A faint ringing noise was heard. If there was fire sucking the city into a depthless black, that would be the case of what was happening right now. Everyone around them was in total silence, no one dared to believe it. No one wanted to blink either and possibly reopen their eyes to a false hope. But for one person in particular, she felt herself astray between the dreamworld and the world at war.
She thought she was dreaming, falling into deep deep oblivion. Had Garmadon finally managed to break her mind? To reduce her to a pitiful state of an insane woman? Her head must not believe these lies. She must not let the spider in the house. But it was so hard, so hard to believe that Lloyd was really there.
Her eyes narrowed, too soon to shut.
"Lloyd?"
Even though she told herself that she might be considered delusional from now on, not only in the eyes of her enemies but friends as well. She couldn't resist tugging on the sleeve of whoever held her, was it a corpse or wasn't she ready to embrace for impact when the battle first begun.
No, it was his returned smile that brought her back to reality. Too far had her mind travelled to search for this confirmation, to be sure in both her mind and heart that she was not insane for still loving the green ninja, said to be deceased. "Lloyd, it's really you..." a mixed tempest of ecstasy and overwhelming desire—she needed to make sure of so many things.
Yet tears rolled down her cheek as she could finally caress the cheeks of her lover again, not some empty cold husk.
"Yes Rumi, it's me. I'm not dead, Garmadon was just lying." The blonde replied, allowing her fingers to touch his cheeks again after who knows how long. Oddly comforting and nostalgic, he lifted her up at his level and filled in whatever space left they had between their lips by leaning his head down to shelter their affection for one another. "I love you Rumi, I missed you so much." He muttered between pressed lips against the princess who was on the brink of losing hope.
It was if she wasn't ready to be pulled out of this moment, no, both of them didn't want to. But there was a battle at hand. Her vision was still dream-like, as if she was waltzing into a fantasy. She was set aside by the green clad ninja and she hummed softly: "I'm so glad you're back..." all energy in her body failed her, she grew exhausted for a second. It was most likely the relief being washed over her like a clear blue sea.
The SOG were sure silent, especially the commander of this war. Garmadon had no words, just an appalled glare as he instinctively remembered all of the months of work in order to have Harumi's trust. Their bond reminded him as the tallest apartments in Ninjago city. Why was that? Because it hurt. The fact that their bond, the building, was crashing down before his very eyes. It hurt as much as that day when he witnessed his biological child almost die from that crumbling apartment.
Yet here was the oni lord, growling at his return.
"Green ninja, didn't think you'd survive that." he casually brought up, stepping over to the recognized hero. Lloyd growled at his turn, patting Rumi's head, assuring her that he'd protect her during her time of daze. "Bold of you to assume that I wouldn't, father. I've performed miracles before, haven't I?" He shot back.
Garmadon let out a bitter laugh. "And what miracles are those? Causing despair to Ninjago city?" He remarked, readying a newly summoned aura orb from his four arms. It was true, how many times had he let this city fallen? He may be a perfect saviour but Ninjago can't really be arrogant enough to expect a flawless seraph to rain down justice from the skies.
"You know I'd never dream of it. Besides, talking with you wasn't my concern for the day," he paced back and forth.
He cleared his throat, his green eyes glaring at his father.
"It's why you played with my friends' emotions by showing them my dead body. Marionnettes? As if I'd allow you to mess with their minds." He clenched his teeth. Hearing this, Rumi gulped. Ah yes, she was weak enough to drown in lies...
But how could she have known? Lloyd meant too much to her for her to stop awaiting her return. What makes her guilty though was that she was on the verge of giving up.
"I did what I had to do." Garmadon briefly stated, keeping his voice from being raised out in sheer anger. The green ninja shook his head and left Rumi's sides for a second. His fingers trail to turn on a switch of some sort of machine. "Watch this." He beckoned everyone here. 'click'
Several buttons were pressed as Lloyd inserted a disc into what seems to a radio. Everyone patiently watched surprisingly.
Then,
"Jump back, kick back, whip around and spin!" Music was blasted onto the battlefield.
Confused expressions were seen on the guards as they tried to comprehend what the green ninja intended to do with funky obnoxious music. "Huh?" They all gasped in surprise.
"What are you doing just standing there?! Get him!" Garmadon cried out, pointing at the green ninja, standing there with a broad smile on his lips. Snapped out of their thoughts, the SOG guards were forced into battle. "Y-Yes sir!" They responded with as much energy as they could despite the clear fear in their voices.
"I wouldn't think so." snickered a voice and the guards came to an unattended halt. Wrong move, if only had they moved out of the way, their faces wouldn't have been soaked by a jet of water.
The water ninja looked back and her comrades charged from her sides. "We just got Lloyd back and you really think we'd give up on him again? No way!" Jay, the lightning ninja ran up to an SOG guard and kicked them on the chest. The victim fell over and knocked themselves out by landing on the hard ground.
"Yeah and Lloyd's our family. Brother sharpens brother. Ninja never quit!" responded Kai as he blasted flames from his gloved palms. The rest of the team scattered and aided Lloyd into battle, defeating massive waves of guards and even managing to overwhelm Garmadon for a short while.
Harumi would have kept her nose out of battle, but as she tried to wander off in Lloyd's direction, she spotted three guards by her left, awkwardly taking out their weapons when they've noticed that she had been staring in their directions the entire time. "Uh oh, it's the quiet one."
muttered the recognizable Steeleye.
"Should we run?" suggested Fishtank, as he was the only one between the three to have some common sense in him. They cannot take on the ex-second in command, no matter their numbers.
"Gluttonbone says Gluttonbone should fight." The third guard protested while tapping on his burly chest. No matter the occasion, he always looked like an escaped wild animal.
Before the three could decide, Harumi was already charging towards them. Her hand reached out for Steeleye's weapon—a crowbar. However, the man saw her move and shoved her away from it. "Not so fast." He sighed. Though that was alright, she wasn't actually going for the crowbar. Harumi recovered from the attack with a small roll as she appeared behind Fishtank, overwhelming him in the process.
"I'll be taking this." She said with a bitter smile on her face. Her hand took hold of the stone sword in the man's arms but surprisingly, he didn't let go of his beloved weapon. "A-Alright now." He seemed way ton nervous, anything rough and he'd be sent flying with no weapon in the end. Though Harumi figured that out all too soon, "Take this!" She hissed, raising her leg and kicking him backwards.
"W-Woah! Woah woah ahh!" cried out Fishtank as he threw his sword forward and fell into a deep hole. It was sure that he didn't survive that without at least a scratch. But in his actual case, close. Fishtank's downfall resulted in a broken leg and a black eye with some bruises by his forehead. Harumi caught the weapon and raised it in the skies, glaring at the two others. "Who's next?"
Steele and Gluttonbone glanced at each other before the first guard clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Always paired up with cowards." He reminded himself and lunged forward, blocking Harumi's swing with the crowbar. He glared at her in the eyes and attempted to pull back up slash at her again. "You improved." commented Harumi as one hand let go of the sword to curl into a fist.
"You're not as bad, Harumi." Steele responded as his pair of eyes walked down to the fist formed. He hummed in delight as he spotted her next attack. Steele easily dodged the punch and his own fist slammed down atop her head when she foolishly threw herself forward to add more force into the punch. "Tsk." He brought her down on her knees.
Harumi winced but landed on her stomach instead. One hand tightly held the sword while the other was pushing off the ground to get back on track. However, Steele was not having it. His foot crushed her tiny neck and kept her face buried in the sand. Harumi gasped in surprise and spat out any dirt pushed down her tongue.
"Stay down, you won't get in the way of Lord Garmadon anymore." he insisted.
Rumi struggled to get free, she tried to push her entire body off the ground but couldn't do so because of her face still being pushed down by force. She growled, she can't breathe like this. Well that resorted to one more idea she had in mind. She took a deep breath and using all of her body strength,
"Ninjago!"
A tiny silver tornado was created off the ground, it rolled free from captivity and appeared in front of Gluttonbone and Steele. They were both in utter shock as their plans were foiled from the start.
As Steeleye was the commander between the three of them, he was the one that held responsibility for whatever happened to the three of them now. Whether they were to be murdered by Harumi's spinjitzu or end up with fractured bones like Fishtank. So out of panic, Steeleye said:
"The rocks." He ordered.
Gluttonbone held stones in his massive hands. Hearing his command, his toothy frown curled upwards slightly and he nodded. "Aye." He reported before he started to throw rocks in Harumi's path.
The white haired girl could see them coming from even inside her spinjitzu but it was all too easy to avoid. She chuckled to herself: "Thanks for the training, Garmadon. Guess I used your abilities big time." She mentioned.
The princess's tornado zigzagged from side to side, avoiding every rock thrown at her before she was definitely a threat for the two remaining guards. "Run." Steeleye muttered, his lips trembling with incertitude. But it was too late, Harumi was faster. The tornado crashed into Gluttonbone, cutting his entire top half like paper. She knocked him into the ground.
"Yah!" She cried out, leaving her spinjitzu.
"Gluttonbone has been....d-defeated.." the guard groaned out his last words, staring at the undying sun, before he died from blood lost.
Steeleye shut his eyes and looked away for a second. He was in a tough spot now. The soft and harsh Fishtank was trapped in a deep hole and Gluttonbone was dead, like that other troup, Beehive and Antcrawler. Now it all depended if Fishtank's alliances, troup C were going to help out. But so far, Steele didn't spot any of the identified guards: Lester, Monica and Kelulu. He growled and flared right back at Harumi. "Why go after my comrades?" He asked.
The white haired girl hissed and placed a hand on her chest. "Why go after MY friends?!" She returned the question. The two stared at each other, finding ways to outsmart the other until Harumi snapped down and swung her blade at his neck.
Steeleye pushed the sword away with his bare hand—he couldn't avoid it anyway else, they were too close. He winced at the feeling of cut off skin and dripping blood.
"Hahaha....so you'll kill me, yes?" Steeleye assumed. Harumi stayed silent, pushing her blade deeper into his hand until Steeleye was forced onto his knees. He screamed in agony and that's when the princess decided to abruptly pull out the blade from his bleeding palm. "I just might." She responded briefly. Steeleye, who was grasping his hand with sweat beads rolling down his cheek, didn't have time to react when Harumi pushed him onto his sides. She aimed the sword above his head.
"Now wait a second." He laughed and unwillingly put his hands up in the air.
Harumi gave him mercy at that time.
She still kept the sword up high but kept her eyes peeled in case he tried something. "What do you want?" She inquired.
There was a bit of silence between the two until Steeleye, without a warning, flipped himself over so that his eyes were now looking on the side and not directly at Harumi. Had he tried to tackle her but missed? No, not missed, he failed to attack her. Harumi has put an end to him by impaling the sword into his head when mid-way through the flip. She had thought he was doing something to catch her off guard, and so he did.
That marked the end of group A except bff or Fishtank. But she'll get him back later, traumatizing him by letting him wander around when everyone is done battling—letting him see his mutilated friends for himself. Gluttonbone was cut in half, eyeballs wide open, ready to come out. As for Steeleye, his eyes were shut but his mind was cut open, streams of red dropped from his hair and Harumi had carved a big gash on his chest as spite.
This had all been her revenge to all of those months ago. When these three idiots decided it'll be fun to mess around with her by torturing her. She firmly held Fishtank's blade before she began to walk away with it, bloodied footsteps were left behind her as she left the crime scene. Was this really the right path?
~~~~~~~~
"Don't you recognize me, it's me, Ultra Violet!" The banshee-like woman screeched out before throwing rocks at rushing SOG members. She also had her mini katanas with her, but the thrill of this battle made her want to try out all kinds of battle techniques. "Over here, over here!" She threw a rock to a guard's helmet.
The supposedly targeted guard, glanced over at her direction and growled. They raised their weapon and charged for the grey-skinned ex-general. In which the latter laughed and stepped away. "It's your call!" She referred to Killow and Mr. E, the two other ex-generals. "Ruah!" The big man yelled as he pushed over a massive boulder, revealing some electric boxes. The guards were stubborn enough to go near it.
Ultra Violet and Killow walked away, both were smiling. "Do it, Mr. E" the girl ordered and the nindroid obeyed. His red gloved hand pulled on the wire on they had managed to set up and the two boxes set up behind the rolled over boulder exploded metres away from where the three ex-generals were standing. The guards were obliterated immediately.
Despite their effort, it didn't lower Garmadon's numbers by a lot.
Walking around the battlefield, the green ninja felt pride. That his team was working so well together, no matter whose side they previously fought on—good guys or bad guys, they were reunited. He smiled, watching the ninja handle the upcoming guards and the ex-generals seemed to be having a lot of fun in their little 'shocking' battle method. He glanced over to his side, however, and spotted a tall figure marching over to the fighting princess.
It was easy for Lloyd to make that out, despite the terrified guards showing their backs to the battle, they fled away from the scenes, fearing their lives will be put short when fighting one of these resistance members. That figure was Garmadon and he seemed to want to personally confront Harumi herself.
But he saw it coming, the green ninja rushed to her aid and soon received a yell from her: "Lloyd, help me out here!"
Garmadon summoned dual swords from both of his hands and charged at Harumi.
Lloyd clenched his teeth, letting out a loud hiss as he arrived just in time to save the white haired princess. His swords equally blocked his attack and he tried to push the man away to no avail. "Give this up, father." growled Lloyd, too caught up in their power struggle. The oni kicked Lloyd out of the way to create some distance between them but luckily, Harumi caught him and supported him from the fall.
She stayed behind him, glaring at Garmadon. "No, this is my city, of course I won't give this up." the emperor replied and with his third hand, he summoned a purple flame, it was obviously meant for him to separate the two lovers and overwhelm Harumi by himself. "Disappear!" He raged and threw the ball forward. The two green clad warriors glanced at eachother in a hurry. Time seemed to have slowed down for the two.
"Lloyd!"
"Yep, I know."
~~~~~~~~~~
As Garmadon launched the darkness power ball at the two lovers, his blood red eyes glowed at the obvious panic exchange between the two. He had even heard them yell out their next course of action. Hah, no, they cannot avoid this.
"Disappear!"
"Lloyd!"
"Yep, I know. Rumi, spinjitzu!"
"Mhm!"
He had spotted her earlier. Being surrounded by two guards earlier, he had seen how this fragile little princess became a tornado of rage in less than seconds. Garmadon has the audacity to teach her spinjitzu, had he not known that this was certainly a disadvantage on his part? Garmadon stepped away after hearing the order.
"Ninjago!"
Two tornados awakening in the middle of the battleground. One spinjitzu represented the fury of a divine being, half dragon half oni. The green tornado—for Lloyd Garmadon was as wild as ever. His companion, a silver tornado made from the stones of the Ninjago zen gardens. It belonged to the jade princess, Harumi.
The two crashed into Garmadon, knocking him into the bellows of rocks miles ahead.
Harumi was the only one between the two who left spinjitzu but her eyes wandered elsewhere when she spotted Lloyd spinning away from her. "There, caught you now." She refocused her glance on Garmadon. She approached the man cautiously and she had to suppress laughter just by seeing how knocked away he was, laying there in the grass and mud.
Lloyd exited his spinjitzu when he reached a button, a few metres away from where he left Harumi and his father. He pressed a button laying on a metal block and soon, a flying ship appeared from the grounds, it flew over them and ladders were released when Lloyd had pressed the button. The team could not believe it at first, it was funny really. Everyone had came to the same conclusion but only one person voiced it out.
"Lloyd, we're retreating?!"
The green ninja nodded and beckoned Harumi to follow him. "Yes, guys, I've rebuilt the bounty! Come with me!" He ordered and the team all obeyed. They grabbed hold of the ladders and the ship flew away from the battlefield, leaving Garmadon and the ten to twenty guards left, roaring in anger.
"LLOYDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!"
~~~~~~~~
They were now passing Borg tower and Harumi watched quietly with a small smile. It was all finally over now...sure the buildings were not repaired and they still had some rebuilding to do back in the palace of secrets, but what did she care? She had Lloyd back and she was reunited with her family and adorable little puppy Cloud.
Speaking of Cloud, Harumi giggled as she heard the small pup barking her way over to her. Cloud was in a cheerful mood, running circles around her until Lloyd arrived over to the ship's railings with an exhausted look. "So we finally talk again after months." Lloyd chuckled, walking over to her and giving her a light peck on the forehead. Harumi blushed at that and smiled.
"Finally, I missed you so much Lloyd," she admitted. With being trapped with Garmadon for so long and spending two holidays with him and when humiliating herself as a baby back then, she was so glad to finally be back with Lloyd. The puppy beneath them barked happily and Lloyd chuckled, wrapping an arm around the white haired girl. "I missed you too. Say, I've seen this little girl tag along with you sometimes, it's so good to finally meet her." He said.
Harumi bent down and grabbed Cloud in her hands and pet the puppy's hair prior to allowing Lloyd to hold her. "Her name is Cloud, your father actually gave her to me as a Christmas present." She blushed, her eyes filled with happiness and no regret whatsoever. It came from Garmadon, so what? Even if it was from him, she couldn't abandon this little puppy now. Cloud was nothing like Garmadon and she was too much of a big help to her anyways.
Lloyd gladly held the puppy and Cloud barked as a 'welcome' for him. The green ninja felt touched even after hearing that it was a present to her from his father. Sure, it left him in mild shock but the dog was absolutely adorable not for him to care. His gloved hand pet her small little head and he lowered her down to the ground. "She's a beautiful dog." He told her.
So forth, the two lovers continued on their conversation. From talking about the white furred pup to other topics at hand...
The ninja, who were by the control system, all glanced happily by the two. It is refreshing to have those two sen together again, they all thought.
~~~~~~~~~
It was the middle of the night an never did Harumi thought that she'd wake up in the middle of it. She shot out of bed and her hand reached up to run through her hair.
She was sweating. Did she have a nightmare? Whatever it was, she couldn't remember. The girl slipped out of bed and wandered around the flying ship, trying not to make a sound.
She didn't want to wake the others up too with this little problem of hers. Harumi walked out of the room and onto the main deck. 'I can't sleep like this.' She thought as she strolled around. It was a chilly night but she wasn't in the mood to return back in the room to grab a coat. She wandered around for a few more minutes and just as she was about to reach the railings,
The girl turned around, feeling the sharp wind strike at her hair. But it was a crucial mistake really, her eyes widened. "Huh?"
The only thing she remembered was that she never got to take a walk around the ship in the first place.
~~~~~~~~~
The lights, they were dimmed out but still, her eyes were hurting even when they were shut. Where was she? "My head hurts...but yet, I can walk, talk and think?" Harumi whispered out, opening her eyes after hours of slumber. She found herself in a pink room. Ah no. Not this again.
"That's because I healed you up." She heard a familiar voice speak out to her from beside her bed. Harumi shot out of bed and noticed the oni lord staring right at her from a chair he was sitting on. A baby album was on his knees and one could assumed it belonged to Lloyd, but since she transformed into a baby as well, the possibilities of Garmadon merging pictures of her and Lloyd were high.
"Garmadon? What am I doing here?"
She climbed out of bed and as her feet touched the ground, she felt slightly weird.
Her legs were pressed onto some soft fabric and her waist was slightly hurting.
She looked down and spotted a forced diaper onto her trousers. It was clear that the diaper was too small but he forced it up there anyways. Harumi grumbled and glared at Garmadon. "What in FSM is this?" She referred to the diaper.
A red blush appeared on her face when she had come to notice it. "How did you even get this on me?! What did you do?!" She scolded him. Ah, how embarrassing.
Garmadon shushed her and stood up from the chair, putting down the baby album on a nearby table. "Don't mind it. Anyways, how are you feeling?" He seemed rather relaxed today, despite the fight they had yesterday. Man, was he rilled up. Was it because there was just too much fighting that he sorta lost control? Harumi shook her head, attempting to make her way to the exit.
"My head still hurts, what knocked me out. How did I get here?" She had so many questions.
As much as Garmadon wanted to answer them, "Listen, we don't have much time. Do you want to eat something?" He asked. Harumi gave an odd look as he began naming all sorts of baby food sauces. "Please tell me why you are still seeing me as a baby?" She crossed her arms. Garmadon chuckled, "Okay. How about about mashed peas?"
"You're missing the point." Harumi sighed in defeat.
"But really, choose something before-" the door to her room opened abruptly and Harumi had about five seconds remaining before she actually got hit by that door.
"Emperor Garmadon, it's ready." A guard with a colourful Mohawk reported, he seemed rather carefree, he didn't anything else after that, just held on the handle and glanced at Harumi to his boss.
Harumi hissed quietly. What? What do you mean "it's" ready? She immediately turned to Garmadon, who shrugged and responded: "It's for your own good."
"What is?"
~~~~~~~~~
"Why?"
A grumble was heard from the white haired girl. She regretted even asking that question and wished she never woke up from that pink bed minutes earlier. Maybe if she slept in, she sousing have found herself inside of a cave and looking like those helpless princesses.
Maybe if she just stayed quiet and even if she woke up but didn't make a sound, Garmadon would have given up on waiting around for her. It was nighttime, she didn't remember what time she woke up from the bounty but assuming intervals, it was around 11PM to 12AM. The skies were the usual navy blue and stars illuminated the sky quite well. Perfect day for some justice. Or so she thought.
"Why am I in here? Why was I put here by the SOG?" Gosh, so many questions were aimed right, left and centre for the emperor of Ninjago.
Garmadon frowned and tried to reach his hand out to grab her arm in a comforting manner. "I know this is a bad spot but in order to stop all of this at once, I need you here." He stated, chuckling a bit when she shook the bars in an agitated manner.
Harumi pouted. "Why a cage though? Can't you trust me to just stay by the sides?" She wondered.
Garmadon narrowed his eyebrows, but his mouth showed an apologetic expression.
"No." He ruthlessly admitted to her.
Well okay then.
"Listen, I'm going to make peace with Lloyd now, that's why I want you to stay here without any further arguments." He told her. Harumi's eyes lit up at that, she smiled and even jumped up in the air for a few minutes. "Really? You won't hurt any of us anymore?" She was way too happy, shocked, nervous? She didn't know what to say.
Garmadon chuckled at her ecstatic mood, man, did she like him that much? He could not believe it himself. "Yes really. Now be good. I sense them coming." He stepped away from the cage and Harumi had the time to retort: "Wait them?"
Garmadon stopped. But he didn't turn around. No, even with a billion stars in the sky, it didn't stop him from seeing the flying ship on their way here.
"He brought my brother."
~~~~~~~~~
The ship arrived in less than seconds. The SOG guards on duty for guarding the cage were almost blown away by the massive and strong propellers attached to the ship.
"Here they come." Garmadon gritted his teeth.
On the ship however, Lloyd was seen in his usual green gi and like guessed, Wu was also with them. "Nya, stay right here." The green ninja ordered and the ship was put to rest, it stood still. Lloyd glanced over at the rest of his team. "Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?" Kai brought up, after being followed by Zane's support: "He's right, Garmadon is dangerous."
Wu shook his head at the worried ninja. "This is something that Lloyd must settle once and for all." He told them. Misako, who had just left from the control panel, smiled at Wu. "That's right and I want both of you to be safe down there." She told them both. Lloyd nodded and pulled up his hood—"Thanks mom, I will."
"In that case, let's start this mission." Nya snickered and activated a lever. When it was activated, she walked off to join the other ninjas on deck. Lloyd glanced down at his father and the captive Harumi.
Shot balls were being fired from the ship's side canons. That's one of their main arms of Lloyd's plan were to fail. Wu glanced at Lloyd before they both hopped down. "I hope you're ready, Lloyd." He whispered to the green ninja. In which the matter replied with confidence: "I know I am."
When arriving at the rooftop of Borg tower—where their final battle will be held,
"Hey, give us back our family!" Lloyd demanded from his father's guards.
~~~~~~~~~~
She felt like crying.
After what Garmadon had promised her—that he'd make peace with her family, the idea of a battle breaking down was making her sick.
"Lloyd! Please don't do this!" cried a teary faced Harumi as she gripped on the bars tightly. The guards surrounding her, growled at Lloyd, who had just arrived minutes ago from jumping off the bounty.
Garmadon growled himself too as he prepared his dual blades. "Why must you ruin my moments with my child?" He wondered, slashing forward, pressing his blade at the wind. Lloyd easily dodged and ducked to get behind him. His eyes were narrowed and Harumi felt her breath hitch.
"Brother, the time has come to settle things once and for all." Wu intervened, dressed in heavy golden armour that they had found. The man glared at his brother fiercely and accompanied his nephew into battle. Garmadon sighed at the fact that he missed his attack, he backed away.
"What do you mean your child? I'm your child!" Lloyd retorted, feeling a bit of anger wash over him as he stood perfectly in place, he eyed Harumi once and a while as well, assuring her safety. When Garmadon glanced over to Wu for his opinions, the young master just seemed rather disappointed in the oni lord. "That's not right, brother. Why did you forget about Lloyd?" He asked calmly.
"I didn't forget about him," he stated. A clear lie of his. Of course, he did. He even said at one point that he had no son. He said that after caring for him for about a week or so. Lloyd and Wu narrowed their eyebrows.
"This ends now, Garmadon."
"This ends now, dad."
Respectively, both Wu and Lloyd sais before charging over to the oni lord.
Harumi screeched silently as she wanted to look away, but her eyes told her to keep looking. "Please..." she begged.
Garmadon swung his blade in his brother's direction, the latter dodged and clashed his sword against his. "Brother, I don't want to hurt you." He admitted. Garmadon growled and pushed him aside.
"Stay out of this, Wu!" He raged, he didn't intend that the push would result in pinning his brother to a nearby decoration shard of his for his throne room. Wu gasped out as his protected back hit the crystal, it hurt. But luckily, not as much to create a wound.
Just when he thought that he can stand back up, he was wrong. Garmadon lashed out and threw purple-painted daggers all over the crystal he was resting on. The man shrieked and tried to get away but was cornered by the blades in the end. Pity defeat, really. But since Garmadon told him to "stay out of it", guess he really meant it. Wu couldn't move, each step he took, Garmadon could summon a new blade and aim for his head next time.
Garmadon swung his newly summoned four blades into the green njnja's direction. But to his surprise, he didn't even bother to clash swords with him. In fact, Lloyd came unarmed, which mildly confused Wu at first when they were first hopping off the bounty. But now, it made so much sense to him. Wu chuckled and lowered his head to the ground. "You go Lloyd.." he muttered.
Lloyd dodged every attack of his, from the fast-paced ones to the slow ones. He had noticed that he slowed down. "I don't want to fight you, father." Lloyd told him.
The two circled one another, both were planning their next moves. But it was clear that Garmadon had to think of something in order to really grab Lloyd's attention.
"Art of the silent fist, eh?" He chuckled, starting to walk away from him.
Lloyd kept his eyes peeled, whether Garmadon tried anything funny, he was ready. "I taught that to Harumi too, be grateful I'm teaching your girlfriend so much." He teased. Lloyd sighed and nodded. Well he was truly grateful for that, at least Harumi had another way to defend herself against someone she doesn't desire to fight. "Yes, thank you." replied Lloyd dryly.
"But why resist fighting me? The fight fuels me!" And that was Lloyd's goal of today. It was making his father admit to what his weaknesses were. He wasn't too naive to think that a fight was his only weakness—it was also a strength of his.
With how much the fight continues, he'll gain overwhelming power. But with no fighting, he'll be as weak as an SOG guard. Garmadon growled and attempted to punch Lloyd. "I know what you're up to!" He cried.
"Stop this, father, it's all over now. You can't hurt any of us!" Lloyd responded, dodging the attack and even grabbed his fist at one point. With worry in his face and desperation, he brought it down.
"Please father, you wouldn't hurt me nor Harumi, right?" He asked, looking at the oni lord straight in the eyes. Garmadon struggled at that, he tried to get his fist free but at the same time, he missed that face of his, his little boy.
'I'm sorry it has to end this way son...'
And his mouth proceeded to open.
~~~~~~~~~
"You know Harumi there, right? She has told you countless of times that she's sick of me and wants to return to you lot without any further debates. But in my care? Oh, she loved it!" He smiled, chuckling at the expressions the two lovers had when they first heard that.
The princess gasped at that starting statement. It's not that she loved it, she hated it! Getting thrown into dungeons and having being teased by your lover's evil father that they have in fact killed them. She resented that "care" so much.
But yet, there were the days where he foolishly dropped ounces of that baby potion on her. She was fully conscious of everything that happened around her, even understanding the adult tongue. Though, she couldn't voice out her opinions until a certain age. That's what annoying. "That's not true!" She retorted.
Garmadon smiles and shushed her in place. "Oh is it now? When you were affected by that baby potion, you called me 'papa'." He snickered, catching Lloyd's focused expression contort into pure shock. Harumi winced and Garmadon laughed. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." Harumi muttered, clenching her fists together. Lloyd just shook his head at her.
"You uses my father like that! Did you forget too that I was his actual son?! Rumi! I can't believe you!" The green ninja bought into his father's lies.
"No Lloyd! That's not what the truth is! You need to hear it from me, not him! IM the victim!" She pleaded.
"Oh but don't be a baby now," cooed Garmadon as he had noticed the first few tears drop from her cheeks.
"IhateyouIhateyouIhateyouIhateyou!!"
Angry, Harumi spun into her spinjitzu tornado and flung herself with incredible speed into the cage bars. She did it once, then twice then thrice until she stopped and lowered herself to the ground, already a sobbing mess. It was useless, even spinjitzu can't break out of this....
Garmadon flashed a quick snicker at Lloyd then again Harumi, who was practically gave up at this point. "I-It's not what you think...I-I didn't...I-" she chocked on the already pouring down tears.
"Face it Harumi, this is what happens when you go behind the enemy's back." Garmadon teasesd.
"What?" was the only word that Lloyd can even say to Garmadon after hearing the sad truth. Harumi really enjoyed all of that treatment all along...? No, he cannot believe it. A glare changed his focused expression as he looked over at the princess in the cage.
His eyes—those eyes were scaring her, that frown he had, if she tried to say something else, sharp teeth would pierce through her rebuttals. Harumi felt herself shrinking the more she was looking at Lloyd. Yet she halfway understood the matter at hand and halfway didn't.
The matter? No, more like her mistake.
"W-Wait....why are you looking at me like that...?" True fear escaped for once after say, several months. Harumi was trembling, as she just realized that she may have messed up big time.
He was going to tell the entire resistance, the ninja, even Misako and Mistaké. Would Cloud buy into whatever Lloyd says? Probably. She sobbed, all power and emotions...they were all everywhere. Was this really what it feels like to lose a family for the second time?
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A/N: Yes guys, this chapter was "Green destiny"! But it was also the beginning of the Oni arc! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I'll see you all in the next chapter, tell me your opinions of the beginning in the comments below! Seems like everyone is against Harumi now..... :0