Lloyd hummed a tune under his breath as he wove around a table and sat down on the couch, staring at the opposite wall. It had been a few hours since his little picnic with Anna, and he was quite certain that he was beginning to get used to the layout of this base. It was definitely similar in layout to his home, if a slightly more tense environment. That was something that was relatively unavoidable, though.

Leaning backwards against the couch, he sighed a little, his thoughts flickering to his family and Harumi. Well… Harumi especially. He smiled a little, imagining her surprise when he came back with another sister.

He was still grinning like a madman when the door opened and Annalise walked in, now dressed in her gold and purple gi and looking quite pleased with herself.

"You look happy." She remarked, leaning on the couch behind him curiously.

"I'm thinking about my family and my girlfriend, of course I'm happy!" He glanced at her and grinned even wider. "It's something that makes me happy."

"Me too, actually! Anyways, I had an idea for something we could try at some point, if you'd like."

"Oh?"

"Yeah! As it turns out, I just remembered that we have a training room, and since we barely have the time or energy to use it, I figured you and I could kinda give it some use!"

Lloyd stared at her for a second. As far as he had seen, Annalise was crazy powerful. Like… she'd offhandedly mentioned how her and her brother had destroyed literal mountains. That wasn't a power to mess around with!

Even so, he couldn't help but be slightly intrigued by the idea. Sparring a person who may be as powerful- or maybe even more powerful than him? What guy wouldn't want to try that? The only problem was that he wasn't quite sure if it was a good idea. Anna had to fight her brother on almost a daily basis, and if she was tired from a sparring session… that wouldn't be good.

"Are you sure? I don't want to… I dunno…"

Annalise snickered, rolling her eyes. "What, are you afraid you might lose?"

"What!? No!" He grinned, moving to face her. "That's ridiculous! Where'd you get an idea like that from?"

"Oh… I dunno, your hesitance to spar me."

"Bah, ridiculous. I'm not hesitating."

"You so are. I think you're scared."

"You didn't even give me a chance to explain why I was unsure whether or not it was a wise idea!"

She leaned her elbows on the back of the couch, raising an eyebrow. "Fine then. Go for it."

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "I was just saying that if Lloyd happened to attack, I want you to be able to fight him, you know? I don't want to tire you out in case he attacks again."

"Oh, if you're worried about that, it's no big deal." Annalise waved a hand around in the air and shrugged a bit. "I've survived much worse, believe me."

"Uh… that's actually a bit depressing."

She snickered. "It's the truth!"

"Still depressing! Seriously, it's kind of rough."

Her smile dropped a bit, and she ducked her head. "Sorry. It just doesn't seem all that bad to me."

That was the hardest part about it all.

Lloyd reached over and put a hand on her shoulder, smiling at her. "I know. I just don't want to accidentally doom your Ninjago because we were sparring."

"Right, and I appreciate that." Annalise took a deep breath and glanced back up at him, summoning a smile. "But it'll be fine. Lloyd shouldn't attack for another day or two, at least, and we'll definitely be able to take him by then."

"In that case-" He stood up, letting his hand drop from her shoulder. "Lead the way! Let's do this."

Annalise clapped happily and practically bolted, expecting him to follow.

And follow he did.

She led him down a few hallways and into the far side of the building, opening a nondescript door on the left and gesturing for him to come inside, a wide grin on her face.

"Come on! It's a bit… unused, but it'll work for our purposes."

Lloyd smiled back at her and ducked inside, flipping on the light by the door. What he saw was… sad.

The training room looked just like his own. Training mats on the floor, weapons on every wall, dummies standing in corners, punching bags and training sticks standing up by the wall closest to him. The only difference was how dusty and abandoned it looked.

The light above his head flickered a little, seeming almost tired. Between the dust that coated every available surface and how all the equipment looked very lightly used, it was kind of… sad.

He had to make an effort not to visibly get sad at the sight.

Annalise came behind him and shut the door, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms. "So… yeah. I told you it's a bit dusty and stuff, we're not able to use it as much as we used to. Everyone else is involved with trying to keep Ninjago from falling apart and I have… more than enough practice with sparring all the time."

"Yeah, I can't blame you." Lloyd took a deep breath, inhaling the dust in the air, and turned to look at her, summoning another smile and hoping she couldn't see how sad it was. "Anyways, are we gonna use weapons or hand to hand?"

"Mmm, hand to hand with powers, I think." She pushed off the wall, bouncing a little on the mat to test how springy it was. "That'll be a lot more interesting."

"I agree." Lloyd moved to the center of the room, noting how much room he had and what things he could use to block her blasts if he needed to."You sure about this?"

"Certainly!" She squared up, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "It'll be fine, I have experience in absolutely destroying you."

"Well, no destroying." Lloyd laughed, also squaring up and inspecting her stance. "Pretty good stance, by the way."

"Thanks! I learned from the best." Annalise tilted her head to the side, watching his movements thoughtfully. "And I've also had quite a lot of practice these past few years."

"Oh, that helps for sure." After a second, Lloyd took a step back and summoned up a quick green orb, tossing it at her just to see how she reacted.

Anne dropped to the ground, sweeping her leg under him and nearly managing to trip him. "Whoa, moved a bit fast there…"

He offered a hand, grinning and intending to pull her up and then use her own momentum to push her back down. "I could tell. Speedy Anna."

Annalise snickered. "Yeah, that's what they call me." Then, she grabbed his hand and pulled, tripping him and trying to pin him to the ground. "Just like you are gonna lose."

Lloyd yelped, grappling with her to try and stop her from pinning him. "Oh come on!"

"HA!" She finally got him pinned, a huge grin on her face. "I didn't even need to use my powers there, how funny is that?"

He grinned back, blowing a strand of hair out of his face. "I yield! That was quick, Anne, my gosh. How'd you do that?"

She got off of him, reaching up and pulling her hair back and into a ponytail. "Simple. You fight like my brother."

"Oh right, how could I forget that?" Lloyd rolled his eyes, sitting up. "You say that like it's an insult."

"Not unless you take it like one! In that case, it could be an insult."

"Right, true enough." He grinned, getting to his feet. "Again?"

"Oh, absolutely! It was nice to be able to take you down that fast!" Annalise got to her feet too, squaring up again. "Normally you at least try to put up a fight."

"Hey! That- that monster is totally different from me!" Lloyd quickly summoned an orb of energy and tossed it at her, moving quickly to try and knock her backwards.

Annalise summoned a sparkling golden orb of her own, ducking under the one he sent to her and exploding it practically right against his chest, slamming him backwards and into the ground. "True enough, but your fighting styles are still similar! That makes it easier for me to beat you!"

Lloyd groaned, rolling to his feet and sending a wave of green energy through the floor. "So, what you're meaning to say is you have the advantage."

"I have a serious advantage, what are you talking about?!" Annalise set up a quick shield around herself, starting to glow gold and purple. "You're so entirely screwed!"

"Is that some serious smack talk I'm hearing?" Lloyd laughed, filling both of his palms with green energy and running for her, dodging a punch. "Because wow, just wow."

"I think what I'm hearing is shock and awe from my older brother about how awesome I am." Annalise moved quickly, not letting him touch her and grinning the whole time. "Am I right?"

"Shock and awe is not the right word, no."

"Aw come on!"

"No! I've got to have some standards!" He feinted and tackled her, releasing an explosion of green energy around them. "You're my sister, I can't look at you in shock and awe! The only acceptable looks are, 'Are you kidding me?,' 'You're being ridiculous.,' and 'Why must you be like this?' That's it."

"Oh darn." Annalise rolled to the side, kneeing him in the side and trying to grab his wrists. "Guess I'll just have to figure out some other way to get that look of shock and awe."

He grunted, fending off her attack. "Good luck with that one. Seriously."

"I will! Watch me do it!"

"Not gonna happen!" With a triumphant grin, he finally pinned her, an elbow to her throat. "Yield!"

"Gah!" She rolled her eyes, finally stopping struggling. "Fine! I yield! You got me that time, but only because I was distracted making it easier for you."

"Hey! No doing that!"

"Why not? I wanted to give you some small chance."

Lloyd grinned and got off her, rolling to his feet. "Well, I took advantage of it, for sure. Again?"

"Absolutely!"

It took a bit for Lloyd to figure out her strategy, to say the least. It seemed sporadic, in a way. Most of the time, she'd win, either by using a combination of her powers and her skill at hand to hand combat, or just by straight up tricking him and doing something unexpected. After getting practically destroyed three times in a row, he finally figured it out.

She was used to fighting someone who was stronger than her. That was practically what she had to do all the time. Her method was simple, but effective.

Smarter, not harder.

With that in mind, he started to work by that same principle, finding little holes in her strategy and using them against her. It was with that that they both discovered the very hard truth that they were pretty evenly matched.

Their powers canceled each other out, their fighting styles were similar and technique and power, and they thought so similarly that any attacks that the other tried to make never worked for very long.

It was funny, but kind of frustrating at the same time.

After almost forty-five minutes of trading blows back and forth and laughing whenever one did something to surprise the other, Annalise just sat down on the mat, a bit out of breath.

"Wow. We're… we're pretty good."

Lloyd laughed, sitting down beside her and stretching out a bit. "No kidding. I haven't done anything like this for ages. None of the rest of my family is powerful enough to rival my power, unfortunately. That's not even bragging, that's just-"

"- The truth." She finished for him, also stretching a little. "Which is a bit sad, but… it's how it is. Our powers are just naturally more dangerous than theirs are."

"Which is why it's nice when I meet someone who's got equal power to mine." Lloyd smiled at her a little. "A real challenge, so to speak."

"Exactly! It's not bad to say something like that, it is what it is." Annalise tossed her hair over her shoulder, yawning. "In other news, we should probably stop for now. It's starting to get late. Almost time for dinner, actually."

Lloyd glanced at his watch, raising an eyebrow at the time. "Wow, you're right. We should probably stop for now and go make dinner."

Annalise stood up with a slight groan, doing another stretch. "That was great, though. You're really good!"

"FSM, you are too! You got me so many times before I figured out what your method was."

"Oh? I have a method?"

"Yeah! You work smarter, not harder. Lloyd is stronger than you are, so you're used to forcing him to give up more energy with tricks, and then you strike at the holes in his strategy when they appear. It's pretty ingenious, actually."

Annalise considered that thoughtfully, tilting her head to the side. "Huh… I guess I do. I never thought about it like that before."

Lloyd grinned at her. "Really? Well, you learn something new every day, then. Seriously, it's surprisingly effective."

Annalise grinned back. "Well, good. That's kind of the goal."

He elbowed her, crossing to the door and opening it, letting her out and flicking off the light. "That's what I figured, considering how often you made a visible effort to totally destroy me. I haven't fought that hard in a sparring match in ages."

She clapped, bouncing on her toes a little. "Me neither! Most matches of mine like that end with me fighting for my life against a far superior opponent, which is really not very fun. This was more fun."

"Good! That's what I was aiming for." Lloyd grinned at her, the look of sadness in her eyes making him a bit sad too. Her life really was nowhere close to fair… and unlike him, she didn't really have the support she needed. Her family helped, but they were trying to keep Ninjago running while she fought her brother. That wasn't how it was supposed to go, not really.

Annalise grinned back and skipped ahead, her blonde hair brushing her shoulders as she disappeared around a corner. When she was gone, the smile dropped off Lloyd's face, even though he tried not to let it.

It was so sad… all of this place was filled with so much sadness. And to think, him turning evil was what caused all this…

He shook himself a bit, trying not to fall into the slump that happened to him if he dwelt on it too much. Everything would be fine.

It had to be. He'd gained another family member now, and he did not want to lose her. No, he wouldn't lose her.

That was a promise.

Hello everyone! So sorry this took me so long to update. I actually have the majority of the rest of the chapters (we're over halfway through!) already planned out and mostly written, but this one was a completely new chapter that I had to write without OLS' help! Along with that, I've been trying to put more focus on my original projects, so updates over here will be much fewer.

But, that doesn't mean I'm dead! I'm still updating, and I have a lot more Ninjago projects (and a few other different fandoms as well ;)) that are coming down the pipeline! As always, feel free to leave me a review if you enjoyed it! Thanks so much, y'all!