Beginnings/Read

- BellaDonna’s room, North Beverly Hills-

Bell was a simple person.

Sometimes.

Never mind.

Today, things started off like normal. Everyone in the house started to wake up, and Belladonna, not needing to sleep, got the freedom to wander out of her dark room.

She had gone down to the living room, where she had (stupidly) left her scroll for the night. The eccentric writer then made her way back upstairs, avoiding conversation with the other inhabitants of the mansion.

After a few moments, she found a decent quill to use and got out her ink pot. Sitting down, she started writing into the parchment.

After a few moments, Bell started to feel oddly dizzy. Which was odd, considering she had no internal organs, meaning no brain was in her head to make her dizzy. No nerves to make her feel anxious.

It was a bit alarming, to say the least.

''It’s probably the stupid injection, trying to make me sick again. Or….''

Her thoughts started spiraling into a wormhole, and thousands of different timelines started inking themselves into the scroll. A few moments of peace, and then-

Splat!

With a splat much like a drink being spilled, BellaDonna had landed face-first into ancient sand-bricks, and she felt an Inkwell open itself near her right knee.

-Ouroboros, Ninjago-

Roxy’s communicator in her right ear started beeping, so she answered the call.

“Roxy, come in!” A female robotic voice called to Roxy, and quickly she clicked a button on her Amber Mech to appear on her screen.

“What’s up, Pixal?”

“We have Wu, Misako, and Dr. Powers! We’re headed back to Ninjago City.” Roxy quickly nodded to Pixal, and responded with a simple, “I’ll meet you guys there.”

Just then, when she hung up, a flying… thing… fell out of the sky! Roxy got off her mech, going towards whatever fell. She took out her harpoon just in case this thing was an enemy.

This is Ouroboros, nobody should be here!

“Ughh...” A seemingly familiar voice sprang out from the figure that was from the sky. “that was not a fun fall.”

“What the…” The Master of Amber turned behind the Great Devourer’s statue and saw..

Bell lifted her head off the ground, sticking her arm out to support the rest of her body as she looked up to see a dark figure standing behind a statue near the place she had fallen.

“Bell?”

WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH, Belladummy thought as her eyes widened. ''Ok, stranger knows your name. Red flag number one. Not to mention they hide behind statues. Red flag number two.''

“Huh?” Roxy put her harpoon back into her scabbard, and examined who she thought was Bell again.

“Small...small uh, small question,” Bell started, her voice getting a bit high-pitched. “How do you know my name?”

“You just look like a BellaDonna.” Roxy took off her hood, and her face was visible to Bell.

She looks...oddly familiar, Belladonna thought, lowering her eyes and flicking her tail in a confused manner. But I haven’t met anyone like her before..

Roxy’s covered power source peeked out from underneath her hair.

RED FLAG NUMBER 4.THEY HAVE A POWER SOURCE.WHAT THE FUCK EVEN IS THIS.

Shaking her head, Bell cleared her throat and looked up timidly.

“Uh...hey?” She said, speaking in a low voice. “Would it be too much to ask for you to, say… stab me with your sword thing so I can get back to LA? Also, uh...where the jay am I?”

“Uhm.. What's LA? You’re in Ouroboros, In Ninjago.” Roxy answered back to Bell, flashing her tail out from underneath her gi.

''RED FLAG NUMBER FIVE, I SOMEHOW SPAWNED MYSELF INTO A TV SHOW. WHAT THE JAY DID I DO.''

“W-I’m sorry, what?” Belladonna said, making an attempt to stand up.

“Nin-ja-go, lady. Did you not hear me the first time?” Roxy snapped back to her.

To Bell, Ninjago was an imaginary show.

To Roxy, it was her home. She had been there, to what Bell saw it as, ever since the Pilots. She had always been with the team. She remembers when they all got the Golden Weapons. The Scythe of Quakes, the Sword of Fire, the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Shurikens of Ice, and the Harpoon of Amber. Zane being a robot, Nya as Samurai X, Lloyd as the Green Ninja…

Skybound.

Roxy remembers when she unlocked her true potential, she turned into her Ultimate Wolf form and defeated the Serpentine that went after them.

-Flashback-

''Roxy grabbed her power source. “All of you, grab the headband!” Zane, Cole, Kai, and Jay touched her headband and the star glowed a bright yellow. They threw it to each other one by one, until it reached Roxy again.''

“Ninjaaaago!”

-End of Flashback-

Roxy looked at Bell again.

“You look like the elemental master of Shadow.”

''RED FLAG NUMBER SIX. I DON’T EVEN KNOW. I LOST COUNT. THIS IS BAD. WHY DOES SHE THINK I HAVE WEIRD POWERS. WHAT IS THIS. WHY CAN I NOT HAVE ONE NORMAL DAY IN MY LIFE. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE PURE CHAOS. Well actually that’s not that bad. bUT STILL.''

“....sUre.” BellaDonna said, lowering her eyes and finally being able to stand up. She glanced down at her knee, and sure enough, a small crack was oozing blackish-red ink. ''Aw, jupiter. It’s already spread to my core. Now I have to re-spawn. Well. Not that bad of an alternative. Maybe I’ll go back to California this way, and then I can act like this never happened. Hopefully.''

“So uh...could you maybe just uh take that pointy thing and just-” She pointed to her torso, smiling nervously, “stab it into me? Maybe? So I can respawn back in….what, did you ask what LA was? It’s a city, dumdum. The best one in the world. My city. Anyways, I need ya to take that fishing thingy and hurt me as much as possible with it, then my power source” she pointed to above her head, where her halo was floating happily. “will take me in to heal, and when I’m back fine, I’ll respawn back where I was initially before this whole..mishap.”

And that’s a big IF.

“Ninjago City is the only city around here, LA sounds great if it’s the best in your world… but I don’t wanna stab you with my harpoon! If the Ninja find out, they’ll kill me!” Roxy replied to her.

“And…” She pointed to Bell’s Halo. “I thought I was the only one with one of those power source thingies. I thought only people from the 15th Realm had them. What was the name of that realm again? Oh yeah! The Herth Realm.”

“..well.” Bell said, looking around nervously. “Los Angeles being the best city in my world...thats.. thats a matter of opinion. Kind of.” She looked back at Roxy, considering her words for a second.

“And no. You aren’t the only one with a power source. There’s thousands, maybe even millions, of creators who have them. They’re a sign of power, a way to recognize a fellow creator in a place where you have to hide among actual humans.” She said, pointing at her halo, which had started to bob up and down. “Also…..did-did you say ninja? Are you-are you hallucinating? Do you- wait wait wait wait. What's the 15th Realm? Is that just code for Desplasarz?

“Hallucinating?? No, why would I be hallucinating? I’ve known the Ninja for ages! Cole, Kai, Zane, Nya, Lloyd, Pixal, Jay??” Roxy answered, raising her eyebrow at the other in confusion. “And what’s a ‘Desplasarz’?”

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG on.” BellaDonna said, blinking abnormally fast. “t-those names sound awfully familiar. And Desplasarz is where I come from. It’s the name of that universe.”

“Oh. Well um..” Roxy’s communicator started beeping again, but this time it was Jay.

“Roxy, where are you? I thought you told Pixal you would be here.” Jay asked her.

“I didn’t think you guys would come back that fast! I’ll meet you guys back at the Monastery.” Roxy answered, and then hung up.

BellaDonna looked around once again, this time moving around a bit. She then settled her gave back on Roxy, and this time tried to contain her confusion.

“well is uh….is there a place nearby here where one could go to get themselves killed? Just...a hypothetical question.”

Roxy laughed. “Ninjago IS a place to get yourself killed! I don’t know how your world works, but literally everywhere here is a death trap! Zane died protecting us, and then N- uh… Prime Empire happened where everyone, including me, but Jay died and it was reversed.. What else? There’s way too much to list.”

“OOOOOOOOOOO,” Bell said, jumping up and down. “Yeah Desplasarz doesn’t exactly work that way...I wish it did though. People have too many manners these days. Anyways. I’ll go look for one of those death trap thingies, pop my clogs, and you can go do whatever you need to do.”

Roxy moved her eyes around awkwardly. “Good talk! I’ll leave ya to it.” She used her Amber to float herself back into her mech, and put her hood back on.

As BellaDonna watched the other leave the odd place, she started to look around Ouroboros for her scroll. She looked through all the places it might have fallen, but it was nowhere to be seen.

''Unless...it didn’t fall with m- OH NO. OHHH NO. I'M DOOMED. YEP. THIS IS THE END. EXCEPT I DON’T HAVE TO KILL A DRAGON. INSTEAD I HAVE TO FIND A JAYING WAY TO DIE. WHICH APPARENTLY SHOULDN'T BE DIFFICULT. I BEG TO DIFFER, HOWEVER. THIS IS NOT GOOD.''

After a few more minutes of internal panic and general discomfort, and not to mention it was sprinkled with internal crisis, she gave up on trying to find her only way out. Now, her best bet was to hope her halo would take her back to the other reality once she died. The problem was, death was farther away from her than it had ever been. And that was not a comforting thought, contrary to popular belief. It was not a good day for Belladummy.

While Roxy climbed into her mech, she set her GPS back to the Monastery and looked back at Bell.

''Why does it look like she’s panicking? Didn’t she say she only needed to die to get back to Desperate?'' Roxy was confused, but she decided not to leave just in case Bell wanted to go with her. Or asked to take her somewhere.

“Uhm..” Roxy called out to Bell. “Do you want me to take you to a death thingy??”

Bell looked up from her panic and looked behind her, processing her words.

“hhh….sure if it means I get my sanity back!” She yelled back, blinking slowly.

Roxy motioned Bell to enter her mech.

“...this is...cozy.” she mumbled, trying to take up as little space as possible.

As Bell was getting in, Roxy helped her in, but absorbed her… power?

“Oh! So you are the Master of Shadow, eh?”

“...what’s that.” The other responded, clearly confused. Well. More than she was before. “I’m...not a master of anything. Unless you count being stupid a thing you can be a master of, then yes, I am a master of something.”

“No, I meant as in an element! I’m the Master of Amber, so I absorb anyone’s powers who I touch. And I touched you, and got the power of…” She disappeared into thin air.

“WoooaH ok,” BellaDonna said, her eyes widening as she flinched at Roxy’s sudden disappearance. “That’s some major voodoo shit right there.”

Roxy appeared again. “Shadow! Your power is really useful. Wait.. if you have the power that means you’re.. Hm.. how do I put this.. You have the power of Shadow from Shade, the second-last known Elemental of Shadow. That means his powers got passed down to you!”

“Well...that’s weird and totally not confusing at all!” BellaDonna said in a mock-happy way, and some of her more normal personality peeked out through her confusion.

“That’s… sarcasm right?” Roxy answered to the other’s words; she can’t really tell if someone is being sarcastic or not. She pushed a few buttons on the mech until the wheel popped out of the empty space on the dashboard.

“No shit, sherlock.” BellaDonna snapped back, slightly frustrated by her companions' lack of quick-thinking.

“Rrrr, mujer te estoy haciendo un favor!” Roxy quickly replied to her.

“No soy un idiota, se lo que estas aciendo! Nunca has escuchado de una personalidad? Chale cabron, te pareces a mis papas. No entienden nada.” BellaDonna replied back, flicking her tail angrily. “Y no dijistes que encontrando una trampa de muerte era facil? Tengo cosas que quiero hacer en mi mundo!”

Roxy muttered something in German among the lines of, “Ungeduldig viel,” that Bell couldn’t understand. She finally turned on the Mech and started heading towards the Echo Canyons.

After a few moments, Belladummy started to stare into space, zoning in and out, lost in thoughts of longing of something she recognized. Not just something. Someone.

-The Monastery of Spinjitzu-

Pixal quickly paced back and forth, waiting for Roxy’s return.

“How can a mission that easy take 3 days. 3 days??” She angrily growled at the Chicken and picked it up. “What are you looking at?”

“Pixal?” Zane had entered the room. Pixal looked up, and almost dropped the Chicken.

''HE HAS HIS JUNGLE SUIT. MY WIRES ARE FRYING.''

But she looked at the Chicken, and then at Zane. Chicken, Zane, Chicken, Zane.

She put the Chicken down and went towards, you guessed it, Zane.

-Amber Mech-

“Ok, we’re here, Echo Canyons. One of the deadliest places in Ninjago.” Roxy clicked some more buttons and it opened the doors of the mech. “Hey, Zane almost died here that one time!”

“...So i just….get out?” Bell said, trying to find a way out where she wouldn’t fall. Eventually, she was able to step out, and looked around the bare lands, looking for a landmine or a chasm she could fall into.

“Yeah.. like it’s a canyon.”

After a few moments of very distracted walking around, BellaDonna fell into an empty chasm, eventually hitting the bottom and getting stabbed by a stalactite. Smiling widely, she started melting into an inky black puddle, with small specks of pink here and there. Her halo stayed in the air, floating, for a few moments, until it dropped down into the floor. The ink puddle that was Bell seemingly melted into the halo, and with a clatter, it teleported itself back to the top of the chasm, right at Roxy’s feet.

“Oh,” was all Roxy had to say.

After a few minutes, when Roxy was going back to her mech, the halo started to give odd little sounds, like muffled bombs. After a few moments, it lifted itself up a few feet above the ground, and as it started glowing, Bell’s shadow became visible in the ground. Then-

“JAY. IT DIDN’T WORK. I HATE MY LIFE. THIS IS WHY I HATE EVERYTHING.” She yelled, once fully formed again. She looked the same, except her tail had two points instead of one. A normal heart shape, and a pointer, more devilish tip.

“I thought that was going to get you back to Desperate Land!” Roxy said back to her.

“I thought so too! Now I’m stuck in this stupid universe with nothing! And-” She let out a gasp, twitching slightly, “I DONT HAVE MY SCROLL, MEANING I CAN’T CHANGE ANYTHING! i CAN’T MAKE MYSELF FORGET THIS EVER HAPPENED, I CAN’T GET MYSELF BACK! I'M PRETTY MUCH STUCK HERE FOREVER! aND NO ONE BACK THERE KNOWS IM HERE! iM DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!”

“Scrolls? Master Wu has scrolls! I don’t know if they’re the ones that you need, but some prophecies on them.”

Suddenly BellaDonnas tone of voice changed, from hard and panicked, to sad and desperate.

“oh, i wish they were.” She mumbled, “But I can’t. First of all, they already have things written on them. Second of all, it’s not one I wrote. In order for the scroll to work in the way I need it to, it has to have a bond between the owner or writer, and it needs to be something you created, purely out of your imagination or of your creation. That’s the whole point of it. And anyways, those are probably too old to work in the way I need them to.”

“Heh, way too old I guess. They’re over thousands of years old.” Roxy’s face went from disappointed to excited. “Hey wait! We can go to the Cloud Kingdom! They decide everyone and everything’s fates!”

This news was far more welcome than anything else she had heard. For a few moments, she had hope, actual hope of going back to the place she belonged in. Then her (imaginary) stomach dropped, and she went back to practical suffering.

“I- we can’t. You have to go wherever you have to go, and I don’t want you to get in more trouble than you already are. I don’t like being a burden on people. At all.”

“It’s our duty as Ninjas to protect those who cannot protect themselves. And in this case, you can’t get back to your home,” Roxy started. “Once I tell them, they won’t be mad anymore. The others think that I’m still on my other mission. I can tell them that I started a new one.”

“...fine.” Bell caved in, rolling her eyes. “But you need to go and explain fully to them, or else I’m not moving.”

“Then you’re coming with me.”

“...do I haaaave to?” BellaDonna whined, slouching. “I just died, don’t you think it should be better for me to...not move for about 6 hours?”

“They won’t believe me if you don’t come.” Roxy answered to the other. She knew that Bell died in front of her, but the Ninja wouldn’t think that she was telling the truth.

“FINE.” She yelled, crossing her arms. “But I’m keeping my mouth shut! It’ll be your fault if they don’t believe you!”

-meanwhile in newlands...-

“WHERE IN THE FRUIT LOOPS IS THAT STUPID CHILD,” Cider yelled, practically running around the house. “BELLADONNA JUNIPER AHTZIRY NITESHADE, GET OUT OF YOUR HIDING OR SO HELP ME I WILL TEAR YOU APART LIMB BY LIMB AND TEAR UP THAT STUPID SCROLL OF YOURS!”

“...Cider why are you yelling,” Heather said, peeking out from her room. “It’s one in the morning.”

“NO REASON, GET BACK TO SCREWING VIVICA OR WHATEVER.” Her sister yelled back, completely ignoring the fact that Heather was, in fact, doing the devil's tango with her girlfriend.