what? an update actually relatively on time? D:

Watcher321: Thank you! I set out to make new lore for this fic, so I'm glad you enjoy it!

Guest: ninja go!

Bluehawk4: The dragons were some of my favorite characters and they couldn't just disappear all the way. I'm glad you enjoyed the elements scene! As for the golden weapons, well, we'll see...

SunSilver: Thank you! I enjoy trying to make new and interesting ways for the world of this fic to be explored, and I'm glad people like it :D

KayHau: let's hear for 54/60!


Previously on Skyward:

But before they could send off their attacks, the Warrior jerked to a halt. In the gap where it used to be stood Lloyd, hands outstretched and swirling with light.

A towering building of red and gold, hewn into the mountain and cast in soft shadows by the setting sun, loomed above their heads.

Lloyd ran his fingers across the wall. That's when I saved those old people from the Warrior scout. I didn't even have my powers yet.

From across the room, a golden dragon grinned wide. 'Thought you'd seen the last of me, huh?'

Goldie laughed. 'Okay, Lloyd,' he said quietly, across the tele-link only they could hear. 'Here you go, kiddo. Strike the bell, and fulfill your destiny.'

Light struck out from Lloyd.


The fighting ring was crowded today.

A curtain of flame flew above his head, making Lloyd's already sticky gi cling even more to his days had been getting steadily warmer, but today was the first that Lloyd had just wanted to stay inside, away from the sun and the humidity. The Dark Island, however, dragons loved the heat. Earlier, the top of the refuge had been thinned so more light could reach in and dragons flopped down into the patches of warmth. Now the heat seemed to energize them, goading some of the warriors of the clan into having an impromptu match in the previously-empty fighting ring.

A fire dragon was up there now, faced off against a small form dragon. The form dragon waited for the flames to pass before taking a running leap and throwing herself forward. Midair, she shrunk to the size of a pebble and slammed into the fire dragon's chest. The collision was much more powerful than her size made it appear.

Lloyd tracked the fight with his eyes. There was so much going on that it was somewhat of a hopeless task, and his powers weren't much use either. There was just too much input. When the fire dragon launched his flames, his pulse flared like an ember being stoked. When the form dragon changed her shape, her pulse would grow and shrink and change rhythms.

'Enjoying the show?'

Lloyd jumped. Jay stood to his left, holding out a food offering. In the chaos of the fight, he hadn't even felt him coming.

'It's crazy,' he said. 'Did you see when he almost blew her out of the ring? With just his breath?'

'I know, right!'

They stood together, eating off of the same meal. The fight eventually wound down, the fire dragon winning through sheer brute strength in the end. Lloyd cheered with the rest of the crowd as both dragons bowed to each other and left the ring.

'You wanna get up there?'

Lloyd started. Jay looked at him expectantly, a tiny grin in the corner of his mouth. 'You haven't had the chance to stretch your powers yet,' he said, with a wiggle of his eyebrows to let Lloyd know exactly which of his powers he was talking about.

The first stirrings of anticipation started in Lloyd's chest. Wasn't this what he'd been waiting for, forever? A chance to prove himself to the others- that he could fight too and was useful? Hesitation rose within him as well, but he shoved it down at the excitement on Jay's face. He couldn't disappoint him like that, especially when it was something he was going to have to learn sooner or later.

'Okay,' he said, with more confidence than he felt. 'Okay, yeah. Let's do it.'

Jay cheered.

They climbed into the ring to the surprised chatter of the crowd.

Jay spinjitzued but Lloyd let his transformation wash over him as he stood. They faced opposite each other for a split second, then Jay moved. He slipped into his super-speed, flying halfway around Lloyd in a blue of blue and darting forward to tap his wing. A small zap of lightning jolted through Lloyd. He spun to look for him, but Jay was already moving again.

So that's his strategy. Be so quick that I can't see where he is. Unfortunately for Jay, Lloyd was well-equipped to deal with this particular situation. The Refuge had quieted during their fight so that he and Jay were the only ones really using their powers. Now, with all other distractions gone, Lloyd's radar was able to focus solely on him.

Jay's pulse zipped around the ring and Lloyd sensed where he was even before his eyes had registered the lightning dragon. He waited until he could feel Jay coming towards him and lashed his tail out, catching the lightning dragon around the legs. Jay tripped and skidded across the ring.

Lloyd winced, even as he felt himself strengthen from the energy he'd leached from the hit. He pounced at Jay, transforming away his claws at the last second to not hurt him. Jay rolled. Lloyd's feet scrabbled for a hold on the stone. He found his footing but the lightning dragon was already on top of him and they both went down with a thud.

Jay immediately went for his wings. Stinging pain raked down the membrane, and Lloyd cried out his roar. He transformed his wings into arms and slipped out from under him in the momentary confusion, changing back when he was behind him.

Jay lunged for him again, but Lloyd bobbed under his swipe and away from the next. He tried to kick his feet out from under him again, but the lightning dragon was quicker and knew what to expect. He captured Lloyd's feet with his foreclaws and scratched out with his wings.

Lloyd transformed fully back into a human, only keeping his scales to cover his whole body. Jay'd been expecting this; he immediately tightened his hold on Lloyd's legs, but Lloyd didn't try to pull away but lunged for him instead. He leached energy from Jay. The lightning dragon buckled. His hold weakened and suddenly Lloyd found himself looking up at his soft underbelly, where the plate became thinner to allow greater flexibility.

Lloyd rolled away. Stolen energy buzzed within him. He could feel it feeding into the power lying dormant inside. Suddenly, something sparked within him. The faintest lines of gold crawled up his arms, weaving through the scales still there. Across the ring, Jay stopped to gawk. But then he was on Lloyd in an instant, biting fangs and clawing wings.

Lloyd waited until he was almost on top of him. He transformed completely, the drastic change in size allowing him to catch Jay off guard and flip on top of him.

Power surged just beneath his skin, roiling, churning. He could almost touch it as gold sparks danced along his wingclaw tips. Jay stared up at him, playfulness erased and replaced by fear.

And Lloyd hesitated.

It was only for a second. But a second was more than long enough for Jay to flip them again. He launched Lloyd across the ring and this time Lloyd stayed down, stunned by more than the breath just knocked out of him.

Disappointed murmurings went up from the crowd. Lloyd transformed back, feeling how his ribs ached at the jostling. Across the ring, Jay spinjitzued and came running over.

"Lloyd! Are you okay?"

Lloyd groaned. "Sore."

Jay laughed. No traces of fear could be seen in his eyes now as he helped Lloyd to his feet. "Wow, what a first fight, squirt! Thought you almost had me there at the end, not gonna lie."

"You were going easy on me," Lloyd pointed out. "In a real fight, I'dve been toast."

"Well, we can't all be prodigies," Jay said with a solemn nod. He laughed when Lloyd gave him the side-eye.

"Weren't you the one who had the most trouble?" he asked, reaching up to tap his nubs.

"I had a normal amount of trouble," Jay sniffed. "Also, no offense, but you stink. When's the last time you had a bath?"

Lloyd's awkward mumbling was answer enough, it seemed. Jay sighed, long and put-out, but he grinned down at him. "Right. Let's both go clean up. I think I hear the stream at the edge of camp calling my name."

He high-fived Lloyd as they left the ring. The Golden Power simmered and went to rest again within Lloyd.


Nya arched her hand above her head. A thin stream of water trailed after her fingers; she clenched her hand and the water formed into a sphere, then a blob when she uncurled them again. She passed control to her other hand and repeated the same movements.

These were the exercises she'd taught herself. Keeping control over water was a fickle thing, made more difficult by the fact that she was manipulating instead of creating. Kai, Jay, and Zane had to control and aim their elements. For her and Cole, they had to go the extra step of bending the element to their will.

She gathered the water in front of herself in a ball. Carefully, she carved a hole in the center and expanded it into a ring.

Five pairs of eyes trailed each of her movements.

Nya stared at her ring of water. She didn't want to break concentration- this was a tricky move and required focus- but it was hard not to when there were dragons looming over her shoulder. Five of them watched her: two with coarse manes and tails, another with spindly antlers, one that was much smaller than all the rest, and the last that was colored such an obnoxious purple that Nya wondered how it ever caught anything.

They were all staring at her, silent, with only their head-crests trembling intermittently. Was she doing something wrong?

Nya frowned, and her ring of water wavered. She was sure they were talking about her. The thing was, she didn't know what they were saying. She'd grown used to reading her brother and the others' body language as dragons, and had foolishly thought she'd become something of an expert in the matter.

Kai, Cole, Zane, and the rest didn't move like other dragons. Most of their emoting was copied directly from humans- they nodded for yes, shook their heads for no, grinned with big sharp teeth if they were happy. But these dragons so much differently- naturally, If she had to put a word to it. Most of their emoting came from their crests when it did, and Nya had already noticed Cole and Kai using their crests more and more themselves.

Nya dropped her hands self-consciously to her sides. Her water splashed to the ground and was quickly absorbed by the earth. The dragons stayed silent, head-crests fanning back and forth.

A flash of black caught her eye. The darkest color dragons tended to be here was brown, so that meant-

"Hey, Cole! You got a minute?"

Cole changed direction immediately. The earth ninja bounded over to her from across the opening, grin already fixed on his face. "Nya! What's up?"

Despite herself, Nya grinned back. "I don't know why they're staring at me," she said. "All I'm doing is practicing with my water."

Cole's eyebrows pulled together and smoothed out again in an instant. "Ah. I know what it is. All the water dragons disappeared hundreds of years ago," he said. "They've probably never seen someone use it before."

"Wait, really?" So I wasn't messing up. She shook her head internally at herself. Not messing up. She was learning, and she was doing it all on her own. No one could judge and find her lacking for that.

Cole shrugged. "That's what Fire told me at the Coves," he said. "Why?"

Nya stared at her hands. "I just assumed that- since I had powers-" Because it only made sense, right? Out of the six elemental masters she knew existed, five of them had dragon bonds. She'd never really stopped to think about it, but the idea was always there at the back of her mind.

Now Cole was frowning too. "Yeah, wait a minute. That doesn't make sense." He glanced over her shoulder. "Lemme ask Resin. She'd probably know."

He turned to the dragon with spindly antlers who had been watching Nya. They stared at each other without speaking aloud, and it was only a handful of moments before Cole was nodding slowly.

"So powers and elements are different for these guys," he said, glancing back to her. "I think what she's saying is that humans can have elemental powers without having dragon bonds?" Cole paused. "Yeah. She says you must have someone in your family tree who had elemental water abilities."

"Someone in my family tree." Nya remembered little of her parents- she would have to ask Kai whenever she tried to put together facts and information about them. But a picture nigged at the back of her mind, a portrait she'd seen before at the Museum of History. Had her mother been wearing blue in it?

She shook the thought away. As if color preference in clothes automatically made that person an elemental master. "So no cool powers for me?" she asked, half teasing and half disappointed.

"It was a last-resort measure. I don't know if any dragon would be trusting enough now to bond with a human." Cole looked apologetic. "Sorry, Nya."

Nya waved him off. "It's not your fault."

Cole cocked his head to one side. "Your powers would have been like Zane's, but stronger, they're saying." His face scrunched up. "Oh, and you would have been able to secrete poisonous mucus from your skin?"

Both of them shuddered at that. 'Yeah, no thanks for me," Nya decided. "I'll stick with my normal, non-mucus-y skin for now." She smiled. "Thanks for translating for me. I know you're busy."

Now it was Cole's turn to wave her off. "Never too busy to take care of pack."

Nya felt warm. Pack. It was a reminder that she belonged, that she had a team to back her up even as a human and apparently without any dragon abilities.

It made her think of the other human who'd been brought along to the Island.

A little ways away, but still within their visibility, Lee was sitting by herself on an outcropping of rock. She had a scroll spread across her lap and several more covering the surface around her. Intermittently, she would pause in her writing to glance up at the dragons surrounding her.

"I feel kinda bad for her," Nya whispered. "At least I have you guys for company. She's all alone here, with no one to talk to."

Cole turned slightly, just enough to see over his shoulder. He made a noise of assent in the back of his throat. "She said something to upset Lloyd."

Nya nodded. "I heard that too. Kai didn't tell me what it was, though."

"I don't think he knew."

That was probably true- the more Kai knew about something, the more likely he was to get involved. The fact that nothing had happened yet spoke to Lloyd keeping quiet about this particular incident.

"I wish Sensei was here." Cole frowned at the way it came across. "Well, obviously, of course I do. But I meant that at least then they could talk to each other."

Nya fell silent. Memories of that traumatizing night came back to her: the flaming sails, the cracking mast, the swarming Warriors crawling across the deck. "Do you think he's dead?" she ventured.

She hadn't voiced that thought to anyone yet. Jay and Zane were great friends, but both were too fragile for that sort of discussion. Jay would likely get more stressed out and then try to hide it with bad jokes and Zane would insist everything was fine through the sheer power of his optimism. But Cole- Cole was a realist, like her. She trusted his judgment in situations like this.

Cole was silent for a long moment. "I don't think he's dead," he said finally. "Call it a hunch. But those Warriors were definitely acting under the command of someone, and if I was the leader of a force like that, I wouldn't be worried about keeping my enemies alive. Especially if they were without allies and had potential information to give."

Nya nodded slowly. It made sense, and something inside of her settled at it. "How do you think the Warriors are communicating? Is it like you guys' telepathy?"

"Wouldn't put it past them," said Kai, approaching from their right. Her brother's hair had gotten long in the weeks he'd been on the island; without the aid of his hair gel, it hung down the back of his neck in a choppy mullet. "S'not like they haven't already copied all our other powers."

"Where have you been all day?" Nya asked, looking his sweat-soaked appearance up and down.

"Watching the fights," Kai said like he couldn't believe she was even asking. "Lloyd and Jay went up for a bit. The kid's got some good instincts, if not a little flinchy." He put on a voice like someone from a period past. "We'll make a proper fighter out of him yet." He flipped his hair out of his eyes, glancing quickly between the two of them. "So what's up with you? Why are you talking about telepathy?"

"We were wondering how the Warriors were communicating," Cole said with a frown. "Hey, Kai, do you remember what we saw when we first got here? With Garmadon? He appeared out of a portal of some sorts with a bunch of Warriors," he explained for Nya's benefit. "Maybe he's able to travel between the Islands himself."

"Garmadon," Kai whistled. "Now that's someone I haven't thought about in a while."

"Same," Nya admitted. With the Stone Army invasion, Lloyd's coma and the subsequent attack on the Bounty, and getting to the Dark Island, she hadn't spared a thought for the disappeared warlord. Now she wondered if that was an oversight and cursed herself for it.

"He has been quiet," Cole said. "Eerily so."

"He vanished right after he found out we were dragons," Kai said. "He's probably ratted us all out to the Overlord already."

"But Lloyd," Nya said. "He knew Lloyd was a dragon too. Would he really have risked jeopardizing his son like that?"

"Did Lloyd ever tell him that he was the Green Ninja?" Cole interrupted.

Kai and Nya shared a look. "If he did, he never told me," Kai admitted after a moment. "What would that change, though? Green Ninja or not, he still knows that he's an energy dragon."

"But knowing about the Green Ninja might be the push he needs to spill," Nya said. "Look, I know Lloyd and him have their complicated relationship, but I don't trust the guy as far as I can throw him."

"You're preaching to the choir," Kai muttered darkly. "The next time I see his ugly mug, I'll take care of him myself. Boom, prophecy averted."

Nya laughed at that, but Cole still looked serious. "Lloyd wouldn't like that, though," he said.

"He'd get over it."

"Or he'll feel betrayed by you and never trust you like this again."

"What," said Kai incredulously. "Why are you sad? C'mon, Cole, he's Garmadon."

Cole sighed. "Look, all I'm saying is that I can see where he's coming from. I know you two lost your father as kids-"

"Are you saying that we didn't love him?" Nya asked, bristling. But Cole backtracked quickly, holding up his hands.

"Of course not," he said. "But you have to acknowledge that you see things differently. My relationship wasn't the best with my own dad for years, but I still loved him and wanted to make him proud. You were there Kai, I'm sure you felt it."

Kai huffed, which was as good as acknowledgment. "But his dad's evil," he stressed. "Your dad hated dragons for a reason. Lloyd's levels villages and attacks innocent people."

"And he's still his dad," Cole said, somber. "You can't change that. What if one of you two turned bad? Could you honestly say you wouldn't still not want to hurt them?"

Nya was silent. Really, what could she say to that? But Kai shook his head after a moment's pause.

"I wouldn't want to hurt her," he said, with a quick glance at Nya. She nodded, seeing where he was going. "But I would still do everything in my power to stop her from hurting others, and if hurting her meant doing that..." His meaning was clear.

Cole sighed. "We just have to hope that when it comes down to it, Lloyd feels the same way."


It was late afternoon when Cole set down his stick and declared his planning finished.

Cole stretched his back and shoulders, feeling the way the muscles protested at the way he'd been hunched over for hours. He walked to the entrance of the cave, careful not to disturb the lines etched into the dirt of the floor. Those lines represented hours of work. It wouldn't do to ruin it all now.

'Hey, everyone,' he called across the group tele-link. 'Meeting time. Get Nya and come over to the planning cave as soon as possible.'

'Roger that,' came Kai's reply. 'Be there in a few.'

Cole stepped back inside and crossed to his original position. He took a minute to wish for the table and maps of the Bounty, or even of their beatdown little apartment. He could just pull out whatever piece of paper he needed and organize his thoughts neatly. But on the Island, such things just didn't exist. A stick and some dirt would have to make do.

"Holy cow," said Jay, ducking into the cave. Lloyd and Zane were close on his heels. The lightning ninja's eyes widened as he took in the sprawling notes and drawings across the floor.

"This looks… formidable," commented Zane, craning his neck to read some of the scribblings.

"Not all of it is the plan," Cole said. "I just don't like erasing my work. Be careful as you come in."

They crept along the walls, making way for Kai and Nya to enter. Cole let them greet each other for several seconds as he collected his thoughts. This plan was the product of days of scouting and brainstorming. He'd worked through it forward and backward and all ways in between. This iteration was the best possible outcome they could hope for.

"Alright, team," he said, calling their attention back to him. "We've destroyed some of the Matter, but the Overlord got to a good bit of it before we could. When Zane and I went scouting to their camp, we found out that they've been harvesting and refining it into weapons."

"They're putting the Matter into missiles," Zane said. "I used my secondsight to spy into their construction and saw their production of both the missiles and tanks presumably to fire them."

"On Ninjago?" Jay gasped. "But missiles can't reach that far, right?"

"Normal missiles, no," said Nya. "Dark Matter-infused ones? Who knows?"

"We have to assume that they can," Cole said. "If he upsets the balance, he'll be able to cross over and take control. We need to act now, while we have the upper hand in preparation and surprises."

"Thus: the plan," Kai said, gesturing at the floor.

"Thus the plan," Cole agreed. "Our best bet is to sneak into that camp right away and destroy those missiles before the launchers are complete. Now that we have the Elemental Blades, we're at better odds. Since they're not made of Golden Power, the possibility of the Overlord sensing them should be lower."

"But not completely gone?" pressed Jay.

Cole shook his head. "We don't know. Almost everything we're attempting here has either never been done before, or the last time it was was hundreds of years ago. We're pretty much flying blind."

"Not all the way blind," Kai said. "Now that Lloyd has the Golden Power, we've got an ace up our sleeve." He ruffled Lloyd's hair, which had the kid leaning into his side.

"Only as a last resort," Zane cautioned. "Should Lloyd even come on this mission? I imagine we want as few people as possible to better our odds, and his power might alert the Overlord to our positions."

"I thought of that," Cole said. "But I think that if it comes down to it, we'd rather have his powers with us than far away. It's a risk. But what part of this isn't?"

Unexpectedly, Jay started laughing.

"What?" asked Cole. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," said Jay, grinning at him. "It's just so good to see you, being all leader-y and doing your thing again."

"It has been a while," said Zane, smiling too. "I'm glad we're all back together again."

"Hear, hear," said Kai. Nya tipped an imaginary glass.

Cole looked at them all, five adults and one almost-one, pressed into a tiny cave and encouraging and strengthening each other. Their comradery bolstered him, happiness swelling in his chest. Finally, his pack was completely back together.

"Alright," he said, reining in their attention again. "Let me set the scene."