Thud!
Nya flipped to avoid the oncoming crystals, she landed and glared at the figure standing no further than two rooms in the hallway.
Neon.
Great, Neon had came for her when she was still accompanying Jay. It had been two days since the incident, Nya figured she'd come sooner or later.
"Don't worry, you'll join your boyfriend soon," Neon gave out a cackle and Nya looked disgusted.
"Why do villians always have to laugh at every situation?" Nya rolled her eyes and dodged another incoming crystal. Neon scoffed and gritted her teeth, "I'm not a villian! I'm doing what's best for everyone!"
"Well I don't think trying to kill elemental masters goes as doing what's best for everyone," Nya glanced at the nurses running away from them. Right, a hospital would not be a good place to fight, definitely. She needed a way to lure Neon outside, but she also needed to be sure she doesn't go after Jay, whom was still lying on a bed in one of the rooms.
"You don't understand, mermaid," Neon stared daggers at Nya.
"Mermaid? Seriously?" Nya could've accepted any other insults, mermaid doesn't sound accurate at all. Heck, it sure is an insult. Just not a good one.
"Elemental masters were the reason I lost my family! Even that old Wu, it was partly his fault," Neon yelled, as if trying to get Nya to be on her side. It's weird, really. She had never intended to tell Nya anything about her family, but yet, she just said it anyway. She didn't know what it was, a sting of guilt, maybe? For hurting the one she loved, for hurting her friend, her family. She understood very well at the first sight that the ninja were more than just a team of elemental masters, they were a family. Something Neon never intended to break apart, she never wanted to break them apart.
But her anger, it was fueling her, blinding her and now she was after every single ninja. Her thoughts, twisted. Clouding her judgement, forcing her to make a murderous choice.
It can't be helped. They are still elemental masters, and they must perish. For I, swore to avenge them, even if I had to do it 'till my last breath.
Neon shook it off, she realised that Nya had stopped moving. She was staring at her, with a confused look. Perhaps even...sympathy. Neon reminded herself not to get soft around anyone, especially not around the ninja.
"Look, whatever you went through, you don't have to do this. We can work it out, together," Nya spoke as if she had encountered the same situation before. Neon cocked an eyebrow, slowly showing her frustration.
"Don't act like you understand me!" Neon charged at her, her eyes ablaze with fury.
"Neon, no!" Nya gasped. She prepared for an impact but someone slid in and stood between them, hitting Neon back a few paces.
"Grr...." Neon looked up, it was a girl with white hair that was straightened down to her waist.
"Harumi?" Nya gasped again. What was she doing here?
"Take your tantrum outside, would you please? I have a kid here I need to take care of," Harumi stared coldly into Neon's brown eyes.
Nya glanced at her. A kid to take care of? What was she, babysitting? Although it's been a year since the events of the Crystal King, Nya had never forgotten the way Harumi had tried to kill her friends. Lloyd was the one that suffered the most damage because of her. She was supposed to be sentenced to jail for a lifetime because of the crimes she committed over the years, but she reduced her jail time by helping to repair the ninja's monastery and doing some dirty work here and there in the city to which the destruction she caused. Overall, she only needed to be in Kryptarium Prison for 6 months.
"You? Why are you helping the ninja?" Neon's voice suddenly went soft. She had let her guard down, Nya wondered why.
"I'm not, just doing this for my own benefit," Harumi slowly looked back and met Nya's eyes. She narrowed her own and turned back to face Neon.
"Nya, we're almost there. Hang in there!" Lloyd's voice came from the comms that was installed in Nya's head mask.
Nya hesitated for a moment before speaking, trying to sound unbothered, "The rest of the ninja are coming, you won't stand a chance, Neon,"
Neon spoke nothing. She stared at Harumi even longer, Nya thought she saw a smile creeping its way across her face. But nothing changed.
"Tsk, see you soon, ninja" with a leap, she leaped out the window that not Nya nor Harumi had noticed was opened.
"Well that was....easy," Nya crossed her arms, she knew it wouldn't be the last she sees of Neon.
Harumi turned around and immediately met with the rest of the ninja, staring with widened eyes at her.
"Harumi? What is she doing here?" It was Kai who spoke, he had decided to follow in on the mission, no one messes with his sister.
"I'm just here to treat a kid, nothing else. How about a 'thank you Harumi you saved me'?"
"She saved you?" Kai looked at his sister, who looked like she was about to throw him off the same window.
Lloyd couldn't bear to look at Harumi, he had his eyes focused elsewhere. Harumi noticed it, a tinge of guilt flashed across her eyes.
Harumi had manipulated Lloyd into thinking she really had feelings for him, in which broke his heart. She was only using him to get to the last Oni Mask so that she could free his father back from the Departed Realm, the Oni version of him. She had made it clear that she never had feelings for Lloyd, and it was the ninja's fault that her parents had died in the first place. They had failed to save her parents, she held that thought deeply in her heart, plotting her way of revenge. So she shattered Lloyd's heart completely, leaving him helpless, and even tried to kill him.
But after the events of the Crystal King, Harumi realised that it was the Crystal King himself that had corrupted the Great Devourer and set him against the ninja. Thus leading to Harumi's parents' deaths. She had worked for the Crystal King, after learning the truth, she chooses to betray him and sided with Lloyd instead. But still, the ninja hadn't trusted her completely, and it made sense. Harumi had rose from the dead after a collapsing building pulled her down with it, everyone had thought she died. She came back unannounced and had poured chaos all over Ninjago City because she helped the Crystal King. It would totally made sense that if the ninja hadn't trusted her yet, not even Lloyd.
From the corner of Harumi's eye, she could see through the window and there she was. A familiar figure standing two floors below, Neon. She couldn't see her face as she was too far away. But the teal ninja gi was hard to miss.
Neon stared through the window, as if trying to send a message through staring.
Harumi looked at the ninja, they were all too busy talking about Neon's attack that they barely kept an eye on her, don't even get started on Lloyd. Not sure if it was because he still hated her, or that their relationship had became really awkward.
But that was enough. She walked closer to the window, looked down and gave the 'teal ninja' a nod. She took one last look at the ninja she so wanted to get rid of desperately a year ago and simply left without saying another word.
"Harumi, did you-eh? Where is she?" Nya had wanted to ask her about Neon, but when she turned towards the place where she was just standing on a minute ago, she was already gone.
"Leave her be, Nya. We should head back, let's try to stick together for now. You almost ended up on a hospital bed too if not for Harumi," Kai shot his sister a concerned look and received a scoff from her.
"I could've easily taken on Neon, all she did was throw crystals at me and talk about how she had lost her family because of....wait," Nya stopped.
"Oh great, another one seeking revenge for her family. Just how many are we gonna have to deal with?" Kai rolled his eyes. Neon very much resembled Harumi, alright.
"Master Wu! She said it was partly his fault. You're right, Kai, we have to head back and ask him about this," Nya ran past the ninja.
"I was? Oh, yeah. Of course I was right," Kai had his nose held high, Lloyd and Zane shot him an annoyed look before following Nya.
"We'll come back for Jay later,"
•••
"Master Wu!!" Nya barged into the small library designed into the monastery. He jumped and look back to find most of his students standing at the doorway, panting.
"Nya, maybe you could've....tried to...slow down? Oh I wished...we had brought the....Bounty along.." Lloyd huffed. They had ran all the way from the monastery to Ninjago City after they had crashed the Bounty(again)in order to give Cole some medical treatment. Pixal had been working on the Bounty ever since Cole was in stable condition. And so, they needed to run all the way back from Ninjago City to the monastery.
"Master Wu, you have a lot to explain," Nya stared daggers at Master Wu. It wasn't the first time that they had found out a villian had a backstory prior to him. Mostly it would be because of Master Wu himself. Both Morro and Aspheera were the examples of that.
Master Wu sighed. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep the secret from his fellow students any longer. He had tried to hold in a gasp when he heard that it was Neon who had brought a crystal stabbing through Cole's abdomen.
No doubt Neon had told them something. He could not keep the secret in any longer.
"Come, sit down. We have a lot to talk about,"
•••
Harumi leaned against the hard, rough wall that had probably been splashed with blood. It wasn't a place so friendly. Afterall, the alley wasn't named 'The Punk Blood' for nothing. There used to be gangsters who would hang around this alley, sometimes even bringing in people to threaten and murder.
"You, cannot act," Harumi glanced at the figure leaned against the opposite wall.
"Oh, I think I did well enough already,"
"Really? One slip and you could've revealed everything to the ninja,"
"Bah, they're idiots. I knew your return would totally have their heads using up every last of their braincells,"
A cackle poured from the figure. A cackle that would've been too familiar if any of the ninja were there.
"Look, I promised to help you. But you promised to lay your hands off of him,"
"And I did. I went for the girl instead, didn't I?" The figure cackled again, as if cackling would cover her wicked smile.
"I know your next target was supposed to be him,"
"Well, I've changed my mind. Thanks to you. Either way, you get me what I want, and I'll stay away from him. Mark my words,"
"I don't think I can count on just words,"
"Trust me, you wouldn't want to count on anything else,"