The Strength of Darkness

Cole unsheathed his scythe and slammed it into the ground. The ground shook, but the Kurai Kodomo remained balance. Shifter raised his hands and threw large boulders towards them. Jay, and Zane jumped out of the way, while Kai used the Sword of Fire to blow them to pieces. Glacia formed razor sharp obstacles and threw them. Jay whirled his nunchucks and blew them up before they could hit them.

“NINJA-GO!”

Jay spun into a tornado and hurdled towards the Dark Children. His tornado swallowed Masuka, and spat her back out, twitching and spazzing. But Glacia froze the ground underneath him. He slipped and fell on his back. Kai helped him back up and shunted a ball of fire into Glacia’s face and sent her flying.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Kamara and Nya watched in restless anxiousness.

“I hate hiding!” Kamara hissed, “I should be helping! It’s my fault this happened!”

Nya’s bracelet bleeped.

“The Destiny’s Bounty is coming up behind us! Come on!” she exclaimed, “Jade, are you coming?”

Jade shook her head.

“No, I only came to give you the golden weapons. I have to prepare.”

“For what?”

“The worst.”

Jade put her hand on Kamara’s shoulder.

“Good luck.”

Then, she disappeared into the darkness.

.

Nya grabbed Kamara’s hand, and they took off.

“Lloyd, we’re one mile away. Pull the brakes. We’ll be there shortly” she informed.

“Gotcha!”

Kamara and Nya continued to run until they could see the lights of the Bounty ahead of them in the sky. Kamara then halted.

“Hold on to me, Nya, and don’t let go” she ordered.

Nya understood and grabbed Kamara’s waist. Then, Kamara manipulated the wind currents, pointed the palm of her hands down to the floor, and propulsion herself into the air.

“Umph! I’m not used to this, I’m a little unsteady!” Kamara warned.

She wavered a little as the air got colder the higher she got up.

“Getting closer…Closer…” she thought, her doubts creeping in.

Then, with one last heave, she made it onto the deck of the Destiny’s Bounty.

.

“Nya! Get to the helm, and get us outta here!”

“Aye aye, cap!” Nya replied, winking, then running towards the bridge.

Kamara looked out. She could see the flashes of the golden weapons flashing. She could feel the shaking, and spot the explosions of fire and ice. Her fists tightened. Something was creeping up inside her. A shadow of restlessness overtook her. Her clenching fists shook.

“They’re getting hurt…Because of me. I’m so useless…I’m worth nothing…Why am I here? Why did I become a ninja in the first place?”

.

Just then, she heard a sound from far away. It sounded like the hissing of smoke. Kamara whirled around. Sure enough, a large black wispy mask was flying towards the Destiny’s Bounty as fast as an asteroid. She started to cry for help.

“NYA-!”

-was the only word she could get out before the smoke whirled around her, and her vision was blurred. She felt it fill in her lungs and drown her. Suddenly her fear was gone. She felt indifferent. It hypnotized her and made her give in; and with that, Kamara was gone. A few minutes later, Nya appeared back on the deck, hearing her call.

“Kam?” she called.

There was no answer, except the eerie whistling over the wind.

“KAMARA!?” she shouted.

There was no response. Nya suddenly had the gut feeling that something or someone took her.

“I’ve got to warn the ninja!”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Kamara could feel the cold breeze wafting past and she shivered. She was still feeling effects of an odd tranquility. She heard sounds of chattering, and when she came closer to consciousness, she could sense a faint glow. Finally, she opened her eyes. She was lying on a mixture of gravel and hard concrete. Then, she heard the sounds of car engines coming and going. She sat up. She was on the top of a building. Suddenly she regained her senses and jumped to her feet.

“Where am I? Where’s the Bounty? Nya? The Ninja!?” she thought.

She ran to the corner of the roof to get a sense of where she was.

“Ereganto City?” she asked herself out loud, “Why was I brought here?”

.

“I’m sorry-”

Kamara jumped and turned around. The black mass she had seen before had been behind her, but this time, it was more slow moving.

“-But I needed a chance to speak to you, imouto, without any distractions from the other ninja.”

The smoke swirled around in a cylinder shape and took form of a man. It was a man with sharp cheekbones, narrow eyes, straight eyebrows, dark purple hair and a black robe. Kamara was immediately threatened, summoned her windblade, and pointed it at him. He raised a hand.

“Don’t be alarmed, imouto. I’m not going to harm you. I would never harm one of my own kind.”

“I’m not your sister!” Kamara snapped, “And forgive me if I don’t trust your bizarre kindness.”

The man nodded.

“I do tend to give the wrong impression.”

.

“You’re Nanba Ichi, I presume?” she said.

“Yes. I am Ichi Harden. I am the first realized Dark Child. I am the one who put the prophecy in motion. I have gathered all of my dark siblings, but one has seemed to always slip through the cracks.”

“I’m not a Dark Child!”

“No one believes that at first. The power of darkness is very intimidating to most people,” Harden replied coolly, “Mostly because they’ve been taught a lie all their lives.”

“And what lie is that?”

“The lie that negative emotions, such as anger, guilt, and anxiety, are wrong, and should be squelched for the good of all. We have been fed since birth to believe that. Those who reveal their negative emotions are shunned, or looked down upon. When in reality, they are the most powerful emotions of all.”

He slowly turned his head and looked at Kamara with soft eyes. Kamara still held her guard up as he continued:

“I know your struggle, imouto. You’re slowly killing yourself in attempt to appease those warriors of light, when you’ve never needed to. You don’t need to suppress the anger inside you, imouto. Your destiny doesn’t lie with them. It lies with us.”

.

Kamara examined him. Surprisingly, he didn’t appear as cold blooded as she expected. He looked as though he left his guard down in speaking to her. His smile had faded away and the tone in his voice sounded genuine. She lowered her weapon slightly.

“Alright. Convince me that your cause is the right thing.”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Nya scanned Ninjago for Kamara’s tracking device. When she found it was in Ereganto City, she immediately landed the Destiny’s Bounty in a remote area where it was unlikely to be found.

“Lloyd, stay in your room and don’t come out. If you see anyone board the ship and it’s not us, you need to contact me immediately!”

Lloyd nodded.

“Bring her back safely, please Nya?”

“Of course!” Nya replied.

She pulled out a dusty outdated motorcycle from storage. Thankfully it was in working condition, and Nya took off back towards Shuushi Village to warn the ninja of Kamara’s disappearance.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

The ninja and the Kurai Kodomo were still fighting. They were less trying to kill each other, and more keep each other occupied. It was almost counter intuitive that they were attempting to achieve the same goal: distracting each other until one another’s mission was completed. However, eventually the ninja were beginning to tire, and the Kurai Kodomo weren’t slowing down.

“Shouldn’t we have gotten a warning when Kamara and Nya were safely aboard the Bounty?” Jay asked.

“Yes-” Cole replied in between trying to knock the Dark Children back away from them, “-and that bothers me we haven’t gotten any word. I have a feeling this isn’t over yet.”

.

Sure enough, they heard the loud, clattering sound of a motorcycle approach them. Then, they saw rapid flashes, and the ninja ducked when they promptly releazed they were bullets. The Kurai Kodomo were surprised and fell back a fair distance to protect themselves. Nya swiftly drifted her way in.

“Sis! What’s happened!?” Kai exclaimed.

“Kamara-! She’s disappeared! One minute she was on the boat, next she wasn’t!” “Oh perfect!” Jay growled.

“But I know where she is!” Nya added, “I don’t know why, but she’s back in Ereganto City!”

.

Just then, Cole looked over the Kurai Kodomo were quickly approaching them again.

“These guys are relentless!” he cried, “They aren’t going to let us leave!”

“Leave that to me,” Nya winked, “The Exo suit might be in disrepair, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few tricks up my sleeve. Zane, if you’re willing to help me-”

Zane nodded.

“-I can slow them down while you go get Kamara!”

“If the Kurai Kodomo persist us, it may be a wise decision if we alert the authorities of Ereganto City of our arrival” Zane recommended.

“I’ll take care of that on the way,” Cole volunteered, “Now let’s go! The Dark Children are not going to succeed in taking Kamara this time!”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“You still haven’t convinced me. How is usurping the rule of Ninjago going to help it? How is hurting people, good or bad the right thing to do?” Kamara asked.

“You think received the roles they play because of their ‘kindness’ and ‘servant’s attitude’? No,” Harden replied, “They got those roles because positions of authority are just prizes to be won. They don’t actually care about the safety and prosperity of Ninjago. They only care about their own agenda.”

“Oh, like you?”

“My agenda is to restore Ninjago to what it should be,” proclaimed Harden, “A society where acceptance reigns supreme. The dominating evil will be purged, and Ninjago will finally become the ultimate utopia.”

“It seems like a noble cause at first glance,” said Kamara, “But purging evil is impossible. No matter how hard we try it will always be there, lurking in the cracks of the world, waiting for a chance to seep in again.”

“Then I will fill in those cracks!” Harden exclaimed, his voice becoming more angry. We will have the power to stop it all! Peoples of all kind will live in harmony because of the Kurai Kodomo!”

“And what about when the Dark One supposedly returns, huh? What happens then?”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

The motorcycle engine roared as Nya attracted the attention of the Kurai Kodomo. She flipped a switch and the gun attached to the motorcycle slowly moved to the back and began firing. The ninja lifted the golden weapons in the air and transformed them into their vehicles. They hopped inside, then took off towards Ereganto City.

“Don’t let them get away!” Safrina shouted, “Kill them if you have to! But the fire ninja is mine!”

The Kurai Kodomo temporarily disappeared, but returned with motorcycles of their own and took off after them. Nya trailed behind them, Jay hovering over her in the Storm Fighter jet.

“They’re making up ground real fast!” Nya warned.

“Don’t worry Nya, I got ya covered!” Jade informed.

Suddenly large boulders popped out of the ground in front of them and were being thrown at them! The ninja whipped around them.

“Shifter! See if you can slow ‘em down Jay!” Cole ordered.

.

“Woah!” Kai suddenly cried.

Giant balls of fire were being thrown at him from behind, singing his back. He looked behind him. The mufflers were being overheated and beginning to melt. He also spotted a large cycle speeding up behind him, flares sparking up all around it. It was Safrina, and her pupils shortened in insane rage.

“What the heck is her problem!?” Kai exclaimed, “She really hates me all of the sudden!” “I will assist you Kai.”

Zane slowed to get behind Kai. Zane let a trail of ice release from behind him. Safrina’s motorcycle skidded at first, but she quickly melted it.

“Cole, have you alerted the Ereganto City authorities?” Kai asked nervously, “We’re definitely bringing company with us!”

“Yes, and they’re evacuating as quick as they can” Cole replied, “I hope it’s quick enough…”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“No…”

“What did you say?”

Kamara looked up.

“I wish it could be possible. I would love to see sympathy and patience from those around me; and I don’t entirely like all of those put in power. But they’re there for a reason. No matter how pure our intentions are, we can’t just…waltz in there and take it! And what if we’re not capable of ruling Ninjago? We risked too much and nothing was gained. I’m sorry. I wish I could help, but not in that way. I reject your offer.”

Harden narrowed his eyebrows. He gritted his teeth and breathed sharply.

“I…had hoped that you of all people would understand, and would come forth willingly.” But I see the light has poisoned you.”

Black smoke began to swirl around him, and out of that smoke came a large, spiked mace.

“I will make you see what the strength of darkness tastes like!”

Then, Harden lunged forward with swift speed. Kamara summoned the Windblade in the split second and deflected his attack.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“We’re coming up on Ereganto City!” Cole announced.

The Kurai Kodomo were tagging behind. As they came closer they could see clear gusts of wind and black clouds behind blasted back and forth.

“Oh no…” Kai breathed.

Then, he furrowed his eyebrows and exclaimed, “We’ve got to go faster!”

He glanced behind him and scowled.

“Why can’t they leave us alone!?” he thought.

“Hang on Kam, we’re coming!”