The Second Master of Wind

Too Late...

3rd Person POV with the Ninja

"Uh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but uh-" Jay started to say before Nya interrupted with,

"She's not here."

They had arrived in the woods where Aeria's map pointed to, but there was no one to be seen for miles around.

"Look around for anything that could have pointed to her being here and where she might have gone." Xia told everyone before they all split up to cover more ground.

Lloyd was walking around with the origami iris in his hand, thinking about how Aeria was going to react to seeing them again.

Would she be happy to see them, would she be on Pythor's side for betraying her trust, or-

Lloyd's thought was interrupted after he tripped on something and landed on his face in the dirt. After gathering his bearings, and the iris after it had fallen from his hand in the fall, he saw that he tripped on a segment of red and black metal that was eerily familiar.

"Uh, guys!" Lloyd picked up the segment and brought it over to the others.

"What is that?" Cole questioned.

"That's just been your line of the day, has no one else noticed that?" Nya noted before Cole gave her a half-lidded gaze.

"Umm, it looks like a piece of scrap metal if you ask me." Kai interjected.

"I can concur with that obvious statement." Jay stated in a matter-of-factly voice, snickering silently until Nya gave him a look and he abruptly stopped after complaining,

"Oh and you get to make a joke?"

"It's not a piece of scrap metal, it's a piece of the same device that Pythor used on me a while back during the whole Digital Overlord situation to prevent me from using my powers, but this one's different." Lloyd explained to them as he showed them a spike that jutted out from the side.

"But if that's here, where Aeria had last been..." Nya started.

"Then, Pythor got to her before we could and he restrained her with that snake thing that suppressed my powers before."

"But that does not give us any clue as to where they could be." Xia told them discouragingly.

"Not necessarily." Misako spoke through their comms and the team listened.

"There have been reports of an unnatural wind storm circling over the Lost City of Ouroboros that just vanished a minute ago." Wu continued.

"If I had to take a guess, that's where Pythor is keeping Aeria and she's either putting up a fight or signaling to us her location." Misako finished.

"Then let's hurry before-" Kai was cut off when Xia seized her head and let out a scream, falling to her knees as Zane tried to pick her up, but she writhed around in his hold like she was in pain.

"What is it, sister?" Zane asked urgently after PIXAL scanned her, telling him that she was physically unharmed.

"The balance between good and evil is shifting within Aeria, I can feel it." Xia stopped moving around, but she suddenly seemed tired and weak as she held the memory box in her hands, "She feels very weak now, like her life force is being drained from her."

"She must be dowsing her location and her current condition." Zane told them as he took the box from his sister's hands and let her fall asleep in his arms from over exhausting her powers.

"We have to hurry then," Lloyd declared as he took the box from Zane, "Pythor's trying to take her powers from her and because she has two of them, it could kill her."

"Then, let's go!" Nya pushed a button on a remote and the Destiny's Bounty appeared overhead as the anchor dropped to let them climb onto the deck of the ship.

Hold on Aeria, we're coming... Lloyd thought to himself as they took off for Ouroboros.

In Ouroboros a few minutes before

"Let me out!" Aeria pounded her fist on the glass of the same chamber that was used to drain Lloyd of his Golden Power.

The glass started to crack under the force of her darkness/anger-boosted strength until Pythor hit a button that sent an electric shock to the inside of the chamber from the Electrocobrai tank on its side.

"I wouldn't try that again if I were you." Pythor warned her as Aeria fell to her knees and hands with some sparks flickering on her, even as she stood back up and went back to banging weakly on the glass.

"I'm never going to help you, so just..." Aeria's threat faltered as Pythor ignored her and turned the chamber on.

Instantly, Aeria felt her energy being sapped away from her as a swirl of dark purple and black surrounded her like a tornado and the energy went toward the being inside the coffin outside of the chamber. All while she felt her powers leave her and she looked to her hands as she formed a sphere in her hands that dissipated seconds after being formed.

"You said you wouldn't help me, " Pythor went up to the glass where Aeria had her fists while on her knees from the energy drain, "you never said anything about Darkstorm not helping me."

"Uh, I'm...pretty sure I...did..." Her voice faltered with every word until she completely sank to the floor on her side and lost consciousness for the second time that day.

"Hmm, she went down easier than I thought." Pythor mused to himself as the screen over the coffin beeped to indicate that the energy transfer had been completed. Pressing another button on the console, the doors to the coffin opened and the form inside stepped out from the coffin to fall to one knee.

Darkstorm looked exactly like Aeria, but with an Overlord makeover. Her long pitch-black hair had traces of light and dark purple in it, dark ashy gray skin, and her outfit consisted of a light purple cape over silver armored clothes. Both of her eyes opened to reveal orange and red-stained orbs and her pointed teeth showed through a lipless grin as Darkstorm turned to look at Pythor,

"It's about time..."

997 Words