Chapter Twenty-Two: Betrayal of Friends...

To this day, Ray has no idea how it happened. It didn't exactly help him that he felt absolutely worthless lying in bed resting instead of fighting for all of Ninjago. Oh, he knew he did his part, and then some, and that he was under orders to rest... but still. He had no idea how it all happened. It all started like any other day...

~Three Weeks Ago~

Ray yanked a handful of weeds up, his mind crammed full of wedding details. Shaking his head to dislodge the recent discussion on tablecloths from playing on repeat, he tossed the weeds in a little pile next to him. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as Garmadon waved his arms around wildly, clearly upset about something as he talked with Wu and the others. Forest noticed Ray watching and came over to talk with him.

"Garmadon seems to think that Krux and Acronix have gone AWOL." Forest explained calmly to Ray as he knelt down beside him, grabbing a handful of weeds and pulling them up as well.

"That has to be crazy talk. Garmadon is the one with the Great Devourer's venom in his blood. Not the twins." Ray commented, brushing dirt off of his knees.

Forest tilted his head to the side, uncertainty dancing in his eyes. "I normally would agree with you... but then there is a slight problem called no one is actually super close to them and they've been using their all during training...especially when we're doing the one on one spars."

"They're not supposed to do that." Ray murmured softly, before glancing back over at the others... just in time to see Krux and Acronix approach them.

Curious, and a bit concerned with what Garmadon claims, Ray stood up and went to join the others. Just in time for him to hear Krux speak up. "Time is are more powerful than anything else in all Sixteen Realms. We should be the rulers of Ninjago, not the Emperor."

Ray gasped, as did the others. Wu shook his head, dismay flaring across his features. "I was hoping that my brother was mistaken when he said that you no longer care about protecting Ninjago."

"Who said that we ever have cared about protecting Ninjago?" Acronix drily questioned Wu.

Ray cleared his throat, before speaking up. "You are one of Ninjago's protectors... everyone presumes that means you want to protect Ninjago."

"Oh lookie! The mysterious master of Fire wants to join the others!" Ray decided right then not to point out that he's been here for almost a year. He being there really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone!

~Three Days Later~

Maya lifted up a damp rag, quickly wiping blood and sweat off of a panting Sam. Ray frowned as he lowered an injured Forest down to rest on the couch. The fact that Sam was panting was pretty worrisome, since he could run faster than the speed of light and didn't wear down as fast as most people. "We need to find a way to stop them. No one has yet to get close enough to them to get the upper-hand."

"Ray I was just thinking... You and Maya both have powers that no one has seen before. Maybe you should see if you can't get the upper-hand with them." Misako commented as she wrapped an ace bandage around Garmadon's arm.

Ray quickly shook his head, hating to be the voice of negativity. "They know about our powers, we won't have more luck than you."

Misako sighed, clearly disappointed. Ray sat down next to Forest, placing his head into his hands as he stared straight ahead. "What we need is a way to take away their powers for good. Anyone got any bright ideas?"

Jasper looked up from where he was tending to a burn on his arm. "The island we sent Chen and his minions to have this special mineral located in the caves behind the waterfalls that can absorb the powers of elemental masters. Of course once it does that, there is no getting the powers back ever."

"Jasper... how do you know about this?" Ray gave his friend a weird look, perplexed about how he could possibly know any of that.

Jasper shrugged, before testing his powers to make sure they were still in working order. "It's a mineral, close enough to metal that I can sense it." Jasper paused, looking back at him. "Ray, you're like the best blacksmith to live in Ninjago since the eighteen hundreds. If I can get you some of that metal, do you think you can turn it into some kind of weapon to use against the Time Twins?"

Ray thought things over, an idea already starting to take form. "Get me the minerals. I've got an idea..."

"Make multiple of them. Not only are they twins so it will be double trouble for the rest of us, but if we can spread out their powers far enough they won't be able to get them all at once." Garmadon piped up, his expression thoughtful.

Ray nodded in understanding, already adjusting his plan so that instead of one big one, it was four small ones. "I understand completely."

~Just that Morning...~

Jasper dumped the load of glistening, pure minerals next to Ray's forge, wiping a bead of sweat away. "Do you need anymore than this?"

Ray scanned the load, a grin crossing his features. "Perfect. I'll have the Time Blades ready later today."

"You can get them done that fast?" Mason wiped his hands on his pants, one eyebrow shooting upwards.

Ray nodded, already heating his forge up so as to start melting the material. "Doesn't take as long to make small daggers as it does to make a full length sword."

"Just don't rush the job... we need good strong Time Blades if we're gonna stop them."

~One Hour Earlier~

Ray carefully unwrapped the four Time Blades allowing them to fall into Wu's outstretched hands. "Each one is specifically made to target one aspect of their powers. They will have to find and reunite all four to get their powers back. Does that make sense?"

"Yes. Now I suggest that you and Maya go rest." Wu glanced back at the others, as if to confirm that they were on his side.

Ray felt himself bristle at the clear command, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Wu, you need all hands on deck for this..."

"And the Time Twins know that you are the only one with the talent necessary to make these. Go. You need to rest from making these, and hide so that they can't harm either of you." Garmadon interjected, shoving Ray and Maya out the door.

Ray opened and closed his mouth multiple times, before realizing that he had no words to say to them to change their minds. A rest sounded very nice right about now...

~Present~

Maya settled down next to Ray, wrapping her arm around his shoulders, leaning in close. "You alright there, amor?"

Ray nodded, she had taken to calling him amor a while back and he had no idea what it meant. "I am fine. Just tired."

A/N: Done! Okay if you are confused, this chapter is basically a flashback from Ray about the Hands of Time betrayal. Oh and I got myself a keyboard that doesn't have a mousepad on it so I don't accidentally bump and mess up my typing because laptops have to have a mousepad for some reason. I've been using a wireless mouse for a while now, and now I have a wireless keyboard to go with it. Perfect in my mind.

Hopefully this chapter is not too confusing...

Review!

SkyTalon