Rise of the Overlord

Chapter Nine

Kai slowly woke when he felt Ultra Dragon descending from the clouds, he yawned and rubbed his eyes. God, what a weird dream, he thought. There is no way Lloyd could've failed! Wait a minute...where am I? Finally awake, he looked around and realized that it wasn't a dream, it was all real. Lloyd had lost. Nya, Jay, Cole, Zane; all captured and corrupted. The Overlord had won, and he was the last surviving ninja.

Oh God, what am I going to do?!

Kai looked around and was extremely confused, where was he? Where was Ultra Dragon taking him? The ground below him was gray, the trees were gray, everything was gray.

"Ultra Dragon? Where are you taking me?"

"The Spirit Coves, Master Kai," a female voice echoed in his head.

Kai jolted, "Who said that?!"

"I did." Flame turned her head around and winked, the Fire Ninja's mouth dropped.

"Flame?! You can talk?"

"I can, Master Kai. All of us can. We chose to remain quiet until the right time came," Flame said, turning back around.

Kai, in shock, fell silent and looked around at the foreign land. The gray earth was slowly being replaced with emerald grass, turquoise rivers, and bright flowers. Somehow the Dark Matter had not corrupted the earth, everything was still colorful and peaceful, even the sky was changing from the gray overcast to clear skies. How is this possible? I thought the Overlord had taken over all of Ninjago! He thought.

"The Spirit Coves are sacred land, it takes quite a lot of darkness to corrupt this place. It's similar to the Temple of Light on the Island of Darkness," a male voice said. Rocky glanced at him, a sad look in his brown eyes. "It would take at least three of the Overlord's missiles to have any effect here, and if that happened, then there would be severe damage to all of Ninjago."

Ultra Dragon landed beside a large tunnel, the inside was softly lit by large, light blue crystals growing on the walls as far as Kai could see. Massive evergreens created a dense forest surrounding the tunnel, birds' songs filled the air, mixing with the soft breeze and the rustle of the pines. Ultra Dragon nudged Kai into it, leading him deep underground.

"Where are you taking me?" Kai asked again, following the massive beast deeper into the earth.

"Follow us, Master Kai," Rocky said, his deep voice echoed in Kai's mind. "We have something to show you."

The dragon and the fire ninja entered the back of the tunnel, entering a massive cavern; grass covered the ground, a sapphire creek cut through the cavern leading to a shimmering lake, even a skylight allowed the last rays of the sun through.

"Woah," he breathed, looking around. "This is the Spirit Coves?"

Ultra Dragon's four heads nodded, Wisp said, "This is where we came to, as the master of ice once said, find our true potential."

"But, now with the threat of the Overlord, we must take on our original roles," Shard said, she looked at the other heads as they nodded.

"Wait, original roles? Like, as separate dragons?"

"Before we were the guardians of the Golden Weapons, we were the original masters of fire, earth, lightning and ice," Flame said.

Kai's eyes widened, "What?! How's that possible?!"

"We are the spirits of the elemental masters, protectors of the First Spinjitzu Master," Rocky said. "After the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago using the four elements, he created the Four Weapons and the Four Wielders; us. We helped him in the battles against the Overlord, before he split the world in two. When we were no longer needed, we were able to create our bloodlines."

"If Zane is a nindroid, how is he able to wield the element of ice?"

"I created my descendants not to be related by blood, but by their spirits. I decided that only those who are worthy can be masters of ice," Shard said.

The sun had set, the stars were now shining above them, their soft light shown through the cavern. The lake was now glowing a soothing white, the reflection of the waves lighting up the room. Ultra Dragon walked inside the lake, until it disappeared under the water. Kai sat down in the grass and waited, and after almost an hour of waiting and plucking blades of grass, the water started to glow, bubble and hiss. He scrambled back as four glowing balls of energy shot out of the water; one on fire, one crackling with electricity, one made of stone and dirt, and one made of pure ice. The four elements shifted into vague human forms, hovering above the grass in front of the teen ninja.

Kai was in shock, was this really happening? Were the four original elemental masters really standing...er, floating, in front of him?

"We are, Kai. This is real," Flame said, should he continue to call her Flame?

"D-Do you have other names? Or, what should I call you?" He asked.

"My original name was Kasai," Flame said. 

"Kilat," Wisp said. 

"Delkhii," Rocky said.

"Kori," Shard said. 

"But call us whatever makes you comfortable," Kasai said.

"I think I'll stick with Flame, Wisp, Shard and Rocky."

"Good. We shall teach you everything we know, Master Kai," Rocky said.

"We shall help you defeat the Overlord, once and for all," Wisp said. The four elemental figures flashed a bright light, blinding Kai for a minute or so. After blinking frantically, clearing his vision, he saw that three of the four figures had changed forms. Wisp had changed to look almost identical to Jay, Rocky changed to look like Cole, and Shard looked like Zane. The only differences were that they had cracks in their skins, showing the elemental power within. 

Flame remained in her fiery form, she hovered in front of Kai and asked, "Would you rather I look like Nya, or should we merge to be one Master of Fire?"

"W-We can merge?"

Flame nodded and held her hand out, Kai hesitantly took it, a wave of massive power overtook him. He cried out, the feeling of liquid fire flowing through his veins as he and Flame became one. Kai's body started to glow like the Fire Temple, pulsing like molten lava, burning him from the inside-out. Slowly the pain started to make its way to his heart, pounding against his ribcage, as if it's now two hearts in one. The pain receded until it became a soft warmth, as if it was now liquid ember in his veins. Kai collapsed onto the grass, gasping for air before fading into unconsciousness.  

AN: Kasai is fire in Japanese, Kilat is Javanese for Lightning, Delkhii is Mongolian for earth and Kori is Japanese for ice...from what Google Translate says. I'm sorry if it isn't 100% accurate.