Lego Ninjago: Diana's Story (Slow Editing)

Chapter Nine: The Greatest Fear of All

The Elemental Masters spent the rest of the day learning to control their dragons. Lloyd assisted most of them, being the only one to previously have used a dragon, but Diana found it easy to master. It took some energy out of her, but not as much as she'd expected. By the next day, they headed out to Ninjago City.
Diana couldn't calm her pounding heart. It was the first time she had seen the Ninjago City since the Great Devourer Incident. Diana started feeling a conflict of emotions when she saw the city. But Diana pushed past her confusing her feelings while filling herself with the emotions of a sworn protector; brave, strong, determined and yet she's compassionate and empathetic.
The flight was not long, since traveling by dragon was much faster than boat. Lloyd and Sensei Garmadon led the charge with the rest of the Ninja right behind them, the other Elemental Masters flying behind them.
"Chen and his Anacondrai have a day's start on us," Lloyd warned into the new comms and new earpieces that Zane and Karlof had made for each Elemental Master. "Be prepared for anything and everything."
Kai flew up to Lloyd's side, Skylor seated behind him. "How did we lose so much time?"
"We're not all quick learners," Jay replied nervously. "Mastering your fear to create a dragon takes time."
"Well," Nya reminded them. "We're running out of that." She pointed from behind Jay at the upcoming city. "There's Ninjago City, hurry!"
Diana's breath was caught in her throat as she stared at the approaching buildings. The clutter of lights and colors have both confused her and fascinated her, and she admired the vast expanse of the city. The Ninjago City is a large urban area located near the Sea of Sand. There are many places that are well-known and used more than once. It's a complex network of subway tunnels can be found beneath the city. After its destruction at the hands of the Overlord, it was rebuilt by the genius Cyrus Borg and became New Ninjago City. It became a high-tech metropolis, a center of great technological advancements where everything was digitally connected. After the defeat of the Golden Master, the idea behind New Ninjago City was discarded in favor of a more balanced environment.
On his red and gray dragon, Griffin grinned at that. "Hurry's my middle name." He urged his dragon to fly faster. "Hyah!"
With a burst of his Elemental Power, Griffin's dragon shot towards the city. The others arrived shortly after, flying close to the tops of the buildings and swerving around the skyscrapers. Diana's wide eyes took in everything: the sounds, smells, sights, feeling the proximity of the metal buildings. She caught Cole making a face at her and flew ahead of him. She could see that New Ninjago City has many skyscrapers, featuring billboards for advertising businesses. Within the city are all sorts of shops, lively subway systems, small arcades, schools, large banks, parks, cafes, and a vast sewer system. On the streets are buses that drive around regularly, and many parked cars along the sidewalks.
"Remember," Lloyd said to them. "Whatever happens down there, we're stronger united. We fight as one."
Diana glanced back at Cole with a question in her eyes, but he beat her to it and gave her a thumbs-up. Her gaze softened in relief and she turned her attention back to steering her dragon.
"Let's do this!" Jay agreed, diving lower to the ground.
Diana followed, feeling the adrenaline spike as she began navigating the streets instead of flying in a straight line overhead. She looked down to see the citizens of the city gape at the dragons.
So many different people, all in the same place. Diana felt a sudden wave of protectiveness and finally understood why the Ninja wanted to defend the city so badly. It was truly a place of wonders.
The Elemental Masters split up to land on different buildings, keeping an eye out for any Anacondrai, while the Ninja grouped around a random intersection. But as soon as the citizens saw Skylor, half snake, they screamed and ran for cover.
"I wish I still had the power to change," Skylor groaned, covering her face.
"You have changed," Kai said to her gently. "You're with us now."
A car underneath Kai's dragon honked at him, so he moved it out of the way. As the car drove past, he dismissed his dragon and dropped to the ground with Skylor. Diana watched as the Ninja dismissed their Elemental Dragons, but she stayed on the building with both Griffin and Neuro.
"If Skylor is the first one they've seen, where's Chen? And why hasn't he attacked yet?" Sensei Garmadon asked.
"We need to get you off the streets before we alarm everyone," Lloyd told Skylor. He looked up to the waiting Elemental Masters. "Everyone else, stick together and watch over the people."
The Elemental Masters flew off with their respective Elemental Dragons. Diana locked her eyes with Cole, his expression has great worry and concern towards her. Diana smiled gently and winked at him, which caused him to smile at her and he nodded to her with understanding. Without another word, Diana soon convinced her Elemental Dragon (aka Estrella) to fly off with the other Elemental Masters.
Diana cleared her head and started putting some pieces together in her mind. These Anacondrai wannabes are going on about becoming actual Anacondrai. Wait. The Anacondrai! That's it!
A sharp intake was soon heard from Diana, which had caught Estrella's attention. She glanced up at her, concerned about her. 
"I'm okay," Diana reassured Estrella. "But I think I know somebody who might be able to help us."
Diana soon gave Estrella quick directions to an abandoned junkyard. She jumped off Estrella, causing her to disappear. Diana looked around warily to make sure the Anacondrai wannabes didn't see her.
Diana stared at a drainage pipe sticking out of the wall. She glanced around uncertainly before she returned staring at the drainage pipe. She gritted her teeth and roared an echoing dragon's roar into the drainage pipe. She looked towards the faint light coming from the other side of the tunnel. Diana could feel a strange silence filled the narrow tunnel, only broken up by the steady dripping of water from an unseen leak and the slosh of the water of a mysterious person.
Slithering out of the light was none other than a
Serpentine.
The Serpentine is clearly a female Anacondrai. She has a very long and curving neck — at full height, she is twice as tall than Diana. She has bright yellow eyes and her skin is pearly purple with golden markings and spines along her chest, forehead, and light blue gems on her head and chest. She's wearing white gloves and a long white robe with a black belt and hood that could cover her head.
The two of them started staring at each other like a pair of predators staking out their territory. A tense silence followed between the duo. But the tense silence had came to a sudden stop and the duo both bursted out laughing at their playful standoff.
"Hey, Ninia." Diana smirked at her playfully.
"Hello, Diana," said Ninia with a smile. "What brings you here?"
"Another life and death incident." Diana shrugged wearily.
"Oh boy, when isn't it?" Ninia shook her head, both amused and sympathetic.
Diana soon explained the misadventure on Chen's island and his plans of turning himself and his loyal Cultists into an Anacondrai wannabe army. Once Diana finished explaining her adventure to Ninia, her Serpentine friend had gotten into an angry hissy fit and ended up listening to her rant till she calmed down.
"So..." Ninia gazed at Sasha with a determined look. "What are we going to do next?"
"Wait, we?" Diana was surprised, but felt relieved that a familiar friend is coming with her. "You want to come along for the ride?"
Ninia nodded. "But of course. What Chen and his henchmen are doing is truly disrespectful to the real Anacondrai. And I refuse to stand by and watch."
Diana smiled at her childhood friend. Sure, Ninia could be hot-tempered sometimes, but she's a caring and brave friend to have. "Sure thing sister." Just like before, a bright purple light surrounded both Diana and Ninia. They were both soon on the back of a light purple dragon, wispy tendrils of power flowing underneath its scales. 
The two unique friends both nodded to each other before Estrella launched into the sky and headed towards the Sea of Sands to drop off Ninia in a hideout and rejoin with the other Elemental Masters.

"We're in position," Shade spoke through the comms to the Ninja, Skylor, the two Masters, Ninia, and Misako. "If they show up, we'll be sure to put up a fight."
Nya nodded. "They're coming to your location soon."
Frowning, Shade looked towards the horizon, immediately spotting the incoming trucks. "I see them." He exchanged a proud smile with Diana and the other Elemental Masters. "Let's show them what we're made of." The gathered team started flying on their Elemental Dragons together, like a huge talon and were ready to fight against the ones who had wronged them. But just as they were getting for the first wave of attack, the trucks went in separate directions. "The trucks. They're going every which way."
"What do you mean?" Jay asked. "Aren't they going to Ninjago City?"
"I don't know where they're going, but they ain't going together," replied Shade, clearly concerned.
Diana frowned. "There's a bunch of villages at the outskirts of the city. Maybe they're trying to attack the villages all at once."
"Diana's right," Misako said. "There are over twelve densely populated villages within a ten-click radius."
"They aren't planning to launch one attack, they're planning multiple," spoke up Kai.
"What do we do?" Shade asked the Ninja. "You told us to stay together."
"Chen knows you can't take you all on at once," said Sensei Garmadon. "He's trying to split you up."
"But even if just one of those trucks makes it to a village, the people won't be able to defend themselves," Misako added.
Shade soon heard the orders to split up to stop the trucks. But there's something wrong about this that hasn't suited with Diana. She exchanged a worried glance with the others, but they have each other's backs despite what happened.
"You heard our orders," Shade told them. "Split up and intercept those trucks."
Without another word, they all took off in separate locations. Diana zoomed towards some distant location, but she managed a smile at the adrenaline. It was much faster than she'd be able to do herself, and the fastest she'd ever moved in her life.
Within minutes, they'd arrived at the town. Diana spotted a noodle truck driving towards the town, about to cross the only bridge in between it and the town. A little girl stood in the middle of the road, watching with interest at the truck.
"Get back!" Diana cried, sending a blast of her powers at the bridge. It crumbled and fell, stopping the truck dead in its tracks, and avoiding the girl. The girl looked up in awe at the sight of Diana, holding a stuffed dragon.
"Sorry," Diana called. "Gotta go." 
Diana nudged her Elemental Dragon after the escaping noddle truck. As they neared the vehicle, Diana heard Master Wu in her earpiece. "Stop the trucks!" Estrella sent a blast of energy at the truck, frying the engine, and forcing the back doors open. Diana went cold when they saw the truck was empty.
"Everyone come back now," Master Wu demanded.
"That slithering idiot tricked us into separating us!" Ninia hissed angrily.
"Ninia!" Diana's firm voice knocked some sense into Ninia. "Calm down." Knowing that the others might lose control over their Elemental Dragons from this recent discovery, Diana pressed her earpiece to speak to the others. "Listen up everyone! I know you might be scared, but Chen can't win. He pulled you away from the city. It's been a while since I was here, but I can already tell how much you want to save the city and the citizens. So fight! Instead of being scared at Chen for drawing us away like this, be angry! Only a coward would avoid fighting you. You're the Elemental Masters of Ninjago! Together, you can take on anything and anyone!" Estrella felt her rider's fierce emotions, so she let out a powerful roar to show the strength to their alliance.
"The Second Serpentine War may have just begun," Sensei Garmadon added through the earpiece. "And our worst fears come true. But Diana is right. We've been pushed back, but that doesn't mean we can't rise up."
"Ninja never quit!" Cole cried out, his words echoed by the other Ninja.
Diana glanced over at Estrella, her blue eyes filled with determination. She held onto her Elemental Dragon tightly as the Elemental Dragon started to spin into a barrel roll. The Purple Ninja did her best not to lose her lunch as the spinning intensified. Even through her closed eyes, Diana could make out the bright flash of light that lit up the sky, and felt her stomach drop as the speeds of her Elemental Dragon was flying at suddenly skyrocketed. Diana held onto the Elemental Dragon tighter.
The portal was painted in different shades of blue, green, and black. It was like she was flying through an endless night as far as the eye could see, and Sasha narrowed her eyes as she felt the coolness of clouds blow across her skin. It was terrifying and beautiful all at the same time. But Diana convinced Estrella to stop, she summoned a glowing white ball of light that'll serve as a messenger for her and sent it into the Cursed Realm.