Chapter 3
"Outrageous!" Mr. Enoch said angrily.
"My husband is right. This is truly outrageous!" Mrs. Enoch scoffed. "We are utterly disappointed in your Ninja team, Garmadon," Mrs. Enoch snarled while pointing a finger at the Ninja, who were standing a few feet away behind Garmadon.
"It's not their fault your dragon was stolen!" Garmadon snapped back. His words echoed off the finely decorated marble walls of the throne room. "They were all the way back at the training grounds listening to your troubles. So, they couldn't have even seen your dragon be stolen!"
The Enochs looked like two vicious lions about to attack. And Garmadon looked like a cobra ready to bite.
"The Ninja had absolutely nothing to do with this!" Garmadon said.
"They had absolutely everything to do with this situation!" Mr. and Mrs. Enoch shouted back.
"This could get ugly," Kai whispered to his teammates.
"Yeah. I agree," Kai's sister Nya said quietly. "Maybe we should head somewhere else," she said while Garmadon and the Enochs quarreled back and forth to each other.
"How 'bout we move to one of the taller towers?" Jay suggested.
"I think that might be a good idea," Nya said as the team slowly backed away from Garmadon and Mr. and Mrs. Enoch's argument.
As the team quietly tiptoed back from the throne room into the hallway, Nya spoke up once more.
"Right then," she huffed, "Lets move to one of the quieter towers."
"You guys go ahead," Lloyd said. "I'm going to go outside to the stables for a bit."
"Why?" Cole asked.
"I just need some time to think. And I need to check on Emerald," Lloyd replied.
"Just don't fall asleep like you did last time," Jay joked.
The entire team chortled at this remark. Their laughter was slightly muffled by the wool carpet below their feet and the low ceiling of the hallway.
Eight Hours Later
Lloyd stared out from the stables into the deep, indigo sky. The night sky overhead had stars that dotted across the darkness like fragile pearls or sparkly diamonds.
Lloyd felt the cool evening air brush against his skin. It had grown quite late since the Enochs began their argument with his father, Garmadon. Lloyd was pretty sure the Enochs had packed up and left by this point. Lloyd knew he should be getting to bed right now. He did not want to have muddy water poured on him again, as today had taught him. But he rather liked staying inside the dragon stables with Emerald and looking out at the stars.
As Lloyd stared out at the evening sky, he thought about the girl he met in the woods. Lloyd was still confused why she ran off.
"Something seems fishy about all this. Maybe it was because of that voice we heard in the distance. Or maybe it was something I said?" Lloyd whispered as he turned to face Emerald.
Emerald did not say or do anything. He was lying down on a small bed made from ash and hay. His wing stretched over his face, covering his eyes, and he was fast asleep.
Lloyd smiled at Emerald, and then turned back to look at the stars. As stared out at the sparkling indigo sky, he continued to think about the young woman he encountered.
"Maybe she's a huntress, and hunts in that area of the woods," Lloyd thought to himself. Lloyd was worried that he somehow offended her with something he said to her. He then began to think aloud, "maybe she'll be there tomorrow. I need to get to the bottom of this."
Just then, Lloyd heard a loud gurgle from behind him. It was Emerald, snoring very loudly.
"I should probably get to bed now," Lloyd said quietly to himself.
As Lloyd slipped away from the dragon stables and walked quickly back to the castle, he thought to himself one last time, "I'll show up at the same place, same time tomorrow, to see if she'll be there. Then maybe I can figure out what happened, and why she ran off."
"And… we are just.. about.. done!" Cole said. The Ninja were back at the training grounds, working hard to perfect their moves.
As soon as Cole said that training was done, Lloyd dropped the weapon he was training with and sped as fast as he could back to the palace.
"Woah, Lloyd! Where are you going?" Kai asked. Lloyd did not seem to hear this, and kept running as fast as he could towards the castle.
"That was bizarre," Nya said.
"Perhaps we should go after him," Zane suggested. The entire team agreed with this, and hustled back to the castle.
Meanwhile, Lloyd was running as fast as he could to the dragon runway. He sped through the halls and rooms of the palace until he finally reached his destination. By the time he reached the dragon runway, he was out of breath and felt as hot as boiling water over a campfire.
"Prince Lloyd! Are you all right?" A servant had noticed Lloyd, and looked concerned for him.
"I-I'm fine," Lloyd said, tuckered out. "Is Emerald here?"
"Emerald is right over there," the servant said. Lloyd looked up, and was very pleased to see that Emerald was all suited up and ready for takeoff.
"Thank you," Lloyd replied to the servant, and then ran as fast as he could towards Emerald.
Lloyd and Emerald quickly took off and sped through the sky. While soaring high above the trees, they managed to locate the lake they'd visited yesterday.
After they landed on the soft earth, Lloyd hopped off Emerald and a clump of leaves crunched beneath his feet. The area felt very still and quiet...maybe a little too quiet. The chirps and the flapping of wings from the birds in the trees, plus the very slight grumble from Emerald, was the only noise preventing the area from being ghostly quiet. Lloyd walked a few steps forward. Suddenly, he heard a branch break from behind him. Lloyd gave a small gasp and immediately turned around to see what made the noise. He found himself face to face with the snow-colored haired teenage girl he saw yesterday.
"You scared me!" Lloyd said, startled.
"Sorry," the girl apologized. "I was just walking through the forest and I saw you and I guess I might have walked too quietly," she said. "Which reminds me," she continued awkwardly, "you're probably wondering why I ran off the other day."
"Oh. Yeah," Lloyd said uncomfortably. "That's kinda why I came I came back to the lake. To figure out the reason you ran off."
"Yeah. I figured," the girl said. "I ran off because I was stressed out, and a friend was calling me..." She then paused awkwardly, "Look, maybe we can start over? Pretend as though yesterday never happened? That we just met?" she asked hopefully.
"I'd like that," Lloyd said smiling.
"Right then!" The girl's face suddenly turned into a grin. "My name is Harumi. Harumi Shimizu. I'm seventeen. And I know who you are. You are Lloyd, Prince of Ninjago and leader of the famous Ninja team," she said smiling.
Lloyd blushed at this comment, "What gave it away?" he asked jokingly.
"Well, everything really. From the face, to the eyes, to the Ninja uniform, to the dragon," Harumi said pointing to Emerald, while giving a slight wave to the dragon.
Lloyd blushed harder. "You don't sound very shocked," he said.
"Royalty doesn't impress me. Personality does," Harumi replied simply. "And by the looks of it, you have plenty of personality."
Lloyd smiled. It was extremely rare that he came across someone who treated him like "normal" human being. I mean, there was the Ninja. But Lloyd remembered the time he first met Kai, Cole, Zane, Nya, and Jay. He did not tell them that he was the prince of Ninjago, for fear of them treating him differently. So when Garmadon and a few royal guards found him, the soon to be Ninja were pretty shocked. Especially Jay. He went on a little bit of a rant and nearly fainted. But the future Ninja soon managed to get over their shock. The next day, they went back to Lloyd and told him that they wanted to continue being friends, and promised Lloyd that they would not judge him just because he was a royal prince.
"Thank you!" Lloyd said smiling, "From the looks of it, you have plenty of personality, too!"
Harumi let out a wry smile at this remark. She then opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by voices calling in the distance.
"Lloyd! Are you there!?" the voices shouted.
"Uh oh," Harumi whispered to herself. She knew who those voices belonged to. And for her, it was her signal to get out of there as soon as possible. "I think I should go now," she blurted out.
"What?" Lloyd asked, confused.
"I just… have a lot I need to get done today."
This statement was true. Harumi planned on helping some of the S.O.G. troops pack up for their journey to find the Oni masks. "I gotta go." She then turned around, and began to jog away.
Lloyd was thoroughly and utterly confused. "Wait! Where are you going?!" he called out to Harumi. She did not seem to notice his cries, however, and rushed as fast as she could into the depths of the forest.
Lloyd stared at the area where Harumi had been for a minute.
"That was weird," he said to himself.
Lloyd noticed something shiny on the forest ground. He walked a few steps forward, and then leaned down to take a closer look. When he did take a closer look, Lloyd was surprised to find a small necklace with a silver chain and a delicate golden rose pendant.
"She must've dropped this when she ran off," Lloyd said.
He recalled seeing a small silver chain on Harumi's neck before she ran off. Lloyd was about to take a closer look at the necklace when, suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Lloyd spun around and saw Jay, who had a worried look on his face.
"Lloyd, are you okay?!" Jay shouted while grasping Lloyd's shoulders and shaking him.
"I'm fine!" Lloyd said, removing himself from Jay's clutches. Lloyd then noticed the rest of the team behind Jay, who were all staring at him intensely. "I'm completely fine, guys!"
"We've been looking for you all morning. Where were you?" Kai asked.
"Yeah, and what were you doing?" Nya said.
"Ummmmm…" Lloyd didn't know what to say. He didn't want to lie to his friends, but at the same time, part of him wanted to keep his meeting with Harumi a secret. "I was just… Emerald needed some fresh air," Lloyd said without thinking, while gesturing towards Emerald. "So I took him out on a flight, and I guess I just lost track of time," he said while quickly putting Harumi's necklace in his pocket.
Lloyd didn't know why he said that. He just did. It was the only time he had lied to his friends since he first met them in the village when he was a little boy. Lloyd felt terrible for lying to them, but the part of him that wanted to keep his meeting with Harumi private won him over.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay," Nya said, while putting a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, your father has organized a meeting with us."
"Yeah. He says thinks he knows what the S.O.G. are up to next," Jay said.
"Really!" Lloyd said, glad that they changed the subject to something different. "We should probably get going then to see what he has to say."
The other team members nodded approvingly.
"Great!" Nya said. "We have our dragons over there, so we'll be able to fly back to the castle with you," she said while pointing behind her back.
Lloyd stared out at the area behind Nya. And sure enough, there were five different colored dragons, each one representing a member of the team.
Jay's dragon was electric blue and had bright, glowing, sky colored eyes. It also had lightning sparks near its wings.
Nya's dragon was grape-colored maroon on its body and face, but its chest and wings were a deep aqua.
Kai's dragon was deep, vibrant red. Some of its scales were brownish, making its body resemble molten lava.
Zane's dragon was as white as snow, but it had a misty blue aura around it. Its face and body were more square than the other dragons, giving the dragon a stocky appearance.
And finally, Cole's dragon was a deep, brownish grey. Its scales resembled broken stones found in the mountains, and its eyes were bright, forest green.
Lloyd broke his gaze from the dragons, and then stared back at his team. "Alright then, let's go," he said confidently.
Guess who's back, Back again, LCG is back, Tell your friends! Hey everybody! I'm back! Sorry the wait took so long. All I can say is that I'm sorry and I promise I will try to get the next chapter out sooner. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter! :)
Sooooo… [SPOILERS FOR SEASON 9] Episode 92…
SCROLL DOWN TO READ (SPOILER ALERT!)
Harumi's death hurt me very very hard. :( Her death was very shocking and sad to watch. But, what I want to say is, I can confirm her death does not affect this story. I will still continue to write this story despite everything that happened in episode 92. She will live on in this story! [My Heart Will Go On starts playing in the background dramatically] 3 3
mpsullivan: [spoilers for season 9] As shown in episode 92, Harumi does have a good side. Her good part fought back against the darkness inside of her so that she could save the family from suffering the same fate as hers. And, yes, Harumi is indeed a very fascinating character. That's why I luv her SO MUCH! :)
Elcall: Lol! Yeah! When you meet someone you click with, don't hit it off. Just run! :) Thank you for your feedback! :)
AuroraRain18: I do imagine that Harumi had even a little bit of doubt when bringing back Garmadon. So I tried to make that conflict go on in her mind during the last chapter. And yeah, I agree! Some of the best romances start off with no connection between the two characters! (Although they're beginning to form a small connection in this chapter) :) I hope you liked this new chapter! I always look forward to your feedback! 3
Guest: Thank you! And yes, it is always, ALWAYS amazing to Llorumi!
: I'll try.
Well, that's all I got for now. See you next chapter everybody! ~legocameragirl
