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Katelyn's POV

I punch the punching bag once more. My arms are burning and my knuckles are sore but I don't care. He infuriates me. My tail whips back and forth at my feet as each blow reaches the sand-filled bag and pushes it back slightly in a swaying motion. Each blow becomes stronger and stronger the more I think about it.

He's so stupid.

Punch.

Dose he not care about the rest of his family?

Punch.

Does he not remember burying his own mentor due to that monster?!

Punch. Punch.

That monster, who has my FATHER?!

Punch!  Punch! Punch! Punch!

My claws retract and I claw the bag open. Sand spills out from the rips and lands on the grass in a mounded heap.  Realizing what I had done in the heat of the moment, I put my claws away and sigh. I let out a frustrated yell as I stare intensely at the ripped sand bag. It starts to vibrate on its hook. The vibrating turns into violent shaking and it explodes, causing the remaining sand in the bag to fly everywhere. I use my wing as a shield and my body from the impacting sand.

After the sand and torn fabric settles on the ground, I wipe the sweat from my face with my shirt as I unwrap my hands from the thick bandages I had put on and toss them to the side. I look over my work and let out a heavy sigh for what seems like the millionth time today. I rub my throbbing head. I had just used my telekinesis on the poor bag, which can hurt my head sometimes.

I turn away from the sight and scale the tree the bag had been on just a few minutes ago.  I sit down on a sturdy branch half way up. Now concealed by the thick leaves and branches, I bring my knees up to my chest and hug them tightly, my tail laying at my feet and dangling over the side of the branch. I hold my wings close to my shoulders and face, hiding my head and torso from side view. A heavy sadness washes over me. I miss him. As much as I'm angry with him right now, I miss him so much. I miss Haru and Ash and Splenda... I've never felt more alone.

I take out my yang pendant and trace my fingers over it. Lloyd and I have never fought that badly before. And now I'm here, selfishly sitting in this tree while my own brother and friends are off to war...

He's right. He was right about going after the Overlord. He took our father, he took our mentor, and he's about to take our home!  Tears form in my eyes. I'm so stupid! My family is out there risking their lives for billions of people they've never met while I sit here in a tree crying about it! I dig my claws into my legs, ignoring the pain I receive in return. I deserve it. I deserve the pain inflicted on me. I sit there for a while, hating myself, wishing I had made a better decision, praying to anyone who may be out there to help the ninja and the few Silent Soarers, to let them win.  Heavy tears just begin to fall down my face when I'm interrupted.

"Katelyn?" A soft voice calls from below. I reveal my tear-stained face from within my knees in surprise and look down through the thick foliage just enough to see Mr. Finch staring at the tree in pity. He's not looking directly at me, he doesn't know where I am.  "Can you come down?"

I wipe my tears away with my sleeve and slow my breathing.  I try to steady my voice, my swollen throat making it hurt to swallow.  "I don't my want to talk." I tell him.  But he doesn't back down.  In fact, he comes closer to the tree, only stopping once he's at the foot of the log.

"Please? I just want to talk." He says, still trying to find where I'm located. "I can see your tail, Katie."

Perfect.

I groan and relax my wings, letting them hang down and uncover my body. I look down at my teacher, tears still residing in my eyes, to see him staring back up at me. He lets out a pitied sigh and motions with his hand for me to come down. Defeated, I slide off the branch and land roughly on the ground. I straighten up and see Mr. Finch sit down and pat the sand-covered grass beside him. I, too, sit down and curl my tail around me, waiting for what he has to say.

"It's not too late, you know." He says.

I scoff. "Yes, it is. I made my choice."

"But it's a choice you regret, no?" He asks me with one eyebrow raised. I cross my arms and look at the ground. He sighs. "You know, Splenda told me something- the night before she died."

I look up at him.

"Remember her elemental power? How she could foresee destiny?" I nod. "Well, occasionally, like she could see other's destiny, she could also see her destiny. A couple days before your first encounter with the Overlord, she had a dream. The dream went exactly like the her real death." I look at him, surprised. "Katelyn, Splenda knew she was going to die. She accepted what destiny had in store for her, and told me-"

"So, destiny was the one who took her?!" I ask him angrily, glaring at him. "And what about Lloyd? The destined green ninja? Is he destined to die too?! And my father?!"

Mr. Finch puts up his hands. "No! No, your missing the point! Splenda wanted me to tell you that she loved you, and after she died, she wanted you and the rest of the Silent Soarers to move on and honor her death, her memory! She wanted you to honor her by fighting back, and giving everything you've got into defeating the Overlord! Splenda Embers lived a long life. She's now living her life happily in the departed realm." He says in an effort to calm me. I calm down, a lingering feeling of anger still residing within me. Tears form in my eyes once again.

"Mr. Finch," I say. "I'm scared."

He looks at me, a warm look in his eyes. "I know. But Lloyd needs your support right now. I'm sure he's just as scared as you."

Tears slip from my eyes. "Your right," I say. "But it's too late..."

He looks at me with determination. "No, it's not." I look at him. "You can still get to him."

"How?" I ask him.

He adjusts the glasses on his face and smiles. "Just leave it to me."

Lloyd's POV

"Okay, see those assassins?" I ask the others, pointing to the multiple assassins patrolling the streets. They nod. "We need to beak apart and take them out one by one. But stealthily. Pick your targets and destroy them from within the shadows. Once we've cleared this section, meet over at that dark and closed off section." I point to a secluded side path in between two buildings at the opposite side of the street. "Master Wu and Misako are looking for Pixal, so if we see them it's an automatically an assassin. Everyone remember the code word in case an assassin tries to impersonate one of us?"

"Yes, Lloyd, of course we know it. We've been making our way through the city for the past two hours. We're almost at Borg Tower!" Haru says in annoyance. Nya punches him in the shoulder. "Ow- hey!" He whisper-shouts.

"I'm just making sure! Especially considering Cole forgot the code and gave us a heart attack last time." I say in defense.

"I'm sorry! I remember it now!" Cole says, trying to defend his honor.

"You better, because it looks like the assassins are changing shifts." Zane points out. The assassins start walking in a rotation, with new guards walking into the area.

"Okay, let's go!" I whisper, moving from my position. I remember to stay hidden in the thick shadows, stalking my way up to two assassins who had just replaced two other assassins before them. They are standing in front of a vehicle that had been smashed and mangled. I position myself behind the vehicle and suddenly grab the assassins by their necks, pulling them behind the car. When they've landed next to me, I waste no time to stab the first one with my sword which causes it to disappear into mist. The second one puts up a bit of a fight, but eventually he encounters the same fate as the first one.

I move from behind the vehicle and over to the secluded area where we're suppose to meet up after I noticed all the other assassins had been take care of by the others. I slip into the darkness of the path to find everyone is there but Jay, who slides in beside me a second after I had arrived.

Kai looks at us. "Playful..." Kai says to us.

"-dragonkin attack evil dictators." We finish the sentence at the same time. The group sighs in relief. We've all been cleared of intruders.

I sigh. "Okay, who came up with that?" I ask everyone.

Jay laughs. "Me and Kai." I look at him with an eyebrow raised. "What? Evil dictator is a perfect code name for the Overlord!"

"It's not that- you know what never mind." I say, too busy with other thoughts to pay any mind to Jay's antics.

"Oh, by the way Lloyd?" Zane asks me. I turn my attention to him. "This 'dark and closed off section' we're sitting in, is called an alleyway."

"Whatever Zane, let's just get going." I say, annoyed at his teasing. Some people giggle but I ignore it, peaking around the corner of the building to get a look at the next street.  I see several figures walking around slowly like zombies.  They're most likely shadow assassins, but they look... weird.  Not like something a shadow assassin would try to trick you with.  I grab my retractable sword and am about to dart over to fight them, but Zane grabs my shoulder.

"Wait!  Look!" He whispers.  I look at them.  Now that I'm paying more attention, I get more suspicious.

"No way..." Nya says.

"There's no way..." Realization dawns over me.  "Are those..."  I don't even have to finish my sentence.  I know the answer.  The Overlord somehow managed to turn all those who stayed in the city... evil.  We all look at each other, speechless. 

"He's turned everyone evil..." Kai says in disbelief.  "How is that possible?"

Everyone starts to look distressed, so I turn to Haru.  "Haru, can you turn into a smaller animal and do a quick boarder check?  See how many people have been turned?"  He hesitates, then nods.  He turns into a small crimson cat and slips around the corner. He disappears behind the foggy hue, the shadows engulfing him as he moves on silent paws along the walls of several buildings.

Haru's POV

I move silently around the corners of the large buildings.  There are so many more people who have been turned than I initially thought.  After a while of walking, I eye a couple empty crates in an alleyway not too far from where I stand.  I sprint over to them and jump onto one, making my way onto the tall stone wall at the back of the alleyway, and then onto the roof of a low building.  I gracefully jump from roof to roof until I'm high enough to see the whole "town square", Zane called it.  Thousands of people are scattered throughout the city, walking around like husks with deep purple eyes and gray skin.  This is so messed up!  Who would do this to so many innocent people? I think to myself as I investigate further.

Then, I see movement from the corner of my eye. A couple streets down, a rather large man wearing a brown gi stumbles and trips and screams as he races towards the entrance to a smaller building, opening the door and shutting it quickly behind him with a loud slam. The husks of people turn their heads and look at the sight, but they pay no mind to it, and return to their mindless wandering. I look on in confusion. What did I just witness? I think as I blink my eyes a couple times, processing what I just saw. My eyes then widen in surprise. Wait, that man didn't have gray skin or purple eyes! He must not have been turned yet!

With this newfound information, I scurry down the rooftops and sprint back to the others. If that man is still okay, that must mean there could be others too! They could give us some valuable information on how powerful the Overlord's gotten since we've last faced him!

Kai's POV

"Wait, a large man... in a brown gi?" I ask Haru, who is still in cat form.

He nods. "Yes! And he was running around and screaming... a lot...". We ninja all groan and shake our heads.

"What?" Ash asks us, confused. "Isn't this a good thing?"

"Of course it's a good thing," Cole says. "But... let's just say we know the guy."

"Really?" Ash asks.

"Yeah, we go back a bit. Ran into some pirate trouble one time, he got caught up in it, and yeah." Jay says plainly. The Silent Soarers look at each other in confusion, but don't question any further.

"Anyway, what are we planning to do about it?" Nya asks, slightly turning to Zane.

Zane rubs his neck. "I mean, I guess we should go see if he's with anyone else? He could know something important."

"Yeah... you've got a point." I say.

"Wait," Lloyd says. "Haru, what you saw could easily be an assassin trying to lure you in. After all, you said the citizens had no reaction whatsoever. What if they know he's a fake?"

We all think.

"Even if that were the case, I'm pretty sure we'd know it was him, even if he was wearing one of the most foolproof costumes. Trust me, we'll know." Jay says.

Lloyd looks uncertain, but eventually sighs and admits we should check it out, with most of us agreeing. We check if the cost is clear, and when it is, we dart from behind the walls of the alleyway, following human Haru on the rooftops. Eventually, we arrive at our destination and drop to our bellies, looking over the edge of the building we reside on at the place where it all began, Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo-Dojo. We never intended to meet Dareth, but I can't say it was a bad decision. The guy's great and he has a good heart, he's just not the brightest.

After checking if the coast is clear, we jump down from the roof and silently prepare to either open the door or break it in, whichever comes first. We line up against the shadows of the building in a row, checking for any sign of unwanted guests. When the coat is clear, Zane knocks a little loudly. "Dareth! It's us! Let us in!" He whisper-shouts at the door. Shuffling is heard behind the door for a couple minutes, then, it stops, and the door slightly cracks open just enough for us to see a single brown eye looking at us in fear.

"Zane?  Is that you?"  The eye says after a moment of inspecting us. He opens the door a little more and we can now see his whole face.  "Oh thank God!  Where have you guys been?" He says, frantically and surprised. Before anyone says anything else, we shove him back inside and we all flow into the room, shutting and barricading the door behind us afterwards. We now stand in his dojo, the matted floors looking slightly dirty from shoe prints and dirt and dust. All the lights are off, causing our eyes to slowly adjust to the dimness of the room. Once we all settled down, Dareth looks at us, a mixing pot of emotions showing on his face. Shock, confusion, relief, happiness, fear, etc. His curly brown hair looks messy and unbrushed, his gi stained, and he just looks very out of breath.

"Sorry to do that to you Dareth." Nya says.

"Why didn't you guys come sooner?" He asks us.

"We came as fast as we could! We were outside Ninjago, remember? We had something to take care of on another island?" Cole says, reminding him of our absence.

"And that thing we had to take care of came here and took over the city." Jay adds.

Dareth nods. "Oh boy, things have been a real mess since that guy showed up." He says. "He brought two armies and turned most of the people in the city evil! We're the only ones left!"

" 'We' being you and us or...?" I ask him. He turns around and opens another door, most likely the one leading to where he actually lives.

"Guys! The ninja are back!" He exclaims. Then, several people come out the door, many people whom we actually know. Cole's father and his singing group, Jay's parents, a couple random citizens, Dareth's students, and even the local Ninjago news lady and her cameraman. They all welcome us back, Cole and Jay's parents hugging them and checking how they're doing. I look back at the Silent Soarers, who just look confused.

Then, Dareth turns to them as well. He gasps. "Look out! Intruders! I'll take care of them!" He says. We stop him.

"Hold on Dareth! They're actually our newest members. This is Lloyd, Ashly, and Haru." Dareth looks from us, to them, and let's down his guard.

"Wow, I didn't know you guys were hiring." He says.

"New members, huh?" Gale, the news lady says. "This will make one heck of a interview!" she says, grabbing out a pen and notepad. She goes up to Ash. "Tell me, what's your background? Where you from? Do you have abnormal superpowers too? How did you meet the ninja? Do you-" Jay's mom, Edna, pulls Gale away from Ash.

"Honestly Gale, leave her alone. Can't you see these children are already going through a lot?" She says as Gale glares at the older lady, huffing in defeat.

"Haru and I are actually young adults-" Ash says but is interrupted.

"Look, you all seem like very
nice people," Lloyd says. "But we can't stay for long. Is there any valuable information you may know about the Overlord? Something we can use against him, or his location?"

"Is that his name?" Lou, Cole's dad, asks.

"Yes. He's the evil guy who took over your city." Jay confirms.

The group thinks.

"Well, he's at Borg tower right now. It's the most heavily guarded place in the whole city!" Ed, Jay's dad, says.

"And he doesn't look human.  He's like some kind of dragon, monster hybrid." Gale claims.

"And his powers, oh, they're so destructive!" Edna says.  "He took down a whole building with one blast!"

We ninja all look at each other.  I'm not sure about anyone else here, but I feel screwed.  We huddle up and talk in hushed voices.

"We already know all this stuff!  Well, the power part is new... but other than that there's nothing important here!" Cole says.

"We should've expected they wouldn't have any information.  After all, they're just trying to survive, not fight the Overlord." Nya says.

"Nya's right.  We're just gonna have to go back to plan A.  We should get out of here as soon as possible though.  We're wasting time." Lloyd says.

"Yes, we should leave.  The sooner we meet up with Master Wu, Misako, and Pixal the better."

"Then it's settled." I say. "Let's go kick some Overlord ass."

———————

Omg while I was writing this I got so many ideas for two stories I wanna write and now I'm determined.  Also one of those ideas happened to be completely out of nowhere and I'm really excited because it actually sounds good. 😁

Edit 11/16/20: okay I found so many mistakes in this chapter, I am so sorry to everyone, I am going to fix this and try not to rush a chapter after this.