The final fighters in the tournament were taken back to the arena, led away into the underground tunnels in chains. The men who served Chen were chanting and banging their drums to a rhythm as they bowed in honor Chen, but the fighters weren't worried about them. No, they were concerned about how much time they had left with their powers.
Skyler, Clouse and Reanii, now revealed as the long lost Anirei, the Silver Ninja of Balance, stood in the center of the room, waiting for the prisoners and Chen to arrive. Skyler held Anirei's hand tightly, glancing down at the girl's now uncovered face. Now that her identity was found out, Chen didn't make Anirei wear the hood anymore. What was the point in trying to hide her anymore, now that her Elder Brothers had found her out?
But Skylar was even more confused now than ever. Though she didn't know about her father doing this to Anirei, she didn't want to disobey him by pushing Anirei closer to the Ninja. What kind of daughter would abandon her father like that? He would never forgive her for doing that.
"Bring in the prisoners!" Clouse shouted, the gates to the room opening as the Elemental Masters were brought into the with their hands chained behind their backs.
"So the ninja were right." Griffin said, "This was never about any of us winning the tournament. This was always about something sinister."
"What gave that away?" Shadow asked sarcastically, "Was it his cult following, or the giant snake head?"
"We've been fighting each other for so long, it took us all losing to finally pull us together." Neuro said sadly, "Too bad it's too late."
Jay just kept humming with a smile on his face, enjoying their walk as if nothing was wrong.
"Why are you humming?" Kai asked annoyed, "You do know they're about to take our powers?"
"Since these cursed shackles have blocked out powers, I choose to use the power of positive thinking." Jay answered confidently, "Lloyd will come to save us and free Anirei from Chen's hold over her, whatever it is. You just wait."
The prisoners were taken to the center of the room, awaiting their judgement. Kai and Jay looked up at their missing Ninja sister, staring at them with those dull blue eyes with hardly a sign of the real Anirei within them. Skyler looked away from the prisoners in shame.
"Go ahead and look away, but you know as well as I do, after he takes our powers, he's still gonna need yours. And he'll keep Anirei like a puppet." Kai said.
"You don't understand." Skyler said, "My father gets everything he wants. I had no choice. And if he's gonna keep Reanii, then I'd like for her to stay with me any time he allows me."
"Just tell me one thing. Was it his idea to make me fall for you, or yours? 'Cause it worked."
Skyler gasped and blushed as she looked away, but as she turned her face from the Ninja of Fire, she caught of glimpse of Anirei staring at Kai and Jay. The silver haired girl couldn't keep her eyes off the Ninja, as if she was looking for something within them. She didn't know why, but Skyler felt scared and happy for the girl, since now knowing that Reanii is Anirei, many things were becoming increasingly clear.
The prisoners were then forced to their knees.
"All rise for Master Chen!"
Chen's minions cheered, elated to see their master floating through the air on his throne using the element of Gravity. And Master Chen was even more happy to have so much power at his fingertips.
"Look at me. I'm floating." He boasted, floating all around the room just to show off his power, but then he lost control for a moment in his excitement before quickly coming back, "I got it. I got it. I just got distracted by how awesome this place looks."
"You have a brilliant mind for evil decor, Master Chen." Anirei praised, "You've given perfect instructions to Master Clouse."
"Thank you, Reanii. At least you understand my talent." Chen chuckled and landed on the ground with his throne. He stood up and patted Anirei on the head, "And well done to you too, Clouse. You've really set the mood just like I asked. And look at this. Soon I'll have more power. It's good to be me."
"You may have us, but you still don't have the Green Ninja." Jay pointed out, confident that Lloyd would come to save them.
"Ah yes. I bet right now he'll swoop down to save you in the very last moment and teach me a valuable lesson." Chen mocked, "Well, I'll wait. I love lessons."
Everyone waited for a moment, but Lloyd never came down to save them in their time of need.
"That's enough, I'm bored." Chen spoke out in the silence, "But here's a lesson: Don't be a sore loser. Only one can remain!"
Chen's staff lit up brightly and a beam of light brought the Masters off the ground, stripping them of their Elemental powers. Each power was torn from them, like a piece of their own life was stripped from their hearts, and contained within a single staff.
"The power is mine. All mine!" Chen cheered.
"He never came." Jay said sadly.
"Take them to the factory." Chen ordered, but Skyler stopped her father.
"Father, please, spare Kai. I've seen inside his head. He's different. He can help you." Skyler begged.
"You like the boy, don't you? If it will make you happy. Leave the red one." All of the prisoners were led away, leaving only Kai behind. As soon as he was released, he ran over to Anirei and grabbed her by the shoulders, but she shouted and jumped away.
"Don't you touch me." She said so venomously that it made Kai shake in fear and more worry than before.
"Anirei, please, it's me, Elder Brother Kai. You have to remember me." Kai begged, but she continued to stare at him with those soulless dull eyes slanted in a glare.
"Master of Fire, you will not be able to bring her back so easily. She is missing something very important to her." Chen said, "Just take a look."
Kai looked up to Chen, then back down at Anirei, finally noticing that she was indeed missing something. Something that Lloyd carried always.
"Won't you take a walk with me, Kai?" Chen asked. Hoping that he would get answers, Kai willingly went with Chen.
~~~~~
Outside, Lloyd, Garmadon and Nya waited as the sunset in the sky.
"He's knows I'm coming." Lloyd said impatiently, "But I can't just hide here and do nothing."
"We have to wait until nightfall." Nya pointed out to all the guards on the ground below, "There's too many."
"And then what? Every minute we're out here, he grows more powerful--"
"Son." Garmadon said to calm Lloyd, "Chen grows strong by taking from others. But real powers does the opposite. It empowers those around you. Like the way you've empowered me. We will get you to Chen, and you will destroy his staff and free everyone from his clutches. Including Anirei."
Lloyd sighed, knowing that he had to wait, but when he thought about what may have happened to Anirei, the girl he cared most about in this world....
He didn't want to sit still.
~~~~~
Deep underground in the noodle factory, Jay was pushed into work as soon as he was put into his uniform.
"Work."
"No, no. It's not work if you love what you do." Jay said, trying to be positive, "The power of positive thinking." Just then, he heard someone in front of him. Jay turned and saw Cole and Zane standing on the other side of the conveyer belt.
"Cole?" He asked in surprise, "Zane? Is that you? Ah, you look amazing!"
"Not so loud." Cole said, "They think we've escaped and don't know we're here."
"Why would you come back?" Jay asked.
"Because we're breaking everyone out." Cole said.
"Correction. We're building out way out." Zane corrected, then pointed to Karlof who was fixing something underneath a large sheet.
"They think we're fixing the noodle machine, but we're fixing a Roto Jet."
"A Roto Jet? But aren't we underground?" Jay asked.
"That's what I've been saying." Cole said.
"What happened to positive thinking?" Karlof asked from across the room before getting back to work on the jet.
"Hey, do you know where Kai is?" Cole asked.
"Last I heard he was getting the "special" treatment." Jay said, but then his smiled frowned, "And.... we found Anirei, too."
"Seriously?" Cole asked happily, "That's great news. She wasn't hurt was she, is she okay?"
Jay turned his head away, "No. She's not."
"What happened to her?" Zane asked.
"I don't what happened to her, but Chen did something to her. You should've seen Anirei, just glaring at us with those dull gray eyes and so little life in her. I don't know what he did, but Chen will pay for making our sister turn into Reanii."
"Hold on a second, Anirei was Reanii this whole time?" Cole asked.
"Yeah, and Chen kept her from us all. He was using Anirei like some kind of puppet."
Cole seethed with rage, knowing that as soon as got out of that factory and found Chen, the mad man would never be able to forget the pain was going to get."
~~~~~
Kai followed Chen down a hall filled with all sorts of things he had collected over the years. Some of which were actually personal to the Ninja.
"A scale from the Great Devourer, Captain Soto's peg leg, a cog from the Celestial Clock, Zane's pink gi, and this." Chen took a blade from the wall and swung it around like it was a toy.
"An Anacondrai Sword. They are the sharpest blade in existence, fit for the greatest warrior to ever do battle in Ninjago."
"Why are you showing me all of this?" Kai asked as Chen put away the sword, "You do realize if you weren't holding that staff right now, I'd strike you down right now and take Anirei away with me."
"Skyler was right." Chen said and they continued walking, "Even without your power, the fire burns bright in you. Unlike you and my dear Skyler, who inherited her powers from her mother, I was never born with natural abilities." Kai yawned, "I was told I would amount to nothing. But I will show them they are all wrong."
They stopped in front of a painting of an Anacondrai warrior marching into a terrible battle screaming for victory.
"Look. I call it The Charge of the Dark Brigade. It's beautiful, isn't it? The reds, the purples, the super dark purples. After I defeat your little green friend and take his powers, I will have all the elements I need to conjure a spell that will transform me and my worshippers into Anacondrai. With you and your friends gone, nothing will stop me."
"Except for one thing." Kai said, "You don't possess Anirei's powers."
"That is true, but I have her working for me. It's too bad though, with half of herself gone, she can't use her powers to their fullest. It's a shame really, I had wished for her powers to be mine, but I didn't want her to die in the process."
"Die in the process?" Kai shouted, "What do you mean by that? What did you do to Anirei? Why is she calling herself Reanii?"
Chen marveled at Kai's questions, and like many times before, he wanted to brag about his accomplishments.
"Very well then, I like you, so I'll tell you about your little sister." Chen said as they continued to walk, "I found Anirei the same time I found Zane. They were both unconscious, so I took them to my island. Shortly after arriving, Anirei woke up and demanded that I let them go. But, I thought that was juts going to be a waste. I had heard about the child with silver hair, and even read about her parents in old Anacondrai scripts I had collected. A child of light and darkness with complete control over it all. Ooh, I just had to have that power."
"So why did you let her keep it?" Kai asked.
"Well, something happened when I tried to take her power. Her power, as my you may, is connected to her life on a much deeper level. The more I tried to take her power, the more her life faded from her. If I continued she would die and her power would be lost to me forever. So, I told Clouse to find a way for her to use her powers for my plans. He quickly found a spell that would allow her to be controlled by only me. However, the spell actually split her spirit in two. One half of her spirit stayed within her body, but she didn't remember a single thing about her past, which worked in my favor. However, another piece of her spirit continues to haunt me throughout my island, telling me lies about failure. The part of her spirit that stayed within her body was given a new name, and accompanied my dear Skyler as the little sister she never had. The only thing I couldn't understand was that after her spirit was split, the jewel in her forehead disappeared. You wouldn't happen to know what happened to it, do you Kai?"
Kai thought for a moment and smiled, proud that Anirei, even though her spirit was split in two, she was still fighting in her own way. It continues to amaze Kai about how strong Anirei truly is. He decided to play along for a while, going with Chen's plans and commands until he could get Anirei back.
"No, I don't." Kai lied.
"Master Chen." A voice said from down the hall. They turned and saw Anirei walked towards them bowing at Chen, "It is nightfall. The Green Ninja will be making his move shortly."
Chen nodded and followed Anirei to their spots for the capture of the Green Ninja, while Kai could only watch as Anirei's back walked away from him. But he had a plan, and he was going to get her back.
~~~~~
Just as Anirei had said, Lloyd did make his mood quickly, sneaking into the mansion with Garmadon and Nya by his side. They took out the guards and snuck into the building through the window, only to set off the alarms by a trip wire. Several men came to attack the intruders, but because there were too many, Nya stayed behind while Garmadon and Lloyd went on ahead to find Chen.
The two turned the corner and were cut off by Clouse, who hit them with his dark magic, knocking the two to the ground. Garmadon told Lloyd to run and let him fight Clouse. Lloyd wished his father luck and ran off to find Chen.
Lloyd turned the corner and ran down the hall until he fell through a trap down in the floor. He fell into the underground tunnels.
"Aw, Chen and his trap doors." He groaned in annoyance. Just then, Lloyd heard growling behind him, but another voice came calling from down the tunnel.
"Lloyd, this way! Come on!" Kai shouted. Lloyd got up and ran as fast as he could to catch Kai. The two ducked into the side tunnel and escaped the large snake chasing Lloyd.
"Kai, you escaped." Lloyd said in relief, "What happened?"
"I managed to slip free, but Chen took all our powers." Kai answered, "IF we can find them--"
"There's no time. I have to stop Chen. And I have to find Rei, too. Have you seen her?"
"Yeah, I have. But she's no the girl we once knew, Lloyd. She's.... so empty and hollow. Like a puppet."
Kai turned around and faced Lloyd with a sorrowful and regretful expression.
"What? What is it?" Lloyd asked.
"I'm sorry, Lloyd." Kai said and blew out the fire on the torch he was holding, "This will all make sense when it's over."
Lloyd walked around in the darkness until he reached a flight of stairs.
"Kai? Kai, where are you?" He asked as he climbed the stairs, the lights finally coming on and revealing that he was in an arena. To his right was the competition board, with him and Reanii listed as the next to fight.
"The final round." Chen's voice said, "It all ends here." Chen came jumping out of the stands and Lloyd glared at the man with so much hate.
"You! You turned Kai against me and took Anirei from us!" He shouted.
"Like I said, only one can remain." Chen said, "Reanii, dear, won't you come out and greet your old friend?"
A cloak of black jumped from the ceiling and landed in front of Chen, her hood falling down to reveal the familiar silver color Anirei always had. Lloyd gasped in horror when he saw how empty her eyes were, remembering how gentle and kind they used to be.
"Rei, please, I don't want to fight you." Lloyd said.
"Silence." Anirei said, running over to him to hit Lloyd, but Lloyd was fast and jumped away to dodge. He didn't want to, but he knew that he had to. Lloyd conjured up his powers and shot it at Anirei. But Anirei was just as fast and dodged the attack easily, jumping into the air and landing on the edge of the railings.
"I know what you're up to, Chen!" Lloyd shouted and looked around for the man, but he had already disappeared using the power of Shadows, "The Anacondrai Wars are over. You're living in the past."
"No, Green Ninja." Anirei smirked, "Master Chen is living for the future."
Anirei jumped from her spot and landed on Lloyd's shoulders, bringing him down to the ground. Lloyd pushed himself as hard as he could kicked Anirei off of his back, throwing her across the room with the added momentum.
"Please, Rei, you have to snap out of this! You're not Reanii! Your name is Anirei Vevila! My best friend and the Silver Ninja of Balance!" Lloyd tried to reason with her.
"SHUT UP!" Anirei shouted, "I WON'T HEAR ANYMORE OF YOUR LIES!"
Anirei charged at Lloyd, faster than he had ever seen her move, kicking him into the board so hard that it knocked Lloyd's breath out from his lungs. Anirei rushed over and pressed her foot on his chest, keeping him from moving. Chen finally reappeared from the shadows and smiled at Lloyd.
"When my followers become Anacondrai, Ninjago will be controlled by those who deserve it: The most powerful. Reanii, why don't you have just a little more fun with him?"
"Of course, Master Chen." Anirei placed her hand on Lloyd's chest, using her abilities to grip Lloyd's soul from the outside in. Lloyd gasped from the pain he was feeling, but he didn't let it show too much, all he did was stare at his friend.
"What you have, Chen, it isn't power. It's stealing." Lloyd wheezed out, "Real power doesn't need to take from others. Real power stops people like you."
"Enough of this." Anirei said, pressed her hand further into his chest. But all of a sudden, the blue sapphire Lloyd always wore around his neck, the stone Anirei once had on her forehead, slipped out of his gi and accidently touched Anirei's finger. Immediately, Anirei pulled away from Lloyd, letting go of him and backing away.
She held her head in her hands and breathed heavily.
"Rei?"
"Reanii?"
Anirei stood there for a moment, shaking terribly as to the shock of Chen and Lloyd. But then, she looked up. Chen gasped in horror and Lloyd smiled.
One of her eyes was the same dull gray color it was before, and the other, was the beautiful blue color Lloyd remembered.
"L....L-L-L-Lloyd?" She stuttered and reached out for him, but then the spell continued to kick in again, and her blue eye turned gray.
"No, Rei, you gotta fight it!" Lloyd shouted, but she was lost again. Anirei reached out her hand and gripped Lloyd's soul once more, this time, not holding back. She didn't let go of him until he was unconscious. Lloyd stared at Anirei until he his entire world turned black.