Aeria's POV

The wind rushing through my hair, I forgot, for just a few seconds, that my powers were gone and the Call was gone from my mind with them. After the quick realization, I reached over and pulled the cord to open the parachute, slowing my descent toward the edge of the cliff where the opening of the mines was located.

"Follow me!" I called out to the others as I pulled my parachute to correct the path of my descent toward the entrance.

"You can't be serious!" Cole yelled out as his hands started to phase through his parachute controls.

"Can someone get to Cole before he goes off course?" Lloyd asked through the comms as the wind started to pick up, drowning out anything anyone said.

"I got'im." Kai responded before gliding over to Cole to help him.

"Approaching the mine entrance." Zane announced before Xia added,

"10 feet and closing."

In a few seconds, everyone managed to land on the cliff, albeit a bit off-balance since the gales were starting to blow even harsher in the direction of Ninjago.

"How're the people doing down below?" Nya asked through the comms to the Bounty.

"The people have started an emergency evacuation, but if the winds continue at this pace, they won't be able to get out in time." Misako reported from her end.

"Then we better hurry and stop the snake and dark side before that happens." I growled menacingly before pulling an arrow out from my quiver and readying it in my bow as we all walked through the entrance to the mine into the darkness below.

"Everyone, stay close, once we get close enough to the center of the mountain, they're gonna have the advantage of an ambush." Lloyd warned the others as we followed the path of dimly lit torches down the old tunnels.

I was surveying the area in front of us, ready to loose an arrow at any moment when I felt a distinctive chill down my spine, like a part of me was just restrained with chains. The chill sharpened and spread to my previously infected eye to the point where I weakly loosed my arrow to clutch my eye while dropping down to one knee.

"Aeria!" Lloyd was by my side within seconds before I held a hand up to assure him that I was alright.

"Something's wrong, it's like part of me is being chained down." I told Lloyd as I got back up and went to pull my arrow out of the wall it buried itself into.

"Like that's not ominous..." Jay cowered down a bit as he looked around the dark area in slight fear.

"It is possible that Aeria is not the only one feeling that ominosity." Zane referred to Xia who looked like she was on the verge of a splitting headache.

"Well, what did you expect when you meddle around in the dark?" An echo sounded from all around them in a hissing manner.

"Pythor... Show yourself you slithering coward!" I dared him as we all circled up with our backs to each other to prepare to face him from any direction.

"Gladly..." Pythor slithered out from behind a withering pillar of wood that was supporting the tunnel frame structure.

"Oh boy, that's not good." Cole noted from Pythor's position.

"Indeed, you've all just wandered right into your tomb." Pythor swiftly cut the pillar using his tail and, right after he did so, the frame burst apart in splintering mass, causing the whole tunnel to start to collapse.

"Toodle-oo." Pythor retreated further into the tunnel in a quick white streak.

"Quickly, after him!" I ran forward dodging and hitting away all the falling pieces of rock that threatened to bury us until I managed to get through to an open cavern-like area.

"Piece of cake right guys?" I turned to see if the others made it out and I didn't see any of them behind me.

"Guys? Guys!" I ran up to the pile of crumbled rocks and dirt, hitting it with all my might before I put my ear next to it to hear someone on the other side.

"Aeria? You alright?" Lloyd's voice came through faintly.

"Yeah, I thought you guys were right behind me." I told him before I started trying to move some boulders out of the way, assuring him, "Hold on, I'll find a way to get you guys through."

"You mean 'we'?" Cole's voice sounded from right next to me and I jumped to see he managed to phase through the rubble.

"Took you long enough." I snarked while crossing my arms.

"Hey going through solid objects is not as easy as it sounds." Cole responded indignantly before his eyes were drawn to a jackhammer that was laying on the ground nearby.

"If I possess that jackhammer, maybe I'll be able to get through to the others." Cole ran over to the tool and dissipated into it in a flurry of green smoke before it levitated off the ground and started chipping away at the wall of rubble between us and the rest of our friends.

Help... me... I heard the same twisted voice of mine from inside my mind coming from further into the cavern.

"Cole, did you hear that?" The jackhammer paused long enough to make a shaking motion before I readied an arrow and told him,

"Keep diggin', I'll check it out."

A few minutes of stealthy stalking down the tunnel later led me to what looked like a fighting arena where a tube chamber similar to the one Pythor used to drain my powers stood at the far end.

Inside was a mass of glowing purple and smoky black swirled around inside like a storm and looked to be powering a machine right next to it.

"What the heck...?" I lowered my bow long enough to look around at the painted walls and racks of mining tools lined up against the wall.

"Welcome to your doom..."

"Pythor..." I whispered before readying another arrow and turning around to face the white-scaled snake as he stood behind me with a smirk on his face.

"And so the end comes as it began, just the two of us fighting to determine once and for all who the better wielder of darkness will be."

"Save your little speech, I want to know why you went through so much trouble to get Darkstorm out if she's not gonna be fighting with you against me."

"Simple, I want to prove once and for all that I am the only one with the will to wield the powers of the Overlord, once I defeat you, all of you and her power will become mine, free to use against the very beings who imprisoned me all those decades ago." Pythor picked up a long steel pole from the pile of tools that lay discarded on the floor and I readied an arrow before my tough facade fell and I burst out laughing.

"What is so funny?!" Pythor demanded to know.

"All of this." I gestured around me before starting to explain, "Y'know the old me would have gladly accepted a one on one challenge, ever since I lost my brother, gained those dark powers, and found myself alone in the world, I was so afraid of letting my dark side take control of me and hurt those I cared about, I thought the best way to keep everyone safe would be to go it alone."

The two of us started circling around each other carefully as I continued my speech,

"So I shut the world out, never letting anyone in for fear they would get hurt because of me, but you know what, I realized something when I met my team, my friends..."

I restrung my arrow and loosed it in the direction of the enclosure, breaking the glass in a swift motion.

"I never have to be alone again..." I dropped my bow to the ground as the clouded mass of darkness swirled around me and I put my arms up as I let it engulf me. I felt the cold enter my body, but it didn't scare me as I let the wind spiral around me. I could feel the full force of Darkstorm taking over as my vision fully went purple and red as her voice sounded out from my mouth,

"And you're going to regret ever messing with us."

"Us?"

"That's right, us!" Lloyd's voice filled the cavern as he and the others appeared in the entrance of the cavern, weapons raised and Lloyd's hands surrounded in a golden light.

"Finally realized you didn't have to do everything by yourself did we?" Nya asked from where she stood with her spear raised.

"Thanks for waiting for the rest of us before you got the butt-kicking started." Jay joked as Cole rolled his eyes in response.

"A nice gesture, but one I'm afraid made in vain." Pythor quickly slithered over to the chamber and threw a lever on it down. Suddenly, the ground around them started to shake again, but with more intensity this time.

"Don't you think I would've prepared a back-up plan in case the first one didn't work out? I still stole enough power from Darkstorm to blow the top of this mountain off. It may not seem like much, but the impact would be enough to still destroy some of the city."

3rd Person POV

The roof started to collapse around them and as soon as Dark Aeria leaped away to avoid it, she lost sight of Pythor within the rapidly crumbling mountain top.

"We need to get out of here now!" Lloyd directed the others to the exit, but Dark Aeria stayed in place as she began a mental conversation with her other half in the span of a few seconds.

He tried to use you against your will, didn't he?

Yes... I'm all for causing havoc and whatever else but I'd rather do it on my own terms.

I don't think that's why you called out to me, I think a small part of you knows that we don't have to be on the side of darkness and destruction.

That's not my gig OK? I don't have a choice, it's literally in my nature to be destructive. No amount of emotional friendships will ever be enough to keep people safe from me...

Just the fact that you're considering other peoples' feelings is proof that you do have a choice. You may have been created out of pure evil, but that doesn't determine what you choose to do once it loses its control over you.

There was a brief pause before Darkstorm spoke again,

Are you gonna stand here sounding like sensitive fools or are we gonna save everyone from that crisis?

Thought you'd never ask.

With a light smirk, Aeria regained some control as one of her eyes went back to normal and she turned to Lloyd who was still trying to get his team out, but stopped when he saw that Aeria was falling behind.

"Aeria, come on we have to get out of here now!" Lloyd went over to her to tug on her hand, but she stayed in place not facing him.

"Aeria...?"

"This is it Lloyd, the moment where I decide what's best in my heart, and it's telling me that I need to protect you guys and save those people down there." Aeria finally turned to face Lloyd, who was startled for a second by her uncovered dark eye.

"Aeria don't-" Lloyd's protest was cut off right as Aeria pulled him in to lightly kiss his cheek, making him freeze in one place as he took a moment to process what just happened.

"This time I'm not pushing you away out of fear... but because I care about you too much to let you get hurt..." Aeria lightly pushed him away while using her powers to whisk him out of there on a forcible stream of wind.

"No!" Lloyd's last plea was heard before he was pulled through the tunnel and deposited outside where the others were waiting for him and greeted him with a barrage of questions,

"What happened?"

"Where's Aeria?"

"Where is she?"

The others' voices blended into the background as Lloyd's mind tuned them out out of fear for what Aeria was about to do.

1997 Words