great. Now Mohawk looked extra furious as he invited Nails and Chopper to join in the fight. For a while, they all grappled for the key, but the Master of Poison kept a firm hold on it even though she knew that it was futile to keep fighting since they knew she had it.
Neuro, seeing that it had gone pear-shaped, was frantically signing to Tox, hoping she'd catch onto what he was trying to say. She caught his eye for half a second and gave a slight nod. Turns out, being friends with Chamille and Ash was good for more than just pickpocketing lessons.
She shouted as loud as she could beneath the blasted muzzle, "You want it?! Fine. Fetch!" She threw the keys which hit Nails square between the eyes.
The biker didn't have time to recover as the green-clad Elemental leapt on him, batting his blade away and knocking him unconscious.
Despite exhaustion creeping up on her from the long brawl, Tox was determined to finish it, but as she turned to face down her last two opponents, she caught sight of Shade's unconscious form being hauled into the prison. With her distracted, Mohawk managed to hit her with the flat of his blade and she collapsed unconscious.
As the Sons of Garmadon cheered, the Elemental Masters groaned, both for Tox's failed task and the sight of another of the Resistance captured.
Luke instructed his bikers, pointing to the Masters of Poison and Shadow, "Throw them in there."
The fresh batch of Sons of Garmadon were surprised to find their comrades in high spirits. They quickly grew jealous when they realized they got to have fun brawling in here while they got beat up for some shiny crystal.
"Can we fight?" whined Skip Vicious.
Luke shook his head, glancing around at the prisoners and their sorry conditions. "There ain't anyone left."
Mohawk whispered something into the white-haired biker's ear.
Luke's eyes widened. "Nah-uh. Ya can't be serious."
Mohawk shrugged, nodding towards the newcomers. "We could send all these guys up against him for fun." He added in a lower voice.
"Alright, it's their funeral," snickered Luke, acquiescing to proposal. "Bring out the prisoner in solitary!"
A few Sons of Garmadon members murmured amongst themselves, "Wait, we had a prisoner back there?"
As the mystery captive was brought into view, Ray's and Maya's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and they didn't even try to stifle their astonished gasps. No way. It couldn't— How?! Then who— ugh. This brought up many, many questions with so few answers.
Maya tugged on her husband's sleeve. She murmured in a breathless voice, "Ray, it's..."
Ray, equally as shaken, answered softly, "I know."
It had been many, many years since they had seen each other, but his wrinkled, weathered face was still recognizable. After all, how could one forget a dear friend who was once like a brother to them?
Others in the facility gasped as the man stepped into the light.
"B—but won't the Emperor get mad?" blubbered Skip nervously.
"He ain't here, is he?" pointed out Luke. He shrugged flippantly. "Emperor Garmadon put me in charge o' Kryptarium, so I getta say what we can do."
The captive spoke for the first time since he cheated death. "That charlatan is not Garmadon."
Most Sons of Garmadon blanched at the intensity in the man's tone. They knew he wasn't lying, but they were too deep in to back out now. It was easier to play along.
One of the more ignorant members scoffed uncaringly, "Yeah? And how do you know that?"
The prisoner's heavy gaze locked with the so-called Son of Garmadon's. The biker felt a shiver go up her spine. This was the gaze of a man who had seen unspeakable horrors.
"I am Garmadon."
The entire prison fell so deathly silent that you could've heard a pin drop. The few who hadn't understood what was happening moments before now went pale as well.
Skip Vicious shook his head so intensely that he was almost at risk of snapping his own neck. He rapidly backed away. "No. N-n-n-n-n-n-no way. Put 'im back."
Luke, who was either stupidly brave or just plain stupid, waltzed up to the resurrected man and patted his shoulder as if they were old friends. "Aw. But, Skip, you were so eager to fight a few seconds ago. C'mon. He don't bite."
As the Sons of Garmadon exchanged words, Ray and Maya caught Garmadon's attention. Tears threatened to spill from their eyes.
Ray mouthed to his old friend, gripping the bars of his cell tightly. "Is it really you?"
Garmadon—the real, true, live Garmadon—gave a soft, reassuring smile as he nodded back. "Yes."
He was gaunt and there were bags under his eyes, but he was alive. No more Cursed Realm and no Departed Realm. But... it would be selfish to revel in such a privilege of yet another chance at a new life. He bit back a sigh. If only he hadn't been brought back by such a great evil.
Garmadon was pulled from his thoughts as Luke and Mohawk unsheathed their weapons and lowered them at him.
"A'ight, let's show these cowards how to fight," sneered Luke, swinging his blade at the man.
Much to everyone's horror, Garmadon didn't move an inch to either dodge or defend himself.
At the last moment, a second katana came slicing through the air with deadly accuracy. It slit Luke's neck and he collapsed. No one moved, horrified. Their Emperor marched forward, coldly staring down at the dying man until his body went still and his bloody gurgling ceased.
"I will do worse to whoever disobeys me again," threatened Emperor Garmadon in a low voice.
Mohawk quickly dropped his own weapon. Instantly, the Sons of Garmadon fell to their knees, bowing low before their ruler out of pure terror. "Yes, Emperor Garmadon."
"Lock him in the deepest, darkest cell here," instructed the Emperor, pointing to the old man. A couple bikers tentatively stepped forward and rushed the other Garmadon out. This was getting to be all too confusing and scary for them.
The four-armed man's glowing, blood-red eyes intensely scanned all the people in Kryptarium. "If any of you dares to breathe a word of what you saw, I will cut your tongue out."
Most civilians shrunk back in their cells, knowing full well that he was dead serious.
At the Emperor's command, all the Sons of Garmadon scrambled back to their posts. Most ran out of the room to guard doors far away from the resurrected ruler. Once the room was emptied of annoyances, Emperor Garmadon stalked over to where he sensed the Elemental Masters were conveniently clumped together.
Let's see. Mind. Metal. And these two were definitely Shadow and Poison. Not a bad collection, but he needed the rest. He had caught a glimpse of the Master of Time among the Resistance and he was certain they harbored a new Master of Ice if the frozen floor of his lobby was any indication.
Ugh, stupid Elements. Even after crushing its wielder, it always sought a new Master. Hopefully, Fire, Lightning, and Earth had not found new hosts yet.
Ice and Time were as good as captured so long as Harumi could execute some form of competence and bring down that scraggly band of rebels. Undoubtedly, the rebels also safeguarded the final shard of the Realm Crystal. If his idiot goons could locate that too, perhaps he would allow half to live after he opened the gateway.
Smoke and Form were the last two elusive Elements. He held back a frustrated growl. There had been no trace of them and, considering their powers, they could very well be right under his nose without him knowing. He would definitely have to seek them out himself. No way would his followers be capable enough to locate them.
Infuriatingly, as he eerily analyzed the Elemental Masters, unlike the other captives, these people carried a marked light. They knew. This was why he had wanted to keep the Sensei Garmadon from any eyes. People who knew that one would get the wrong ideas of hope.
While it would be prudent to simply destroy all the witnesses in Kryptarium, he wouldn't. Otherwise, he'd have no offering after opening the gateway. Oh well, just a little while longer until he could expand his magic. Then he could wipe out all nuisances in this Realm, including the uncorrupted Garmadon.
The Master of Metal had the gall to stare him straight in the eyes and bellow, "The Resistance will win! Green Ninja won't hold back."
"The Green Ninja is losing allies left and right. He offers no resistance whatsoever," snapped Garmadon. "He is a coward who wouldn't dare to stand up to his 'beloved father'."
"But you aren't truly his father, are you?" noted Neuro with a dangerously confident glint in his eye.
Garmadon's furious snarl as he turned and stormed away was all the answer the Resistance needed.
The captured Resistance members smiled to themselves, marveling at this turn of events. The true Garmadon lived. This changed everything for Lloyd and his Resistance. Now if only they could send word to him.
Shade groggily woke up, taking in his surroundings. The past events flew through his aching head, and he growled frustratedly to himself at being caught so easily.
Beside his cell, Gravis casually leaned against the bars, giving him a nod of greeting. "Hey. Welcome to the club."
"Hey," greeted Shade grumpily.
He gave a start as he noticed his girlfriend's limp form on the floor beside him. "Tox!"
With rage coursing through him, he removed the muzzle. After a few moments of working to rouse her, the Master of Poison bolted upright. Still in combat mode, she nearly punched Shade before stopping herself. Her expression shifted from enraged to surprised then happy and then morphed back to upset.
Instead of punching him, she slapped him on the shoulder and berated him while she clutched the painful lump on the side of her head with her other hand. "I can't believe you let yourself get caught!"
Shade winced at her loud tone which aggravated his headache. He wasn't quite ready to admit how easily he had been captured so he tried a different approach, putting on a lopsided grin. "But I wanted to see you."
Tox rolled her eyes and snorted, "Whatever, dork."
Jacob slouched defeatedly, "So I guess grabbin' the keys was a bust."
"Ya think?" deadpanned Tox. She motioned to her beat up body before awkwardly remembering that Jacob was blind, so she added, "I almost lost my fingers!"
"What we do now?" questioned Karlof.
"Wait. Like damsels in distress," jested Ray.
"I don't think Bolobo can wait much longer," frowned Gravis, placing a hand on Bolobo's burning forehead.
All eyes turned toward the Master of Nature who was clearly doing poorly and running a fever.
"I think he's going into sepsis," observed Maya worriedly. She had seen a lot during the Serpentine Wars and it pained her that the current generation was having to go through the stress of war as well.
Bolobo pursed his lips and shook his head. He responded weakly, "I don't think I'm there... yet."
The fellow Resistance members looked on in pity at his poor condition; but frustratingly, there was little that could be done for him.
"Ugh, I got this," declared Tox, slowly rising to her feet. She loudly called out, "Hey, idiots! This dude needs help."
A few Sons of Garmadon gradually plodded over, still appearing haunted and shell-shocked from Emperor Garmadon's visit.
Once certain she somewhat had pricked their attention, she said angrily. "You got a doctor or something? My guy's not looking too hot."
The Sons of Garmadon shrugged and stared blankly at the sickly Elemental.
"If he dies and your leader needs him, he's not going to be happy," pointed out Neuro, hoping to stir up some action.
One biker remarked despairingly, "He's already mad at us." She sent a not so subtle look toward Luke's corpse that they had yet to take care of.
"Fine," sighed Tox. "I didn't wanna do this but..." She held up a phone. "If you don't let me out to help Bolobo, I'm gonna call the Green Ninja and tell him everything."
The Resistance stared. Since when had Tox gotten that?
Skip Vicious squinted then his eyes widened as he said, "Isn't that Nails' phone?"
"Who cares. We can't let her tell anyone anything," growled Mohawk, drawing a pistol and cocking it. He demanded angrily, "Gimme the phone."
"Lemme out first," negotiated Tox.
Mohawk's frown deepened. More Sons of Garmadon drew their firearms.
Tox moved her finger closer to the buttons, keeping a neutral yet challenging expression on her face. She was bluffing as though she were going to make a call. In reality, she actually had no idea what Lloyd's number was. Did the Green Ninja even have a phone?
After a few long seconds of staring each other down, Mohawk caved first. His resolve was weakened, having already been spooked once today by Luke's death. "Fine. But no funny business."
It was a tense atmosphere as the Sons of Garmadon kept all weapons trained on Tox. They carefully tracked every twitch of her fingers, especially after releasing her from the Vengestone shackles.
Fortunately, removing the infection from the Master of Nature's wound and bloodstream was a rather simple procedure. A faint, pale green glow emanated from the Master of Poison's hands as she worked her Element to transfer the infection to herself. It was useful being immune to practically every deadly substance in Ninjago.
As the last of the toxins were drawn out, Tox wiped the perspiration from her forehead, quietly chiding Bolobo, "You idiot. A few more hours and you'd be dead."
"Oops, my bad," responded Bolobo with a sheepish grin. He added sincerely, "Thanks."
The sound of safeties being swiftly clicked off reverberated around the room as Tox stumbled to her feet right after they locked the Bolobo back up. She slowed her fatigued movements and raised her hands placatingly. "Chill. Geez. Just tryna stand up."
She staggered back into her cell, drunkenly stumbling into a few bikers. As soon as the Sons of Garmadon had cleared out, the Master of Poison let a triumphant grin grace her features as she held up yet another phone.
"How?" questioned Gravis in amazement.
"Easy. Phones don't jangle around like keys," smirked Tox. She looked around at the others. "So, who're we calling first?"
There was a slight pause before Bolobo brought up, "Who actually memorizes phone numbers these days?"
This brought sheepish grins to the faces of the Resistance. Great. Now they had a phone, but no one to call.
Tox and Shade gazed hard at the number pad as if that would make them remember. After a few awkward attempts of trial and error, Tox finally heard a familiar voice answer.
"Hello?"
The Resistance cheered, momentarily forgetting to be subtle about the phone. Neuro quickly shushed them as a few guards quizzically came over to see what the commotion was about. Though they did a poor job of quieting and acting casual, the guards really didn't care as long as the Elemental Masters remained in their cells, so they moved on after a few moments of observation.
Tox spoke lowly, "Hey, girl. I gotta ask for a favor. And man, do I have some news for you..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
After an urgent but extremely informative talk with the imprisoned portion of the Resistance, Chamille slowly turned towards her husband with an innocent, pleading expression. "Ash. Baby. Sweetie. What do you think of helping Lloyd out just a little bit?"
Ash knit his eyebrows together in worry. Oh dear. This was going to cause trouble for everyone, wasn't it?
Chamille also turned toward their cat, Tiger Lily. "I've got a special job for you too."
The striped cat tilted her head, giving a questioning "mrreow?".
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even as he sat rotting in his dark, dank cell, Sensei Garmadon couldn't help but grin. He had finally seen the light of day again.
At least now his presence was known and to familiar faces at that. Ray and Maya. It had been far too long. Perhaps they had a chance to free Ninjago. He could read that beneath their astonishment, lay a burning spark of hope.
He just knew his son, the Green Ninja, was still out there, battling to uphold all that was good and right. 'You can do it, Lloyd. Endure.'
Surprise, surprise. Whaddya think?
I obviously have a favorite Elemental Master, Tox, if you couldn't tell already. But I honestly had a really fun time writing about all of them. XD
Please don't forget to comment and vote. It really encourages me. And if you think about it today, keep Ukraine in your prayers.
"For the Lord hears the cries of the needy; he does not despise his imprisoned people." - Psalms 69:33 NLT
"Soon all you captives will be released! Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!" - Isaiah 51:14 NLT