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Chapter Text

The storm was pure madness. Nothing was making sense and there was no chance to stay still, everyone had to be on their toes unless they wanted to risk the lives of both themselves and the civilians. 

Kai swung his swords down to cut a rope that was trapping a young boy. The brown haired boy clung to Kai, who gently set him down onto the ground below. He waved to Cole, who nodded. It can’t get any worse than this, Kai thought as his limbs started to lock up with exhaustion. 

“Kai, get back to the Bounty! There's still people in the middle of the storm,” Lloyd called out to him from atop the Bounty. 

“I’ll be right there! Then we can do all the things Jay planned out for you, it’ll be a doozy!” Kai said with a smile.

Lloyd huffed, a false look of annoyance on his face as he dramatically shook his head. “Just get up here and help out,” he said, letting out an amused chuckle. 

Kai leapt onto floating pieces of concrete, making his way up to Lloyd, who grabbed onto his arm, pulling him onto the wooden deck of the Bounty. He watched Pixal grab the wheel and began turning the ship towards the heart of this whole mess. 

He heard a thump next to him as Cole leapt onto the Bounty next to him. “Anything good, Cole?” Kai asked, bumping elbows with his best friend. 

Cole shook his head, looking a bit distant. “No, I saved a kid whose dad got crushed in the rubble,” he said dejectedly. 

Kai gave him a sympathetic look. These times were the hardest, when they couldn’t save someone. It was always a constant memory loop of ‘what if’s’.

Kai put a reassuring hand on Cole’s shoulder and the other gave him a sad smile. The Bounty suddenly began to violently shake, which caught them off guard. Kai and Cole held onto each other, trying not to fall over.

Jay flew in close with his bright blue mech, looking a bit nervous. “Uh, I think the storm is pulling us in!” He cried out, turning around and using the mech’s jets in an attempt to fly out of the storm. 

“This energy, it’s too unstable! I can see it all around, it’s going to suck us in!” Lloyd cried out, looking around in fear. Kai and the others couldn’t see what he was seeing, but they knew it couldn’t be good based on Lloyd’s strong reaction. 

“Jay, land on the Bounty and get out of that mech!” Kai heard Nya call out from a piece of rubble, jumping down onto the deck to stand beside Lloyd, who looked worried, fear evident in his green and red eyes.

Jay nodded, but a pull from the storm violently pulled and yanked him into the middle of the storm with a scream. His mech was unable to withstand the pull of the storm that was getting stronger by the minute. 

Kai stood there, stunned. It had all happened so fast. Grief flooded through him and he flinched when Nya let out a guttural cry as she watched her Yin disappear into who knows what and who knows where.

“Jay!” Zane cried out as he had pulled a civilian on board. Zane ran towards where Jay used to be and he was suddenly hit by some kind of strange tech that didn’t look like it was from Ninjago. 

Cole and Lloyd cried out for him as Zane was sucked into the center just like Jay was. Not even a scream was heard as they watched him disappear into the eye of the unforgiving storm. Kai felt useless, two of his brothers were gone and he hadn’t even moved an inch out of shock.

“Cole, Kai, get away from there!” Lloyd called out, snapping Kai out of it.

Cole nodded, trying to fight the pull. Unfortunately, he and Kai were both at the bow of the ship, which meant they were the closest to the storm which also made it extremely difficult to get towards the others, who were up at the wheel.

Cole, who had been closer to the storm than Kai, tried his best to fight the pull of the storm. Kai finally grabbed onto the ladder that led to the control room, reaching out a hand to Cole, but he was too far away from Kai. Before anyone could reach him, another strong pull came and Cole was sucked in with a scream, hitting one of the dragon heads with a loud thunk.

Kai could only spare a few moments to try and attempt to process that 3 of his brothers were gone just like that. He let out an involuntary whimper before having to climb up the ladder. 

As soon as Kai was up and with the others, he looked at Pixal. She met his gaze and she nodded, grabbing Kai’s hand in support. She and Zane both had an understanding that Kai was the least emotionally stable of the bunch. Even after all of Wu’s teachings after Nya sacrificed herself, he was still a lose cannon.

Pixal let go of Kai’s hand and used the steering wheel to try and turn the ship. It only managed to turn to the left side before the pull strained the ship’s steering. “The Bounty is moving as fast and as hard as it can go, we’re going to be sucked in,” Pixal said dejectedly. Nya, Lloyd, Kai, and Pixal all shared a sad silent moment. “We can get out if we use the pieces of Ninjago city, but it is extremely risky,” Pixal suggested, but Lloyd shook his head. 

“It’s way to dangerous, it’s better if we stick together,” Lloyd told them. His face was full of uncertainty and grief. 

Another violent pull yanked the Bounty closer, shaking the ship and causing them all to fall over. Kai fell and hit his head on the wheel. The work was dizzy and He heard Lloyd scream, Kai got up and looked down to see that Nya, Lloyd, and Pixal had been thrown onto the deck.

When Lloyd fell, he hit his left shoulder on the railing. He was knocked off the ship and was gripping the railing for dear life as he was being pulled towards the storm.

Kai climbed down the ladder, trying to fight the pull of the storm. He watched in horror as the rail broke off. Time seemed to slow down as Lloyd was about to be sucked as well, but Nya thankfully grabbed Lloyd’s hand just in time.

Kai ran over just as Nya was also pulled off of the Bounty. Kai quickly jumped off of the Bounty, grabbing Nya’s other hand, quickly latching his other hand onto the still intact railing of the Bounty. Kai felt dread run through him as the Bounty was still getting sucked further into the storm slowly but surely.

He looked around, looking for Pixal, but he couldn’t find her. He knew what had happened the second he couldn’t find her. She’d been sucked into the storm, and Kai wasn’t fast enough to help her.

The pull was straining his grip on the railing and Kai gritted his teeth. His head was ringing with a possible concussion and he felt blood dripping down his forehead.

Kai tried his best to hold onto Nya, who was also trying her best to hold onto Lloyd. “Don’t let go!” Kai screamed, his voice was filled with pure emotion. He felt tears burn his eyes, knowing that this was likely the end.

“I’m slipping!” Lloyd suddenly shouted, panic laced in his voice. He was unfortunately at the end of their small link, trying to hold onto his sister. Out of pure desperation, Lloyd tried grabbing onto Nya’s arm with both hands, his claws instinctively digging into her arm. Kai winced, seeing the blood start to flow down her arm.

“Lloyd!” Nya yelled, trying to fight through the burning feeling in her arm, trying to pull their younger brother up with her arm. 

Just a bit more and Nya could pull Lloyd to safety. 

Just a bit more and then Kai could pull all of them to safety. 

Lloyd fought tears as Kai tried to pull the two up, but the pull was too strong, his grip was loosening as he grew more and more tired. The pull of the storm was growing too strong for him to keep up. 

“Please! Don’t let go! Don’t let go!” Kai begged his siblings, tears freely flowing out of his eyes as he tried not to sob at their impending doom. 

Lloyd looked up and met the others' eyes, and Kai and Nya saw the anguish and fear in his eyes, tears were flowing down his face. Kai grunted as he dug his nails into the wood of the railing. 

“Don’t let—“ Kai was cut off as Lloyd was suddenly yanked into the middle of the storm with a scream. 

“No!” Kai and Nya had screamed out in anguish. 

Kai’s grip finally on his sister’s hand snapped and Nya let out a scream as she was also pulled in. Kai could only watch as his baby sister and brother, both whom he basically raised, were pulled into the middle of the storm. Not knowing what was going to happen to them.

He watched knowing that he was all alone. That all of his brothers and his sisters were gone.

Suddenly, there was a flash of white light, and Kai could only sob as his world broke down around him, fading into darkness.

—

It was still dark out as he made his way through foreign lands. Kai had been traveling to the Monastery for weeks by now and he was itching to arrive at the monastery. He had searched far and wide, looking for his home. 

Unfamiliarity was all around him and it left a sting of frustration flowing through him. He glared at the broken railing and the claw marks etched into the wood in front of it. It was a glaring reminder of his failures.

At first, it all seemed like a cruel joke on Kai, like the others were going to pop out and tell him that everything was fine. That he didn’t just randomly wake up on the Bounty, alone, bruised, and bloody.

He could remember all of the horrifying details of that horrifying storm like it was happening in the present. 

It had even been Lloyd’s eighteenth birthday and the ninjas had wanted to celebrate it like any other day, as per Lloyd’s request. Jay had a list of activities he’d planned out, excitedly chatting about it only an hour before the storm started while he and Kai were playing video games.

Unfortunately, none of it ever happened as cracks in the sky had caused them to drop everything to once again save people. 

Kai flinched as he recalled the screams. Families ripped to pieces, homes shattered, blood splattered in a barrage of debris and rubble.

Kai himself still didn’t know what to feel about the Merge. Emotions never were his forte, he had always struggled to figure out what exactly he was feeling, much less know how to deal with it. 

Kai still had yet to find any of his teammates. He had made sure to look around while he traveled, but to no avail. He was growing tired of everything. All of the loss, all of the pain, the loneliness. 

It was like the universe itself hated him. Kai let out a shaky breath. That was fine by him, he hated himself too.  

— 

Kai could barely think straight as he finally approached the Monastery, the familiar red and gold doors seemed to welcome him as he flew in closer. 

Finally, after all this time, he was finally home. He felt tears pool in his eyes as he tried to process all of his emotions. The thing that disturbed him the most, was that the place looked eerily still, something that was never a thing with him and the others.

The Bounty rumbled as it finally came to a stop, and Kai walked out onto the deck. He glanced around, waiting for someone to just jump on board and ask him who he was. Waiting for a flash of anything, even that stupid chicken Master Wu had loved so much. 

As Kai got off of the Bounty, he looked at the Monastery. Surely someone would have run to see who was here? Right? It was something they were all trained to do. 

He pushed the doors open, cringing as they loudly creaked. Unease and fear pooled in his gut as he stepped past the heavy wooden doors. Kai frowned as he walked, every step felt heavy and his hands fidgeted with his gi anxiously.

Kai made his way through the courtyard, and eventually got to the Monastery. He rushed in, but to his dismay, he found nothing but dust. 

He walked into the game room, looking at it all. The controllers that Kai and Jay had left behind in their rush were still in the same spot.

He glanced at the kitchen. Zane’s pot of stew was still on the stove, likely moldy from just sitting there for weeks on end. 

He walked down the hallway, looking into each room. Cole's punching bag was still on the floor from him breaking the hook on the ceiling, sawdust was still littered all over the floor around it.

Nya’s small project sat on her and Jay’s shared desk, unfinished. Her tools remained untouched with a light layer of dust on them.

Finally, Lloyd’s new favorite stuffed dragon was on the floor. Its hand stitched smile left a sick feeling in Kai’s gut, it was almost as if the smile was mocking the tragedy.

Kai walked into the room and picked the plush up and brushed some of the dust off of it. It was weighted, along with the pastel green hoodie that Lloyd had also gotten for his 18th birthday. Jay had made the plushy for him, and Zane made the hoodie.

Kai clutched the green plush as close to his chest as he could bring it, and fell to the floor in misery. If only he could’ve pulled them up.

Maybe he wouldn’t be all alone.

—

Kai walked out to the courtyard when he felt the ground underneath him begin to shake and he stumbled as he tried to keep his balance, but he eventually yelped as he finally fell over. 

Kai picked himself up off of the ground and dusted himself off. He ran out of the monastery as fast as could and spotted it.

A large and bright magenta crack in the sky was the first of its kind that Kai had seen since the storm. 

Kai shivered just looking at it, the catastrophic event had completely ruined the color magenta for him. 

Kai froze as something tried to crawl out of the cracks. Kai stared for a bit before throwing his fire up into the air at the weird creature, trying to figure out its weaknesses and its strengths. 

Despite what Jay might say about him, he is a very good battle strategist, he knew how to analyze a battle just from a single swing of his swords. Years of battles and wars left him with sharpened senses and tactics. 

The weird tentacle creature let out a sharp ear piercing screech as it’s slimy skin began to char at the heat of Kai’s flames. 

He felt a familiar pull on him as the strange cracks in the sky grew larger. Kai knew this pull, he could never forget it. It was the last thing he felt when his brother and sister were yanked in the middle of that horrible storm that tore his entire family apart in a mere 2 hours. 

Kai kept blasting his fire at the monster until one of his flames missed and hit one of the cracks in the sky. He watched in wonder as the crack seemed to slightly close, and he got an idea. 

He powered up his flames until he felt confident enough to finally launch it into the crack. Kai continued firing until the crack was completely sealed shut, cutting off the strange monster from leaving through the crack.

He panted as he felt the lashing effects of over using his powers. He felt so exhausted, but he also felt a bit of fear strike through him. What had that storm done to the world, to Ninjago? Everything was so unstable. He wished that he had everyone else.

Zane would tell him what everything was, what was wrong with the world. Pixal would plan and articulate everything. Nya and Jay would get to work coming up with some kind of gadget. Cole would be hyping everyone up. Lloyd, well, he would already be in battle, guiding them through the fight and offering his support.

Kai felt so alone, so useless without his team. They were together through thick and thin. It was strange, being alone for so long. When his parents had to leave him and Nya, he always had abandonment issues. If Nya strayed too far, Kai would cry until he found her. 

He had grown used to living with multiple people. They’d been by each other's side for over a decade now. The loneliness shoots through him worse than a burning hot blade. He could only sink down to the brick floor of the monastery’s courtyard and sulk. Kai could only hope that he’d be able to see his family once more.

He could only hope to fix his mistakes. To correct what he couldn’t do. Pull them to safety.

Chapter Text

It had taken him a while, but he finally managed to get himself somewhat back to his old routine. It has now been a solid 3 years since the merge and Kai still has yet to find any of his friends and family. At this point, 

He was running along the rooftops with his swords strapped to his back. 

That’s when he saw it.

“Spinjitzu?”

Kai approached the area with caution. It had been so long since he had seen spinjitzu, other than his, of course. If it wasn’t one of his friends, maybe it’s Wu’s, maybe even Misako’s, or it could be Garmadon’s. 

Kai hoped it wasn’t.

He followed some people that were dressed in the same outfit. Bad guys who had soldiers always had them wear the same uniform. It was pretty telling who was who when you look for bad guys. 

Kai saw them enter a train like contraption. He hopped down onto it and landed quietly and swiftly. Kai felt the train move and started to walk up to the cart that the person who knew Spinjitzu was in. He was eager to find out who it was. The color showed that it wasn't any of his siblings, maybe Cole’s, but it could be Wu’s, which would be the best result. 

Kai jumped back when some of the soldier people got on top of the cart and swung and shot at him. Kai threw on his hood and took the twin swords from behind him and began to attack the three soldiers. 

The soldiers tried to come at him from three different angles, which would have been smart if Kai had not been a well trained ninja with war experience. Kai blocked each attack as the soldiers tried to strike him. Kai then swiftly kicked one of them off of the train. He turned to the other two. 

“Wait- you’re one of them ninjas!” One called out. 

Kai chuckled. This would be fun.

Kai kept up with the two remaining soldiers as they kept on attacking him. It ended quickly, however, when one of them appeared to have run out of ammunition and the other tripped onto the other, which sent them tumbling off of the train. Kai looked back with a confused face. He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. 

Kai approached a hatch and turned the wheel to open it. He lifted it up and peered in. 

He was expecting a ninja.

Not two people who were clearly no older than 16.

Oh well, he supposed that he should rescue them.

He hopped down and attacked the single guard standing there. 

“A ninja?!”

“The fire ninja!” 

Kai chuckled a bit in amusement. Guess he had some fans! He swung his twin swords with precision as he blocked the guard and angled the guards attacks to the cuffs on the teens and ended the fight swiftly with a kick to the guards head. 

“Okay, I can see why you idolize them so much, Arin.” The pink haired teen with cat headphones said, her eyes on Kai. 

Kai turned to the teens and helped the one in the orange hoodie up. “I was expecting a ninja, not a couple of teens! Have you seen anyone using spinjitzu? I could have sworn that I saw someone using it.” Kai stated, looking for answers. 

The pink haired pushed the other forward with a nervous smile. 

The orange hoodie boy rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, actually, that was me.” 

Okay. What was going on? Kai was confused. “But you can’t teach yourself spinjitzu! It took me years, with an old wise master, to be able to master the technique!” Kai argued, dumbfounded. 

The boy chuckled nervously. 

Kai sighed out. “Okay, let’s get you two out of here.” 

“Wait!” The girl cried out.

“What? We have to go before more of those guys come out to get us.” Kai said, pointing at the unconscious guard. 

“We can’t go yet, there’s a dragon that these people hunted down.” The boy said, trying to convince Kai.

“There’s a dragon now?!” Kai quietly shouted. “Fine. Fine. Okay, the dragon should be in the containment cart in front of us, it’s the only one. So, let’s go.” Kai hopped up on top of the train and used his fire to melt the hatch and jumped down. 

The teens followed, as Kai heard shuffling and shouting from the top of the train. “Dang it! Okay, I’m gonna go hold them off for now, get this dragon out and meet me up top.” Kai finished, and hopped back on top and faced the other guards.

—

Arin opened the cage and immediately fell down as the dragon jumped onto his chest, licking his face. 

“Haha! Nice to see you too buddy!” Arin said, standing up and climbing up the ladder to the top of the train, Sora following right after.

—

Kai groaned as he slashed his swords at another guard. Why were there so many? 

“By order of the Good Empress, stand down before Rapton!” A gruff voice called out. 

The three stood there confused. 

“Whose Rapton?” Kai called out, confused.

“I am Rapton!” The older man shouted.

“What?” Kai called out, confused. 

“I. AM. RAPTON!” The man shouted even louder, growing more and more frustrated.

Kai turned to the two teens. “Why do villains always talk in third person? It’s getting kind of old.” Kai said, annoyed.

The teens shrugged and Kai leapt into battle. 

Kai dodged a bullet as he kicked a guard in the face and shoved a couple others off the train. 

The teens tried their best to keep up as Arin used his spinjitzu.

Kai stared at the teen in awe. “Wow, it really was you.” 

Arin smiled and chuckled nervously.

Sora stared at the dragon. “Well, Arin isn’t the only surprise!” Sora said as she put her hands in front of her and tried tapping into the power she had used earlier. 

Kai stared in slight confusion. “Was something supposed to happen?” He said nervously before he kicked another soldier off of the train. 

“I don’t understand! They were working just fine before!” Sora shouted in frustration, looking at her hands.

The dragon roared as the little thing jumped up and a beam of light shot out of the dragon and into Sora. Kai shouted out in shock and Arin stood there, shocked. 

Sora powered up with magenta powers as the soldiers weapons floated out of their hands and malfunctioned in the air. Once the power went away, the weapons started to act weird. “Uh, I think I made a bomb!” Sora shouted as Kai yelped and dragged the two teens off the train as the soldiers and Rapton shouted in a panic.

The four rolled before coming to a stop. Kai helped the teens up and groaned. “Ugh. I hate train fights.” 

Arin was silently exploding in excitement as he looked at one of the ninjas! The ninjas! Then, the little dragon ran up and started sniffing Kai. 

“Hey there buddy!” Kai cooed as he petted the dragon’s scaly head. It reminded him of Lloyd whenever Kai patted him on the head, despite Lloyd’s own false annoyance. 

“We need to get him home.” Arin said, looking at the dragon. 

The dragon ran off and brought back some rocks. The dragon started to move the rocks when Sora noticed.

“C’mon, we’re trying to get you home, not build rock sculptures.” Sora grumbled. 

“Wait, no, I think he’s telling us where his home is.” Kai said, and pulled out a scroll. “For about two to three years, I went out and mapped the merged realms as much as I could before returning, but those mountains look familiar. There!” Kai pointed at three mountains that matched Riyu’s sculpture. “Land of the Three Mountains!” 

“Guess we’re going mountain climbing!” Arin cheered. 

Sora looked at Arin, unconvinced. “So, fire ninja, do you have a means of communication or are you going to randomly disappear?” Sora said, looking at Kai. 

“Please, just call me Kai, and anyways, I have the perfect idea!”

—

“Y’know, I wasn’t really convinced that you would let us live with you until you made us climb a thousand stairs.” Sora stated, trying to catch her breath. 

“Let alone be your students!” Arin exclaimed, pumping with his endless energy and enthusiasm. 

Kai laughed and pushed open the monestary’s doors. Riyu dashed in and began to sniff everything. 

“How do you climb all those stairs without being so tired?!” Sora exclaimed. 

“You get used to it!” Kai exclaimed, his hands on his hips.

Chapter Text

Kai led the two teens into the library where scrolls were everywhere. He winced at the mess, yet didn’t draw much attention to it. “So, what are we looking for?” Sora asked, looking around the cluttered library. 

“A scroll, it should have green handles and a black string.” Kai replied, picking up scrolls and tossing them in a bin when he realized that it wasn’t what he was looking for. 

Arin picked up a scroll, noticed the green handles and black string, and knew he found what they were looking for. “Found it!”

Kai turned around and grabbed the scroll and opened it up on the table. In it, were more specific instructions on where to find the three peaks. Kai stood proudly at his work. He really should professionally map for a living. Whatever that job is called. 

Arin took the time to fully look at the library, and noticed weird things about it. “I am super excited to be here at the monastery, but it’s a little more weird than I expected.” Arin admitted, a hand on his face. 

“The weird stuff came after the Merge, it wasn’t there before, like the mural on the wall outside.” Kai said, trying to clean the scrolls up from the floor. 

“There isn’t a mural outside though? From what I saw.” Sora said, confused. 

“There used to be.” Kai said, proving his point. 

—

“So how are we going to get to the dragon’s home? We can’t walk there.” Sora asked, confused. 

“Ooh! Are we going to take the Bounty!” Arin guessed, and cheered when Kai nodded. 

The Bounty was parked just behind the monastery. Sora looked at the ship with wonder. “So, this thing can fly?” She asked, and thought about how it worked. 

“Yup! Had her since the early days.” Kai paused, before adding; “Well, maybe not the same model, but you know.” 

Sora pondered about that before they got on the ship. The dragon hopped up and started to look around. 

Kai led the two downstairs into the hallway. The first door to the left is where the small kitchen is, the door right across from it is the dining room, the second door to the left is the utility closet, and the door right across from that is the cabin, you guys can go in there and rest.” Kai finished and stepped into the cabin.

The two teens looked in and looked around. There was a bulletin board that had a bunch of pictures and papers all over it, all of the ninjas’ memories and adventures were pinned up. There was also a whiteboard with a small doodle of a dragon. “Who drew this? It’s kinda funny.” 

“Huh? Oh, that little thing. That was actually Lloyd.” Kai responded, his gaze turning away with grief. 

“The green ninja?” Sora asked, turning to Arin for confirmation. 

Arin nodded. “Yup!” After a couple of seconds, he perked up. “That reminds me! Kai, I forgot to give this to you.” Arin pulled out a green hood and Kai froze. 

“Where did you get this? When did you get this?” Kai asked, hoping for some kind of clarity. 

“I found it right after the Merge, it must have ripped off his gi when the storm ended.” Arin replied, and Kai looked down at the dirty mask. Oh. Makes sense. “I'm sure we’ll find the other ninjas soon! If we could find you, we can find everyone else.” Arin said, trying to lift the mood.

It worked, Kai gave the teen a small smile. “Right. ‘Cause ninja never quit.” 

—

After a little while, Kai walked over the control module and powered up the Bounty. He then walked over to the steering wheel and pulled the ship up and the ninja, dragon, and two teens were finally embarking on their adventure. 

“So why were you M.I.A for so long?” 

The question stunned Kai, before he answered. “Oh, well there was a lot of pressure from the Merge, I was too distraught from losing everyone, but I picked myself up and started to secretly save everyone by going to map the the Merged Realms, while also dealing with Mergequakes.” Kai answered, steering the Bounty.

“What are ‘Mergequakes’?” Sora asked, she didn’t know anything about those.

“Side effects of the Merge, when all of the realms merged together, the world became unstable, causing literal rips in the universe, and appear to only be fixed by elemental powers.” Kai answered.

Arin wondered what a Mergequake would look like. It seemed impossible yet possible all at the same time.

—

By the time they had arrived at the peaks, Kai noticed something. He quickly looked to his side and spotted a small aircraft. “This people from before followed us!”

It was too late however, the people shot at them and managed to strike the back thrusters. “They got the thrusters!” Sora screamed.

“We’re going down! Hold on!” Kai yelled back. 

The Bounty flew downwards, heading straight to the mountains. The three scream out when the ship is suddenly stopped, causing them all to fall over. The baby dragon chirped and kept his balance. 

The Bounty shook as it was dropped onto solid land, and the three groaned as they got up. They walked off of the Bounty and were faced with a large dragon. “Give us our Riyu back, now!” The dragon demanded. 

The three were shocked that the dragon could speak their language, when Kai stepped forward. 

“Um, whose Riyu?” 

The baby dragon dashed forward and nuzzled the larger dragon.

“Oh, so that’s his name.” Kai said, trying to be calm.

“We didn’t take Riyu if that’s what your wondering, we came in peace.” Sora said, but she had terrible timing when a dragon roared in the distance. It was grabbed by the soldiers from before. “Imperium Claws.” Sora stated. 

“You tell me that you come in peace, yet you bring them into our home?!” The Dragon roared. 

“It was an accident! We didn’t mean to be followed!” Kai shouted. 

The Imperium Claws surrounded the large dragon and used their weapons and ropes to take the dragon down as Kai, Arin, and Sora attacked the Claws. 

Kai powered up his fire and felt the heat of his flames and blasted them towards the Claws, getting rid of a few, but there were too many. 

Arin was attempting to use his spinjitzu, but it was a tad bit difficult since he had no real training, and ended up fighting himself more than he fought the oncoming Claws.

Sora was trying to tap into her power, but she couldn’t seem to get them to work as she tried to fight off the Claws.

Kai ran over to the dragon. “Riyu powered up Sora’s elemental powers, can you do that too?” He asked, trying to get the dragon to answer.

“I know nothing of this!” The dragon roared. 

“Please! It’s likely the only way that we could defeat the Claws and save your people.” Kai pleaded. 

The dragon thought for a second, before a beam of light hit Kai, and he felt his power surge. He was a bit frightened, it felt like he was powered the same way the ninjas were powered by the Scrolls of Forbidden Spinjitzu. He pushed through it however, and began to over power the Claws with his fire, forcing them to retreat with empty hands.

Kai yelled out in pain. It was too much. Too much power in one human body. 

The power suddenly disappeared and Kai collapsed onto the floor. 

“Kai!” The two teens yelled out, trying to help the ninja. 

“I’m fine- I’m fine.” Kai said, trying to reassure the teenagers. 

The dragon stared down at Kai. “I wouldn’t recommend doing that again, your feeble human body cannot handle the pressure of dragon energy, if you attempt this again, your entire existence could rip apart into nothing.” The dragon warned, and Kai shivered at the thought. Yup. Never again. “However, I can sense a connection between us, maybe there is more to dragons and elemental masters.” The dragon admitted, and Kai wondered what the possibilities could be.

“We can only adapt to our new world, and help change it for the better.” Kai said, and the dragon agreed.

“You are wiser than I thought, however, that should have been suspected, seeing as you are a master with two students.” The dragon said, and Kai stood up proud. 

“I ain’t a master yet, but I am a teacher.” Kai stated, and the two teens smiled to each other.

Riyu approaches the two and Arin and Sora say their goodbyes. 

“We’ll visit! Maybe.”

“See you soon buddy!”

“Come now, Riyu, we must relocate.” The dragon said, and Riyu chirped and began to follow, but looked back. He chirped again and ran towards the three. 

“Riyu, you have to go home now.” Arin said, but Riyu had other plans. 

“It appears that this little one isn’t ready to separate from your little group.” The dragon said, and Riyu chirped. “Oh well, he can go back with you, he knows where he can find us if he ever needs help.” The dragon gifted the group permission, before roaring, and took flight.

The group watched as the herd flew off.

“Let’s go repair the Bounty.” Kai said, and Sora perked up.

“I can do it!” She said excitedly.

—

After long, grueling hours (it was only one) Kai finally felt relief as Sora got the Bounty up and in the air, better than before. 

“Alright! Let’s get home!” Kai cheered.

—

“And you’re certain that this ninja, connected with the dragon?” A female voice said from the tiger's device.

“Affirmative. We can go forth with the plan.” 

“Good work, Ras.” 

—

The Empress stepped forward to the sphere of energy that contained a massive and powerful dragon. 

“Don’t worry, you’ll have more friends soon.” The Empress said, cackling.

Chapter Text

Kai walked into the teens' shared room, and used pots and pans to wake them up. Arin and Sora screeched as they jumped out of bed. 

“What was that for! The sun’s barely up!” Sora groaned, begging for more sleep. 

“It’s time for training! I expect you to be up and ready in a few minutes!” Kai shouted, before leaving the room. 

Arin was awake instantly. “Our first day of actual ninja training!” He cheered, quickly brushing his teeth, excited for the day ahead of the two. 

“Easy for you to say.” Sora whined, forcing herself to get up and get ready.

—

Arin walked out onto the Monastery’s training area. He looked over at Sora, and saw that she was barely awake. “You okay Sora?” He asked, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. He knew she wasn’t a morning person, but they’ve never woken up this early.

“Huh? Oh, yeah I’m great!” Sora replied, trying to sound upbeat, but ultimately failed to.

Arin gave her a worried look when their teacher walked out and stepped towards them. “Well! If it isn’t my favorite students!” Kai turned to Sora. “Woah! You look…tired. You get enough sleep?” He asked his student, who looked like she could barely stand.

“Oh! Uh, well, Sora was never a morning person. She should be up and awake in a few though!” Arin said, smiling awkwardly at the situation. 

Kai chuckled. “That sounds familiar. My friend, Cole, yeah, unless you dragged him out of bed with cold water, you’re not seeing him till noon.” Kai said, recalling one of his best friends. Cole was always like a bear. He’d probably hibernate like one if they didn’t wake him up every morning. “Anyways! Are you guys ready for training?” He asked, and only one of the teens actually said yes.

“Shouldn’t we be around, I don’t know, people? If we’re training to be ninjas, shouldn’t we be where the people are?” Sora asks, and Kai was about to say something, but Arin beat him to it.

“You just want to go to the Crossroads Carnival!” Arin teased.

“So what? We’ve never missed a single one!” Sora argued.

“Woah woah woah, what is the ‘Crossroads Carnival’?” Kai asked, genuinely confused.

“It’s a carnival that’s held in the Crossroads, it’s to celebrate the different traditions and cultures that came together from the Merge, there’s food, games, and even a fireworks display at the end.” Sora answered, trying to convince Kai.

It worked.

“We shouldn’t get distracted from training, but it sounds so fun…ugh. Fine.” Kai admitted, and the two teens cheered. 

Kai walked over to a small table with a timer. “How are we supposed to train if we don’t even have equipment?” Sora asked, ready to fall over from being so tired. 

Kai laughed and stepped on a stone that went down with a mechanical click. 

The ground below began to sink in and open, once it was fully open, it began to sink lower before it made a loud noise and stopped. “Oh come on! This always worked when Master Wu did it! It’s this whole super awesome reveal and everyone is always like ‘woah! Training course!’” Kai cried out, upset at the failure. 

“Did you clean the gears?” Sora asked, looking down. 

“I was supposed to do that? Oops.” Kai said nervously, jumping on the course and jumping up and down, before it began to work and Kai tried to regain his balance, before finding it as the training course began to rise.

After the training course finished, Kai instructed the teens to try and complete the course as fast as they could. He had a piece of paper next to him to write down their times. 

“Alright! Arin, you’re up!” Kai cheered.

—

After the training session, Arin, Sora, and Kai talked for a while. After a bit, Kai just let them talk. It was nice having students again, but he still didn’t feel like enough. Lloyd probably would have taught them better. Maybe even Jay. Scratch that, Jay couldn’t even teach way back when, when they had that one teacher gig when Lloyd was off being the Golden Ninja.

“What was it like being in the center of the Merge?” Sora asked, wondering if it was as interesting as watching it from the ground.

Kai stared at her for a minute. His face turned serious as he recalled the last moments.

“Pure, absolute, destruction.” Kai replied, and the teens wondered what it was like for Kai to say something like that so seriously.

—

In the living room that was currently being used as a bedroom, Arin and Sora were getting ready to go. Kai yelled from across the hallway that they had 10 minutes. 

Riyu was with Kai, since Kai was giving the dragon a disguise. “I’m the master of fire and makeovers.” He said around 30 minutes ago. 

Arin heard a ding and ran over to the oven and grabbed out a freshly baked pie. He had been trying to perfect his recipe for a while. 

—

After about ten minutes had passed, the three met up by the doors. “Where’s Riyu?” Arin asked, and Kai called out the dragon's name. 

Riyu ran out and the teens looked shocked. He actually looked like a dog. The dragon was in a handmade fake fur costume that was easy to move in, big brown floppy looking ears attached to Riyu’s head. His face wasn’t as well done, but hopefully people would be more interested in their surroundings than some random dog. 

“I didn’t think that you could do it, but now, I’m impressed.” Sora admitted, and Kai smiled smugly.

Kai himself was wearing a red and orange leather jacket, a white shirt and a pair of black jeans. His hair was styled just a tad bit different than normal, and he had his piercings in. He pulled up a black mask, and the four now made their way to the crossroads.

—

The four walked through the Crossroads and looked around. Kai was impressed. Sora spotted her mech.

“Hey! That's our mech! Those no good scrap collectors probably salvaged it to turn it into their own attraction!” Sora said, trying to walk towards the attraction, when Arin stopped her. 

“We can grab it later! We need to hurry if we want to enter the pie competition in time!” Arin sped forward, forcing Sora and Kai to speed up, trying not to lose Arin in the crowd.

—

Arin huffed as he tried to catch his breath. “Arin! I was wondering when you would show up! You just barely made it.” Mr. Frohicky said, taking the pie out of Arin’s hands. 

“Grab-Barg is so going down!” Arin said confidently.

Kai watched the exchange, before a loud crash redirected his attention. A spherical robot was trying to pull a bag of what appeared to be money, back from some Wackrats. The robot was tossed into the back of a vehicle, along with the money, and Kai watched as they drove off.

Kai immediately chased after the Wackrats, and was quickly followed by Sora, Arin, and Riyu. Arin used his grappling hook to hook onto the moving vehicle. He let out a yelp as he was suddenly dragged along. 

Sora called out to Riyu, who sent out a beam of energy. Sora gasped as she felt herself power up. She turned her attention to her old mech, and used her power to turn it into a motorcycle, the crowd around her cheering. She and Riyu hopped on her new bike and sped off after Arin and Kai.

—

After the vehicle finally came to a stop, Arin let out a sigh of relief. He retracted his grappling hook, and heard someone jump down, and turned around. “Kai!” He cheered. 

“What! What are you doing here!” Kreel demanded to know, and Kai and Arin just simply stared at her.

“Well, when you start causing trouble by stealing from someone, it becomes my problem, and I like to finish my problems.” Kai stated, and Kreel stared at him, confused. 

“And who are you supposed to be?” She asked, and Kai looked at her, slightly offended.

“I happen to be this kid's master, and the other one, wherever she is.” Kai said, and as if on cue, Sora made it to the others, and came to a stop, her bike’s tires screeching against the road. 

“Sora!” Arin cheered.

Kreel stood by, annoyed. “I didn’t steal anything! This money was rightfully mine! This hunk of metal just happened to be given it!” Kreel stated, trying to defend herself. 

“Lobbo won, Llobbo’s money is rightfully his.” Lobbo stated, and Kreel sent the robot a piercing stare. 

“Why do you even need the money anyway? I’m sure you have plenty of it.” Sora asked, and Kreel suddenly looked sad.

“I needed the money, because some random person kidnapped my friend, Targle, and put a ransom on him!” Kreel said, and Arin and Sora looked confused. 

“You have friends?” Arin asked, and Kreel looked offended.

“Of course I do! Targie is my only, and best friend! I need to get him back!” Kreel said, and the other wackrats looked at her weird, but ultimately paid no mind to the statement, although some looked rather offended.

“Alright! If we save your friend, will you leave Lobbo alone?” Kai asked, and Kreel hurriedly nodded. 

“Yes! Of course! Even though the money is still mine, I’ll let him have it, and I’ll leave him alone, just please save my Targie.” Kreel pleaded, still not letting go of the money being hers.

“Are we seriously doing this? For Kreel of all people?” Sora asked, and Kai nodded.

“Here’s life lesson number one, all life has meaning, whether they want to be saved or not, whether they’re bad or good, all life deserves to be saved.” Kai said, and Sora sighed.

“Alright.” She finally agreed, and Arin smiled. 

Kai turned to Kreel. “So, where did they take him, or more importantly, who?” Kai asked, and Kreel handed Kai a piece of paper. 

“It said to drop the money off behind Dorama’s tent, it has no name, it just said to drop it off, and we’ll get Targle back.” Kreel said, and Kai nodded. 

Kai turned to his students. “It’s time to get going.” Kai stated, and the two nodded. 

—

Dorama’s tent was nothing too interesting to Kai, he’s seen better things during his life. “Alright, knowing villains, there is probably a secret entrance somewhere around here.” Kai said, and began searching around, and jumped when a metal plate fell down, revealing a hidden entrance. “What did I say? Predictable.” Kai said, and entered, Arin and Sora following in right after. 

At the end of the tunnel, Arin realized that they were inside of Dorama’s tent, and Sora gasped at the sight of a few wakrats in a cramped cage. 

Kai walks over to them. “It looks like they’ve been drained.” Kai stated, and Sora felt like she was going to be sick. 

“What do you mean?” Arin asked.

“They’re drained, meaning that someone has been draining them of their power, I can tell by the color of their fur, it’s dull, and matted.” Kai said, and Sora was impressed that he could tell all that. 

Arin paused. How could someone do that to someone else? Arin shivered at the thought. Suddenly, the tent's bright stage lights turned on, and the curtains opened, revealing the three, and Arin blinked as his eyes got used to the sudden bright light. 

When Sora’s eyes cleared, she spotted someone, and gasped. “Dorama?!” She said, shocked. 

“It is I!” Dorama exclaimed, and jumped down. 

“How could you do this?! Everyone loves you!” Arin exclaimed, and Kai was confused on who exactly Dorama was. 

“Ah yes! Well, I needed power for my grand fireworks show! Out of all the energy that I tested, wakrats just seem to have something different about them, something more grand!” Dorama said, and Kai was already growing annoyed. 

“Well, can you let them go now that you’re done with your little speech?” Kai asked, and Dorama sputtered for a moment. 

“Why of course not! And didn’t your parents teach you to respect your elders?!” Dorama asked, offended, and clicked a button. Suddenly, traps appeared, and Kai jumped up, narrowly avoiding a swinging blade. 

Sora tried to bust the wakrats out while Kai and Arin dismantled the traps with their spinjitzu. Sora felt the lock click and opened the cage, and the wakrats suddenly sprung up and ran to go hide. 

Dorama saw this and growled in anger. He hit one last button and a giant wooden puppet came to life and Kai groaned. Sora screamed and leapt to get away.

Kai ran to go get her, but he was too slow and she was grabbed. “Sora!” He called out. Arin spotted her, but was too busy trying to get away from Dorama. Kai jumped up and used his spinjitzu to cut the puppets strings, and the puppet collapsed. Kai sighed in relief, when the puppet got up once more, and Sora yelped as she was lifted once more.

Arin stood in fear as the puppet squeezed its hand. Sora wheezed as she tried to breathe. “I can’t-breathe!” She managed to say. Kai panicked and tried to get to her, but Dorama only targeted him even more.

Arin looked around and grabbed a phonograph, and threw it. The phonograph spun with orange energy, and Arin watched as it struck the puppet, and the puppet shut down. 

Sora gasped as she finally got a full breath of air into her lungs. She got out of the puppet's hand. 

Kai groaned again as the puppet got up once more, and noticed the gears in its back. He turned and ripped off a piece of the curtain, and ripped it up into tiny pieces, and threw them, hoping for the best. The pieces were blown into the gears by a fan that was blowing, and Kai cheered as the puppet broke down.

Dorama tried to run, but yelped when Riyu started to chase him. He ran into Kai, who swiftly knocked him out with a kick to the head.

—

Arin and Sora were tired. It had been a long night, but Kai was still up and ready. The group made their way back to where Kreel was waiting, and Kreel noticed them and ran past them.

“Tragie!” She exclaimed as she hugged the wakrat, who hugged her back. 

“Alright! Let’s go see who won that pie contest!” Kai said, and the two teens cheered as they hurried off.

—

Arin walked in the front as they made their way through the small crowd, just in time to hear Mr. Frohicky announce that Grab-Barg was the winner. Arin sighed as he accepted the second place medal.

“It’s okay kid, there’s always next year, you’ll have plenty of time to perfect that recipe!” Kai said, trying to cheer up Arin, who smiled.

“Yeah, and maybe you’ll get him next time.” Sora added, and Arin chuckled. 

“Alright! There’s still time, let’s go enjoy the rest of this festival!” Kai announced, and the two teens and dragon cheered.

—

Ras walked towards a caged Dorama, who scoffed.

“Come to arrest me, fear not! For my encore has ended.” Dorama said sadly.

“I am not the law enforcement of this realm.” Ras stated, and Dorama turned around. 

“You aren’t?”

“No, in fact, I’m looking for a new hire, one who can set a performance for the ages.” Ras said, and Dorama chuckled.

“Of course, where every performance ends, another is just beginning.”

Chapter Text

Kai watched as his students trained. Arin was up and doing the training course, albeit not well, but it was an effort! Sora was off the side, trying to control her element with little to no success. 

Kai watched as Arin was knocked off of the training course, and used his spinjitzu to catch him. Kai sighed as he heard Arin groan in slight frustration. “You’ll get it eventually buddy.” Kai said, trying to reassure the young teen. 

“But how can I, when I keep failing over and over again?” Arin said, and Kai put a hand on Arin’s shoulder.

“I didn’t exactly pass this kind of course in one go back when I was first trained, and Lloyd certainly wasn’t an easy student with the little resources we had, but you can see us now. I know you can do it.” Kai said, and Arin smiled. He could do this!

“Thanks Kai.” Arin said, and Kai smiled.

“Of course kiddo.”

There was a loud crash as Sora kicked at her mech. “This is useless!” She shouted, scowling. “I can’t even activate this power, I don’t even know if it’s even mine! It’s probably just Riyu’s, and I only borrowed it.” Sora scoffed, and Kai frowned.

“I’m certain that this is your own power, when the Matriarch used that weird beam of light on me, it only strengthened my power, it didn’t give me it.” Kai said, but it didn’t have any effect on Sora’s mood.

“Yeah, well, you were nearly destroyed when using it.” 

Kai winced. “Okay! How about a break from all of this training? How about we map out more of the merged realms?” He offered, which caught Arin and Sora’s attention.

“I thought you went out and mapped for three years?” Sora said, and Kai laughed. 

“Well, yes, but I didn’t map everything, and I want to go and map out more of the Realm of Madness.” Kai replied, and Sora and Arin lit up.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt.”

“I’ll go pack snacks!”

—

Ras entered the room with a stoic expression as usual. He spotted Dr. LaRow standing while watching Dorama mess around with a large metal contraption.

“Is he able to make it work?” Ras asked, and Dr. LaRow looked at Ras.

“I cannot be sure, his explosiveness and ability to manipulate energy is useful in making copies, and he was able to reactivate the original.” 

Ras snarled. “When I ask you a question, you answer with yes or no. So, can he?” 

“No, he can’t. Only she can.” LaRow replied, and Ras growled, hitting his hand on a table nearby in anger.

—

Kai was writing down notes and drawing pictures of different landmarks, when he heard Arin call for him. Kai ran over and saw what Arin and Sora were pointing at. Two dragons were being attacked by some craglings. 

“We have to help them!” Sora said, and she jumped down, Arin following right after.

“Wait! We need a plan!” Kai called out, but it was useless. “Dang it! Now I know how Wu felt.” Kai grumbled, and jumped down, and started to use his fire to blast craglings away from the dragons.

After a little bit, the dragons flew off, and Arin yelled out in victory, when a random blast of water hit him. Kai helped Arin get back up, and looked around. 

“The only person who can manipulate water is…” Kai trailed off when he spotted someone run towards them. “Nya!” Kai called out. 

“Kai?” Nya said, confused. “What are you doing working for the enemy?”

“Me? You were working for the enemy!” Kai accused, when the two siblings smiled and embraced each other in a hug. 

“So, what were you doing, attacking the craglings?” Nya asked, and Kai nervously laughed.

“Well they were attacking the dragons.”

“Actually, the craglings were defending their home.”

“Ohhhhh.” Kai was embarrassed now.

“Who taught you to just leap into battle? Wu certainly didn’t teach that.” Nya said, and Kai turned to his students.

“See? I told you that we need to make a plan!” Kai said, but was interrupted by Nya.

“I literally just saw you blast fire at craglings.” Nya said, unimpressed.

“Anyways! How are you doing?” Kai asked, and Nya sighed.

“I’m doing alright. Have you found any of the others?” She asked, and Kai looked down.

“No, you’re the first that I’ve seen since the Merge.” Kai spoke with a saddened tone, and Nya sighed. 

“Well at least we have each other.” She said, and Kai smiled. “Anyways, we should go speak with King Crag-Nor.” Nya leads them to a guarded gate, when a large cragling appears.

“Ninja Nya, you have returned!” He announced, and Nya nodded. “And who are they?” The cragling asked, and Nya turned to her brother. 

“This is my brother, Kai, and his students.” Nya explained, and the cragling nodded.

“And they helped chase off those winged pests?”

Nya nervously chuckled. “Um, not quite, they actually fought with the dragons and screwed everything up, but I've straightened them out!” Nya says, and the cragling nodded.

“Ninja Nya has helped us a lot, so, friends of hers, are friends of ours.” The cragling said, and then Riyu warbled from behind Arin. “Argh! Is that a dragon? Dragons are not welcome in this kingdom!” The cragling spat, and Riyu growled. 

“If he’s not welcome, then I’m not either!” Sora argued.

“Yeah!” Arin yelled out.

“He’s helped us, he isn’t like those other earth dragons.” Kai said, trying to reassure the cragling.

“If my brother trusts this dragon, then I can assure you that he is trustworthy as well.” Nya said, and the cragling sighed. 

“The dragon shall enter, but any sign of attack, and he will be gone.” The cragling spat, and the others nodded. “Now, come, let us treat you to a traditional cragling feast! I am King Crag-Nor, and I rule over the craglings.” King Crag-Nor said, and led the  others into the kingdom.

Kai looked around at the other craglings, and took a seat right next to Nya. Arin and Sora sat next to each other while Riyu sat down near them. 

“So, what’s up with the dragons?” Kai asked, and Nya replied. 

“The dragon are from a realm near this one, and they ended up consuming a special kind of mud.” She explained, watching Arin and Sora eat their food. “Like what we’re eating right now.” Sora stopped eating, but Arin didn’t care. 

“What’s so special about it?” Kai asked, watching the kids as well.

“The mud came from the craglings burial site. It’s considered their life force.” Arin began to spit out the mud, when Nya began to chuckle. “Don’t worry, this mud wasn’t from there, it was from a different pool of mud.” She said, amused. “Unfortunately, because the dragons keep eating it, the craglings are slowly fading away. They need that mud to live.” As if on cue, a cragling fell to the floor, becoming an empty shell of rocks. 

Kai watched in horror. He felt terrible. He had to fix this.

Nya continued with her explanation. “I arrived here when I was trying to reach Ninjago, but I noticed that they needed help, so I'm staying here until those dragons finally leave for good.” Kai nodded, and looked around when a roar was heard from a distance. “They’re coming back.” Nya announced, and everyone sprang up to action, and ran out to find the dragons growling. 

Kai ran and started to blast the dragons with his fire, while Sora got a power up from Riyu. 

“I’m going for the air! Anyone want to lend a hand?” Sora asked, and Nya volunteered. 

“I like this one.” She said, and Sora smiled. 

Sora used her power to build her mech, and Nya jumped on. Sora attacked the dragons when one of the dragon blasted them, causing the mech to fall apart. Both Nya and Sora yelled out when Arin and Kai used their spinjitzu to catch them. Kai landed while Arin stumbled, managing to stay on his feet. 

The dragons took the opportunity to head to the mud and eat some, and they grew larger.

“Oh no.” Kai said, when Riyu leapt forward.

The tiny dragon roared as a beam of light came from Riyu and to the dragons, who grew larger and even more powerful than they already were before.

“We have to stop him!” Nya shouted, but Kai held her back. “Kai! What are you doing?!” She snapped, but stopped when she saw the look on his face.

The group watched as the dragons roared, before energy burst from their bodies, and returned to the sacred mud pools. The dragons proceeded to return to their original sizes, and roared as they flew off. 

—

The craglings celebrated as they coined Riyu their hero. 

“You have some fine students there.” Nya said, and Kai agreed.

“I just wish they had a better teacher, I’ve barely got any experience with teaching like Master Wu did.” Kai said, and Nya scoffed.

“I think that they’re learning plenty from you.”

Sora, dejected, works on her mech from the side, lamenting at the thoughts of her fumble from earlier. She nearly got Nya killed, and it’s all her fault. She sighed. There was no way she could possibly be a ninja.

Chapter Text

Kai felt tired when they finally began to head back to the Monastery, and was super relieved when they found Nya. He remembered how she had been yanked out of his grasp, when Arin walked into the cabin. “Hey Arin! Whatcha need?” Kai asked, and Arin nervously entered.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you about something that had happened back when we were in the Crossroads Carnival, I just never got the chance to do so.” Arin explained, and Kai nodded.

“Alright, now come on! Don’t keep me waiting!” Kai joked. 

—

Once Arin explained everything, Kai had many questions, but Arin was lacking in answers. “I’ve never heard of something like that.” Kai admitted, trying to think of something that could explain Arin’s strange ability. “Maybe this is something only you can do. Which is honestly mighty impressive.” Kai said, and Arin gave a small smile at that. “And you're sure that it spinned like spinjitzu as you threw it?” Kai asked, looking for confirmation. 

“I’m definitely sure that I did.” Arin replied, and Kai smiled.

“Let’s go back on deck and see how the others are doing.”

Kai and Arin went back up to the deck, and found Nya steering the Bounty, while Sora was gloomily fixing her mech. Kai walked over to her.

“What are you doing?” Kai asked, and Sora sighed.

“Trying to fix this piece of junk.” She scoffed, kicking the mech.

“It would be easier if you used your powers.” Kai offered, but Sora just scoffed. 

“Last time I tried, I nearly got Nya killed. It’s better for everyone if I just don’t use powers that aren’t even mine.” 

Kai frowned. “Those are your powers, Sora. If they weren’t, then Riyu would be using them right now. Elemental powers are a tricky thing, something is holding you back from your true potential, and I’ll be there every step of the way.” Kai said, and Sora at least smiled a little bit, and sighed. 

“I can’t guarantee that I believe you, but I’ll try.” She said, and Kai nodded, but Sora didn’t really believe what came out of her own mouth.

—

After a little bit of flying, they spotted a floating kingdom in the sky. 

“The Cloud Kingdom?” Nya said, and Kai scoffed. 

“Those stuck up scribes? Oh please, I can’t wait to hear how much they ‘planned’ for the Merge to happen.” Kai said, rolling his eyes.

Then a rumbled went through the whole area, and Kai groaned. “Mergequake!” He called out.

They flew closer the Cloud Kingdom, and saw a large red and pink tear in the sky, and Arin stared. 

“That’s a mergequake?” He asked, and Kai nodded. 

“Yup, nasty things mergequakes are.” Kai said, and he and Nya used spinjitzu to catch the monks that were on a building that was falling apart. Arin leapt up and caught the ninja using his grappling hook, and Sora watched dejectedly, a sour taste in her mouth as she felt useless. 

Once they were on solid ground, Kai and the others approached the monks. The monks whispered between themselves, but most were still writing on their scrolls. 

“Ah, Ninja. As you can see, these tentacle creatures are attacking our kingdom. We do not know why this has not been foretold.” The monk stated, and Kai scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Kai was going to make a snarky comment, when roars distracted him, as everyone turned to see a few ice dragons getting attacked by the tentacle creature. Kai leapt into action, Nya right next to him. Arin used his grappling hook to get up to the dragons, while Kai blasted the thing with fire, only to scowl one he saw that it wasn’t doing anything.

Kai huffed and began blasting fire into the mergequake, watching it slowly close. 

“Wait!”

His sister's voice tore through him as he stopped blasting the mergequake. “What do you mean wait?! I have to close it!” Kai argued, but Nya stopped him. 

“We should push the thing back in before we close it, Arin, try to distract it.” Arin nodded, and Kai leapt up, landing on another building.

Sora, feeling utterly useless, looks around, and spots a circle of monks all writing on scrolls, seemingly unaware of the chaos around them. “Huh?” She hears a cry of victory, and turns around to see Kai close up the mergequake, and sighs. 

Arin lands right next to her, and stumbles, causing them both to fall, Arin and Sora scream before stopping. Sora felt wind all around her as she and Arin were gently placed on the ground, and looked towards the circle of monks, and saw a girl with a glowing hand, and the wind stopped as her hand stopped glowing. Sora’s eyes light up. “She’s the Master of Wind!”

Arin looks over, wide eyed. “Really?!” He said excitedly, and Sora nodded. 

“I’m sure of it, I saw her use it. We should go talk to her.” Sora said, and Arin nodded, but the two realized that they were left behind by the others, and ran over to where Nya stood. Kai was next to her, ready to throw the monk he was talking to. 

“I am Suetonius, I am Fenwick’s successor, and I believe that me and Cloud Kingdom monks are owed a great thanks, for our hard work in shaping this destiny, in our favor.” When the monk finished, Kai was pissed.

What do you mean we thank you?” Kai snarled, but Suetonius wasn’t fazed.

“It is because of the Cloud Monks scroll writing that we changed our destinies. We have written that the ninja would defeat the enemy and that mergequakes will never happen again.” 

“You rewrote destiny?” Sora said out loud, confused. 

“But we did all the work! What about the Merge? Did your little scrolls predict that?” Kai snarked, 

“While I can admit that the Merge defied destiny and took the Cloud Kingdom by surprise, I can assure you that it won’t happen again.” Suetonius stated, a high and mighty expression shone proudly on his face. 

“My parents disappeared during the merge. Can you tell me where they are now?” Arin asked, a hopeful glint flashed in his brown eyes.

Suetonius shook his head. “Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that, destiny happens when it happens, never before, and never after.” 

Arin nodded, saddened, but understood as much as he could. Riyu warbled as he rubbed his scaled face on Arin’s legs, which brought a small smile to his lips. Kai put a hand on his shoulder.

“You guys should have an extensive amount of data, research, and knowledge right? Is there anything that we might find here in the Cloud Kingdom?” Nya asked, and Suetonius nodded. 

“We might have something around the archives, Marcus, show the ninjas to the archives.” Suetonius called out to another monk, who walked over to the group.

Arin and Sora were about to follow Kai and Nya, when Kai stopped them. “You guys should keep watch, I don’t want another mergequake to happen while we’re away, let us know if anything happens.” Arin and Sora nodded and Kai smiled. “See you in a bit!” He turned around and began following the monk, catching up to Nya.

—

An unnoticed crack spread in the sky.

—

Sora and Arin were on the Bounty, Sora was attempting to fix her mech now that Riyu was fed, and Arin was training. 

“I still can’t believe that we’re actually going to be ninjas!” Arin’s voice broke the silence with a cheer, but Sora gave him a doubtful glance.

“Arin, you’ll be a great ninja, but me? I’m not so sure that I’m cut out for it.” 

Arin frowned, he felt energized by her praise, but it didn’t match the sadness that he felt from her words. “What do you mean? You have elemental powers! You just need to practice, you’ll get there.” Arin reassured, but it didn’t do much to raise her spirits.

“I nearly got both me and Nya killed during the battle. How do I even know if those are my powers? I just…don’t know if I can even do this.” Sora sulked, Arin sighed, and pulled her in for a hug. 

“No matter what, you’re always going to be my best friend.” Arin reassured Sora. Suddenly, his eyes widened. “Hey look! It’s the girl from earlier!”

Sora turned around, and sure enough, the monk from before was walking around the grounds. Arin and Sora looked into each other's eyes and nodded.

Arin and Sora approached the girl. “So you’re the new Elemental Master of Wind, huh?” Arin asked, keeping his voice low. 

The girl gave the two a sharp glance. “My name is Euphrasia, a scribe from the Cloud Kingdom. I have no such powers.” Euphrasia denied, and Sora scoffed.

“I saw you use them, you can’t lie out of this. Why didn’t you use your powers to stop the mergequake?” Sora asked, but Euphrasia glared at her.

“If I even did have such powers, Cloud Kingdom ways state that we must only write out destinies. To take action instead of writing would be an act of betrayal that would lead only to exile. I do not have powers. Now leave me alone.” Euphrasia stated, walking away as fast as she could.

—

Kai looked around, impressed at the archives. “This is our archives, any knowledge ever recorded in Cloud Kingdom is in this very room.” Marcus said, and Kai nodded. 

“What’s with the book worms?” Nya asked as one slithered onto Marcus’s arm.

“These Scroll-Worms are how we find information easier. Just simply give them a prompt on what you want, and then they’ll look around the whole archive and give you the information you seek.” Marcus explained. He looked at the Scroll-Worm. “Find me information on the Fire Ninja.” The worm glowed green and slithered into the archives. It interacted with other worms, and finally, the Scroll-Worm came back. 

“Smith, Kai, fire ninja. Stares at mirrors and flirts with his reflection.” The second the words left the worm's mouth, Kai instantly started denying as Nya burst out laughing. 

“Stop! These things are terrible!” Kai burned with embarrassment. Even Marcus was chuckling. 

Nya stepped forward. “What can you tell me about mergequakes?” Nya asked, suddenly the worm turned red, and the others also turned red. The worms surrounded them, all of them snarling. 

“Hey! Let’s calm down!” Kai was cut off by a hiss. “Uh, nice wormy?” Kai chuckled nervously. The worms began spraying silk at him. Kai screamed.

—

Sora and Arin were waiting outside when the ground beneath them rumbled. Sora gasped as a scarlet tore open the sky and another tentacle monster rose up from the tear. 

“So, you know how Kai told us to call him if something happened?” Arin nodded. “I think this counts as something!” She yelled. 

Arin turned on his comms. “Hello? Kai? Anyone there?!” He asked, the tentacle creature roared.

—

Euphrasia sharply turned to Suetonius. “Master Suetonius! You said the mergequakes would never happen again!” She accused, but Suetonius just looked at her.

“Destiny is only just testing us, everyone! Keep writing! Write about how the ninjas save us, and that these pesky quakes cease to exist!” He shouted.

Euphrasia went back to her scroll, but turned to watch Arin and Sora run towards the archives.

—

“If we can’t call them, I guess we’ll just have to find them!” Arin said, and Sora nodded, but stayed back as Arin ran into the archives.

—

“Kai! Nya! Are you there?” He shouted, but stopped and gasped as he saw three cocoons hanging from the ceiling. He used his grappling hook to yank one down. He heard a grunt coming for the cocoon, and ripped it open to find Kai trapped inside.

“Ugh! Behind you!” Kai warned, and Arin turned around to find red worms. Kai and Arin yelped as they were sprayed with silk.

—

Meanwhile, the tentacle monster was smashing the kingdom, and stampeded through the circle of monks, who ran, but were stopped by Suetonius. “Keep writing!” He demanded. “Only the destiny we weave will save us now!” All the scribes ran back to their knocked down stations and picked them back up.

Everyone except for Euphrasia, who watched the tentacle monster, anger running through her veins. 

—

Sora was desperately trying to get her mech to work. She kept tightening bolts and rewiring wires, but nothing was working, and Riyu was too exhausted to power her up. Her mech tilted to the side and she threw the wrench onto the ground and scowled as it bounced away from her. “Useless hunk of junk!” She shouted.

Riyu warbled, but Sora glared at the little dragon. “Nice try Riyu. I know what you’re thinking and I’m not doing it! I’ll just end up hurting everyone.” Riyu warbled again, but a tentacle that flew down at Sora, caused her to duck, bracing for impact.

A sudden gust of wind knocked the tentacle away, and Sora looked up to see Euphrasia openly using her powers, and was using them to fly in the air. “It’s time we make our own destiny!” She shouted, and began blasting the monster back towards the mergequake. 

As she attacked the monster, the other monks and scribes stopped to watch her, with Suetonius angrily shouting. 

As Euphrasia pushed the monster back toward the rip, two more tentacle monsters emerged from the scarlet tear. The tentacle monster used the moment of distraction to grab Euphrasia. She screamed as she tried to break free. The monster dragged her closer to its eye, when Sora appeared with her mech, pink energy surrounding her. She got the beast to release Euphrasia. 

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” 

“So much for abandoning our elemental powers.” Sora joked, and the two began to attack the monsters. 

Sora and Euphrasia tried to push them back into  the mergequake, but they kept getting smacked away by its tentacles. “We need to close the quake before anymore come through!” Sora shouted, and Arin and Kai appeared on the top of a nearby building. 

Kai spun into his spinjitzu, Arin following suit. Kai launched his fire into the monsters eyes, and the two moved along the tentacle they were on, and Arin flew before landing on Sora’s mech. When he realized what was going on, he widened his eyes in surprise.

“Did you-“

“It was kind of an important moment, questions later.” Sora said, smiling nervously. “Anyways, where have you been?”

“I was freeing Kai and Nya from these psycho worm thingies.” 

Sora scoffed in amusement. “That’s a bunch of mumbo jumbo and you know it!” 

Suddenly, a tentacle flew at the mech, and Sora moved, causing Arin to fall off and attach his grappling hook to Sora’s mech with a yell.

—

The monsters were still doing damage to the Cloud Kingdom. One tentacle smashed into a building, causing debris to fall down towards a circle of scribes. Then Nya came and blasted the debris away, saving the scribes. 

Suetonius ran over to the scribes. “Thank you for writing that the ninja would save us! He cheered, but all of the scribes looked confused. 

“Um, none of us have been writing anything at all.” Suetonius looked shocked at this. 

—

Kai and Nya followed each other, while Sora, Arin, and Euphrasia attacked and pushed back the monsters from the air. Arin leapt up with his spinjitzu and kicked one monster, causing it to crash into another one and towards the mergequake.

The last monster appeared and Euphrasia went behind it and used her power to move it towards the other two, and Nya and Kai used their spinjitzu. Arin and Sora used Arin’s grappling hook to pull the monster, causing it to fall onto Kai and Nya, which launch it into the mergequake. 

Kai and Nya jumped up onto the Bounty and began to close the tear. Arin braced himself as a tentacle went flying towards him, but a sudden shockwave came as the mergequake finally closed, and the three monsters disappeared without a trace. 

All of them went down to the ground, and Kai turned to Euphrasia. “So you’re the new Master of Wind?” 

Euphrasia chuckled. “Well, I guess that's what it looks like, huh?”

Kai nodded. “I like you better than the last one.” 

—

The monks and scribes cheered as they walked towards them. Euphrasia nervously fiddled with her robes. Suetonius stepped forward. Euphrasia nervously gulped, assuming the worst possible scenarios. But she held her head high. “Master, I know what I did goes against our ways. And I know this means that I will be exiled, but I do not regret saving my kingdom.” Euphrasia confidently stated, “Shortly after the merge, I discovered that I had elemental powers. I tried denying it, but can no longer do so.” 

Suetonius looked wary, but shook his head. “Perhaps it is time to look for new ways. The Merge has changed us all, in more ways than one. And It is time for change. I will not be exiling you, Euphrasia.”  Euphrasia widened her eyes in shock and happiness. The scribes behind them began cheering, and Euphrasia beamed with happiness.

—

“So, what happened to ‘the world would be better off without my powers’?” Arin asked, and Sora looked at Arin. 

“I’m not so sure about my powers still, or if being a ninja is something that I can actually be,” Sora turned and looked at Euphrasia, “but someone taught me not to sideline myself when I have the chance to save people.”

Arin lit up. “Ooh! Was it me? I bet it was me! You saw me kicking worm butt!” He exclaimed, but a worm slithered on his head. Arin let out a yell and pulled it off, Sora was laughing at her friend, who was trying to play it off.

—

“So you have no idea why the Scroll-Worms acted like that?”

Marcus shook his head. “Not at all, it could be that the worms were cursed, so that they would get hostile with certain pieces of information, forbidden information.” Marcus answered, and Kai sighed.

“You don’t have any clue who could have done this?”

Marcus once again shook his head. “Not at all, It would be hard to know with the amount of people who have access to the archives.” 

—

Kai and his students were on the Bounty, getting ready to leave. He looked down at Nya. “Are you sure about staying?” He asked, and Nya nodded.

“If there’s any information on the mergquakes, it’ll be here. It’ll take longer without the Scroll-Worms, but I can manage.” Nya replied, and she waved them off as Kai, Sora, Arin, and Riyu flew off back to the monastery.

—

Rapton opened up a hologram. A black tiger came into view. Two ice dragons dangled from the soldiers vehicles. 

“You were right Ras, there was so much chaos that they didn’t even know we were there, just as you and the empress had planned.” Ras nodded.

”We gain more power without the ninjas finding out. This will do us greatly.” Rapton chuckled as he began to return to Ras.

Chapter Text

If Lloyd could describe the Merge, he'd say it was the worst thing that could happen to a person. It sure did lead to his...predicament.

He should have known they would find out eventually, with them sticking needle after needle in him, drawing vial after vial of blood until he was dizzy.

It left him feeling exposed in some kind of way, knowing that they knew of his biology. Of course, they didn't know his family lineage, he kept that and his own name a complete secret, no matter how hard they tried to pry it out of him.

Now his little three year long stay has turned for the worse, worse than it already was, of course. They didn't exactly treat him like a guest, much less an actual person.

He was a little scared, not knowing what they would do to him, but after seeing and hearing the dragons, he had a pretty solid idea.

Right now though, Lloyd was internally laughing. They couldn't do anything with hăm, because their tech was designed for just dragons, not dragoni human hybrids.

What didn't make this amusing, was the fact that they would just use him as a testing dummy. Their own little lab rat.

Lloyd snarled as another wave of pain went over him, they were trying to drain him for the 100th time. Losers.

Their empress kept trying to convince him that he was living a lie, that he didn't have rights, that he wasn't a human, he was below them. Lloyd scoffed. One look at his mother told him that she was fully human. His father though, well, he still looked like an oni.

Out of all the realms he's been to, Imperium had to be the worst place he’d ever been to. The only good thing is the different dragons he got to meet. Unfortunately that left him with many to mourn. Vagatha couldn't hold on after the last draining session. Poor thing hadn't even made it to adulthood, she was still just a juvenile. Lloyd silently mourned the scarlet dragon before he was dragged down to the Source Dragon's prison to once again be tested on.

Lloyd wished he could see the outside world again. What was it like now? What happened to Ninjago? The others must miss him. He hoped they were looking for him, he could wait. No biggy. He's lasted 3 years, most dragons here don't last even half a year, much less the 3 he somehow made it to. Or at least, that's what the Empress tells him. He could've been here for 10 years and he wouldn't even know.

Time just felt like nothing, as if it had no meaning for him.

He was too numb to care anymore.

ー

Lloyd liked talking to the Source Dragon. He calmed Lloyd in a weird sense. He enjoyed the fact that there was someone he could talk to, someone he could confide in.

Their only problem was that the Empress couldn't know that they were talking amongst each other, which was why telepathy was such a wonderful thing. They were able to communicate freely without letting anyone in Imperium know.

He learned much from and about the Source Dragon, he was always excited to listen to a new story. The Source Dragon liked doing that, telling stories. Especially when Lloyd was down there to be tested on, it was a nice distraction from what was happening to him. It helped Lloyd forget about the pain and immerse himself into the story, dissociating from reality, if only for a few moments.

Now, due to Imperium's 'big breakthrough', he could be here every day, which meant more stories, even if it meant more pain and agony.

The Empress was clearly unimpressed with the progress that his 'doctor' had made. It made him fill with bittersweet satisfaction as Lloyd mentally laughed at the fearful look on Dr. LaRow's face as the empress screamed endlessly at her.

—

"Why do you cry, hatchling?" The Source Dragon whispered into his head. Lloyd turned to face the large orange orb-like prison that ensnared his companion.

Lloyd sniffled, wiping his eyes. His face still hurt from when Dr. LaRow chucked a glass beaker at him, which broke and a shard sliced Lloyd's face from his forehead to the bottom of his lip. "I miss my friends. They were my family. Do you miss your family?" Lloyd asked, and the Source Dragon hummed.

After a moment of silence, the dragon's deep voice rattled through Lloyd's mind. "I do not have a family, I was one of the first beings in this universe." The Source Dragon's reply made Lloyd frown.

Lloyd's only made it this far because he had a family. He couldn't imagine life without one. Without Kai's warm hugs, Zane's home cooked meals, Jay's witty humor, Nya's firey confidence, Cole's deep understanding. "I can be your family. Now you can't be alone." He decided, and the Source Dragon let out a hearty laugh.

"I guess so. Now you can't be lonely too much now, hatchling." Lloyd smiled at that.

That sounded great.

The loneliness ebbed away little by little.

Still lonely, but a little less was a lot to him.

—

Lloyd heard her pretty well. The girl that had recently arrived. She would bang on the walls of her cell. She was practically right on top of him.

He looked up and saw a vent and he smiled, an idea popping into his head. Lloyd jumped up and hooked his claws in between the grates openings. He yanked until he landed on the floor with a grunt as the vent grate made a loud crashing sound as it clattered onto the floor.

"Who was that? I'll have you know that l've been raised by a dragon! I will kick your butt!"

"Hi. I'm Lloyd." Lloyd introduced, but all he got was a dragon's snarl. One that meant ‘back off I'm mad.' Lloyd let out a warble. "I mean no harm." He roared, and it was silent until the girl’s voice echoed.

"You speak dragon too?" She said, clearly shocked.

"Mhm. My grandfather, father, and uncle were all half dragon." Lloyd replied, and Lloyd heard a gasp of awe.

"That's so cool! Do you have wings? Do you have horns? Ooh! I want horns, they're so sick!" The girl said, and Lloyd laughed.

"Yeah! I have all of those! What's your name?" Lloyd asked, his tail wagging. This was the first time he's spoken to another human other than people from Imperium in years!

"My name's Wyldfyre! I was named after my sick powers and hair!" She proudly stated, and Lloyd didn't need to see her to know that she was likely puffing her chest out confidently like a dragon.

"What are your powers?" Lloyd asked, curious. Could there be new elemental masters? Could there even be new ones?

"Fire! I love fire, it solves all of my problems!" She paused, before adding, "not this one though." She sighed, and Lloyd frowned.

"But, you can't be fire! There can't be two masters of fire! I already know one, and you're not him! The only way this is possible is that he's dead!" Lloyd said, panicked.

Did Kai die? No, that was impossible, Kai was too stubborn to die. Could she be... Kai's daughter? No, Kai had a record but he always assured everyone he was careful. But the thought lingered in Lloyd's mind far longer than he would've liked.

"Well, I am. Maybe there are two masters! You never know! The Merge changed lots, so maybe the one you know is still kicking!" Wyldfyre said, and Lloyd hugged his knees close to his chest trying to find some kind of comfort in himself.

"Yeah, maybe."

—

As Lloyd and Wyldfyre got to know each other better, she finally asked the one question that he was most hesitant to answer. He hadn't wanted to diminish her hopes of getting her and her parental dragon out of Imperium.

"How long have you been here? I've been here for a solid, hmm maybe two weeks." She asked, and Lloyd sighed, feeling down just thinking about it.

"I've been here since the Merge."

There was silence, and a quiet voice came through the vent. "Really? You've been here for that long?"

"I come from a realm called Ninjago. I used to help save people. I did that during the Merge, and I got sucked into the storm. Next thing I know I'm in a throne room and being dragged into this prison." Lloyd responded, pausing for a moment.

"Wow, so you just ended up In Imperium by bad luck."

"Yeah." Lloyd whispered that out. He felt almost numb as he thought about his life in this place.

Lloyd and Wyldfyre both went silent when they both heard the door near Lloyd's cell open. Dr. LaRow was back.

Lloyd forced himself as far into the corner of his cell as he could, his body starting to shake with fear. LaRow stepped inside and Lloyd watched as she studied him, writing something down on her clipboard.

All Lloyd wanted was to bash that stupid clipboard on her head and watch her fall to the floor.

Lloyd sighed and leaned back against the wall as Dr. LaRow turned the stupid draining equipment on.

He felt a painful pressure deep within him, as if his own soul was being ripped to pieces. He let out a near silent hiss of pain when he heard the Source Dragon's calming voice.

"Calm now, hatchling. Like other times, it will pass by."

Lloyd nearly whimpered as the pain increased, wishing for it all to stop. "It hurts."

"I know it does hatchling. I can sense your growing agony. Do you wish for me to tell you a story?"

A story sounded nice. "Go for it." He internally laughed as Dr. LaRow grew frustrated yet again.

She was always irritated when she failed to drain him. At most she hated how he never showed how badly he was in pain, only small whimpers or snarls made it through, but he kept a poker face the entire time.

"This one should be interesting. Back when the First Realm was created, so were the Oni and the Dragon. They were sworn enemies, and I watched them as they grew. I watched as the first dragon and the first Oni clashed for the near hundreth time, however, their power was different this time."

Lloyd perked up, growing more and more invested. He'd first heard the story from Mistake, but hadn't gotten many details. Lloyd felt a pang of grief. He missed that old oni lady.

"Instead of fighting against each other with brute force, they appeared to move in harmony. The two then managed to mix creation with destruction, and thus, the First Spinjitzu Master was created."

Lloyd gasped in awe, but managed to make it sound like a gasp of pain. The pain only increased as time went on, but Lloyd knew LaRow would give up soon from the way she was blowing a fuse at her subordinates.

"When he was created, the Dragon and the Oni fought once more, breaking their perfect harmony. This caused a rift in the universe that would later be called the Coalescence. The First Spinjitzu Master grew at speeds unlike any other, and once he was fully grown, he learned from his creators on how to create perfect harmony."

Lloyd perked at the word 'coalescence'. It just seemed important to him. He couldn't quite place why. Lloyd felt relieved as the pain went away. LaRow had finally given up.

"He created a technique that he would name Spinjitzu, after himself, and would earn the title 'First Spinjitzu Master'. He would then use his creation to create Ninjago, his first ever realm. Created in balance, evil had goodness to coincide with it."

Lloyd knew some parts of this, but he had no clue prior that his grandfather's name was just 'Spinjitzu' in the earliest years of his creation. He grew more and more curious, he knew very little of his grandfather, his father hadn't wanted to share many stories, as most of them were bad memories, and his Uncle Wu hadn't shared much at all either.

"Then, the Overlord rose. The First Spinjitzu Master decided to stay in Ninjago after creating a few other realms. He stayed to be the balance between the good and the evil, since both creation and destruction ran through his veins. However, as time passed and things calmed down after he split Ninjago in two, he grew lonely. As he watched the elemental masters teach their children, he decided to create his own."

Lloyd's tail wagged now that LaRow and the other scientists left the room, he went as close as he could to his barrier. He listened intently. While he was 21, he couldn't help the child-like wonder that filled him.

"The First Spinjitzu Master used his power of creation to create Wu and Garmadon, and he finally felt whole. His children constantly got into trouble, with Wu being in the center. He couldn't have been more happy. The day Garmadon was bit by the Great Devourer, was the day that something broke inside him. He believed that he had caused this. His creation had caused the downfall of one of his sons, and he mourned over Garmadon as if he were already dead."

Lloyd's ears drooped as he listened. There always seemed to be something going wrong in his family.

"Later on, shortly after Wu had gained his first student, Garmadon had proudly announced that you had been brought into this world."

Lloyd had virtually no stories about his birth, only that Garmadon was showing him off as his pride and joy. He was glad to finally be told all of this, he liked knowing about the good memories his family had.

"The First Spinjitzu Master had met you just before he left his body behind. He knew you were meant to be the new balance, you were meant to be his successor. Before he left, he left Wu the prophecy that foretold your destiny."

Lloyd wrinkled his nose a bit at the mention of his prophecy. He just always had bad ties with destiny. It made him feel weird inside. Like all of his suffering was planned out, and that nothing could be prevented.

"And after you succeeded in being the Green Ninja, and now that your father is turning for the better, he was at peace at last. Unfortunately though, the Merge messed with things, and you ended up in Imperium despite his best efforts to guide you to your monastery. Now he's trying his best to save you, he's the only thing keeping those people from draining your life away."

Lloyd's eyes widened in shock. His grandfather was trying to keep him alive? Lloyd's eyes teared up as he looked down at his claws.

"Fear not young one, for I have seen that you will be out soon. But to get out, you will need your strength. Get some rest before your new red headed friend wakes up."

Lloyd nodded and he went back to the corner of his cage, leaning up against the wall.

He couldn't wait to feel the wind in his hair as his wings brought him up into the sky.

He couldn't wait to see his family again.

Chapter Text

An electric blue and yellow lightning dragon blasted garbage piles out of the way as it flew through the Crossroads Junkyard. Rapton and the Claw Hunters were close behind it. A smug expression was on Rapton’s face as he took great pleasure in the chase.

“Don’t let it escape!” He shouted, and all of the Claws fired at the poor dragon, who roared as their leg was struck one too many times, and the the dragon retaliated by striking its tail into one of the ships, sending both it and the Claw member flying back, narrowly missing Rapton who scowled. Rapton was about to make a snarky remark when his own ship was struck with lightning. 

Once he recovered, Rapton snarled, and the dragon flew off as fast as its wings could take them, weaving gracefully around the piles of junk. 

“Get ‘em! I’ll cut it off!” He shouted, and with that, he drove off. The others went right back to following behind the azul dragon.

The dragon flew, ignoring the blasts, its lightning proof hide protecting it. Rapton then suddenly used his lasso-like tool to wrap it around the dragon’s snout and yanked it backwards, the dragon landed belly up. The dragon tried to roar, but it was muffled due to its tied up snout. The lightning dragon then flipped back on its belly and began fighting its attackers, but it was struggling to get up. Rapton snarled as he struggled to keep the dragon down, all while barking orders at his subordinates, who were also struggling to tie the dragon down.

“Coming through!” A voice shouted, and Arin zipped down with his grappling hook. He landed on a pile of junk and yelped as he dodged blasts that came his way.

“Guess who came to crash the party!” Kai shouted, holding his dual swords. A cocky smirk was hidden behind his bright red mask as he laughed. He chucked one of his swords and it hit Raptons weapon, freeing the dragon’s muzzle, the dragon roared, its anger was aimed directly at the Claws.

Lightning flew as Kai jumped down from where he was. Rapton deployed drones, shortly before junk landed on him, and the scruffy man yelped as he dodged the rubble. Kai pulled his sword out of the ground, he swung at the drones with clean precision, never taking his eyes off of the fight. He put his left sword into the sheath on his back, and fired his element at the drones, turning the other drones’ attention to him. Sora landed behind him with her mech as Arin went to go stand beside her. Riyu warbled and the little dragon looked around the fight.

“Let’s free this dragon, shall we?” Kai said with confidence, and the others nodded in agreement, and they all ran forward to attack the Claws with all they had.

Arin did his best to fight as Sora took down the larger targets, Riyu and Kai worked together to take out drones left and right. Kai turned to Arin, watching him fight while also focusing on his own fight. “You’re doing great, kid! You should probably…“ Kai paused as Arin punched himself in the face, he kicked a Claw member out of the way and turned back to Arin. “…Work on that.”

The Claws fled as they realized they were unmatched, and Kai took his hood off as Sora hopped out of her mech. She went over to the dragon's face and began to try and comfort it. 

Rapton limped over, smiling as took out a remote and a large metal octagon shaped object. He tossed the large object above and ahead of him and clicked a button on the remote he held in his hand. The object glowed as it opened up and turned into what looked like a large holographic wolf. The wolf roared and charged forward,  and Sora gasped as she looked at it closely.

Kai smirked in amusement. “It’s just a hologram.” He reassured, silently laughing at Rapton.

“No.” Sora spoke with a panicked look on her face. “It’s not!” She warned, and Arin, Riyu, and herself jumped out of the way as the wolf shot forward.

Kai wasn’t as lucky. He yelled out as the holographic wolf struck him right in his chest, knocking him back a few feet. He hissed as he felt pain flood throughout his chest. That was certainly going to leave a bruise, maybe even a fractured rib.

The wolf roared as Kai fought through the pain and leapt back up to fight. He ran back to his students and they all ran towards the wolf, giving it their all as Kai fired his fire at it, but it unfortunately deflected it off of its holographic hide, and sent it right back at him. Kai dodged the blast,  but growled as he twisted his right ankle. 

Rapton was behind them, fighting to push the vehicle off of him, and Kai yelled as he followed his students out of here. “This isn’t a fair fight! Not cool!” Kai groaned internally as pain shot up his ankle the more he ran.

“What even is it?!” Arin shouted, trying not to look back at the wolf, and Sora had a strange look on her face. 

“It’s a Photac. A digitally generated, weaponized techno-beast comprised of hard light.” Sora responded, and Arin glanced at her with a questioning look. 

“How do you know that?” He asked, making sure to watch where he was going.

“Back when I lived in Imperium, I invented it.” She replied, her voice and expression full of guilt and regret.

—

Sora always loved inventing things. Her love for tech showed as every science project had some kind of tech involved. 

She could remember the day she finished it. The Photac. She remembers why she made it. The sense of loneliness was mainly what drove her to create it. A friend that could never leave her.

One last screw and she finished. She used her remote to turn it on, and it glowed and floated, bright balls of light flew around it, and she excitedly turned around. 

“I call it the Photac!” She announced, a bright smile showed on her face. “This is just a prototype. When I’m done-“ her teacher calling her name made her pause mid sentence.

“Ana. This is already far more advanced than any of the other science fair projects. Is this some kind of an uh…hard light?” Her teacher had asked, shock was evident in his tone and expression as he looked at the machine.

She smiled proudly. “I kinda just threw it together, sensing what would work. And I’ve stayed up ‘til midnight the last eight weeks researching and refining my designs until I got it just right!” She responded confidently, a bright look on her face. She pulled out her tablet and pulled up a blueprint. “Wanna see my plans for V2?” She asked excitedly, desperate to info dump all of her ideas and plans.

“As intriguing as this is, we mustn’t deviate from the mandated curriculum, as dictated by decree of the Empress Beatrix.” Her teacher had said, and her peers had all turned around to face the banner of a woman standing proudly.

“All hail the Good Empress!” They had all said in unison. 

She had sighed and turned her Photac off as her peers went back to their seats. Why was it always the empress? Couldn’t they just do as they did? She sighed and shook her head. To ask that would be to question the empress herself. No one did that unless you were asking to be publicly shamed and thrown into the palace cells, shunned from all of your loved ones. 

–

She could remember walking towards her peers, a video had proudly displayed their Dragon Energy power sources, and had played all day that day, per the empress’ demand. It had talked about how Dragon Energy was safe, clean, and infinite. Little did she know the hidden secrets behind that energy. 

She had turned to her classmate, who was about to go on his way. “Do you think Mr. Koeng would let me stay behind and keep working on my Photac device?” She had asked, and her classmate, clearly distracted, had answered her with unease, looking at her as if she had said something controversial. 

“Um, this is our allocated recreation hour. We have to go…recreate.” He had said, and stepped onto the one of the escalator paths, leaving her standing there.

She had snapped out of it, and hurriedly followed him. “Of course! Of course…” She stuttered a bit, and her classmate stood awkwardly. “I’m just excited about getting back to my work is all, but I gotta love recreation hour!” She had said, but she knew she was lying. Recreation hour was the worst, she was always alone the whole time. She hated being alone all the time.

Her classmate had smiled at that. “Me too. We are so fortunate it’s been allotted by the Empress.” She had stopped smiling by then, and her classmate had turned around, and went off, leaving her all alone. Once again, her mood had been killed by the empress.

–

Going home was a surprise depending on the day. It was either ‘Ana, you need to do better than this’, or an ‘Ana, you surprisingly did that well’ day. 

She had tossed her bag onto her bed, a bright smile on her face as she opened it and took her Photac out. She placed the device on her desk, silently admiring it for a few moments. She looked up to stare at her poster of her idol, her hero, Dr. LaRow. 

“I know everyone loves the Empress, but without your inventions, Imperium would be nothing, Dr. LaRow!” She talked to the poster, a bright and confident expression was on her face as she spoke. “Clean energy? Carboness transportation? Anti-Gravity Hover Vehicles?! Poof!” She exclaimed, looking down at her Photac with a fond expression. She chuckled, “and someday, I swear, I'm gonna come work for you at the Advanced Systems Lab.” She promised, put her protective gear on, and went on to continue working on her Photac. 

–

The end of the year science fair was in full effect. Everyone with a project was showcasing, but most people and scientists were surrounding her, all wanting to have a look at her invention. She had raised her V2 model– now octagon shaped instead of a cube–up into the air, a proud smile on her face.

“Like I promised, my Photac Version 2 takes it to the next level. You thought a light show was cool?” She had tossed her Photac into the air and hit a button on her remote which caused the Photac to glow before turning into a colorful fish that swam all around. Adults and students alike were in awe of the display, they all looked amazed, which caused her to grin proudly. “How about a hard light animal?” She had asked, cheerfully, glad that people were enjoying her creation. “And a fish is only the beginning!” The Photac then turned into a small puppy. “Ever wanted your own puppy?” Everyone cooed at the dog as it ran around. “The Photac Animal is cuddly, doesn’t require food, and is hypoallergenic! And the best part is that the hard light never deteriorates. In fact, the hard light is totally indestructible, so it can’t get hurt or die. It’s the perfect companion for anyone that might…be lonely.” She had looked down, a sad look filled her eyes. She sighed, she can’t stop now just to cry, Imperian’s don’t cry. “There’s no limit to the beauty the Photac can create!” She finished with a smile, and one of the scientists turned to another, and both nodded.

“Congratulations, Ana! Your plans are hard to follow, but the results? Astonishing!” Sora gasped with glee. “Your indestructible hard light technology is more than deserving of this!” The scientist had raised a medal, signifying her first place status, and everyone had cheered as the medal was placed around her neck.

–

The wolf howled above from where Sora, Arin, Riyu, and Kai had taken cover. All of them were on edge as they heard the wolf run around trying to find them. The car above them finally lost balance as the wolf howled, and they all jumped out of the way before it fell down on top of them. Arin looked up and froze as he saw the wolf and the Claws right in front of him. 

“We can fight it if we stick together! Come on!” He cheered, and they all ran forward towards the wolf and it roared as it tried attacking them, thankfully missing in the process.

Kai launched another fireball, but it was once again deflected, and Kai growled in frustration as the drones finally began picking up the lightning dragon, and began to fly off with it as it roared out weakly, giving them a sad look. 

“No!” Sora cried out, running towards the Claws as the wolf turned around to follow its controllers. Rapton sped past them, a happy look on his face. “Wow! That Photac is incredible!” Rapton cheered, and turned around to fire at the ninja and his students, causing trash to fall down towards them. Sora leapt out of the way, and looked up to see that Rapton had disappeared along with the dragon.

“Great. What do we do now?” Kai asked, all while Sora stared in horror. 

“I don’t know about ‘we’, but I know what I’ve gotta do.” She scowled, guilt filled her head as she took her hood off. “I created that thing, I have to be the one to destroy it.” 

Arin looked at her in confusion once he took his own hood off. “But…how?” 

“I have to go back to Imperium.” She announced, her face scrunched up with fear, disgust, anger, and bad memories. 

–

Sora had proudly held up her Photac device as her pictures were taken by her mother, people had heard from all over about the ‘child prodigy’, the ‘new Dr. Larow’.

“We are quite proud of you, Ana.” Her father had said, and her face lit up.

“I know we don’t say that much...” Her mother had admitted, and she frowned. 

“Or ever.” She had muttered, but her mother went on.

“...but we see now that your…passion…for your studies was all a service of Imperium.” As her mother had spoken, a new person entered the room, but no one had noticed. 

“All hail the Good Empress.” Her father had chanted, and her mother had smiled at him. Again with the empress. Why couldn’t people go five minutes without repeating that chant?  

“Sure, so, I really am hoping to help the people of Imperium. The way Dr. LaRow–”

“Pardon me.” A deep feminine voice had cut her off, and she had looked up to see Dr. LaRow, along with two other scientists, walking towards her. “My name is Dr. LaRow of the Advanced Systems Lab.”

Her father had instantly switched up, and nervous looks were shared between her parents, but she had never noticed, she had a shocked and gleeful expression as she finally saw her idol face to face. 

“Oh, we, uh…heh, know who you are, o-of course.” Her father had stuttered when he spoke to Dr. LaRow, as if he was scared of something potentially happening. She had brushed it off, why would anything happen? Dr. LaRow was one of the best scientists in Imperium history! She was all for the people!   

“And you must Ana.” Dr. LaRow had said, ignoring her father. She had beamed at hearing her name come from her childhood hero. 

“You know my name!” She had cheered, and Dr. LaRow carried on. 

“I have been hearing about some of your designs. They appear to be quite…how shall I say? Unconventional.” Her mother straightened up and looked to her father. 

“Unconventional?” Her mother had repeated, echoing Dr. LaRow’s words. “Perhaps you can forgive her, she’s just a child!” Her mother had said, trying to convince Dr. LaRow to forgive her. She had looked astonished at her own mother’s words. Did she even know what unconventional meant? It means different, sure, but it also meant many other things, mostly something that wasn’t generally done, or ‘out of the norm’ as some people might put it. She wasn’t doing what everyone else was doing. She wasn’t some average joe, she was actually unique. “She didn’t know what she was doing!” Her mother had urged. Yeah right, she knew exactly what she was doing, she could pull out all of her blueprints, along with every single video log she had taken to mark her progress.

“Oh, but I think she did...” Dr. LaRow had said in a strange tone, and she had taken a step back. Maybe her parents were right, she didn’t like Dr. LaRow’s tone, it almost felt as if she had underlying intentions for being here. “...And I must say, I am very impressed.” Dr. LaRow had said, and both her and her parents sighed out in relief. 

Sometimes it is better to be like everyone else. Maybe putting your head down is the right thing to do. Yeah right, she knew that she had to stand up for herself and others, because who else would have defended them? 

“I want you to come to the Advanced Systems Lab.” Dr. LaRow had told her, and she had beamed with so much happiness that she thought her face would get stuck with a permanent smile. 

“You want me to tour your lab?!” She had asked excitedly, looking up in anticipation.

“No.” Her face fell and she froze, her stomach sank and she waited for Dr. LaRow to continue. “I want you to work in my lab.” She had turned to her parents, and was shocked when she saw proud looks on their faces. She was so happy, she would be the youngest lab worker in Imperium history. ‘Never meet your heroes’. She should have listened to that saying a lot more.

–

Sora slammed the sliding doors open and marched out into her and Arin’s shared room. She snatched her headphones from her bed and placed them on her belt for safe keeping. She turned back around when she bumped into someone. She stumbled and realized that she had bumped into Arin, who had a weird look on his face.

“Sora, I can’t let you go–”

“Excuse me?!” She cut him off, a frustrated look on her face, and Arin gave her an exasperated look.

“–alone.” He finished, and Sora paused. Oh, oops. “We’re a team!” He said, putting a hand on Sora’s shoulder, a smile on his face. “Ever since the Merge, it’s been you and me.” Riyu squeaked and pounced on Sora, knocking her to the floor. “–And Riyu,” he continued, “we stick together! We’re coming to Imperium with you.” He finished, just as Kai walked into the room with them.

“I don’t know about that.” Kai said, an uncertain look was on his face, and Arin jumped slightly. “You both still have training, you haven’t even done much on stealth yet.” He continued, and Arin turned around to face the brunette. “Who knows who you might end up bumping into, you could get caught, injured, or even separated.” Kai’s tone grew heavy as he spoke, and the mood shifted as Arin and Sora tried to convince Kai.

“We can do this, Kai!” Arin tried, but Kai wasn’t so easily impressed. 

“You punched yourself in the face this morning.” He said, and Sora held back a laugh as Arin rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“But we’ve come so far in our training! Remember what you told us Master Wu always said?” Arin asked, but Kai only laughed.

“Uh, you mean how he always said to ‘stop playing video games and go clean your room’? Kai joked, mimicking Wu as he spoke, and Sora chuckled.

Arin shook his head. “Ninja sharpens ninja. We’re stronger together when we work together.”

Kai groaned, and dramatically looked up at the ceiling. “Of course you Master Wu me! Low blow kid, low blow.” He said, Sora and Arin only smiled. Kai sighed dramatically. “Point taken, you can go, but I'm coming with. I can’t have my favorite students go out into the dark, cruel world all on their own, now can I?” Kai said, and Sora laughed.

“We’re your only students, Kai.” She said, but Kai scoffed and brushed it off. 

“Alright you rascals, go and get ready while I go pack.” Kai said, ushering them on.

–

Sora remembered being so happy when she first entered the Advanced Systems Lab. You had to truly be seen as an asset in order to be invited in, especially if you were as young as she was. She really could not believe it, she was walking side by side with the Dr. LaRow! She had looked around, watching as all of the other scientists made their way around the lab, testing out new experiments, building tech, and making daily logs. This was where she was meant to be! Not some stuffy room with other kids, with teachers who always passed her off with their ‘curriculum’, or kids who ignored her for being ‘weird’.

“Huh, perhaps try the new mass-printed circuit boards.” Dr. LaRow had spoken to a scientist, who had nodded gratefully at her words. 

“All hail the Good Empress!” A male scientist had chanted as other scientists either waved or chanted the same praise.

She remembered when she had first seen her, laying down in her confinement area. She had run up, gasping as she took a good look. “A dragon! A real dragon!” She had turned to Dr. LaRow, a bright smile plastered on her naive face. “I can’t believe you have one here in the lab! This place is…it’s magical!” She reached to touch the beautiful dragon, when a force field stopped her. She frowned. Why would there be a force field? Was this dragon mean? 

“Oops, sorry. Let me deactivate the protective force field.” Dr. LaRow had made her way over to a control console, she remembered the words that Dr. LaRow had said. “This dragon has long since accepted its role in our lab. It won’t be dangerous.” 

She had frowned even more. Why would the dragon be dangerous? Why did they need to ‘accept’ their place in the lab? Wasn’t the lab supposed to be safe for all? She had shook her head once the force field was deactivated, and she took the opportunity to walk over and reached over to touch the dragon's snout. She could see the intelligence in the large beings' amber eyes. “Aww!” She had cooed, chuckling as the dragon nuzzled her. “You sweet thing. What’s her name?” She had Dr. LaRow, who had turned to her, a sharp grin on her face.

“Subject 152–stroke–9a.” She had responded, and she had frowned once more, subject? That wasn’t even a real name. “But, some of the lab techs have taken to calling her ‘Sora’. Dr. LaRow had spoken the name as if it were something she should laugh at, like it was some stupid silly work joke. 

“‘Sora’? The ancient Imperium word for ‘orphan’?” She had turned to Sora, a sad look on her face. “Did something happen to your family, Sora?” She had asked, and she saw a sad glint in the dragon's eyes.

Dr. LaRow had cleared her throat. “Please step back.” She had done as she was told, and watched as the force field went back up with an orange glimmer. “Ana, I must say that I see a great deal of potential in your digital pet device…” As Dr. LaRow spoke, she felt a strange sense of unease, like something about Dr. LaRow was…predatory. “...and in you.” Dr. LaRow finished, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You remind me a bit of myself at your age.”

“I do?”

“With my guidance, I think we could take your simple Photac and make it much more powerful.” She hadn’t liked the way Dr. LaRow had said that, her creation wasn’t meant for power. Those words forever haunt her head whenever she remembers that awful day. 

“Why…why would you need to make it more powerful?” She had asked, unsure of what to think of Dr. LaRow’s words. 

“Child, the Photac could be so much more than a mere pet. May I?” Dr. LaRow took her bag, took her Photac out, and placed it in a compartment below the control module. She watched as her idol swiped on the module, and she turned to the dragon, who was now letting out rumbles. 

“What are you doing?” She had asked, not liking the situation, nor Dr. LaRow’s dark smile. 

“Demonstrating the possibilities.” Dr. LaRow had answered darkly, and she had felt anxiety bubble up in her gut.

Suddenly, electricity and energy sparked around the dragon who roared in what she could only assume was pain, and she took a step back in horror. “What?! No!” She had shouted, tears welled in her eyes and threatened to fall down her face, but she couldn’t. Imperians don’t cry. “No, stop!” She screamed, and Dr. LaRow looked down at her. 

“Wait.” She had ordered. Wait? Was Dr. LaRow crazy? This was hurting Sora! Did she not see that? The energy stopped as Dr. LaRow reached down and took the Photac out, grinning evilly. Dr. LaRow placed the device down and hit the remote, activating it. She watched as her device powered on, and instead of a puppy, a large armored wolf was formed. It roared as she took a step back. She turned her attention back to Sora, who was clearly still in pain. 

“You’re hurting her!” She had cried, pushed Dr. LaRow out of the way and turned the draining equipment off. Sora collapsed down in her cell, drained and almost lifeless. She tried to enter the cage, but the protective shields pushed her back, and she groaned as she hit the floor. She got up, and Dr. LaRow stared at her, unimpressed.

“Really now, Ana. Surely a girl as smart as you understands where Imperium’s energy comes from. Our dragons power our homes, our schools.” Dr. LaRow had said, but she shook her head. That still didn’t make any of this right. 

“Sure, everyone knows that, but our whole lives, we were always told our energy is safe!” She argued, but Dr. LaRow chuckled as if what she said was hilarious. 

“It is safe. For us.” Dr. LaRow had told her, and turned to the Photac. “Now, imagine what we could do with an army of these. For Imperium to remain the glorious kingdom it is, we need power. The power only dragons can provide.” 

She took a step forward, horror built up inside of her. “What are you saying?”

Dr. LaRow had placed her hands on her hips, a proud smile on her face. “An indestructible Photac army could hunt down every dragon in existence. It would provide Imperium with a never-ending source of energy. Our glory would be unparalleled.” She took a step back, Dr. LaRow was admitting that she was proud to be a part of this!

“But that’s not what I–”

Dr. LaRow had cut her off. “This is why I’ve brought you her, Ana. This is what the Good Empress Beatrix created the Advanced Systems Lab for!” Dr. LaRow had cheered, a bright smile on her face, definitely not mirroring her growing look of horror.

“I don’t want any part of this!” She had shouted, and Dr. LaRow had looked at her as she had said something crazy. “You’re as much of a monster as that…that thing!” She yelled, ponting at the Photac. She turned the Photac off, and threw the remote onto the ground hard enough that it broke. She burst into tears as she ran out. I can cry now, she had thought, I am no longer Imperian.

–

She ran into her home, and saw her parents in front of her. “Mom, Dad, I need your help!” She had cried, hugging her mom, and felt a pang of sadness when she didn't reciprocate. “I can’t go back to Dr. LaRow’s lab!”

Her father glared down at her, and her mother had pushed her away. “Dr. LaRow just called.” 

“We are very disappointed in you, Ana.” Her mother said, her words pierced through her heart. How could her mother say that? Was Dr. LaRow feeding them lies? “You have a chance to help the Empress Beatrix! To help Imperium!” 

“They’re torturing dragons!” She shouted, trying to make her parents see reason, but her efforts were unsuccessful.

“Dragons are just mindless beasts, Ana. A resource.” Her father had rolled his eyes when he said this, and she knew they wouldn’t listen to her. They never did, they were practically head over heels for the empress. 

“If you had seen the dragon suffering, you’d know how wrong this is!” She said, tears brimming her eyes. Why couldn’t her parents see her reasoning? Why could they never listen to her? 

Her mother glared down at her even harder. “Are you really going to put some creature above your own family?” She snapped, and she had nothing to say to that. 

“I…” She looked down at the floor.

Her father had scoffed and shot her a disgusted look. “We are ashamed to call you our daughter.” And with that, her father and mother left her all alone in her room. Why was she never enough for them? What could they possibly want from her? Was she really such a bad person for caring about the suffering of life that did no wrong? 

–

The rest of her time in Imperium felt like a blur. Every passing day was as monochromatic as the next. Her peers shunned her at school, no one wanted to hear her out no matter how hard she tried. She was dubbed the outcast, someone who had rejected their way of life. 

Sora remembered sitting in her room a lot, thinking about everything. Questioning everything. That in itself was dangerous. In Imperium, it was taboo to ask and question ‘why’. Her parents slid food inside of her room, nothing was said to her, they would give her food and water, then pretend as though she never existed.

Anytime she waved to her classmates, they always either looked away or pretended not to see her. It stung, before she thought she was lonely, now she felt as if…life had no meaning anymore. No purpose. Before she could look at her Dr. LaRow posters and tell herself that one day, just one day, she would be there in the Advanced Systems Lab, making life better for the citizens of Imperium. Now, all she had wanted to do was fall into a hole and disappear forever. 

She remembered when they took her workbench. Her parents had told her that ‘if you won’t use your scientific studies to support Imperium…and all that we stand for…then you’ll just have to find a new interest’. She had ripped her Dr. LaRow posters off her walls and threw them away, along with every book she had that was written by her. 

–

Riyu warbled as he played with an empty soda can that had been tossed on the floor. Sora, Arin, and Kai were sitting in the scroll room, trying to come up with some sort of plan. 

“So, we can’t just walk into Imperium.” Sora stated, and Arin looked confused. 

“Why not?” He asked, picking the soda can up and tossing it for Riyu to chase. “It’s how we go to most places.” He finished, and Sora sighed.

“I’m guessing we’re wanted criminals there. I once knew someone who was arrested for singing off-key.” Sora turned to Kai, who had a hand on his chin, thinking things over in his head. “So, I think actively fighting the Claw Hunters puts us on their ‘Do Not Enter’ list.” She finished, and Kai sighed. 

“Of course it’s a highly secured kingdom. There should be guards at every checkpoint, making sure that only the right people are allowed in.” Kai said, a scowl was on his face, and Sora sighed as well.

Arin thought for a minute, before coming up with an idea. “But who’s checking what comes out of Imperium?” Kai and Sora looked at Arin with matching confused expressions. “Waste, garbage, there's gotta be a sewage system that they aren’t checking.” Sora suddenly had a bright smile on her face for the first time all day. 

“That’s brilliant Arin!” She cheered, excitement glowed in her eyes. “I guarantee the sewers won’t have any security!”

–

Sora panted as she ran as fast as she could, Kai and Arin were right behind her. Green flashing lights blared as an alarm rang out loud. “I was wrong!” She yelled as she and the others dodged blasts from the drones behind them. They made a turn and ran down the new pathway, trying not to get hit. Arin and Sora grabbed Riyu and went up a ladder, Kai launched a fireball at the drones, managing to disable them. He climbed up the ladder, sighing as he entered the hallway with his students. 

“Okay, any bright ideas?” Kai asked, and Sora hushed him. 

“Shh. Like I was hoping, this tunnel led right into the Security Station. I’ll hack into the system, make us ID cards, gain access to the Advanced Systems Lab, and boom! Destroy the Photac.” She said and Arin smiled, while Kai looked nervous. He didn’t have time to voice his concerns as Sora ushered them off. 

They ran forward and made an abrupt stop as two Claw members walked forwards, thankfully, they didn’t have good peripheral vision, and paid no attention to the four. They all sighed out in relief and entered the security room, looking around to make sure no one was inside. Sora placed the blank ID cards on top of the console and began to operate the machine. She turned on the security cameras and saw a Claw member making their way to the security station. 

“Someone’s coming. Hurry. I need your fake names for the ID’s.” She said, and Arin stood in shock. 

“Fake names?! Um…” He needed more time! Arin panicked and looked around the room. "Doctor…uh…Lampshade Floortile!” He said, his confidence growing as he spoke. 

Sora whipped around to face him. “Your undercover name is ‘Dr. Lampshade Floortile?” She asked, and Arin nodded.

“Yeah!” He said with full confidence.

Kai thought for a couple of moments. “Uh, just put ‘Kanaloa Jiang’.” He responded, and Sora raised a brow. 

“Isn’t Jiang your last name?” She questioned, but Kai shook his head. 

“It’s my mother's maiden name, my actual last name is Smith.” He responded, and Sora shrugged her shoulders. 

Sora finished typing, and the ID’s shifted to have their photos and fake names. Kai grabbed the ID’s and looked at Sora’s with a frown.

“Why did you use your actual name?” He asked, but Sora looked at the security footage, and ushered them behind some of the lockers that were in the room.. 

“U-uh, we, we gotta go!” She stuttered, and Kai, Arin, and Riyu followed her. 

They snuck behind the lockers and Sora opened one and pulled out three pairs of civilian Imperian outfits. “Hurry up and put these on.” Arin and Kai each took one, and Arin looked over the garments carefully. “We need to look like real Imperian citizens.” 

“You are a real Imperian.” Arin pointed out, but Sora shook her head.

“We need to fit in.That’s all people in Imperium care about.” She said, looking as if she were remembering something. They then went ahead and changed, sticking their old clothes into the bag Arin had brought. 

Kai walked over, ready to go. “Yup! Stealth is the key to success in this mission.” 

Arin turned to Riyu, who was looking around with child-like innocence. “Riyu, maybe we should just keep you hidden in here.” Arin motioned for Riyu to enter the bag, and the little dragon happily hopped in. Arin closed the bag and tried lifting it up, but struggled as Riyu was too heavy. It took Arin a few minutes to struggle to put the bag on his back, but once he did, he tried to keep himself from falling on the floor. “Perfect.” He groaned out, his back already sore. 

“Okay, Lampshade. That looks totally normal. Guess we’re ready. Come on.” Sora said while Kai smiled. They all walked out, whistling while trying to look as normal as they possibly could. 

“Halt!” They all froze and turned around as a Claw had called out to them. 

“What seems to be the problem?” Kai asked, smiling as best as he could. 

“Gonna need to see your ID badges.” The guard stated, and they all handed them to the guard, who examined them. “Oh, yeah. Yep! You’re free to go, Mr. Floortile.” He handed Arin’s ID badge, who scoffed. 

“That's Dr. Floortile.”

“Uh, you too, Mr. Jiang.” Kai stepped forward and took his ID, and the guard looked at Sora’s ID. “Uh, Sora?” The guard looked at Sora, who stood still, not showing any kind of reaction. “Weird name.” And with that, he handed over Sora’s ID. “But okay. All hail the Good Empres!” He chanted, and they began to walk off. However, the guard looked down at his tablet, and turned around. “Stop!” He slammed the hilt of his weapon on the floor, and the three jumped and they turned around to face the guard, before trying to make a run for it. Lazer bars came up and blocked them, causing them to stop and turn back around. Arin set his bag down and they all stood nervously. “You really thought you could get away with it, didn’t you?” 

“I didn’t…” Sora started, but she trailed off. 

“Not wearing shoulder pads on a Tuesday?!” The guard sighed out in frustration. “The empress has declared shoulder pads are a must-have accessory for all citizens on weekdays! And this is not a weekday!” The guard showed them his tablet, and Sora shrugged her shoulders to Arin, who was giving her questioning looks. 

“Um, that’s new. And weird.” Sora admitted, and the guard paid no mind to her.

“Well, I have no choice but to take you to…the Public Shaming Platform!” The guard said dramatically, confirming Sora’s worst fears. The guard went over and began to pick Arin’s bag up. “Ugh! What are you carrying in here? Gold bricks?” He struggled to lift the bag, “it weighs a ton!” The guard then led them down a hallway. 

“What’s a ‘Public Shaming Platform’?” Kai asked Sora, who looked nervous.

“Only the worst form of punishment in Imperium. Anyone who commits any Anti-Empress sentiment is publicly shamed in a live stream video feed.” Sora answered, and Kai brushed her off. 

“Oh please, it couldn’t possibly be that bad! I’ve put up with the mockery of 5 other people for years. I think I’ll be just fine.” Kai said, and Sora shook her head.

“You don’t understand! The live stream is prodcasted to everyone in Imperium. Our faces are gonna be on gigantic screens throughout the city! The Claw Hunters, that weird tiger guy, my parents. Everyone will see us! We’re toast!”

“Oh…” Kai said, now realizing the severity of the situation. 

–

Sora, Arin, and Kai were led to the middle of a platform, turned around, and they waited in nervous silence. 

“What are we gonna do?” Arin asked, but Sora shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know! You’re the doctor!” She sighed. “We need some kind of distraction.” As she spoke, Riyu began to wiggle around in the bag, and popped his head out. He jumped out onto the guard, who fell to the ground with a grunt. 

He turned around in shock. “A dragon? I need backup!”

Arin, Sora, and Kai all stared at Riyu in nervousness, and then went after the Claw members who had also begun to chase after the baby dragon. Arin stopped Sora, and turned her around. 

“We’ll keep him safe! Now’s your chance! Go get the Photac!” He cheered, and Sora nodded, and ran off to the Advanced Systems Lab.

–

Kai leapt up and kicked a guard in the face, lighting up his fire as he ran. He took down drones as he tried his best to follow after Riyu. Arin was using his spinjitzu to take down guards, and noticed that he couldn’t see Kai around anymore. 

Kai ran down a line of cells, and saw guards running away from blasts of fire. The guards argued as they ran past Kai, who grew interested in the fireballs. Was a dragon captive? If so, he had to rescue it! He ran to the door that had the flames coming from in it, and broke the controls, causing the door to open. 

“Hey little dragon!” When he got a good look, Kai froze. “You’re not a–” He yelped as a fireball blasted at his face.

–

Sora remembered the day she had finally left. She had been angry that day, wishing to be anywhere but in Imperium. Suddenly, her whole room had shaken, and a bright white light went through, and when she had looked out her window, there was suddenly a city way past Imperiums walls. She smiled, this was her chance! She ran out of her room, only taking essentials, and she left. Promising herself that she would never return.

–

Sora made it into the lab, it wasn’t too difficult. She used a tablet to cover her face as she made her way through the lab. She finally managed to make it to the Photac, a scornful look now replaced the fondness from all those years ago.

“Time to shut you–”

“Ana. Welcome home.” Sora, shocked to be cut off, turned around and saw Dr. LaRow standing right in front of her, and Sora looked at her old childhood hero in anger and slight fear. “We’ve been expecting you.” 

Chapter Text

Lloyd remembered what it was like to be ripped from everything you could have ever known. He couldn’t really remember much of what went on during the Merge, his memory issues and mental blockage typically kept him from remembering much to begin with. 

Kai had gripped onto Nya, and Nya had actually managed to pull Lloyd up by some, but his grip had slipped and he could recall seeing a flashing white light, and he was suddenly in some sort of city. He had spent the next couple of days in hiding, trying to find a way out. He remembered walking towards the entrance of the city, which he learned was called Imperium, and how he was spotted, captured, and was dragged into the palace. 

“Let go of me!” He had yelled at the guards, fought tooth and nail to escape, but to no avail. The Empress, who he had learned was named Beatrix, had sneered down at him, and looked him in the eye.

“You are in the presence of the Good Empress, you have invaded my home and you dare to disrespect me?!” She had yelled loud enough that it was like the throne room itself had shaken. Lloyd had glared at the woman, his slitted eyes analyzed every part of her, as if he was trying to read a book.

“I never ‘invaded’ your home, I ended up here after that large storm!” Lloyd had argued, still trying to break free from the guards’ hold. “I came from a realm called Ninjago, I was a protector of it! I have no interest in meddling with your kingdom.” Lloyd had said, but the empress only scowled.

“I do not care for your lies, outsiders like you have no business in Imperium. Guards, send him to the cells, tell Dr. LaRow to study him, he clearly isn’t human, and I want to know exactly what he is.” She had said, and Lloyd froze in shock. He tried fighting back as he was once again pulled up.    

“You can't do this! Let me go!” Lloyd had shouted, fear ebbing in his gut. He knew he didn’t want to be here. He just wanted to go home. Why couldn’t he just go home? 

–

Lloyd stumbled as the guards shoved him in the cell. He turned around, and was about to use his element, but he froze. If they found out about his element, the empress would most definitely find it as another reason to keep him locked up in this awful city. 

Lloyd had sighed, tears were threatening to spill down his face as reality really hit him.

He was never going back home, was he?  

–

He remembered once, many years ago, one of the only early memories he had, that his father had clutched him close to his chest. He recalled his father used to nest a lot, kind of like Lloyd whenever he got too stressed. He sighed as he sat down against the back back and looked at the door. 

So much for an 18th birthday.

—

Weeks went by monochromatically, guards would drag him out, the scientists would draw blood or cut his hair, cut chunks out of his skin, all while Dr. LaRow, the main scientist, studied his every move and reaction.

His gi was replaced with their black clothes, except it had silver details instead of the gold details that everyone else wore.

He also had a new name. Lloyd refused to tell them his name out of fear that they would search for his information and find his rather unusual family tree. Dr. LaRow called him ‘Subject 243–stroke–8c’. The other scientists had taken to calling him ‘Anatole’ which he heard meant ‘from the east, rising sun’. Lloyd was confused about it, but he later found out that there was a civilization just east where the sun rises, which Lloyd could only hope was Ninjago.

—

He was sent down to a new area about 2 years after the storm. He would later find out that it was called the ‘The Merge’. Lloyd could only wonder why they would call it that. 

—

Lloyd could sense the powerful being inside before he even stepped foot inside, and he gasped as he was a large orange orb, and he scowled as he was shoved into a draining cage. Lloyd sighed as the scientists all left.

“I can sense your frustration from here, hatchling.” Lloyd jumped high into the air as a deep voice rang through his head.

“H-hello?” Lloyd stuttered out, and the orb glowed and a ginormous dragon appeared. Lloyd gasped in awe at the sight of the great being in front of him. “What are you?” He asked in curiosity, looking at every detail he could.

“I am a Source Dragon. I was one of the first beings in this universe, and you, young one, are a descendant of The First, aren’t you?” 

The voice rang through Lloyd’s head as he looked at the orb. “I am. I’m…uh, I don’t want to speak of my name out loud, I don’t need these people looking into my history.” Lloyd replied, and the dragon hummed. 

“I know who you are, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon. Hatchling, I can sense our paths colliding greatly.”

Lloyd stood there, shocked. However, he couldn’t pay that any mind. He was going to get out if it killed him.

–

If you asked Lloyd three years ago if he thought he could escape, he would have said yes with determination. But Lloyd now? He would laugh at you and tell you that the chances would be horrifyingly slim. Someone would have to break in and free him if they ever found him, which wasn’t likely possible. 

He wasn’t sure if they would recognize him anyway, his hair was cut shorter than it's ever been, he had a long three part scar going across his whole face, and he probably looked dead inside. 

It’d been a month since Wyldfyre joined them and she’s still determined to escape, no matter what Lloyd says. ‘Anatole, I’m the master of escape’ she’d say every time Lloyd told her to stop and rest.

—

All of Lloyd burned as his energy was being drained away. Somehow, they figured out a way to drain him. He shrieked as his body convulsed, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t even breathe as shocks of agony wove through his body. The source dragon kept trying to soothe him, but his voice wasn’t enough. 

—

The next few days were filled with terror and pain as they continued to drain him, he almost felt him slipping away when the source dragon spoke to him.

“Prepare hatchling. Escape it under its way.” 

Lloyd, who was still exhausted and laying limps on the floor, managed to speak a couple of words. “With you?” He asked, but he was disappointed. 

“No, you must leave here. The very universe would be destroyed if I was freed, it is too unstable.” 

Lloyd frowned. “But I can’t just leave you here!” He argued, and heard a laugh ring through his head.

“Hatchling, when you leave, the chances of my escape will increase over time. Your friends are coming, you must go with them.” 

Lloyd sighed. “Okay, I will.”

Dr. LaRow walked in and Lloyd looked at her as she dragged in a cage. He sighed as he was dragged in it. 

He didn’t listen to their conversation, but he heard Dr. LaRow say the name ‘Ana’ quite often. Lloyd narrowed his eyes. He had to escape. ‘I’m coming Kai, Nya, Cole, Jay, Zane. I’ll make sure of it’.

Chapter Text

Arin and Riyu panted as they turned around a corner, running away from the drones and Claws.

“Stop that hideous dragon!” A Claw called out.

Arin took personal offense to that, Riyu was adorable. Arin looked over his shoulder and groaned as he noticed that the Claws were getting closer, he had to lose them before he got caught. 

He jumped through a large ugly metal statue, landing a little less than gracefully on his feet. Sora was right, the empress clearly didn’t have good taste in decor, much less fashion.

Arin kept an eye on Riyu as the little dragon let out warbles. “We gotta lose these guys, Riyu!” He spotted a lone hoverboard leaning against a pillar and snagged it as he ran. He hopped on it and wobbled a bit as Riyu got on. Once he was stable he zipped forward as fast as he could go. This should help build some distance. 

Arin wished there was some kind of ninja training for hoverboards. He grunted as the bottom of the board caught on a couple metal rods, nearly throwing him and Riyu both off of the board.

The drones followed close behind, trying to catch him. The Claws clearly couldn’t chase after him anymore. Arin did his best to weave through citizens as he tried to avoid the drones, nearly hitting a couple people on accident in the process. 

Arin spotted a metal pole and pulled out his grappling hook and fired it, attaching it to the pole. He used it to help him make a sharp turn to the right. He heard a loud boom as a drone collided with something. Unfortunately for Arin, two other drones were still after him. 

“Woah!” He cried out as he barely dodged shots from the drones, the bright red lights flying past him. “Hang in buddy!” He called out to Riyu as he kept on dodging more and more shots.

Arin then opted to abandon the hoverboard. He leaned forward before jumping off, causing it to launch back and hit a drone, causing a small explosion. He stumbled as Riyu rolled a bit. He yelped as the one remaining drone used its arm to grab Arin’s arm, which left Riyu to hold onto Arin, who was now in the air. He was suddenly pulled away as the drone dragged both him and Riyu towards what Arin could only assume was the palace.

Arin tried to pry his wrist from the drone’s grasp. Riyu tried helping too, opting to gnaw on the drone’s arm. Arin then decided to punch the bottom until it started to shut down. That’s when he realized that he’s about to fall all the way down to the ground.

“Oh, nuts.” Arin screamed as he and Riyu fell into a dumpster. He groaned as the Claws were wondering where he went. He peeked through the lid of the dumpster in order to watch them, waiting for them to leave.

“—What is he the doctor of? ‘Vanishing without a trace’?” One groaned in frustration. 

“Doubtful.” One of the other two spoke up, crossing their arms. “There are very few certified vanishologists in Imperium.”

The last guard sighed and waved to the other to signal him to follow him. “Come on. Let’s search for them in the new shoulder pad store.” 

The first guard glanced at him in suspicion. “Wait! Are you just trying to buy yourself some new shoulder pads?”

“I’m serving the security needs of Imperium. If I happen to get dashing shoulder-wear while I’m at it, what’s wrong with that?” Arin cringed, the shoulder pads were kind of ugly, and it’s what got them all into this mess in the first place.

Arin sighed out in relief as the guards finally left the alley. He looked over to Riyu. “Alright! Let’s sit tight. Once the heat dies down, we’ll go find the others.”

“Time to keep the city clean!” A voice rang out. Arin turned his attention to a group of teens around his age entering the alleyway.

“It’s about respecting the community!” A girl called out, a bright smile on his face.

They continued to sing a tune. Arin turned to Riyu, who also looked confused. 

“Yeah, I don’t get it either.”

Arin heard a rather loud groan and spotted the support beams of the platform the teens were on. They started to bend, causing the platform to collapse, and the teens screamed as they began to fall to the floor.

Arin jumped out and pulled out his grappling hook. He launched it and attached it to the top of the other, more stable structure, and got one of the teens falling down to the ground. 

“Hold on!” Arin called out, and used his grappling hook to once again lift him up, and he got the teens at the top, bringing them safely to the ground as the platform fully fell to the ground and collapsed into a heap of metal. He looked up to find one more teen hanging off of the good platform and went back up, grabbing him just before he fell all the way down. 

Arin sighed as all of the teens were safely on the ground. He jumped as he heard them begin to call out to him.

“That was amazing!” One of the boys praised him, and a smile made its way onto Arin’s face.

“Those were the coolest moves ever! Who are you?” The boy Arin just saved asked with an excited expression.

Arin chuckled nervously, recalling the name he had given to Sora. “Uh, the names Floortile. Lampshade Floortile!” Arin cried out internally. Sora was right to question his choice, this was a stupid name! He was going to for sure get caught-

“I like the cut of your jib, Lampshade!” The same boy praised, cutting off Arin’s spiraling thoughts. He smiled at the boy, who was smiling back. “I’m Percival Tartigrade, and I’m the leader of this troop!” The others raised their hands and ran behind Percival. “The Imperium Teenage Protection Force!” As soon as Percival finished, the others made dramatic poses behind him.

Arin was slightly confused. “Are you- are you like a music group or something?” He asked, stuttering a bit. 

“Yes! Except, instead of practicing music, we practice obedience to law and order!” Percival explained, and Arin blinked. “We take a solemn vow to do what is right and good! And what could be good right now, is to beg you to become our newest member!” Arin blushed from the praise, not many people besides Kai, Sora, amd Mr. Frohicky do that! “We need you to teach us those sweet moves so we can be cool like you!” Percival cheered and Arin had to recap real quick.

“Let me get this straight, you all think I’m cool?!” Arin asked excitedly, waiting for an answer.

“The coolest!” Percival said, smiling at Arin with a big grin. “Please, teach us your skills!” Percival and the others got down on one knee, and Arin smiled, a little weirded out, but he smiled nonetheless. 

“Uh, okay! I guess?” Arin replied, and the Imperium Teenage Protection Force started to cheer.

—

Meanwhile, Kai, who was starting to really regret coming to Imperium, was dodging blasts of fire. Fire! That’s his element! Something weird was going on, and Kai was going to be the first to voice his displeasure.

“Eat flame, bad guy!” The wild child inside cried out, blasting even more fire all over. Kai scowled. He was a ninja! Not a coward! “Get wrecked by Wyldfyre!” ‘Wyldfyre’ charged forward, causing Kai to leap back. 

“I am not a bad guy!” He exclaimed in frustration as fire was continuing to be blasted in his direction. “This is just a disguise!” Kai cried out.

“A disguise?” She sneered, irritated. “I can still see you, loser!” 

“Hey! I’ll have you know that I am the master of disguise!” Kai shouted, insulted. “If I was your enemy, which I’m not, why would I let you out of your cell?!” Kai argued, all while blocking the girls punches and blasts of fire.

“If you don’t know, why should I?” She shouted, and Kai groaned. 

“Fine, fair point! But let me show you what real fire looks like!” Kai powered up his own flames, causing the girl to pause and look at the fire in interest. 

“You wouldn’t happen to be a ‘Kia’, would you?” She asked, looking deep in thought, her flames dying out.

Kai was suddenly uneasy seeing the girl suddenly stop fighting. “Uh, it’s Kai.” He corrected, and the girl brightened up.

“You’re the one Anatole told me was coming for him!” She cheered, and Kai was confused.

“Anatole? Uh, I don’t know who that is.” Kai said, and the girl scoffed. 

“Did you hit your head? Ugh, whatever, come with me, let’s free my family, find a way to get Anatole, and get out of here!” She said, jumping onto Kai, who yelped as they began to fall to the ground, and Kai groaned as he got up. His back was going to be sore for ages now. 

“Fine! I’m Kai, the Fire Ninja. Now, where is your family, and again, who in the world is Anatole?!” Kai cried out, but stopped as guards suddenly appeared.

“What? Escaped prisoner!” 

Kai groaned and pulled Wyldfrye out of the way as the guards began to fire at the two. 

—

Sora stayed facing the Photac as Dr. LaRow was behind her. 

“I’ve been waiting for you.” Sora finally turned around, and looked at her childhood hero. “Rapton reported he used your Photac device in the field.” She had a smug smile on her face as she pulled out a tablet. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist returning, Ana.”

Sora cringed as Dr. LaRow used a name that was long dead to her. “My name is Sora now.” She said in full confidence. 

“Ugh. You named yourself after that dragon? Disgusting.” Dr. LaRow’s face was full of disgust, but Sora didn’t care. Not in the slightest. 

“She and I were the same.” Sora argued, a furious look on her face as she held the Photac in her hands. “Two pawns you used for your own gain.” Sora looked down at her creation with a sorrowful look. 

“I thought you were a scientist, Ana. Science has no room for sentiment.” Sora stared at the older lady with disdain. “After the Merge, the empress wanted to use the Photac more than ever.” The tables showed a video of the Merge Storm, before switching to a captured dragon. A proud, almost sadistic gleam appeared on the scientists’ face. “So many new dragons to hunt! But we hadn’t been able to activate your device. Until recently.” 

Sora was shocked, her Photac was immensely complicated and complex by design. “I’m surprised you figured it out. Exotic photovoltaic positrons were never your thing.” Sora said, suspicious at Dr. LaRow’s grin. “You were more of an expert at being an evil jerk.” Sora spat in anger, and Dr. LaRow finally frowned.

“Hmm, you’ve grown feisty. Where’s that sweet, wide-eyed little girl who was excited just to be in a real science lab?” Dr. LaRow asked, mockingly.

Sora’s expression hardened. “She grew up on the streets of a strange city when she had to escape a family poisoned against her by her former hero.” 

“Sorry sweetie.” Sora cringed at the pet name. “You’re old enough now to know that all heroes disappoint eventually.” She tapped on the holographic tablet a few times. “Even ninja.” She showed the image to Sora, a picture of Kai from before the Merge. Sora frowned, Dr. LaRow’s attempts at planting seeds of doubt were shriveled before they could even begin to bud, but Sora was still a little surprised that LaRow was keeping tabs on who Sora had been around. “I know about the company you’ve been keeping. You think the Claws’ mission reports wouldn’t reach me?”

“Then why didn’t you come for me?” Sora asked in suspicion. 

“I knew you’d come back on your own. And just in time. We need you.” Sora scoffed as the woman waved her tablet in Sora’s direction. “You’re right that I couldn’t get the Photac operational on my own.” That piqued Sora’s interest. LaRow never admitted to any of her flaws. “I had the help of an…unconventional consultant. He got your original prototype working and even made copies.” A metal garage door opened and Sora covered her eyes as a bright light obscured her eyes, but when she focused, she gasped in horror at the wall full of at least 40 Photacs.

“No…” She barely managed to say something before Dr. LaRow’s voice cut through the room once more.

“One problem. We haven’t been able to initialize these new devices. But I know who can.” Sora narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She didn’t like the tone Dr. LaRow was using. She then turned around, a sickly sweet smile on her face. “Activate them for me.” 

Sora was almost amazed at LaRow’s audacity. “I will never let you use my invention to hurt more innocent dragons.” Her tone was laced with spite as she spoke, but Dr. LaRow was unfazed.

“Huh. I anticipated you might feel that way. So I arranged a little motivation.” The scientist tapped on her tablet and revealed a familiar blue and orange dragon. “An…old friend.”

Sora instantly knew who the dragon was, and ran forward calling out the name of the dragon. “Sora!” It felt a bit weird, knowing Sora was also her name, but she brushed it off for now. A familiar man in a sparkling purple suit and hat weilding a matching cane hopped onto the dragon’s back, making Sora pause. “Dorama?” She asked in confusion. “You’re supposed to be in prison!” She stopped before narrowing her eyes. “Wait. Are you the ‘unconventional consultant’ that got my original Photac to work?” She asked in suspicion.

Dorama looked smug as he answered her. “My genius can be experienced in many ways.” Sora hated that answer, she’d rather fight a dumb man than a smart one. “Now, if you don’t do as Dr. LaRow says, the consequences will be…very entertaining.” The sparkly ball at the top of his cane glowed, and Sora, the dragon, cried out in pain. 

“Stop!” Sora, the teen, cried out in horror before Dorama stopped.

“There’s one more added thing to make your Photac even stronger. You see, we’ve come across a powerful creature, one that we have finally figured out how to drain.” Dr. LaRow’s voice cut through the room as she signaled a large cage to be drug in, and inside it was a portable draining chamber with a man glaring through the cage, horrified rose met flaring ruby and emerald as Sora met the man’s eyes. She noted the emerald wings on his back, and a thin black tail whipped around behind him. Sora couldn’t place it, but he looked familiar. “We will drain this creature after you’ve activated the Photacs. We’ll free him and the dragon if you activate all of them.” 

Sora stood in horror, dragons were one thing where they could claim that the dragons couldn’t feel pain, but this guy was clearly some part human, he could clearly scream and yell if he was in pain. Sora felt tears come to her eyes. The only thing she could do was get them both out. She had to activate the Photacs. She mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ to the man who stared at her with saddened eyes, and she turned to the scientist behind her. “Don’t hurt her.”

“So, you’re ready to help me, your empress, and Imperium itself?” Dr. LaRow asked with a smile.

Sora shook her head. “I don’t have a choice, do I?” She asked begrudgingly, already knowing the answer. 

“You always were a smart child.” Sora cringed at the way the scientist said that line.

Sora stood in front of the Photac, Dr. LaRow and Dorama were behind her, watching her every move. She picked up a tool and used it on her invention, finishing, much to the two adults' surprise. “Done.”

“Already?” Dr. LaRow asked in shock, and Sora nodded. “So the device can manifest a Photac beast now?” 

“See for yourself.” Sora said, a proud look on her face as she put a hand on her hip. The second Dorama and Dr. LaRow were looking at the device, Sora hit a button on the remote behind her, causing the Photac to activate, and a night light flashed the two, causing them to pass out.

Dr. LaRow hit one of the tables and went in and out of consciousness as she saw a glimpse of a blue tail trailing out, and looked to see both of the subjects gone along with Sora. She screamed out in anger and frustration at the realization. She ran over to the module by the door and hit a button, setting off a blaring alarm.

—

Sora ran next to the man, who huffed, seemingly out of shape. Dragon Sora was right behind them, following close behind the two.

“That was incredibly stupid, we’re going to get caught eventually.” Sora nearly tripped, this was the first time she had heard him speak.

“Not if I can help it, who are you anyway?” She asked, and the man smiled. 

“I’m not giving you my real name unless we actually manage to escape, but the other scientists called me ‘Anatole.’” Sora raised a brow, but decided not to question it much. “Lucky for us, I happen to know a direct route out of here.”

—

Back in the Cloud kingdom, Nya was deep in the archives, scrolls all around her and she was at her wits end. She was walking back to her table, a scroll open in her hands as she read aloud.

“‘If the Coalescence returns…the fifth source, the Temple of the Dragon Cores.’ Ugh! What is this nonsense?” She threw the scroll down onto the table in frustration. “With Master Wu’s notes gone, I can’t make heads or tails of any of it!” She glared at a scroll worm that was inching towards her. 

“Input search term?”

Nya scoffed. “Yeah right! Last time we trusted you to find info on stopping Mergequakes, we got globbed with a ton of sticky worm silk.” The worm frowned in annoyance as Nya ranted before skittering off. “Yeah, scoot away!” She called after it. “I don’t wanna be stuck together again by—“ Nya cut herself off as a thought came to her mind. “Stuck together? There’s no way.” She grabbed a clear blue paper from another scroll and placed it onto the one she just put down. “Looks like a map, but to where?” She frowned a bit. “I’ve never seen a place like this.”

—

Arin grunted a bit as he got ready to do a move. He jumped up and did a midair somersault. “Like this, smooth movements, see?” He punched out swiftly and looked at the other teens who were repeating what he was doing, albeit way worse before they all fell over. “Good, everybody. I…I mean…pretty good. Kind of?” Arin said awkwardly, unsure of how convincing he sounded. “Now, check this out!” Arin jumped up onto a wall, kicked out, and used his strange spinjitzu, he landed and spun out of control before falling over. He groaned out in embarrassment, his face heating up.

Everyone else, however, seemed not to note his imperfect landing, and cheered, much to Arin’s confusion.

“Oh, man. Sorry. I landed all wrong. I can do better!” He assured the teens, an anxious look on his face. He knew it, he was going to screw up like usual and miss his opportunity to make friends other than Sora.

“Better than that?” Percival’s voice pulled Arin out of his thoughts. “You’ve got the best moves we’ve ever seen!” Arin didn’t really agree.

“I’m not all that good, actually. Uh, I’ve got a master teaching me all the things I’m doing wrong.” Arin said, but Percival shook his head.

“But the things you do are amazing already! You don’t need to train!” Percival assured while Arin awkwardly chuckled, his face burning at the praise. 

“You guys are the best!” He said, a bright smile on his face. “Enough about me, what about you? What’s the ITPF all about?” Arin asked curiously, and the teens all stood proudly.

“We just look for ways to help anywhere we can. No biggie.” Percival answered, and Arin smiled. 

“Love the sound of that!” He said, smiling. “Ever since my parents went missing, I’ve wanted to help people too.” Arin said, a sorrowful smile on his face.

Percival wrapped an arm around Arin’s shoulder, a bright smile on his face. “You think just like we do, Lampshade!” Arin’s smile brightened at the boy’s words. “To rise from any bad things in our pasts, and make the world a better place in the here and now.” 

Arin put his hands together in amazement. “Wow! I feel so seen right now!”

“In fact, we hope, if we work hard enough, we can join the greatest group to ever fight for good against the forces of evil.” Arin was excited, he finally met people who understood him! 

“The Claws of Imperium!” All of the teens shouted, and Arin paused, shocked at the realization.

“Wait, what?”

“That’s why we do all this!” Percival said, as if stating the obvious. “We want to be Claws one day!” Percival said excitedly, getting into a cool pose. “Heroic warriors that keep Imperium safe by hunting down dragons!”

Arin was still shocked as he comprehended the boy’s words. “But…but you said you wanted to protect and help.” 

Percival brightened up. “Exactly! Protect Imperium from dragons and help by draining dragon power to fuel the kingdom!”

“We want to make the world a better place, like the Claws of the Imperium always do!” Percival said with joy, his dreams spoken as the others around him nodded their heads in agreement.

“We want to make the world a better place, like the Claws of the Imperium always do!” Percival said with joy, his dreams spoken as the others around him nodded their heads in agreement.

“The Claws of Imperium!” They all shouted, making poses as Arin stood there in both shock and disappointment. He shouldn’t have hoped to make friends with Imperians, it’s like all of them except Sora want to torture innocent dragons, what was next? Cats? Puppies?

“The Claws hurt dragons!” Arin argued, trying to make the others see reason, but to no avail.

“Don’t be silly, Lampshade.” To make it worse, Percival was even laughing at Arin. So much for being ‘cool’. “You can’t hurt a mindless beast.” 

Arin thought otherwise, even if a ‘mindless beast’ didn’t have a mind, it still had a brain, which meant that it had the ability to feel pain through its nerves and spinal cord, it just wouldn’t have the mind to think about it, or how to deal with it. Arin paused at the thought. Guess biology was a necessary subject. 

“Can you imagine what we’d do if we could ever catch a dragon?” The girl next to Percival asked– Arin just realized he forgot to get the others’ names – an almost evil look in her eyes.

Percival smiled smugly, as if he had the daydream in his head for years. “We’d turn it over to Lord Ras himself.” He stepped forward, and Arin looked at him uneasily. “That dragon would get drained to dust!” Arin stared at the other teen in horror, and some disgust. He’d seen Kai almost get wiped from existence, the thought of draining something to dust made him want to hurl everything he’s eaten up onto the floor.

Riyu let out a fearful whine before slinking down into the dumpster, making a loud noise as he did so. The others were alerted and Arin froze. That was the dumpster Riyu was in, right? He watched the teens turn their full attention to the dumpster. 

“What's back there?” Percival asked, a cautious look on his face as he analyzed the dumpster.

“Nothing!” Arin quickly said, running in front of the dumpster. “Definitely nothing!” He needed to divert their attention, or else they would send Riyu to get drained to dust! “Uh, let me show you some more moves!” He smiled as he said this, but no one was fooled by it. 

“In a second.” Percival said, much to Arin’s growing panic. “Better check that out.” He walked forward, and Arin felt dread fill his entire soul.

–

Kai kicked one of the Claws away from him and used his spinjitzu to hit multiple Claws at once, effectively taking them down. Kai watched the wild child in front of him blast her fire all around, taking down Claws. He smiled, this kid had potential.

“Follow me, the waste tunnels are over here.” He said, pointing down the hall. “I gotta get you out of here.” Kai said, but Wyldfyre refused. 

“Nope! Gotta save my family and Anatole!” She replied, and ran off, much to Kai’s annoyance.

“Wait up!”

Kai huffed as the girl ran through a large doorway that led to a large room with multiple sealed doors. Must’ve been a prison from the looks of it. He shook that thought away as Wyldfyre ran over to a specific door.

“This is the one!” She said, and began to press onto the key pad, and Kai stopped her. 

“Let me try this.” He said, and pulled out a key card from a pocket in his pants. He used it, and the door opened.

A large orange and red dragon roared as it looked down at the two. Kai stepped in front of them. “Stay back!” He ordered, but the girl glared at him and pushed him away.

Wyldfyre ran closer to the dragon, and began to snarl, much to Kai’s confusion. The dragon purred and the frails on its head went back and the scales turned into a scarlet red, and Kai realized its color change was from it threatening the two.

“Aw, it’s good to see you, too, Heatwave!” Wyldfyre said as the dragon nuzzled its head closer to Wyldfyre.

“You know this dragon?” Kai asked, but brushed it off. “Alright, but we still have to find your family and this ‘Anatole’”

Wyldfyre turned around, and smiled. “Heatwave is my family.” She said, and Kai finally realized what she was talking about. “He raised me in the Wyldness.” She said, and Kai hummed.

At least the kid had a parent to guide her, Kai hadn’t had that so he couldn’t assume that was a bad thing. Kai spared a glance at Heatwave, he thought about Flame, that dragon had been just about the only dragon he really connected with. A pang of grief shot through Kai, but he shook it off.

“Welp, that sure does explain a lot, doesn't it?” Kai said, an amused smile on his face as Wyldfyre hugged the dragon.

–

Sora, Anatole, and Sora the dragon were following Anatole, the dragon slammed into walls at every turn, and Anatole ran forward, giving Sora more time to analyze the weird blond. 

His golden blond hair was cut just above his neck, a brown undercut told Sora his hair was either dyed or there was something else in play, maybe genetics? She couldn’t see his face, but when she had, there had been three scars that looked to be from one swipe due to how connected they looked, one came down from the left side of his forehead to the top of his left eye, whatever caused the cut struck his nose bridge, and then one final scar trailed from his lower lip down to the end of his chin. There was another scar that went down his right eyebrow, and Sora spotted another on his neck. His thin black tail trailed behind him, and a barb was at the end of it, and he had two tall black horns that pointed towards the sky. His emerald wings seemed to glow as they ran down a new hallway.

“Through these doors we can exit through the garage, armor ourselves up, and make it out through the doors.” He said, and Sora nodded, and the dragon bumped into the wall as the creature wobbled, unsteady as it tried to keep up.  

Once they made it into the garage, Anatole looked around as Sora got ready for a fight. There were a lot of different vehicles and weapons in the room. 

“You should have stayed in your cage, beast.” Rapton’s voice rang throughout the area as Anatole and Sora turned to him.

“Nah, I think I like walking around.” Anatole snapped, glaring at the man.

“Rapton, you really want a rematch?” She asked, trying to egg him on. Anatole gave her a questioning look, unsure of what she was trying to do.

“Let’s see. Hmm…a pack of highly skilled Claws of Imperium and their weapon drones against a little ninja-wannabe, an overgrown garden snake, and a freak of nature?” Rapton scoffed as Anatole growled in offense. “Yeah, I’ll take those odds.”

Sora glared at Rapton. “Then you are a fool!” 

“How dare you!” Rapton yelled as Anatole laughed. “No one calls Rapton a fool!”

One of the other Claw members decided to pipe in. “Uh, Lord Ras calls you a fool all the time.” Anatole burst out laughing even harder, unable to contain his amusement.

“Okay, one! One person calls me that!” He turned to face Sora again. “But definitely not a scrawny kid like you!”

Sora placed her hand on her chest with pride. “I am the Elemental Master of Technology.” Anatole froze and looked at her with a very shocked and confused expression. She would definitely have to explain that later. “Remember the mech I created on the bridge? And on the train? Remember what I did to your weapons?” She took a few steps forward, gesturing to the room around them. “Now look around, you really want to face me in a room full of technology?” She said, threatening them. “What should I do with all these? Reassemble their parts into a swarm of stinging techno-bees?” She threatened the Claws as Anatole used it as a distraction. 

“Uh, I…I don’t like bees.” One of the other Claws confessed, amusing the two.

“But of course, we can avoid all that if you just get out of our way.” Sora said, smiling as she watched Rapton. 

Anatole lightly used his power to draw the energy from the weapons around him, something the Source Dragon had taught him. 

“I don’t know how you did those things. Maybe you do have the powers you say. Or maybe you just got lucky.“ Rapton smiled as he took her up on her words, something that filled Sora with a bit of fear. “I’ll make you a deal. Use your powers to do something to this drone.” Rapton waved and one of the drones moved towards her. “Anything. Smash it, make it a bee, whatever. You do that, we step aside. You, Anatole, and the dragon are free to go.”

Sora nervously looked back at the dragon and back at the drone, taking a step back. “You…sure about that? It’s a nice drone. Looks expensive.” 

“I’m sure.” Rapton chuckled, calling her bluff. 

“Fine! But I’m not paying for it.” She said, stalling. Her anxiety rose as she tried to activate her powers. You can do this Sora, even without Riyu’s spark. Like Kai told you. She thought as she raised one of her hands up to the drone. 

‘The true power is inside of you.’ Kai’s voice rang through her head as she tried to activate her powers. Sora grunted as she barely managed to start up her power, the drone and her hand lighting up. She couldn’t hold it any longer and she dropped her hand, much to Rapton’s amusement.

“Fine!” She shouted, glaring at the soldier. “You got me…” Sora admitted to Rapton as he laughed.

“Well, he didn’t get me.” Sora’s eyes widened as she spotted Anatole growing a bright green. He seemed to almost disappear as he managed to work his way through the room, knocking the soldiers out like a light.

Once Rapton was finished with, he chuckled as he looked at Sora and dragon Sora. “Still got it.” He joked, using his green power to open the main doors. “Now let’s get out of here.” 

—

Kai stumbled as Heatwave roared, causing more dragons to roar out from their cages.

“So this is where Imperium keeps their captured dragons!” He exclaimed, looking around at all of the cells.

“Yep, before they drain them to power their kingdom.” Wyldfyre spat with an angry tone. “Just like they started to do with Anatole.” She said, but Kai missed that last part.

“Alright, new mission! We aren’t here to just free your family and Anatole, we’re here to free all the dragons, every last one!” He said, running over and scanning his fake ID. This would take time, but it would be worth it if these dragons were free and out of Imperium's clutches.

“Yes!” Wyldfyre cheered as Kai opened three cells. “Dragons cannot be kept in chains or behind bars.” She yelled, using her strange fire to open even more cages. 

Once all of the dragons had been released, they all roared as Kai stood there, amazed. “Freedom for all dragon-kind!” She roared out in triumph. 

— 

Arin didn’t know what to do, all he could do was stall Perceval from looking into the garbage bin. 

“Look! There’s something awesome over there!” He said, pointing out into a random walkway. 

“What? There’s nothing.” One of the guys said, but one of the girls disagreed. 

“Yes, there is! The beautiful city of Imperium, our glorious home!” Arin sighed in relief as they bought his distraction.

“Wow. I see what Lampshade is trying to say, ‘Imperium is awesome’!” The boy exclaimed, happy to understand. “All hail the Good Empress!” He chanted, the others following suit.

Percival, however, didn’t bite it. He looked into the dumpster and gasped. “No way!” He shouted as he spotted Riyu. He climbed down and looked at Arin. “A dragon? Lampshade, were you trying to distract us from finding that evil thing?” Percival accused Arin, who nervously gulped. So much for new friends, he really had gotten to like hanging out with Percival.  

–

Lloyd flapped his wings as he flew out, Sora and dragon Sora following suit. He was finally free. Now all he had to do was get out of Imperium. I’m coming home guys

Chapter Text

Kai and Wyldfyre powered up alongside the dragons as guards ordered them to return to their cells. They weren’t going down without a fight. 

“Make them! I dare you!” Wyldfyre shouted, not letting her guard down as the guards all raised their weapons.

“You want a fight? Oh, you’ll get one!” Kai shouted as she and Wyldfyre let out battle cries, mercilessly attacking the guards with ferocity alongside the dragons. 

Kai spotted a control pad that looked like it led to an opening at the top of the room’s roof, probably to help them drag new dragons in. He fired at it, opening a way for the dragons to escape. 

“We’ve got a way out!” Kai called to Wyldfyre, who looked up at the sky. 

“Heatwave, go! I’ll stay back and find Anatole!” She said, hopping off of the dragon’s back. Kai stopped her, much to her frustration. “Stop it Kai! I have to find Anatole, he’s been here far too long, he misses you!” She shouted, but Kai only grew more confused. 

“Wyldfyre, for the last time! I don’t know anyone named ‘Anatole’!” He shouted, and Wyldfyre looked like she remembered something.

“Oh, right! Anatole is the name he needed to use to stay safe, I’m pretty sure his actual name is ‘Floyd’, something like that.” She said, causing Kai to widen his eyes in shock.

“Lloyd? He’s been here, all this time?” He asked, Wyldfyre nodded, much to Kai’s dismay. 

He sighed out in frustration. “Listen, we get all of the dragon’s out, once we do that, we can turn back alongside my students and bust Lloyd out.” Kai said, and Wyldfyre begrudgingly nodded.

“Fine! But you better keep your word!” She warned, Kai nodded and smiled.

Wyldfyre jumped back on Heatwave while Kai hopped onto an ice dragon. The dragon’s all flew out into the city, roaring as they did so. The dragons flew up and into the sky, but Kai panicked as an ice and lightning dragon flew in the electro-barrier. 

“Wait!” He called out as the dragons fell down. The ice dragon shook his head and the lightning dragon did the same, getting right back up and charging forward with the rest of them. Kai used his spinjitzu to quickly remove his disguise, revealing his bright red gi. He put the hood on as he analyzed what was going on.

“We’re free from our cages, but still trapped in the large house!” Wyldfyre shouted at Kai, turning around to face him.

“Don’t you mean ‘city’?” Kai asked, and Wyldfyre nodded.

“That’s the word! How do we get out of the city?” She asked and Kai went in to think.

“Me and my students snuck in through the waste tunnels, but they’re too small for dragons.” Kai explained, sighing. “The only way out would be to go through the main gates, it won’t be easy.” Kai warned, but Wyldfyre only scoffed.

–

“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding a filthy dragon this whole time Floortile!” Percival shouted, cutting through Arin’s heart. “What self-respecting Imperian would be a dragon-lover?”

“I’m not an Imperian.” Arin finally admitted, which drew disgusted looks from the other teen. Arin felt a wave of sadness flow through his body. 

“Ugh! An outlander? And we listened to your teachings!” Percival put a hand on his face, as if extremely disappointed in himself. “I…I am shamed.” Percival said, as if listening to Arin was life-threatening. “You have tarnished us in front of the very image of the empress!” Percival shouted, pointing to a poster of the empress.

“All hail the Good Empress!” They all chanted, placing a hand on their chests.

Arin rolled his eyes. “Hail this!” He shouted as Riyu snarled. Suddenly, the ground began to shake as dragons stampeded past. Arin smiled at the sight.

“Dragons loose in the city?!” Percival shouted as the poster of the empress was knocked down on top of the group. “Was this your doing, Floortile?” He asked, pulling the poster off of them, but Arin was already long gone, along with Riyu. He turned to the other teens. “Search for them!” He ordered, frustrated. “They can’t have gone far!”

–

Kai watched as the stampede left damages as the dragons charged forward, the plan wasn’t going to work if there wasn’t any kind of order. “We need to get these dragons into some kind of formation.” 

Wyldfyre turned around to face him, confused. “Form-a-tion?” She sounded out, and Kai sighed.

The lightning dragon from earlier flew up and knocked a metal contraption off of a roof and it nearly crushed a citizen before Kai blasted it out of the way. “They’re causing too much damage! We need to be able to get control of them!” He shouted, but Wyldfyre disagreed.

“No control! Dragons are free! Escape is all that matters.” She said, not fully understanding Kai.

“But innocent people will get hurt, we have to get some bit of control over them, this is too dangerous!” Kai shouted, but Wyldfyre shook her head.

“I am danger!” She shouted and Kai watched as the dragons rammed into Rapton and a bunch of other Claws. He had to admit, it was funny seeing it happen.

–

Arin and Riyu ran towards the roaring of the dragons, stopping once they spotted people running away from the stampede. Riyu jumped onto Arin’s back and clung there as Arin jumped onto the ice dragon that Kai was on. 

“Arin! There you are!” Kai said happily, and Arin smiled as Riyu warbled. “And you as well, Riyu!” 

Arin looked at an oncoming drone. “Kai!” He warned, but a random fireball destroyed it before Kai had the chance to. “Since when can you summon fire from anywhere other than your body?” He asked, confused, but after looking at the direction the fireball came from, he spotted a wild girl with bright red hair with a horn hair piece firing fire all around.

“Arin, meet Wyldfyre, and before you ask, no, no I do not know what’s going on.” Kai replied, watching the girl in front of them with a slight groan.

“Wow, I really missed a lot.” Arin said, confused. Riyu must have agreed because his warble sounded confused. 

“Yup.” Kai said, firing his own fire at a drone, effectively destroying it. 

“I hope Sora can escape through the sewers where we’re supposed to meet her.” Something clicked in Arin’s mind as he looked at Kai. “Wait, the sewer is back there.” He said, and Kai looked at him. “Why are we going the wrong way?”

“We’re going out the main gates.” Kai replied, before adding, “we also need to head back, we can hopefully find Sora there. There’s also someone else we need to get, Lloyd.” He said, which surprised Arin.

“The Green Ninja is in Imperium?!” He asked and Kai nodded.

“Apparently, according to the wild child in front of us.” Kai said as the dragons continued to make their way to the main gates. 

Arin spotted the gates up ahead, obviously guarded heavily, the weird tiger guy and Rapton were there as well, trying to stop them from, well, escaping.

“There! The main gates!” Arin shouted, pointing forward.

“Great! Let’s break free and get these dragons out of here!” Kai cheered, excited to start getting to Lloyd.

That was when the Photac from before roared as the Claws powered up, which caused Kai to groan out in frustration.

“The Photac will cause some setbacks, but the near hundred Claws can cause us to fail entirely.” Kai said, but Wyldfyre shook her head. 

“We will fight! With all the power we have!” She shouted as she snarled. The dragons roared before charging forward, engaging in battle. “I am danger!”

—

Lloyd flew less than gracefully through the city, a determined look on his face, he could get past this, all he had to do was lead the dragon and the teen to the main gates where they could bust their way through. 

“The main gates will be our best bet for escape, I can hear dragons coming from that direction, there’s an escape going on, we can slip through the cracks.” Lloyd explained as Sora looked at the main gates.

“Are you sure?” Sora asked, a bit uncertain.

Lloyd nodded. “I’m more than sure, I’m certain.”

Sora sighed. She’ll have to trust him, for now. “Then let’s go.” She said, smiling.

—

Kai let out a battle cry as he hopped down from the dragon, pulling out his dual katanas. He watched from the corner of his eye as that tiger guy from before used his hammer to whack the dragons in their faces. He turned his focus to him, striking his hammer with his blades.

Heatwave pounced on the Photac as Wyldfyre blasted her flames at Rapton. “Eat flames!” She snarled.

One of the ice dragons slipped through the main gates, flying off, much to Kai’s relief. One less dragon to worry about. He heard a loud roar of rage as the tiger guy grew angrier.

“Why must you ninjas make everything more difficult?” The tiger snarled as Kai dodged his hammer. 

“I’ve been called stubborn before, if it helps.” Kai said mockingly, only pissing his opponent off even more.

“Arin!” Sora’s voice cut through as she charged into the battle riding on a dragon. Arin turned to her, a relieved look on his face. 

“Sora! I’m glad you’re okay!” He cheered as Kai blocked a swing from the tiger guy.

“Yeah, I’m with some guy named Anatole, wait, where did he go?” Sora said, confused as she looked around, failing to find her companion.

“Maybe you two got separated.” Arin suggested, when a green flash caught their eye.

The tiger guy snarled as he fell down, Kai’s eyes widened as he spotted the best thing he could ever see.

“Lloyd!” Kai cried out, tears flowing down his face as his little brother flew in the air, taking down drones and Claws left and right.

—

Nya walked into the strange room with a curious look on her face.

“Hello?” She called out, searching for some weird whispering floating orange ghost. She spotted a weird tech thing in the middle of the room. “What the?” She said out loud, getting closer to investigate the strange metal contraption.

Chapter Text

It rained really hard that day, thunder booming in Lloyd’s sensitive ears as Wu dragged him out for more training. 

“Now you must focus and connect with each target.” He had said, swinging two ropes with two stones with the Yin and Yang carved into them on each rope, leaving four obstacles.

“But, Master Wu, they’re moving too fast!” Lloyd had cried, suspecting that his uncle might have gone mad.

“Focus.” His uncle had ordered, and Lloyd took in a deep breath as he prepared to attack the stones.

He leapt up, nearly hitting one when thunder boomed, causing him to flinch. He missed, landing on the mud covered ground, and had to jump back to avoid another stone.

He tried again, running forward and struck the rope, missing the stone. He tried kicking one when he lost his balance, missing the stone once again before stumbling back.

He groaned as he ran forward once more, jumping up again and tried to strike with all his might when another thunder cracked, scaring him. He yelled as he fell down onto his stomach, covering his entire front with mud. 

“Did I hit any?” He asked, groaning when he looked up and saw his uncle, no stones broken or even touched.

“Try again.” His uncle had ordered, and Lloyd sighed. One more try.

Lloyd ran forward, he striked, but missed the three stones he attacked. He fell once more, whimpering at the thunder that yet again spooked him. He tried to pick himself up, groaning as he did so.

“I’m not even gonna bother to look. I missed them all, right?” Lloyd sat up, flinching again at the thunder. “This is impossible!” He shouted angrily. “The rain, the thunder! I can’t even hear myself think!” Lloyd shouted, throwing his hands up. “How am I supposed to hit moving targets?” He asked his uncle dejectedly.

Wu sighed, stopping the ropes and holding the stones in his hands. “That, my young nephew, is precisely the lesson.” The old man walked over to the boy, who got up, rubbing mud off of his front. “It is easy to hit targets when your environment is exactly what you want it to be.” He had told Lloyd, putting a hand on his shoulder. “But that is almost never a reality. In life, there will be times of chaos, when everything around you is a raging storm.” As if on cue, lightning struck once more. Wu took some steps back, looking directly in his nephew's eyes. “The goal is to find a way to tune out the chaos.” 

Lloyd didn’t look so convinced. “But how do I do that, uncle?” He had asked, looking for more instructions.

“When there is no calm outside of you, you must find the calm inside of you.” Wu said, and Lloyd looked a little confused, but said nothing. “Find your inner peace, your balance, and the outer chaos will go away.” Wu said, bringing out the stones once more, swinging them as Lloyd took in a deep breath.

His last attempt had felt different. It was as if the rain slowed as he jumped up, striking and breaking the stones, not even the thunder bothered him anymore. Wu swung the last stone at Lloyd as he landed onto the floor. Lloyd saw it coming and swung back, breaking it into pieces. He looked up to see Wu, his uncle’s face was full of pride. Lloyd smiled and puffed his chest out confidently.

—

Kai dodged another attack as he and Lloyd locked eyes. Sora and her dragon attacked Claws left and right as Arin and Wyldfyre tried their luck on the Photac. He winced as Heatwave was tackled to the ground. 

Lloyd landed and Kai ran over to him, lifting him off of the ground, swinging him in a circle as Lloyd clutched him close. Kai felt Lloyd’s fingers dig into his gi, but he didn’t mention it as he hugged Lloyd tight. The two let go and Lloyd burst out crying laughing as Kai quickly punched a Claw that tried attacking them.

“Well look at you with short hair! Also, how dare you copy my scar!” Kai joked as Lloyd laughed. 

”My bad! Now, let’s get back to punching and beating these guys up!” Lloyd cheered, Kai chuckled.

“Still the same old Lloyd!” He said, getting back into the battle.

—

Nya lightly touched the weird machine, looking at the dashboard curiously. She spotted some stuff that needed to be welded together. She frowned. Maybe Kai leaving wasn’t so much of a good thing. She sighed, she could figure this out by herself, even without Kai. 

The ghost thing appeared on top of the weird tech, going into it. It suddenly lit up the tech and the stairway, brightening up the room.

Nya took a step forward, she could figure this out.

—

Wyldfyre jumped up, blasting Claws with her flames. “Eat flames, flame-eaters!” She snarled, laughing as two more dragons made their escape. 

Lloyd flew up once more, using his own power to blast the Photac. “Looking good, Wyldfyre!” He called out, and Wyldfyre looked proud of herself.

“I’m always good, Lloyd!” She said proudly, punching a Claw in the face. Wyldfyre yelped as she was knocked off of Heatwave. “Not fair!” She yelled out. A Claw tried to take advantage of the situation and attacked her, but was quickly stopped by Heatwave, who pounced on the Claw, tossing them away. 

The Photac turned its attention to Heatwave, knocking the poor dragon over. Lloyd saw this and gasped. “Wyldfyre!” He cried out, flying over to her.

Rapton, who was laughing from up top of the Photac, pulled out his lasso tool and launched it. Lloyd cried out as the lasso wrapped around his wings and arms, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud.

Arin yelped as three Claws attacked him and Riyu. “Hey!” He cried, catching Sora’s attention.

“Arin! Kai, this is getting rough!” She cried out. 

Kai looked over to his students, a bit preoccupied with the tiger guy. He saw Lloyd on the ground, completely trapped and immobile. “Lloyd!” He cried, he had just gotten him back. “Arin, Sora, try to escape! It’s no use if you get captured!” He called out, but the tiger guy laughed. 

“You are one terrible mentor, your students are not battle ready, yet you bring them on a high stakes mission? You are going to get them killed one day.” Kai growled as the tiger guy mocked him.

“Who even are you!” Kai shouted, angry as he swiped at the tiger with one of his swords.

“Ras.” Ras said, laughing as he blocked Kai’s attack with his hammer.

—

Nya walked all the way up the stairs, spotting some spots that needed to be welded together. She looked into her pockets, finding a small portable torch. She smiled, it was a gift from Kai on her last birthday. ‘To keep me close’ was what he told her. In return she gave him a vial of her own water two months later on his own birthday.

She looked around, she realized that the power functions were inactive, but she could hook it up to make it work. She was a bit iffy on it, she didn’t know whether it would do something good or something bad. She sighed. She’ll do it, she had to, maybe this was a key in figuring out the Merge. 

“It must rise.” A whisper echoed into Nya’s ears, spooking her as she quickly looked around, finding no one there. It sounded familiar.

“Master Wu?!” She called out, shocked. She shook her head. Maybe this was a trick? A prank? Was Kai going to jump out and tell her he did this all to prank her? She doubted it, even Lloyd wouldn’t have ever put this much work into a joke. 

She looked back to the weird hunk of metal, and began to connect the large tubes to the metal.

—

Lloyd was beginning to panic as he fought the energy that wrapped tightly around him. His breathing quickened. He couldn’t afford to be in this kind of position. He couldn’t breathe! He tried focusing but he just couldn’t, his chest tightened with fear as he struggled against his binds. 

He couldn’t, why couldn’t he?

He…can’t think.

Lloyd felt tears flow down his face as black spots appeared in his vision. 

‘In life, there will be times of chaos, when everything around you is a raging storm. When there is no calm outside of you, you must find the calm inside of you.’

Of course. Lloyd gasped, drawing in a sharp breath, holding it before releasing it. In and out.

Lloyd felt Kai’s hands hold his as he counted. ‘Come on buddy, you can do it.’ Nya sat down next to him as Jay rubbed circles on his back. 

‘Just focus on us.” Jay told him as Nya smiled at him.

‘In and out, Lloyd, Zane’s making hot chocolate, your favorite.’ 

‘Cole’s getting cookies too, we can watch Starferer and have a movie night.’ Jay had said as Lloyd’s breathing slowed. 

“The calm…inside!” Lloyd said, his breathing still shaky as he started to focus once more. 

His eyes narrowed as he absorbed the energy from the lasso, he wasn’t locked up anymore, he could freely use his power once more. Energy was his to control, he could create and destroy it at will. He heard Rapton yelp as Lloyd destroyed the lasso. He leapt back on his feet and ran to Wyldfyre. 

“Wyldfyre, we have to attack the palace.” He said, and Wyldfyre gave him a rather wild look. 

“Why? Wanna destroy it for hurting you?” She asked, and Lloyd semi nodded.

“Part of it, if we destroy their power module, the shield will go down and all the dragons can fly away.” He explained, Wyldfyre let out a roar.

“Freedom for all dragons!” She cried, letting Lloyd lead her to the palace.

Kai watched in confusion as Lloyd and Wyldfyre fled the scene. “Where are they going?” He asked Arin and Sora who shrugged. Kai was getting tired of this fight. He punched Ras, laughing as the tiger fell to the ground. He hopped onto one of the remaining dragons, an azule lightning dragon that roared as they followed Heatwave and Lloyd. 

Sora looked to Arin who shrugged, pulling both Arin and Riyu onto dragon Sora, letting the dragon follow the other dragons.

Once they had made it to the palace, Lloyd used his power to blast at the door, all of the dragons followed suit, trying to bust open the doors. 

“Lloyd, what are we doing?” Kai asked, Lloyd turned to him, smiling.

“Inside is a power module, destroying it would break the shield, as well as turn out the power for the palace, they would be left at a disadvantage for a while.” He explained as Kai nodded.

“It wouldn’t shut the cities power off, right?” Kai asked, Lloyd shook his head.

“No, they have a separate module for the city.” Lloyd heard the empress before she’d even arrived, turning around to see the Photac and Empress Beatrix approach them.

“Ninja! How dare you lay siege to Imperium Palace! The seat of my power!” She cried out in anger, but Lloyd didn’t care. 

“How dare you treat me and these dragons like objects just to be drained so you can keep the lights on?!” He roared out, the other dragons following suit.

The empress leaned forward, her face full of anger and disgust for Lloyd. “An empress owes no explanations to lesser beings, especially not freaks of nature!” Kai frowned at that, how dare she insult Lloyd.

“You’ll pay for this!” He snarled, launching his flames at the empress who shrieked as she tried to dodge the fire. 

“Attack! Spare no one!” She ordered her army, the Photac roared as it attacked Lloyd who roared, challenging it.

“Taste our fangs!” Wyldfyre cried as Heatwave roared, clawing and biting at Claws left and right. 

—

Nya welded parts together using her torch, and she was finished. Now all she needed to do was turn the thing on and see what it would do. 

She hopped down, walking to the control module, flipping the power switch on. She waited in anticipation, not knowing what was going to happen. Once she realized that nothing was happening, she grew frustrated. She jumped back up and kicked the thing. “Turn on! I didn’t spend an hour on you for nothing!” She paused as the lights flickered. 

The metal thing let out whirring sounds as it powered on. What had she done? The thing shook and broke apart, mist spread around, blocking Nya’s view.

Once the smokey mist cleared, two light blue lights glowed as a figure jumped out of the metal thing, landing right in front of Nya. She gasped as she got a good look at him. 

Zane smiled at her as he spotted her. “Zane?” Nya called out, shocked.

“My friend, where am I?” Zane asked, confused as he looked around the strange room. “Last I recall, we were flying into that flickering storm.” He said, rubbing his head. 

“The Merge?” Nya asked out loud, a little shocked. “Zane, that was years ago.” 

A loud buzzing noise alerted the two of the control module, a warning sign flickered on and off, glowing red.

“That is a binary distress call, there must be trouble!” Zane warned, pushing Nya to the control module, connecting himself to the module. “Receiving data from this unit. Our friend urgently needs us.” He turned slightly to look at Nya. “It is time for the Imperium Monastery to rise.” He said dramatically, raising a hand, much to Nya’s confusion.

“The Imperium Monastery?” She asked, confused at everything Zane was saying.

“Hold on!” Zane warned, activating something from the module. The ground shook as something happened. Nya yelped as she tried to keep her balance.

—

Lloyd yelped as the ground shook, the dragons were trying to fight off the Photac and the army of Claws, but they were few in numbers and struggled to keep up. Lloyd winced as the tiger guy, who he knew was called Ras, slammed his hammer into an earth dragon’s face.

Everyone paused as the rumbling grew worse. A building that looked like a weird Imperium building rose up from the ground, causing everyone to back up.

“What is this strange house?” Wyldfyre asked, but Lloyd shrugged. 

“No clue, prepare for anything.” He warned, and Wyldfyre nodded.

The door opened and Nya and Zane jumped out. “Ninja never quit!” They called out together. Lloyd brightened up.

“Guys!” He cheered, Kai looked shocked.

Nya looked at him in both joy and shock. “Lloyd!” She cried out, happy to finally see him. He looked way different, but she could handle it.

Chapter Text

Lloyd burst with happiness as he bolted towards Nya and Zane, who welcomed him with open arms. Kai laughed, cheering while following after the younger ninja. He had so many answers, he eyed the large pyramid like structure for a split second before turning to Nya and Zane.

“Nya? Zane? How’d any of you get here?!” Kai excitedly asked, his brown eyes full of happiness. He hugged Zane tightly and the taller patted Kai on the shoulders welcoming as they pulled away.

Nya shrugged, a bewildered look on her face. “If I had any idea, I’d tell you,” she answered, leaving Lloyd to glance questioningly over to Zane, who immediately put his hands up to his chest in defense.

“Do not ask me. I was only activated moments ago!” He quickly told the two other ninjas, who only seemed relieved to see him. Lloyd chuckled, hugging Zane and Nya once again, not wanting to let them go.

Beatrix ruined their heartfelt reunion, much to their annoyance, “what are you waiting for?!” She shouted at her soldiers, who were all busy fighting off dragons. “Get them!” She commanded, her anger unending as she glared at the ninjas, burning her gaze at Lloyd, specifically. 

Ras, who was standing with his hammer in his hands, jumped up and kicked Rapton off of his Photac with a snarl, much to the others dismay as he yelped, hitting the floor with a crash as his armor collided with the black concrete below. Rapton growled in frustration and slammed his fist into the ground out of anger.

“What’s going on here? What happened to this being an ‘in and out mission’?!” Nya asked, her tone giving away her irritation, looking at Kai who shrank back.

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Yeah, uh, small thing, fight the beast and weirdly dressed soldiers, help the dragons,” Kai answered, which caused Lloyd to roll his eyes. 

“The wild child is on our side,” Lloyd added, confusing Nya and Zane and as if on cue, Wyldfyre leapt past them, blasting fire at the Photac with a battle cry. 

“Is she using fire?” Nya asked, astonished. “I thought there could only be one master of each element at a time?”

Kai chuckled, amused. “Yeah, I don’t believe it either, but that’s the least of our concerns!” He also let out a battle cry, leaping into battle, taking down as many Claws as he could with his swords and his flames. He smirked as he kicked a Claw skilfully, feeling the rush of adrenaline that came along with it.

Nya twirled into her spinjitzu, launching herself at the Photac, but was launched back with a grunt as Zane and Lloyd tried to catch her. She nodded in thanks as she looked at the glowing wolf. “Woah, that thing is tough,” she said, standing on her own after regaining her balance.

Zane scanned the creature, decided to give it a go. He launched his ice at it, but it did next to nothing and the Photac roared at him as Ras chuckled darkly. The Photac swiped its giant paw at Zane, launching the nindroid onto his back. It went for another blow while Zane was still disorientated, but Lloyd quickly launched himself towards him while using spinjitzu, weakly hitting the Photac square in its face, even though the attack was weak and did nothing, it at least distracted it long enough for Zane to get up and out of way as Lloyd leapt out of the way. Ras charged the beast full force at a nearby fire dragon. Lloyd winced as he heard the poor thing roar in pain as it was attacked. 

Ras took out his dragon energy powered lasso tool and used it on the muzzle of the poor dragon. The dragon whipped its head back, letting out muffled roars and launching the tiger into the sky, but Ras grabbed his hammer and slammed it right in between its wings. Lloyd winced as the dragon fell onto its belly, winded.

Lloyd flapped his wings, managing to lift himself into the air and kicked a Claw away from him, turning to Zane. “What is that thing?” He asked, referring to the strange structure that had appeared and Zane iced a Claw, kicking another into the iced soldier.

“When I interfaced with it, it self-identified itself as the ‘Monastery Of Imperium’,” Zane replied, leaving Lloyd even more confused than before. “It shared similarities with our own Monastery Of Spinjitzu,” he explained as Nya attacked the Photac again, only to be launched back once more.

“Any tips on how to stop this thing?” She asked, annoyed as she got back up. 

Lloyd unhelpfully shook his head, landing and spreading out his wings to stretch them out. “Nope, totally indestructible,” he replied simply, which caused Nya to give him a glare.

“Oh, nice detail, you were going to mention that when?!” She shouted, annoyed as Lloyd only chuckled nervously, unsure of how to answer her.

Lloyd shook his head, facing both Nya and Zane beginning to fill them in on the plan. “We’re trying to break into the palace and bust their power module. It should turn this shield off and then all the dragons can fly out of here,” Lloyd explained, but Nya was unsure of just how this was going to play out.

Right before she could ask anything else, Kai came back, dragging Arin and Sora with Wyldfyre following right behind them. The other dragons escaped the claws and retreated towards them. Lloyd’s wings spread out and he was ready for the fight to get worse. There were way too many Claws with high power tech, and too few of them. However, he'd finally been freed after years of pain and suffering, he refused to go down even if he had to take a few Claws down with him.

Kai and Wyldfyre surrounded them with fire as they all backed up towards the strange monastery. It became a makeshift barrier as Lloyd used his spinjitzu to knock Claws back through the fire and Kai ran over to him. Lloyd chewed on his lip as he saw the expression on his older brother’s face. 

“We can’t keep going on like this Lloyd! Face it, we’re not getting into that palace,” Kai told his brother, who looked conflicted. Kai sighed as he looked into those emerald and ruby eyes, finding fear in them. Lloyd wasn’t operating on courage, fearlessness, honor, or heroism anymore. Not like before. This Lloyd, thin, tiny looking in clothes double his size, covered head to toe in jagged scars, and dull eyes? This Lloyd, Anatole, was running on instincts and survival alone. Kai wasn’t even sure how far Lloyd was willing to go to escape, he was a loose cannon the longer he stayed in this First forbidden city.

After a while, the fire wasn’t working enough to keep the enemy’s out, let alone that Photac. In a moment, Zane surrounded them with a cold and thick wall of ice instead, but they could hear the Photac behind beating away at the ice. It wouldn’t hold long, they needed a more viable defense soon. 

“I have calculated our odds of winning this battle,” Zane informed them, and Kai scoffed.

“Oh, fun. I’m guessing they’re pretty solid,” he sarcastically remarked, but the sarcasm flew over Zane’s head as usual.

Zane gave Kai a funny look before turning to face everyone. “Retreat is our only option.”

Lloyd groaned out in frustration. “Escape to where? We’re trapped in the middle of Imperium! Imperium! I am not backing down now, not after First knows how long of never stepping out of that stupid cage!” Lloyd snarled, panicking at the idea of even going back to the draining cage. Nya, Zane, and Kai’s eyes widened at the venom in Lloyd’s tone. Lloyd growled, his tail whipping and slamming onto the concrete below, baring his fangs. “I’m not going down now, I’ll take as many of them down as I have to.”

Zane, sensing Lloyd’s distress, put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “The Second Monastery,” he replied, trying to calm Lloyd down, “its fortified walls will keep the Photac and the soldiers out, at least temporarily,” Zane told them, and with that, Lloyd felt a strange sense of relief as he hesitatingly nodded. It didn’t fully calm the hybrid down, his eyes still had that same wild, almost feral look.  

Wyldfyre flew up another wall of fire as part of Zane’s ice wall collapsed. “No retreat! No surrender!” She shouted, but Lloyd shook his head, even though a part of him deep down wanted to agree. 

“Wyldfyre, I don’t like this either, I want to fight, but those of us who were trapped in Imperium? We can’t fight at our full strength,” Lloyd told the red-head, who gave him a conflicted look. 

Sora stepped in, a little uneasy, but decided to add her own thoughts. “Barricading ourselves in that weird monastery should buy us time to make an escape plan,” she said, and Lloyd looked at her, smiling.

“I like this one,” he said, and Sora smiled at the praise.

Wyldfyre exaggeratedly groaned in her boredom. She listened to Lloyd and stood down, she owed it to the blond. “Fine! Let’s do your boring plan,” she huffed, but Lloyd knew she meant no bite with her words.

Lloyd and Wyldfyre roared assertively as they redirected the dragons to the monastery, blasting Claws and that Photac away from them as the others gathered in the strange monastery. The two fought side by side, protecting each other from the soldiers that began firing. 

Ras snarled, shooting a missile at the two, but Lloyd and Wyldfyre ran in, closing the door before the weapon could reach them. They high fived triumphantly as they heard an enraged roar from the tiger on the other side.

All of them heard banging from outside as the Imperians outside tried to bust down the doors using their lone Photac Wolf. The dragons lay in wait behind them, watching the door as well. A few looked a bit relieved while others were still on the defensive, ready to strike if the doors failed them all.

“I don’t like running away,” Wyldfyre admitted, but it wasn’t surprising to Lloyd at all, he wasn’t a big fan of this plan either. 

Not being able to fight on the other ninjas’ levels made him feel weak, and in a game of survival, he couldn’t afford to be weak. He froze, shaking the thought off. He had to remember, there's more to life than survival, he had to remember his training, honor, and his own will. However, he felt a sense of self-hatred knowing that his very will had been shattered long ago alongside his hope. It made him want to blame the others. Why hadn’t they gone looking for him? While he was strapped to tables and studied like a dissected frog, where were they? He had been torn apart, literally and figuratively. His sense of identity was stripped from him. They messily cut his hair as a way of telling him just how much control they had of him, they even tore his old gi to shreds right in front of him, burning whatever remained.

“Hard agree,” Kai admitted, snapping Lloyd from his spiralling thoughts as the two looked at each other, lighting one of their hands on fire and giving each other a high five.

Lloyd frowned, trying to shake off his earlier resentment. “We can fight Imperium, but these dragons can’t get caught in the crossfire,” he said, his tone unsure and everyone had to agree with him. The dragons were the most vulnerable, as they’re in a more vulnerable position in such an enclosed area. “We need both a way out and a way to take down that Photac.” 

Sora stepped forward nervously, Riyu warbled as he trailed after her. Arin chuckled as he looked at her. “Sora is an elemental master, she can manipulate technology. She even created that thing, well, before it was used for evil,” Arin said, nervously chuckling at the last part and Lloyd gave them a small smile.

Sora took in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before staring at Lloyd. Emerald and ruby met rose as she gained her composure. “I know I can take it down if needed,” Sora said confidently, her voice unwavering as she spoke and Lloyd put a hand on the two teens shoulders. Arin burst with excitement.

“You two are special, I can feel it,” he told them, only fueling Arin’s enthusiasm while also filling Sora with pride and shock. She hadn’t expected someone like Lloyd to show her genuine acknowledgement, not many adults in her life had so far. It made her happy, knowing that she’d found people that she might just fit into. “Alright then, we need Sora to shut down that Photac,” Lloyd said, and the floor shook. They all turned to look at the door and saw it shake as the metal strained as the Photac Wolf banged into it again and again. It likely wouldn’t hold for long, they needed to find a solution and fast. 

Nya turned back around and looked carefully at the other door, the one she and Kai came through. She beamed as she finally got an idea. “Or,” she began, and everyone turned to her, “we get the dragons out of here!” She turned to Lloyd, pointing at the door. “That portal is how Zane and I came here.” She quickly ran down the steps and past the dragons, leaving the others to follow her and keep up. “If we could activate it again, we could send all these dragons somewhere safe.”

“Would that work?” Lloyd asked, looking unsure at Nya. He eyed the gate suspiciously. What if it sent them somewhere dangerous? Lloyd didn’t think his mind nor body could handle any more surprises. He was already practically dead on his feet. He wasn’t used to fighting for hours on end like he used to be years ago. He had to admit that he’d grown extremely weak over the years, losing the muscle he’d spent years trying to gain. It made him feel slightly useless, but he shook those thoughts off. He had to prevail, it's all he’s had to do over the years.

Zane swiftly stepped forward and scanned the door. “This gate appears to be linked to our monastery,” he noted, looking up at the circular pearl white disk piece on the top of the door. “But it is designed for smaller transports,” Zane informed them and Lloyd looked at the door quizzically. “Based on its power readings, it can not handle the transfer of this many dragons.” He finished before a really loud bang rattled both their ears and the ground.

They all turned to the door behind them, and Lloyd got an idea. “Can we increase the power of that Portal Gate?” He asked, looking deep in thought. Arin looked at him with curiosity, wondering what the ninja was thinking about. 

“It would need to be an extraordinarily large increase,” Zane answered, unsure of where they could get such power.

“We’re right outside the palace,” Nya piped up, “I bet there’s something that could power the gate up,” she added, turning towards Lloyd. “While you were there, did you learn about anything that could charge this gate up?”

“I do detect a tremendous energy source, it is not in the place. It is beneath us.” Zane looked down and Lloyd sighed.

“I know what that power source is. He’s an extremely powerful dragon. I met him during Dr. LaRow’s tests. I was placed with him for a while. I know where he is and I might know how to find him, but I need a way inside,” Lloyd said, pausing as the rumbling from outside grew louder and stronger, nearly knocking him off of his feet. Kai helped him stand up, much to Lloyd’s embarrassment. 

“Whatever you have to do to get to that dragon, do it now,” Kai urged, his expression conveying his displeasure of the situation. “These things are going to break through any minute.” Kai let go of Lloyd, who nodded in a silent appreciation. 

Lloyd looked around, eyeing the new teens before facing the door. His tail swished back and forth and his wings jittered as he grew a little bit anxious. “If this weird monastery is anything like the other monastery, then under these four plates,” he started, jumping up and onto one of the floor tiles, “—should be an old obstacle-“ he was cut off as one of the plates sunk down and a chunk of the floor sunk down to reveal stairs. He yelped as he fell down the revealed stairs, rolling down and bruising his wings along the way. 

Zane ran forward along with Nya, both sharing a worried expression. Kai looked ready to bolt down after him, searching for any sign of Lloyd. Arin looked down nervously as Sora and Wyldfyre both stood by silently, waiting for the blond to respond. 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine!” Lloyd’s voice slightly echoed from down below the stairs. “Come on Zane, I found a way out!”

Zane let out a tired sigh and turned to others and shrugged, jumping down onto the stairs. He ran down, spotting his brother, who gave him a nervous small smile. Zane gave him an unamused look. He approached the younger, grabbing his hand and pulling him up and off of the floor. 

“Thanks,” Lloyd said, dusting himself off. The two then began to descend further down the staircase. It was dark, but not too dark as they could still see in front of them.

Zane finally slowed down and took in the sight of his youngest sibling, noting just how different he looked and acted. Lloyd now acted jumpy, meek, and far more nervous than before, like he was going to be attacked or yelled at any moment. It filled him with great sadness and grief knowing that he’d missed so many years. Not only that, but the time wasted he might have spent freeing Lloyd sooner, sparing him whatever horrors had made him into this shell of who he once was. 

Lloyd sighed with relief as the stairs finally ended. They walked forward a few feet and spotted a vent on the floor. Zane followed Lloyd, who jumped down onto a vent, landing onto a ventilation system. Lloyd stepped forward. He felt a connection, a pull on his soul. Almost like the Source Dragon was guiding him. It made Lloyd happy to know that the great dragon was okay. He felt the pull and ended up taking a right and seeing a bright orangish light from another vent on the ceiling. 

“That’s it, he should be up there,” Lloyd chirped with happiness, his tail wagging as he ran over to the ladder.

“Affirmative,” Zane said as he nodded. 

Lloyd eagerly ripped the vent down and climbed up the ladder and they made their way up to a new area.

Lloyd felt his nerves get the better of him as he walked into the testing room, trying to not look at the draining cage he was kept in for First Master knows how long. He looked up at a large glowing orb, running up to a platform. 

“Dragon! Dragon! It’s me, Lloyd! I’ve come to save you with my brother, Zane!” He shouted happily, 

Zane looked at the orb with great interest, his scanners were going haywire trying to keep up with the energy signals and the size of the dragon inside.

“Little Ryuu? I suppose I should have known you’d have come back in a feeble attempt to free me,” The dragon's echoing voice rang through the room, but only Lloyd and Zane heard it. 

Telepathic communication, Zane mentally noted. He took a step back. “Lloyd, this dragon is not like the others we’ve ever encountered before! How could Imperium have ever managed to capture him?” 

Lloyd shrugged, turning back to the glowing orb. “Dragon, my friends are here to help, alongside new ninjas. We can free you and you can grace us with your power to help us escape,” he urged, looking around the room, pushing the amount of blood stains and scratches into the back of his mind. 

Zane turned to a console and pushed a few buttons and the platform they were on rose up and got closer to the powerful prison. 

“Do not free me, Little Ryuu,” the great dragon instructed.

Lloyd tilted his head, confused. “Why? I came here to rescue you, you’re family, I can’t just leave you here to these, these monsters!” He lightly shouted, his ears drooping. Zane looked at Lloyd with a saddened expression.

“The capture of a Source Dragon is not a simple process. In their act of confining me, the Imperium has threatened the very fabric of existence,” the dragon explained. Zane understood immediately, but Lloyd was still left frustrated. Zane huffed amusedly in his head, Lloyd was still as stubborn as always. “The realm world had tentatively stabilized since my capture. To free me now, at this moment, could destabilize it once again and result in total destruction.” 

Lloyd looked down, his eyes watering and his tail wrapped around his leg as his wings dropped down to the floor. “But, I can’t just leave you here, I-“

“Can you not comprehend the damage that would do to your world? Your home?”

Lloyd looked down once more and Zane wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders. “He appears determined not to be free, we have to go on without him.”

Lloyd looked at Zane with a heartbroken expression. Leaving family behind was a familiar yet increasingly painful experience each time it happened. He hated feeling this way. It was as if the universe itself was spitting at him. 

“I know why you are also here. You are looking to power the Portal Gate to save your friends. Hatchling, as an elemental master, along with being part dragon, you may be able to contain and transfer dragon power, Source Dragon power to be precise.” The source dragon’s head grew visible, showing his giant head to the ninjas. Lloyd and Zane grew curious as the dragon continued. “I have enough power in a single claw to shatter Imperium into pieces. But mystically imprisoned, I can do no such thing. However, hatchling, I can give you power to act as my conduit.”

Lloyd eyed the dragon carefully, still upset at the situation. “And I can use that to power the Portal Gate, yes?” He asked, his voice small and the dragon nodded.

“To take my power is dangerous, your life may change forever,” the great dragon warned. 

Lloyd sighed, turning to Zane who looked rather worried. “If it will save my family and the dragons, I’ll do it,” he said, not a hint of uncertainty in his voice. 

“And that is exactly why you are capable of being a conduit, Little Ryuu.” The Source Dragon said amused, his tone almost affectionate as he gave his order, “approach the sphere.”

Lloyd stepped forward and the platform moved forward as well, bringing him as close to the sphere as he could. He raised his arm to the orb, feeling a rush of energy and power as a bright flowing energy swirled around arm. He froze, feeling his soul disconnect from his body and seemingly transfer through time and space itself.

He felt like he was floating, almost as if he was in a dream as multiple bright and vibrant colors flowed around him almost blindingly as his soul transferred to a higher realm of energy and existence. He finally stopped, shaking as he felt energy buzzing underneath his skin. He looked amazed around to see a black void full of nothing and everything all at the same time. He watched carefully as multiple different symbols circled around him. He recognized most of them, they were symbols Master Wu had placed onto the back of the new gi’s they were supposed to wear before the Merge occurred. 

Lloyd could only spare a moment to recognize the other symbols before he heard glass shatter and he looked down to see the floor beneath him shatter. He yelled as he fell down into another black void, feeling his stomach churn as he fell and landed into sand with a thud. 

He sat up and gasped as he looked around, spotting gravestones surrounded by fallen arrows and swords. All of his family’s ninja masks were placed onto the graves, all appearing damaged and dirty. What could this mean? Were these visions? Was his family doomed to die? Was he doomed to die? Was he really just destiny’s chew toy that they hardly bothered to sew back together?

Lloyd looked around devastated and heard the wind blowing as a great scarlet dragon with magnificent horns flew up, roaring before blasting fire at him. Lloyd couldn’t move and so all he could do was yell as the flames engulfed his body.

—

“Anytime, Lloyd and Zane,” Nya said impatiently, tapping her foot as the dragons around them roared as they grew more and more restless and on edge. Wyldfyre and Sora were trying their best to calm them down while Arin distracted Riyu with his grappling hook.

Kai turned to her, trying to find something to say. “We’ve faced worse, Nya.” Nya glared at him and Kai nervously chuckled. “Uh, maybe not,” he admitted before hearing an explosion. 

Everyone turned to see Lloyd rising from the stairs. His entire body glowed green and his jet black horns seemed to have grown taller, a gleaming emerald gem had formed in between them. It gleamed and seemed to pulse with pure power. His hands surged and glowed with overflowing green energy. 

Zane ran over to Kai and Nya, who gave him matching shocked expressions. They silently seemed to ask him for some kind of explanation, but he was unable to give anything to them. They all watched Lloyd closely, waiting to see what would happen.

Wyldfyre looked at him with admiration while on top of Heatwave, who was also watching Lloyd curiously. “Could Anatole always do that?” She asked, not noticing Nya and Zane’s confusion at the name she used.

Kai noticed and chuckled at their confusion. “That’s Lloyd’s ‘code name’ of sorts while he was here,” he explained and the two other ninjas shrugged it off. “And to answer your question, Wyldfyre, no, not that I’m aware of.”

Lloyd looked down at his hands and charged up an energy ball, turning to Portal Gate and releasing the bright energy into the pearl white circle at the top of the large gate. The door powered on and opened. Heatwave roared and Wyldfyre beamed from atop him. 

All of the dragons began roaring and ran towards the gate as fast as they could. Riyu chirped and followed Heatwave, flapping his tiny wings as he tried to keep up. Lloyd watched as the last one ran through and the power surrounding him flickered before finally dying out. He began to fall down to the ground but Zane quickly ran forward and caught him gracefully.

A loud crash and thud startled everyone and they all turned around to see Ras as he smirked from on top of the Photac Wolf that snarled as it stood on the smashed door. However, that wouldn’t last long as he came to the realization that all of the dragons were gone. 

“Where are they?!” The tiger snarled as Sora and the others, minus Lloyd, laughed.

Kai mocked confusion as he looked around. “Whose they? I only see me and my family,” he said, his tone tainted with his amusement, which only enraged the tiger further.

Ras narrowed his eyes and spotted Lloyd in Zane’s arms. He let out a huff and turned to Beatrix, who silently nodded. He turned back to the ninjas and began to address the army around them. “Nevermind those filthy creatures, Claw of Imperium, kill these ninjas and bring me that hybrid alive.”

All of the remaining Claws charged forward, the Photac howled and Ras jumped down and off of the wolf. He grabbed his hammer and began to charge towards the ninjas as well. 

Kai grabbed Sora and Arin by the arms and dragged them towards the gate. “Alright time to go!” He shouted and Zane carried Lloyd gracefully, never losing his balance. 

Arin turned around to see Ras right behind him and he yelped, dashing as fast as he could and sighed with relief as the door closed behind him, choosing to ignore the banging coming from the door right after. He panted, grabbing onto Kai and Sora as he began to finally catch his breath. He felt a shiver go down his spine as he realized what might have happened had he been even a second slower.

—

Lloyd groaned as he fought to open his eyes. He felt so tired, his eyes were heavy and his lips felt like they were glued shut. His body felt sore, numb, and painful all at the same time. The room he was in was bright yet seemingly unfamiliar and he felt fear run through his veins. What did Beatrix and Dr. LaRow want now? A blood draw? To pluck out more scales to study? Cut him open to see what little muscle he had left and how it worked? 

Lloyd snarled and hissed as he jumped up onto something springy, tearing at anything his hands could get a hold of. He wasn’t going down anymore, he wasn’t restrained, he could fight! He yelped as he felt a burning sensation on his arm. He looked to see that he managed to scratch his arm. 

It was a shallow cut, barely bleeding, but it hurt nonetheless. He finally stopped fighting the air and took in his surroundings. He looked down to see almost familiar green sheets now torn apart. Foam from the mattress underneath was shredded and spread all around him. He turned to the right and saw a sword hanging on a display on the wall.

He gasped and gently ran his fingers along the gold blade. It was his prized dao, the one Kai had forged himself with his own fire and hands. The green emerald in the middle of the blade gleamed and he touched the handle, feeling the familiar rope and grabbed onto the soft golden tassel at the end. 

“I’m in the monastery? I’m home? Really home?” He said out loud, his voice quivering as tears flowed down his face. He stood up, looking around the room— his room —and ran out the door and into pushed the door open and ran out. He ignored the throbbing of his cut and his head as he saw the girl with pink hair and cat headphones training outside. He forgot her name, what was it again? The ancient Ninjargon word for ‘sky’ right? Sora?

“You’re awake!” She said as she spotted the ninja, who cautiously approached her.

Lloyd nervously smiled and walked over. “How long have I been asleep?” He asked, his voice small.

“A few days, Kai was worried sick.” Riyu warbled and walked up to Lloyd, sniffing the other. “That’s Riyu. I uh, I’m Sora, but you know that already. Kai took me and Arin in to train to be ninjas after he found us and Riyu running from Imperian soldiers,” she introduced her and the baby dragon, who chirped as he heard his name.

Lloyd nodded. “That sounds like Kai, it’s nice to meet you, formally, I mean. I’m sure you know my name then. Um, may I know where the others are?” He asked, looking a little anxious.

“They should be at the new dragon stables,” Sora almost chuckled at Lloyd’s shocked expression. “Being gone for so long, I can imagine that this must be pretty shocking.”

Before Lloyd could respond, the doors next to Wu’s portrait and memorial– since when did his uncle have a memorial? Where even was he –slid open and Nya, Kai, Zane, Wyldfyre, and Arin walked out into the courtyard. Nya and Kai ran over and hugged Lloyd close, almost squeezing him to death before letting go.

“Look who decided to rejoin the living.” Nya smiled gently after she spoke. “Welcome back,” she said, hugging Lloyd once again.

Kai eagerly smiled. “We have got a lot to catch up on! Uh, you flew up and your eyes were all white and you had an emerald in between your horns. You had powers I’ve only ever seen once before! Zane told us what happened, but really, what happened?” 

Lloyd looked down, lost in thought. “I’m still trying to figure it out myself, I saw things. Visions, and they weren’t all good,” he said ominously, and Kai was about to add something but noticed that Arin had walked over to the wall across from them, dragging a ninja star dejectedly onto the stone flooring. 

“Uh, hold on, give me a second,” Kai said as he made his way over to Arin, worry etched on his face. “Hey, Arin,” he greeted, kneeling down to the teens level. “You okay?”

Arin gave him a sad look, and sighed dejectedly. “I’m fine. It’s good to see that Lloyd is awake.”

Kai gave him a knowing look, he’d dealt with Lloyd and Nya to know Arin really wasn’t ‘fine’. “C’mon kid. I’ve raised two stubborn kids and I’ve seen and heard it all. Now, really, what’s going through your mind?”

Arin looked nervous, seeming to go through different thoughts as he fought between choosing whether or not to lie or tell the truth. However, his honesty got the better of him in the end. “I knew when all this started it was probably temporary. ‘Cause now you have all of them, the Green Ninja is back. You don’t need me anymore.” Arin looked down at his hands, half expecting Kai to agree and confirm his worst fears. To let him down as gently or as harshly as possible.

Kai grew saddened the more he listened to the teen in front of him. He had felt that once, thinking that the other three would get tired of him and throw him out once they had the Sword of Fire. However, Arin couldn’t have been further from the truth. “That’s not true, buddy. You’re amazing! You taught yourself spinjitzu, you have amazing potential. And between me and you, Lloyd is going to need a lot of training to get back to his former strength. You think you can help me?” He asked, and Arin smiled brightly.

“You want me to help you train the Green Ninja?” 

Kai smiled. “Of course, I’ll need all the help I can get, kid.” Kai then gave Arin another look. “Although, I know this isn’t really just about training.”

Arin winced and looked down. “My parents, like I told you before, they were lost during the Merge. I don’t know if I’ll see them again.” Arin looked down and paused as he felt Kai hug him.

“I know that feeling. I lost my parents when I was young, eventually, me and Nya found our parents once more. I’m certain that you'll find out what happened to them. However, while you look for them, you have people here to be your family. Sora, Wyldfyre, Riyu, just like me, you found a pretty good quartet to hang around,” Kai said, giving Arin a smile as he ruffled the kid’s hair. 

Arin shrunk his head down, giving Kai an amused look. “I guess, thanks, Kai,” he said honestly, his eyes giving away his appreciation for the older. 

Kai nodded, standing up and began dusting himself off. “Well, I don't know about you, but I'm certain that I could go for a pie or too. Y’know, when we were in the Never Realm, Lloyd really liked the berries that grew there,” he hinted, winking at the boy who brightened up and eagerly stood up.

“One Never Berry Pie coming right up!”  

Chapter Text

Kai, barely 6 years old, jumped up and ran towards his mother, who’d just called his name for supper. His father was out late, likely still selling swords to the men out on the outskirts of the village.

“Kai, sweetheart, come help me set the table. I have to go check on your sister.” Maya ruffled the young boy's messy curls. 

Kai giggled and nodded. “Don’t worry mama! I’ll set the dishes all by myself!” 

Maya chuckled as she walked towards the nursery that was also Kai’s bedroom and peaked in to see her youngest, Nya, who was just about to turn 3, already up and looking at her mother with round eyes. 

“Mama?” The young girl cooed, her arms raised and hands clenching and unclenching, a motion Maya was familiar with.

Maya lifted the girl with ease and held her close and walked out to see Kai had already finished setting the dishes onto the table. “Mahalo, Kai.”

The boy brightened and gave his mother a bright smile. “Of course! I’m already big and strong! I can take care of you and sis so fast! Daddy says I’ll be making swords in no time, he just needs to teach me how to cool the metal down!”

Maya gave her son a warm smile, setting Nya down in her high chair. “Your father hasn’t let you touch the metal has he?”

Kai shook his head. “No, he was just showing me stuff, which is so boring! I wanna make my own sword,” he huffed as Maya picked up the pot of beef stew she had set on the stove. “Daddy says I’m not old ‘nough.”

Maya chuckled as she poured a fair portion of stew into the boy’s bowl. “You’ll get there eventually, for now, you can keep helping me make dinner, it’s important to learn,” she said, ruffling Kai’s curls once more, setting the pot down onto the table. Maya placed a warm hand on her son’s cheek, running her thumb gently on the freckles that peppered his cheeks. “You’ll be a great man one day. You’re just like your father, headstrong and brave. Want to learn something special?”

Kai looked into his mother’s brown eyes, nodding as he leaned into her touch. “‘Course. I gots to learn lots of things.”

Maya smiled. “Kai, we all have a place in this family, a duty. Yours is to watch after your sister, me and your fathers is to care, nurture, and protect you both. This is our kuleana, our responsibility. I want you to promise me that you’ll follow your heart and do what it takes to look after your sister. Can you promise me that?”

Kai looked up at her with a big smile and nodded.

“I promise, mama! Always.”

—

Kai swung his training sword into one of the wooden training dummies with a loud whack. He grinned as he moved gracefully, sweat running down his face. 

He heard footsteps as Lloyd and Nya stepped out. Lloyd looked a bit frustrated, holding a small scroll in his hand. Kai couldn’t help but wince every time he saw the lengthy scars on Lloyd’s face. It was like the scars served as a reminder that Kai hadn’t been there to help Lloyd when he’d needed him most. 

“Hey Kai, training?” Nya called out, snapping Kai out of his thoughts. “If you’re done, you mind helping out Lloyd? I need to go check on Wyldfyre and the dragons.” Nya smiled as Kai nodded, whispering something into Lloyd’s ear, who scowled, clearly irritated but said nothing as Nya patted him on the shoulder and walked through the large red doors at the entrance of the monastery. 

Lloyd turned to Kai, giving him a sad smile. “Uh, sorry for bothering you. I just need some help with the exercises that Zane gave me.” Right. Kai almost forgot that Lloyd no longer was all that…strong? No, Kai didn’t want to insinuate that Lloyd was weak. Only Lloyd could have survived what he had. 

Kai ruffled Lloyd’s hair. He also couldn’t help but wince at it. It obviously wasn’t a choice Lloyd made. After they got back to the monastery after the battle in Imperium, it looked more choppy and uneven once they got a good look at it. Zane had thankfully taken the time to thoroughly clean out Lloyd’s hair and cut it to look neat. It was definitely different from his longer flowing style he’d had before the Merge, and looked more like his hair from before he had let it grow out.

”Nah, you’re not bugging me. So, what did you need to do?” 

Lloyd gave Kai a small smile. “Uh, I just need a bit of help with my power. Before the battle, I haven’t used it since before the Merge. That and I need help getting back into the swing of fighting.” Lloyd grimaced as he spoke, almost like he was frustrated at himself. “Being stuck in a cell smaller than my room for years didn’t exactly help with muscle growth.”

Kai gave his younger brother a sympathetic smile, putting a gentle hand on Lloyd’s shoulder. “‘Course. So, we’ll start with the basics, see what you can still do. You remember all those lightbulbs, right?” Kai smirked as Lloyd huffed, feigning irritation.

”Yeah, yeah, in my defense I was like, 9!”

—

Kai heard him.

Heard everything. 

He pulled his bright red comforter off his legs, climbing out of bed, picking his nightshirt up off of the floor and slipping it on. Kai walked over to his door and slid it open, heading straight for Lloyd’s room. 

As soon as he opened it, he slipped inside and closed the door. The room was filled with the sounds of whimpers and sobs and it broke Kai’s heart into a thousand pieces when his eyes spotted Lloyd curled in a fetal position on his bed, his comforter and sheets thrown everywhere. 

“Lloyd?” Kai quietly called out, kneeling down and lightly tried shaking the younger, nearly flinching as he felt the other’s side. Kai could feel Lloyd’s ribs through his thin tank top. 

Lloyd whimpered but stirred, his eyes cracking open. 

“That’s it grasshopper, c’mon, you’re okay. It’s just a dream.” Kai ran a hand through Lloyd’s hair, which seemed to help ease his nerves, because he finally stopped shaking. 

“Kai?” Lloyd called out, but Kai realized that he wasn’t necessarily seeing Kai, he was only looking at him, his eyes filled with fear, confusion, and hope. 

Kai nodded, and nearly fell as Lloyd leapt up and clung to Kai like a koala, his tank top tearing as his wings revealed themselves. Kai sighed as he gently rubbed the spot in between Lloyd’s shoulder blades, rocking the younger gently as he silently cried. 

“It’s okay, you’re okay, keiki.” Kai whispered into Lloyd’s ear gently. This moment felt familiar in a way. When Lloyd was smaller, just after Garmadon’s sacrifice to save Ninjago from Chen’s wrath. Kai remembered holding Lloyd like this, easing him through nightmares. 

Lloyd stilled slowly but surely and Kai let out a sigh of relief once he heard Lloyd’s breaths grow deeper. He’d finally fallen asleep. Kai gently laid Lloyd down on his side, fixing the other’s wings so they didn’t get squished. 

He got up, sliding the door open and stepped out. Before he closed the door, he smiled softly at how peaceful Lloyd now looked. “‘Night, Lloyd.”

—

Kai knew what it was like to long for something more. Something different. 

That’s how he knew deep down that Lloyd didn’t want to be at the monastery. 

It was obvious, the way he stared longingly at the giant wooden doors, at the dragons that went out on their daily flights, or even watching Arin and Sora train. Watching people younger than you be able to do just a tad bit more seemed to be a major blow to Lloyd’s pride. Not that Lloyd ran on pride, like Kai occasionally did, but in the sense that it made Lloyd question his place in the team. 

Kai could also tell that Lloyd hated being in the monastery for long, being found mostly in the courtyard, or occasionally sitting on the steps in front of it. Kai noticed how tense Lloyd got, the way his wings twitched when he’s unable to spread them to their full length. It hurt a little bit, knowing that Lloyd was only staying because Kai and the others were there. He couldn’t necessarily blame him nor take much offense to it, knowing that Lloyd had been through a lot. Maybe just a bit too much for him to handle. 

But, Kai couldn’t help but want to be a bit selfish. He wanted Lloyd to stay, no matter what. He wished that Lloyd could just get better and be himself, and that everything could finally go back to normal. How it used to be. 

However, Kai knew that facing these kinds of dangers can have a massive effect on the mental, on the soul. Afterall, that horrifying realm still haunted him. 

His mother always taught him that it was his job, his kuleana, to take care of his sister, and that now extended to his brothers. As much as he wanted Lloyd to stay, it was likely for the best to let him go. Keeping him cooped up here wasn’t going to do him any good, but Kai would make sure that Lloyd would be physically prepared to fully take care of himself beforehand. 

—

Kai sighed as he opened Lloyd’s bedroom door. He held a plush dragon, the same one that he’d found on the floor after the Merge. He propped it on Lloyd’s bed before turning around to leave the room.

The room lay empty, and it would lay empty until Lloyd’s return.

Chapter Text

Lloyd gasped awake and fell out of his bed in a panic, the unfamiliar space that used to be so familiar haunted him. He thought he was hallucinating, the feeling of wooden floors turned to cold, cruel tile as he grasped for some kind of stability. 

Nya, who had been awake for a little while now, ran into his room looking extremely worried as she spotted Lloyd hyperventilating on the floor. She crouched down carefully, trying to calm him down. 

“Deep breathes Lloyd, remember to count, 1, 2…” she trailed off as she let Lloyd count. He began to calm down, still taking sharp shallow breaths, but he was calming down nonetheless.

Nya winced a bit as she felt Lloyd’s hands grab onto her arm. She still had deep scars on that arm from when Lloyd had grabbed onto her before, when they were trying to hold onto Kai during the Merge. 

Nya waited until Lloyd was finally taking in steady breaths, patting his shoulders as the younger let go of her arm.

“S-sorry,” Lloyd weakly whispered to his sister, who gave him a reassuring smile.

“Don’t even worry about it. Do you need me to stay or can I go?” Nya asked him with a gentle gaze, one that made Lloyd feel guilty.

Why was Imperium still haunting him so deeply? It’d been a month since the battle, but Lloyd could still find himself back in those cruel walls once more, he could still feel blades digging into his skin, taunting him as his own blood pooled onto the floor. 

It made Lloyd want to shut his brain off, but that wasn’t an option.

“I’m fine, you go sleep some more,” Lloyd told the other, who gave him a worried look. That was his trusty phrase, he knew no one would question him unless they wanted to be avoided for the foreseeable day. 

“If you’re so sure,” Nya told him before leaving his room.

His room began to feel cold and he shut his window. 

He felt something crawling on his face and he rubbed his hands down his face repeatedly.

His face burned.

—

Lloyd woke up in a cold sweat. It was barely daylight. He stared at his ceiling, his body feeling abnormal, like it wasn’t his. It probably wasn’t. It belonged to the old Lloyd, the one who would make cookies with Cole and Zane, the one who would do crazy and most times dangerous activities with Kai, Nya, and Jay. But that version Lloyd was dead. At least, Lloyd thought so. He wasn’t that kid anymore, the one whose last living day was spent finally being a legal adult, whose happiest day was when Kai took him out to an arcade for his 16th birthday, whose worst problem was figuring things out with his father. 

Now Lloyd’s stuck. Stuck living in a body that wasn’t his. A body he didn't want anymore. A responsibility of leading a team but failing miserably try after try. He knew what Kai’s students looked at him with as well. Pity. Going from a master of his skill to needing help with his element was a huge blow to his self-esteem and his self-worth. 

He felt trapped while in the monastery. Like he’s crammed in that damn cell again. He felt useless, watching the others be so far ahead while he’s being forced to crawl through mud and buried under weights.

He just wanted to fly away, to go somewhere far away, but he couldn’t just leave, what about the others? He felt selfish in a way. He knew that Kai and Nya finally reunited with him long after that horrible storm, but all he wanted was to run away like a scared child. 

So instead he stared longingly at the other dragons that flew around all day. If his eyes were filled with envy, who could tell? It wasn’t like anyone was going to notice, they all had better things to do than pay attention to the charity case.

Lloyd huffed. The others may deny it but there's one thing that Lloyd would always be. Weak. It seemed to flow through his veins, pulling him back to utter disarray. 

Lloyd shook his head. 

Maybe tomorrow will be better than today.

—

Lloyd should’ve known that Kai would notice something. His older brother was always there to hold him at night when he needed it. 

Lloyd didn’t have the heart to tell him that it made him feel weak.

However, despite noticing things about Lloyd, Kai had surprisingly stayed quiet. It made Lloyd a little anxious. He’d always hated not knowing things. Especially when said things were his brother’s thoughts. He knew that Kai was silently pleading with him to stay, but Lloyd just couldn’t help but yearn to leave.

He wanted adventure.

The thrill.

Who knows what all of the lands look like? He hasn’t seen anything other than the Crossroads, Imperium, and the Monastery of Spinjitzu. 

Maybe he could find old friends from different realms. It would be nice to see Akita again if she’s still out there. 

Lloyd sighed as he rubbed his face with his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

He should really just get some sleep.

—

Lloyd couldn’t take it anymore. He just couldn’t. He tried, really, he did. He just couldn’t stand being in a room anymore, not when all he can think about is being in that stupid cell in that stupid city. 

He yearned for something more. Something new. The embers of Lloyd’s decision first sparked when he’d heard of a forest of giant trees bigger than mountains that was home to a colony of dragons. He’d heard it in passing in the Crossroads. It was so interesting to learn. Trees bigger than mountains? It sounded faker than fiction. 

The next spark came a day later, when Lloyd heard about the Craglings and what had happened to the Realm of Madness, or as it was called now, the Kingdom of Madness. Did the same thing happen to the other realms? It made him wonder about different places in Ninjago. What happened to the Dark Island? Jamanakai Village? Merlopia?

The thing that fully ignited the flame in Lloyd’s heart, the one thing that drove him to just leave, was himself. 

It started with the enclosed spaces. 

Lloyd had just wanted to grab something to eat and go back outside. Then Zane needed help, and then Nya, and then it spiraled until Lloyd freaked out and screamed and yelled at Kai, who’d simply asked if he wanted something from the store.

He still felt incredibly guilty looking back on it.

Lloyd also couldn’t handle the way Zane, Nya, or Kai looked at him with saddened expressions. The way they looked at his scars, his hair, his weight. It all piled up and he just couldn’t take it. 

Arin and Sora, along with Wyldfyre were a different story. They were good kids, really, and Lloyd loved hanging out with them, but the way they occasionally looked at him or talked to him warily, as if they were trying not to set off a bomb really didn’t help. 

Despite trying so hard. 

He still left. 

At least this time he’d come back. 

At least this time he’d left a note.

He’ll come back when he’s ready.

Even if ready is a long time away.