The Rise After The Merge- A Ninjago Fan Fiction *on break rn*

Chapter 8- The Shadow of the Darkness

The Oni's continued to glare at Grace and Lloyd suspiciously. Lloyd noticed that they seemed a little bit more different than the Oni's he had faced before. They seemed more human-like, less Oni. "Who are you and what do you two want with us?" one of them questioned while the others growled in response. "Listen, we don't mean any harm-" Lloyd started but was abruptly cut off by their supposed leader pointing a weapon at his neck." We didn't ask you to talk, you color coded dimwit," the leader said as they started to close in on Lloyd and Grace, their hands glowing with a vigorous, violent purple fire. Lloyd and Grace turned back-to-back, nervous of what was to come. They embraced for impact, as they were outnumbered. That was, until Grace's weapon clattered onto the ground very loudly, the noise echoing throughout the space. The Oni drew to a close whilst the leader picked up the weapon and inspected it before gesturing to the others to cease any motion or further cautions.

"Hey, you," the leader said, pointing at Grace." Are you aware that this is an Oni- made weapon?" Grace nodded in response. He leaned into her face. "So are you an Oni? Only an Oni could get their hands on a valuable weapon like this." Grace looked at him straight in the eye and said,'' Yes. I'm a hybrid, a half Oni. This weapon has been passed down in my family for centuries. It's the only thing that I have left to remind myself of my heritage." The leader looked pretty satisfied with her answer but then turned to Lloyd with a narrow glare."Then what's your excuse, green boy?" Lloyd looked down at his new Ninja suit, many shades of green and very durable, which was great for climbing and such. In the First Realm, he had to be very careful and cautious of the words that came out of his mouth. "Well?" the leader said impatiently, waiting for a response. "You better give me a good answer you PARASITE, or else you won't like what happens next." The leader got closer to Lloyd's face and grabbed a knife out of his pocket. He pointed the knife at Lloyd's face, ready to strike whenever. Oh shot, I need to think of something, and quick, Lloyd thought to himself. I can probably just mention that I'm part oni, but not part dragon. That would cause problems. "I- I'm," Lloyd started as the leader's knife got too close to his skin, causing it to bleed.''Part Oni." The leader pulled back his knife, leaving a crimson red mark on a stumbling Lloyd's neck. He then proceeded to turn to the ginormous ancient door and swung it open. "Ok, fine, if you say so," he said. "You need to prove it."

They were led into a place past the doors, with many dark shades of color everywhere. There were reflective materials all around, and somewhat seemed to resemble a normal village. But what Lloyd seemed to notice was there were a lot of kids, not a lot of adults. The whole place was gloomy and depressing all and all. Then the group promptly stopped, at a pedestal with a glowing orb on top of it. "Touch this. If it glows purple, you are at least part Oni. If not, things might not be pretty. That's only if it senses something unconventional." "Okay, " Lloyd said, questioning on what to properly call the person. "It's Yoru. Now put your hands on the orb," Yoru commanded.

Lloyd nervously put his hands on the orb and started to feel a weird sensation in his veins. It was like it was bringing his Oni side out more and couldn't do anything to control it. He saw visions of Garmadon, Morro, and Harumi as his mind slowly slipped into darkness. Then he saw the same vision that he saw the other day in his dream, but it was different. This time he saw who probably was the Dragon King, who was throwing crystal projectiles at him, yelling something inaudible. He saw all of his friends trapped and frozen in crystal prisons. And then the Dragon King was trying to persuade him into doing something. The thing that Lloyd was the most terrified of was seeing himself in his Oni form, his eyes multiple colors while having blood splattered all over him. Lloyd couldn't pull himself out of the trance, it felt like his head was underwater....

"Hey Lloyd? Lloyd?! Hello, are you there?" Grace yelled out, pulling him out of his trance. Lloyd took a moment to let things sink back to reality. Yoru glanced at Lloyd before he turned around. "You have proved that you are one of us. Come." Lloyd followed with Grace behind him, all by being surrounded by other Oni. "You okay Lloyd?" Grace asked when she saw Lloyd's pale, colorless face. "Yeah, I'm fine," Lloyd lied to reassure her. "I just feel off..." "Well, was it about your Oni forms? You were very out of it. I could barely see your pupils," Grace added. Lloyd looked down. Had it been that bad? And he had no control, was it because of the orb?

"We're here," Yoru said in a dead, cold, spine-chilling voice. Grace could almost pick up a hit of fear. That was because he was. Right in front of them stood a dragon. Not just any dragon either, a Source Dragon. It was muted blue and scaly, with pale yellow undertones. It seemed more on a smaller size, but it was still majestic. It also had lightning stripes all over its body as it assumed a threatening position over the Oni looking at it. It did not attack, but stood intimidating over, as if thinking of what to do next. It seemed like a harmless little puppy, just waiting what to terrorize. Grace felt a wave of panic flood over her. She had never seen a dragon that big, and she was beyond terrified of it. Even though it wasn't attacking, it still had Grace and all of the other Oni's hearts pounding. "A source dragon?" Lloyd questioned. " What's this about?" All of a sudden, every single living being turned to give Lloyd a dirty look. Yoru turned his head around, his cascade of black hair hitting his pale skin and his startling purple eyes staring into Lloyd's soul. Even Grace had a look of disbelief on her face. Yoru walked to Lloyd, looking quite upset. He grabbed Lloyd by his neck and let out a small growl. "Any Oni always is in fear of a dragon, even myself. It's the only thing that can kill us right away if wanted. 'Cause if you want to go ahead and face the dragon, be my guest! Or are you something else? Are you more than Oni and human?" Yoru dropped Lloyd down on the ground, leaving a cloud of dust in its mist. Lloyd started to get up slowly, coughing from the debris when the source dragon roared all of a sudden. It hit a building with its spiked barbed tail, which led much of the Oni backing up in fear. The dragon spit out a beam of combined lightning and water, which knocked out a giant silo in the village. But while everyone else ran backwards to take cover, Lloyd cautiously stepped towards it, gathering some looks and whispers from everyone else. "What is that idiot doing?" Yoru bellowed while protecting a small Oni child from harm.''He's going to get himself killed!" Grace looked at Lloyd who slowly approached the Source Dragon, while also protecting a small Oni child from harm. "I don't know, but he better know what he's doing."

Lloyd took time to look at the Source Dragon. It seemed like a mix of water of lightning, so it must have been a child of the Water and Lightning Source Dragons. "Who are you?" the dragon questioned as they saw who was approaching them. "M- my name is Lloyd, and I'm not anyone bad," Lloyd replied, startled by the dragon's telepathy. "Oh good. I've just stumbled across this place to find someone that I trust a lot. Also my name is Strike, the successor of the original Lightning Source Dragon. And not to mention my mother was the original Water Source Dragon. I am terribly sorry for what I did here. My tail slipped. All I was trying to do was greet the Oni. I have no intentions of hurting any of you." Lloyd stroked the dragon while all of the Oni looked out of fear. He smiled at Strike and he could swear that it smiled back. "You're the conduit, right? I heard Hope talking about you a lot." "Yes, I am," Lloyd responded. Strike then cockingly tilted his head before asking a question. "So you are the descendant of the First Spinjitzu Master, right? Have you ever heard of a dragon named Lingurras?" "No, I never heard of a dragon named that," Lloyd responded. "Oh," Strike said softly. "That's fine."

Lloyd walked away from the dragon as Strike moved away from the village slightly, curling up in a small ball.

Yoru motioned for others that the course was clear, before pulling Lloyd to the side. "WHY DIDN'T YOU MENTION THAT YOU WHERE THE DESCENDANT OF THE FIRST SPINJITZU MASTER?!" he whispered as he leant over Lloyd. Lloyd did not say anything out of fear. Yoru summoned his Oni power and hit Lloyd with it. He stumbled over as Yoru leaned over him, his eyes glowing a bright purple. But then Lloyd felt a burning passion in him. He couldn't control anything; his Oni side was in charge now. He pushed over Yoru and shot his power at him. Furious, Yoru was able to get behind Lloyd and carefully (and gently) stabbed Lloyd on his side with his knife. Lloyd realized what was happening and felt the surging pain in his side as his heart pounded with shaky hands. He wasn't in control; he had no control as he fell to the ground.

No control, none at all...

Lloyd opened his eyes to find that he was in a bed. He tried to sit up, but he felt the surging pain in his side. He had no energy whatsoever and felt terrible. "Hey, Lloyd," Grace said at the side of his bed. "How are you feeling?" Lloyd shook his head. Grace looked over at his wound and he started to wince in pain. "I'll leave it alone then," Grace replied as she moved away from him. Lloyd looked around sleepily as he looked around. "Lloyd? What are you doing here?" Lloyd opened up his eyes and sat up as he heard the voice. Then his eyes widened as he saw who it was. "DAD?!"

Word Count- 1800