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Lloyd cautiously took the Oni mask from the pedestal through the purple flames that tickled him slightly in a sinister way; behind him was Harumi watching with careful, keen, and calculated eyes. “I don’t like this”, Lloyd muttered as he turned to Harumi and walked away from the pedestal as the purple flames disappeared behind him, “This just feels wrong to me!”.
“Then why not give it to me?” Harumi suggested, “It shouldn’t affect me, and maybe you need a break?”.
Something felt off in Lloyd's head about what Harumi just said; “Rumi how did you know I have the blood of Oni and Dragon?” he asked as he turned back to her.
Harumi froze for a second but she seemed to recover; “I heard Jay talking about it with the others!”. Lloyd could feel that something wasn’t right with her, but he was blinded by her nervous smile and thought that yeah maybe she had heard from the others. He heard a ruckus through one of the other two doorways; sinister laughter he knew all too well.
“The others are in trouble, come on!” he spat as he took Harumi’s hand and ran through one of the random openings and down a winding tunnel that led to light; directly below them were the ninja surrounded by the biker gang turned cult that wanted to revive his father. Lloyd let go of Harumi and jumped down with the mask in one hand and his dao blade in the other; “Back off or else I shatter this!” he threatened with the mask. The SOG all gasped and stepped back as the tip of his blade pushed into the mask of hatred; he didn’t even register Ultra Violet looking up before she stepped back further and the others followed suit. Suddenly a massive creature emerged from the river bed beside them and its roar shook everyone; the SOG ran away in fear as the ninja fell back together and Harumi joined them.
“Puppy!” Wu chuckled with glee as he pointed to the monster that was pursuing the SOG.
“That is not a puppy little Wu!” Cole said to Wu as he climbed up onto the ladder to the Bounty’s deck. Everyone scrambled up the ladder and dealt with some SOG members with ease and threw them overboard.
“What the heck happened?!” Lloyd nearly yelled, “Is everyone alright?!”.
“We got jumped by the SOG is what happened!” Jay screamed, “RIGHT AFTER WE REPAIRED OUR SHIP!”.
“They knew where we crashed somehow, and where the temple was!” Nya spat in anger, “They took us hostage but we broke out!”.
“Me and Harumi found a SOG boat up river with a map to the temple, that’s how they knew where the temple was! It doesn’t look like any of their previous expeditions survived though”, Lloyd told them as he handed Zane the oni mask, “We should destroy it later, get away from the SOG first”.
“Yeah good point”, Kai pointed out, “But how in Ninjago did they find us?!”.
“Maybe the smoke from our crash?” Zane suggested, “There was a lot of it after all while we were repairing it”.
“So where do we go now?!” Harumi asked with urgency, “What’s the plan?!”.
“Should we go back to New Ninjago City?” Pixal asked, “It might be risky with it being their territory, but it’s our territory too!”.
“We can ask the police commissioner for help!” Cole said aloud.
“I don’t know if the police can defend against two Oni masks dude” Jay pointed out, “Look where that got us!”.
“It gives us a shot, besides all we have to do is destroy this one mask and their entire goal is kaput!” Lloyd said excitement. The autopilot was set for the city and the ninja hid the mask in Wu’s old mediation room; the rest of the day they were on high alert as the jungle was vast and would take a day to get out of. Night fell and all seemed a bit too quiet; the ninja were on guard but couldn’t ignore their fatigue from the day and fell quickly asleep.
Lloyd was shaken awake to find Harumi in front of him looking excited; “What’s going on Rumi?” he yawned.
“I think there’s a meteor shower going on outside!” she whispered as she slipped out of the sleeping quarters; Lloyd was rather confused but got ready, and maybe this was something special he thought.
“Oh wait, it's a night date!” Lloyd realized as he got his gi on, “This should be interesting!”. Something in the back of Lloyd’s mind however said that something was very wrong, something very bad was going happen; he thought about taking his dao blade with him, but Harumi urged him to come quickly with eager waves of her hand and he forgot to take it. He quietly walked through the halls with Harumi but she was quick and determined it seemed to go out as she lightly sang that odd lullaby about the spider and mouse; he didn't notice the lights on the cameras to indicate they were on were out. Harumi took his hand and pulled him out onto the deck and they found themselves in the moonlight and clear night skies.
“You can’t beat this”, Lloyd muttered as he and Harumi looked up to the sky, “Me and my dad always went stargazing together…”. Harumi led him over to the very front of the Bounty over by some barrels of supplies; there was a slant of sorts to the front where the supports for the dragon head were, and Kai and Jay often used it to suntan during the warmer months when no one was looking. Lloyd looked over the side of the Bounty and swore he heard engines down below, but he couldn’t tell if it was the Bounty’s engines making the noise; he noticed Harumi applying some sort of lipstick on and blushed slightly. Without warning she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward her, so he fell back onto the slant before Harumi kissed him fully on the lips; everything went still as Lloyd had no idea what to do. It was one thing with a peck on the cheek, but this was the first time he’d ever had a kiss on the lips. His heart raced but he trusted her and let her take lead as he closed his eyes, but then something felt wrong. He felt an odd sensation going through him from the mouth and going down through his body and seconds later that sensation turned into pain.
“What’s going on?!”, Lloyd thought as his heart rate climbed, “I don’t think this is supposed to happen!”. Lloyd tried to move his hand but without warning Harumi practically slammed it into the slant along with his other hand; his eyes flew open in fear and he tried to struggle, but the pain was getting stronger as he started losing feeling in his limbs. He tried to get up but Harumi put her knee on his chest and leaned her entire body weight onto him; she was overpowering him rather easily. “WHAT?! WHY?! IS THIS HAPPENING?!” Lloyd screamed in his mind as he continued to try to struggle but to no avail, “IS SHE BEING CONTROLLED SOMEHOW?!”. He tried to whimper or move his head away but Harumi wouldn’t let him escape; she opened her eyes full of determination and for some reason she seemed happy or pleased?! She had a sinister look in her eyes as Lloyd looked on in terror; this didn’t look like someone forced to do something against their will, but instead someone who knew very well what they were doing. The pain was overwhelming mentally and physically and his vision started to fade while tears fell from his eyes whimpering and whining to try to get Harumi to stop; finally after what seemed like forever Harumi stopped and backed away from Lloyd. His body was limp and felt as if it were aflame as he fell over onto his side breathing heavily; then he heard laughing. Harumi stood over him laughing at his pain and distress almost hysterically.
“Oh now this is just perfect!” she cackled with a sinister smile, “The high and mighty green ninja, brought down at my feet by nothing more than a poisoned kiss!”. A million thoughts went through Lloyd’s mind trying to find a reason behind this happening, but he couldn’t find any; his fear consumed him.
“W-Why?!” he managed to cough, “Why did you… do this?!”.
Harumi scowled at Lloyd with hatred; “Because you released the Devourer that destroyed my home and killed my original parents!” she hissed, “All that suffering was by your hand when you unleashed the serpentine, and then you got away with it scott free!”. Lloyd was confused, he didn’t unleash the Devourer; that was Pythor! Harumi kneeled down and looked Lloyd dead in the eyes before she continued. “All these years you’ve gotten away with all the destruction you caused, but now no longer! You’ll finally get the punishment you deserve, and by your own father’s hand! He was the greatest villain in the land who wanted to unite Ninjago under his rule, and now it will be reality!”. Harumi walked over to the barrels and grabbed some rope hidden behind them before she started tying Lloyd up while he was helpless.
“Rumi please…” Lloyd begged.
“Shut it!” she spat as she pulled a knife from her back pocket and grazed Lloyd’s chin with it; Lloyd fell silent in shock but whimpered in fear. “A profound warrior of legend is a big child in reality, such a disappointment” Harumi said, shaking her head as she continued to tie up Lloyd. The ropes were tight and intricate like a spider’s web as she sang that same, haunting lullaby; “Spider’s in the house, sleep sleep. Spider bit the mouse. Sleep deep”. She continued proudly with the same sly smile before she smiled at her work and she walked down below the deck.
“H-help me!”, Lloyd said as loudly as he could; no one came to his aid, “Please!”. He lay in silence with nothing but the Bounty’s engines and his sobbing and pleading fell upon deaf ears; minutes later Harumi reappeared with the mask of hatred and the same sly smile. She again stopped by the barrels and turned to Lloyd with a cloth, but then she put on the mask. Her head shook wildly as the two horn holes towards the top of the mask were suddenly flowing with black hair, her body turned grey with purple cracking all along it; she had transformed into a beast.
“Do you like this new look Lloyd?” Harumi asked with her voice changed, “It will be one of the last things you will see before your father snuffs you out like the little mouse you are!”. Harumi picked up Lloyd by the neck and put the gag around his mouth; she suddenly threw him into the deck of the Bounty and his head slammed against it. His vision faded to black as Harumi laughed at him, stuck something to the slant with her knife, and picked him up; the last thing he saw was Harumi jumping off the Bounty and landing on the ground as the SOG surrounded her and greeted her with open arms chanting “Return of the Quiet One, Return of Garmadon!”.
The Bounty Crashed into the ground without warning as the ninja were thrown from their beds and onto the floor; Cole had managed to catch baby Wu and shield him from harm.
“WHAT?!” Jay screamed as everyone scrambled up out of the sleeping quarters; Pixal stood in the hallways when she noticed something scurrying along the floor, a spider robot eerily similar to the one that hitched a ride in Zane and crashed the ship previously. Pixal ran at it and stomped her foot directly on top of it; when she lifted her foot it was nothing more than scrap. “We were sabotaged again!” she yelled as she made her way up to the bridge and saw minor damage.
“Wait a minute, where’s Lloyd and Harumi?!” Kai yelled as he looked back down into the hallways below deck. The ninja looked all over the Bounty for any sign of the two supposed love birds, however Jay found something at the very front of the Bounty by the dragon head; a note impaled by a knife with a purple kiss mark on it.
“I FOUND SOMETHING!” Jay yelled; the others rushed over, but as soon as Zane scanned the note he snatched it from Jay’s hands.
“Jay, did you touch the kiss mark?!” Zane nearly demanded.
“No? Why do you ask?” Jay said, confused.
“This is poison!” Zane explained, “It’s not a fatal one but it is very dangerous and fast acting!”.
Cole looked over Zane’s shoulder and read the note aloud; “You were all fools to take me in, blind to the fact that I was the one you were looking for all along. Have fun watching Garmadon unite Ninjago before he comes to end you all himself! And don’t worry, I’ll take care of Lloyd before Garmadon kills him! From Harumi”.
The ninja stood in shock before Zane cleared his throat; “This lipstick has her dna in it” he muttered.
“... It was her”, Pixal stated from the control room, “She took out all the security systems and the cameras, except for one”. Everyone ran into the control room and stared at the big screen to see Harumi leading Lloyd to the front of the Bounty before she kissed him, but then Lloyd became distressed and struggled while Harumi held him down.
“She poisoned him” Nya muttered as they barely heard Lloyd whimpering in fear; although the camera was a ways off they could see the fear in his eyes. Harumi finally stopped and tied him up like cattle before she sang that odd song; baby Wu was shaking in fear. The ninja witnessed Harumi swing a knife at Lloyd’s face and draw blood; they were shocked to see such violence, hatred, and anger from the princess they had sworn to protect. They could barely hear everything, from Lloyd’s weak and fearful voice to Harumi’s anger and sly comments; then Harumi walked off screen leaving Lloyd alone.
“H-help me! Please!” Lloyd could be heard begging, but Harumi returned with the mask and transformed before him and slammed him into the deck before jumping off the Bounty.
“This entire thing was a setup”, Zane said quietly, “And we never even caught on”.
“She played us all like a fiddle” Jay chuckled nervously, “But even more so Lloyd and now he’s gone”.
Kai sat down shaking his head before he looked down at his hands and said “Lloyd was BEGGING for help but we were all asleep… He was so scared… I promised I would protect him but I couldn’t even…”.
Nya sat down beside her brother and hugged him tightly while baby Wu walked up to him and hugged him too; “She played all of us, but maybe we can stop the SOG still!” Cole said with determination.
“The damage isn’t as bad as last time”, Pixal said, “We can repair it in the next hour if we all get to work!”.
“Then what are we waiting for?!” Nya said loudly as she got up and her brother followed suit, “Let’s get our friend back and stop this cult!”.
Misako was thrown into a cage connected to some contraption in the ruins of the Royal Palace; she had been grabbed by the biker gang her son had warned her about, but she knew nothing of their intentions beside bringing back the worst of her dead husband.
“The Quiet One’s coming with the last mask, and the last piece of the puzzle”, one of the SOG goons said laughing, “A shame that she had him wrapped up in her web so tightly he never even had a chance to fight back!”.
“Who is the Quiet One?!”, Misako thought, “And who’s this ‘last piece of the puzzle’ they’re talking about?!”. Suddenly more SOG goons came flooding into the ruins and stood around the edges of the ruins; a large man in grey that had grabbed her earlier walked alongside a woman with grey and white face paint with a ponytail and a wild look in her eyes. Behind the two with the odd and silent man in black and red with a motorcycle helmet on, but in different clothing and a sinister look was the Jade Princess Harumi.
“All hail the Quiet One!” the SOG chanted as she bowed to her audience. Misako only then noticed the large man had a burlap sack slung over his back; there was some blood dripping from it.
“Get him in the cage, let him watch his worst fear come to reality before it ends him like the coward he is!” Harumi nearly shouted; the large man nodded before he opened the bag and grabbed whoever was inside, in a quick movement the large man slammed someone into the cage.
“AH!” a familiar voice yelled with a yipe. Misako froze in shock as it was her own son, tied up and beaten that was just slammed into the cage and the cage door was shut.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY CHILD?!” she demanded as she shook the bars of her cage with fury and the closest SOG goons stepped back in fear. Most of the SOG laughed as her son leaned against the back of his cage in fear and pain.
Harumi walked up to Lloyd’s cage with a knife in hand before she grabbed him by the front of his gi with one hand and held the knife up to his face with the other; “We’ve been having fun with him, but soon enough he’ll pay for his crimes by his father’s hand!” she mused as she grazed Lloyd’s cheek with the knife while he whimpered in fear.
“STOP THIS! YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Misako hissed; Harumi laughed as she let go of Lloyd and plucked a hair from his head, but just as she turned to face Misako she smiled cruelly before she suddenly swung her knife at Lloyd. Harumi barely missed Lloyd’s face by mere millimeters as he yelped in fear; Misako nearly growled as Harumi approached her and plucked a gray hair from Misako’s head. Harumi laughed as she put the two hairs on the pedestal, unaware that the ninja were already on the palace grounds keen to end this madness.