Chapter 2- Neverland

Lloyd's eyes snapped open, and he sat up, gasping for air. His head pounded violently, spreading nausea with each beat. Sweat was formed on his forehead, rolling down to stain his shirt. He felt disoriented, the world around him spinning and spinning until finally settling down into a coherent image.

He was in a small room.

The walls and floor were wooden, a bit of them wet and rotten with time. A couple of candles lay here and there, illuminating Lloyd's surroundings. The green ninja stood, walking towards the exit. Thousands of questions fell onto his lap, the missing answers causing a sharp acidic pain bubble around within his stomach.

"Lloyd?" Zane's voice reached Lloyd's ears and the green ninja turned, still trying to regain his bearings.

"Zane!" The young man smiled, the sight of a familiar face filling him with a little bit of peace. "Where are the others? Where the heck are we?"

"I do not now," The robot answered honestly, but reluctantly. "But I can guess maybe this is Bewitching Forest that the guy, Dillon?, mentioned to us. We must have been separated from the others when we landed here."

Lloyd nodded, the fractures of his memory slowly coming together. Ninjago's standstill, the strange man, the weird words on his wrist, and the new villain looming over the land. If he remembered correctly, they had no more than three weeks to defeat the so called "Goddess of stories". Or they'd be stranded in this land forever, at the mercy of Dillon's sadistic imagination.

"We need to find the others," Lloyd stated, brushing away the feelings of confusion and helplessness in order to strap on the mask of a leader. "Then we can figure out whatever this means."

The green ninja gestured at his wrist. The weak man's strength. Thanks Dillon. The words help a lot.

"Dillon mentioned it was a clue to the weapons we need to defeat the Goddess," Zane said, attempting to put all of the pieces together. If there was anything the nindroid hated, it was riddles with no apparent logic. "I suppose the words must lead us to whatever these so called 'weapons.' Though I must admit, They're not very. . . Logical."

"Let's find the others first then." The green ninja began walking, and the loyal nindroid followed. Although Lloyd had already served his purpose in defeating the overlord, the white ninja still felt bound to protect the youngest member of the team.

As they walked through the forest, Lloyd's memory began to nag. A strange feeling of déjà vu was floating throughout him. Yes, he had been here. Long ago, when he was no more than a toddler, his dreams had somehow encountered this place. The strange plants, the awkward creatures and the magical ambiance were very very familiar. But it made no sense did it? How could he be inside his mind?

Maybe this was all a dream. Maybe he was inside his own mind. Maybe he was frozen in the land of ninjago as well, and the effort to defeat the Goddess of stories was useless.

Then it hit him. An idea so strange, so bizarre that it was not surprising his mind had ignored him at first. He had been within this forest before. Everyone had. At some point, everyone's childhood had revolved around this place, everyone's fantastic adventures had taken place within this place.

It was Neverland.

And why not? This was supposedly the land of stories, right? Nothing was impossible. Lloyd looked around, inspecting his surroundings with a smile plastered on his face. Maybe eternity here wouldn't be so bad. If they couldn't save Ninjago, who wouldn't want to live in a beautiful island where no one ever had to grow up?

The green ninja almost laughed out loud. No more responsibilities. No more problems. No more sleepless nights spent worrying about the future. The Goddess of Stories wasn't a curse. She was a blessing. She was allowing them to live inside a land of fantasy, of knights and dragons, of witches and wizards, in short, she was allowing them to live in the perfect world.

"Zane, I know where we are," Lloyd finally said. "We're in Neverland! You know? The land of dreams! There's so many great things to do here. There are no rules. We don't have to grow up. It can be all about fun here."

The nindroid looked down at Lloyd, suddenly reminded that the boy was just. . . a boy. Zane had heard of Neverland (To be honest, Zane had heard of approximately everything there was to know) and he knew it would be the perfect playground for a child.

"We must remember why we are here Lloyd," Zane stated. "We can't allow the Goddess to take ahold of us. Would you really wish to be stuck in a place where time does not move? I suppose some problems might be eliminated. But if you are reeled into the beauty, you will be denying Ninjago's people the joy of their future. I do not think you have the right to do that Lloyd. Remember who you are."

And just like that, Lloyd's hopes were shattered. All the duties of being a hero flooded back into himself, weighing his heart down, causing an annoying pain inside his chest. "Right,"

After Lloyd uttered that one wretched word, the sky darkened. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, the wind suddenly becoming agitated.

That's when another memory decided to flock back to Lloyd's mind, although it had shown up far too late to do any good. Neverland was alive, constantly responding to the thoughts of its inhabitants. When Zane's words had reached Lloyd's ears, the young man had stopped the flow of happy thoughts. This had summoned something much, much worst than his previous enemies.

Nightmares.