To guest askng about S8: Well, there was no child to accidentally free the serpentine, so... No one has unleashed the Great Devourer. Yet. :3

As Lloyd still felt he owed Uncle Wu for not showing up during the battle against the Anacondrai warriors, he made the long trek to the Monastery, all to warn the Ninja. Of course, having lost a lot of time at the police station and the former hideout, by the time Lloyd showed up, the Ninja had been gone for a few days. Only Nya was left, tidying up the damaged courtyard.

She was surprised to see him.

"Lloyd?" she asked. He waved awkwardly. Her hands tightened around her broom. She was wary of him. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh… I came to warn you. About Morro," Lloyd explained. "This is gonna sound crazy, but there's this really angry ghost and…"

"I- we know. That, already," Nya interrupted. She set the broom aside and looked him over. "What happened to you? You look exhausted." Her nose wrinkled. "Is that… blood?" It was hard to tell on the black clothes.

"It… It's not mine. Morro… killed… It doesn't matter." Nya didn't look convinced it was 'nothing'. "So, you know about Kai?" Lloyd asked, wanting to change the subject.

Nya let out a deep sigh and she had a concerned, distant look now. She was evidently worried about her brother.

"Morro came to the Monastery. He was possessing Kai. He attacked us, then stole Sensei Wu's staff… Turns out, there was a map imprinted onto it. We recently figured out it leads to the First Spinjitzu Master's tomb." She paused, looking at him again. "We don't know why Morro wants to know that, but… Well, the boys have gone after Morro now, to stop him and get Kai back."

She looked plaintively at the ground, then bitterly laughed. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this," she muttered. "I guess you have a right to know, we're talking about your grandfather's grave…"

"Why would Morro want to go there?" Lloyd couldn't help but ask.

"Beats me," Nya easily answered. "Probably the same reason he's… using my brother," she hissed at the end. Lloyd frowned, thoughtfully. Something wasn't adding up here.

"And why didn't you go with them?" he asked. It was now publicly known that she was Samurai X, ever since she had helped defeat the Anacondrai warriors in her mech. Surely, the Ninja could use her help in this? What use was she in a courtyard, cleaning up debris?

"Because they need to learn Airjitzu and I'm not a ninja," she bit out. The bitterness was unmissable.

"Oh."

She rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Thanks for coming all this way, Lloyd. That must have been inconvenient for you."

"Yeah. It was. And now it turns out it was a real big waste of time too," Lloyd bemoaned. "And I need, like, a hundred showers. Brad says blood never comes out too." His mind briefly flashed to the moment his clothes got splattered in blood. Then he was back in reality, looking a bit paler than before.

"I don't know about that…" Nya muttered. "Why don't you have a shower here? I could wash your clothes while you shower, get those stains out. And… I think I have some of Zane's cookies leftover. You could have some of those too."

"Really?" Lloyd asked, unable to hide how happy he was at the prospect of anything sweet.

"Well, I can't eat them on my own and who knows when those guys will be… back." She bit her lip, like she was worried they might not come back at all. Which was weird, since they were the Ninja. When didn't they win? She then offered Lloyd a fragile smile. "As long as you don't set up any more pranks, you can stay here as long as you like."

"Those weren't pranks, they were traps. Big, evil traps to do evil," Lloyd corrected. He then paused and didn't catch her smiling at him amusedly. She had noticed back then that she had only had maybe two 'traps' set up for her, in comparison to the boys who seemed to have had an endless amount. She had at first assumed the reasoning was sexist, that it had been because she was a girl… But now she was starting to think it might not have been that at all.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Lloyd asked her. That caught her off guard, but she was able to hide her surprise. Nya pursed her lips, then shrugged.

"Aside from the 'trap' nightmare you set up while we were sleeping… You seem like an all-right kid. Why wouldn't I help you?"

"Maybe 'cause I'm the spawn of the most evil man in Ninjago?" Lloyd asked, pointing at himself. She did hesitate at that.

"Well… That's true, but that doesn't make you the next most evil person in Ninjago. I still think you're alright. You know, Kai mentioned you were at sensei's memorial service."

"H-he did? What did he say?"

"Just that you were really sad that your uncle had died. And…" She placed a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't help but flinch at the touch. "I'm sorry you never got to know him. That wasn't fair on either of you. I'm sorry you have to live without him now."

Lloyd looked unconvinced by her words but didn't challenge her on it. She was perhaps the first person to say something along the lines of "sorry for your loss" to him. Having just lost a lot of people so recently, the reminder of Uncle Wu's death just seemed to sting even more. He didn't want to be reminded of the uncle he had missed out on, not when he had just lost others, not when he had just been robbed of a family.

"Come on in. Since the boys left, there's plenty of hot water. I guess Kai not being around to use it all up helps," Nya said. Lloyd looked at her uncertainly. He wanted to leave, but he also didn't want to go. The promise of a hot shower, clean clothes, and food… It swayed him. It made him want to say yes.

"I can stay as long as I like?" he asked. And by long, he meant short. He did not want to hang around.

"It's what I said," she repeated. Lloyd looked away, thinking it over. He kicked up some dust.

"Ok, but I need to go back to school soon. So, I'll only stay for a little bit."

Nya momentarily looked displeased at that, but she didn't argue. She just shrugged and said "Sure. Suit yourself."

Lloyd had a long shower, rinsing off all the blood from that night. As he got clean, he decided he couldn't let something like that ever happen again. He had been defenseless, unable to protect his family. Again. It turned out, it didn't matter if he was there or not. They had all died, despite him fighting alongside them. He'd made absolutely no difference. What if he found more people to call family? No, he couldn't lose anyone like that again. He could not be helpless like that again.

He needed to get stronger. Faster. Better. Quickly.

It was there and then, in that hot shower, that Lloyd decided he needed to learn Spinjitzu. If even Nya, a super competent and awesome samurai, was helpless to go and save her brother, then screw being anything but a ninja. Or at least, someone capable of Spinjitzu. He wasn't going to get used like that again, he wasn't going to be rendered a- a tool for someone else's work.

He was not going to lose anyone like that again.

He felt marginally better once he stepped out of the shower and put on clothes that were no longer blood-stained, thanks to whatever magic Nya had worked. Lloyd looked himself over in the mirror and… frowned. If he stared long enough, he could easily see where the blood stains had once been. They weren't visible anymore, but Lloyd still remembered where they were… How he had got them.

He quickly rubbed away the tears again. He had cried so much, his nose had turned red. There was no way of hiding that. Swallowing away the pain as well as he could, Lloyd got his photo from the place he'd hidden it, stuffed it in his pocket and stepped out of the bathroom, heading towards the kitchen, fully aware of what Nya would ask once she saw him.

"Have you been crying?" she asked, trying to hide her horror. She was definitely a better liar than Kai, but apparently not that good. Lloyd knew he couldn't deny it. His eyes, much like his nose, were reddened from crying. So rather than deny or admit it, Lloyd simply shrugged. He wasn't in the mood to talk about it and thankfully, Nya didn't pry. She did give him a very concerned look though.

Lloyd hopped onto the counter, where there was a plate of cookies and glass of milk waiting for him. He immediately ate one. He hadn't eaten since Morro had possessed him and for whatever reason, he hadn't felt hungry since. Biting down on the cookie though, Lloyd realized he was starving. Add to that how inhumanly good Zane's food tasted and Lloyd couldn't stop himself from hurriedly stuffing his mouth.

"Lloyd, not so many, you'll choke!" Nya warned, grabbing his wrists. "FSM, you'd think you haven't eaten in… Lloyd, when was the last time you ate?" she asked. Lloyd shrugged again and for some reason, that made Nya's lips wobble for a moment. It was brief and Lloyd almost missed it, but he caught it. Why did that upset her? That made no sense, it wasn't like she was the one that hadn't eaten in a while.

"Hasn't anyone been feeding you?" she asked, trying to sound neutral.

"No one's been around to," Lloyd answered. "Don't worry, it's just because I've been away from Darkley's. They'll give me something to eat as soon as I get back. It's just, you know, when we're doing practical experience, they expect us to look after ourselves. They encourage survival of the fittest," he calmly explained, like this was perfectly acceptable behavior.

"I'll cook you something," Nya abruptly decided. "I haven't been to the stores lately, but I think we've still got some ramen we could eat." It wasn't a question; Nya had already turned around to the cupboards and was taking out pots and pans.

While she busied herself with making ramen noodles, Lloyd ate the rest of the cookies and then slugged down his milk. He was still hungry, but no longer as badly as before. He wondered why his stomach had shut down for so long. It had never done that before. His mind briefly wandered back to the hideout, to how numb he had felt when he wasn't in so much pain, but nah, that couldn't have anything to do with it.

Nya didn't even comment on the empty plate of cookies once she turned back to him with two bowls of ramen. She just handed him his bowl and refilled his glass of milk. They ate in silence for several moments. Nya clearly wanted to ask him questions but didn't know how to ask. Lloyd simply didn't want to talk. Only the sound of them eating noodles disturbed the rather uncomfortable silence.

Then something occurred to him.

"You know, I've been thinking," Lloyd started. Nya looked at him expectantly but said nothing. "I think Morro is after the Realm Crystal."

Nya frowned. "The what?" she asked.

"The Realm Crystal. What did Ms. Bloodsmith say again…" Lloyd mumbled. "It's the only reliable way to travel between the sixteen realms. Its location is unknown, as it is buried with the First Spinjitzu Master," Lloyd parroted his teacher's words. "It's what Ms. Bloodsmith taught us when I was like, ten, I think. Or maybe nine. Anyway, I'm still waiting to learn more. Which is dumb."

"Why would a ghost want to travel across realms?" Nya asked. Lloyd shrugged and went back to contently eating. Nya, however, was not done. She looked thoughtfully out the window, mulling it over, trying to answer her question on her own. "Where can I find more information?" she then asked him. Lloyd just frowned at her.

"I'm thirteen, how would I know? You're the grown-up, you figure it out."

"I'm not actually a grown-up, you know. I'm seventeen," Nya pointed out, even though she usually argued the opposite.

"Same difference," Lloyd retorted, not caring at all. She rolled her eyes.

"Great," she muttered, not voicing the you're sooooo helpful that she was thinking. "Maybe I could go to the museum of history. That could be a starting point, at least…" The library could also be useful too. And wasn't there a special library that Wu used to visit? Maybe she should talk to Pixal…

"Well, I'm done," Lloyd announced, placing the empty bowl on the counter. "Thanks for the food, I guess. And the shower. And the clothes," he mumbled, looking anywhere but at her.

"Oh, so it does have manners," Nya teased. "Looks like Cole owes me twenty bucks." Lloyd stuck out his tongue.

"He won't believe you without proof," he pointed out. Nya smiled at him, which made Lloyd uncomfortable, so he hurriedly added "I'm gonna go back to Darkley's now."

"Really? Already?" Nya asked, surprised. "It'll be getting dark soon."

"So?"

"You're thirteen. You shouldn't be on your own."

Lloyd looked at her, like she had grown a second head. Being on his own was basically all Lloyd had ever known. Even when he did find others, he ended up alone.

"Maybe I could drop you off?" Nya suggested. Lloyd laughed derisively at that.

"Are you kidding me? If anyone finds out I was here, that I tried to warn you about some bad guy, I'll get expelled! They're super strict on this stuff, you know. And I can't get expelled. What would my dad think?"

Nya actually recoiled a little when Lloyd mentioned his father. It was like she had forgotten that Lloyd was the son of Lord Garmadon, the greatest villain that Ninjago had ever seen. Which was weird, because how could anyone ever forget that?

"Well… In that case…" Nya said, choosing her words carefully. "Thanks for that… insightful talk, Lloyd," she concluded. "You know, I really don't think you're such a bad kid. So what are you doing in a school like that?"

Lloyd's nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Hey! I'm the baddest of the bunch!" he boasted. "I'm Lord Garmadon's son! What do you mean I don't belong there? Where else would I be?!"

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it like- there's no need to get upset," Nya muttered defensively. "Fine. You want to leave, you can. Just… be careful. Ok?"

"Pff. Careful? Careful isn't a word where I come from!" Lloyd claimed, which did not fill her with confidence. Nya recognized he was quoting someone, but she couldn't quite place who.

Nevertheless, she stuck by her word and let him leave. (Of course, after Lloyd had left, she had secretly tailed him, to make sure he got back safely. Lloyd never found out. Once that had been ascertained, she had then taken off, to learn more about the Realm Crystal.)

After leaving the Monastery, Lloyd didn't know what happened to the Ninja in their little adventure. He had tried to keep up with them through the news, but even the newspaper couldn't always keep track of the Ninja and whatever adventures they got up to.

Apparently though, Lloyd had actually been key. By telling Nya about the Realm Crystal, Lloyd had inadvertently pointed her towards the creature behind Morro. From there, Nya was able to figure out what the ghost was up to. She didn't solve the mystery in time to actually stop the Preeminent from arriving in Ninjago, but it was still in advance enough that the battle was over before Stiix could get too badly damaged.

Somewhere on this adventure, Nya had also discovered she was the Master of Water. It wasn't clear how she had made the discovery or when she had found the time to train, but she had mastered it just in time to flood the Preeminent, killing it and anything that had lived inside it.

To be fair, Nya wasn't the only one that was going to "secretly" pick up a skill. Lloyd had vowed to learn Spinjitzu, in order to better protect his friends should that time ever come. And he was going to stick by it, no matter how hard it got. He had lost his family once when Uncle Wu had died. Then he had lost his family again when his gang of thieves had been murdered.

He was not going to lose his family again.

Readers: We really like the changes!

Me: *looks at Skybound* ArE yOu SuRe AbOuT tHaT?

Just so you know, I do read your reviews and they do make me smile, so thank you :)