Lloyd stepped forward, in hope to reason with the lilac ninja.
"Jupiter, that's not true! You're as much as a ninja as the rest of us!" The green ninja shouted, struggling to get closer. The others ducked for cover behind various furniture thrown around by the Empress' rage. They watched in anticipation, as their friend attempted to get the jewel away from Jupiter.
"Axel tricked you. The Sky Jewel isn't what he said it was - there was no prophecy! You're not a sovereign, you're one of us!" Lloyd yelled again; the Empress had stopped firing her elemental powers at them and was crouched behind a wooden cabinet she knocked over. It seemed that the gleaming jewel around her neck was weakening her as well as subverting her character.
Around the room, particulates of noxious dust floated around, enough to make some of the group cough. The green ninja was just a few feet from the girl, peering at her with concern. She suddenly rose from behind the cabinet, clutching a black pistol and pointing it at Lloyd. He inhaled sharply and took a step back in worry- the firearm in the girl's hand was cocked and prepared to eject.
"Don't lie to me. This jewel was the best thing that happened to me and this sub-realm - you can't take it from me-" she growled, finger resting on the pistol's trigger. Behind the clutter, Hector and the other ninja were holding their breath - was she really going to shoot him? They could barely watch.
"Lloyd, get away from there - she'll hurt you!" Kai whisper-shouted to his friend, but the green ninja was too determined to retrieve his teammate and free her from the jewel's corruption. He stood, feet steadily planted to the ground and glared back at the girl with a gun.
What felt like an eternity was just a few seconds as the Empress took a decision - she stared at the ninja with cold dead eyes as she prepared to shoot Lloyd right there and then, when she was suddenly grabbed from behind.
"NO JUPITER, STOP!" A girl's voice cried. Another person took hold of the Empress' arms. From the balcony's open doors, Ari and Eleanor had unexpectedly arrived just in time to save a life.
"Eleanor!? Ari!? What are you--How..?" Hector stood up quickly from behind the destroyed furniture.
"QUICK, JUST TAKE THE GUN AWAY FROM HER," Eleanor shrieked, gripping onto the Empress' arms. In a split second, the pistol shot out a bullet, barely missing the heads of the ninja at the other end of the room and blasting straight through the wall. Lloyd backspin kicked the weapon away from the girl, sending it well away from her reach.
Still enraged, the Empress violently elbowed the two girls in the torso, freeing herself and sprinting out of the bedroom into the palace halls. The two teenagers dropped to the floor in pain - Hector stumbled over to help his two friends.
"Go find Jupiter!" He yelled to the ninja - they immediately ran out the bedroom doors to pursuit the runaway Empress.
"Hector! You're...okay!" Ari exclaimed, still crouched and clutching her ribs.
"And we found Jupiter too! Although, something's not right with her...what happened?" Eleanor said weakly, sitting up from the floor.
Hector squatted next to his friends. "Jupiter was kidnapped and tricked into becoming an Empress - now she's corrupted by a supposedly 'royal' necklace." He paused. "Wait. How did you guys even find me here?" He questioned in genuine confusion.
"We tracked your phone - it lead us up to some rocks in the desert. But we saw one of the ninja's vehicles parked close by, so we looked around and eventually ended up in this place," Eleanor explained.
"Then we found out about the coronation of 'Empress Jupiter'," Ari added. "We dressed up as traders and snuck into the palace - we heard lots of yelling so we got up onto this balcony and found the green ninja at gunpoint by our best friend."
Hector looked at them with a surprised face - he didn't question them any further so he nodded and stood up again.
"We have to go find the ninja and Jupiter, before anything else happens." Ari said, standing up as well. They all rose to their feet and hustled out the door into the corridor.
"You two go find them," Hector said. "I have someone else I need to find."
YOU ARE READING
NINJAGO: Corrupted
Adventure[𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙙!] Join the six ninja, Kai, Cole, Zane, Nya, Jay and Lloyd in a quest to find their missing teammate Jupiter, whilst uncovering the secrets behind her power and what it all has to do with a mysterious jewel... Find out in this ill...
