A few hours after dinner, Jay and Nya returned, with the former extremely happy. "The date actually went well!" Jay said happily as he sat on the couch in the den. Apart from him, there was Alexia, Kai, and Lloyd, all playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
"What do you mean, 'actually went well'?" Alexia asked, confused.
"The last few times they've tried to go out, it's been a repeat of their first date." Kai explained.
"What happened?"
"Serpentine attacked in the middle of it."
"As in..."
"They somehow ended up in the middle of a Serpentine attack." Lloyd told her.
"...Either they're completely unlucky or the Serpentine did that intentionally."
In a really really really really really really really really really really really really really real-
do0m: Stop making these so freaking long!
AL1321: But I can't find another way to describe it!
do0m: Fine. How about this:
Elsewhere...
AL1321:...Dang you.
The shadow was enraged. The first spike he had dismissed. A fluke. Some... residual power from the last of that line.
But then there had been another spike of a different line. A line fate dictated he could not control, could not corrupt. And already he could feel the growing power of the third destroyed line.
He'd spent eons watching timelines. Looking to alternate dimensions. Prophecies, he knew, were simply when people saw into other dimensions, reflections of their own. They saw what had happened in those dimensions, and what was to come in their timeline.
Thus, he had sent troops to destroy any and all relatives to the three bloodlines. In the beginning, he had contemplated allowing the line of Blood to live, but had decided it was better to eliminate them all.
Fire, Earth, Lightning, and Ice had been problems as well. The shadow had thought he'd killed all of Ice, but then a human had found their crystallized power. It now rested in the chest of the robot. Lighting's bloodline had been spread throughout Ninjago, along with Earth, making it near impossible to destroy. Fire had hidden themselves well after the destruction of Water, Blood, and Light.
The last bloodline, the family of the Great Spinjitzu Master, had been untouchable. The shadow had decided to destroy the other bloodlines to leave its descendants without teachers. Yet now, three descendants of Blood, Water, and Light had arrived.
"It is impossible." The shadow rasped. "Unless... but how?! How could they have abandoned their own dimension?!"
Back at Destiny's Bounty (the day after)...
Having mastered Spinjitzu (Moppet still had to make sure there was nothing within tripping distance, but otherwise she'd mastered the art), Lloyd turned to combat. "Spinjitzu isn't always the best defense, so we've got to teach you how to use your claws properly."
"Don't I just have to get close enough a claw at their face?" Moppet asked, confused.
"...Yes, but that's short range. You need to learn to be able to dodge long range shots while getting in closer to hit the opponent." Lloyd explained. He pointed out Kai and Alexia, the former of whom was using a long thrust to try and hit the latter in the stomach. "Say the other person had a sword. You'd need to dodge it to get in close."
"Oh. Okay, how do we start?" Moppet said cheerfully.
Two minutes later...
"THAT HURT." Moppet grunted, rubbing her arm.
"Look, I told you that I was going to aim for your arm. Your claws can catch my sword, remember?" Kai pointed out. Lloyd had offered to help Alexia in Spinjitzu, so the two teachers had temporarily switched students.
Moppet grumbled, normally she'd go to Lane, but since she was still training under her short swords, it was either Kai or Alexia. And as much as she didn't like it, Moppet knew it was much, much safer to spar with a master than train with a still learning pupil.
Lloyd was currently attacking Alexia, but while she had cleared the training course, Alexia was having the same problem Moppet had had of translating that into Spinjitzu. The end result was different, with Lloyd managing his attack and hitting Alexia somewhere in the chest or on the limbs. "F*ck..." Alexia grunted, rubbing her shoulder. "Moppet, how the hell did you manage Spinjitzu?"
Moppet shrugged. "I actually figured it out two days after starting the training course..."
Lloyd stared at her. "And you refused to do it for weeks?! Why?"
"The only real reason I did it was because my not-nice plan in the boarding school would have been much harder and much less nice. Claws tend to do more permanent damage..."
"Not-nice?"
"We tend to not use bad words." Moppet said simply.
"We?"
Moppet glanced towards her sister, "We. It makes things easier."
"How does it-" asked Lloyd.
"Trust me. It does."
"...Okay..."
Lloyd's confusion was interrupted by a strikingly loud alarm sounding off. Nya ran outside. "Remember Oroborus?"
"The capital city of the Serpentine? Who could forget?" Kai remarked.
Inside...
"What news did the falcon bring?" Zane inquired. He had sent out the falcon earlier that morning for reconnaissance, as the lack of Lord Garmadon trouble had been unsettling.
The falcon was plugged into the main computer, showing a series of images. "The Serpentine are building an army?" Jay gaped.
"Then we're going to stop him!" Cole retorted. Before anything else was said, Sensei Wu spoke.
"The final battle is fast approaching." He pointed to Lloyd. "You must be ready to face your father."
"Yes, Uncle." Lloyd's heart was heavy with grief, and Moppet grabbed his hand, squeezing it to give him comfort.
In Oroborus...
"Faster!" Lord Garmadon commanded. The Serpentine were working on snake tanks as well as beefing up their helicopters for battle. "We must be ready for when the ninja strike!"
"Then you're already too late!" Lord Garmadon froze as he heard the cursed voice of the ninja's leader.
"Whatever you're planning, we'll stop!" Jay vowed.
"Ugh! You... insolent ninja!" Lord Garmadon prepared to use his Mega Weapon to attack, only for Lloyd to jump out and freeze it. "Imposs- Lloyd?" Lord Garmadon's voice shook as he recognized the older form of his son. "It can't,"
"I've grown a little since you last saw me." Lloyd said flatly.
"S-stop him!" Lord Garmadon rasped. The Serpentine promptly surrounded the ninja as Lord Garmadon ran.
"NINJA-GO!" The boys plus Moppet took out most of the Serpentine, while Alexia and Lane were forced to make do with their weapons.
"Target the weak onessss!" Skales ordered. Lane and Alexia were quickly cut off from the others to the dismay of their teammates.
"Fuck!" Alexia continued to hack and slash at the Serpentine, but the snakes kept coming.
"Language." Lane muffled as she blocked an upward strike.
"Alexia! You've got to concentrate!" Kai yelled, praying she would be alright.
"Gottverdammt-" Alexia swore as one of the Serpentine managed a blunt hit on her arm. The resulting anger finally pushed her limits to a new point. "Ninja-go!" An aquamarine tornado appeared, and soon enough the Serpentine surrounding Alexia and Lane were either knocked out or fled.
"Are you both alright?" Zane asked, as Lane was thoroughly exhausted while Alexia was on her knees, trying to regain a sense of balance.
"...Fine... Just... a... bit... disorientated." Alexia gasped. Kai helped her up and after a moment Alexia was okay.
Elsewhere...
Lord Garmadon was furious. He had ducked into one of Oroborus' buildings, chipping away at the ice on his Mega Weapon. "Blast these ninja!" Lord Garmadon shouted. "If only they weren't around! If only they'd never existed!" He slammed the Mega Weapon on the wall again, causing the last of the ice to break off. Lord Garmadon slowly recognized his previous words and began to smile.
"Yes... yes, that's it!" He cried. "I wish... that I could go back in time... and make it so the ninja were never formed in the first place!" The Mega Weapon began to glow, emitting a beam which began to open a vortex.
"Now... to finish the ninja once and for all... so that my son never becomes the green ninja," The last three words were spat out in scorn as Lord Garmadon jumped into the vortex.
Immediately after, the building was stormed by the ninja and Sensei Wu. "Garmadon used the Mega Weapon again!" Cole groaned.
"Oh swell, every time he uses that thing, something really bad happens!" Jay sighed. "Now what?"
In response the ground began to shake. "What's going on?!" Kai yelled, grabbing Alexia for both his sake and hers.
"Is... is that sand?" Moppet asked worriedly.
"The city must be returning back into the desert as if it had never been found in the first place!" Zane observed.
"What does that mean? What's going on?!" Nya shouted.
"That vortex must be a breach in the space-time continuum!" Lane answered, struggling through the sand. "But why was it created?"
"Uh oh..." Lloyd stared at his hands. "I... I can't feel my hands..."
Moppet tried to grab Lloyd's arm, but her hand shifted through. "You're disappearing!"
"Garmadon must have gone back in time to prevent Lloyd from becoming the Green Ninja." Zane remarked, already calculating that this had a probability of 97.39%.
"Ugh! If he messes with the past, the entire timeline could shatter! We've got to follow him." Alexia said, knowing from Doctor Who that paradoxes were never a good thing.
" Remember: if he changes anything, he changes everything!" Sensei Wu warned. "Protect the future, ninja!"
The ninja (minus Lloyd, who was beginning to flicker) struggled out of the sand and promptly jumped into the vortex, where a blinding light caused all of them to lose sight of the others.
