For once the ninjas are using their brains.
It gets more interesting with Nova, or for her probably worse.
____________________________________________________________
*The ninja race through the jungle. Lloyd notices something above them and stops.*
"What's wrong?" Nya asked.
"I thought I saw something up there. An animal." said Lloyd, going on to take another look but didn't see any movement.
"We're in the jungle, Lloyd. I'm sure there's lots of animals." said Jay.
"Yeah, and clearing nothing dangerous." said Nova, while rubbing her head once again as she was getting another headache. "Why am I getting these strange headaches these days? I didn't have them until after I last talked with Overlord, when I was stealing those vengestone."
"Hey, did anyone bring a snack? I'm starving." Cole asked, looking at the others.
"I did." said Jay.
"Great!" exclaimed Cole in joy.
"But it fell in the ocean." said Jay, ruining Cole's mood.
"Oh, thanks for getting my hopes up." said Cole, disappointed.
"What kind of animals are there on this island, Twitchy?" Lloyd turned to look over at Twitchy when he asked his question
"Uh, poisonous pythons, poisonous jaguars, poisonous frogs, poisonous eels, poisonous piranhas, poisonous birds!" Twitchy began pointing out the animals on the island.
"Why so many poisonous animals?" Nova raised a confused eyebrow. "Also, poisonous jaguars?"
"Poisonous birds?" Nya questioned.
"Pretty much everything on this island is poisonous! Especially those berries." Twitchy points at Cole, who is eating some berries.
"..... It was nice knowing you Cole." said Nova, her eyes ever so slightly glowing pink.
"Wha-What!?" Cole quickly spit out the berries he was eating.
"Whatever is on this island, it won't stop us from finding my mom and Master Wu." said Lloyd, determined to find them no matter what.
"And Clutch Powers." Nya quickly added in.
"Huh? Oh yeah, right. And Clutch." said Lloyd nonchalantly.
"Couldn't we just l̵̹̹͌̂̕ͅȩ̷͚͙̂̈̑̍͜ͅą̸̨̼̜̑͆̾̕̕v̸̹̜͕͕́͗͜e̵̡̛͖͈̤̫͐̿̕ him here? I don't think anyone would really m̶͖͌ì̵̖͑s̵̨̆̈́s̸̖̺̿ him that much." Nova suggested, her eyes flashing back and forth from pink to back to normal, while rubbing her head.
Everyone looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.
"What's with the passive-aggressive attitude?" Kai questioned what everyone else had noticed, but hadn't said anything up until now.
"Yeah, you've been acting weird. More than you normally are." Jay went on to join in.
"Not just aggressive, but also more rude." Cole pointed out.
"Not to mention your eyes having a different color than normal." said Zane.
".... I'm sorry, my eyes are what?" Nova raised both of her eyebrows.
"Out of everything we just pointed out, that is the thing she caught?" Jay questioned.
"Your eyes changing colors, but more pink than the normal purple that we are used to." Zane went on to explain.
The look on Nova's face went from confused to being worried, and then soon enough horror was written all over her face. "... Oh, fuck my life."
"Nova, what's wrong? Do you have an idea of what is going on?" Lloyd asked as he noticed the look on her face.
Nova opened her mouth but went on to close it again, thinking for a moment on what to say as her face turned to look more calm. "Probably just a side effect from my powers, after having lost my arm and now wearing a prosthetic. It might take some time to get used to."
"Oh no! The island is affecting her too!" Twitchy started to panic once again.
"Maybe you should have stayed back with Pixal, if having lost a limb is having some side effects on your powers. It might cause more harm than good." said Nya, placing a hand on Nova's shoulder, to try and be understanding.
Nova pushed away Nya's hand as she gave her a cold glare. "I might not be able to use my powers, but that doesn't make me useless." She turned to look over at Kai. "Surely you get it, after all the times you've lost your powers."
Kai let out a long, heavy sigh. "Nova is right, you guys didn't give up on me. Even when I was at my lowest, so by that we don't give up on Nova. As she is now in my position."
"Yeah, we are a team which means we stick together no matter what." said Lloyd as he took Nova's hand in his. "And that Ocea here is still a worthy member of the team, even without powers she still has the skills of a ninja, and her weapons to back her up."
Nova gave Lloyd a soft smile, while a slight blush grew on her face. Happy that he had her back, even though she had a small feeling that Nya was right in some way, of this causing more harm than good. "Let's go and find your mom and Master Wu."
"And Clutch Powers." said Zane.
"Eh, him too, I guess, if we find him." said Nova, giving a shrug.
The ninja rides for some distance, then stops again. "Let's leave the Jungle Choppers here. There's no way we're gonna drive through that." said Lloyd.
Kai hears a loud growl. "Ha, you weren't kidding. You really are hungry. I can hear your stomach growling from here."
"Uh, that wasn't my stomach." said Cole.
"Well, if it wasn't your stomach, then maybe it was Nov -" Kai got cut off mid sentence as they hear even louder growling. Twitchy Tim curls into a ball on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Lloyd and Nova asked.
"Assuming survival position!" said Twitchy.
"... That is a strange survival position." said Nova, raising an eyebrow.
*A coconut drops in front of Nya and Nova, followed by a dragon, who pins both of them to the ground.*
"What the fuck!?" Nova shouted, surprised.
"Dragon!" shouted Nya.
"Ninja,-" said Kai, getting ready to fight.
"No, wait! Look at him. I don't think he's dangerous." said Nya, holding out a hand for Nova to take.
"Of course he isn't, if anything he is kind of cute." Nova smiled, taking Nya's hand while looking over at the dragon.
The dragon tosses the coconut Cole's way. "Is that a coconut?" The dragon swipes the coconut away. "Aww."
"I think he wants to play! Fetch!" Nya throws the coconut into the jungle.
"He is like a cute puppy." Nova giggled watching the dragon chase after the coconut.
"He appears quite docile." said Jay.
"Yeah, look, it might be friendly and all, but -" said Lloyd before being cut off.
"Zippy! Oh, let's call him Zippy!" said Jay and Nova in unison, and the same exciting tone.
"Okay. Zippy might be friendly and all, but we don't have time to be playing fetch with dragons. We're trying to find my mom and Master Wu." said Lloyd, letting out a sigh. But gave a small smile towards Nova, glad she was in a better mood.
"Are you sure? He's so cute!" said Nova, petting Zippy with a happy smile, before noticing the look Lloyd was giving her with his arms crossed. "Okay, fine." She gives Nya the coconut.
"Zippy, look. You're a real good boy, but we're on an important mission, and you might be a little huge and loud for us, okay? Super fetch!" Nya propels the coconut deep into the jungle with water, and Zippy bounds after it.
"Survival mode successful again!" said Twitchy.
"Let's go, quick!" said Lloyd as they started running.
*While slicing through vines, the coconut lands on Kai's sword. He walks over to Cole.*
"Ahem." Kai cleared his throat, getting Cole's attention.
"Yes! Finally! What?" said Cole.
"Is it possible for you to think about anything except food?" Kai asked.
"Yes. I'm thirsty too." said Cole only for Zippy to take the coconut away. "Give me back my drink, thief! Hey! Aah!" He starts chasing Zippy until he gets knocked over, and Zippy licks him. "Ew! You can keep it."
"This is most strange." said Zane.
"What's wrong?" Cole asked.
"The trail appears to stop here. I see evidence of a struggle." said Zane, taking a look around.
"What kind of struggle?" Lloyd asked.
"..... We are fucked." said Nova before getting another headache.
The others goes to unveil a Stone Guardian.
"Survival mode!" shouted Twitchy, curling into a ball again.
"Nice going guys." said Nova, summoning her warfan.
"Will you guys relax?" Nya taps it with a stick. "It's just a statue! See?" The Golem bites her stick. "Aah!"
"Uh, the statue has brothers!" shouted Kai.
"Yeah! Three ugly brothers!" shouted Nova.
"Ninja, go!" shouted Lloyd, using his spinjitzu against one of them.
Nova closed her warfan as she then pulled out the secret odachi she had in it when closed. "Try not to use your elemental powers!"
Cole attempts to use his elemental powers on a Golem, but it absorbs it and sends it back at him. "What?"
Kai goes to try the same by using his elemental powers, but it all ended the same for him. "It just ate my fire blast and spat it back!"
"I told you guys to not use them!" shouted Nova, taking one of the Golems, her eyes glowing pink as she was getting a headache. Making her stop in her tracks to place a hand to her head growling in pain. "Fuck you, old man." She whispered.
"They appear to be channeling our elemental energy!" Jay charges up his lightning. "Jay, do not use your -" Zane tried to warn him, but it was too late.
Jay screams as he runs from a Guardian's lightning blasts, before Nova quickly runs in front of them and sheathed her odachi and opened her warfan, knocking the lightning blasts away by swinging her fan.
"Looks like it was a good thing I made this." Nova had a relieved smile on her face before getting another headache.
"Escape maneuvers!" Twitchy crawls away from the action.
*The Golems stack up and channel the lightning from the sky, then blast it at the ninja.*
"I don't think lightning's only your thing anymore!" shouted Kai at Jay.
"Yeah! I know!" shouted Jay back at Kai.
"Look out!" shouted Lloyd.
*The ninja runs from the Guardians. Lloyd and Nova are forced to separate from the others.*
"Oh no. Where's Lloyd? And Nova?" Nya questioned.
"And the other guy. Oh what'd he say, Nutty Ned?" said Jay but couldn't remember Twitchy's name.
"Twitchy Tim! Aah!" Nya screams as she nearly falls off a cliff.
Jay accidentally knocks Nya over the cliff, but catches her in time. "Nya!"
"They're still coming. What now?" Kai asked, looking at the others.
*In the jungle, Nova was able to lose the Golems by using the shadows.*
Nova let out a relieved sigh coming out of the shadows and was now standing on a branch on top of a tree. "Looks like that vengestone in my arm really is helping with keeping my powers stable."
Nova looked at her surroundings before she summoned two clones. "You two try to find Lloyd and the others for me, when you have come back to me. But don't get caught, the last thing I want are them asking questions about how I can use my powers now without problems."
The two clones nodded at the orders given to them before they disappeared into the shadows.
After finally having some time alone, Nova let out another sigh as she went to sit down on the branch she was standing on. "Rude, aggressive, acting different, and pink eyes. I don't like any of this, can't I go one single season without anything crazy happening to me?"
Nova could feel another headache as she grabbed her head and tried rubbing the pain away, but it didn't really help her.
She let out an annoyed growl, getting back up from where she was sitting. "That's it! Ỏ̴̧̭̰͐͠ͅv̷͍̠͈͋͌̀̕ẻ̴͕̼͉̜̑ȓ̴̳̺̋̈́ľ̴̗͓̺ŏ̵̦̲̑̋̔̋r̷̰̙̐͜ḏ̵͙̖̭̆͝, explain yourself! What the fuck did you do to me!?" She shouted out in rage, her eyes glowing pink.
For a moment it was silent until a low chuckle was heard from behind Nova, turning around she was shocked to actually see him in person in front of her, or well more like a hologram that only she could see, and he was in his Crystal King form.
"Well now, this is a first, child. You reaching out to me." The Overlord seemed intrigued by this. "I wonder what it could be."
Nova took a step back, actually scared of seeing him in person even if it was just a hologram. So far the only other way she had been able to see him was in her sleep, which was a lot more safe than it was now. "W-What did y̸̡̥̗̤͚͒̇̚͝ó̴͈̺͑̑̍u̸̧̬̗͛͒͒͝ do to me? Last I checked, I didn't have pink eyes. Let alone acting more aggressively."
The Overlord raised an eyebrow with his four arms crossed behind his back. "Weren't you the one asking for more power? Being left behind in the caves by the green ninja, because you were weak." He took a few steps towards Nova while she took a few steps back.
"I never asked for your help, a̴̯̫̿̀s̴̉̋ͅs̸̞̏͂ẖ̵́o̶͔̚l̵̺̎ẹ̵̈́!" Nova growled angrily at him, with her eyes still being pink.
"Maybe not in person, but your core clearly was." The Overlord pointed one of his fingers towards where her heart was. "Don't forget I created you from my own darkness child."
Nova narrowed her eyes coldly at him, slapping his hand away or tried to, as her hand just went right through his. "I don't give a f̶̼̊u̵̩͆̊c̶̜͗k̷̨͖͛! You are the last person I'll ever have ḣ̶̺͓̂é̴̲̈́l̷͓̓p̴̝̱͂̑ from! And stop calling me a child, it's just as a̶̧͖̲͍̲̅n̷̨̜̰͓̗̋n̷̖͎̰̩̐̾o̵͈̹͑y̴̛͍͚̾̍̀ï̷͎̠̫̱̩̓ǹ̷̦̝́̿͋̑g̶̳̻̙̀͜ as being called a youngling by the ó̶̱͙̤̤̞̱̉͝n̶̗̝͍̟͖̲̍͆̉͐͜i̷̡̇̏͘!"
"You're hardly fully grown, even if I didn't make you part oni. You're still part dragon and hardly an adolescent. So you're still a child." The Overlord walked closer while Nova backed further away, until she was getting close to the end of the branch.
Nova growled angrily at him as her horns and tail showed up, hardly able to hold in her growing rage, let alone the fear of him getting closer. "Whatever, I don't need the ṗ̵̱̳̐o̴̭͐͌͜w̵̡̆é̵͙͖r̶̨̋s̴̗̉̾ you gave me! So take them back already! Old man!"
"I can't do that, I still need you alive as you are still useful to me. If I took back what I gave you right now, your core would shatter completely and you would die." The Overlord told her.
".....WHAT!?" shouted Nova, not wanting to believe what he just told her. "I don't want any of your stupid p̴̱̳̩͙̪̦̿ȍ̶̭͙͈̉̎̑̂w̶̩̰̦̾̒̕e̸̦̫̩̊̈́͝r̸̢͎̼̯̳̮̗̝̿͑͆̏̈́̄͝s̷̳̮̑͝! I never asked for this, and I sure as f̴̢̖̈͒͘ú̴̲̥̀͂c̸̹̥͇̈͑̐̉k̶͕͐͘i̵̝̫͖̋̓̀̃n̵͉̅̈́̚͠g̵̨̬͌͐͛̃ hell don't wanna help you because of it!"
The Overlord raised an eyebrow at her outburst before a smirk grew on his face as an idea came to mind. "Then how about we make a deal, daughter?" He walked closer and leaned his head forward as he whispered something into Nova's ear.
Nova's eyes widened when he got closer, they only got bigger as she listened to what kind of deal he wanted to make with her.
After the Overlord was done telling her the deal he wanted to make with her, he pulled away and looked down at her. "What do you say? I believe it's a very fitting deal for you."
Nova looked up at him and then anywhere else that wasn't him, trying to think this deal over in her head. "How can I b̸̫̝̅e̵͓͖̐̔ḻ̸̳͗̀į̷̲̀̐ë̶͖̆ͅv̴̧̹͗ë̴̻̗̆ you'll hold your part of the deal? For all I know, you could easily break it. And you don't come off as a person who k̴̪̅ẽ̸̦̰͠e̴͖͐p̷͚̞̀̽ş̶̭̇̊ his word when gotten what he wanted."
The Overlord let out a chuckle. "You want some proof that I'm keeping my part of the deal." He was now standing in front of her, with no more space to move away.
Nova heard a sound under her feet, and before she knew it, the branch she was standing on broke. She acted quickly by using double jump and landed on the safer part of the branch. With a relieved sigh before she noticed the Overlord standing in front of her again.
"Even in fear you can still move, unlike when the devourer first showed up. Couldn't even help the ninja on that ship." said the Overlord, looking at her.
Nova narrowed her eyes at him, letting out a low growl. "Just get to the point on how I can t̵͉̔r̷͉͎̔u̸̡̱̒ṣ̶͆͗t̵͆̈́͜ your word, by the d̴̹̑͝͝ͅe̷̗̰͗̋a̴͔͇͝l̴̪͛̉ you've offered."
"Right to the point I see, I could almost feel proud of you, princess." A knife went right through him as he kept standing where he was, not bothered by her throwing a knife at him.
"I don't need your praise or you feeling proud of me. I already have a f̴̳̻̔̎a̷̬͑̎ẗ̶̰́͝h̶͖̦̿ȩ̸̳̌r̴̜͓̽ figure and that isn't you." Nova told him.
"Until I need you, I won't bother you in any way. I'll even have Harumi leave some vengestone in the warehouse you stole from last time." The Overlord told her.
"You say that....but how can I be sure it isn't a t̷̨̼͌r̸̦̹̓̉ā̶̳̃p̵͈͉̋̚ or even a lie to make me accept the deal?" Nova questioned, there were too many holes in this deal, and learning from Ronin, it was never a good deal if there were holes in it unless you could use it yourself.
The Overlord gave her a raised eyebrow. "Then how about this?" He once again whispered something to Nova that caught her off guard, and she looked at him in shock.
"..... Y-You can a̴̖̳̯͈͎͋̈́̎̍̍c̶̩͇̉t̵͎̘̖͈̰̍ư̸̗̇̏͊͒a̵̲͉͊ͅl̶̲̯̿͛l̴̡̢̅͗̔ỳ̴̬̲͎̉̏̓͝ͅ do that?" Nova asked, not sure what to think of this. "You aren't pulling my leg here, are you?"
"If you accept the deal, I'll do that one thing for you." said the Overlord as his hologram started fading.
Nova looked down at her feet thinking this through. "If I take this deal, then I have something to add to it too." She glanced up at him as her eyes started to flicker back to normal slowly.
"Oh, then speak up my daughter. Let me hear what you have to add to our deal." A smirk grew on the Overlord's face as he wondered what she had to add.
Nova had a feeling what he offered was too good to be true, no matter how much she wanted it. She still had to think this through carefully. "What I wanna add to the deal is-"