On a once peaceful December night, a villain has plunged the Crossroads into chaos with his plan to take over Ninjago and become its king. The first step in his master plan is to release on the city his army of...tiny robotic plush elves? Weird choice, but okay. Even though this threat seems unlikely to cause any real harm, it's up to Kai, Furno, Aaron, and Lewa to save Ninjago.
None!
Under the setting sun of the Crossroads, a man stood atop the tallest tower there and looked down at the people bustling below. Beneath the vibrant glow of the Festival Day lights, there were many kinds of people, all of which he knew would become part of his world. He smiled.
“Ah, humanity. They’re so innocent, so wonderful in their own unique ways…” he said to himself, “Tonight, their lives will change forever. They’ll begin the happiest days of their lives, under my perfect rule.”
He turned to look at a strange robot next to him. Its size and design were impressive, and he looked at it with great pride. He dragged his gloved hand across its surface, cackling.
“By midnight you’ll be complete. And with you and my other friends I’ll rule the world, and this wonderful time will never end.”
As he looked over the city again, his quiet cackle turned into a full evil villain laugh. When he noticed his own voice echoing back at him, he quickly shut up. He hoped nobody but him had heard that. Because for this plan, stealth was of the essence. He had patiently and covertly waited for this moment for so long, and nothing would stop him now. It was only a matter of time…
It had been only two months since the Universe Protection Alliance (UPA for short) had been formed, and its operations were going surprisingly smoothly. The initial shock of the idea had worn off pretty quickly when everyone thought about it. Working together would be in everyone’s best interest, and they didn’t know what threats they would be up against. Especially after what the Witch Doctor had said. Though some would-be members weren’t very keen on the idea and had gone home, some had stayed. And those who had stayed were currently trying to get the others to work with them, or to at least get them to be more civil about the whole thing.
Stormer had gotten clearance to use a previously empty and underdeveloped part of Hero Factory as their headquarters, and the space turned out very nice. It came complete with everything they needed, and even things they didn’t exactly need, like a living room, kitchen, and dorms. Stormer had intended the project to be a mere offshoot of Hero Factory, but it turned into more of a mini home for everyone, one in which all members were free to come and go if they ever had time off. Although things had been so busy that a good number of them hadn’t left since their first adventure together. And some of them had actually become friends. Like the group who was walking out of the living room right now.
Kai, Jay, Aaron, and Nex had just finished a heated gaming sesh together, complete with many cleared levels, defeated bosses, and laughter-filled conversations. Now they continued their conversation as they headed to the kitchen for some refreshments.
“I’m telling you, assassin is the best class in the whole game! That’s why I chose it,” Kai said.
“Yes, oh great assassin, we would be hopeless without you,” Aaron joked.
“Why did you say it like that? I was MVP you know!”
“Yeah, you were, but you wouldn’t have survived without me healing you every twenty seconds,” Nex said.
“And Aaron and I had to come bail you out way too many times,” Jay added.
Kai hand-waved away their comments, “Maybe. But don’t forget who taught you how to play in the first place.”
He absentmindedly opened the fridge, reached inside, and grabbed something…soft. It felt like a stuffed animal. The unexpected sensation made him pay attention to what he had just grabbed, and when he realized what it was he screamed and leaped away from it. The shock would’ve made him fall to the floor if Nex hadn’t caught him.
“Are you okay?! What happened?!” Nex asked.
Kai tried to back up more, only backing further into Nex, “E-Elves! There are elves in there!”
“Wh-What..?”
Nex thought he was crazy until he looked into the fridge and saw a bunch of small, plush elf dolls. The confirmation that there were in fact elves in there just confused him more. Why would anyone do this? Who had the time to do this? WHY would anyone do this?? His questions were answered by Aaron and Jay suddenly bursting into fits of laughter. Nex and Kai looked at them like they were insane.
“You did this?! Why?! How did you even know I—” Kai began.
“Jay told me, but man I didn’t think you’d react like that!” Aaron laughed.
Kai’s fear had been entirely replaced with anger as he stepped towards them, “Jay..!”
“Okay, we’re sorry! It was just a prank! Don’t kill us!” Jay apologized but was still laughing through it.
Kai stood down, “You’re lucky we’re teammates.”
He carefully reached into the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, being sure to avoid eye contact with any of the elves. He muttered something about those damn elves as he closed the fridge.
“Hey, Kai, I don’t know if this is offensive to ask, but why are you even scared of elves? I mean they’re totally harmless,” Aaron asked.
“Have you seen their faces?! Those beady eyes?! They’re conniving! They’d take over the world if we let them!” Kai snapped.
Jay could muster nothing to say in response to that but, “Ooooookay then.”
Nex put a hand on Kai’s shoulder, “Don’t let them get you down, Kai. Everyone has their fears, even if they are kinda weird.”
“I’m not scared of them; I just think they’re pure evil!” Kai retorted.
Nex was about to respond to that statement when he was interrupted by the kitchen door being flung open. Everyone turned to see who came in in such a rush and saw Furno.
“Guys, we have a situation! I know what I’m about to say sounds like I joke but I swear it’s not!” he said urgently.
“Hit me,” Nex said.
“Tiny plush elves are taking over the Crossroads. I’m serious.”
Everyone needed a second to let that statement sink in. After it had, half of them were laughing. And you can guess which half it was.
“I told you so!” Kai shouted.
Aaron couldn’t hold back his laughter, “What?!”
Furno wished he could tell them to stop laughing at him. Why did he have to be the one to give them the news? It’s like Stormer wanted him to look stupid in front of his teammates.
He composed himself and tried as hard as he could to sound serious, “Anyone who’s free right now needs to come with me for mission briefing.”
“Oh, yeah I’m actually really busy right now… Good luck though, Kai!” Jay smiled deviously.
“You’re not busy at all! None of us are!” Kai snapped.
“Actually, I have training with Rocka and Evo in like ten minutes, so I am,” Nex said.
“Kai, Aaron, you’re coming with me,” Furno demanded.
“Wow. I didn’t even get to speak. Not cool,” Aaron said.
Kai and Aaron reluctantly went with Furno to the briefing room, where the situation was explained to them, and a team was formed to combat this threat. The team being sent to the Crossroads consisted of Kai, Aaron, Furno, and Lewa, the last of which was there because he just so happened to be free at the time. Though he was excited to see this ‘Crossroads’ place the Ninja had spoken so highly of. They were quickly put on a Herocraft and were on their way…
Black. That was most of what you could see within Nicht’s room. The only other things there were the furniture adorned with gothic purple lace and the delicate candlelight illuminating the desk. Nicht flipped to a new page in a large old book they were skimming through. Knighton’s history was fascinating, but most of it was useless to their current goal. They flipped through a few more pages before lightly sighing, putting in a bookmark, and giving up on that one. They were about to reach for another book on their desk when they heard their door get flung open. They knew what that enthusiasm meant.
“Nicht, get your head out of those musty old books and pay attention! I’ve got big news!” Alle said.
Nicht got up and looked at their brother with the most unamused expression they could muster. They said nothing. Alle had no reaction to Nicht’s lack of reaction and continued his speech.
“Y’know that weird guy I told you about who wants to take over Ninjago with his little toys? Well, he’s setting his plan into motion tonight and we get to watch the carnage! And we didn’t even have to lift a finger to make it happen! The guy was crazy enough to do all this on his own!” Alle enthusiastically explained.
Nicht smiled, “I see. It seems we are getting a present this year.”
“Huh?” Alle needed to let that one sit for a moment before it clicked, “Oh! Like for Christmas.”
Nicht was visibly disappointed Alle could be this dumb, “Yes, like for Christmas.”
“Yeah, this’ll probably be the best present we’ve ever gotten. The present of DESTRUCTION!”
“I suppose it will be better than what we have gotten every other year.”
“Gotta agree with you on that one…”
The two of them suddenly fell silent. For a moment, they found themselves lost in nothing. Not saying anything. Not looking at anything. And just as fast as it came, the moment had passed.
“Sorry, Nicht. I didn’t mean to…” Alle muttered.
“It is not your fault,” Nicht began walking out of the room.
“Where are you going?”
“To prepare the viewing room. You want to watch this play out, do you not?”
Alle beamed, “Hell yeah I do!”
Alle followed Nicht out of their room and the siblings began discussing the best possible way to watch this event unfold…
The Crossroads were brighter than ever this time of year. Accompanying its bright signs and diverse aesthetics were various Festival Day decorations like lights and tinsel strung across the city, various signs for holiday events coming up, and other fun little things. This season you’d expect even more people than usual to be out and about, but right now there was no one. It looked like a ghost town. The only figures there were small plush elves running around causing havoc. They seemed to be trying to tear down anything that wasn’t holiday-related, but it wasn’t working out very well because of their size and general lack of strength due to being plushes. The team was standing in the midst of this chaos, looking around, but most not really knowing what to do. Lewa, however, was looking at the lights and decorations in awe.
“Wow, this place is so sparkly-shiny! Is it always this way?” Lewa asked, looking towards Kai.
“Kinda, but it’s not always quite this bright. The town puts up all the lights and stuff for Festival Day,” Kai answered.
“Festival Day? What kind of festival? What’s it for?”
Kai was surprised to hear that he didn’t know what Festival Day was. While Lewa was from another planet, surely they still have holidays there. He thought most planets must have a Festival Day equivalent, why wouldn’t they?
Kai struggled for a moment before doing his best to explain, “It’s a day where people give gifts to the people they care about. Or the Giving Goat gives people gifts if you’re a child.”
“Oh, I see!” Lewa smiled, “It sounds a bit like our winter festival on Spherus Magna.”
“So, Festival Day is basically just Christmas?” Aaron said.
“No,” Kai snapped, “What even is Christmas?”
“Don’t worry about it, it’s pretty much the same as what you’ve already got.”
“Okay, I’m completely lost here. What are you even talking about?” Furno asked.
“Dude, do you not have holidays? You’ve gotta have some kind of cultural celebrations or something on wherever you live,” Aaron said.
Furno considered it for bit. Holidays? Like vacations? Kind of. They got days off sometimes. Cultural celebrations? He guessed the day a Hero is first Quaza charged would count as one but other than that he had nothing. Aaron noticed how quiet Furno had gotten and decided not to say anything more about it. Kai, however, had no problem speaking his mind.
“Wow that’s sad,” he said.
“Gee, thanks. Real compassionate,” Furno snapped, “Anyway, I think it’s time we actually start doing what we came here for. You know, the mission.”
The rest of the team reacted with various expressions of “Oh yeah.” The holiday conversation had almost made them forget about the chaos happening around them. Everyone looked around at the elves that had taken over the city. It was like looking at a sea of little red bodies floating through the place. It was very trippy. And for Kai, very disturbing.
“Okay, so what do we do about this?” Kai asked.
“Well, we can’t take them all at once. There’s too many of them,” Aaron said.
“We need to find out who’s controlling them and stop them at the source… But how do we find the source?” Furno pondered.
“We should split up and look-search. Two of us can look on the ground and two of us can look from the air,” Lewa suggested.
“That could work,” Aaron said.
“So, who will be searching with who?” Furno asked.
Furno and Kai did their best to avoid eye contact with each other. Of course, Aaron and Lewa chose to take to the skies together, leaving them alone with nothing but each other and a sea of elves. They were walking through the Crossroads, trying not to step on any of them while also looking out for anything suspicious. So far, it was nothing but those little creatures, Festival Day decorations, and normal looking buildings. Every once in a while, they’d have to bat an elf off them, but that wasn’t too hard considering how tiny those things were. Furno had no reaction to doing that, but Kai on the other hand had a mini panic attack whenever one of the elves jumped on him. Like right now.
Kai frantically shook his arm, trying to get the attached creature off it, “Get off, get off, get off!”
Furno nonchalantly picked the elf off him and threw it to the ground, “You really need to get over whatever it is you’re going through because there’s a lot more where that came from.”
“Yeah, I’m trying not to think about that right now!”
“Well, maybe you should just stop paying attention to them. They’re harmless to us and other than destruction of property they aren’t doing any real crimes… Wait.”
Furno looked intently at a group of elves. These ones were acting nothing like the others. It looked like they were acting with intelligence and not blind rage. They were walking in an orderly single-file line and were carrying metal parts and technology somewhere.
“What is it? Don’t leave me hanging here!” Kai said nervously.
Furno pointed to the orderly group of elves, “Look at that. Why are they taking all that stuff? What are they doing with it?”
“Who cares! It’s not our problem!”
“It literally is our problem! You do know what mission we’re on here, right? It’s our job to figure out what’s happening!”
“Fine!” Kai turned his back on Furno, “If you want to get involved in whatever those things are doing, then be my guest!”
Furno started walking away, “Great, that means I get to do it by myself. You’d probably just get in the way if you came with.”
Though Furno wasn’t actively trying to be manipulative, he did a pretty good job at it. His words hit Kai right where it hurt, his ego. Kai was shocked by his brazenness and immediately whipped back around.
“What did you just say?!”
Furno stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at Kai, “Why does it matter? You’ve done nothing today to prove me wrong.”
Kai didn’t have a response for that. He knew Furno was partially right, he was being a bit of a coward. But he would hate to admit that to himself or say anything about it, so he didn’t. Kai just scowled as he walked past Furno and in the direction the elves were heading.
“So, are you coming now or not?” Furno asked.
“Shut up,” Kai growled.
Furno followed Kai, partially annoyed he was still working with the Ninja but knowing it was necessary to keep him around, lest he get reprimanded for leaving everyone behind on yet another mission.
The two followed the elves for quite a distance, trying to be as stealthy as possible. Though even if they got caught, they thought nothing would happen. What could those tiny elves possibly do to them?
Eventually they arrived in front of a large warehouse type building. The outside was rusted and worn down, and other than the elves that came and went from it there were no signs of life in the area. They carefully slinked past the elves and into the warehouse without disturbing them. The interior was fairly dark and bleak. The inside was just as rusty as the outside, and bits and pieces of metal were strewn about on the floor culminating in a large pile of metal and robotic parts in the center of the building. That was the first thing they noticed. The next came when they turned their gaze to the area surrounding the metal pile. The walls were lined with robots of various Christmas-related creatures. There were animatronics of reindeer, polar bears, snowmen, and more. Even though the robots weren’t on, it felt like the further they walked into the building, the closer the animatronics grew.
“This is so creepy…” Furno muttered.
“Glad you’re starting to see this from my perspective,” Kai tried to sound like he was making a funny quip, but his voice showed his discomfort.
They reached the center of the building and the massive pile of metal with it. They briefly examined it before determining there was nothing of interest in the pile itself. They moved past it and saw a large desk on the other side of the building. They approached it and began investigating. There were many tools crudely scattered around, and some larger pieces of machinery near it.
“So, whoever made these elves must have made these robots, and they must have made them all in here…” Furno thought aloud.
Kai motioned to the desk, “Look at this.”
There were piles of blueprints there. After shuffling through them it was confirmed that these robots were indeed designed and made here. There were also blueprints for a massive robot, much larger than the others, and also some other strange machines. The latter were not of the animatronic variety, and the Kai and Furno couldn’t quite figure out what they were for. But they did know they were most likely of nefarious intentions.
“What kind of weirdo would put so much effort into this?” Kai asked.
“I don’t know… It’s like the guy is building an army,” Furno said.
“But why? And why would they make them all…” thinking about the creatures that person had made sent a chill up his spine, “…like this?”
“Maybe they’re some kind of eccentric enthusiast for this stuff?”
“Or they’re just crazy. I mean, would any normal person plan to unleash an army of these things on Ninjago?”
“You know, maybe you’re right for once.”
“For once?!”
The two of them were so consumed by their conversation that they didn’t notice something approaching them from behind. Just as they realized its shadow was looming over them, it was too late. They were both struck from behind with intention, the intention to knock them out instantly. And it succeeded. After they were hit their consciousness faded in an instant. They were out cold.
Right now, flying above the tallest buildings in the Crossroads were Aaron and Lewa. They gazed down at the city soaring past them, trying to look out for anything out of the ordinary. Anything other than elves that is. They already knew those weren’t meant to be there. Although they were trying to stick to the mission, Lewa’s curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had been asking lots of questions, most of which Aaron didn’t have answers to. He didn’t live here so he had no answer other than some variation of “Wish I knew, man.”
“This Festival Day must be very important-special. I know Kai explained it, but I wonder exactly why-how it matters so much to the people here,” Lewa mused.
“I don’t know. People have always celebrated the holidays a little too much in my opinion. It’s kinda like how hard we go for Christmas back in Knighton,” Aaron said.
Lewa cocked his head to the side, “Christmas? Is that your planet’s winter celebration day?”
“Kinda. It means different things to different people, but most people see it as a day to celebrate and spend time with family and give each other gifts and stuff.”
“Oh. You say that as if it isn’t important. Having a day to spend time with people you love-cherish is always a good thing.”
“Eh, I guess so. Christmas is just kinda overhyped in my opinion,” Aaron adjusted his stance on his hover shield, “You know what is hype though? Watch this!”
Aaron shot up into the air on his shield, going higher than the tallest buildings in the Crossroads. When he was satisfied with his altitude, he allowed himself to fall back-first off it. Lewa watched as he rocketed down through the sky, assuming he would stop somewhere near where Lewa was right now. But Aaron kept falling past him. He continued falling towards the ground until he was uncomfortably close to hitting it and then just in the nick of time, he flipped over in midair and landed on his board. He flew back up to Lewa and smiled.
“See that? That was hype!” He said.
“Well done!” Lewa excitedly flew circles around Aaron, “I’d love to know what other high-flying tricks you can do with that board, but we probably don’t have time for that right now.”
“It’s a hover shield. But yeah, you’re right. We need to focus now, so no more questions and no more sick tricks.”
Lewa stopped circling him, “Right! Let’s keep look-searching!”
They continued soaring over the city, their watchful eyes darting from rooftop to rooftop as they tried to look for anything strange. Most of them just looked like normal buildings, though sometimes they would pass an office building, small business, and even a communication tower once. Eventually they made their way to a large building, probably the home of some big business. It was like all the others of that kind in the city, nothing out of the ordinary. At least that’s what they thought at first. Just as they began to leave it behind, Aaron saw something in the corner of his eye that piqued his interest.
He tugged Lewa back towards the tower, “Wait. What’s that thing?”
He pointed at a small metal device with several antennae sticking out of it attached to the corner of the roof. The two high-flyers moved in to get a closer look.
“I’ve seen many-lots of those things on top of the buildings here. I wonder what they use them for,” Lewa said.
“That’s what I’m wondering too. We just passed a communication tower a while ago, so why would they need these things? Shouldn’t the towers they already have be enough?” Aaron speculated.
“Hm. I see your thought-point. But we don’t know how anything in Ninjago works. I don’t know if we can make assumptions on whether or not this is suspicious…”
“Okay, I’ll call Kai and ask.”
Aaron turned on his communicator.
“Hey, Kai. I know you’re busy with Furno, but we found some weird stuff and we need to know if it’s a normal Ninjago thing or something actually weird,” he said.
No response. He only got static.
“Dude? Where are you? Can you hear me?” Aaron spoke louder.
Still nothing. Now he was getting worried.
“Do you think something happened to them?” Lewa asked.
Aaron hesitated to respond, but he knew Lewa was probably right. He knew he shouldn’t have let those two go together. Based on the vibe he got from their relationship he couldn’t be sure if a villain got to them, or if they got to each other. Aaron didn’t notice it, but his distress showed on his face, and Lewa had taken notice.
“They’ll be okay,” Lewa assured him, “Let’s go seek-find them.”
Aaron nodded and said no more. He and Lewa knew they had to act fast or there could be drastic consequences. And so, they took off through the city and began searching for their teammates.
When Kai and Furno returned to consciousness they realized two things. One, they were now on the tallest tower in the Crossroads, and two, they were sitting back-to-back, awkwardly close to each other. Upon realizing the second they both attempted to move, but found they were tied together by…a string of lights?
“What the heck is this?!” Kai shouted.
“Darn it…” Furno began struggling to get free, “I’ve gotta get out of these things. I am not dying tied to you!”
“Yeah, me neither!”
The two of them fought against the lights, but they were tied surprisingly tight. They struggled to comprehend how an innocent decoration could be used so nefariously and so masterfully. Not just that, more questions were spinning through their minds. Questions like, who did this, why would they do this, how could they do this? All their questions would soon be answered by a stream of maniacal laughter echoing around them.
“What a show you two are putting on!” the voice said in grimly satisfied manner.
Kai and Furno looked towards the source of the sound to see a tall, thin man how looked to be in his early twenties. His skin was as white as snow, his bright red hair was unkempt and fell just barely onto his shoulders, and his green eyes pierced into them like daggers. He wore a disgustingly vibrant sort of Christmas-themed formal wear, making for an overall look so extravagant the two of them couldn’t hide their confusion and shock.
“Surprised, are we?” the man flipped his hair, “Well, it’s only natural upon seeing your future king.”
The two red heroes couldn’t manage to choke out a single word to say in response. They could not verbally express the absolute befuddlement they felt at this man’s…everything. Eventually Furno composed himself enough to say, “Wh-Who are you?! What’s going on here?!”
“And what do you mean ‘king’?!” Kai added.
The man giggled, “I am Christopher Carol! It was my friends that captured you and brought you to me! I couldn’t have you meddlesome people ruining the beginning of my perfect rule, now could I?”
Friends? They hadn’t been paying enough attention to their surroundings to see anyone else there. They frantically looked around but saw no people. They did, however, see a large robot sitting next to Christopher, and plenty of those animatronic creatures they saw in the warehouse.
“Your friends are—” Kai began.
“—those weird robots?” Furno finished.
Kai and Furno glanced at each other as if to say “Hey, I was going to say that!” It looked like they were about to snap at one another again, but Christopher’s theatrical voice interrupted them.
“Yes, they are. And what great work I’ve done on them!” he smiled proudly as if patting himself on the back, “You’d best treat them well. They’ll soon be your fellow citizens.”
“I’m sick of this cryptic nonsense,” Furno snapped.
“Yeah, just say what you actually mean!” Kai added.
“Hmph. And I was having so much fun…” Christopher sighed.
Kai and Furno’s expressions dropped. They both showed an equal amount of being absolutely fed up with this.
Christopher dramatically cleared his throat, “Now then, allow me to tell you my story… A story of—”
“JUST GET TO THE POINT!” Kai and Furno unanimously shouted.
“Alright, alright! No need to shout at me!” Christopher regained his composure, “It began long ago, when I was but a boy. I grew up, well… not the wealthiest, and my family was rather fractured. My days were so very lonely, and it seemed there was nothing that could bring my family together for me… But one day out of the year was different. On Christmas, even the most distant of my family would come together for a day of festivities and wonder! It seemed all my troubles just faded away on that marvelous day… Oh, how I wished it could last forever. I soon become enamored with everything in relation to the holiday- music, fashion, decorations, and the numerous cultural tales about it… I knew everything. But just like everyone else on this planet, my life would soon be turned upside down. I was still in high school at the time and was set to see my family to celebrate again that year. That was until the merge happened. I never got to see them that Christmas and I haven’t been able to since. My realm had been merged with this one, and I began to think nothing could bring my family back to me. That’s when the most wonderful of ideas came to me. What if I were to find a way to create an everlasting Christmas? Surely, my family would come back to me, and with Christmas being the most wonderful time of the year, the people of Ninjago would be so much happier! And so, I slaved away for years working on my plan to do just that. That included building all the lovely characters you see before you, along with everything I would need to control not only them but also the weather- so it’s always snowing of course- AND my magnum opus beside me. And all that has lead us to today. The day I put my plan into action. I just needed the elves to gather some more metal for me. I didn’t have all I needed for the climate machines, and I thought it would be a nice way to introduce the people to some of my friends, but it seems they did not take it well. But that matters not! Because they WILL see their beauty! And my perfect rule will come to fruition!”
Kai and Furno were at a loss for words after hearing the whole story. Yes, he was a bit insane, but his intentions didn’t seem all bad. They could see the flaws in his thinking, but that could’ve just been the result of him being a very broken man. For a moment they wondered if there may be some good left in him.
“I understand why you’d want to see your family again, but don’t you think you’re going a little too far to impose all this on people who have nothing to do with it?” Kai asked, hopeful Christopher could be reasoned with.
“And where’d all this ‘being king’ stuff come from?” Furno added.
“It’s what’s best for everyone! Under an eternal Christmas and my rule my family will be returned to me, the people of Ninjago will be happy, and everyone will live in my most beautiful world and with my very best friends! Why would any of that be a bad thing?! Do you take me for a fool?!” Christopher passionately replied.
There were obvious logical leaps in his plan, but both of our heroes knew it was worthless to try to tell him that. It was clear that while he was not a terrible person, he was doing something bad, and he could not be reasoned with. Thoughts of how to escape whirled around in their minds as they heard him talk on and on about his perfect world. They had to do something. They knew they had to get out of here and stop him, but how?
Aaron and Lewa continued to soar above the Crossroads, looking for any sign of their teammates. So far, they had seen nothing. Now even the high-spirited Lewa was growing quite concerned. It felt like they’d searched the entire Crossroads, so where could they have gotten off to? Or, more likely, where could they have been taken to?
Lewa was worried about Kai and Furno of course, but he was also worried a bit for Aaron. He seemed quite distraught when this all started, and he hoped Aaron wasn’t blaming himself for any of this. It wasn’t his fault, after all.
Lewa decided to try to strike up a conversation, “Aaron, are you—”
“No time to talk about me right now. We need to find them before…” Aaron’s voice trailed off.
He couldn’t bear to speak of their potential deaths. A Knight’s purpose was to protect people and he was doing a pretty bad job of it right now. The thought of abandoning his teammates and leaving them to die, even if unintentionally, ate away at him. But he tried his best not to let these feelings show. Even though he had doubts about his own ability, he had to keep fighting. He had to do it for his friends.
Aaron halted and began contemplating the situation, “We’ve looked everywhere…”
“Everywhere except the most tall-high tower-buildings.” Lewa said as he stopped beside Aaron.
“Yeah, but what kind of idiot would hide their hostages at the top of a very noticeable landmark?”
“Maybe the kind who would release a hoard of elf-creatures on the city.”
“Point taken.”
With their next move decided, they flew upwards, far above most of the buildings in the Crossroads. Only a few of the tallest towers were left up there, and they intended to search every one of them. They would find their teammates, no matter what.
Meanwhile, back on the tower where Kai and Furno were trapped, the situation had remained mostly the same. They both had long since given up trying to squirm their way out of their bonds; they had tried that and failed. They knew they had to take a more methodical approach to the situation instead using of sheer force. They also knew they had to be stealthy about it, as they were still surrounded by Christopher’s minions.
Furno spoke in a hushed tone so he wouldn’t alert the animatronics, “I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I’m out of ideas here.”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a few minutes, and I can only really see one way out…” Kai whispered.
“Only a few minutes? We’ve been here like an hour.”
Kai’s face showed his offense, “Do you want me to save us or not?”
“Honestly, no I don’t. Not if you’re gonna keep up the attitude towards me.”
“You were the one who started all this. Even back when we first met you always had it out for me.”
“If I remember right, it was you who was trying to show me up the whole time.”
“Not show you up. More like, put you in your place.”
“You little—”
“What? It’s true. You barged onto our planet and acted like you were better than us. Like you had the authority to take Ninjago’s safety into your hands, even though you’d never even been there before. You had no consideration for how we felt, you only wanted to show us how great you were.”
Furno was shocked into silence for a moment, but the moment didn’t last long, “Th-That’s not true at all. I’m a Hero, protecting the galaxy is my entire life. You just didn’t want to accept my help because you thought you were better than me. I was literally made to save people and you would’ve been content to just let that monster tear you to shreds if it meant you didn’t have to accept my skill.”
“Well, if I remember right, you would’ve left Ninjago in the dust as soon as the job was done if we didn’t generously offer our help with the situation.”
“You didn’t offer any help. It was the rest of your teammates who had faith in me. Not you. You were too egotistical to think that we lowly Heroes deserved your help.”
“I’m egotistical? What about you? You thought you were better than us from the very start and you made sure to let us know every time you could.”
“But it was you who kept making jabs at me. Your ego couldn’t accept that you would be partnering with someone better than you.”
“No, the problem is that you think you’re better than us. Because you aren’t.”
“So, you do think you’re better than me.”
“I don’t think I’m better than you in terms of skill. I’m better than you because I don’t treat my teammates like trash.”
Furno had to take some time to seriously consider what Kai had said. He didn’t think he treated his teammates that badly. He’d only ever told the other Heroes the truth as far as he was concerned. He was just built better than them. But Kai had made a few valid points, he supposed. And if an apology was what he had to give to get Kai off his back, then…
“I’m sorry, okay?” Furno muttered, “Now, what’s that plan you had to get us out of here?”
“Glad you could say it,” Kai would be smiling if the situation weren’t so dire, “I can use my fire to melt the lights off us, but as soon as we get up, we have to be ready to fight. Those robots will be after us for sure.”
Furno nodded, “Let’s do it then. I’ve been waiting to take these guys out.”
“Alright,” Kai began kindling a small, controlled fire in his hands, “…Oh, it might hurt a bit since we’re so close,” he added that last part as if it were an afterthought.
Furno silently accepted that. Heroes didn’t burn as easily as humans, but he could still feel the fire’s heat grazing across his armor. He knew it wouldn’t be enough to make him overheat though. Kai carefully moved the fire to each string of lights, making sure every one fully melted before moving on to the next. After a few minutes of this process, the two of them were free. They leaped to their feet, drawing the attention of Christopher and every robot on that tower.
“Wh—” Christopher was at a loss for words, “How did you two escape?!”
“I burned through the lights. Honestly, you should’ve known to use Vengestone if you want to catch an Elemental Master,” Kai said.
“What the hell is Vengestone?!”
Kai was shocked into silence before finally responding, “…You’ve lived here since The Merge and you don’t know what Vengestone is?”
“Silence! I didn’t want to have to do this, but if you insist on getting in my way…”
Christopher quickly climbed up and into the large robot beside him. After tapping on the controls for a second, the robot blazed to life. It rose and revealed its true form: a large, mostly red, humanoid mech suit adorned with several different types of Christmas decorations. Though (thankfully) its design was far more tasteful than the rest of the stuff Christopher had made. The décor on it was limited to silver and gold accents, various decals, and a glittering star adorned on its chest. Maybe he focused more on its utility than its looks.
“Now, I will take you down myself!” Christopher glanced at his other robots and spoke in a more hushed tone, “Go, my friends. I wouldn’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”
His friends did as they were told and began to evacuate the tower.
“You’re gonna take us all by yourself? I don’t know if that’s a very smart move…” Furno taunted.
“Oh, really?” Christopher pressed some controls that made the missile launchers on his mech activate and lock on to Furno and Kai, “I think you’ve underestimated me.”
Kai leaned towards Furno and feigned concern, “Uh-oh. I didn’t know he had guns. Can we really take this guy?”
“Of course I can. I’ve gone on countless missions and I’m still here,” Furno said.
“I like your spirit,” Kai smiled at him, “But make it ‘we’ next time.”
Christopher suddenly launched the missiles at them, and in response, they both rushed at him, dodging each missile as they approached. The two of them quickly unsheathed their weapons and struck his mech with their blades, skidding to a stop slightly away from him. They glanced back to see that not much damage had been done to their enemy. But being as stubborn as they were, they turned back around and attacked again. Each attack only inflicted minor scratches to the thick metal armor of Christopher’s mech, but Kai and Furno were determined. The continued attacking head-on before Christopher shot another round of missiles at them, making them have to dodge. They jumped back and away from each oncoming missile until the barrage was finished.
Furno glanced at Kai, “Clearly our weapons alone won’t work. What now?”
“What I always do,” Kai replied, lighting a fire in his hands.
“That tactic is something we can agree on,” Furno followed Kai’s lead and lit his weapons ablaze.
The fiery duo split and began a new method of attack. Kai repeatedly shot blasts of fire at Christopher’s feet, making him have to awkwardly sidestep out of the way. Kai’s attack had distracted Christopher enough for Furno to rush him, catching him completely off guard. Furno’s blazing weapons tore into the mech, his fire giving his weapons the strength to do some real damage. His strikes left deep marks on the machine, and this did not sit well with Christopher.
“How dare you do this to my masterpiece!” Christopher yelled.
Christopher quickly retaliated by smashing Furno to the ground with one arm, then picking him up and putting him into a vice grip with the other. Furno struggled against his grip but couldn’t escape. Kai aimed another shot at Christopher and in response, Christopher thrust his new captive into the crosshairs of Kai’s potential attack. Kai kept his shot aimed at the enemy but didn’t shoot. His anger with the situation showed on his face.
“Uh-oh! What are you going to do now that I have your precious friend?” Christopher taunted as he waved Furno around like he was a rag doll.
“Not quite ‘precious’…” Kai joked, trying to ease the tension he felt.
“Well, whatever he is to you, I know you can’t risk hurting him.”
Kai gritted his teeth in response. He knew Christopher was right.
“Just shoot me! If it’s what we have to do to win, then do it!” Furno abruptly shouted.
Christopher shut him up by tightening his grip. Kai heard what Furno said, but he couldn’t agree to hurt his teammate so quickly. Even if he was okay with it, Kai still had to believe there was something else he could do. He had to figure out a method of attack that would get them the upper hand, but how?
Christopher could see his frustration and laughed, “So, what will you do?”
His taunt only made Kai more upset.
“I…” Kai muttered, unable to find a response that would make him seem confident.
If Kai was being honest, he had no idea what to do. It seemed like there was no way out of this dilemma. That Furno may have been right. Hurting him may be the only choice to win.
Suddenly an unexpected sight cut through Kai’s thoughts. Someone had shot at Christopher, hitting his mech in the wrist, sending Furno flying out of his grasp. Christopher and Kai watched in horror as Furno flew off the side of the building. They both thought he was long gone, but to their surprise, he emerged from below being carried by Lewa. He smiled at the distressed Hero as if to say, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you now.”
“Hey guys!” Aaron called out as he flew towards them, “Did you miss us?”
Though Aaron’s earlier concern didn’t show, on the inside he was so relieved he and Lewa found them in time. And even if he was still anxious, he couldn’t stay that way for long. The look of bewilderment on Kai’s face would make anyone smile.
“Wh—? Aaron?! Lewa?!” Kai whipped around a few times to look at both of them, “When did you two get here?”
“Just now,” Lewa said as he set Furno down beside Kai.
“Alright,” Furno adjusted his posture to look more put together than he actually was, “Can we finish this now that we’re all together?”
“You bet!” Aaron smiled.
Aaron quickly downloaded a Nexo Power called Stone Stun. He took a few well-aimed shots at Christopher’s mech’s legs. The Nexo Power made each shot turn the robot to stone, rendering it immobile. Christopher tried as hard as he could to get his mech moving again, but it obviously didn’t work.
“You bastard! I had the courtesy to let you people talk in the middle of our fight and this is how you repay me?!” Christopher snapped.
“Sorry, I don’t really play by the rules,” Aaron turned to his teammates, “He’s all yours, guys.”
Seeing that their enemy was now nearly powerless, the rest of the team felt no urgency and calmly walked over to him.
“So, are you gonna cooperate and come with us, or are we gonna have to pry you out of that thing?” Furno asked.
Suddenly, Christopher leaped out of his mech and latched onto Furno, gripping him by the throat. His attack had little effect, as Heroes don’t have sensitive necks like humans. Kai and Lewa pulled Christopher off him, to which Christopher responded by punching them both in their chests. The two of them immediately shot back with hits of their own, and the situation quickly turned into a messy three-versus-one fistfight. What Aaron saw from afar was a blur of fists and elements colliding, and some missing too. Each person’s individual actions could barely be read in the chaos. Though it looked bad, he had faith they’d get him soon. And they did. Just moments after he thought that, Kai had pinned Christopher to the ground, Furno put him in handcuffs and that was that.
Aaron walked over to them and looked down at Christopher, “Nice one.”
“Was that a compliment to your friends, or an insult against me?” Christopher asked.
“Eh. Whatever makes you angrier.”
The group pulled Christopher to his feet and took him with them back to HQ for questioning. Though he didn’t mention anything about anyone having helped him in his quest for power, they could never be too sure. Questioning every villain they caught had become standard protocol after the Witch Doctor situation.
On the Herocraft ride home, the team’s conversation had become much more upbeat and agreeable than what it had been at first. No more arguing from Kai and Furno, only minor, more comedic disagreements that nobody really took seriously. Kai wondered if what he had said had any effect on Furno, or in the case that it had, if the changes would last. Humans are complicated creatures, and they don’t typically change overnight. He assumed the psychology of Heroes would be similar. But still, he hoped for the best. He knew that Furno wasn’t an awful person, there was probably some reason why he acted the way he did. After all, he reminded Kai a bit of himself when he first became a Ninja. And if Kai had learned anything from those times, it was that people like him can learn, grow, and become someone better…
Somewhere in the universe, in a less dark room than the first, Nicht and Alle had just witnessed the ending of this story. Nicht ceased the magic they used to see what was going on in Ninjago, and the siblings were left to discuss what they had seen.
“Wow, that was wild! That Christopher guy’s got balls to try to fistfight three UPA members at once,” Alle said.
“Foolish would be a more accurate word to describe him. His plan felt like something one would sloppily throw together in one night, not the machinations of a competent villain,” Nicht chided.
“Maybe we should’ve helped him. Probably wouldn’t have made him win, but it would have made things a lot more chaotic.”
“Perhaps. But I do not have time for small time villains like him at the moment.”
The two of them stood in silence. Not an empty silence though. It was the kind of silence that happens when someone wants to say something but doesn’t know how. That someone was Alle. He awkwardly avoided eye contact with Nicht and pretended to be distracted thinking about other things. Unfortunately for him, Nicht could read him like a picture book.
“What is it you want to say?” Nicht asked.
Alle was somehow surprised they could tell, “Uh. Well. I. Um.”
“Just say it, Alle. Whatever it is could not be any more embarrassing than your usual behavior.”
“Gee, thanks… Anyway, uh… I got something for you. Tis the season, after all…”
Alle bashfully presented Nicht with a small gift wrapped in obnoxiously sparkly green wrapping paper.
Nicht smiled, “How uncharacteristically kind of you.”
“Hey! I may be evil, but I’m not heartless!” Alle countered.
“I know. I was merely teasing you.”
Nicht took the present from Alle’s hands and put in its place a present of their own, wrapped in classy purple wrapping paper. Alle looked absolutely shocked to see this.
“Y-You got me something too?” he asked.
“Of course. The holidays are a time for showing the people we love that we care. I know this time of year has not always been that for us, but I want it to be now. The fact that we are together today to celebrate is something to be celebrated in and of itself. But I digress. What I mean to say is, the presents today are merely a bonus, your company is the real present, Alle.”
Alle couldn’t hide his reaction to Nicht’s rare display of emotion. He smiled as he wiped his eyes before any tears could fall. He looked back at Nicht, who was also smiling. A small smile, but a sweet one.
“Thank you, Nicht. I…I hope we can have fun like this every holiday,” Alle said.
“We can now. And we will,” they replied.
The rest of their night was spent together, opening their presents and talking for hours. It was just the two of them, spending time together until they both fell asleep on the floor. Just like they did when they were children…
Back at the UPA’s headquarters, Aaron sat down on the bed in his dorm room, holding an old letter in his hands. He carefully opened it and pulled out a glittery Christmas card that had long since lost its shine. Inside it was a cheesy Christmas message and a handwritten note underneath it. The note read, “I hope you have a great Christmas! Sorry we couldn’t come visit this year. Maybe next year! From, Mom and Dad.” Aaron had received that card ten years ago. He stared at the note for a long time, knowing full well that staring wouldn’t change its meaning. But staring was all he could do. His grip on the card tightened ever so slightly, just as his heart tightened with it.
A knock on the door prompted him to quickly hide the card away in his dresser. He walked to the door, opened it, and greeted whoever it was that was visiting him with a big smile as if nothing had happened.
“Hey, Aaron!” Nex greeted him with glee, “Furno was telling me about the mission and all this ‘Christmas’ stuff came up a lot. From the way he described it it sounded pretty fun. It made me think about how we don’t have any real holidays here in Hero Factory, so I was wondering if you would help us come up with one. You’re from a place with holidays like that and you know how to have a good time, so you seemed like the best person to ask.”
Truthfully, Aaron didn’t think he was the right person for the job, but he didn’t want to let his friend down, so…
“Sure, I’ll help. But maybe we should ask some of the others too. There are different holidays in Ninjago and Spherus Magna. More holidays mean more inspiration!” Aaron happily replied.
“Good idea! Let’s go recruit some more holiday planners!” Nex said.
Aaron nodded and followed Nex out of his dorm and down the hallway. But even outside his dorm, even when he was about to be with his friends having fun, a hollow feeling still lingered within him. He knew how it affected him, but he shook it off and kept smiling. Right now, he should be having fun, not bringing down everyone else’s fun with his…whatever was going on- he couldn’t quite name it. That’s it, he thought, Smile, tell some jokes, and everyone will be having fun in no time. And that routine was exactly what he would do, just like he always did…