Lloyd awoke on a stone cold floor and felt numbness in his back, too sluggish to realize this wasn't familiar. As he truly started to sit up and take it all in, he felt trapped in the emptiness and darkness that seemed to close in on him. Trying not to make noise in case this place was actually inhabited, the green ninja tried to get up, but fell sleepily and let out a noise slightly as the breath was knocked out of him. Footsteps started sounding and he then grew sure there weren't Serpentine involved after all. The little blond began to back up until an invisible wall in the darkness kept him from sure escape.

The figure began to outline, and it seemed to be a teenager, causing Lloyd to become hopeful it was one of the ninjas. It wasn't one he knew of, but this older silvery blond seemed somehow familiar. "Are you okay?" The voice sounded like as if his were dropped a few octaves…

Lloyd blinked hard, trying to keep sight of the ninja… adorned in an identical green, but in a larger size. "Are you…?"

"You?" Finished the gangly peach-toned teenager, leaning down to lend a helping hand for the younger to use to leverage him up, "Sure, but it's not set yet."

Confused, but gladly excepting the double's help, the young Garmadon got up eventually and tilted his head slightly and looked up to the angular face, "Not set?"

Looking around visibly, he leaned down to the boy's ear level, "Look, I'm not supposed to be saying anything, but I'm your possible future. You know… after you beat Garmadon?"

Before the smaller could say anything, the voice suddenly became very sadistic, "But you could also get beaten, and get trained just like him, to someday rule in his footsteps." Then as the boy stepped back in surprise, he got a glimpse of the older. Instead of a healthy glow and kindly expression, he was greeted with an even sharper and sickly appearance, with graying skin and a permanent slight scowling expression.

Lloyd frowned, "But Dad can't beat me… I'm the best ninja there is!"

The sickly figure chuckled darkly, "I remember when I kept myself thinking that, it's the same pompous attitude that got me beaten." Noticing the crestfallen expression, the mouth curled into a twisted grin, "But you always wanted to be a ruler, just like Father." Giving an evil laugh, which only changed in the sense of a deeper voice.

Suddenly turning and rushing down the darkness horizontally, the blond felt a deep need to get out somehow. Maybe a secret passage to another dream, which he sincerely hoped this was. It would be better if he wasn't scared, and could turn back and suck it up. Finally stopping and panting when he realized he wasn't getting anywhere, the boy slapped a hand onto the cool and smooth wall. As he noticed some pale hands starting to move and grip to his hand and close-by arm, he felt white as a sheet.

Jumping back, Lloyd felt relief when they disappeared back to their shadowy home. "Glorious, isn't it?" The boy spun around to be nearly knocked into the frail chest of his darker future self, "Those are all who apposed Father, you know."

Not wanting to know what exactly happened to them, the younger blond stared up into the frozen expression, "What happened to me?" He wondered aloud, hoping to get the kinder version back.

Yet, no avail, perhaps the curiosity was too great, "You shouldn't speak like that, defiance is never good," chided the silvery-blond, "Perhaps you should learn that and give up."

It made the boy irked to hear such a broken set of vocals, "I'm not going to give up, I'll never know what will happen if I do."

The older Lloyd sighed, "I hope you think about it, just go on to Father and help him. You know you miss him."

The original felt a tug at his heartstring, "I know, but I can't help him win and let my friends down. I like the city."

"Are you that stupid?" His double, reached up and gently tugged at his hair in a somewhat strange nervous habit, "I'm trying to help you, why are you refusing?"

"I don't need your help," voiced Lloyd quietly, staring up into the insanity that was taking over the other, "But you should take mine; fear isn't the answer."

The older twitched slightly, "Fear? Fear! I'd rather be a coward that lived, then stupid and stand up."

"Did you just hear yourself?" Snapped the brevity, "I would never say that, I couldn't stand it… Wait, did you loose because of fear or because you truly tried?" Not needing an answer from the other, Lloyd sighed, "It can't be that bad."

"You're right," murmured the older in understanding, then as they blinked the teenager converted back to a more filled out version easily. "I shouldn't have been so crude to you, since neither has been truly decided."

The room became brighter as the older Lloyd's hands began to glow with golden abilities, causing the pale hands to retreat as far as they could go, but the light dissolved them easily as it caught up. Noticing the awestruck look he received, the taller grinned widely; "Sensei Wu told me my parents knew how do this-" then slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Wait, isn't Garmadon my Dad though-" suddenly a golden light hit into him, only warming him immensely and making him start to dissolve quickly. He noticed the wave goodbye and tried to call out for an explanation, but it grew dark all over again…

~~

Lloyd awoke yet again, but this time he was in his sleeping bag and the ninjas were mostly awake and dressed, with the exception of Kai. "Hey, guys…" tried the boy slowly, noticing they weren't particularly happy.

"Next time try not to freak out in your sleep, I need my beauty sleep so I can actually concentrate during training," Cole snapped, earning agreeing nods from the other woken up two.

The blond quickly got up and grabbed his green ninja kimono, slamming the door behind him to the bathroom and breathing hard. He was glad it was actually a dream, but the idea of being like his father made his scared, now especially. Tossing off his pajamas and tugging on the suit carefully, he then finished by staring in the mirror, checking for any fear. 'None? Good.' Then scurried out of the restroom to join the now seated ninjas (and the grumpy Kai) for a breakfast of cheap cereal, but for once he didn't complain. Extra excited for training, to better insure he'd never grow gray and spineless, even if he did oddly grow closer to his father.