Hey all! So you know how I just published the next chapter of OUAD yesterday? Well, this is a story that I have been working on for a while now. I was meaning to start publishing when I've finished completely writing and transcribing it, but I just can't hold onto it any longer! This one is going to be a bit darker than anything I've published before, but so far I have LOVED writing it, and I hope you enjoy it just as much as I have enjoyed writing it!
Much thanks to OnlyLonelyStars for her immense help with all this and listening to me rant about it for hours! Here it is, and enjoy!
The day Lloyd left Ninjago started out like any other day. In other words, it was boring. There was absolutely nothing to do and the alerts that had occurred so far weren't even worth going outside for. So, they did what they normally did on days like these. They sat around and told stories.
"So then I was like, "uh yeah no, not worth it" and kicked him in the face." Jay finished, draped across the couch in a way that would look painful, if it wasn't Jay doing it.
"Ok, why?" Nya asked, trying not to be a bit worried for Jay's sanity at this point.
"Why not is a better question." Cole replied, staring up at the ceiling. "The little bugger deserved it."
"Yeah exactly! He gets it!" Jay grinned, happy that his best friend understood at least, even if his fiance didn't.
"I will say it again, y'all are strange." Harumi turned the page of her book, only half paying attention.
"Ok, but consider this: no? Maybe don't dropkick a rattlesnake next time?" Lloyd shook his head. By now, he was mostly convinced that Jay had a death wish. Mostly.
"Hey, I obviously lived to tell the tale!"
"Clearly, you're still talking." Kai muttered in a salty tone, trying and failing to ignore them.
"It had it coming!" Cole dismissed. "Besides, the tales Sparkplug can tell us are well worth the danger it takes to get the tale in the first place."
"I heard what you said, Kai!"
"Perhaps next time a snake scares you, you should do something better, like leaving it alone. Not all of us are immune to snake venom, Jay." Zane said.
"Alright, then you guys can do the smart thing and leave the snake alone, while I do the awesome thing and dropkick it!" Jay cheered, not fazed at all by the danger he put himself in.
"But- that is what we did!" Lloyd rolled his eyes.
"Party pooper." Cole muttered, high fiving Jay.
The alarm went off, a slightly more shrill one than normal. Everyone immediately looked at each other, trying to decipher which alarm it was. Nya looked around, listening to the sound, and shook her head. "Nope, boring."
"Ugh, another attempted robbery? So lame!" Jay laid back down. "That was the robbery one, right?"
"Yeah, and that's like the third one today… Someone's desperate today."
Harumi grinned, opening her book back up. "I still can't believe you all have a different alarm for literally anything that could happen."
"That is not entirely accurate. We do not currently have one differentiating between "high speed police chase" and "low speed police chase"." Zane clarified.
"Let me guess, someone was bored one day."
"That is correct."
Cole shrugged. "Here's the thing though, and why would we even need that difference? Seems like a waste of time to program an alarm for something that's practically the same thing."
"Well duh, to tell if we need to go fast, or faster!" Jay said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, causing Cole to raise an eyebrow questioningly.
"But, we always go faster! That's not even a question!"
"Fine then, faster or much faster!"
Cole glanced up as another alarm went off, a different one than last time. "Hey look, another alarm. What's this one?"
Nya bit her lip. "I think that's the interdimensional portal one, if I'm not mistaken. Who wants to go check it out?"
Lloyd rolled his eyes as everyone else shouted out their votes on who should have to go. "I'll check it out. Who knows, it might be one of our other-dimensional allies."
Cole raised an eyebrow mischievously. "You sure it's not Akita?"
Lloyd frowned, grabbing his sword from the couch, "Cole!"
"Who now?" Asked Harumi curiously.
"You don't wanna know, trust me." Jay assured her.
"Look, can we just not bring up the Never Realm?" Lloyd asked, just about ready to leave. "I'll be back soon, you know the drill!"
"See you in a bit Lloyd."
Harumi blew him a kiss, causing him to blush a deep red. He tried to push this aside, however, leaving for the edge of the anomaly. The signal was coming from the border of Hiroshi's Labyrinth.
When he got there, he saw the portal immediately. It was dark purple and gold, so not threatening like some of the other ones he'd seen.
"Ok, weird color, but no surprise there… Nothing has come out. Actually, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing…" He reached out to touch it, and it zapped him. "Ow! Ok, don't touch it. Just gotta slide down this hill so I can see what's below it and—" He slipped, losing his balance on a loose rock. For one second he thought he might be able to avoid a disaster, but then he fell in. "Oh, darn it-"
The landing on the other side was… not comfortable. It hurt. Landing on rocks wasn't comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, and the harsh glare of the sun above made his eyes hurt. "Okay, note to self; don't fall into weird portals!" He groaned, getting to his feet. Now…where am I?"
All around him was bare and in the distance, the ruins of a giant city, exposed metal pieces reflecting the glare of the sun. The sky above was a harsh brown, with only hints of blue that were quickly swallowed up by the clouds. It was flat, like a plain, but with no plants, no trees, not even any other people in sight. He glanced around, trying to see if there was anywhere to go, any mountains or trees that might help him to figure out where to go. There was nothing, just dead silence.
Well, it was silent until he got knocked to the ground, slamming his head against the dirt and rocks painfully.
"What the heck are you doing here? And you'd better answer fast, or I'll kill you." The girl who was speaking was holding a sword that looked a lot like his golden one. She was maybe eighteen, at the most, and had light blonde hair that was almost white. Her purple and golden eyes flashed as she waited impatiently for his answer.
"Wha- wait one second! I just got here."
"Answer the question and don't even think about using your powers on me, Lloyd. I can put up a shield much faster than you can summon them."
"I'm not gonna- look, I don't know what's going on or how you know my name, but I swear, I'm not going to attack you!" He tried to think about what he could do, but drew a blank. She was on top of him with a sword to his throat and his own sword was digging painfully into his back right now. She had the upper hand and they both knew it.
"Liar. Why are you here?"
"I already said, I fell through a portal that showed up in my world and now I'm here! Not that I even know really where here is, but you get the point!"
"Ok, now I know you're lying."
"Well what do you want me to say? I'm here to kill you?"
She frowned, starting to look confused. "Well yeah, it'd be more in character
He blinked, starting to get confused himself. "Huh? Well look, I'm not here to kill you. On my honor, I don't even know what's going on here."
She scoffed, not releasing her grip on her sword or relaxing a bit. "Yeah, right, like that has ever meant anything to you. Fine then, if you 'aren't here to kill me', prove it. And don't lie, I know my twin brother well enough that I'll be able to tell if you're lying."
He shook his head slowly. "I don't have a sister, twin or otherwise. I'm an only child."
The girl frowned. "Seriously? Yeah right. Ok, time to prove it to me, what happened to the rest of the team?"
"Uh...Okay, Kai's the red ninja; Zane's made of titanium and has a girlfriend, Jay and Nya are engaged, Cole's no longer a ghost, and Pixal is Samurai X. Do you mean that?"
She tilted her head, getting more confused. That only increases when she sees his sword, identical to hers. "Wait, that's—that's impossible."
Lloyd shook his head. "Impossible is a relative term."
"Show me your powers. Quickly."
"What, why?" He summoned a small green flame to his hand, dissipating it in a few seconds, "What did that prove?"
She finally relaxed, getting off of him and sheathing her sword. She offered him a hand up. "Sorry about that. You can't lie about what color your powers are. I'm Annalise Garmadon."
Lloyd blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah, no problem. I'm Lloyd Garmadon. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, I figured. It's nice to meet you too. You said a portal opened up in your world?"
"Uh huh. Last time it wasn't so bad, but you've gotta be sure, ya know?" Lloyd stood up, still glancing around at the landscape around him.
"Don't I ever." Annalise responded. "This is really weird, gotta say that."
"It never really gets better honestly. All the realms I've visited so far aren't much better." He shook away the thought of everywhere else he'd been. This was extremely different, though.
"Okay then. Well, we don't want to stay in one place for too long, we really don't want my brother to find us."
Lloyd frowned. "Why? What would he do?"
Her face darkened and she got up, beginning to make her way among the ruins of what he realized must have once been Ninjago City. "You don't wanna know."
"But… that's why I asked."
Annalise crossed her arms. "Well, unless you want to get your life energy forcibly stolen from you, I would suggest you follow me. That's what he'd do if he found us here. Now help me move this aside, we want to be in Ninjago City before nightfall."
He blinked twice. "Uh- yeah, ok. Lead the way."
Annalise nodded and turned around, gesturing for him to follow her. "This way, Green Machine, and watch your step."
Update: So I've been transcribing and thinking and have decided to update and fix errors in all the chapters up until the one I just published. If you're rereading this and wondering why some stuff is different, it is because my own past writing bugs me and I had the urge to update it all one day. If you're new to the story, welcome! Drop me a review if you enjoyed it, I would love to hear your thoughts!