Echoes | Ninjago

1

The night was cloaked in an eerie darkness, the air thick with tension. The world had gone to shit, everybody they loved was dying, the home around them slowly becoming smaller and smaller.

They'd resorted to the air in hopes of easy travel, escaping what felt like the unescapable. No matter how many warnings they'd been given, it still felt as if they were unprepared. Incredibly unprepared. Leaving people behind was the worst part.

Back in the realm of the Oni and the Dragon, the ninja had found it strange that there were no oni, especially considering it was their homeland, but confused as they were, it never crossed their mind again. Not until a few days ago.

Darkness consumed Ninjago, taking everybody with it, frozen concrete bodies were everywhere, shock plastered all over their faces. There was nothing more frightening.. soul-crushing. The only thing they could do was hope and pray that they'd come up with a plan. And that they did.

Lloyd and Garmadon had trekked below the surface, tackling the swirling, malevolent clouds, in hopes of finding the realm crystal. It was located at the very bottom of the Borg Tower vaults, along with a number of other ancient and dangerous artefacts. That was the first time they officially saw their enemy.

They knew very little about the oni, but they were indefinitely the ugliest, most odd looking species Lloyd had ever placed his eyes on. Refusing direct contact with them was hard enough, but when they'd finally found the realm crystal, they'd had to face a large army - almost completely undefeated. It wasn't until they realised the realm crystal was no help that they saw how powerless they were against them.

Now the ninja had nothing. Nothing but the Destiny's Bounty and the Monastery - which they assumed was still safe.

Leaving Lloyd and Garmadon wasn't something they wanted to do though. When picking up an emergency signal from Ninjago's very own NGTV News Channel building, rescuing those who couldn't help themselves, and were likely distressed, was at the top of their priorities, even if that meant leaving their friends below the clouds for longer than they wanted.

"How much farther to that distress call?" Nya yelled behind her, gripping onto the wheel as strong as she could.

"We should be approaching it now," Zane responded, staring at the screen with determination.

The team of five glanced out into the distance, keeping their eyes peeled for literally anything that didn't look like dark clouds. It was something out of an apocalyptic movie.

"I don't see it," Cole muttered, slight distress in his tone.

"There!" Kai stepped towards his sister, pointing over her shoulder and into the space directly in front of them.

Over the top of the clouds appeared the top of a building, one with large windows and a rather huge satellite on top. The NGTV News tower.

"It's covered in those.. things ," Kai spoke unnervingly.

"I guess they didn't evacuate in time," Cole added.

Nya shook her head, "I'll bring us in over the rooftop. You guys get them out of there before the clouds swallow the entire building."

Jay nodded, sprinting over to the top deck of the ship, but not before looking back with a look of light worry.

"C'mon Cole!"

As Nya brought the ship closer, Cole and Jay readied the ladders, the longest they had, and brought them down as soon as they were overhead the building. In perfect timing, the door to the stairs swung open, out peering a group of news reporters and crew members, including both Gayle Gossip and her cameraman Vinny Folson. When it was safe to do so, the two ninja headed down the ladder carefully, nerves beginning to build up in their chests.