A/N: Hi! Sorry it's been so long, my old buddy Satan wanted me to tell him how effective his new pit was. Took me awhile to recover, but I'm alive! (Physically!) Have a chapter!

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xxXTryMeXxx: I'm glad you're liking this! I, too, am excited, although sadly most of the stuff I'm excited for doesn't happen for a long while.


The tripwires - or ropes, in this case - were easy to set up; Darkly's had several hidden hooks specifically for tripwires. Lloyd left just a little bit of slack, just like Brad had shown him almost a year ago. After that came the buckets of slime, some strange concoction he'd found in the chemistry classrooms that probably wasn't toxic. (He still stayed far away from the booby-trapped doors anyway.) Once those were set up, he went around to the secret passages, blocking them off as best he could on such short notice. Chances were the ninja wouldn't find them anyway, but better safe than sorry.

Once his part of preparations was finally finished, he went looking for Pythor...

... who was lying flat on a skateboard, clutching the front end and trying to push himself in a circle with his tail.

He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. "Hey, Pythor!" He grabbed another skateboard - a black and green striped one that had been lying against the wall - and amateurishly made his way over to Pythor. "How you doing?"

Pythor adjusted himself to mimic Lloyd's stance as best as he could. "Every door, window, and hole into thisss place are ssspring loaded."

"Oh, uh, good. I am sick and tired of those ninjas sneaking their way into my evil doings. But I was kinda wondering more... in general. We should have a few minutes before the ninja arrive, so I wanted to know how you're doing."

Pythor gave him a mildly contemplative look. "I sssuppossse I am doing well."

"Good! That's good. I mean, evil! Yeah, evil."

He all but tripped off of the board. "Come on, we should get to the roof! Otherwise you'll have set up that cannon for nothing!"

*One anchor, and enough time for a blue ninja to ride the elevator more or less to the top later*

"Shocked to see me?" The blue ninja exclaimed, waving his nun-chucks in a circle above his head to charge them with power.

Lloyd yelped with fear, rushing to Pythor's side. "Do something!" Pythor was bigger, stronger, he could easily-

He felt the map of dens being pulled out of his pocket.

Looking up at Pythor, who now held the map, he whimpered, "Wh- what are you doing? I thought you were my friend!" Brad wouldn't have done this. (But, hadn't he already done that?)

"All you wanted was to make the Serpentine your slave." Where had Pythor gotten that idea?! Lloyd had just wanted to take over, to become one of the world's greatest masterminds. To see his father again. "Well, sorry, my dear boy, I have other plans." Pythor faded out of his vision, shingles shifting as the newly-invisible snake made his escape.

Lloyd glanced around frantically, looking for some kind - any kind - of escape off the roof. Unless he wanted to break his leg again falling from the top of Darkly's, there wasn't one. He gulped.

"Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, you come here right now!" His uncle called, standing on the ship that had descended from the sky.

"I got 'im!" The blue ninja - Jay, right, he'd learned the name... at some point - threw an arm around Lloyd's waist, easily hoisting the kid into the air.

"Whoa! Hey! Let me go!" He squirmed as best he could, if he could reach the ninja's ear maybe he could bite that to get him to let him go.

"What should we do with him?" Cole began, "Wash his mouth out with soap? For a year?!" Lloyd hated the excitement in the ninja's voice.

"Ground him indefinitely?"

"Have him sit in a corner for a century?"

Lloyd swallowed. These were supposed to be good guys. They should not be excited about this kind of stuff!

Jay set him back down, keeping a hand firmly on his shoulder so he couldn't run, (as if he had a place to go.)

"I know exactly what we must do." Wu's face was completely flat, giving Lloyd no clue as to what punishment he could possibly have in mind. Lloyd just hoped it didn't involve-

"Wait!" An all-too familiar figure raced forward, grabbing Wu's shoulder. "Don't hurt him! He's just a kid!"

Lloyd didn't know how to feel about Brad coming to his rescue. Relieved? Disgusted he'd come back after his betrayal? Ecstatic? Sad?

Chuckling softly, Wu glanced at Brad. "I can assure you I would never hurt a child, much less my own nephew."

Brad frowned. "There's a 'but', isn't there?"

"Why yes, there is." Wu's smile looked almost... mischievous. He flipped his staff around, to an excessive point, and gently tapped Brad's butt. "There it is."

Brad gave Wu a half glare, (it didn't hurt for Lloyd to see him give such a gentle gesture to someone else, shut up.) Wu stepped forward, gently wrapping an arm around Lloyd's shoulders.

Lloyd ducked under Wu's arm. "I'm not getting on that ship."

Wu opened his mouth, likely to protest, but Brad stepped forward to interrupt. He whispered something to Wu that Lloyd couldn't hear, but made the old man leave, signalling for his ninja to follow. Lloyd relaxed a bit once all of them had left, maybe now he could-

Brad grabbed Lloyd's hood, laughing playfully as he covered Lloyd's face. He felt a hand expertly slip into his hoodie pocket. When he got the hood back up, Brad was now holding an old lollipop stick out like a sword.

"Avast, ye landlubber!" Brad exclaimed, rolling his r in a near-perfect mock pirate as he poked at Lloyd with the stick.

What was Brad even trying to do? Lloyd folded his arms, rolling his eyes. "I'm not five anymore, I'm not gonna fall for something as stupid as that."

Brad poked him again, a friendly laugh in his voice. "Methinks with an attitude like that, yar should be walking the plank!" His grin spread from ear to ear.

Lloyd wanted to join in the game, so badly that he could feel it. It was all he could to keep his eyes away from Brad's, which he knew would have that little sparkle in the blue-grey irises.

Once again, he poked Lloyd. "Yer have no sword! Surrender!"

Lloyd made the mistake of looking Brad in the eye.

They had that familiar spark, but there was also the slightest hint of sadness, desperation. Even though he was smiling, even though he had joined the ninja, it almost looked like Brad... wanted him back.

Rolling his eyes and giving one last irritated huff, he pulled out his flashlight. "NEVER!"

The two whacked at each other's objects in mock-swordplay, Brad inching back and Lloyd pursuing him.

Brad climbed up a little onto the wooden plank. "It's over, I have the high ground!"

"Not for long!" Lloyd exclaimed, lunging past Brad and onto the ship.

Brad started pushing him back, but right as Lloyd's heel hit something Brad let his grip on his stick falter, and Lloyd was easily able to send it flying. He held the flashlight to Brad's neck.

"I surrender!" Brad giggled, throwing his hands into the air. "I surrender!"

Lloyd grinned at his victory.

Then he looked around.

He was standing in the middle of the ship, almost up against the mast.

The traitor had struck again.


I hope you all enjoyed (or at least enjoyed envisioning Pythor laying on a skateboard.) If you have a minute, reviews are a very nice boost to my day and help me avoid my buddy Satan so I can post more and have less dark content. :)