Hey guys! First update of 2018, so we're making it a good one! Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter. :)

Chapter 11: Holding On To Hope

"Because I am you... I am Lloyd Garmadon of Realm-16."

Lloyd felt the breath in his throat escape.

His doppelganger... was a villain? Their main antagonist?

"I know things may seem a little off putting at first, scars and all," Mr. E said. "But trust me, you will soon see that they are necessary."

"F-For what?" Lloyd asked, still shaken that his doppelganger was Mr. E.

"Because in order for you to be exactly like me... I need you to bear these same scars," Mr. E said.

Lloyd's breath grew shaky, but he soon spat on the ground next to him.

"You do what you want to me... but, I swear, if you do anything to Chamille..." he growled.

"You'll what?" Mr. E said, almost mockingly.

"I will make sure you know hell on earth, and I will go all Overlord on your ass," Lloyd growled, new-found determination rushing through his blood.

However, all Mr. E did was smirk.

"Y'know, if you would just be a little more willing," he said, "I could teach you things you never knew... you would be surprised at how much you have yet to learn."

"Try me," Lloyd seethed.

"Oh, believe me," Mr. E chuckled, "I will."

And with that, Mr. E walked out of the room. Outside, his love, Ultra Violet, was waiting for him.

"How'd it go love?" she asked sweetly, taking her hand into his and caressing the burnt half of his face with her free hand.

"I haven't broken him yet," Mr. E sighed, kissing his love's forehead.

"Key word: yet," Ultra Violet said, smiling up at him. "You'll get that handsome son of a bitch eventually."

"You planning on dumping me?" Mr. E asked jokingly.

"Nah, you're much more my type," Ultra Violet said. "Come... you need to rest. You've had a long day."

"Can't deny that," Mr. E said, smiling down at his love.

And with that, the two lovers in arms headed to their shared quarters.

Meanwhile, back at the training center, The Walker led his team through Ronin's newly-opened vortex.

Not one person had a look on their face that didn't scream "solemn".

As soon as they entered, Sensei Wu immediately felt off... and his expression only grew sadder when he realized that Lloyd and Chamille had been taken.

"We'll get them back," The Walker said.

"We better!" Jay said, yanking his hood back. "It's only our first night in the field, and we've already lost two soldiers!"

"Take a deep breath, Jay," Ronin said. "We didn't lose them, they just got out of our hands for a bit. We will get them back."

"I still can't believe that our first night went so badly," Skylor muttered.

"These guys called themselves the 'Sons of Garmadon', that alone should ring alarm bells," Kai said.

"One of them was a fricking titan! I say we're lucky we even made it out of there!" Morro said.

"Morro's right," The Walker said. "They might have taken Lloyd and Chamille, but they didn't take us all. We should consider ourselves lucky."

"LUCKY?!" Jay exclaimed. "HOW ARE WE LUCKY?! YOU DON'T KNOW A THING-"

"About his life?" The Walker cut in. "You may be right... I don't know much, since I haven't familiarized myself with a lot of it. The same goes for Chamille."

"We will get them back, and kick Mr. E's butt," Pixal said. "I'm working on tracking them as we speak."

"May I assist?" Zane asked.

"Of course, pull up a chair," Pixal said, smiling softy. Zane moved over to where his secret love interest gestured, and started working.

Nya was the only one who felt like there was something brewing between the two...

And she was also the only one to notice Cole leaving the room.

When no one was paying her any attention, she quietly slipped away, and found him within a minute.

He was leaning against a pole, and his head was in his hand.

"Cole?" she asked softly. "A-Are you okay?"

She could see his body shaking lightly, and a choke came from his throat. She walked closer, and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"It's all my fault," he whispered.

"Cole, please don't blame yourself," Nya pleaded.

"I can't not," he said, looking at her. He was a wreck... "I was right beside him, and I-I shouldn't have let him go in alone."

"Oh Cole... you couldn't have known," Nya said, hugging him, letting a few tears drip out of her eyes.

She could feel her shoulder growing wet very slowly, and didn't care. There had been nights when she and Kai had gotten emotional, and held each other for god knows how long as they cried, reminiscing over what little they knew about their parents.

After a few minutes, Cole finally looked at her, wiping his face on his hand.

"I feel so much better," he said softly.

"A good cry does that," Nya said, smiling up at him.

"Hey, Nya, can you promise me something?" Cole asked.

"Of course, anything," Nya said softly.

"Promise me that we will always have each other's backs in battle," Cole said. "I don't want to... I can't lose you Nya."

"I promise," Nya whispered, letting a few stray tears out. She went to hug him again, but she had to stand on her tippy toes.

"I'm bending down, you're on your tip toes," Cole chuckled.

"Hey, I tap dance in a pair of heels," Nya giggled. "You need to show up and watch me dance sometime, maybe you and Kai could watch Skylor and I practice."

"Whenever I've got time, and when he does to," Cole said, smiling.

The two then walked back to the training room, where everyone was gathered around Zane and Pixal.

"I don't think we can safely decode a location tonight," sighed Pixal.

"We must work on a rested mind, and it's Saturday tomorrow," Zane said.

"I agree," Sensei Wu said. "Get your rest team.

With that, the teenagers (minus Ronin) made their way back to their dorm rooms, tired as heck.

Being a vigilante was tiring...

"Do you think we should tell them? About Kumail?" Ronin asked once they had all left.

"Not yet," The Walker said. "Jay needs to be a little more ready... and besides, Kumail doesn't know that Jay is alive here."

"But you all can't keep him a secret forever," Sensei Wu said. "We'll tell them eventually."

"The same goes for the secret identities on this team," Samurai VXL put in. "We'll need to tell them eventually."

"But we need to warm up to them a little more," The Walker said. "Because if they knew... it's too big of a risk for now."

"Well, rest is needed by all of us," Ronin said. "I'm going to bed... g'night guys."

"Same for me," Sensei Wu said.

And it wasn't long before the two other vigilantes exited as well.

Saturday, 1:00 AM

Krux and Acronix were in the basement of the museum, experimenting with the Vermillion birthing eggs.

"Are you sure we should even let three of them loose now?" Acronix asked.

"Sure, why not?" Krux replied. "These three are the most advanced, out of all of the Vermillion I have created... they are near perfection."

"So how will you even be able to tell the difference? Apart from being male or female, that is," Acronix argued. "Give them names at least!"

"I am getting there, brother!" Krux stated firmly. "I shall name our supreme commander Machia, and our generals will be Blunck and Raggmunk. Any questions?"

"Uh... yes," Acronix said. "Why those names?"

"Why not those names?" Krux asked.

Krux then moved over to the eggs, smashed them open, and out poured at least a hundred snakes, moving toward the deepstone armor Krux had set up.

"Hideous..." Acronix whispered.

"It's beautiful..." Krux muttered simultaneously. The two looked at each other, before facing the transforming Vermillion once again.

And both of their faces lit up with wonder as the snakes started forming bodies inside of the armor.

Machia was the first to come to life, opening her eyes sharply.

"Supreme Commander Machia, reporting for duty!" she said, saluting the Time Twins.

"I think I'm gonna like her," Acronix chuckled.

"You got a thing for snakes?" Krux asked, bewildered. "You must've hit your head when you fell from the time stream..."

"Of course not!" Acronix argued. A minor blush crept upon his face though, which did creep his brother out a little.

Then, Blunck and Raggmunk sprang to life. However, they didn't report for duty like Machia.

"Ooh, look Blunck!" Raggmunk said in excitement, gesturing to a water fountain. "Free water!"

"I thought only hotels offered that shit!" Blunck exclaimed, happily running over to it with Raggmunk. Machia facepalmed.

"How do they... should I ask?" Acronix said, dumbfounded.

"Eh... they were the last two I could generate to speak English," Krux sighed.

"Should we really be trusting these two idiots as generals?" Machia asked angrily.

"Give them a chance," Krux said. "Who knows? They could fare well in battle."

"Let's go see the toys upstairs!" Raggmunk shouted, running up the stairs to the museum.

"I want the big, long, pointy things!" Blunck yelled, following Raggmunk.

"Good luck," Acronix chuckled, clapping his horrified brother on the back, before the latter raced off to catch the Vermillion generals.

10:00 AM

Kai was currently making his way to the training room, eager to practice some more of his fire training. Nya and Cole were still in the dorm room, just taking it easy for this Saturday, which he was okay with. He trusted them, and besides, if anything did happen... he was a fire-bender. Let's leave it at that.

Anyway, he went through the corridor, unlocked the secret door, and made his way to where the fireproof stuff was.

When he got there, however, he found his girlfriend, practicing her own fire power.

"Hey there cutie," Skylor said, walking over to Kai and kissing him with sweaty lips. "I'm almost finished here, I'll get out of your way."

"Nonsense, you're never in my way," Kai said, smiling. "Grab a wood sword, we can spar."

"Are you sure about that?" Skylor said, smirking. "You do know I could kick your ass, right?"

"I know," Kai said, tossing her a wood sword. "However, that day you do is not today, babe."

"Oh," Skylor said, barely stifling a laugh, "it is on."

With that, the two lovers charged at each other in training combat.

They both had playful glints in their eyes, but were trying to maintain a serious attitude about themselves.

And they were both pretty even in combat.

However, Kai eventually got the upper hand. He managed to sweep the wood sword underneath Skylor's legs, knocking her down, but not before her feet kicked his side by accident, knocking him down on top of her.

It was awkward...

So Kai immediately rolled over on his back to Skylor's side, and placed his hand on hers. She looked at him, smiling happily.

"You know, its just occurred to me that we've never been on a date yet," Skylor said.

"Well, where do you think we should go?" Kai asked.

"How about... the rollerblading arena?"

Kai shivered... if there was one thing he couldn't do, it was rollerblading.

However, the smile of hope that adorned his girlfriend's face was near irresistible.

"Sure thing!" he said, as confident as possible.

"Are you 100% okay with it? I want our first date to be something special, something we both treasure forever," Skylor said. "Please tell me, are you 100% okay with it?"

"Absolutely," Kai said, kissing her forehead.

Suddenly, they heard two pairs of rapid footsteps entering the room next to them. The two got up, raced in, and found Zane and Pixal at the computer.

"We located some new info about our antagonist, Mr. E," Pixal said.

"Mr. E? As in, mystery? That's who kidnapped Lloyd?" Kai asked.

"We believe so," Zane said, his fingers pressing keys rapidly. "And we are in the process of finding anything that could lead us to his team's names."

"We should be able to locate Lloyd within eight hours, counting the breaks we take for food," Pixal added. "We just need some space."

"You'll get it, good luck guys," Skylor said.

With that, Skylor and Kai made their way out.

"Thank you for assisting me on this, Zane," Pixal said, smiling earnestly at him.

"Of course, it is no trouble Patricia," Zane said, grasping her hand in his. "You are vital to our mission... and to me."

Pixal smiled brightly...

And if you were there, then you would have heard the passionate kiss that was shared between them.

6:00 PM

Mr. E and Ultra Violet were currently in their shared quarters, making plans for their next attack. Killow was off working out his muscles in the makeshift gym, Snake Jaguar was off somewhere, switching between guarding Lloyd and Chamille. Luke was reading a comic book in his room, and Chopper was in the kitchen enjoying a snack.

"If we attack from here, we can catch them by surprise," Ultra Violet said, pointing to an area on the map of a bank.

"And we need to progress through here..." Mr. E muttered. "We really make an unstoppable team, don't we?"

"We do," Ultra Violet smiled. "Part of me wonders if we even need the other guys..."

"Well, we would at least need Killow for the third Oni Mask, but they're all good company," Mr. E said. "But you're the best, love."

"Tell me something I don't know, cupcake," Ultra Violet said, kissing him and giggling.

They were just about to deepen the kiss, but they heard Killow screaming from the center of the warehouse.

"Oh no," Mr. E growled, grabbing his biker helmet and placing it over his head and running out with Ultra Violet...

Only to find the ten vigilantes that currently opposed him. Mr. E and Ultra Violet stood in front of their four teammates, ready for a fight with The Walker's team.

"Give it up, Mr. E," The Walker said. "Surrender our captive teammates, and we shall leave peacefully."

"If you want Lloyd," Mr. E growled, slowly removing his biker helmet, "he's right here."

Everyone gasped in horror.

"WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU MAN?!" Morro yelled.

"Well, I come from another realm. Your Lloyd is somewhere in this warehouse, along with Chamille," Mr. E said.

"Where are they? Last warning!" Ronin shouted.

"Pfft, as if you all scare me, or my team," Mr. E chuckled. "Let's get em guys!"

With that, the two teams entered combat. Ronin and The Walker went to find Lloyd and Chamille, while Jay and Samurai VXL took on Killow. Kai took on Mr. E with Nya, and Skylor took on Ultra Violet. Zane took on Snake Jaguar, Morro took on Luke, and Cole took on Chopper.

Morro and Cole didn't have to wait long to help Jay and Samurai VXL take on Killow.

Anyway, Zane's fight was going not-so-well with Snake Jaguar... the man underneath the mask was evidently a skilled fighter, whoever it was.

"Who are you?!" Zane finally exclaimed, tackling Snake Jaguar.

"Someone who you should be concerned with, but not like the other guy," Snake Jaguar chuckled.

"The other guy?" Zane asked. "Who is this other guy? Mr. E?"

"No no no..." Snake Jaguar said. "He calls himself Acronix... and he's gonna kill you if I don't first."

Snake Jaguar then kicked Zane away, and resumed his fight with him.

"Everyone, we got Lloyd and Chamille! We need to leave, now!" The Walker's voice rang through the comms, telling the team about the rescue.

"Let's go team!" Samurai VXL said, jumping off of Killow's back.

The team wrapped up their fights with the Sons Of Garmadon, made their way out of the warehouse, and surrounded their teammates.

"Guys," Chamille whispered softly, her face a wreck with a bruise and splats of dried blood mingling with tears. Lloyd engulfed her in a long-needed hug, letting her cry into his shoulder.

"We're lucky we made it out of there with our lives," Ronin said.

"And we will face Mr. E and his goons again," Morro added.

"For now, though, we need to get home," The Walker said.

"I agree," Nya said. "It's been a long day."

And with that, Ronin generated a vortex into the training facility, allowing everyone to return home.

10:00 PM

Krux and Acronix were currently strolling around the museum, looking at some exhibits. Blunck was eating a snack, Raggmunk had fallen asleep, and Machia was watching the two in the basement.

"When do you think our first mission will be?" Acronix asked. "That vigilante team needs to be stopped."

"We'll catch them eventually," Krux said. "For now, I need you to see something."

Acronix followed his brother to this exhibit, and it was...

A silver gauntlet.

"It's just a gauntlet," Acronix said, unimpressed.

"Not just any gauntlet," Krux said. "It's called the Soul Gauntlet... and for a reason."

"For what reason though?" Acronix asked.

"It has the power to punch someone out of their own body, in other words, turn him into a ghost," Krux smiled.

He then paused...

"And a good weapon when you punch right. So, what say next time we go into the field, we give it a field test?"

Acronix suddenly started smirking, "Let's do it."

Well, at least Lloyd and Chamille are free... but what does Krux want to use the Soul Gauntlet for? We shall find out soon! :D

See you guys next chapter!