Onyx and the Legacy of the Green Ninja

Ascent

The ninja hurried up the tower, Kai and Cole supporting Lloyd, Onyx and Zane taking the front, and Jay keeping up the rear. They circled around the stairs leading up the building, keeping as far away from the edge as possible. Onyx's eyes constantly flicked over her surroundings, keeping a sharp eye out for any sort of obstacle. Nya hadn't shown her face for what felt like forever, and it was making her anxious.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Ultra Dragon take a blast to the tail and swoop down to land out of reach of danger, Fade following. Onyx hissed through her teeth. The stakes just kept ramping up as time went on. Suddenly Jay gave an alarmed cry. "Look out!" He shouted. Onyx didn't know what he was warning them against, so she reacted randomly, leaping up five stairs and covering her head.

She heard the sound of impact behind her, but didn't realize exactly what had happened until she heard Jay's horrified cry. Onyx whipped around. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Cole shaking on his knees, the dark matter spattered across his skin, which was rapidly paling to a corpselike shade of gray. "Cole, come on. Get up!" Lloyd begged. Cole shook his head with a grunt of pain. "Ugh. I'm hit. Go! Go on... without me."

As he spoke, his voice began to distort slightly. Onyx couldn't speak as she grabbed Lloyd's arm and pulled. "We have to go!" Kai shouted, taking Onyx's arm in turn and pulling, prompting her to force her feet to move.

They began climbing again, going as fast as Lloyd's injury would permit. And then it happened again. "Look out!" Jay gave a desperate cry and lunged forward, shoving Lloyd forward and knocking him down. Onyx didn't bother looking back. She already knew what she was going to see. She merely pulled Lloyd back to his feet and kept going because that was all they could do now.

"Wait! We can't just-" Kai interrupted Lloyd. "Don't look! Just keep climbing!" He shouted harshly, determinedly looking nowhere but straight ahead. Lloyd opened his mouth to protest but then closed it, realizing what Onyx already had. After a moment of climbing, Zane spoke quietly. "From my calculations, with the distance remaining to the top, the odds are that only one of us is going to make it," he said. "Then let's beat the odds!" Lloyd said, voice raising a decibel. Over his head, Onyx and Kai looked at each other, a spark of resolve passing between them.

They were silent as they ascended, having said everything that they had left. Then the sound of shuffling footsteps reached Onyx's ears. She glanced back and flinched when she saw what used to be Jay and Cole pursuing them. Zane's brow furrowed. "Go on. I'll hold them back," he said, acceptance in his voice.

As they climbed, Onyx began to accept what Zane had said as truth. It was incredibly likely that only one of them would make it to the top of the tower to face the Overlord, and she swore that she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that it was Lloyd, regardless of the cost. Her prophecy was wrong. She would ensure it. This moment right here was what she was supposed to do. Onyx looked up at the black clouds encircling the top of the tower. 'He is going to stop you.' She repeated that mantra in her head, and it gave her the strength to keep going.

A maniacal female laugh suddenly split the air as the thing that was Nya rounded the corner of the tower in some sort of robotic vehicle that was attached to the side of the building. Onyx hissed through her teeth as she began to fire blasts of dark matter at the ninja. "Nya." Kai's eyes narrowed. "Onyx, can I trust you to get Lloyd to the top?" He asked.

Onyx fought the ache that had suddenly risen in her throat. "Yes." Kai didn't need to hear more. He could hear the promise in her voice. "Good. I'm gonna draw her fire so you can make it to the top," he said, drawing his elemental blade and deflecting several blasts of matter. Lloyd shook his head. "No, don't! We can do this together," he cried. Kai looked at Lloyd with eyes more stern and mature than Onyx had ever seen them. "No. There's only one Green Ninja. This is your fight," he said. Kai looked at Onyx. "Go," he said. Onyx nodded and took Lloyd's hand, quickly leading him away.

Kai watched them go. The tiniest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. They'd both grown so much, and he was proud of the two, just as much as if they were his actual siblings. "Good luck, Tiny."

*. *. *.

Onyx and Lloyd kept going. And then, just as they were a single flight away from the top, a single blast of dark matter came flying toward the two of them. Onyx didn't have to think before she shoved Lloyd away from her, allowing the dark substance to crash down over her.

The effect was immediate. Her knees buckled as her sight began to blur and her head spun. Lloyd's distorted voice reached her ears, as if he were speaking from underwater. "Onyx, no! We have to keep going!" He cried. Onyx lifted her head with great effort, meeting Lloyd's desperate gaze. "Lloyd, keep going! We're so close. We can't... We can't fail... now." She struggled to form the words with her trembling lips, and she could hear her words slurring.

Lloyd hesitated before nodding. "I'll stop him and come back for you. For all of you," he promised, turning and hobbling away as quickly as he could. And then he was gone.

Onyx gave a cry as the grating voice that had terrified her back on the dark island spoke in her head. Give up. You are my pawn now. She shook her head sharply. "I will never serve you. I'll die before that," she spat, though all that came out of her mouth was a choked snarl.  But the Overlord was in her head, and he knew exactly what she meant. Look around. You and your precious friends have already lost.

'No. No, we haven't. One of us is coming for you. As long as Lloyd is alive, then you haven't won.'  Onyx didn't bother trying to speak again. The Overlord heard regardless of what she did. The being of darkness gave a wordless snarl, infuriated. How does a mere mortal girl like you dare resist me? Thine contains the blood of my demonic creations. You cannot oppose me! Your rebellious soul is all for naught.

Onyx couldn't move her body anymore. She was lying where she had fallen, frozen eyes staring up at the black sky, where the dark clouds had obscured the stars. A shame, really. If this was it, she'd have liked to see the stars one last time. The same ones her father had taught her to navigate with, the same ones she had flown Fade through, and the same ones she had spent so many lovely days with everyone beneath.

'It doesn't matter what you say or what you do to my soul. We've already breached your defenses. Lloyd will stop you. Really, we've already won.'

Even if she couldn't see the stars, Onyx could still feel the night breeze, carrying a chill, ruffling her hair. She could still hear it whistling lightly around the tower. She could still see the way it made her eyelashes tremble slightly. If she could move, she'd have sighed lightly. If this was it, then it wasn't so bad.

And then the dark encroached her vision and she couldn't feel anything anymore.

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I think you all know what's happening next chapter. I am very excited for that. Also, yes! I'm still awake. Insomnia is torturous. But that why I write. Because spending so long doing it does eventually make you tired. Also, I am apparently incapable of giving Onyx a break.

Second Musical of the Day: The Newsies (I just think it's neat. I sang King of New York for my Nemo audition, and they liked it a lot! They liked my monologue more though. It was Snoopy fighting the Red Baron, and involved lots of running around the stage. Hence why I got the Vacationer. )