October 03, 2020
ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ▬ 5232

« ⛰️ ⚔️ ⛩️ ⚔️ ⛰️ »

"I spy something... white!"

"Um... snow?"

The boat rocked as it grazed a large chunk of ice.

"Bingo! I spy... something broken?"

"My soul-?"

"Hey, Zap and Sky?"

"Yeah?"

"Sensei looks like he's gonna bonk you guys with his staff, you, uhh... might want to be careful."

The Ninja were in a small boat floating through the icy waters to reach the Frozen Wastelands. Sensei Wu forced them to stay above deck- "A Ninja must always be on their guard!"- so they were trying to find ways to entertain themselves in the bitter cold, for one could only talk for so long. However, compared to Mario-Kart, Eye Spy quickly got boring. Realm, Skylar, and Zap knew each other well, but Harper still felt out of place. She had barely spent 72 hours with them, the first impressions made fighting each other; only a fool would think they would be close friends in such a short span of time.

Additionally, she didn't want to get too invested in this friendship anyway. After the Four Weapons were retrieved, she would get Morro back, and then they would return to Ignacia and drop this whole Ninja thing.

The girls leaned against the railings, shivering, their thin gis letting the wind bite their skin and faces. Harper was suffering the most in the cold, despite having literal Hot Hands which steamed in the air, as if she truly possessed Fire powers of some sort. In many situations, this being one of them, Skylar was the polar opposite to the blonde just as their roles as Ninja suggested. Unlike Harper, who was used to the hot valley of Ignacia, she was used to the cold mountains of Northern Zenjago.

Impatiently, the Ice Ninja tucked a red strand of hair out of her eyes (she was the only one who kept her hood off). "If Sensei knows the way to the next Golden Weapon, then why isn't he steering the ship? We've been drifting aimlessly for miles."

Harper's hazel eyes were distant as she stared down at the black waters below. "I do not know. Sensei's wisdom is beyond my own."

"The most powerful move in Spinjitzu can only be accomplished when all four elements are combined." Standing at the bow of the ship, Wu drew out of his meditation. "Earth, ice, fire, and lightning."

From his open palms, respective symbols appeared at each word, shooting from his hands and hovering in the air above the ship. Zap's breath puffed out through her mask in thick white clouds, her eyes glued to the display disintegrating in the bitter wind. "What happens when all of them are combined?" she asked.

Wu turned around, looking her in the eye. "The Tornado of Creation. The power to create something-" his hands glowed with a golden energy, but it faded quickly- "out of nothing."

Chills rippled down each girls' spines at this, and it was not from the cold. The Fire Ninja got up, the gold flecks in her eyes catching the light as she suddenly began moving around the deck, going through the motions for Spinjitzu all while nearly kicking Skylar in the head and punching Realm's gut.

"No, Harper!" Their master's voice rang out sharply and she stopped abruptly. "If done incorrectly, it will lead to disastrous consequences."

The faraway look in Harper's eyes returned and she gazed out at the cold world around her. "Disastrous consequences, right..." she repeated to herself.

Alnost immediately, an ear-splitting crunch came from the hull and the Ninja grimaced, bracing themselves against any nearby object as the ship shrieked at the contact. Realm looked at her team once the noise stopped. "Uh... wasn't me."

"Did I do that?" Harper asked, inspecting her fingers. Though they were pink from the cold, they burned as if set on fire.

"No." Wu looked ahead. "We are here."

The glacier before them had several trails of light footprints leading to a fortress of ice and snow. Purely white and milky blue, said fortress omitted a cold aura of terror and seemed to chill the air even more. Harper could see a faint golden light pulse from deep inside the cavern, and her teammates slumped upon realizing how far they needed to travel to get to the next Golden Weapons.

As the Ninja disembarked their ship and made their way inside, they saw several Skulkin warriors frozen in sharp spears of ice. Realm let out a low whistle. "Whoa... looks like someone's already been here."

Their breath obstructed their view as they entered the icy dome, but Harper spotted the Golden Weapons with no problem at all.

"The Shurikens!" she whispered, pointing. Without thinking, Skylar Spinjitzued up to where they were suspended midair and reached for them. Just as she wrapped her hands around the weapons, a casing of ice suddenly grew around her body and froze her solid, halting her Spinjitzu. Just as the Skylar Popsicle fell with a dull thunk to the floor, a deafening road shook the walls around them and sent snow tumbling off crevices and ledges.

"Let me guess, a dragon again?" Zap glanced up just in time to see a white and blue dragon crash through the ceiling, raining shards of ice down on the girls.

"Run!" Realm ordered, and nobody had to be told twice. They picked up their frozen friend and her prize and booked it, sprinting as fast as they could out of the Ice dragon's lair. Weaving under a small hole in the wall, they managed to evade the dragon for the time being.

Harper, at the front of the group, was thrown off track when an angry dragon's growl echoed around the frozen ridges around them. Her senses discombobulated, she turned the wrong way and sent the Ninja crashing into a dead end. When Skylar's frozen body hit the rock, the ice surrounding her shattered and threw her into the snow alongside her team.

"Ow- hey, we got them!" she whispered in victory after she returned to her senses, realizing she still held the Shurikens of Ice in her hands. Another roar came, this time a bit more distant but still too close for comfort. "Hurry, go, go, go!"

Scrambling to their feet, the Ninja raced back to the ship, not bothering with the gangplank and jumping straight up to the deck. "Let's get outta here!" Zap gasped, and she navigated their boat away from the trapped dragon.

"Two down, two to go," Realm mumbled.

"Nothing like deadly situations to get you up and running in the morning, am I right?" Harper asked breathlessly, shaking snow off of her red gi. "Okay- for the record, this is- and will- remain my least favorite location for as long as I live. I don't do cold."

« ⛰️ ⚔️ ⛩️ ⚔️ ⛰️ »

"The Floating Ruins." Finally inside the ship's cabin, Harper, Realm, and Zap were analyzing the map for more information for harding the next Golden Weapon. Skylar and Wu were still on the deck, neither dazed by the subzero temperatures.

"That sounds like a ghost town." Zap mused to herself, her eyes glued to the map. Harper visibly tensed at the word ghost and Realm, ever the observant mom of the group, pulled the Fire Ninja aside to ask her quietly, "What's wrong, Harper?"

"Nothing," she answered, too quickly to be believable.

The Earth Ninja raised an eyebrow. "It's not nothing, I can see that it bothers you."

There was a silence between them before Harper reluctantly said, "Everything on this quest reminds me of my brother, Morro, as he is the reason I'm here. Morro would love to be with us-- he's quite the adventurous person-- but instead he's held captive by a fucking skeleton army in the pits of hell." She dug her nails into her palm, barely feeling them through her hand wraps. "And there is nothing I can do about it except be patient. Sensei keeps telling me that, he says that I must 'wait for the right time'. But I- I don't know how much time Morro has left."

Her question never received an answer for Skylar ran into the cabin, her hood off and her cheeks flushed the same color as her hair. "We're being followed," she blurted.

The Ninja all darted to a window and saw that as the team approached the Floating Ruins, several Skulkin vehicles were following behind. Zap threw on her hood and grabbed her supplies. "Now let's go!" she said, and the team followed her lead.

« ⛰️ ⚔️ ⛩️ ⚔️ ⛰️ »

A pillar-like ruin extended high into the thundercloud-filled sky. With the help of grappling hooks, the Ninja were able to scale it and saw that the top was connected to a taut chain that rose above the clouds. Skylar requested to stop, but once Realm reminded her tired team that they were being followed by the angry undead, they quickly climbed the chain too.

Atop the chain was a floating city of sorts that was long abandoned and weathered away. The entire ruin was one color-- stone grey-- and Zap had to look at Harper's bright red gi to remember that she wasn't seeing the world through a filter. Carefully stepping around holes in the "ground", Zap saw and approached the one clear source of light above the clouds: the Nunchucks of Lightning.

"Alright!" she cheered to herself, taking a second to admire the handiwork of the weapon. As an inventor, she had learned to pay attention to detail, and the First Spinjitzu Master had definitely paid attention to such.

Gesturing to her team, they fastened their ropes to the top of the ruins to climb down to ground level. When they all were about to leave, a slightly different yet easily identifiable growl shook the ghost town.

"Lightning dragon!" Realm yelped as a dark blue dragon materialized out of wispy clouds. A roll of thunder rumbled at its appearance, and all the hair on the backs of their necks stood on end. Without a second thought, Zap turned tail and jumped through one of the gaping holes in the floor, her friends following suit much to the dragon's confusion.

At once all four girls leaped off the Floating Ruins, passing an entire cohort of Skulkin who were scaling the chain to reach the abandoned town. As they neared the earth, a pair of glider wings popped out of their backpacks, smoothly carrying them away on the wind. Several skeleton warriors lost their grip and fell off the chain at the sight of the Ninja flying away. Safely strapped to Zap's back, the Nunchucks of Lightning's golden sheen glowed brighter as a storm raged directly over the Floating Ruins.

Samukai didn't notice nor care that his own troops were quickly diminishing in numbers as the Lightning Dragon dealt with them. He was watching the Ninja escape with the third Golden Weapon and he chuckled to himself.

"They won't know what hit them."

« ⛰️ ⚔️ ⛩️ ⚔️ ⛰️ »

"I can throw this stick farther than you all."

Skylar looked up from the fire before her and saw her red robed teammate holding a long stick in her left hand, twirling it between her fingers. Seeing that she caught her attention, Harper grinned and hurled her stick to the other side of the clearing. Spotting a stick of a similar size, the Ice Ninja accepted the challenge.

Her stick landed one step short of Harper's. "Argh, this is rigged!" she yelled, picking up a handful more and chucking them each across the clearing. None passed the red Ninja's. "I call hacks," Sky grumbled, grabbing more sticks and throwing them furiously as well. Zap looked over and laughed at the sight, the intense competition between the girls even greater than that when they sparred.

"Is this now a stick throwing competition?" Zap asked just as one of Skylar's sticks passed Harper's. Both girls started shouting at each other and throwing even more sticks to outdo the other, stepping back to try to increase their distance.

"Yes, it is," Harper declared over her shoulder as she hurled a stick past all others.

"Join me, we've gotta beat Harper," Skylar grunted, throwing three at once and nearly spearing a meditating Realm in the eye.

"Hey, that's not fair! You can't just team up on me."

"Just did."

"Wow, okay. I feel the love."

Skylar smiled innocently as she beat Harper's furthest stick. "Love you too," she sang.

Harper pretended that didn't mean anything to her, focusing on their bit and trying to ignore the warm feeling in her chest.

Zap hurled a stick as hard as she could and it landed deep into the forest's foliage, no longer visible.

"I-" the white Ninja stuttered. "How-"

Harper grabbed another stick and threw it angrily in retaliation. Unluckily, she didn't release at the right time, and it bounced off of a meditating Sensei Wu's hat.

"Uh oh," Zap laughed in amusement and worry. One of the many unspoken Wu Rules to live by was to never disturb him while he was meditating, and Harper knew this. The moment their teacher moved his hand towards his staff, she made a break for it, running around their campsite. The blue and white Ninjas watched, giggling, as Wu chased his student with his staff poised to bonk.

Realm had been meditating as well. She was no longer doing so and instead was hiding her face in her hands, pretending she had no relations to the stick-throwing girls.

As Harper turned around a tree, Wu was standing there with his staff. In a flash, the stick swiftly came down over her head. At the moment of impact, she muttered under her breath, "Bonk."

"Now get your sleep, Ninja," Wu said as if nothing had just happened. "There is still one Golden Weapon left."

Harper, Zap, and Skylar didn't budge, for their attention was trained on the black Ninja who was facepalming in disappointment. "Yeah, please go to sleep right now," Realm sighed, pointedly looking at her hyper sisters. "Bed. Now."

"Yes, Mom."

"Well, tonight's activities could have been worse," Harper decided as she laid down. "If Morro was here, he would be belting Earthworm Sally the entire time."

Zap looked over with curiosity as she got into her sleeping bag. "Who's Earthworm Sally?"

The red Ninja cleared her throat, changing the subject. "Umm, you know what? Let's go to bed now."

« ⛰️ ⚔️ ⛩️ ⚔️ ⛰️ »

"Harper."

The wind blew a bit stronger.

"Harper!"

Harper gasped and sat up from her sleeping bag, looking around. Zap, Realm, Skylar, and Wu were all sound asleep, and the dark sky above them all glittered through the thick canopy. The leaves rustled gently in the breeze, but she had sworn she heard Morro's voice. She noticed something moving quickly out of the corner of her eye and she got up, tiptoeing towards the source of movement.

The intruder turned, the light of the still-burning campfire lighting his face eerily. His complexion had an orange tint from the flames, his hair was more auburn than blonde, and his face was obscured by a green mask and shadow, but Harper instantly recognized him. The boy looked up at the Ninja, his ghostly bright blue eyes locking with his sister's hazel ones.

"Harper?"

"Morro?"

Harper ran to her brother, too surprised to cry, and felt her sore legs tremble beneath her from exhaustion and shock as she sprinted over. Just as she was about to pull him into a crushing hug, though, Morro stepped away wordlessly.

He turned and suddenly ran off, disappearing into the shadows. Harper's trained eye spotted him despite the darkness and followed. "Morro!" she shouted, weaving between the trees. "Wait up- slow down! Why are you running so fast?"

Despite being startled, her mind was running a thousand times faster than her feet. Quickly analyzing her brother's speed, it was two times faster than usual and it almost seemed as if he melted into shadow at some points... but that was impossible.

"Agh!"

Harper suddenly crashed into the ground, having tripped on a tree root. Whining against her teeth, she yanked her left ankle out from where it had been jammed and continued her chase, only to find she couldn't see him anymore. Dammit, where did he go?

Her ankle throbbed painfully, as she had twisted it when she tripped. Limping, she called out desperately, "Morro! Where are you?"

Ahead, past the line of trees, she spotted a massive red temple heavily adorned with gold dragon decals. A dark green blur darted through the gates, which closed promptly after. A bridge spanned over a river of bubbling lava (Harper's eyes widened at this-- wasn't she in a forest?) and she ran over it, reaching the gates and cautiously stepping back as they opened for her.

"Don't go into stranger's houses," she heard Realm telling her. "Harper, please, you don't know what that is. Be careful. Think."

"No, Harp, don't go in! That's dangerous! You could get hurt," Zap cried.

Someone who she took to be Skylar grabbed her shoulder, pleading, "Harper, be careful, we can't lose you. We need you-"

Harper turned around, but the bridge was empty.

"Harper..."

Morro's voice snapped her back to reality, reminding the red Ninja that her team was not there. Her brother was in danger. Her friends could wait.

"Morro?" She stepped through the gates, her friends' begs silenced as the entrance shut behind her. Following another bridge, she detected Morro's voice again, this time coming from a corridor to her right. As she traveled toward it, she noticed an orange light coming from her destination, as if from fire.

A certain blonde boy with a long undercut stood with his arms crossed as he silently observed his sister. His mask was pulled down, looking more like a bandana of sorts. He stood on a platform over a pool of flowing lava, and as he shifted, Harper got a glimpse of a golden sword elevated on a pedestal behind him.

"Morro?" Harper moved forward hesitantly, silently praying to the First Spinjitzu Master that her brother wouldn't run away again. But something seemed wrong. Something was definitely off, and a pit of dread grew in her stomach.

A twisted smile grew on Morro's face, and his blue eyes turned to a reddened hue. "Don't worry, Harp," he laughed, her body melting into a dark shadow of Lord Garmadon. "I'm right here, sister."

"Garmadon," Harper hissed. Her hands moved to her back, then dropped them upon realizing she hadn't brought a weapon with her.

The shadow seemed to grin, despite not having a mouth. "Forgot something?"

"You- you can't hurt me here. You're banished." She stepped back, stifling a yelp as she pressed hard on her left ankle. "Trapped in the Underworld."

These words only made him laugh. "The Fire Temple is the location of a thin fabric between Zenjago and the Underworld. One wrong step and you will be sent to a new realm." It took her a second to realize he wasn't mentioning her teammate. "And that is why you are going to remove the Sword of Fire for me."

Harper gritted her teeth, lifting her fists as fury began to rise steadily. "You're behind this all. You planned Morro's kidnapping. I think not, motherfucker-"

"Are you sure about that?"

His tone chilled her to the bone, and she gasped sharply when Garmadon's shadow melted away and revealed her real brother, chained over the lava.

"Harper!" Morro yelled, his voice breaking halfway through. He coughed from the smoke, falling limp for a moment.

A wave of relief, horror, and anger came over her in that very order. She turned around to snap at Garmadon when he spoke.

"If you don't remove the sword, how else will you cut the chains to save your precious little brother?" Garmadon's voice crooned in her ear, but when she whipped around she saw the shadow's eyes in a far corner.

"You're a big brain, Harp, you know it's a trap. I can free myself." Morro tugged on the black chains, and snarled, "Ow! That's tight!" The orange-colored chains wrapped around his waist tightened, and a panicked gasp escaped from his lips as the chains dropped him closer to the raging lava.

Harper struggled to think, but she was too overwhelmed with heat and emotion. It was too much. The chains continued to lower him even more as she watched, and the stress was making Harper's head spin.

Lord Garmadon's voice surrounded the red Ninja, echoing off the walls and further breaking her senses. "Tick tock, tick tock," he crooned.

Morro slipped a little further. He was too close to the lava-- two more adjustments and he would touch the burning surface. Harper didn't wait any longer.

"Ninja-go!"

With a front flip, she snatched up the Sword of Fire and used Spinjitzu to propel herself over the lava, slicing the chains suspending Morro and grabbing him before he could fall. Garmadon chuckled darkly as Harper helped Morro tug the chains away from his waist and legs, still gripping the Golden Weapon tightly. Finally, once he was free, Harper whispered, "Stay close."

Morro coughed violently, the smoke in the air continuing to fill his lungs. "I'm not going anywhere, trust me."

After checking her over and making sure he was okay, Harper smirked, "Am I not the best big sister ever?"

Morro cupped his hands to form a heart over his chest, looked her in the eye, and smiled innocently. "No."

Harper pretended to be offended. "Wow, okay. Thanks a lot."

Her brother shrugged innocently, punctuating his statement with another cough. "Sorry-not-sorry."

"The heart does not help at all." To the darkness watching their exchange, Harper called out daringly, "You can't hurt us! You're only a shadow!"

"Even shadows have their uses." Harper's shadow suddenly duplicated, moving in front of the siblings and taking a threatening step towards them.

"Stay back, Morro," she whispered to him.

He didn't budge, his eyes trained on the shadow. "Stay close, stay back. Make up your mind!"

Lifting the Sword of Fire, the Ninja swung at the shadow before her. The blade passed through the darkness and Shadow Harper took another step forward, not at all affected. With a swift kick to her gut, it brought the real Harper to her knees.

"Bruh, that's not fair," Morro scolded Lord Garmadon as he struggled to help his sister fight her shadows.

With a chuckle, he taunted, "Oh, am I being too hard?" The shadow of Harper suddenly multiplied, each one growing bigger to fill the cavern and attacking the real girl.

Every move she attempted to make was instantly matched by her dark counterparts. Her shadows had every skill she did-- she couldn't fight her own mind, much less a physical clone.

Stabbing the Golden Weapon at the ground, she tried to haul herself up only for another shadow to kick it and send it skidding out of her reach. It picked it up, lifting it to deal a blow to the siblings, when a flash of white attacked the shadows and stole the sword from them.

Sensei Wu quickly glanced over at the Smiths, and seeing that they were temporarily out of harm's way, continued beating the shadow Harpers back with his own. Every move he made was duplicated by his shadow, which suddenly split apart and became a mind of its own. Soon there were two Sensei Wu's battling the shadow Harpers, and they beat them away.

"Brother," Garmadon snarled. "I see you protect one, but what about the other three?"

Wu knocked back the last shadow, dissolving it into the darkness it came from. "They are safe! Far from your grasp, Garmadon!"

They could hear the Lord of the Underworld's smirk in his voice, though said voice was fading away as if he was leaving. "I wouldn't be so confident."

The blackness before them morphed into a screen of the Forest of Tranquility, showing the Ninja camp. Realm opened her eyes to see a Skulkin standing right in front of her, and before she could grab her weapon Kruncha took it from her and knocked her out with it. Nuckal had Skylar and Zap pinned down, and both skeleton generals were watching their master as Samukai lifted the three Golden Weapons.

"I believe these," he snarled, "belong to Lord Garmadon now."

The sensei turned to Harper and Morro. "My brother must not unite the four weapons. We must keep them apart!"

As the trio was about to escape, Garmadon's voice sent ripples through the air as he called out, "Awaken, guardian of the deep! They are stealing the Sword! You must not let them escape!"

Morro stiffened behind Harper as a red-and-orange dragon emerged from the lava. It focused on the Golden Weapon in Sensei Wu's hand, and let out an enraged roar as it headed towards them. Seeing the path it was taking, the Spinjitzu master flipped onto the Fire dragon's head and to a rock platform behind him.

Harper scanned the cavern anxiously. "He's taken away all of our options!"

"All but one."

"Sensei- what are you doing?" the Fire Ninja asked in bewilderment.

Wu stabbed the Sword of Fire into the hot ground beneath him, the rock breaking away and drifting down the lava flow. He got comfortable on his floating island, not at all bothered by the heat. From the shadows, Garmadon hissed, "No, you fool!"

The Spinjitzu master took out his teapot and cup, lying his napkin onto his lap like he always did. To Harper, he said solemnly, "If he is to bring the other weapons here, then I will take the Sword of Fire to the Underworld. It is my sacrifice to pay."

Harper shook her head as her master traveled further away. "Wait, what? No, it's mine. I shouldn't have come on my own," she admitted. "You don't have to do this! There has to be another way!"

Wu ignored her as per usual and took a sip of his tea, the smoke completely obscuring his figure as he vanished. "Then I will see you there, brother." Garmadon's shadow disappeared after his brother, leaving the Smiths alone in the Fire Temple.

Harper didn't say anything, but Morro could tell that her mind was already turning upon itself. "This is not your fault," he firmly told his older sister. "But don't worry about him, what about us? I don't feel like dying ag- today."

The red Ninja looked up to see the Fire Dragon regaining consciousness, turning its attention to the defenseless siblings.

« ⛰️ ⚔️ ⛩️ ⚔️ ⛰️ »

Zap squirmed, trying to loosen the ropes binding her to Realm and Skylar. So far, she had no luck.

In front of them, Samukai cackled in their faces as he proudly held up the Scythe of Realms, Shurikens of Ice and Nunchucks of Lightning. "Three down, one to go," he declared triumphantly. "To the Fire Temple!"

The army around him yelled their support, and the tied up Ninja struggled against their bindings even more when a particular red-eyed shadow appeared before Samukai.

"My brother has taken the Sword of Fire to the Underworld. Hurry, return and unite the weapons before it's too late!" Lord Garmadon hissed, and he melted away.

The Skeleton leader turned to the Skulkins once more. "Change of plans. To the Underworld!"

As the army jumped into their vehicles, Kruncha noticed his partner's sword was missing. "What happened to your weapon?" he asked skeptically, wondering why Nuckal held a stick instead. Both shrugged and left, the latter skeleton discarding the stick and nearly hitting Skylar's face.

With the loud roar of engines, the Skulkin army raced away from the Forest of Tranquility, leaving the Ninja still tied up in the tree. Realm coughed on the smog left behind. "Great. Now what?"

"Now," Zap pulled Nuckal's sword out, "we get out of here. Brace for impact!"

"Wait, what?" Skylar asked, but it was too late. Zap cut the rope and all three tumbled into a pile.

"Hey, at least we're no longer tied up." Realm helped her team to their feet. "Let's go!"

"Faster!" Samurai demanded the Skull Truck's driver. "We need to go faster to cross over to the Underworld!"

Around them, a few vehicles sped forward as vanished into a purple portal. The Skulkin leader growled in frustration.

From the canopy above, the Ninja were catching ups. "There they are!" Realm pointed, and they dropped down from the treetops.

"More speed! We'll never get home at this rate!"

Bonezai tried to accelerate forward, but the truck suddenly began heading backward. "Uh... what's wrong?"

Realm grunted as she yanked on one of the vehicle's chains, slowing the vehicle down. As it did so, it gave Skylar an opportunity to hop on and kick two warriors off the truck. Zap did the same, smacking the remaining two warriors with her nunchucks.

Samukai glared at the intruders. "Get them!"

More Skulkins tried to jump onto the Skull Truck, but Zap had other plans. "Ninja-go!" she cried, spinning into her blue tornado and knocking off any of the soldiers that came nearby. Once those threats were gone she leaped to the front of the vehicle where the Golden Weapons were chained.

She punched the rusty lock, only to feel her hand sting from the impact and the lock unaffected from her blow. "Okay- that's why they make keys..."

Unable to pick it, she climbed back to the top. "Hey, Realm," she started, only to be cut off with a blow to her throat. Having stolen a weapon from the warriors, Realm accidentally hit Zap's throat with the flat of the sword while trying to ward off the grey and blue generals attacking them.

She managed to knock the generals away and rushed to her friend. "Zap- I'm sorry, I didn't see you!" she apologized. "Are you okay?" Zap nodded a faint yes.

In the driver's seat, Skylar cheerfully greeted the pilot, "Salutations- woah, watch it!" she yelped as Samukai threw her off the Skull Truck. As she fell she grabbed the fender, desperately clinging on as Samukai kicked his own driver out of the cockpit so he could drive faster. Forcing the truck forward at the maximum speed, the three Ninja were blown away, landing hard on the road.

A large purple realm portal materialized, and all the vehicles disappeared into it. As fast as it had come, the portal vanished, leaving the Ninja alone in the Forest of Tranquility.

The storm clouds above them flashed with lightning as the beaten team got to their feet. Zap opened her mouth to speak, but only hoarse gasps came from her attempts, making her wince. "We didn't stop them-" she managed to whisper.

Realm picked up her normal scythe, which had fallen off the trucks and into the road. "I know..."

She put an arm around Zap and another around Sky, supporting her teammates as they stood staring at where the portal had been moments before. They all were shaking from exhaustion and held each other up, hurting from the aches and bruises all over their body. Realm let out a shaky sigh.

"We've lost."

to be continued...