'My world was pitch black, I couldn't see anything, I couldn't hear anything, feel anything. I felt trapped, I wanted to call out for the Kai or Wu or even my Dad, but I couldn't find my voice. I waited for something to happen, for anything to happen and then I heard voices. Quiet at first but they grew louder, and soon they were ringing in my ears. I didn't recognise these voices, but sounded like cries of joy… or fear?

My eyes snapped open and I immediately wished they hadn't. I now knew that those cries were in fear. Everywhere, huge white flames burnt through, what appeared to be, wooden frames that formed some sort of grand monastery. I wanted to run and get out of the burning building, but my foot tugged on something cold, hard, and metal. As I looked down I realised that my foot had been chained to a pole and I also noticed that I was closer to the ground then usual and my limbs seemed shorter. I soon realised I was the size of a small child. I tried to call out for someone to help and explain what was happening but my voice wouldn't come out through all the smoke.

Suddenly one dark figure ran through the huge white flames and they were running toward me. The figure held a large Katana in his hand and approached me with it high in the air. I flinched as the golden sword came soaring down toward my face. I waited for death, and for pain, but I didn't feel any. I heard the clanging of metal against metal. I looked down at my foot and saw that the chains around my foot were broken.

The figure then grabbed my hand, "Come on son, we must leave here at once!" The voice was a voice I hadn't heard in a very long time. 'Dad!' I tried to call but all that came out was a choke and a cough. As we were just about to leave the burning monastery a giant something reared in front of us. I cowered in fear, tightening my grip on my Father's hand, and he tightened his.

"Garmadon, did you really think you'd essssscape me?" The giant something lowered it's head revealing a massive green serpent with scarlet red eyes. I stared at my Dad who gave the snake a look of disgust, anger and fear.

The snake soon began to shrink and transformed into a man, with light blonde hair, and scarlet red eyes. He was wearing a ninja gi had many different snake patterns, with several light green sashes, as well as a large sword on his back. The man waved his hands, and strong green jets hit me square in the chest. I grabbed my stomach and buckled over, pain was moving all through my body.

"Looks like I've found my new heir." The man cried and he closed his hands into a fist. I screamed in agony, and collapsed on the ground in excruciating pain. And at that moment everything went black.'

"Lloyd! Wake up sleepy-head! You're going to be late for training!" Kai shook his little brother as hard as he could, but Lloyd didn't respond.

He stopped shaking, knowing it wasn't any use. The kid kept turning while he slept and he began to mumble, 'Dad… Flames… Snake… Heir… DAD!' Kai could tell that Lloyd had probably had another one of his nightmares. He had been having these nightmares for about a week now. Just then, Lloyd opened his eyes and bolted upright.

"K-Kai?,' the kid looked at the clock beside his bed,' I'm.. going to be late for training. W-Why didn't you wake me up?'

Kai laughed and gave Lloyd a sympathetic smile. "I did try and wake you up!"

Lloyd looked at the ground, with a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

"Some dream you had there kiddo. You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine it's just…"

"ALL NINJA PLEASE REPORT TO THE BRIDGE! WE HAVE A NEW MISSION FOR YOU!" Misako's voice rang all through Destiny's Bounty.

"Look's like we have a new mission Green-Machine. You better get your ninja suit on, don't want to turn up to wherever we're heading in your pj's." Lloyd didn't seem to be paying any attention to what Kai was saying which bothered the fiery ninja quite a bit. Lloyd was generally alert and hardly ever ignored anyone.

"Hey, you sure your okay Lloyd?" He stared at Kai wide-eyed and then shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You go ahead, I-I'll meet you on the Bridge." Lloyd's usual vibrant, warm emerald eyes, were now a sullen and cold dark olive. His positive attitude was also absent.

As Kai arrived at the Bounty's bridge he could tell the other ninja were getting impatient. "So Air-Head what took you so long, and where's Lloyd?" Jay was seeming a bit impatient and honestly he couldn't blame him. If there was one person who hated waiting, it was Kai.

"Uh.. Lloyd slept in, I was just waking him up." Kai caught Cole rolled his eyes, and turned to Misako who was studying a map.

No one said anything and the awkward silence was killing him, Kai had to say something but what? This was Lloyd's expertise… asking questions.

"Um.. what's the.. er.. new mission?" Kai cast a sideways glance at the door near the bridge hoping that Lloyd would walk in and begin to ask questions and get as much info as he could about the mission.

"There's been a break-in at the Hiroshi's Labyrinth, the Bounty's course is headed there right now." Misako left the old map, and turned toward one of the high-tech screens, where a digital map of the Labyrinth was veiwed. "Several vaults were broken into last night, including the one where the Realm Crystal was locked up. Apparently security forces only noticed it missing when they did the daily scan of the Labyrinth, to check on what's been locked up. So whoever robbed vaults must have been pretty stealthy to be able to get in and out undetected."

"Do we know how many vaults were broken into, and what were in them?"

"AAAAAH!" Jay jumped into Cole's arms, and sent the green ninja a glare. "Lloyd! It's about time, while you've been slacking we've been training! What have you been doing these past mornings huh?" Kai expected Lloyd to make some smart remark to combat Jay's cheek, but instead he just glared.

"We don't have time for this Jay, stop messing about." Kai and Nya exchanged glances, they had never seen Lloyd acted like this before. He seemed to be very on edge.

"Well son, all we know is that five other vaults were robbed,' Five vaults were highlighted in orange on the digital map,' but we have been given no information on what was stolen. I believe what was taken has most likely classified." When Misako finished, Jay was wearing a perplexed look.

"If you're wondering what this means, Jay. Technically, Mr Borg (who runs the Labyrinth), doesn't want us to know what was in those vaults, but why he would want to keep something classified from us I am not certain."

"If you're right Zane, and Borg really doesn't want us to know, then these objects must be either really valuable or really dangerous and I think if it's valuable it's got to be dangerous. They also have the Realm Crystal which is extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. We need to get to the Labyrinth as fast as we can. Nya?"

"I'm on it!" Nya pressed a large red button on the dashboard and giant red jet's formed at the back of the Bounty and boosted the ship through the sky and toward the set destination.

"Wow Jay! You've really done good considering you're the Master of Blabber!" Jay gave Cole a death glare, while everyone else just laughed. That is, everyone but Lloyd.

"Kai, where's Sensei Wu?"

"He's downstairs in his room, meditating."

"Thanks bro."

Lloyd walked out of the bridge with the same dull look in his eyes Kai had seen earlier, and a frown had been plastered to his usually bright face.

All of the ninja were quiet for a while, and soon Misako left the bridge with several of her maps and scrolls. Kai was just looking at the ground, and trying to avoid any glances from the others, knowing they all expected him to explain in fuller detail why Lloyd had been late and why he was acting like this. Kai sighed, 'Cue Jay interrupting silence in 3..2..1…'

"Oh that's it! Are we going to pretend that something isn't wrong with Lloyd or what?" Jay folded his arms and everyone seemed to let out a breath of relief all at once.

"He has been really distant all week. I have spoken to him several times and he never seems to be listening, and for someone who has Lloyd's optimistic personality, this is uncommon."

"You're right Zane. When I went to wake him up this morning the kid was talking in his sleep and when he did wake up he seemed really bothered, and didn't really pay me any attention."

"Talking in his sleep? How often does that happen?"

"Pretty much, never."

"Guys enough!' Cole's face was pretty intimidating and Kai nearly took a step back,' Lloyd's our brother he knows he can trust us. If whatever's bothering him is serious he would tell us."

There was no way I was going to tell the other ninja about my nightmarish flashbacks. Sure they were getting worse and this was the first time I actually saw something but still… there was no way anyone was knowing. How much faith would my friends have in me if they knew I was afraid of a simple dream? Then again… it was very realistic. I could still feel the excruciating pain where those green jets had hit me. I was just going to get a bit of information out of my Uncle so I had some insight to the dream, you might say.

I arrived at Sensei Wu's door and knocked, "Uh.. Sensei? C-Can I come in?"

"Of course, young nephew, you may enter." Sensei's voice drifted from inside the small room.

Slowly I opened the door, and entered my Uncle's quarters.

"I sense something is troubling you Lloyd, care to tell me what it is?"

I suddenly felt the urge to tell him all about the memory. About the evil sorcerer, about my Father saving me from the burning monastery, about the agony that the memory forced me to experience. Yet the more I thought about it, the sillier it sounded. And I also knew Wu probably had many other things to deal with so I simply looked surprised and said.

"There is nothing wrong Sensei, nothing at all. I just came to ask you a question."

"And what question would this be?"

I gulped and took a deep breath, I didn't need this to look any more suspicious than it need to be.

"Before the Serpentine war, did you have.. oh, I don't know, any other enemies?" Gosh, I knew that didn't come out right.

"Why do you ask this nephew?"

"I was just wondering if there were any other enemies out there that we should worry about." I could tell Wu didn't believe my lie and I was nervous he would demand the real reason why I asked. I held my breath preparing what I would say if it all went wrong.

Sensei Wu sighed. "A decade before you were born, your Father, he..."

"ALL NINJA REPORT TO THE DECK, WE ARE APPROACHING HIROSHI'S LABYRINTH. I REPEAT WE ARE APPROACHING HIROSHI'S LABYRINTH."

"Better get going Lloyd."

"But what were you going to say about my Dad?"

"Patience, it can wait another day."

"But Uncle, it's important!"

"And why is it important?" He had me there. I couldn't say why it was important without revealing the truth, which I didn't want to do.

"Fine, I'll go!" I was angry, and I didn't care if Wu knew it. If my Uncle truly cared for me and wanted the best for me, surely he could tell me a measly tale about my Dad! It couldn't be that hard.

"Lloyd! Good you are here. What will be our first move?"

"O-Our first move?' I realised I was on the deck in amongst the other ninja, I hadn't been paying attention at all! 'Oh yeah… well first we're going to have to be taken to the Realm Crystal's vault, and look for clues onto who stole it, as well as check out the other five vaults. Whoever this thief is we need to catch him, who knows what they could do with the Crystal."

The Bounty landed just outside the slightly hidden entrance to the Labyrinth. I had to turn my attention to the robbery and forget about my own problems. The Realm Crystal's existence wasn't common knowledge. So it had to be someone who had some background knowledge on it. The only person I that came to my mind was Morro. 'No Lloyd, he's dead, he can't return.' And speaking of Morro… I was also slightly nervous because of the last time I investigated a break-in, let's just say it didn't go that well.

I was also worried this could be a trap, a cover-up to lure us in.

"Be alert guys, and stick together, it could be a trap."

Two Nindroid's approached us and spoke to us in a monotone… well, tone. "What brings the ninja to Hiroshi's Labyrinth? We were not expecting you."

I exchanged a glance with Kai, "You weren't? But what about the break-in?"

"Break-in? There has been no break-in."

"But we received a message from one of your generals saying that the Realm Crystal has been stolen, and 5 other vaults were raided." I was beginning to panic now. Unless these robots were rubbish at their job, I had a feeling that my 'trap' hunch was about to be proven correct.

"What kind of joke is this? Our forces are guarding the Realm Crystal as we speak." The droid showed a clear hologram of the Realm Crystal being guarded by several highly armed guards. My heart was pounding harder than ever, I knew in a few seconds there was going to be an ambush. I scanned the canopy for any sign of movement and all the surrounding forestry, yet I saw nothing.

Suddenly two red lasers shot both Nindroids. Several smoke bombs were thrown around us as well and we couldn't see anything, outside the small circle of smoke.

"What's happening?" Nya cried.

"It was a trap, whoever sent us that message wanted us to come here so they could ambush us."

In the corner of my eye I saw Kai gather a fire ball in his hand.

"Kai no! Using our powers and shooting them blindly into the smoke isn't very wise. We could hit the Bounty and cause more harm than good!"

"You know being wise isn't my strong suit, Lloyd. Besides what else are we gonna' do, just stand here?"

"Yes. If we get through the smoke the ambusher could easily just cloud us with more, it's best we just stay here and…"

"Just be quiet you two! Lloyd's right Kai we can't use our powers, but we should at least try and clear this stuff!" Nya gave Kai a firm look and both of us nodded in agreement.

Slowly but surely, the smoke soon began to encircle us and all I could see was grey. It was getting harder to breathe, and I could barely talk.

"Everyone! Form a circle! We must stick together!" I could feel two people next to me and judging my their ninja gi, Cole and Jay were my present company.

"Aaaaargh!" The scream was familiar it sounded like…

"Kai? Kai are you there? KAI?" there was no answer, and I assumed the worst.

"Lloyd, I am picking several life forms surrounding us, should we attack?"

"Can you tell which one of them are Kai, Zane?"

"No, sorry Lloyd, but the numbers are multiplying fast, we've got no choice, they're closing in."

"Fine. Ninja! Attack in every direction as fast as you can, we've been surrounded!"

The smoke was thinning and finally we were able to get a proper look at our attackers. I swallowed hard, and my body shook. Everywhere I looked bright green serpents, with scarlet eyes and huge fangs encircled us. There I was hunger in their eyes.

I felt trapped, just like when I was in that black abyss, the abyss that I explored every night, where I heard voices and screams. These warriors looked exactly like the great big snake I had seen in my memory, expect miniature.

"Are they… Serpentine?"

"They may be snake-people but they are certainly not Serpentine." A familiar voice sounded from a rock high above us. A man stood there and he was holding an unconscious Kai. It was…

"Ronan?" I stole a side-glance to Nya whose face was aflame with anger and fury.

"Look I know you what you're thinking but the guy who gave me this mission he…"

"Gave you an awesome price, so naturally you turned on your friends! And I guess this guy gave you this army to aid you!"

"Nya calm down, I promise everything's going to work out."

"Ninja-go!" Nya's watery tornado tore through heaps of the snake people, but they pushed back and she fell to the ground.

Her face was filled with fear, the same fear I had felt when I was in front of the green serpent. A dart flew through the air and landed on Nya's arm, and her head hit the ground ten seconds after.

"I have the Master of Fire and Water. Now how about..."

"You're a monster Ronan! Ninja-go!" Jay spun into action, obviously furious he had laid even a finger on his sweet-heart.

"NINJA-GO!" We all began to fight. I was hitting as many of the snake people as I could but they were too over-powering. Then I remembered Kai slumped unconscious near Ronan, and Nya's face of terror. It definitely angered me to see them in that state. Nya overpowered so easily just like how I was overpowered by that sorcerer. A darker thought entered my brain. Kai had been taken from me, as quickly as my Father was. I felt my vortex get stronger, I hated seeing people suffer the way I have suffered. I gathered an energy ball and made it larger, this stopping my vortex but not my temper.

"Lloyd what are you…" I unleashed the energy out at all sides, releasing a huge amount of anger, and a huge amount or power. The snake army were thrown all throughout the forest and the trees. I smiled, happy that I was able to conquer the huge army, but then a thought struck my head, a horrible, fearful thought. I slowly turned around, heart pounding, I stopped and then my heart stopped.

All the other ninja were lying unconscious on the ground, having also been hit by the ray.

"Thanks Lloyd! You just made my job ten times easier! Now all I have left is you."

I didn't hear what he said properly. I was just looking at what damage I had caused because I let some stupid dream get to me. I heard something wiz past my face and I looked up at Ronan. He was wearing a very devious smile with a dart gun in his hand. I flipped back and somersaulted jeering at the pathetic bandit.

"If you want to catch me Ronan you're going to have to find me!" I thought of Sensei's old monastery and pictured it in my mind, as fresh as if it was right in front of me. I spun a couple times and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Ronan watched as his future captive escaped his grasp.

"Darn it! Oh well, I'll have to come back for him, but first I need to take these guys back." Ronan pulled out the Realm Crystal that he had stolen.

"Pity that their daily scan doesn't pick up fake objects, otherwise they would have actually been investigating a break-in! So gullible those ninja." Ronan checked on his satchel which had several small clear crystals, that had also been stolen and replaced in the Labyrinth.

"It's also a pity that the Labyrinth's security was poor enough to let me steal and replace goods in half the vaults!"

He tied all five of the ninja up and lifted the Realm Crystal to the Sun. The light rays hit the Crystal and it began to glow.

"The Elemental Realm!" He cried and a blue portal opened up. He threw the tied ninja into the portal and then the Realm Crystal and the satchel.

"You may have won this time Lloyd, but you won't be able to run forever. But now, I'm off to explore a new Realm." He jumped in and the portal closed up.