Mamoritai 4 - A Llorumi story

17. Infinity maze

Notes: The final chapter will be out on Saturday, so stay tuned!

Words: 1575

We continued jumping from platform to platform. "Wait, what do you mean we-!" Nya tried to yell after us. Suddenly we got teleported back to the beginning. Oh, Nya died. "Okay. I see what you mean." Nya answered as she looked at her health bar. "We have to do all that over again?" Lloyd asked. "All of us? How's that fair!?" I added. "If we pay attention, we won't make the same mistakes twice." Jay said. I took a deep breath, and we continued to jump from platform to platform. We jumped over those skull guys, and avoided singular hammers that apparently had gotten Nya the last time. Now ahead of us were three hammers, swinging from side to side. Jay was the first to cross them. After Jay it was Nya's turn. But then we got teleported to the beginning again. "Sorry, guys my bad..." Jay said as we respawned. "Okay, I'm getting a bit tired of this." Lloyd said. Damn right. "We don't have many lives left, so be careful. Okay?" Nya said. She was right. I had two and Nya, Lloyd and Jay had one. We all nodded and started again.

I jumped over those skull guys, dodged the hammers and even falling bricks! But then a wall spawned in front of me! How am I supposed to-! I couldn't even finish my thought, before I was dead already. We spawned back to the start. I sighed. "I'm down to my last life." I said. "Me too." Jay said. "Same here." Nya said. "Yup, me too." Lloyd added. "Okay, no more mistakes." Jay said as he looked at us. I nodded. Okay now, focus Rumi. You got this. I jumped over the skull, dodged the hammers, falling bricks, double jumped over the stupid fucking wall! As I landed after the wall, the scrolling stopped. "Ha! No more scrolling! Did we beat the level?" Lloyd said behind me. "I don't see the keytana." Nya said. Then fast music started playing. "Uh oh! The music always gets faster when the game's about to get harder!" Jay yelled. "How could it possibly get harder!" I yelled out of frustration. Then platforms started forming in front of us, but they stacked on top of each other. "An infinity maze!" Jay sighed as he looked up at the everlasting platforms. "Let's hope not." Lloyd said. Then the platform we we're standing on started vanishing again.

Now we started jumping up. As we jumped higher, the falling bricks returned. "Is someone throwing bricks at us?" Nya asked, looking at the falling bricks. "Those aren't bricks, they're bombs!" Lloyd yelled, as the bricks started exploding! "What are those?!" Jay said, pointing at the wall, which sharp spikes were shooting from! Jay jumped up to a higher platform, to dodge the spikes. Me, Lloyd and Nya squatted down to dodge them. Then, Jay's platform burst into flames! "And apparently the floor can just burst into flames whenever!" I yelled out. After that we continued to jump up, dodging the flame platforms, spikes and brick bombs. Including the level before this, we had been running for at least 40 consecutive minutes! I was so goddamn tired. We stopped for a minute, to catch our breath. "I'm never making fun of old games again! This is hard." Lloyd complained in between pants. "No wonder this game was never released! Who wants to play something called Spiky-Bomb-Bricks-Hot-Floors!" Jay yelled out in frustration. "Who cares what it's called! It's endless!" Nya joined in on the complaining. "Hopefully not!" I said as I entered the conversation. "What if it is? What if there's no way out?" Lloyd asked, fear clearly taking over his existence. "Guys, look! A loot box!" Nya suddenly yelled and pointed behind us.

I quickly turned around to see a floating loot box. Nya quickly ran over to it and acquired it. "Come on, give us something good!" She begged. She opened her attributes list and it showed a cyclone. "Uh, cyclones aren't good. They're whirling clouds of chaos that obliterate everything in their path." Nya wondered. "Maybe the only way to beat this maze is a force of nature!" Jay said. "Only one way to find out." Nya said, pressing the cyclone icon. Then it's like she was riding a cyclone??? Nya gasped. "I think this gives me the ability to Airjitzu!" She celebrated. "Air-what now?" I wondered. "I'll explain later!" Lloyd said to me. "It's only temporary!" Jay warned. "If you can Airjitzu, you can get to the top of this maze!" Lloyd proposed. "But what about you guys?" Nya asked. We glanced at each other. We'll come after her. We nodded to each other. "Go without us. It's better than none of us making it." Jay said. "I got a better idea. Hang on guys!" Nya said and grabbed us! We were now flying up, only hanging onto each other by holding hands. Me, Jay and Lloyd screamed all the way up. Nya's Airmahijitzu bubble bursted and we finished the maze! We landed on solid ground! For now at least it was solid. Now in front of us was another temple.

"Guess it wasn't so infinite after all." Lloyd commented. "Then they should call it the 'super long and incredibly annoying but eventually an end to it' maze'." I rambled. "Yeah that just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?" Jay joked, sarcastically. I rolled my eyes at him. "Well, no point in putting it off. Let's go." Nya said, looking at the temple. We walked to its doors and Lloyd opened them up. Now in front of us was a big area looking thingy. "This must be the final boss battle?" Jay said, looking at the area. Then, four icons each representing us appeared in front of us. "Choose your champion!" A voice said. "So now it's an old-school fighting game?! Make up your mind dude!" Jay yelled out. "What does he mean 'choose your champion'?" Nya asked. "Okay, I think one of us had to fight the boss." Jay said. "I'll take this one." Lloyd said. "No! You only have one life left!" I argued back. "Same as you." Lloyd calmly answered me. "No, Lloyd, don't! I'll do it. I'm not as important as you three. Or as skilled. You three have a better fighting chance against Unagami, than I would ever have!" I explained, holding onto Lloyd's hand. "I'm not letting you do this! I promised to protect you till the end, okay? This is me keeping that promise." Lloyd answered. "No, Lloyd, you're not listening. You are the chosen one. You are their leader. I'm not even a ninja yet." I argued back.

"Exactly. A good leader leads by example." Lloyd answered me. "But a good leader also knows when something isn't their fight. This isn't your fight Lloyd. Besides, even if I'd get cubed, you'll bring me back. Like the others. Please, Lloyd, I'm begging you." I begged him. "Lloyd, she's got a point." Nya said softly behind me, trying not to trigger Lloyd. Lloyd closed his eyes and sighed. "Please. You'll bring me back, I know it. Or maybe I don't even get cubed. Please have faith in me Lloyd. Please." I begged. Lloyd opened his eyes, with a tear rolling down his face. "I'm ready for anything that could face me in there. I know it." I assured him. Lloyd glanced at our hands, connected. He gently rubbed my hand with his thumb. He looked back up at me and gave me a little smile. He kissed me on the lips, which took me by surprise. He placed his left hand on my cheek and caressed it gently. "How could I say no to that face?" He whispered gently, after letting go of the kiss. I chuckled a little. Lloyd backed up and let go of my hand. He stood aside and let me press my icon. "Good luck, Harumi!" Jay yelled. "You got this!" Nya cheered. I smiled at them and then, I pressed my icon.

"The champion has been chosen." The voice said. I stepped into the area, taking in a deep breath. You got this. "Unagami will now choose your opponent." The voice continued. I took out my knives, preparing for what I would face. Great Devourer? Garmadon? Aspheera? "Fighter two will be..." The voice said, raising tension. I closed my eyes. I opened them as I heard a spawning voice-effect. I opened my eyes and I was immediately taken aback. "Honey..." My dad's sweet voice said. His brown eyes looked at me with love in them. "Da... dad?" I stuttered. This can't be... My dad... He's here... "I missed you so much, my sweetie." My dad said, walking towards me with open arms. I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I walked closer to him, slowly. "H... how?" I asked. "Oh my sweet child. How I missed your beautiful face. You have grown so much... Come here. Give me a hug sweetie." My dad said, opening his arms, looking at me with so much love. I walked closer to him and opened my arms. "Oh dad I have missed you-" But before I could finish my sentence, my dad struck me with a sword! No, no, no, no! It hurt and I quickly backed up. "I can't fight him!" I yelled out, as my dad walked closer to me, now with a devilish grin taking over his face.