Onyx and the Tournament of Elements

Empty Ream

Ori awoke in a room full of skulls with her hands and feet bound and a pounding headache. She blinked as the light stabbed into her eyes, making the headache worse. "Ori, are you okay?" Nya's voice called. Ori blinked harder and looked over to see Garmadon and Nya tied to poles with skulls atop them. When Garmadon saw that she was awake, he immediately began to bombard her with questions.

"What happened? Is Lloyd okay? Where is he?" Ori managed to push herself into a sitting position, trying to clear her head enough to formulate an answer. Before she could say anything, Chen entered the room. "I have your son. But his power will become mine at the ceremony tonight. I'm sorry you didn't get an invite. I'm still a little hurt when my pupil decided to betray me so long ago," he said, poking Garmadon with his staff.

Nya's face paled. "But how did you defeat him?" She whispered. Ori's eyes widened. "He got-" she was silenced by Chen slamming his staff threateningly into the ground. "I get to say it! I had a little help," he said. Nya gasped as Kai entered the room. Garmadon's eyes narrowed. "You pitted the ninja against themselves, just as you did the Elemental Masters," he hissed.

Nya's face displayed the shock she was feeling. "Why, Kai? How could you do this?" She cried. Kai shook his head. "Chen holds all the power. Lloyd alone never stood a chance. I had to think about what was best for us. He'll let you go if-" Nya interrupted him. "I'd rather be snake food!" She snarled. Garmadon took the momentary distraction to shoot his legs forward and yank Skylor into him. "Untie us!" He demanded.

Chen and Clouse stared at him a moment before bursting into laughter. "Or what? You've changed, remember? You're Sensei Garmadon. You're a good guy. Threats don't frighten me," Chen said. Ori, who had been inching closer to Chen the entire time, decided to speak. "So am I, but I'm still gonna bite you!" She followed through by chomping her teeth into Chen's bare ankle. Chen shrieked and shook his leg, but Ori refused to let go, despite the bolts of pain the rough movement was sending through her body. "Clouse! Clouse, help me!" Chen shrieked. Clouse didn't move, perhaps caught so off-guard he didn't know what to do.

Ori was finally forced to let go when Chen managed to kick her in the stomach. She wheezed in pain, but even that couldn't erase the self-pride she felt when she saw the bite mark she'd left on his nasty ankle. "Clouse, do the thing," Chen spat through his teeth, leaning heavily on his uninjured ankle. Clouse nodded and spun a wheel, which opened up a metal gate. "My pet may be napping, but she's always hungry when she wakes up," he said.

"You had a good run, Garmadon. But all good things must come to an end," Chen snapped, jabbing Garmadon in the stomach. Garmadon glanced down at Chen's ankle. "Ooh, that looks painful. Need a bandage?" He asked, a smug grin on his face. Chen's face turned red, and a vein popped out on his forehead. If he were any redder, it would be comical. "Let's go," he spat, leading Skylor and Chen away. Ori gave a wheezy laugh when she noticed him limping.

"This isn't you, Kai. Don't do this," Nya whispered as Kai passed by her. Kai glanced back. "Sorry, sis. This is the way it has to be," he said. Ori felt all of her positive feelings drain out of her at those words... until Kai winked. Once he'd sent that signal to them, he turned away and vanished into the tunnels.

Once he was gone, Ori, Garmadon, and Nya began struggling against their bonds. "Some help you are, Kai," Nya muttered as she failed to escape. Garmadon sighed. "Nya, it's karma. After personally destroying the biggest snake Ninjago has ever seen, it's only reasonable the second biggest would exact its revenge on me," he said. Ori glanced at him. "You don't believe in luck, but you do believe in karma?" She asked. Garmadon shrugged. "Irony, then. It's irony," he said. "Situational irony!" Ori volunteered. Off of their looks, she shrugged. "I read a lot."

After about five more minutes, Ori heard a soft slithering sound and started to get really worried. She'd already reached for her paper compartment but realized that she couldn't fold anything with the way her hands were tied, and even if she could, she doubted she'd be able to get it to behave. She'd had a terrible emptiness in her chest since she'd woken up, and she'd instinctively known that it was the absence of her elemental power.