A fire's shadow

Heroes come in all colors and sizes

A gust of wind. That was the only way to notice when Kai ran past them. Kai was one of the best at stealth, he just rarely used it. He took out the guard outside without breaking a sweat or making a sound. Now there was only the hard part left. Just as Kai was about to enter the warehouse, he started shaking, his breathing became short and quicker, and his vision started to get blurry. "No, no no no. Not now." Kai thought as he tried to get back to his senses. He was about to fall back when something or someone caught him and gently placed him on the ground so he didn't hit his head on the concrete. He heard someone talk but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Everything was a blur to him. All he could see was the blood red eyes that had been haunting him, and all he could hear was the wicked laugh that belonged to the sadistic dark side who had tried to kill him. He wanted to scream but his mouth refused to open. The memories of Shadow was playing in his head over and over again. But then he remembered what he saw today. He had seen that same dark side, cry. Shadow had told him that he didn't want to hurt him anymore. Shadow's eyes were turning auburn and he was becoming a person instead of the monster Lloyd always saw. Kai pushed away the memories of how Shadow was before his defeat, and instead focused on how he was now. He wasn't a monster anymore. But Kai was going to show the person who captured his friends just how much of a monster he could be. Kai's vision came back and so did his hearing. He got up from the ground and shook his head to fully get his senses back. Whoever it was that had caught him when he fell was no longer there, but Kai shrugged it off and focused on the task at hand. He got to the vent inside and used the multi-tool to get the vent cover away. He then tied the bag to his left foot and crawled through the vent. When he was inside he once again used the multi-tool to get the vent cover away and made sure to not make any noise as he jumped down. He peeked out from behind a large crate and observed the guards positions and routes. He then hid behind the crate again and opened the bag. He grabbed all of the smoke bombs and then threw them all out in different places, covering the whole place in smoke. With the help of his ninja senses, he used the shurikens and throwing knives as well as his fists and got rid of the guards near him, which was almost all of them. The smoke then faded and the other ninjas stared in awe at Kai who was standing in the middle of a circle of unconscious guards, panting slightly. He stood up straight and held the last throwing knife between his thumb and pointy finger on his right hand. He gave the others a proud smirk, "Not bad for someone who's banned from going on missions, huh?" Spinning around full 360 and he threw the knife at his friends. But it didn't hit any of them, it only cut the rope that tied them together. The others all stood up and ran to Kai while the remaining guards stared at Kai who had just single handily taken out more than half of the guards that were in the warehouse and freed his friends, all without getting even a scratch. "Whoa, Kai that was awesome!" Jay exlamied. Kai chuckled, "Yeah, maybe it was. But we're not done yet." "You mean those guards?" Jay said as he pointed to remaining guards, "They're not a match for us." "Let's hope you didn't just jinx us, Jay, because there are more. It was too easy." The others knew to listen to Kai when he said things like that, because almost every time, it had proven to be right. And unfortunately, this was one of those times. The doors opened and a lot more guards came running in and surrounded the ninjas. "Aww man." Jay whined as they all got into a fighting stance. But none of the guards attacked. The silence was interrupted by someone clapping their hands. The ninjas all looked up and saw a man on the catwalk that hung from the ceiling in the warehouse. He was wearing a black suit with a red tie and black gloves. His hair was short and black and he wore a fedora on his head. "I must say I'm impressed. Unlike the other ninjas, you actually showed me just why you are the protectors of Ninjago." Kai gave the man a smirk, "I would have accepted the compliment, if it wasn't coming from a villain like you." The man returned the smirk, "Well I wasn't expecting you to either. But that was quite the plan of yours. Using smoke bombs to sneak up on my men and then using throwing objects to take them out, very clever." "I usually don't plan ahead, but when I do, I make sure to do it right." "I have an offer for you, Kai." "I'm going to stop you right there, nothing you say will get me interested in helping you so you can just quit while you're still at it." "Well, that's too bad. I guess then I'll have to destroy you. Men! Attack!" The henchmen went to attack and so did the ninjas. It didn't take long before the ninjas were separated. They all fought with everything they could. Kai was a little worn out after the first round but he kept going. Then without Kai noticing, a man with a knife walked up behind him. Kai noticed the man just as he was about to strike the kife down. But the knife never hit its target. Kai opened his eyes and saw Shadow holding the man's wrist with a firm grip. Shadow smirked and then lit his hand on fire, causing the man to scream in pain. Shadow let go of the man's wrist and he stumbled away from the edgy teen and tried to put out the fire on his hand. "Shadow! You came?!" Kai exclaimed. Shadow turned to Kai and gave him a smile, "Of course. I can't leave my twin bro in danger now can I?" Kai stared at him for a moment before smirking, "No. No, you can't." The man, who Shadow had stopped from killing Kai, let out a war cry and tried to stab Shadow with the knife but Kai was quick to punch the man's arm and then kicking him in the stomach causing him the fall to the floor, Kai then turned to Shadow, "And neither can I." The two fire masters chuckled and then continued to fight. Kai and Shadow stayed as close as possible. But a few bad guys still managed to hurt them. Kai got a deep gash on his right arm, a broken rib from someone throwing him into the wall, a broken jaw from a hard punch, and he was also stabbed in his right leg. Shadow was stabbed in the arm, got a big bruise from someone punching him with a pipe, a deep gash on his right leg, and a black eye. But even though they got hurt, they still held each other's back and pulled through. Both of them noticed that the majority of the bad guys came after them, so separating would be like greeting defeat, or even death, with open arms. The others survived with a few bruises and maybe a broken bone or two. It didn't take long before the bad guys were defeated. The others cheered while Kai walked over to Shadow. The two shared a smile. "You did good work." Kai said to Shadow as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, well, so did you. And a good plan, using the smoke bombs was clever. "Wait, you saw that?" "Yeah, who do you think stopped you from hitting your head on the ground outside. By the way, you should work on the panic attacks." Kai stared at Shadow and ended up smiling before embracing him into a tight hug. Shadow was shocked at first but soon melted into the embrace and hugged back. Tears formed in his eyes and he whispered softly, "Thank you, Kai. I...I didn't know how much I needed a hug...." Kai teared up as well, "Yeah.....me neither....." The two fire masters hugged each other tighter and felt no rush in letting go. But their nice moment was interrupted by a sudden shout, "SHADOW!?" Kai cursed under his breath as him and Shadow let go of the hug and turned to the others who were all staring with happy eyes. Apparently, the moment had touched all the other ninjas. Well, all except one. Lloyd was staring at Shadow with rage burning in his eyes. Kai didn't even bother wiping away his tears and stepped in front of Shadow protectively. "Kai... You don't have to... I can just leave-" "You can stay right here, Shadow. I won't stand this anymore. You have more than proven how much you've changed. Just look at your eyes, they're barely blood red anymore." And Kai was right. Shadow's eyes were almost fully auburn now. Shadow teared up even more, "Thank you..." Kai gave him a smile and then turned back to Lloyd. "Kai. Step. Away. Now." Lloyd growled through his teeth. "No." Kai responded blankly. "No?" "That's right. No. I won't step away from Shadow and let you hurt him. He just saved my life and I'm going to return the favor by giving him a home and a family. He already has a twin brother, and if none of you accept him then a twin brother is all he needs." The others all stared at Kai with wide eyes. Nya then broke into tears and ran to her big brother and hugged him tightly, "I'm so proud of you, Kai. And Shadow has a little sister too." Kai smiled. The other boys shared a glance and then smiled to Kai and walked over to him. "He has three brothers too." They all then turned to Lloyd who was still glaring at Shadow. A deep breath came from Shadow and he then walked out from behind Kai and took a few steps towards Lloyd, stopping in middle between Lloyd and the others. "Lloyd. I know what I did in the past. I know it was wrong, and I know it caused you all pain. But I've changed. Before Kai defeated me, I had never felt any other emotion or feelings than anger and fear. But now, I've experienced guilt, concern, happiness, only to name a few. I never knew anything else than anger and revenge. But now, I know what it's like to have someone that cares for you. I know that because of Kai. I understand why you hate me. But all I'm asking..." Shadow held out his hand towards Lloyd and gave him a sad but hopeful look, "Is for you to give me a second chance...Is that really that hard to do?...." Lloyd stopped glaring at Shadow and now stared at his outstretched hand. Lloyd thought about it for a moment and then started to walk towards Shadow. It wasn't until there was only half a meter in between them that he stopped. He was just about to say something when both Shadow and Kai saw movement in the corner of their eyes, but only one of them had time to react before a gunshot echoed through the warehouse.