Green Ninja Contest: Child of Night

[RicochetRay]

The unforgiving breath of a dying day laced it’s jagged fingers around a stray tendril of blond hair as Jasmine’s periwinkle eyes floated across the horizon. Five, four, three, two. It was on cue, just as it had always been every evening prior and every evening to come. The glossy highlights of an orange and purple sun dimmed to be replaced with a cool blanket of night. A deep intake of oxygen fluttered through her lungs as she embraced the darkness and the darkness embraced her. It called to her. Every second since her childhood, she could not recall a night when the darkness had not beckoned her, when becoming one with the darkness had not been her sole desire. And now, here in Ninjago, Jasmine had found herself free from any oppression and desire to draw close to the night’s opposite. Releasing the thought of her lasting freedom, Jasmine slid down the nearly invisible telephone wire, leaping halfway across through the window of an abandoned apartment building. Inside sat Flynn, a boy her age tanned from a foreign sun, his gaze as experienced as her in the methods of this dark craft of theirs. “Where’s Quinn?” Jasmine asked, bending over to examine the gain of that day. It was slower than it had normally been, and the three street acrobats hardly managed to reel in ten dollars from curious passerbys. She hoped their business had not come to die, Ninjago was the home of the world’s showcase dunces and dimwits and money was easier here. “She vas commissioned vor a solo mission,” Flynn replied in a thick accent bearing a close resemblance to Russian. “It appears she’s become quiet popular lately.” The three young adults, the Children of Heian, as they were called, were what they considered the best at what they did. By day they performed in the streets of Ninjago, performing acrobatics for mere pocket change from curious spectators. By nightshade, the three were lethal. For the right amount, they would gladly defeat any foe, kidnap any victim, or steal any item, often without leaving even the slightest indication of their prescience. As their name had stated, they were the children of night, and the night alone was their master. A loud crack of something on the outside of their environment snapped the two greedy minds from their plunder. In sync with one another, they rushed to the window, eyeing the sky for any signs of impending danger. It was not a danger to them, as far as they could tell, but it was certainly something worthy of a great deal of their attention. Tumbling from the sky were three giant vehicles, the likes of which were too astonishing to strike either as familiar. The first was a giant dirt bike with wheels larger, it appeared, than both of them combined, large lance-shaped missiles protruding from the grill, and a variety of other seemingly useless contraptions of a sharp nature protruding from the body. The next was a motorcycle, thin in comparison to the dirt bike, the head covered in a shell of ice, and a stream of misty snow circled from the pipes as it raced towards the ground. The last was a storm fighter jet, simple and navy with a livewire of electric current dancing across the body. The two enormous earth-bound carriers landed-the dirt bike with a crash-onto the street beneath the duo’s apartment as the jet hovered nearby. In awe, both stuck their heads from the window, attempting to get a better view of this event. Ninjago City hadn’t been this active, and nothing this astonishing had happened since they arrived. In a flash mimicking the glow of their first appearance, all three vehicles vanished into thin air, leaving four individuals in their places. They were identical in appearance, they noted. Each of them wore similar ninja suits, the only difference being their colors: red, blue, black, and pink. But the ninja were not what captivated the attention of the two assassins, that honor lay solely on the weapons they carried with them. The details were much too foggy to make out from the distance separating the two from the four, but they appeared to be wielding a pair of shurikens, nun chucks, a sword and a scythe, all of which were solid gold. “Did you see their weapons?” Jasmine asked, voice toned down as if the ninja had developed super sonic ears and were capable of hearing their every words. She didn’t know much about ninja, were they even capable of that? “Did I see them?” Flynn replied with a nervous laugh. “This is crazy. Do you think verhaps they use those weapons for fighting?” “Idiots,” Jasmine mumbled as she slumped down against the wall. With a greedy eye, she traced the contents of their work on the streets today. No doubt Quinn would return with a huge salary to add to their stockpile, but the thought of all that gold being used for fighting gave her a sickening anger. Then, the thought of a manacle plan entered her mind. Her eyes shone magnificently, her grin grew wicked. “Don’t tell me,” Flynn remarked at the appearance of her eyes, practically huge with dollar signs. “Why should they get golden weapons? They’re not going to take proper care of them, they won’t see to it that their value is kept. They’ll scoff them up with scratches, something has to be done to avoid that.” “There’s four of them Jazz,” retorted Flynn, green eyes slit in frustration at his ally. “And that’s judging from vhat ve’ve seen. Vhat if there’s more of them vhere they come from? Not to mention ve’re severely out-numbered even if there are only four ninjas.” “Did you forget,” Jasmine gave him a serious eye. “That we’re assassins?” Flynn was silent a moment before he allowed an almost inaudible chuckle. Facial expression now compliant, he gave her a curt nod. “Vhat vas I thinking, trying to talk you out of golden veapons?”- The night was no longer as warm and inviting as it had been the second the sun descended, now it had turned face and identified itself in a much more manacle manner. The cool wind sweeping across the black-sheathed assassins threatened to penetrate its dagger-like fangs through them until they were crushed in half. Such a cold, merciless death by their own master of night was worth the risk to obtain such beautiful weapons. Identifying a group of ninja-one red, one blue, and one pink-in the cascade of the dark was not a difficult task. Although the four of these bizarre walkers of night took their dear sweet time emerging from the subway, trailing them was a task too easy. They all raced across land and sky in their odd vehicles, driving to the outskirts of Ninjago City. By leaping across the buildings and tightrope walking the telephone wires, the assassins finally caught up to them. Considering the four ninja wielded weapons of gold and made their getaway in vehicles of the elements, the duo was not especially surprised to find their refuge was a flying pirate ship. Being in the presence of such a magnificent shelter was actually a bit intimidating, though. Such a shelter would suggest a large crew, or even for the carved dragon at the bow to swallow the intruders whole. Jasmine shook such thoughts from her, focusing on the smooth feel of a golden scythe in her hands instead. Removing themselves from the waterfall of light cascading from the windows, they hid themselves amongst the cargo that suggested decades of abandonment. There they lay in wait for the moment the jubilant laughter from the cabin died and the light flickered to less than a spot. Even then, they waited for another hour just to ensure the ninja were most definitely asleep before they crept through the ship. The navigation of the ship wasn’t as simple as the outside would suggest. Though the cabins seemed small, there were a great number of rooms, and the aged floor boards seemed intent on giving the assassins away. Slowly, they crept through the impossibly long hallway, sticking their heads briefly inside each cabin to assess whether the golden weapons were stored there. While they did not find them, they did notice that by some stroke of luck, the only other passengers on the ship was a little kid, an old man, and a girl. Finally, of coarse it had to be the last in a long line of cabins, the ninja’s cabin lay before them, all of them were sound asleep, their weapons nearby. Both the assassins paused to note everything about their surroundings, to determine what could possibly be a trap and what wasn’t. And both were shocked to see that no booby traps were laid in wait for them. Were the ninja that oblivious to the fact that their weapons were of value? Still acting on the verge of her suspicion, Jasmine tip-toed across the room to the red ninja, who lay so sound asleep, that he was actively punching at the air. Terrified of offsetting the dreaming warrior, she slowly leaned over him and fingered the sword placed just above his head. He appeared to be none-the-wiser and simply continued to fight off the creatures of his dream. As for Flynn, he chose the opposite side of the room, quietly tiptoeing towards the bunk beds where the blue and black ninjas slept. The sight of the blue ninja cuddling up against his golden nun chucks was a hilarious sight, and knowing this would be the more difficult, Flynn chose to steal those first. Slowly, he slid his hand across the golden base, even more slowly forcing the nun chucks out of his hand. The ninja appeared undisturbed to begin, but he seemed to notice the lack of his nun chucks’ presence halfway through. Flynn was startled, and without any option, he yanked the nun chucks from his grip. The ninja stirred in his sleep, mumbling some odd gibberish that made no sense to Flynn, but he did not awake. With a sigh of relief, Flynn slumped his head to attempt to catch his breath and steady his pounding heart. Before he could pull his head back up, though, the blue ninja reached out his hands in a tired stretch, wrapping them around and pulling Flynn’s head against his chest. Terrified, he began to struggle, but thought better of it and stuck to silent cursing. “Flynn would you quit messing around?” Jasmine whispered, obviously not amused by the sight. “Vhat messing?” replied an irritated Flynn as he tried to free himself. “Parshivyy malo- vould you just help me?” Although irritated that this plan had started off so well and had come to this, Jasmine found she was a lot less angry at Flynn than she would’ve expected. Slowly gliding across the splintered wood, she came to a halt at the tip of the bunk bed and examined the situation for a way out. Finding very few options, she took to an extreme. Carefully, she placed the golden sword aside and drew a knife from its sheath and carefully sawed off a portion of her hair. Grasping the golden fringe in her hand, she eased forward and let it dangle just above the ninja’s nose. His face wrinkled for a moment before his grip on Flynn lessened to rub his irritated nose, allowing him enough of a time gap to duck before he could be grabbed again. Jasmine scoffed at the sight of him as she tossed her hair aside. The lengths she went through for Flynn. Focused on her own frustration at having messed up her hair, Jasmine let her attention fail her. Hardly giving any thought, she slipped her knife against her sheath. With such a misconception that its hold was secure, her fingers loosened and the knife came crashing down against the sword beneath her with a loud clatter. Both assassins winced as three of the ninjas grumbled in their sleep, annoyed by the sound. Both cast terrified glances at each other, swallowed a gulp of air as if it were their last, and darted from the room. Aside from their terrified pants and the resisting groans of the floorboards, they could hear the ninja emerging from their hibernation. Each of them asked the same questions, namely the time, the sound, and the location of the nun chucks and sword clutched tightly in the assassins’ hands. By the time the assassins made their grand reappearance on the deck-mind you, going back the way they had took a while-the ninjas had already gotten there. The black and white ninja-the pink was nowhere to be seen, oddly enough-grasped their scythe and shurikens, respectively, while the other two attempted to look menacing despite the circumstances. “Going somewhere?” the white ninja questioned drawing in on them. Both assassins stole a look to each side, they were back to back and surrounded. “What are you two, ninjas?” the ninja of blue asked. “Ninjas?” Jasmine snorted. “We’re assassins. And these beauties are coming with us. Half of the plunder is better than nothing.” “They must’ve been sent by Garmadon,” the red ninja hissed at the mention of such a formidable foe. “Garmadon?” Flynn questioned, turning his attention to Jasmine. Beneath the black mask concealing his entire face save for his good eye, he couldn’t help but grin. “It appears we may have a client to sell these to.” “Over our dead bodies!” the ninja of black replied, rushing towards the two, scythe at the ready. His words signal a chain reaction, and the other three charge towards them, the white ninja with his arm outstretched to launch his shurikens, the other two simply ready their fists. Despite the circumstances of the impending danger, both assassins stood perfectly still, making no immediate movement besides lacing their free hands together and squaring their shoulders together as best as their opposing height would allow. “Race you to the apartment,” Jasmine whispered, only loud enough for Flynn to hear. Feeling his hair bob against her neck gave her confirmation of his acceptance to such an impetuous plan. In sync with one another, just as the ninja drew close enough to strike, both assassins leaped into the air, landing gracefully on the confused ninja’s heads. Jasmine grinned to herself as she tucked her leg in, pointing her toe outward against the ninja. It turns out their stupid improv of Swan Lake on the streets had paid off after all. Tucking her legs up under her, she leapt from the ninja and landed harshly on the creaky floors, dismounting while fighting was one of her weaker points. Pulling up another breath, she broke into a sprint, leaped over the side of the ship and caught sight of Flynn running in the opposite direction. Splitting up would have to work for them, they couldn’t take all four at once. The hum of an engine behind her told her the ninja would be on her, and fast. This terrified her, and she felt truly stupid for anticipating the ninja would follow her on foot. However, by craning her neck, she noticed that it was only the black and blue ninja trailing her on the giant dirt bike. This gave her some comfort, dirt bikes wouldn’t go far if she were to scale a building. Before the first building came into view, she had already latched the sword to her back and traded its feel for the familiar touch of two of her knives. As she drew closer to the oncoming building, she considered how a grappling hook would be much easier and safer, but at the rate they were coming at her, if the hook couldn’t attach to the side, she’d be screwed. She didn’t slow for even a second to sink her blades against the wall, she simply leapt and forced them into an insert. The first groove was too shallow, and she slid down the wall, flailing her arms every which way. In this flailing, her knife wedged under a deep canyon in the wall. She didn’t even allow herself a moment to relax herself, or even to catch her breath, she simply began scaling. The process was a grueling one. Often, she had to extend her arm past its normal limits to even get the knife between the bricks. By the time she nearly reached the top, she simply decided against wedging her knife between the bricks and simply stabbed the bricks, created a crack, and continued to hoist herself up. Even this process was beginning to have its flaws, not only did she have to put in the effort of pulling her entire body mass up with her arms and chest, but also into cracking the bricks. However, she was not alone in having a difficult time with scaling the building. Not only did the black ninja have to hoist himself up the building using only his hands, but he had to do so with his scythe strapped to his back and the blue ninja clutching him for dear life. By some stroke of miraculous luck, by the time she had pulled herself over the top, the ninja were still very far behind. Releasing a deep breath and replacing it did nothing to fill Jasmine with the stamina she needed, but thankfully her legs were still intact. Not bothering to cast another look towards her pursuers, she leapt across the building, smashing a planter with her landing. The running started well, but became a chore. Her arms were still laying limp by her side, so she was unable to pump them to run more effectively. Instead, she was running like a penguin with human legs, an awkward stance to be in. After leaping from the third building, a sound caught her attention. It was the call of something she could barely understand along with the hiss of thunder. A curious eye cast behind her, and a hard swallow moistened her throat in terror. It wasn’t the ninja trailing her, instead it was a blue cyclone of thunderous energy. No matter how hard Jasmine ran, she could not outrun the tornado, and its pace was vastly superior to hers. Finally, the tornado of lightning caught up to her, circling her and effectively cutting her off. At that moment, the tornado ceased to exist, leaving the blue ninja in its place. “Hah, caught ya! Now prepare to eat fists,” at that moment, his eyes jolted out and traced Jasmine’s body. “You’re a---<I>girl</I>?” “Jay, what’re you waiting on, get em!” the ninja of black called to him from behind. Impressive move, Jasmine noted. While the black ninja and Jasmine were tired from the climb, this Jay hadn’t climbed up and had enough stamina to chase her. “I can’t hit a girl!” he hollered in response. “I can,” Jasmine remarked, striking a blow to the ninja’s nose. He staggered backwards as he clutched his bleeding wound, sucking in air beneath his clenched teeth. “C’mon, that’s no fair!” “Well neither is this,” the black ninja replied. Jasmine allowed for a quick glance over her shoulder on the assumption that the bleeding ninja was still against fighting her. In that moment, the black ninja drew back his scythe and slammed it into the roof. The building began to shiver and shudder, whipping Jasmine in every which way. Finally, the cement gave way beneath her, and she crashed into an empty business building. “These weapons are magic?” Jasmine questioned, not even bothering to put forth the effort to pull herself up. Instead, she rolled aside from the rain of plaster and felt for the sword. She jumped to her feet as she caressed the smooth feel of gold. With a maniacal grin, she wiped the sword in a practiced arc before her. She hadn’t known what to expect, but she certainly didn’t expect for the sword to light on fire. With a terrified shriek, she whirled it around her, hoping the oxygen could suffocate it. In doing so, the flames built around her, and in that one spin, they circled around her, forming a tornado similar to the cyclone of lightning. Unable to see through the circling flames, Jasmine was unable to see the wall coming straight towards her. The dance of flames came to an end as she splattered, almost in a cartoon manner, against the wall. In the same animated manner, she could practically feel the ducks and little stars whirl around her head as she collapsed to the ground. “Now we got her,” the black ninja replied, placing his scythe triumphantly across his shoulders. “And you didn’t have to hit her, you wuss.” “It’s not that I’m a wuss, it’s that-apparently-I’m the only one who cares that I may hurt her,” “We’re not in the fifties, Jay. Wake up and smell the non-sexist coffee,” Jasmine cringed at their words, their volume was loud enough, but her sudden head trauma made their voices completely unbearable. The world around her still spun, and her throbbed viciously. Escape would be difficult. “Flynn!” Jasmine screamed at the top of her lungs, not caring if she had given away his identity, that would be given away regardless if the ninja managed to yank off her mask. “Flynn help me!” As soon as her voice died down enough, a vicious entanglement of voices caught her attention. As she craned her neck, in awe of what was occurring, she was startled to find Flynn had already arrived and what was more, he was already fighting off the ninja, four to one, with only his whip, the nun chucks strapped to his back. The ninja of black reared back his golden scythe, and slammed it against what remained off the roof not a inch away from Flynn. His eyes flashed mischievously as he managed a complete back flip with seconds remaining till impact. The move succeeded, and the blade slammed down at just the moment Flynn was disconnected from the roof. The impact of the magical scythe sent a tremor across the building, reducing most of the roof to rubble and sending the five combatants falling down to the next story. Flynn managed a handstand as a dismount-though shaky-atop a pile of newly formed plaster chunks. With the same mischievous flash across his cat-like eyes, he leaned his legs forward and came to a standing position inches from the ninja, centimeters from the golden scythe. He allowed a chuckle of contempt as he curled his hands around it and placed his whip snug against his hip. Three down. The ninja each shared astonished, frightened glances at the sight of the assassins, three golden weapons in their midst. Exchanging looks, they cast their attention to the white ninja, fury blazing in his eyes as he clutched his shurikens of gold. “Good luck Zane,” Jay remarked as the ninja advanced. “I sense you are nothing less than fools for your actions,” he said, halting a proper distance from the two, enough so that the impact of the blade was out of his reach. “I also sense your immediate defeat. From this day on, you will know better than to cross me or my brothers.” “Come at me then,” Flynn cocked his head and chuckled through his mask. Their eyes locked for no more than an instant, though they could have equally testified that time slowed for even the most fleeting of moments. Then, finally, the ninja whipped his arm across his body and hurled his shuriken towards the assassin, coming to rest beneath his foot. With a mocking eye, Flynn traced the weapon to where it lay rest, not even bothering to keep a steady eye on his opponent. A cackle erupted from him. “Nice shootin there, Tex. Did you leave your glasses at home? Vhat a joke,” “Flynn!” In his moment of mocking, Flynn had failed to make any effort to examine his foot, his eyes were locked intently on the white ninja. In the seconds between, somehow ice had slithered from the shuriken, swallowing his foot whole. He gasped as he attempted to break free, but it only sprouted further the more he struggled. “Nice one, frosty!” The black ninja called. “I learned that one from fighting you, Cole,” he replied before hurling another shuriken towards him. This one played no role similar to the one before. This one hit with perfect precision right in Flynn’s gut, knocked the air directly from him and returned to its master like a boomerang. Jasmine finally found her senses returning to her, and she knew Flynn was in need of her help and fast. Gripping the mysterious golden blade in her hands and somehow willing herself not to release another burst of flames, she slammed it against the ice. Within a few whirls, the ice crumbled to glistening ice shards and Flynn dropped to his knees. Alert now that the assassin had a means of escape, the ninja hurled another shuriken towards them, just coming shy of their heads. As Jasmine attempted to help Flynn up, another shuriken whizzed towards them. By pure instincts, Jasmine drew the blade to her face, ending the course of the shuriken and sending it to the ground with a crash between her and Flynn. Flynn’s eyes grew, and though he had trouble breathing, he did manage an excited chuckle. “Ve did it, Jazz. All four veapons,” he sneered as he slowly lifted the shuriken to one hand, cradled the nun chucks in the same arm, accepted the golden sword from Jasmine and turned to gather the golden scythe he had dropped. “Oh no no no!” exclaimed the red ninja. “Leave the scythe where it is. No mortal’s ever suppose to possess all four!” added the black. Allowing a second of digestion for the words, Flynn shot his head up and glared at the four. “Vhat is this nonsense? ‘No mortal’? Sounds more like you’re desperate to keep these veapons,” without another second to delay, he scooped up the scythe and admired his glistening treasure. Then, things turned nasty. Flynn’s eyes widened in an eruption of power, his body went stiff and began to stagger beneath the impact of such elements. Jasmine felt her own eyes shoot open at the sight. How could she not have known? She felt the power of the sword when she accidentally unleashed it’s fire, how could she not expect their power to be that uncontrollable? “No!” screamed Jasmine, teeth clenched, eyes streaming tears at the very thought of loosing Flynn. Without so much as a second though, she slammed herself into him, knocking him to the ground, and the four weapons from his grip. Astonished, she examined him, just to be sure this was no mirage, that Flynn was here. “I can’t move,” Flynn confided in her, though it was hardly audible through his assumingly clenched teeth. Before an escape plan could even be formulated, she was alerted by another sound, and in her peripheral vision, she saw the ninja drawing close to the two, golden weapons in hand. “I say we end this,” the red ninja declared, voice low in an obvious hunger for justice. He was cut off, though, by a faint, low humming. A spark of green energy erupted from within the four weapons, connecting them in a circle of a like green aura. The ninja attempted to solve this enigma through shared looks, but each knew as little as the next what this odd occurrence was. Jasmine broke free from the trance the glowing of the weapons had cast on her. Fighting wasn’t an option, for if she went down, Flynn would have to go down with her. With a deep breath, she formulated another means of escape. She was suddenly thankful Flynn had landed in such a straight position. Gathering every drop of her strength, she hurled Flynn into the air as high as she could manage. The ninja became suddenly alert to her motive of escape and closed in on her, in the exact manner they had before, she noted. Her weight shifted as she allowed another leap above the ninja, coming to rest on their heads exactly the way she had before. Unlike before, though, she threw herself across the room, planting her feet against the wall at a half angle, and shot through the air. She just barely flew past Flynn and was allowed no more than a second to grasp his hand and lead him up towards the crumbled remains of the roof. Feeling his fingers in hers soothed her, it reminded her of how the two could never be separated. As she dismounted onto the edge of the building, she positioned Flynn in just the right manner for a piggy back ride and began her takeoff. The whirl of vehicles buzzed behind her, and it was obvious this time that two motorbikes and a jet were on her trail. Her tactic of leaping across buildings seemed to fail her in this instance. Knowing this, she ducked down, backwards scaled a building, and threw herself and Flynn through a window. The hum of a jet overhead told her the plan had succeeded. In the dark and with her night suit, hopefully the ninja had assumed she had continued her building jumping. Eventually, they would have to give up the search. Ninjago City was two big to look all over for a pair of thieves. There was no need to convince herself further, for she crumpled up and passed out on the carpet the second after she concluded this thought. The darkness closed in around her, and despite her memory of such a glowing green aura, her last conscious thought was her returning to the night, accepting it as her master.

Edited December 10, 2012 by RicochetRay

[~Shockwave~]

i like your writing style, but the story is riddled with errors. Not to mention that the green ninja thing seems like an afterthought.

[Meiko]

I absolutely loved the story. Very well-written, and quite entertaining. I have one question though: How is she going to fulfill her destiny as the green ninja to defeat the darkness? Or by the last paragraph, was that implying that she is not going to fulfill the destiny and is just returning to darkness?

 

Good luck in the contest!

[RicochetRay]

I absolutely loved the story. Very well-written, and quite entertaining. I have one question though: How is she going to fulfill her destiny as the green ninja to defeat the darkness? Or by the last paragraph, was that implying that she is not going to fulfill the destiny and is just returning to darkness?

 

Good luck in the contest!

 

I absolutely loved the story. Very well-written, and quite entertaining. I have one question though: How is she going to fulfill her destiny as the green ninja to defeat the darkness? Or by the last paragraph, was that implying that she is not going to fulfill the destiny and is just returning to darkness?

 

Good luck in the contest!

Thanks so much. c:

I didn't come up with an exact ending to this story, but I'd say she'd do everything she could not to fulfill the destiny since it would involve leaving Flynn.

[Meiko]

 

I absolutely loved the story. Very well-written, and quite entertaining. I have one question though: How is she going to fulfill her destiny as the green ninja to defeat the darkness? Or by the last paragraph, was that implying that she is not going to fulfill the destiny and is just returning to darkness? Good luck in the contest!

Thanks so much. c:I didn't come up with an exact ending to this story, but I'd say she'd do everything she could not to fulfill the destiny since it would involve leaving Flynn.

Okay. Thanks for clearing that up.

[xccj]

This is very good. The theme of the two assassins is very different from what we usually get in Ninjago, and you managed to capture the characters on both sides as the fight progressed. The fight itself was very detailed and fun to read. I like the idea of Jasmine as the Green Ninja, and it would be very interesting to read a sequel to this story where maybe she begins to use her new-found abilities or something. Regardless, this was well written, and best of luck in the contest!