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Make sure to check out FoulEncoder471 Ninjago: New Legacies, as future chapters will involve that book as well. Note: he has lost access to his account for an unknown reason, so if you read his story you may have to wait for an update. Bright side is he'll probably have a few chapters ready to upload when he does get access.
Alt-title: Rise of the Corrupted Devourer
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
——————————————
(3rd POV)
Akira, still in her draconic state, hummed with annoyance. She had moved to the top of her ship, trying and failing to sense the presence that had essentially threatened Lloyd with killing intent. She stood on her hind legs without losing her balance, growling with anger and clenching her clawed fists as two weapon-like appendages formed on her forearms: one appearing like a blade of some sort, and the other like a spiked gauntlet.
When they appeared, it was as if they were formed by some kind of energy, though they looked solid, as if they were always there as a part of her body. After that, her body became more armored, and a large, cannon-like appendage began to form on her back. But before it could fully take shape, it all disappeared with silver sparkles of energy, returning her to her normal state as she exhaled.
'Calm down, Akira. Any more and they would all feel your presence; you don't need that right now.' She thought. She then decided to lay down, not bothering to leave her spot or change back to her normal form. She now called this "Dragonian form," since they were technically semi-humanoid dragons.
Akira closed her eyes to help her relax from her earlier struggles. The wind washed over her as her ship followed side-by-side with the Destiny's Bounty, speeding toward Ouroboros. Even though she was angry and annoyed by not being able to find the strange presence, she actually enjoyed the challenge, especially when everything was usually so easy with her immense power and strength. She was excited to fight this secretive presence and devour their soul.
In the bridge, all four ninja were fidgeting with anticipation, unable to relax due to their nervousness. Nya was steering the flying ship, racing to get to Ouroboros before Pythor. "Come on, sis, use the boosters. You and Jay added them for reasons like this!" Kai exclaimed nervously. "We need to stop Pythor!"
Nya audibly scoffed. "Well, sorry! But someone forgot to refuel, so I have no choice but to save it for an emergency, like, oh, I don't know, escaping a dangerous situation!" She shot back, tired of her brother's complaints. She began spinning the wheel to the right, steering the ship around a rock pillar and above a road that went in the direction they were heading. On the screen, a visual of the Fangpyre van popped up.
Zane was the first to notice, pointing at the screen. "We have a visual!"
Cole looked closer, just barely noticing something moving atop the Serpentine vehicle. "What's that? On top."
"It doesn't matter what it is, let's go catch them!" Kai said as he rushed outside, with the other three ninja following close behind.
Reaching the main deck, Jay used a spyglass attached to the railing to try to spot if there were any weapons or defenses the vehicle could have. "I'm not seeing any weapons," Jay said, though he didn't know for sure; there could very likely be hidden weapons. "Oh, but there is a robot snake on the roof of the van." He added.
"So that's what that was," Cole said, happy to have an answer for his earlier question.
Zane pulled out his shurikens. "Well, what do you say we blow their popsicle stands!" He quipped, jumping overboard and summoning his modified snowmobile before hitting the ground.
Jay glanced at the others. "He still has some work to do, but he's getting better." The others nodded in agreement before they all went overboard, with Jay summoning his jet earlier than the others.
Inside the draconic vessel—a much better name than Shift-wing—the group of five Serpentine women saw the Cobra drone—"Bob," as they decided to call it—slowly creeping toward the front window of the van. The ninja were also closing in on the vehicle.
"Come on, little guy," Thalia muttered with excitement, hoping for Bob to break through the window.
Bob did exactly that, busting through the window and fighting for control of the wheel with Skalidor, causing the van to swerve and nearly hit another car.
Thalia pumped her fist. "Fuck yeah! Steer that bitch off the road!" She exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table in excitement.
Aella chuckled at her sister's antics before going back to a scroll Akira had given her, one that had very interesting information about the First Realm. "The birthplace of the dragons." She gently brushed her hand over the paper, admiring the artwork of dragons that covered the bottom of the scroll. "I wonder if she drew this?" She murmured before she closed the scroll and grabbed another.
Opening it, she was greeted with artwork of three golden spheres and the writing speaking of a coalescence. "What the hell are dragon cores?"
(Ouroboros)
The City of Ouroboros was completely abandoned after the Serpentine had moved to their underground fortress. The only sign that they were there was that the city itself was cleaner than it was when it was first raised from the sand. Suddenly, a large sandstorm began to form, and sand began to cover the buildings that weren't fully raised from the ground.
Sand swirled, dancing in the air as the heavy winds clawed against the city walls and buildings. The wind whipped up more sand into a cloud in front of an alley, but when the cloud of sand was swept away, a cloaked figure emerged inside the alleyway. Though their face was hidden, other notable features could be seen, such as the bottom half of their long, multi-toned gray jacket, pants of a similar color, along with heavy-duty gloves and boots.
The mysterious figure sighed in annoyed disbelief. "How was she able to sense me so quickly? Not even brother did it so fast, not until I used my power." They muttered as they walked out of the alleyway, slowly making their way into the arena. They stopped once they reached the center, staring up at the statue of the Great Devourer before looking down. They knew that the giant snake wasn't sealed in the statue, but instead sealed under the arena in an eternal slumber, waiting for someone foolish enough to unlock its cage.
'I wonder, what would happen if I do this on this absurd creature?' Dark, malevolent energy wrapped around their arm before pouring down their hands like liquid and seeping into the ground beneath. "Ha-ha-ha-ah-hah-ha!" The mysterious figure pumped their clenched fist with laughter. "Yes! Rise, foul creature, for you are now under my command!" They shouted with sick glee as more corrupted energy dripped from their hands. "Your first mission as my new pet: you are to attack the one known as Akira and kill the child she holds so dear to her heart; Lloyd Garmadon!" Cackling, they watched as the spiral design of the arena glowed with a sickening green light that slowly turned a deep ebony black.
"But," The mysterious figure began. "If you are unable, you will distract the dragon long enough for me to strike the hatchling." They added maliciously, but their laughter quickly died down as they gained a deadpan expression. "I got too much in the moment." They murmured, face-palming. "I forgot that this is the one that takes a while. Well, longer than the last one I did when I gave him a substitute for Golden Power." They added with a whisper, mentioning something that only they know about.
"Ahem." They coughed into their fist. "Might as well finish the monologue, especially when I worked so hard on it. Now, where was I?" They took a deep, exaggerated breath before splaying their arms outward. "Together—but mostly me—we will take this juvenile's power and use it to destroy my father and bring a New Legacy upon us!"
Under the city, inside the seal, the Great Devourer lay dormant as the corrupt, liquefied energy seeped into its scales. As the energy slowly washed over the giant snake, its dark green scales shifted into the same ebony color, with small spikes beginning to pop out of its back along with two nubs that slowly grew as time passed.
Akira's draconic growling was heard as she stared in Ouroboros' direction. She could sense the presence, the intensity of the power that was being produced and unleashed. The Great Devourer was the only thing of value left in the abandoned city, so it was obvious that whoever that was, was trying to revive it forcefully. 'That power. It reeks of death, despair, and darkness. And yet, that same darkness feels so familiar, an opposite of life and light.' She pondered, her eyes narrowing before the storm that brewed within her calmed as she looked down toward the erratically moving green van.
Pythor's fate at her hands was far more important. Especially when she could let the deathly power grow within the Devourer and actually give her a fight. She chuckled at the thought before frowning. "Why do I feel like they're monologuing?"
(Scene break)
Engines roared across the highway and sky as the ninja chased down the serpentine vehicle, all while Pythor was screaming in anger at the other generals. "Why aren't there any weapons on this godforsaken van?!"
"Then make room!" the two-headed Fangpyre snapped, forcing both Pythor and Skales to move out of their way so they could reach the weapon.
Fangtom pulled a lever, and the roof of the van split open and lowered to the side, revealing one mounted single-barrel gun and a missile pod cannon on each side that had somehow appeared when there wasn't room for them before.
Pythor and Skales looked strangely at the Fangpyre. "Don't look at me! These things don't always follow the laws of physics and matter!" he defended, hopping onto the seat of the missile launcher and aiming towards Jay's jet. He pressed the red button, firing the serpentine-themed missiles at the jet.
"Whoa!" Jay was able to evade the missiles but was forced to flee as they looped around. "They're heat seekers!" he exclaimed, maneuvering in-between rock pillars and forcing the rockets to explode as they were not agile enough to avoid them. "Whoo! Ye-ha-ah!"
"Let's get them before they reload that thing!" Kai yelled into his comms as Jay returned to the group. Kai's motorcycle was the closest, so he was the first to drive up on the right side of the van and unsheathed a katana. "We won't let you awaken the Great Devourer, Pythor!"
Pythor chuckled maniacally. What Kai couldn't see was that the Anacondrai had waved his hand behind his back as a signal for something. "Oh, I'm sorry to disappoint," He mockingly apologized as Skalidor prepared to veer right. "Because you're about to be roadkill!" Skalidor veered straight into Kai's bike, running him off the road and causing him to lose focus just long enough for his vehicle to change back into the Sword of Fire. "Ack!"
"Kai!" the three ninja yelled.
Kai rolled across the ground, the sand luckily cushioning his fall. He grunted as he got up, sweeping the dust and sand off his gi, before rolling his sleeves to reveal small scrapes. He was definitely going to feel it in the morning, but otherwise, he was fine. "I'm okay," Kai said into his comms. "Might need a pickup, though." He added, grabbing his weapon, not knowing that Bob now clung to his weapon holster. "I'm on it. Jay, Zane, keep following them, and maybe take out their tires." Cole suggested. He hit the brakes before doing a 180-degree turn and heading back to pick up the Red Ninja.
Zane revved the engine of his Snowmobile hybrid, speeding up but making sure not to get too close. He brandished a bow and arrow—something he had recently acquired—and drew the string, aiming for the tires.
"You fools! The white one's aiming for the tires! Shoot him down!" Pythor commanded, with Skales—who now manned the second gun—aiming for the White Ninja, the inside of the barrel glowing a sickly pink. "Zane, move out of the way!" Jay shouted just as Zane released his draw, the arrow hitting its mark: the rear-left tire.
Just before the gun fired, the van swerved uncomfortably, causing the energy bolt to miss Zane completely, while Fangtom and Skales got flung off the weapons due to the sudden shift in direction and the fact that there were no seatbelts or straps. "Please make sure to keep your hands, head, and feet inside the vehicle, otherwise you'll get thrown off like those guys. Ha!" Jay joked.
"Ahh... we didn't... want to awaken the Devourer anyway," Fangtom fell unconscious with a thud, while Skales had just gotten back up with an irritated sigh. "Fucking ninja!" He slurred, carrying—more so dragging—the Fangpyre general away.
"Two of them are down! Only Pythor and Skalidor remain!" Zane said into his comms, getting the slight groaning from Cole and Kai. "Hurry up, Cole! We're missing all the fun." Kai complained, getting a facepalm from the Black Ninja.
"If you don't like it, you can get out and summon your vehicle. What's that? You can't right now? Then stop complaining, thank you very much!" Cole snapped, tired of his complaints and silencing Kai, who mumbled an apology. Pythor growled. If this kept going on as it was, the ninja would win, and he would fail in completing his goals. He shook his head, denial coursing through him. He will not let these ninjas stop him, and he will release the Great Devourer and, under his command, rule Ninjago. "Heheheh-ha-ha."
Pythor turned his attention to the Constrictai general with a sick smile, pulling the lever up before slithering up behind him with both his staff and the Fang blades in his claws. With a loud, metallic thud, Skalidor was knocked out of the van, which somehow remained on course as Pythor took his place in the driver's seat with sadistic laughter.
"Man, that's just cruel," Cole commented with Kai reluctantly nodding in agreement.
"Yeah. Almost makes you feel bad for them," Jay added, flying over the van and lowering in front of it to block Pythor from going any faster.
"Grrr! Get out of my way!" The Anacondrai snarled, swerving left and right to try and get past the Blue Ninja, who only followed his movements as they got off the road. Cole came up behind Pythor, bumping into his rear as Kai got out and pulled out his sword before jumping off the roof of Cole's vehicle, landing onto the roof of Pythor's, slicing through the top and forcing the back area of the roof to split open.
Pythor yelped as he got licked by the flames of the Sword of Fire when the roof was forced open, erratically swerving the vehicle just as Kai jumped off and re-summoned his Fire-cycle. Kai revved the engine and with a press of a button, the swords on his vehicle splayed out, allowing him to slash Pythor's tires on his left, leaving the Anacondrai with only one front left wheel.
This action, however, caused the van to swerve out of Pythor's control and crash, rolling across the sand with pieces of the broken roof flying off before finally flinging Pythor out. "Oof!" Pythor grunted, glancing back to see that the van was rolling toward him. "Ahh!" With a yelp, he quickly slithered to get out of the way, just barely avoiding getting smooshed.
"Whoa!" Jay observed the crash, having already pulled up to avoid it himself. "That looks like it would be brutal."
Cole commented, slowing down as he neared the scene.
"Be wary, brothers. I saw Pythor get flung out." Zane stated, jumping off his Snowmobile as it dissolved into his Golden Weapon. He stretched out his left arm as the falcon perched on it. He then gave it a pat on its head. "Find him, my friend." The falcon flew off into the sky to get an aerial view just as the other ninja walked up behind him. "Of course, he ran." Kai scoffed with crossed arms. "Probably ran off scared until he sees an opportunity to sneak up on us." Kai suddenly swung his sword behind him, leaving an arc of fire that turned the sand into glass.
Jay waved him down. "Whoa, cool your horses, hotshot." He said, pulling out his nunchucks. "Besides, if you really wanted to scare him you would go, wha-pow! Bam!" He swung his weapon in many different directions, throwing out lightning with thunderous cracks from the end he wasn't holding, also turning sand into glass.
Before the two ninja could escalate further, Cole got between them. "Okay you two, knock it off. Pythor is still around here somewhere, and we can't be messing around like this."
Zane nodded in agreement. "I agree with Cole. Besides, Pythor's right over there." He pointed to the Anacondrai, who was too focused on slithering away from the crash site to notice that he'd been spotted.
Cole pointed towards the discarded Anacondrai staff. "Hey look. That's his staff, we should let Akira know about it, she'll definitely want to grab that." Zane patted Cole's shoulder. "Already done." He said, walking toward the Anacondrai before shifting into a sprint. Cole looked at his fellow ninja before they all followed Zane's lead.
(Scene break)
The Draconic Vessel was opened up similarly to an aircraft carrier, the only difference being its shape, size, and the fact that it wasn't completely flat. For safety and other reasons, obviously.
[Thud]
"Oof!" Pythor was harshly thrown to the floor, bloodied and battered from the crash. Cuts, burns, and bruises covered his body, even around his mouth and nose. He coughed up some blood before looking up at Akira with disdain. Akira, in her Dragonian form, stared down at him with disinterest, holding the Anacondrai staff.
"This used to be father's, you know." She stated more than asked, knowing that every Anacondrai knew this information. The statement annoyed Pythor to no end, especially since he had to use his cunning to get it, as he was one of the weaker Anacondrai.
"Of course you know, you foul excuse for an Anacondrai." She added with a snarl. "I've had to deep clean this. Bathed it in blue flames to get your stench off." Akira twirled the staff, slamming it into the ground next to him. Its glowing orange orb felt like it was staring into Pythor's soul. Wait. Orange? It was supposed to be purple. 'Did she really destroy the anti-venom to replace it with whatever this is? How idiotic, even I wouldn't destroy something so ancient.' He questioned mentally whilst making a jab at the princess. 'Even so, why our ancestors thought it a good idea to put a weakness into the staff, I'll never understand.'
Akira raised a brow. "So you've noticed the little change I made? I switched out the anti-venom and replaced it with a venom of my own." She said, a cruel smile forming on her lips. Pythor's eyes widened when he noticed that she'd never said anything about it being anti-venom. "I made it especially for you. It won't kill, but it will make you wish it did." She forcefully grabbed and lifted Pythor by his head—mostly around his jaws—before forcing two of her clawed fingers into his mouth, prying it open as he helplessly struggled against her hold.
Akira gave him a mocking expression. "Aww, tsk-tsk-tsk. What's wrong? I thought you liked stuffing things into your stomach." She forced the top end of the staff into his mouth, watching the glowing orange venom drip into his throat. Gagging, Pythor was forced to swallow as she harshly coaxed his throat. As he swallowed, he began to feel a burning sensation in his stomach that began spreading out to the rest of his body. It was very hot, but bearable, no less irritating, though, like dipping yourself into hot water for the first time of the day, except you don't get used to its temperature. Akira released her hold on his head, causing the Anacondrai to unceremoniously drop to the floor as he let out a haggard breath. "What did you do to me?" He rasped out, his voice coarse.
Akira tilted her head cutely, as if she hadn't just forced venom down his throat, though her eyes still held malicious intent. "What did I do?" Her eyes narrowed. "I just made it so that you can't swallow anything that's still alive. Of course, you can still eat and drink normal foods and beverages, I'm not that cruel." She answered, folding her hands behind her back. "Though many would consider what I'm about to do far more cruel." She unfolded her hand and unsheathed her silver Anacondrai blade from her back. "You remember this, right? The blade that pops made specially for me." Pythor screamed as the blade was stabbed into his left arm before the Oni-Dragon hybrid stomped on the blade to assist in removing the arm in its entirety.
"No one's here to save you from me," Akira growled as she grabbed her blade, using it to gesture to the lack of an audience. She kicked his severed arm away with disgust and flicked the blade to get as much blood off of it as possible with disdain. "The only reason I don't kill you is because Lloyd doesn't need to see a corpse." She sneered, before letting out a dissatisfied sigh. "So, you're being sent to a prison in the sea of sand. Cryptarium or whatever, I really couldn't be bothered to give a fuck."
Pythor clutched the stub that used to be his arm. He was barely keeping himself from continuing to scream in agony. He had never been so fatally injured before. Akira chuckled darkly. There really was no audience, as the ninja and Selma's friend-group were all on the Bounty, especially Lloyd. There was no need for her to worry about Zane's falcon either, as she still had it under her control so it wouldn't fly near her ship without her say-so.
The Draconic vessel began to shift and transform back into its original tank-like hovercraft vehicle mode. Akira's amethyst eyes seemingly glowed with a sinister light as the roof hoisted a shadow over them as it closed, before appearing as normal when the lights flickered on.
Just as the screen folded open, Nya's voice sounded through the speakers, her icon appearing on the screen. "Akira, we're nearing Kryptarium prison. You still have Pythor, right?" She asked.
Akira nodded even though Nya wasn't able to see. "Yes, yes. He's here." To Akira, it was as if she felt the Samurai's eyes narrow. "Alive?" Nya emphasized heavily. "Agh, yes, he's still alive. Far too busy squirming under my foot to focus on breathing right now." Just as she said this, Akira stomped onto Pythor's back, eliciting a loud crack of his spine as well as a pathetic cry from the Anacondrai.
"Akira!"
"Okay, okay." She removed her foot from his back. "I won't do anything more to harm him physically, my dear Samurai. I promise." She promised honestly, pulling off a large, armored scale from her chest that quickly regenerated, before crushing it into silvery dust that formed into a large battle axe with an orange blade that faded into a bright blue, and threw it into a golden portal that quickly disappeared.
"Hmm, okay. I understand that you hate him, a lot, but..."
"It's fine, Nya, sweetheart. I understand the laws of Ninjago." Akira said, before she had a slightly sheepish expression. "Mostly. Never bothered to go that far deep into that stuff." The tip of her tail opened like a grabber claw, glowing with green light similar to the elemental power of energy, only a little lighter in color. Akira then gently but reluctantly clamped Pythor's neck with her tail, and the elemental energy began to heal the rogue Serpentine, though not nearly enough to regenerate his severed arm or prevent the scarring on his face.
"Okay. We'll see you in a few."
The screen blinked off, and Akira's expression flattened as she looked down. "You're lucky that I made a promise to not hurt you physically, and unlike you, I keep my promises." A feral grin spread across her lips. "But I never said anything about mental damage." A sharp, crystal-like horn protruded from Akira's nose before white elemental energy began pulsing out of her horn in waves toward Pythor. Pythor's eyes near-instantly rolled back as vast information about a monstrous race from a mirror realm was forced into his mind, all the while Akira smiled at his suffering.
(Scene break)
Akira walked through the sea of sand toward Ouroboros as if she were taking a casual stroll, her now dull, silver-scaled form unbothered by the sandstorm. Her usually overwhelming presence to those with strong enough senses was all but non-existent. Such an ability came with her incredible capacity to sense energies of all kinds. Hiding her own presence was something she had made up, as for once—not including her time after the Serpentine wars—she would not go in guns blazing. Akira wanted to enjoy the inevitable battle between her and the mysterious presence and the Devourer. For once since her time in the First Realm, when she was young, she could have a real fight, especially since the presence she could feel had power near equal to her own.
Akira naturally had immense power, even when she was young, and Thunderfang teaching her how to devour souls had only made her power more dense and potent. Though unlike her now power-hungry, narcissistic uncle-figure, she never needed souls to power her elemental essence of chaos, and therefore did not end up reliant on them to keep her physical form intact. 'Not that it mattered due to my body being formed from solidified energy anyway, though now my blood glows a multitude of colors ever since it became energy.' Instead, each devoured soul reinforced her own, not to mention she'd taken advantage of devouring the souls of any traitorous dragons that dared to betray her mother-figure, Firstbourne. At least, after she'd joined the dragon army, "mommy dearest" was hesitant to let one so young fight the Oni, especially when she was essentially the younger sister of the First Spinjitzu Master.
Akira paused as a few tumbleweeds passed by, before continuing her thought process. Was she repulsed by devouring draconic souls? No. With that logic, you would be saying that she'd be repulsed by eating Oni souls as well. As she got closer to the ancient city, she could feel the presence gaining some familiarity with someone she'd met before. 'His relative, perhaps? Maybe his father or a sibling?' She mused mentally, walking through the gates of Ouroboros. The ground shook, and Akira could feel the Great Devourer beginning to awaken. She could see its statue slowly crumbling from the path she took toward the slither pit, black wisps of energy whipping around in the air.
Her eyes shone brighter with excited anticipation the closer she got. As she slowly released her hold on keeping her presence hidden, her dull silver scales regained their previous metallic sheen, before brightening further as she began to completely loosen her metaphorical grip on her nigh-uncontainable power. Once barely noticeable golden and purple markings now became more prominent, spreading across her body like water flowing through a river. On some areas such as Akira's tail, the gold and purple markings twisted around each other, forming a coiled strip of colors from the tip of her tail to her hips before they slightly uncoiled and formed two small yin-yang symbols on her thighs that seemed to spin animatedly, as well as connecting to the markings on the rest of her legs that looked as though her scales shattered with both colors.
Akira's right arm was now mostly encased with her golden markings with the same shattered patterning as on her legs, while her claws turned from black to a glowing purple. Her left arm had the opposite colors, purple taking the place of gold and shimmering gold taking the place of glowing purple. From her lower spine to the back of her head, surprisingly enough, became a chaotic mixture of red and purple scales, looking as if they fought against her silver and gold scales to keep such space. Everything else on her body remained a brighter silver, something that she no longer had any intentions of dimming until she dealt with this invigorating problem of hers.
The potent, silver-colored wisps of energy that whipped out from Akira instantly turned sand into molten glass, the same being said for each step she took. She had absolutely no doubt that the one releasing the Devourer had noticed her after the amount of power she now emitted from her body, especially when the mysterious figure was staring at her, unmoving, surprise clearly etched on their face even when covered by shadow.
Akira's slitted amethyst eyes met the cloaked figure's. Her lips curled upwards into an antagonistic grin. "So, you're the mysterious presence that threatened my little Vælnok." She sneered in a seemingly uncaring manner, as if this cloaked figure was of no interest to her, though she kept a keen eye on their micro-movements. Every twitch of their finger, the fluttering of their cloak, even the slightest movement of their corrupted energy. They tilted their head. "Aren't you afraid of what your friends might think of you with all that power you're releasing?" Their voice was unnecessarily deep and echoey. Akira scoffed. 'Obviously not their own voice. Like they didn't even try to make it unique, it's just a generic deep bad guy voice.' Rolling her eyes, she took a step onto the beginnings of the sandstone floor of the arena, though she had to pull back a small amount of her energy from her feet so that the ground wouldn't crack, the glowing markings on her legs dimming slightly in response.
Akira slightly grimaced as the sandstone still cracked before turning her attention to the mysterious figure. "So what do I call you? Because I'm not going to keep calling you 'mysterious presence' in my head, and answer quickly, or I'll give you a nickname." She was slightly upset when the sandstone cracked; she wanted to try and prevent the Devourer from destroying this city to preserve as much original material from this city as possible, rather than recreating the city entirely. She was, after all, the princess of Ouroboros.
She watched as the figure shifted with irritation, mumbled words of annoyance exiting their—no, his—mouth. "You may call me, Umbralsage," Umbralsage said, before looking at Akira with confusion as she snorted into laughter. "Heh-heh, hahahahaha-hah!" Akira held her knees to keep herself from falling to the ground with laughter. "That's your name? Ohh, please tell me that's just a code name." She said, before gesturing for him to stop. "Actually, don't. I'm just going to call you Ghal'ok." Umbralsage was confused as he did not understand what she'd just called him, deciding to just go along with their banter to stall her from straight up killing the Devourer, not knowing that was exactly what she wanted. "Excuse me? Gal—what?" Akira giggled. "Ghal'ok. Because you were spying on six beautiful reptilian ladies and a small child."
"W-what!? No, I wasn't! I'm not a pervert or a pedophile!"
Akira shook her finger. "Yes, you were, and you totally are." He was caught off guard, and Akira used this to her advantage, using the element of speed to quickly close the distance and deck him in his face and kicking him in-between the legs before throwing him far away from HER city.
Akira chuckled darkly, looking down at the slowly crumbling floor of the slither pit. "Just you wait, I'll have my fun with you soon enough." She slammed her tail onto the ground, a silver dome of energy surrounding the arena, only leaving a small opening that led through the area where there were the least buildings. "For now, I'll let the ninja play with you. The Dragon will protect Lloyd if anything."
Akira leaped in the direction where she threw Umbralsage, a smile creeping up her lips as she heard the Corrupted Devourer's roar as it tore through its only way out.
(Scene break)
Wind harshly blew past Umbralsage as he uncontrollably flew further into the sea of sand before he was finally able to right himself with his own elemental power of wind just as he landed and skidded across the sand.
"Fucking bitch!"
Umbralsage glanced around, studying the area he was thrown into. He noticed multiple collapsed pyramid-like structures, houses broken down by the passing of time, and many different statues which, though broken, still had their bottom half mostly intact, revealing Serpentine tails underneath the sand once he blew it away.
"Another ancient Serpentine city?"
He quickly turned around at the sound of crunching sand, which had become a layer of molten glass once Akira had taken her step.
Akira spread her arms out, gesturing to the fallen city around them with a smile. "Welcome to the lost Pyroviper city. Something no human or Serpentine has been able to find due to how deep it is in the sea of sand." Her arms fell down to her side with a shrug. "Well, not alive long enough to tell its location," she added, gesturing to human skeletons.
Umbralsage scoffed, still very upset about being thrown like a ragdoll. "And what does this place, pray tell, have to do with me?"
Akira chuckled as a golden blade sprouted from her wrist, encasing her right hand before she pointed it at him. "Because, Ghal'ok, this will be your grave." Her amethyst eyes pulsed with power as she rushed toward her enemy.
In a quick response, Umbralsage blocked her strike with a quickly materialized sword made from the elemental essence of destruction. He parried another slash before getting hammered in the head by her tail. He retaliated by pushing his fist into her gut, adding a slash of his sword across her face just as she stabbed him in his stomach, piercing through his back. Her blade was dripping with his glowing blackish-red blood.
Growling in frustrated rage, Umbralsage stabbed his own sword through Akira's neck before violently pushing her away, along with her arm blade, backing away from her to keep some distance between them. Touching his wound, Umbralsage let out a small hiss of unexpected pain. He'd felt pain before, yes, but something as simple as a blade made from creation should not hurt him like this, though his eyes widened with surprise when the middle of her blade pulsed red.
"So you've noticed," Akira chuckled, unbothered by the sword in her throat. "I don't make normal weapons, at least not normally. I actually do on some occasions, but that doesn't matter." Pulling the sword from her throat, she used it to gesture toward her own blade, showing the small green sheen that mixed with the chaotic red energy. "What matters is how painful poison can be when mixed with the elemental essence of Chaos." Her smile grew when Umbralsage gained a furious expression, before he coughed up some blood as his wound finally regenerated. One thing he noticed was how much faster Akira's regeneration was, not to mention how her chaotic poison was making his even slower; that thought had only made him more furious. Akira let out a satisfied sigh, finally wiping away the purplish-gold energy that acted as her blood. "This will be the most fun I've had in decades."
With a growl of anger, Umbralsage blasted her away with shockwaves, only to then launch himself toward her with the element of propulsion. Akira grunted as she hit the ground, getting slammed back into the ground as Umbralsage pounced onto her, punching her repeatedly as well as impaling her with ice shards and attempting to tear through her scales with the earth below. "I'm going to kill you, then absorb your power." Umbralsage growled.
All Akira was doing during her beatdown was laugh as she bled liquid energy. She enjoyed this; did that make her sadistic? Probably, but it's been so long. She let out a high-pitched scream amplified by the elemental power of sound, grabbing his wrists before clawing into his stomach with her second set of arms that materialized just above her waist. Just before Umbralsage could scream out in pain, Akira blasted him with a beam of electrified plasma from her mouth to his head, which launched him from atop her body, allowing her to stand up.
A grin still on her face, her wounds already beginning to heal at a faster rate than his. "Did you know that the only limit to how much strength an elemental power can have is the one that wields it?" A cloud of purple smoke covered her body, dissipating to reveal the now gleaming metal figure of Akira.
Umbralsage wiped away the blood from his mouth, using his corrupted power to make a war-hammer. "And why should I care, when all you did was make yourself become metal?" He questioned, only for her inner maw to flicker with light as she chuckled.
"Because." Her body twisted, metal plates shifting as she jumped back onto the ground on all fours, her tail connecting with her head to form a barrel that began glowing with energy. "I love to use tricks, especially the ones I find most interesting from others." His eyes widened as he was shot with a large bolt of energy, knocking him back and crashing into a building that crumpled on top of him.
Akira transformed, before purple smoke enveloped her once more, returning her to her Draconian form. "Even if it seems pointless for someone like me," she finished, not concerned whether or not the Ghal'ok could hear her. "Cybertronians have such a fun ability." she commented, purposely staying in the same place as her enemy disintegrated the rubble into dust. "Did you really just turn yourself into a laser turret?" he asked with a bewildered tone, before charging at her with a swing of his hammer, which Akira easily dodged. "You know," She parried his strike with a newly formed shield, using her tail to throw sand at his face. "We may have near equal levels of strength, durability, and maybe even endurance." Akira stomped her feet on the ground, initiating the sequence for Shatter-spin. "But I take the cake for speed, agility, and flexibility."
Waves of chaotic energy shot toward Umbralsage, who quickly moved his weapon to block, his gloved hands now glowing with the light orange power of quake, infusing it into his hammer and slamming it into the ground, interrupting her Shatter-spin and prompting her to switch to the more mobile Spinjitzu. Umbralsage snarled, slamming his hammer against the Spinjitzu tornado, leaving multicolored sparks as they clashed. Akira moved back, making distance before instantly rushing back, forcing him into her Spinjitzu tornado as she used the chance to break his arm while he was disoriented before throwing him out. "The biggest difference between you and me is weapon prowess." Akira stated, noting his sloppy performance, at least in her eyes. Umbralsage's eyes narrowed. "I have millenniums more combat experience than you," he growled his reply, pointing his weapon at the Serpentine Princess. "I've fought someone much stronger than you."
Akira chortled with amusement. "With how much you want my power, I can only imagine how badly you must have lost that fight," she said, a grin adorning her lips, one that irritated Umbralsage to no end. "Well, Ghal'ok, you've given me quite the fun experience." His eyes twitched violently at the nickname, too unfocused to notice the silver throwing knife that materialized from her wrist. "But I think it's time you leave. After all, I have a giant snake to deal with." She added, her expression flattening. Umbralsage chuckled. "And just how do you plan to do—whoa!" He gasped as the knife whizzed past his head. Luckily for him, he had just barely dodged... or so it seemed.
"Was that it?" He spread out his arms, daring her to come closer.
Akira's flat expression did not shift by an inch, and with a snap of her fingers, a sudden gravitational force began pulling Umbralsage back. Glancing behind him, his eyes widened at the whitish-gold vortex, only to struggle against its pull as he tried to charge toward Akira. "You really think I'll just let you send me away?" He scoffed, grunting as the pull of gravity around him became stronger as further away he was from the vortex. Akira giggled. "Such youthful ignorance for an old man," she insulted, grabbing the outstretched arm that attempted to claw at her chest. With her two right arms pointed at Umbralsage, her hands glowing the familiar purple before blasting him with intense, near point-blank shockwaves. The only reason he wasn't getting launched into the vortex was her grip on his right arm.
"I've had a lot of fun today," Akira began, licking the blood off her lips, a feral smile adorning her face. "I'm going to remove your arm now." She said bluntly, surprising Umbralsage with her sudden words. "Wha—argh!" His arm was swiftly maimed by the sword that materialized from Akira's lower-left arm. This also had the obvious effect of removing the only thing keeping Umbralsage from getting pulled into the vortex, because he no longer had a right arm.
"Don't worry, it'll grow back. Bye-bye now!" Akira said, waving playfully as he was sucked into the vortex. "No! I won't let you—" Umbralsage desperately tried to cling to the edge of the vortex, using elements such as wind, propulsion, and even gravity to escape to no avail, only for Akira to use her tail to loosen his grip finger by finger. Akira giggled, making quad peace signs with all four hands. "See you later. I'll be sure to come find you." She could hear his yells and screams of denial as the vortex closed. "Heh, arrogant bastard."
Akira bent down to grab the decapitated limb, her second pair of arms dematerializing into purple smoke. Standing up straight, she then lifted the arm above her head, allowing the blood to drip down onto her tongue. "Hmm." She suddenly dropped the arm into her mouth, bone crunching as she bit down. The residual corrupted power flowed throughout her body as she devoured the limb with no care for cleanliness.
Akira stared at her now clenched fist as the corrupted energy swirled around it. "Just as I thought, the opposite of life and light." she murmured. "In fact, this feels similar to the Overlord's Darkness, only more powerful and with a deathly aura." She reminisced about the times when Ninjago was a newly formed realm, quickly dispelling the dark energy with a shake of her hand so that she wouldn't use up her limited supply of it. Looking off into the distance, a slightly more urgent thought came to mind. "I'd better go deal with that oversized snake. Oh, actually, that thing's probably filled with corrupted energy, might as well take it." With a short running start, Akira launched into the air, flying toward the energy signature of the Devourer with a mixture of the elements of wind and gravity.
(Scene break)
[CRASH]
[Roar]
The ninja were fighting desperately on a highway that led to Ninjago City, trying their hardest to keep the Great Devourer from entering the city. It had already destroyed the Destiny's Bounty and devoured the remains of their home to grow larger. Luckily for the ninja, Akira had given the girls access to her ship before she left for a mysterious reason, one Wu had thought had something to do with this mutated Great Devourer. Wu had also questioned how she got her hands on a fifth Golden Weapon that he knew nothing about. He had given it to Lloyd when the weapon had responded to his presence with a loud humming of familiar green elemental energy.
Right now, Wu and the ninja were focusing on the evacuation of the civilians, doing their best to rescue those who were trapped by fallen debris due to the boulders thrown by the giant snake. "Please evacuate in a calm but quick pace," Zane called out to a group of civilians who nearly trampled a family of three. He was luckily able to calm them enough for them to reach the evacuation bus. "I know this might sound bad out of context, especially with the current situation, but why does my sister get to have all the fun?" Kai complained, though it was more an attempt to lighten the mood. Cole guided an elderly civilian to the bus before turning to Kai. "Maybe because she's the better pilot."
Jay snorted, before quickly shooting a bolt of lightning at a boulder, shattering it into harmless pieces. "Yeah. Not to mention that Akira only gave Nya and five Serpentine she brought with her the control access for her ship." Jay added, causing Kai to scoff at the fact that there were Serpentine with Nya on Akira's ship. "Are we really gonna trust Serpentine being alone with Lloyd and Nya? Especially when one of them has an elemental power, something that we only just learned about, and it's one that Sensei has never seen before!" Kai ranted with obvious worry and brotherly overprotectiveness lacing his tone.
Zane glanced over at him, momentarily taking his attention off the first set of leaving evacuees. "It is clear that Akira does not put trust in others so easily, Kai." He quickly threw a shuriken at an incoming boulder, encasing it in ice as the weapon stuck and allowing Jay to shatter it with lightning. "I believe it is best to trust her judgment on her Serpentine friends. I for one would like to learn about their culture without being attacked," he added, before returning to guide and provide assistance to the more disabled civilians.
On the Draconic Vessel, Nya was pleasantly surprised to see how evasive the hovercraft was, especially for how large and heavy it was. Luckily for her, she had been able to find the autopilot button, giving her more time to figure out the flight controls while the group of five female Serpentine manned the plasma cannons. At least, that's what she assumed they were; the labels were in a language she didn't understand. Nya suddenly snorted with amusement. 'Lloyd's the only boy on the ship, and he can't use the cannons because he's too short. So girl power!' She thought, chuckling with amusement when she heard Thalia yelling with immense joy.
"Ha-ha-hah! Die, you overgrown bastard!" Thalia rapidly pulled the trigger, firing fast, but small plasma bolts at the corrupted snake. Aella looked over for a moment before shaking her head with a small smile. "You know that you'll get bigger blasts if you hold the trigger, right?" She asked, knowing full well that her younger sister couldn't give a fuck. "But this is so much more fun! Oh, and I don't give a fuck!" Aella sighed; she only slightly regretted that Akira had taught them human slurs. "Bullshit!" Lycora screamed, seeing how quickly the Devourer regenerated its previously shattered tail spike. As Aella said, she only slightly regretted.
Nya giggled at their banter; it sort of reminded her of how she and her brother would argue about certain topics. Her attention partially shifted from the flight controls to Lloyd when he tapped her arm. "What is it, Lloyd?" The younger boy shifted slightly, clearly uncomfortable about something, and that worried her. "Isn't it weird how the Great Devourer is only attacking this ship?" He said, staring at the screen that showed a visual of the Devourer. "Then why hasn't it gone for the city? It's had a lot of chances when you had to fly higher up. It also feels like it's staring at me whenever I look at the screen." Lloyd's worries had given Nya some of her own, as well as an idea on how to prove if her newly acquired worries were true.
"Hold on tight, guys!" Nya rapidly pressed a combination of buttons, activating the manual flight controls and allowing her to make more evasive maneuvers, one of which involved dodging the Devourer's spike-tipped tail that was swung at them. "I hope that this works, but at the same time, I really don't want it to." Nya started by flying the hovercraft away from the city, gritting her teeth when she saw the Devourer shift its focus toward the city, only for her eyes to widen with slight fear and worry when it turned its attention back toward the ship with a guttural roar before slithering toward them at a rapid pace. "Shit-shit-shit!" Nya quickly pulled up, just barely avoiding being caught in the Devourer's jaws, and flying higher out of its reach.
"Holy shit! What was that about?" Pyralis asked as she got up from the seat to operate the plasma cannon.
Nya pressed the comms button. "Kai! The Great Devourer... Sensei Wu was right; it's not devouring everything in its path!" She began, worry filling her tone. "It's targeting us! It's going for the ship!" She yelled into the comms, gaining the attention of both Lycora and Aella, whose eyes widened when they saw wings sprouting from the two tentacle-like appendages on its back on the main screen. "It has fucking wings!" Lycora screamed, quickly turning back to the HUD for her cannon and holding the trigger to charge a large blast.
On the roads of Ninjago City, Kai received his sister's urgent yells, before turning to see the Devourer flap its newly formed wings to enter flight. Not a moment later, he ran toward his Sensei. "Sensei! Is the Devourer supposed to have wings?!" he asked, his worry palpable as he pointed to the giant flying snake that chased the hovercraft. Wu shook his head in denial and disbelief. "No, whatever dark power that awakened it is no doubt the cause of this transformation." Wu glanced back to the other three ninja. "We must hurry, get the last of the citizens out of here, then we will catch up with Nya and find a way to defeat the Devourer."
Jay chuckled nervously. "And why don't we try and find Akira?" he questioned. "Ooh. Why did she have to leave right before this happened?" He complained.
[Rumble]
Selma nearly fell to the floor as the ship was rammed by the Devourer. She noticed that Lloyd wasn't in his seat and fell to the floor because of it. "Lloyd, get back in your seat." She berated the young ninja, helping him to quickly buckle up before turning to Nya. "I thought the ninja had four dragons. What happened to them?" Selma asked, hoping that they could help out if they could call them somehow.
Nya sighed softly with frustration, quickly pouring her attention into making another evasive maneuver as she flew toward the sea of sand. "The dragons had to leave so they could molt. Who knows when they'll get back." Pyralis suddenly got up from operating the cannon after seeing it barely did any significant damage.
"Hey, Akira used to call this the Shift-wing, right?" Nya nodded. "Then maybe the ship can, well, shift. Like maybe separate into two different vehicles or who knows, maybe a dragon since she renamed it the Draconic Vessel." Pyralis suggested with a shrug of her shoulders. Nya's eyes shone with realization. "Hurry! Look for a button, a labeled switch, or something!" she exclaimed with urgency as they all—with the exception of Thalia and Lloyd—searched for the possible transformation switch.
Whilst the others were searching, Lloyd unbuckled from his seat and walked toward the Golden Weapon that Akira had left. The quiet, humming power of the Dao Blade slowly became a more violent vibration that caused it to shake in place as he approached. Reaching out, the Golden Weapon instantly stopped vibrating the moment Lloyd grabbed the handle and let out a pulse of energy. Green energy flowed into the panel lines of the ship like rushing water, going all the way to the main computer, turning it from purple to green and translating the ancient language into the Ninjagonian language.
{WELCOME LLOYD GARMADON}
"Well look at that, it's actually readable now," Thalia quipped, having just got out of her seat. "None of that gibberish shit." Selma patted her shoulder. "It's Akira's birth language." Thalia nodded. "I know. Doesn't change the fact that I can't read it."
Lycora's hand hovered over an orange button, one that now had a symbol for a dragon on it. "I found it!" She called out, gaining a portion of Nya's attention.
"Okay! Get ready to press it in 3... 2... 1!"
Lycora pressed the orange button, and in response, the entire hovercraft changed. A 3D holographic image of the ship appeared just in front of the screen. Nya let out a gasp of surprise as her seat suddenly slid back, with the same happening to the other seats as they hovered in place next to hers. The giant screen began folding away with the area itself becoming smaller, leaving only enough room to walk around freely. As the ship itself changed form, so did its holographic image, showing its transformation into its dragon form in real time.
"Whoa! Cool!" Thalia laughed, almost immediately taking one of the seats, followed by the others, with her older sister taking a seat next to her, on Nya's left, and Lloyd's seat hovering higher up, allowing him to more easily see. Nya was pleasantly surprised; though it made more sense the more she thought about it. Of course, Akira would give Lloyd some kind of special access to her ship, especially when the Golden Weapon had embedded itself into the ship like a key, with a control panel raising up from the floor around her and a helmet dropping in her lap.
"Okay?" She pulled the helmet over her head, and a HUD display appeared on the visor that showed the world from the dragon's optics. Taking a quick glance, Nya saw that more holographic control panels similar to that of the plasma cannons had appeared in front of the five Serpentine, with the only physical controls being similar to those used by jet packs that had come from the hover chairs themselves and helmets just like hers that form-fitted onto their heads as they put them on. Determination filled Nya's eyes, a resolved expression crossing her face, and an excited grin on her lips. "Alright girls, let's see how hard this baby can hit." Thalia laughed excitedly, her grip tightened around the controls. "Ha-hah! Now you're speaking my language!" The first thing Thalia did was fire plasma bolts at the Devourer from the smaller cannons that were on the right side of the robotic dragon's back, while Lycora shot from the cannons on the left side.
The robotic dragon twisted midair, its cold cyan optics staring into the Devourer's blood-red eyes that narrowed with a challenging roar, one that the dragon answered with its own robotic roar. Metallic claws clashed against the nigh-impenetrable scales of the Devourer, whilst its tail spike pierced through the abdomen of the high-tech creature, revealing a few severed electrical cables that leaked out pinkish energy. In response, the robotic dragon violently pushed the snake away and aimed its two large shoulder cannons at the serpent's wings, the large plasma bolts tearing through them and causing the Devourer to fall from the sky.
"Aww, why does she get the big cannons?" Thalia complained, pointing at Pyralis who smirked at the Hypnobrai's jealousy. "Because unlike you, I actually have trigger discipline," she stated with a mocking smile. Thalia growled, returning her focus to shooting the Devourer's eyes and tail whenever she could. Making a small adjustment, the dragon entered a nosedive, its maw and front claws glowing with purple plasma. Streaks of plasma stretched across the sky as the robotic dragon slammed into the corrupted snake, a powerful purple shockwave forced itself outward from the impact, obliterating the nearby rock formations. Luckily, those in the cockpit only felt a smaller portion of the impact that had mostly been nullified by the hover-chairs they sat on, though Lloyd's had swung a bit more forward due to his seat being higher up.
Nya glanced behind her, mainly to check to see if Lloyd was alright—which he was—before checking on the others. "Are you five okay?" Everyone nodded in the affirmative, with Lycora cracking her back. "Might feel that in the morning, but I'm good," she commented, before squinting her eyes at her HUD visual. "Ooh, come on!" She complained, causing everyone else to return their attention to the optics and cameras of the dragon.
"Fuck," Pyralis hissed.
The Dark Devourer raised its head above the dust cloud, revealing a missing portion of the left side of its head that was slowly regenerating. Aella made a disgusted expression, especially with how it regenerated with muscles, tendons, and tissues wrapping around each other, with bone growing over, followed by ebony scales. "That's fucking disgusting."
A bloodcurdling roar exited the Devourer's maw along with the blood from its recently healed head. Its tail lunged forward with a sudden burst of speed that those who piloted the dragon couldn't react to in time to defend as its tail pierced through the socket joint of the right arm, yanking it to the left and severing the mechanical arm from the body. "Shit!" Nya hissed with angered annoyance, trying to flee only to be halted by the Devourer who wrapped itself around them, slowly squeezing them like a python.
But before it could begin to tear through the metal dragon's back casing, a silver beam of energy tore through the right side of its head, causing the Devourer to fall to the ground, uncoiling from the metal dragon.
(Akira)
Akira had arrived in her dragon form, her eyes narrowed not with anger or worry, but with a hunger for the corrupted power within the Great Devourer. She was by no means a power-hungry bitch, but an opportunity such as this was not one she would willingly pass up, especially since she could not generate the energy herself. Her draconic lips curled up into a savage grin when she saw how the Devourer regenerated. 'Exactly like Ghal'ok,' she amusedly thought, her purple and golden markings slowly receding to their previous, barely visible state, a sign of Akira re-containing her immense power within her body once more.
Landing on the ground, she glanced at her robotic dragon, having to look down slightly due to her current size. "Get to safety, and make sure that there are no stragglers remaining in Ninjago City."
Akira turned to face the Devourer, who slowly raised itself from the ground once its regeneration was nearly complete. Her eyes flashed gold. "I'll deal with this... corrupted creature." She added, though she was talking about the corrupted energy that currently flowed within its body, but the essence of pure darkness that she could feel within its core.
Akira tilted her head in a moment of curiosity. 'I suppose it's a she, since the Great Devourer was usually stated to be female. Especially given that she has her own spawn. Heh, the Vermillion tasted like noodles.' She thought, mentally confessing to devouring the many hatchlings of the Great Devourer. You would think that is something she wouldn't do, but leaving them unchecked was not something she could allow, not when the First Spinjitzu Master had already "passed on," though she knew that was something he allowed as normally his body would've lived far longer.
Akira waited for the metallic dragon to essentially limp away before activating the jets on its wings to fly toward the city. The Devourer launched towards Akira with its newly regenerated wings, wrapping its body around Akira's neck and mouth to keep it shut as it bit into her arm, its fangs sinking into her flesh yet failing to tear it out. With a huff of dismissal, Akira effortlessly pulled the snake off of her before biting its midsection and tearing it in half, then slurping up the bottom half like a giant noodle, easily crushing the tail spike.
The snake hissed in pain, writhing on the ground as its lower half regenerated. Akira let it; she promised she would torture this snake, therefore she would torture it, the regeneration only made it easier for her. She'll make sure to give Umbralsage a generously painful thanks the next time she sees him. Switching to a bipedal stance, she snatched the Devourer out of the air when it lunged at her, before forcing her arm into its throat and ripping out its tongue, discarding it on the sand.
[ROAR]
Akira scoffed at the Devourer's insult. "The feeling's mutual." Parrying the Devourer's tail whip, she grabbed its head and began to force its mouth open until she heard a loud crack as she broke its jaws. She then pulled the top of its head, aiming to separate it from the rest of its body. "Give me your face," she growled softly, yet viciously, and with a loud squelch, she tore off its head. Deciding to not drag this out any longer, she began to eat the remains before the Devourer could begin to regenerate, absorbing the corrupted energy with each bite. Blood dripped from her mouth, coating the sand a dark red. And with one final bite, the Great Devourer was no more. Or so it would seem.
A blackish-purple orb floated in the sky, invisible to the mortal world. As it floated toward an invisible crack in the air, it was suddenly snatched from its destination, the small light that acted as an eye turned to see the Arc Dragon of Power holding it in her claws, her eyes glowing a spectral blue.
"And just where do you think you're going, hmm?" Akira's diamond eyes narrowed. "Did you really think that I would let you enter the Departed Realm? Hah! Such naivety for someone whose age is in the thousands." Akira noted, her echoing voice only made the insult more pronounced. "I have a very special place for you instead." Akira's eyes turned a sinister purple as she opened her mouth, and whitish energy wrapped around the soul, pulling it into her jaws as she snapped them shut, her hidden markings flashing purple before fading away. Akira exhaled exaggeratedly. "I am the hole that has opened up to swallow you, and give you eternal pain and suffering for you can no longer die."
She turned and began trotting toward Ninjago City, using the elemental power of size to shrink down to something more manageable, but not before letting out a roar of dominance.
(Scene break)
The citizens of Ninjago City cheered for the ninja after they received the go-ahead to return to the city after it was declared safe enough by higher authorities like the police and the mayor, who were the first to return. Everyone was still cautious of Selma and her fellow Serpentine, along with Akira who was still in her dragon form. Akira was busy repairing the inner workings of a shoulder joint before welding the arm onto the joint.
Out of the corner of her eye, Akira noticed a young blonde-haired girl walking up to her tail, curiosity shining in the young girl's eyes. Akira paused the repairs on the robotic dragon and carefully crouched in front of her as to not intimidate the girl due to her still large size.
"Hello, little Harumi," Akira greeted, recognizing the girl from when she and Lloyd were at Mega Monster Amusement Park. Harumi's eyes shined with surprise as she tilted her head with a small childish gasp. "You know my name?" she asked with a smile.
Akira nodded. "Yup. It was at Mega Monster Amusement Park, though I looked different, smaller too." she chirped, allowing the girl to sit on her tail while laughing with childlike excitement. "Are you a dragon? Like, a real dragon?" Harumi asked, playing with a tendril of water that Akira had formed above Harumi's head. "Yes, I am. In fact, I have a very special role among them: Arc Dragon," Akira happily answered, using the water tendril to clean off some dirt on Harumi's face.
Harumi instinctively made an attempt to swat the tendril, only for water to splash over her. "Heh-heh-ha." Childish laughter erupted from her mouth, and Akira followed with her own soft laughter. Akira lowered her tail, hinting for Harumi to get down. "Alright, little one, I think it's time for you to get back to your mother, she's looking for you," she said softly, gently nudging the girl toward her mother.
Akira waved, before turning back to continue repairing the robotic dragon.
(2 Weeks Later)
Any of the damages done to Ninjago City were almost fully repaired, with the exceptions being some of the taller buildings and apartments. Most of the debris was cleared by Akira and Nya, who piloted the now fully repaired mecha dragon to help clear out large chunks of debris.
As of this moment, Akira—in her Draconian form—was with Lloyd at the Ninjago Doomsday Comix store to buy the latest edition Starfarer comic. Akira was paying for it, of course; she didn't mind. She was essentially one of, if not the, richest being in this realm with all the money and ancient artifacts she could sell if need be. As they were looking through an aisle, Akira noticed how one of the customers slowly scooted away, spacing themselves from her with a noticeable amount of nervousness.
Akira let out a quiet sigh; this was to be expected, especially given what the Serpentine had done under Pythor's command. And though she didn't care how the humans treated her, the Serpentine were another matter; they were still her people after all.
"Found it," Lloyd said, gaining her attention to show her the comic. She grabbed the comic, careful not to puncture it with her claws as she opened it for a quick read-through. She closed it before handing it back to Lloyd. "It's interesting," Akira noted, gesturing toward the rest of the comics. "Get any that you don't have, don't worry about the price." Lloyd's eyes shined with excitement as he began searching through the aisle for any comic issues that he'd missed, whether it was due to unavailability or price. "So, you're the one who's been watching over the little rascal." Akira turned to see Mother Doomsday—who was a male—the owner of this establishment and the man who had introduced Lloyd to comic books.
Akira nodded affirmatively. "Yes, I am. And you must be Mother Doomsday, Lloyd has told me about you. Fondly, I might add."
The man nodded, stretching his hand out for a handshake. "Yep, that's me. But you may call me by my real name: Rufus," the now named Rufus said as Akira respectfully shook his hand.
Rufus glanced at Lloyd, who had walked over with a pile of comics in his arms. "Whoa, that's quite a bit of comics, little man." He commented, this was surprising to him as Lloyd usually only ever bought one comic, two if he had saved some extra money.
"Akira said I could get as many as I'd like," Lloyd happily stated.
Rufus clasped his hands. "Alright then, let's get you checked out," he said, leading Lloyd toward the checkout counter, but not before Akira handed the man her card to pay. "The amount I have to pay doesn't matter," she said, getting a nod from Rufus.
Akira's eyes flashed a hetero-chromic red and white. "Finally found you." Her eyes returned to their natural amethyst. A saddened expression crossed her face, but only for a moment as resolve took its place. She was leaving, and of course she was going to tell Lloyd, the only problem being his reaction to it given the fact that he'd yelled at him to leave during their last encounter. Akira had already talked with him about that, telling him that his father loved and cared for him no matter how much of the venom corrupted his sense of self.
Lloyd walked up to her and handed her the card, a bag full of his newly purchased comics hanging from his left arm. He waved goodbye to Rufus as they left.
They soon returned home to a Hero's Suit apartment, one that Akira had obviously paid for. While she had already reconfigured the Draconic Vessel to be more like the Destiny's Bounty, she'd still suggested that they live somewhere in Ninjago City until they properly learned how to operate the ship along with its ability to become a dragon.
After Akira had helped Lloyd stack and organize his comics, she sat down beside him in order to talk about her departure. "Lloyd," Akira began, gaining Lloyd's attention. "Yeah?"
Akira exhaled. "I will be leaving for a while." She raised her hand as a gesture for him to wait. "I don't know for how long, but I will do my best to finish what I need to do as fast as possible."
Lloyd pondered on this for the next minute, clearly nervous about her leaving for an unknown amount of time. "You promise you'll come back?" He looked up at her, and she could see the smallest amount of fear in his eyes. She could see just how much he'd become attached to her; maybe she had also been too attached to him as well, so this was a good decision for the both of them.
"I promise, my little Drakh'yr."
(Scene break)
In the partially destroyed city of Ouroboros, Akira stood in front of a golden portal wearing high-tech armor that she had made specially for this occasion, using her silver power instead of her golden power like she usually would have. The armor was lean but more than bulky enough to emphasize that it was heavy-duty. It was mainly a dark purple with gold and silver secondary colors in a similar pattern to her markings when she released her power from its metaphorical chains, though her power was still suppressed.
Akira walked into the portal, only to come out from the other side to see Ouroboros in ruins. Her eyes narrowed as she sensed two familiar energy signatures near Ninjago City, including the signatures of Elemental Masters. "Found you." She growled, before launching into the air and towards the city.
(End)
I fell asleep last night whilst writing this last segment.
You'll be getting Ninjago chapters for a while so stay tuned.