Oookay, so it turns out that I ACTUALLY have two chapters reading for posting. I finished transcribing chapter 8 this evening! It should hopefully be coming out in the next few days. In the meantime, you get this chapter! Yay! As always, feel free to drop a review if you liked it, and thank you all. This story is not, in fact, dead! WOO!

It would never cease to amaze Lloyd how- functional Ninjago was now. It was his Ninjago, but completely underground. Cole could do the most amazing things, it was awesome.

Annalise led the way through the winding streets, calling out greetings to the citizens. Despite the recent battle, she was back to being cheerful and talkative.

They got to a building near the middle of the city. Annalise put her hand on the doorknob, pausing to look back at Lloyd. "Warning, they will probably freak out when they see you. You may look different, but that won't stop them from going on alert."

He nodded, taking out his sword and handing it to her. "Here. That's the only weapon I have on me."

She took it, opening the door and letting them in. "I'm back! Where are you guys?"

"Here in the back, Annalise." Zane waved. He was standing with Pixal and Jay at a table with a map on it.

"You good? That sounded intense up there." Jay asked, looking up at her.

"Uh yeah, I'm fine. Guys, don't freak out, but I brought someone who is willing to help."

"Why would we freak out?" Jay asked. His hands reached for his nunchucks, preparing to whip them out if needed.

"Is your ally frightening, Anna?" Pixal turned to look at her.

Annalise took a deep breath, the tips of her fingers glowing gold. "Not when you understand all the details."

Zane frowned. "If you are meaning to reassure us by saying that—"

"It's really not working." Jay interrupted. "Who is this person?"

"Jay, Zane, Pixal, meet Lloyd."

As soon as Lloyd stepped forward, he had three sets of weapons pointed at him. Zane drew back his crossbow. "Annalise, please explain."

"Don't attack him! He's the Lloyd from a different realm and he just helped me defeat my brother!"

"How can you be sure that he isn't lying?" Jay asked, his nunchucks at the ready.

"Interdimensional travel is technically possible, but it's unfeasible at best. As Jay stated, are you sure this isn't some kind of a trick?"

Lloyd kept his hands up, glancing at the weapons still pointed at him. "First of all, hi everyone, it's nice to meet you. Second, I'm unarmed AND can prove that this isn't a trick."

Zane kept the bow up. "Annalise, what are your reasons for trusting him?"

"There's multiple. For one, you can tell just by looking at him that he's a different person. He's obviously older, more mature, and his eyes are lighter than my brother's. Two, my brother wouldn't be able to refrain from going after the crystal, he wouldn't just stand there with weapons pointed at him and not attack. And lastly, my brother's power is dark green and Lloyd's is light green." She nodded at Lloyd to show them.

Lloyd summoned up a small green flame, just enough to show the color. "See? Light green. It's pretty hard to fake an element."

Zane slowly lowered the bow, keeping the arrow nocked and ready. "If that is the case, then we have immediate problems to attend to. Annalise, are you sure he is trustworthy?"

She nodded. "Completely. He got drained try to help me."

"To be clear, he helped you to defeat the Lloyd we are familiar with?" Pixal lowered her sword, resheathing it. "What motive could engender such an action?"

"I want to help. If he gets to my realm, my family and everyone there would die, I can't let that happen. Besides—" He glanced over at Annalise. "—You guys are family now too. I protect my family. And… she also told me what happened to Nya, Kai, and Cole. I am so, so sorry, I can't even imagine…"

That convinced Jay. He put down his nunchucks, eyes sad. "We need all the help we can get."

"With the two of us, we may be able to defeat Lloyd. Permanently." Annalise stated, the golden energy at her fingertips fading.

"If this Lloyd is as strong as you, or stronger, it is an eventuality."

Zane finally put away his weapons, seemingly convinced. "If that is our only advantage, I predict that it may take a long time for victory to come about."

Annalise shrugged, handing Lloyd back his sword. "Who knows how long it might take. Besides, I can't do this forever. The sooner we can take him out, the better."

"So, you were able to take him out in less than a couple hours? That was probably the shortest battle between the two of you like, ever."

Sheathing his sword, Lloyd blinked in surprise. "If that was the best battle you've had with him, there's another world of hurt coming down the pipeline. I promised to help until the threat is gone, so I'm going to try and contact my team and then we'll go from there."

"How are you going to do that? We don't have any ways to contact other dimensions." Annalise asked.

"I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. If I can contact Great-Grandmother, she can ferry the message. The only thing is, I'm not sure if she's aware of this realm."

Zane frowned. "And who is your great-grandmother?"

"Firstbourne, queen of the dragons. They can travel between realms."

Annalise grinned widely. "Okay, that is too awesome. Dangggg."

"Oh yeah, it's pretty great. Do you have tech I can use? I need to build something."

"Of course! Follow me." She smiled at the others and showed him down the hall. "I'm glad that you're getting in contact with your team. If something bad were to happen and you didn't come back, they should know why."

Lloyd bit his lip, trying not to think about that. "Makes sense. They would deserve to know."

She paused, turning to look at him. "You could go back you know, we have a Realm Crystal."

"Then you wouldn't be able to leave and I might never see you again." Lloyd shook his head. "I can't allow that. I'm staying to help."

Annalise shrugged, but he got the sense that she wasn't just going to let it go. She opened the door to a workshop filled with everything he would need to make the communication device work. "You should be able to find what you need in here."

"This is perfect. I'm quite sure I'll be able to find what I need." He glanced over at her. "I could use another pair of hands."

She chuckled. "I'd love to help, but I'm pretty wiped. I'll be back in a few hours to help out though."

Lloyd nodded. "Fine with me. I'll probably be in here for that amount of time anyways."

Annalise grinned. "Alright, see you then. Take a nap if you get tired!" With a wave, she disappeared.

Lloyd laughed softly, beginning to gather pieces. It's time to put his mechanical mind to work.

A few hours later, Lloyd rubbed his eyes in frustration. It wasn't working! Why wasn't it working?

Behind him, the door opened and Annalise entered. She sat on the table next to him and examined the small device. "How's it going?"

Lloyd frowned, messing with a screw. "It's not working, and I don't know why. She should have heard me."

"Hmm, maybe something's interfering with it. There's a lot of variables in this."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Well, it could be something in the wiring, or just something that's messing with it from the realm overall. There could be a lot of other realms before the message could reach whichever one she's at."

"I mean, I guess. But it just doesn't add up." He stared at it intensely, almost as if willing it to work. "Firstbourne is from the First Realm and can travel between other realms, which are all spaced out to prevent them from hitting each other and cracking, causing a leak, so to speak. She should be able to see and hear things from this place, especially if they're messages from a fellow dragon. So—why can't she see me here?"

Annalise thought on that for a moment. "Well, there's obviously other realms, but spaced out, as you said. This one could be pretty far out from the First Realm, we have no idea… Maybe the signal needs to be stronger."

"Do you have any ideas?" Lloyd rubbed his temples, feeling the exhaustion starting to hit. Ugh, here comes the wall. Dang it…

"How does she know if it's another dragon signaling her? I mean, if the signal wasn't getting interfered with."

He frowned. "It's kinda hard to explain. Basically, it's connected to the power of creation; what I have left of it, anyways. It's almost like—telepathy. Except that's a really terrible way to put it."

"Well, if it's connected to the elemental power of creation, I could boost it. The combination of our powers should be strong enough to break the interference and get the message through."

"You think so?" He shrugged. "It's definitely worth a try. Let's get it up to the surface and test it out."

When they got there, Annalise set down the device on a large block of stone, lighting up the tips of her fingers with pure golden energy and touched it. Lloyd also summoned his power and touched it as well, sending the message. They waited for a minute, hoping that it was strong enough.

Just as Lloyd was beginning to think about a backup plan, a portal opened in the sky and Firstbourne flew through, landing with a colossal thump on the ground in front of them. "Lloyd? What is the meaning of this cry for help?"

Lloyd grinned. "Great Grandmother! You came!"

"Of course I would, little one. I heard your cry. Who is this with you? I do not know of this realm."

"Neither did I. This place is like home, except dad had two kids. There was a portal and I—uh—accidentally fell through. This is Annalise."

Annalise swallowed, amazement evident on her face. "H—hi."

Firstbourne looked down at her quizzically. "You are a strange creature, child. I have not seen such a balance in many years. The power of darkness and light dwell in you. Perhaps your cursed Oni father had more to him than I believed. You shine brightly."

She blushed a bright pink, taking a step backwards. "Uh—thank you."

"Humble too." She rumbled, a sound like laughter.

Lloyd smiled, then grew serious. "Firstbourne, I need to let my team know I'm here. They don't know where the portal led and I have to stay here and help? Can you tell them, please?"

"I can. Do you also intend for me to tell them that you send Harumi, Nya, Kai, and Cole the warmest of greetings? Your thoughts are far from quiet."

Annalise glanced over at Lloyd, a worried expression on her face.

Lloyd nodded, trying to ignore the look she was giving him. "Yeah, uh- please do that. Not that I don't want to tell all of them, but—yeah."

Firstbourne kind of smiled. "Yes, I will." She turned to Annalise. "Do you need a message sent, little one?"

"Actually, yes please. Please tell them that I will make sure he gets back. I promise."

Firstbourne nodded, unfurling her wings in preparation to take off. "I hesitate to leave when my children have need of me, but I must return. Take care, children, I sense the Oni here." She flew up and disappeared through a portal, almost as abruptly as she had come.

Annalise grinned. "All I can say is, wow. Like—I have no words. She is—"

"Awesome? Coolest family member ever?"

"Totally awesome! A real life dragon? So cool."

Lloyd laughed. "You haven't met a dragon before?"

"No, never. I don't know why they've never been here, but this realm must be like—unlisted or something. Firstbourne had no idea it even existed."

For some reason, that bothered Lloyd. Realms that were cut off from aid and support because of—what? Some twisted reason they would never know? Shaking away his feeling of unease, he smiled at Annalise. "Yeah, well, good news, she knows about it now! Come on, let's head back down. I'm pretty exhausted and down for a nice, long nap."

She yawned. "I agree with that. Let's go, we have plenty of extra rooms you can use. There's lots of time tomorrow to figure out our next moves."