We Are Survivors

Falling Inside the Black

Shorter chapter but a lot happens.

    Zane reeled back as if struck. He wanted to rush over to Pixal and bundle her up in his arms, but something was deeply amiss. Her brilliant green eyes now glowed deep purple and her expression held no recognition for him, only hatred.

    Wu brashly stepped forward as he had no emotional connection to these three shadow puppets. "C'mon. There's only three of them and six of us. We can take 'em."

    Faith also had no qualms fighting these people and didn't hesitate to strike first. She lunged forward and landed a devastating uppercut to the dark haired man. He crumpled down unconscious. She raised her blade to engage the metal female but found the helmeted metal man had already pulled out his own swords and was currently combatting her.

    Garmadon pulled his brother back by the scruff of his neck just in time to save him from a fireball that landed right where he had been standing. Skylor struck out at the brothers, leaving teenage Wu no time to draw his Vengestone Rifle. Garmadon shoved his younger brother to the side, easily dodging the Master of Amber's attacks. It had been a while since he had fought, but that didn't mean he couldn't. In just a couple of seconds, Lloyd watched his father use the Art of the Silent Fist to tire Skylor's vicious Elemental attacks and find the perfect opening to knock her out.

    Though Zane seemed reluctant to act, seeing a spurt of dark Ice being wielded by Pixal spurred him to aid Mr. E. There were so many unanswered questions for the Ice Ninja and so few answers. His mastery over the Element of Ice won out and Pixal was frozen solid. He stared at her immobile form despairingly, many heavy emotions striking his core.

    Garmadon's voice was sharp as he instructed, "We must go at once!"

    Lloyd hesitated as did Zane. 

    "Can we bri–" began to question Lloyd, but Faith cut him off. "No! They'll be dead weight."

    At the Ninja's crestfallen expressions, Garmadon added, "The best way to help them is to go now. Everything will be fixed if everything goes according to plan."

    The "hopefully" was left unsaid.

    The group ran deeper into the darkened, mist-covered city. Skill and instinct kept them alive and out of sight. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Cole anxiously paced back and forth, putting those around him at unease. He kept a close watch over the radio and nervously awaited for a signal to step in. His unhelpful mind kept coming up with all the things that could go wrong. He didn't particularly appreciate Harumi's attempts to calm or get him to sit still. He was still upset with her for all the pain and trouble she had caused them. 

    They all jumped when an garbled voice sounded from the radio. "Can anyone hear this?" The Earth Ninja gulped. It sounded like a young, tearful kid. "Me and momma are trapped on the roof. There's black smoke everywhere. It got my dad. Please help!"

    Cole was already in motion to go help, but Jet Jack's words made him pause, "Wait. What about the others? We need to be prepared in case something goes wrong."

    Harumi surprised even herself with how forceful her tone was when she stepped up into the Hunter's face. "No! Someone needs to go help them!"

    "You'll doom yourselves entering the smoke. Why risk everything for strangers?" argued the winged Hunter. Was everyone from this Realm so self-sacrificial?!

    The Quiet One didn't bother trying to justify her reasoning. It would take too long to explain her great need of recompense and her own past trauma which was scarily similar to what this kid was going through at the moment. No one had come to her rescue and look at what had become of her. She looked over at the Earth Ninja who she knew from past experiences wouldn't abandon someone who he knew was in need of rescue. She mounted a FrostBreath Dragon and firmly declared, "I'm going."