Heyo, sorry this is so late, but midterms are breathing down my neck at every second. I hope yall's classes are going okay. Thank you guys for beings so patient.

Also, reminder because I know all these AU changes get confusing: Lloyd and his parents know he's the Green Ninja, but the girls haven't been told yet. Chen knows too b/c Wu told him.


Night had fallen for the second time since the day Master Chen had captured the last of the Elemental Masters, during which Lloyd's father and Nya had been working on a plan to set them all free. They had claimed a spot on a rundown wall on the far edge of Chen's palace grounds. As Nya had said, it sat at the back of the compound and wasn't used as much since there was hardly any threat from the island's jungles. It clearly wasn't very well maintained, with vines and bushes crawling out of the crevices and weathered stone, and the three of them were even somewhat obscured from sight by the overgrown tree line. They, however, still had a decent view of the path leading toward the inner wall and rear gate. It was the perfect place to hide while Nya and Lloyd's father plotted out a route. Now that the sun had set, even the shadows would protect them from view of Chen's henchmen.

As for Lloyd, well, he was done crying like a baby. He had been scared at first, but now the fear had faded and he was just angry. Chen was messing with his family: he'd already taken Pixal, and now Skylor and Seliel, not to mention Lloyd's mother! He was ready to fight back, and not as some scared little kid who was afraid of his own shadow, but as the prophesized Green Ninja.

"But Sensei, you won't be able to do it by yourself!"

Lloyd perked up at the sound of Nya's desperate attempt to argue with his father. "Chen's too powerful, and his army is too strong for one man."

Dad's planning to go alone? Lloyd thought. That's not fair!

"When I destroy the staff, then everyone's power will return," Lloyd's father replied. "I don't need to defeat Chen, only to get the staff. I'll be alright, Nya. You, on the other hand, need to stay and protect Lloyd."

"What?" Lloyd shot to his feet. "No way! I can take care of myself!"

But his father looked at him sternly. "You're not ready for this. You shouldn't even be here."

"But I was invited. Just like Nya and Skylor and everyone else!"

"And why do you think that is?" Lloyd's ire dimmed at his father's raised tone. "This isn't a game. Master Chen is after all the power he can get, but he wants yours above all else. And if he were to take your elemental power, he would be virtually unstoppable." He turned back to Nya, who was listening with some confusion. "I know that you want to help, too, but it's important that you keep Lloyd safe."

Nya clenched her fists and took a deep breath. "You're right. Don't worry about us. You just get that staff and save our friends. We don't stand a chance without them."

Garmadon put a comforting hand on Nya's shoulder. "Chen may be powerful, but it's a twisted kind of power, one that he didn't earn on his own. Don't underestimate your own power just yet."

Lloyd averted his gaze as his father once again turned to him. His father kneeled down in front of Lloyd and rested his staff on the ground so he could embrace him. Lloyd couldn't help but hug him back, frustrated, but secretly scared of what might happen.

"I love you, Lloyd."

"Love you, too," he mumbled, painfully aware that Nya was still nearby.

"Do as Nya tells you. Stay strong, son, I'll be back soon."

His father used a stole crossbow to aim at the nearest building and shot a rope across the gap, creating a zipline that he could use to pass unnoticed over the guards' heads. Lloyd hated to watch his father disappear into the night alone, to fight an enemy who had already outsmarted so many others.

But my dad's smart, too, Lloyd reminded himself. He's beat Chen before, he'll do it again. He kept reminding himself of this until he believed it.

Hours seemed to pass as the two ninja waited. Lloyd huddled in the shadows while Nya paced back and forth along the narrow space on the wall. Lloyd tried to distract himself, and though he had an abundance of sticks and rocks and leaves, there wasn't much he could do with them.

Chen's palace remained quiet.

Occasionally, guards would pass through the grounds below, but they gave no indication that they knew about the intruders. Even long after Lloyd's patience had worn out and the moon had dragged itself higher in the sky, and Lloyd could have sworn that the sun was going to rise at any second, there was still no sign of his father.

Finally, he couldn't stand the silence any longer. "I think Dad needs help."

"He's fine," Nya insisted bluntly.

"But it's been ages since he left!"

"It's not that easy, Lloyd. It'll take some time for him to find the staff, confront Chen, and get everyone else out."

"Yeah, but something should've happened by now, right? Look at them!" Lloyd leaned over the edge of the wall, eyeing the guards who looked as if they might fall asleep. "There should be an alarm, or everybody rushing around, or something. If they were fighting Chen already, we would at least hear about it."

Nya stared out over the palace grounds and Lloyd knew she knew he was right. But she wasn't going to say it.

"We just have to be patient. We'll wait until sunrise –"

"And then what?" Lloyd asked warily.

"Just sit tight. I'm sure the others will be back soon."

It sounded too good to be true, but Lloyd tried to sit back down and wait for a while longer. After all, there wasn't much else he could do.

Except that he was the Green Ninja. He could do anything, couldn't he? He had a prophecy, and impressive bloodline, and more power than anyone else, maybe even Chen himself. He remembered what his dad had said to Nya: Chen may be powerful, but it's a twisted kind of power, one that he didn't earn on his own. Don't underestimate your own power just yet.

Master Chen may have stolen a bunch of elements, but Lloyd had been born with power over earth, ice, lightning, and fire. Even if he'd never been able to summon that power before, surely it would come now in the face of great danger. Maybe he really was the only one who could do this.

Lloyd took a deep breath.

He looked to Nya. Her gaze was still locked on the palace, as if she was trying to make something, anything, happen through sheer willpower.

"Hey, Nya," he whispered.

"What now, Lloyd?"

He looked over his shoulder at the forest behind them. "I think I heard something."

"It's probably just the wildlife," she said, but her eyes were narrowed as she tried to see through the undergrowth.

"I don't know," he pressed. "It sounded pretty big. And dangerous. You should probably check it out, just to be sure. I'll wait here."

Now Nya was scrutinizing him. Lloyd tried to look as honest as possible, hoping beyond hope that she would take the bait and leave, just for a second.

"I'll be right back," she finally said. "Don't move a muscle." She then climbed up the wall's watchtower and leapt into the trees.

As soon as she was gone, Lloyd seized the rope his dad had used. He hesitated and took a deep breath. "Come on, Lloyd," he said to himself. "You're the Green Ninja. You can do this!"

He slid down the makeshift zipline to the roof of the nearest building. He passed right over a guard without being noticed. He wouldn't have much time before Nya realized that he was gone, so he would have to move fast and make sure not to leave a trail.

Lloyd ducked into the shadows, and as one guard moved out of view, he leapt onto another roof. There he found a window that wasn't locked, and he dived inside a dark hallway before the next guard came around.

He breathed a sigh of relief. So far, so good.

"Lloyd!"

He whipped around at the sound of Nya's voice. "How did you—" She had been right behind him! He'd underestimated how fast she was.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she hissed as she came through the window, struggling to keep her voice low in her fury.

"I . . . I have to help my parents, and everyone else. You don't understand, I'm the only one who can stop Chen!"

"Forget it, Lloyd, he's too powerful, and you're just a kid. We can't defeat him like this. We need to get out of here so we can come back and fight him when we're more prepared." Nya reached out a hand to grab his arm, but Lloyd stepped back.

"No, I'm not giving up!" At the same time, a shrill alarm sounded and the lights flipped on. Lloyd realized that he had walked right into a tripwire. "Whoops."

The doors at the end of the hall flew open and three of Master Chen's palace guards appeared. Lloyd readied himself as one of the guards rushed towards him. This was exactly the kind of thing he had been training for all his life.

At first, the guard thought he could just grab Lloyd without having to put up a fight. But Lloyd swiftly leapt out of the way, with a shout of, "Ninja-dodge!"

He had learned in practice that he was too small to have any power behind his punches against a much larger opponent. But he could move faster and wear his enemy out without having to land a single hit. He dodged and blocked their attacks easily, all the while saying things like, "Ninja block! Ninja duck! Ninja escape!"

Then Lloyd spotted a nearby vase and got a clever idea. He "Ninja leap-ed" around his opponent and gave a mighty "Ninja push!" into the expensive-looking flower pot. The man crashed headlong into the vase, and dirt and petals flew everywhere. The guard was out cold.

"See! No one's a match for the Green Ninja!"

While he had been fighting the one guard, Nya had dispatched the other two. At first, Lloyd thought they would have a moment of respite, but before he could take another breath, even more guards appeared at the end of the hall.

Lloyd was ready to take them all on, but Nya held him back. "There's too many. I'll hold them, but you have to get out of here!" He didn't have time to argue as she ran to meet them. Lloyd didn't seem to have much of a choice, either. He would have to leave Nya behind. But he wasn't about to leave.

Lloyd turned and ran down the adjacent hall before anyone could give chase. He would find Chen, destroy his staff, and with their combined strength, everyone would be able to defeat Master Chen forever.

Silence settled over the long corridors as Lloyd left the fight behind. He turned a corner and passed through a hall half full of strange trinkets. There were a few weapons here, and he thought about taking one to fight with. But Lloyd had always been better at hand-to-hand combat, and a sword didn't seem like it would do much good against a man in control of nearly every element imaginable.

Lloyd had the urge to slow down and try to figure out where he was going, but he was afraid that slowing down would only get him caught. The alarm had been raised, so there could be guards around every corner.

Another hall revealed an exhibit of valuable pottery. Despite the obvious display of wealth, all these hallways looked the same, and Lloyd's breathing was becoming labored. The thought occurred to him then that he didn't have much of a plan in regards to finding or confronting Master Chen.

But as he ran, the floor dropped out from under his feet and he was plunged into darkness. He half slid, half fell down a short passage before being dropped onto the stone floor underground.

Lloyd groaned, sitting up, and brushed off his green gi. So far he didn't feel like such a powerful ninja. "I really gotta grow into this thing."

A strange sound resonated in the air and startled Lloyd from his musing. He whipped his head around as something moved behind him and saw two large, glowing pink eyes drawing nearer.

Lloyd gasped, frozen to the spot.

"Lloyd!"

He looked down the other direction, half expecting to see something else just as terrifying.

But no, it was Skylor peeking around a bend in the tunnel, a lit torch in her hand. "This way, come on!"

She didn't have to tell him twice. Lloyd scrambled to his feet and sprinted down the low tunnel, away from the beast. It snarled, and Lloyd could feel a wave of heat wash over him as the serpent opened its jaws wide, and the air was fouled with the stench of its breath. He reached out a hand and Skylor yanked him into the side passage just as the serpent's fangs closed on empty air.

As soon as they were in the clear, she ushered him down the passage, deeper into the shadows. The opening behind them was too small for the snake to get through. Lloyd followed on Skylor's heels, eager to put some distance between himself and the giant beast.

"Skylor, you escaped!" he marveled. He couldn't express just how relieved he was to see her. His heart was pounding like it was still trying to run from the huge snake, and he was almost starting to regret his foolhardy mission. But if she was here, maybe that meant his father had actually succeeded. "What happened?"

The path ahead widened, leading into a larger hall where the barebones of a building were visible. Wooden beams crisscrossed on both sides, cobwebs hanging on the edges of the hall, and it looked as if they were walking between walls.

"My father's taken everyone's powers," Skylor said grimly. "And he has your dad."

Lloyd stopped short. "What?"

Lloyd hadn't thought it was possible, or he hadn't wanted to believe it. Just like that, Chen had taken his father captive. He'd taken everyone.

He clenched his fists, his anger boiling. He tried to use what he felt to search for the power inside of himself. It was there, he knew it was, and if he could just find it, he could win.

Skylor put a hand on his shoulder. But he cut her off before she could speak.

"If you're going to try to tell me to turn back, then save it. He's got my mom and my dad, Pixal and Seliel and maybe even Nya now!" Lloyd fought back the urge to cry, because tears weren't going to save any of them. "You don't understand, I need to stop Chen; alone if I have to!"

But Skylor's gaze was more sympathetic than he expected. She dropped to her knees, setting the torch on the ground, and pulled him in for a hug. Lloyd buried his face in her shoulder, struggling to be brave in her embrace. He was scared, as much as he hated to admit it, but it didn't matter when there was so much at stake. The Green Ninja was the only one who could end this.

Or so he thought.

"You're not alone," Skylor whispered. Lloyd didn't know what to say. He was taken back to the beginning of all this, when they had found the invitations, and Skylor had first told them about her father. Somehow, he felt that she wanted to encourage herself as much as him.

Then she said something else that snapped him out of the moment. "This is going to be hard, Lloyd, but you have to trust me. No matter what happens, just trust me."

Lloyd nodded because he didn't think he could speak without choking on his words. Then before he could make sense of anything, she snatched up the torch and blew it out. He was plunged into darkness once again, and Skylor's comforting presence was gone.