Enter The Ninjaverse

by Bionic Stars

The Time Twins have returned, and with it they have brought a new threat: the loss of Lloyd's elemental powers. With Lloyd's powers taken, the Twins escape. Not the Time Vortex, however, but instead a rip in the very fabric of the universe itself. Lloyd's quest to stop the Twins leads him to new worlds, new faces, and new revelations into himself.

4. Chapter 4

Lloyd would normally have said he could go his entire life having never ridden a shark. Sadly, or thankfully given whom he was talking to, the closest he seemed to be getting to that was riding in a shark-themed Mech. The Garmamech stepped through the city streets, forcing traffic to divert around and between its massive legs as it went. Lloyd stood on a small platform inside the mouth of the creation, Garmadon beside him working his arms and legs back and forth to move the thing.

"Whew… oh yeah… good workout, oh geez who designed this thing?" Garmadon huffed, "No, no this is good, this is a good workout. Gotta stay in shape, those ninja gonna make me go soft if I don't keep this up… oohhh why does the city have to be so big?!"

Lloyd ignored Garmadon's ramblings and looked out across the city. Two days had already gone by, and he had nothing to show for it. With the ninja roaming the city in their mechs, Lloyd had spent the majority of his time on the Bounty with small incursions into the city on whichever mech was available at the time. So far, he'd seen what the Lightning and Water mech had to offer.

Today, however, Garmadon was leading one of the incursions himself. Despite the fact the city had accepted Garmadon as its new protector, it didn't mean that the sight of the massive hammerhead robot going down the streets was made any easier. Jelly subs had flown the mech in from the Volcano, a sight which Lloyd was still processing.

"Garmadon, this is Nya," A voice rang out from around the cockpit, "We've completed a sweep of the area, no sign of the Twins."

"Good work, silver," Garmadon responded, hiding the wheeze in it, "Continue the perimeter sweep and rejoin Blue when you're done. Black, this is Garmadon, status report."

"Cole reporting in," Another voice rose up, "No sign of anything so far. Your guys went off to go get sushi."

"What?!" Garmadon shouted, "And you let them?!"

"Lady Iron told me told me to let them," Cole replied nonchalantly, "She's on her way to meet up with you. Should have said that first."

"Wait, Coco is coming?" Garmadon paused, "Did she give a meetup location?"

"She said you'd know when she arrived," Cole answered.

A few seconds later, a loud clink snapped Lloyd's attention to the front of the cockpit. Embedded in the metal was an arrow attached to a thin piece of string. Following the string led to a woman with flaming orange hair, standing in full battle armor atop an earby building, her longbow still in hand from the shot. The attacker waved a hand towards the mech, causing Garmadon to grin.

"Give me one second," Garmadon turned the mech to the building, then pulled a red lever to park it. Stepping off the controls, he leapt up from the opening and grabbed the string, crawling his way up with all four arms towards the person on the roof. Lloyd, blinking, leapt from the cockpit and spun into Airjitzu, carrying him up towards the same roof.

When Garmadon got to the roof, he watched Lloyd land with Airjitzu and rolled his eyes before he turned his sights to the woman. She smirked and reached up, drawing her bow and firing a shot off towards Garmadon. He in turn caught the arrow and stepped forward, tossing it aside and grabbing her bow to pull her forward.

"I've done my sweep of the city," Lady Iron Dragon smirked, "Seems like you're still tracking this one down, Garmy?"

"Not as bad as General Tyren, though," Garmadon grinned, "We spent nearly what, three weeks looking for him before we cornered him in that cave?"

"Four weeks, honey," She rolled her eyes, "Remember, we used our last wish on that Djinn in order to find him?"

"Oh yeah… those Djinns are a tricky bunch…" Garmadon sighed, "Not as bad as you are, Coco. Maybe we should plan ourselves a date where I need to go and hunt you down?"

"You're cute, dear, thinking you track me down if I truly wanted to disappear…" Coco sighed, "But why hide, when I know I can take you in a fight?"

"Don't push me too much, dear… I might have to fight you right now!" Garmadon laughed.

Lloyd looked onto the strange display in front of him, specifically to Coco. After a few more moments of staring into each other's eyes happily, Coco noticed Lloyd standing there and gasped.

"Oh, you must be Lloyd!" Coco rushed forward, wrapping her arms up in a hug around him, "You really do look like my son! Any ally of Garmadon's is an ally of mine!"

"U-Uh… thanks…" Lloyd resisted the urge to say 'mom,' "I'm, uhm, well it's nice to meet you. You're… Coco?"

"Oh don't be so weird about it!" Coco let go from the hug and chuckled, "My husband and I have dealt with dimensional counterparts before. I had one of me from another timeline following me around for seven months! I still need to check in on ShoCoco, she'd just conquered the Triad last I heard."

"She did what?!" Garmadon shouted, "No, no way. No way she beat those three without our help!"

"She was always really determined to do so… anyways!" Coco turned around to a pouch, "Lulloyd is waiting for us at that rooftop restaurant we tried, let me treat you to lunch, Lloyd!"

"Lunch?" Lloyd blinked, "I uh. I actually don't know if I can, eat the food here. Uh… you know, other universe and all."

"Really?" Coco turned to Garmadon, "What have you been feeding this boy?"

"It's not my job to make sure the troops get fed!" Garmadon protested, "He's been, meditating I think!"

Coco gave Garmadon a sour look, the latter of which who turned an ashamed glare to the side and muttered something. Coco sighed and looked towards the east, squinting and then nodding her head.

"I'd say it's a good five minutes by run," Coco turned, "You two coming?"

"Wait, run on… what?" Lloyd was about to say more, but Coco reached into a pocket to produce a massive grappling hook she threw to a nearby building, hooking around an AC unit and swinging herself over to it. She climbed up the wall and turned around, waving towards them and then chuckling as she ran off.

Lloyd wanted to look to Garmadon for answers, but Garmadon had already ran. Sighing, Lloyd quickly ran after them. When he got to the lip of a building, he spun up into Airjitzu, carrying him up over towards the next roof. Garmadon simply leapt the distance, landing on all fours and scurrying forward until he stood upright to leap to the next building.

For nearly twenty blocks, the three parkoured their way across the city. Lloyd's airjitzu, Garmadon's leaps and Coco's grappling hook all carried them further into the city. As they went, Lloyd felt the buildings getting taller and taller. Gradually, the architecture began to change, going from more traditional looking homes to more modern complexes built atop them. The further they climbed, the less traditional arches and sloped rooves there were, giving way instead to sleek and modern highrises.

By the time the three came in sight of the building that Coco was referring to, Lloyd felt winded. He landed on a section of walkway in front of a comic store, pressing his arm into the wall to catch his breath. Within moment of people around him seeing him land from the sky and lean in a strange broken manner, many began to skirt around him. A few kids pointed to him as they walked by, only for their attention to turn to Garmadon as he landed nearby.

"Hmmphm," Garmadon grinned, "What's wrong, Lloyd, can't even freestyle twenty blocks?"

"I'm… normally we'd… take a bus…" He huffed, "If I had my dragon I'd have just used that…"

"See, this is the reason I don't let Lulloyd use his dragon unless he asks first," Garmadon rolled his eyes, "If you can't run from one end of the city to the other without needing to breathe then you need more training!"

A whistle from Coco showed that the warrior was standing underneath a large crab decoration. Lloyd and Garmadon made their way over to her, allowing her to open the doors. Immediately, the smell of seafood filled the room as the three walked over to the bar where Lulloyd sat.

"Hey, mom," Lulloyd paused, "Uh… nothing to report, dad."

"Your friends filled me in on that part," Garmadon sighed, "Come on, let's eat!"

"We'll figure out if you can eat this dimension's food soon enough!" Coco smirked, waving to the man behind the counter, "Four orders of crab!"

The man nodded his head, turning around and opening up an oversized over and shoving in massively oversized crabs. Lloyd found himself seated between Coco and Lulloyd, with Garmadon over by Coco. Slowly, he turned to Lulloyd and smiled.

"So, uh… is this place good?" Lloyd smiled. Lulloyd, seemingly lost in thought, took a moment to respond.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's good. Mom took me here for my birthday a few years ago, it was pretty good then. Our apartment is actually close by," Lulloyd smiled.

"Yes, because you two still refuse to come live in the volcano with me!" Garmadon protested, "It would take one day of moving to get you in!"

"We talked about this," Coco rolled her eyes, "I know you found that massive gold deposit and you've funded your armies that way, honey, but I quite like our apartment. We've lived there too long to just give it up!"

"So… you lived with your mother?" Lloyd asked to Lulloyd.

"Uhm… I still am," Lulloyd shook his head, "I'm only sixteen."

"Oh, you're younger than me," Lloyd sat up, "Word of advice, being an 'adult' really doesn't change anything. You just kinda say you are and that's really it. Being able to deposit money is nice though. Sharing an account with the others sucked."

"I uh, just have cash," Lulloyd shrugged, "But I'm considering getting a card here soon."

"When you start having bills to pay, I'll set you up with one," Coco shook her head, "But right now you should just enjoy your youth! Don't worry about the adult things! Your father and I will take care of that."

"Right…" Lulloyd sighed, "Yeah, right, heh."

Four large plates with crab were placed in front of the four. The chef nodded his head to them and then made his way further down the bar to serve the next group. Garmadon smirked and grabbed a fork and knife, cutting aside a piece of the entire crab. The sight made Lloyd look down as he realized there wasn't a shell.

"Just, try eating it like normal?" Lulloyd suggested.

"Yeah, I'm uh… yeah." Lloyd took ahold of the fork and spoon. The objects in the world had such an odd texture that he nearly dropped them. It almost felt… toy-like. He still wasn't used to the way it was set up yet.

Nervously, Lloyd moved to cut off a piece. A piece cut off, and in the process, seemed to turn from a piece of claw to something resembling it instead. Slowly, he brought the thing up to his mouth, looking at it nervously as he did. Lulloyd gave him a somewhat nervous look as Lloyd slowly opened his mouth and bit down.

...Shockingly, the piece actually tasted like crab meat. In fact, as soon as he bit into it, it seemed that it acted just like his regular food. Swallowing it didn't take any extra effort at all either, something which astounded him to think about. The longer he took in the food in front of him, the more he found himself confused by the laws of this world.

Regardless, Lloyd dove in. It seemed that the Garmadon's were those that ate first and then talked, as the other three were quick to oblige. A few people in the restaurant pointed towards Garmadon and Lady Iron Dragon, with several moving to take pictures with their phones. Garmadon just rolled his eyes and turned to give them a toothy smile for them.

"My dad is, uh, kind a celebrity now…" Lulloyd explained as he saw Lloyd looking, "I even have some fans of my own now, you know? Or at least, people aren't bullying me as much anymore."

"We decided to stay out of the public stuff after some stuff involving a Djinn back home," Lloyd shook his head, "Kai still does though, he's keeping his fan club alive and well."

"Heh... yeah," Lulloyd looked up slightly, "Kai here is kinda, well. I mean, he's a good friend but, he can be kinda awkward sometimes. And uh, not very smart."

"Yeah, that's Kai alright," Lloyd smiled, finishing off his food, "It's tough being a ninja sometimes."

"You can say that again," Lulloyd smiled.

:So, have we found nothing on the Twins?" Lloyd asked. Lulloyd's smile and gaze fell.

"...No, we've looked all over. Nya found some Vermillion snakes but nothing that's really, what we want…" Lulloyd shook his head, "I mean, I had Jay look in the Jungle but, they have to be really far out there I think."

"I see," Lloyd nodded his head, "We need to focus on finding them. That has to be our priority."

"Of course it is," Lulloyd smiled, "But, uh, hey. There's a comic shop nearby, if you wanna take a break then, there's some really nice series that we can look ati?"

"I'd love to, but I can't," Lloyd sighed, "I've taken two days already. The Twins are going to strike soon, or else they're planning something worse. We have to be ready for them."

Lulloyd didn't say anything else. He looked down to his now empty plate and slowly moved to stand up, "Then, I'm going to go search again, okay, dad?"

"Good thinking, Lulloyd," Garmadon grinned, "Think you can drop your mom off by the scrapyard on your way?"

"I can do that on my own," Coco stood up, "I'm sure I could get there faster than his dragon."

"True, but I don't want you running all day," Garmadon shook his head, "Save your energy for if the Twins do arrive. I don't want any of you fighting at half strength. Can you do that for me, Coco?"

"If you insist," Coco nodded, "Let's go, Lulloyd!"

Lulloyd gave another look to Lloyd, then made his way out of the restaurant. As the two left, Garmadon stood up, slamming a bill down on the table. He turned over to Lloyd and grinned.

"We should get back to hunting," Garmadon smirked, "...And, we left the mech back there, didn't we?"

"We did," Lloyd shook his head, "I guess we should run back then."

"Race you there?" Garmadon grinned, "I'll let you try piloting it if you win."

"Uh… sure," Lloyd nodded, "You're on."

Lulloyd's mechdragon soared over the Destiny's bounty still parked in the bay. The newly repaired beast spun about the ship as he angled it down to land in the water nearby. The jets kicked in, allowing it to gently touch down on the water's edge. Hitting a button on the machine, the dragon's body suddenly began to rapidly fold in on itself until it had condensed down into a small 1x3 brick, which he promptly caught. A simple climb up a small ladder brought him to the deck of the bounty.

"Luloyd, what's up brother?" Kai's gripping hug caught Lulloyd by enough surprise to nearly attack.

"Oh, hey Kai," Lulloyd looked down to his brick, "Just, got done patrolling and all. Didn't find anything. Are the others here?"

"Yep, been relaxing after doing that same thing!" Kai smirked, "Been pretty silent all over, you feel me?"

"I do," Lulloyd paused, "Is… my dad here?"

"Yeah, he's up at the wheel," Kai pointed, "He and Lloyd have been talking a lot. Rest of the guys are below deck chattin' and stuff. You wanna come with?"

"I need to talk to dad first," Lulloyd smiled, "But, thanks Kai. Tell the others I'll be there soon."

"No prob, no prob," Kai smirked, "You need anything, well, you know where the fire is!"

Kai spun around, making his way over to the ladder and leaping down rather than taking any of the rungs. Lulloyd smiled for a few moments, only for that smile to fall as he made his way up to the ladder of the Bounty.

Before he could start climbing, a shadow fell over him. Lulloyd looked up to see Lloyd descending the ladder.

"Sorry!" Lloyd called down apologetically, "Just heading to the Dojo to get some practice in."

"Uh… nice," Lulloyd stepped aside, letting Lloyd pace. Once on the ground, the two stared at each other. Silence slowly began to permeate the air.

"Everything okay?" Lloyd raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Lulloyd nodded his head, "Everything is fine, yeah, yeah. Just, thinking about things is all. You know. Just, doing some thinking."

"Okay," Lloyd nodded in acceptance, "Well, tell Garmadon if he needs me, I'll be here."

Lloyd slid the doors to the Dojo open and stepped inside. Once he had disappeared, Lulloyd slowly reached up and climbed the ladder up to his father.

"Ah, Son, it's good to see," Garmadon smirked, "Any luck with finding those two Twins?"

"No," Lulloyd sighed, "They… we can't find them. They're just gone. That's just it! I don't know how they do that."

Garmadon's smile fell as he nodded his head and turned away, "I see. Thank you for the report, son."

Lulloyd felt a bit of himself wince at that tone. He slowly made his way forward and stood behind his father. He took a moment to muster the words he neede dto speak. When he did, he was somewhat quiet.

"Dad… can we talk?" Lulloyd looked up.

Garmadon turned his head, "Is there something you need to talk to me about?" Garmadon responded.

"Yeah… I, guess it's about Lloyd," Lulloyd paused, "I guess I'm just feeling weird about this whole situation, you know?"

"You've been in plenty of weird situations, son," Garmadon responded, "Many of which I engineered! Heh, in fact, you could say I'm the source of a lot of weird in your life."

"I guess so," Lulloyd paused, "I… I guess it's weird, you know? Lloyd being here."

"You're going to need to be more specific, son," Garmadon turned, "Don't mince your words. If you can't speak to me, why, how can you give a war cry to your opponents?"

"Right, right, sorry," Lulloyd moved to stand beside Garmadon, "I guess I'm feeling just, kinda strange about this whole situation. Lloyd just, makes me feel a little weird? I mean, I've just felt bad since, the battle with the Twins."

"We all do," Garmadon nodded.

Lulloyd looked back towards the ocean for a few seconds, then sighed out a dispassionate, 'Yeah.' to his father. Garmadon watched as his son walked over towards the stairs up to the main wheel. Once there, Lulloyd leaned up against the side of the ship and looked out towards the setting sun with a wistful gaze.

"I guess I just, you know, I'm not sure about my place in the team," Lulloyd looked down, "I mean, I'm the leader, right? But, I don't feel like the leader. And… during the battle, I don't feel like I led. I mean… I almost died, trying to lead into battle."

"There's no honor greater than that, son," Garmadon responded firmly, "You should be proud that happened. You're growing as a warlord."

"But, it's, death," Lulloyd continued, "It's, I mean. When we were fighting you, I always knew that things would go a certain way. I knew that I wouldn't die. But, when I fell into the snakes, I got… I felt something, terrifying inside me. Like, I just felt, so scared. And, I can't shake that feeling. I guess, that, my issues are kinda up with that right now."

"Son, you're going to face death a lot as a ninja," Garmadon cut him off, "Death is the one thing that everyone can look to. It's the one thing you'll eventually share with everyone. As a warlord, your job is to force people to obey you, and death is one of your tools. As a ninja, death is going to become something you'll have to accept. Not every enemy can be beaten with words. Heck, most of them won't listen to begin with. Your own death is something you'll have to accept. No matter how strong you are, there will always be someone stronger out there. Just like your sword, if your courage isn't sharp, then you can't do anything to make them stop."

"That's… really not what I needed to hear right now, dad," Lulloyd sighed, "Mom's a lot better at figuring out what I need to hear."

"Oh… well, your mother should be here later," Garmadon coughed and took his helmet off for a moment, passing it between his hands and rubbing it awkwardly before putting it back on, "I'm still new to this whole, parenting thing, you know."

"Yeah, I'll let you know if anything happens, okay?" Lulloyd nodded, "The team is below deck. Tell the others they need to practice with their weapons . Wu wants us to start channeling our powers through them when we fight."

Garmadon looked down towards the grate and the sound of Cole's boombox wafting up from it. He looked down to Lulloyd and then smirked, "I'll take them out for a little training session myself then, how about that?"

Before Lulloyd could say anything, Garmadon brandished a massive warlord staff in two hands and flipped backwards off of the top deck, using the tip of the staff to grab onto the line the lanterns hung from. He slid down towards entrance to the deck and slammed into it, sending him straight underneath. A sound of scuffles was quickly replaced by flashes of light from the opening as Garmadon seemed to engage them in a fight.

As Garmadon cackled and wove his way through volleys of frozen chunks and fiery balls, Lulloyd looked over the side of the ship. He focused on the water the Destiny's Bounty was gliding over. The ship barely left a single ripple in the water, making it seem as though it wasn't even submerged in it. It moved along slowly, barely enough to be noticable, but just enough to keep them moving forward. Lulloyd leaned back and turned the wheel of the ship slightly, turning the ship fully parallel with the city's docks in the distance.

As the ship traveled alongside said distance, and Lulloyd leaned forward to avoid a watery splash from Nya's attack down below, he thought back to the battle earlier that day. His father had talked to them like they were a hindrance. Even when he said that they were his 'backup,' Lulloyd felt himself sink a little bit. Was he not good enough to stand beside his father in battle? Why was he still so… why wasn't he good enough?

He'd woken up to Lloyd having dragged him out of harm's way. When he'd gone in to help carry his father into battle, he'd gotten… he'd gotten shot down. All those years of being unable to repel Garmadon from the city, and now he couldn't even stand beside his father in their first big threat together? He'd been knocked out and had to be saved by himself? That just didn't feel right.

He drew his sword and hung it in his hands over the deck. As he stared into the reflection of himself, he tried to think of who he saw in the reflection. The green ninja? The leader of the secret ninja force that was now not even a secret? The one that saved Ninjago City? The least popular kid in school? He didn't know what he was seeing, and he didn't know what to think of it all.

Suddenly, Lulloyd's sword was dragged out of his hands. It fell down and splashed in the water below. Confused, Lulloyd leaned over the railing, seeing it floating in the water. For a moment, he sighed and prepared to throw a ladder for himself. As soon as he turned away, however, something grabbed his wrist and dragged him against the side of the ship.

With a gasp of shock, Lulloyd yanked his arm backwards. The ninja planted his feet into the studs and pulled back, trying to remove his arms from whatever had hold of it. He could see a deep red hand clutching it, water dripping off of it. His body was dragged forward, almost over the edge. Thinking fast, he reached out with his free arm and pried a tan plate from the railing, bringing it down onto the hand. It let go, sending him reeling backwards.

No sooner had he gotten up, what had hold of him showed itself. Standing now on the railing was a Vermillion warrior, its composite snakes slithering in and out of gaps in its metal armor. It held aloft a fishing oar, hissing at him with a sadistic smile. It lunged forward at him with the oar, aiming for his head.

"DAD!" Lulloyd shouted as he used his tile to block the attack, "We're under attack!"

From the port side, Vermillion warriors began to slither their way up onto the deck. Wet from a presumable swim, each held some sort of makeshift weapon in their hands. Tens of them were suddenly on the deck within seconds, hissing at him. Within seconds, the group had scrambled up onto the deck. Upon seeing the foes, Garmadon spun his staff around to knock one back out into the ocean, barking his orders out immediately.

"Ninja, to arms! Protect the ship!" Garmadon growled, taking his staff in his hands and rushing forward towards another warrior. A swing sent him overboard, hitting the water and breaking apart into snakes that floated across the surface. They slowly began to reform by swimming into each other.

"Got it!" Kai shouted, brandishing two training staffs and rushing forward, "Prepare to get roasted dudes!"

"I predict there may be perhaps one hundred of them," Zane drew his bow and launched an arrow into the 'head' of a soldier, "That comes out to 14.2857 repeating warriors for each of us."

"Uhm, can we just say fourteeeeeennn!" Jay yelped out as he caught a fishing spear with his flail, "It's, uhm, a little easier that way!"

"Who cares how many there are?" Nya spung her own spear into one, "Let's show these guys what we can do!"

As each of the ninja were swarmed with warriors, Lulloyd huffed as he threw his tile to the side, knocking his own warrior off balance. He flipped his body upright onto all fours, yet the warrior pounced on top of him, pinning him onto his chest. Lulloyd groaned and tried to sit up, but the warrior clung on tightly. He could feel the snake heads starting to curl towards his neck.

Thinking as fast as he could, Lulloyd threw his body sideways, removing the weight on his back. He quickly pried up several more tiles, throwing them into the air and catching them as they fell. He threw together a wedge, then shoved it between him and the warrior. With a hard backwards punch, he forced the two apart.

Lulloyd scrambled up to his feet, then leapt backwards towards the back of the ship. He picked up the sextant from the map chart, throwing it hard at the Vermillion. It struck its helmet, knocking it off and causing the warrior's head to fall apart. Lulloyd quickly threw the map, table and hidden daggers under the table into the warrior, causing it to fully break apart and scatter.

"DAD!" Lulloyd shouted, rushing to the wheel and leaning over the balcony, "SWORD!"

Garmadon looked over towards him, rolled his eyes, and then nodded. He ran forward and then slid, his foot hitting a floorboard causing it to hinge upwards. From under it, another curved blade without the tassel was revealed. He threw the sword up in the air and hit it with his warlord staff, sending it flying directly towards Lulloyd.

"I got it!" Lulloyd jumped into the air, catching the hilt just before the sword careened into his face. In his head, he thanked his dad for giving him catching lessons. Quickly, he swung outwards and knocked warriors that began to leap up from the railing onto the deck back over.

Warriors were sent flying across and over the deck as the ninja attacked. Zane laced his arrows with ice, causing them to burst on impact. Kai light his sword alight, making snakes terrified of getting sliced and setting their wooden weapons ablaze. Nya poured water over the deck, causing the warriors to slip and fall over. Cole jumped into the air and spun his massive hammer, bringing it down and sending a shockwave towards them. Jay shrieked and spun his flail, lightning arcing out in all directions from it into the warriors. All the while, Garmadon used his staff to send warriors over by brute force, picking up their fallen weapons and driving them into the oncoming horde.

Yet the warriors kept coming. Jay didn't notice warriors beginning to climb up behind him, only being saved by Nya's last minute water blast. Kai turned his attention backwards, only to get knocked backwards. Quickly, Garmadon turned around and pried up another floorboard, throwing four silver katanas up from it. He thrust his warlord staff into the face of a slithering warrior behind him, then caught each sword as it fell down with a slide. He brought his legs together and kicked a warrior away, using his four swords to force them away from both sidse. The ninja quickly formed a small semi-circle between the two front masts with Zane in the center and Garmadon on the port with the others on starboard.

The entire ship suddenly rocked. Ninja and warriors alike were sent swaying as something rose up from the water from the port side. At first, it was a metal lump. Then the large beading red eye of the Iron Doom shot its light over the deck. The machine continued to rise upwards, towering now over the ship. Garmadon tssked as it rose until its eye was at the same height as the tallest sail, rotating down to look at them. His tssk soon turned to anger, however, upon the light of the sun illuminating it to the crew.

Unlike before, the Iron Doom now was no longer just built of metal. In various gaps, large red and black bricks had been infused into it, patching it effectively. While hidden in the water, large plates had been used to cover up the actual plate that the Garmashark had ripped apart. Its torn off arm, however, was not red, silver and black, however. No, instead the arm was a mixture of sand blue, light gray and white. At the end of its hand were two large cone tops in light neon blue, with each finger now sporting white rows of 'teeth.' Plates were placed along its forearm to simulate gills. It didn't take long to decipher what it was.

"THAT'S MY SHARK!" Garmadon spat, "GIVE ME BACK MY SHARK!"

Garmadon leapt into the air, stepping on the head of a warrior to propel himself forward the arm. His staff swung at it, but the arm swung back and sent him back onto the deck. He landed with a hard thud, breaking several tiles up in the process. The arm then reached backwards, feeling around until it took hold of something. When it drew it forward, it revealed that in place of its copper swords, a long staff had been erected from the axles of the Garmashark.

The tip of the staff was formed of the massive claws of the Garmashark's feet, opening up into a four pronged claw. The Iron Doom took hold of the staff in both arms, rotating it so the claw pointed down. It raised the staff upwards over its head, then brought it down. Garmadon had only enough time to throw Jay and Kai out of the way as the claw drove down into the main master, breaking through the deck into the bottom of the ship. The four prongs dug into the tiny spaces between the ship's main hull, effectively staying it in place. The rebuilt arm gripped the staff tightly, holding the ship still as the other arm reached forward to grab at the front of the ship.

The creaking of the deck as it splintered apart tore through the sound of Kai's yell, "Hey, guys, where's Wu?!"

"The uhm, author couldn't afford Jackie Chan!" Jay shouted as he clung the main mast.

"What?!" Kai shouted, "Fam, I couldn't hear you!"

"Wu said he went to warn the citizens!" Jay shouted back, "And, uhm, that Garmadon should lead us?"

Garmadon looked over towards Wu's usual perching spot between the decorative dragon heads and then sighed, face-clawing and then looking up to the ship with barely concealed absolutely livid burning rage.

"Black one…" Garmadon growled, "Give me some fighting music!"

Cole turned towards Garmadon and huffed, then swung his hammer all the way into the chest of a warrior hard enough to force the metal inwards. As it was sent flying back, he leapt forward and grabbed ahold of the business end of his weapon, using the long hilt to snag his fallen boombox from underfoot. As soon as he had, he quickly fiddled with the dials.

JUMP UP, KICK BACK, WHIP AROUND AND SPIN!

Garmadon leaned all the way backwards to avoid a swipe and retaliated with one of his own that sent a Vermillion flying into the now broken main mast, "No, no, we used this one LAST time! Try again!"

I wake up, in the morning! Wide awake, for the day! And I say, what a morning! It's all okay!

"...You know what, I'll work with this!" Garmadon's scowl slowly turned into a dark grin as he drew his swords together and rushed straight for the Iron Doom.

The original released its grip on the deck, making a fist and swinging at Garmadon. Garmadon stopped dead in his track and let out a fierce battle cry, receiving the fist with all four swords. For a brief moment, Garmadon held the fist back with all four arms, grunting hard and his entire body shaking. His back foot slipped, sending him flying backwards as the fist arc up into the air, sending him into the top deck and crashing down near Lulloyd.

Without looking at his son, Garmadon shot his eyes around and then sheathed his swords on his back, grabbing hold of the remaining tiles on the railing, the SNOT connectors and prying the metal plate behind the wheel up. Thinking fast, he grabbed the wheel and shoved the pin into the connectors, then built the tiles up around the other side. When he finished, he had formed what looked like some massive spinner for a game show wheel. He flung the metal grate directly with his own strength, causing it to embed into the rebuilt arm. Bracing the wheel of his contraption against the deck, he rotated the planks down so that he now had a bridge directly connecting him to the rebuilt arm.

Redrawing his blades, Garmadon leapt up onto the makeshift plank-bridge, flying towards the arm. As soon as the Iron Doom seemed aware of what he was doing, it tried to let go of the massive spear jammed into the ship's deck. But Garmadon leapt up at the last second, landing firmly on the large eye at the tip of the the rebuilt hand. With a dark grin, his swords drove themselves into the gaps between the bricks, spearing the snakes inside.

The Iron Doom recoiled, throwing its arm upwards. Garmadon was sent sliding, yet his grip allowed him to hang on. The Iron Doom used its over fist to swing at him, yet Garmadon spun rapidly in the air as it passed below him. The fist drove up into the bamboo-colored plates covering the top deck, scattering them in every direction. Garmadon landed back down on the rebuilt arm with a little wobble and gripping his swords to keep him steady.

"It's my shark!" Garmadon shouted as his feet began kicking up pieces into the air and then punting them directly towards the viewport, "TAKE MY SHARK!"

As the pieces bounced harmlessly against the Iron Doom's upper chest, the machine responded by having its composite snakes shoot up from the gaps and launch at Garmadon. Garmadon turned and his sword spun in his wrists, slicing them up into pieces as they tried. The arm he was on once more shifted, forcing him to plant his feet firmly into the studs to avoid getting thrown off. As soon as he was horizontal, he twisted around on one foot and ran directly up towards the shoulder.

When he reached the shoulder after dodging more and more snakes, he growled and kicked against the metal, trying to separate the arm. Yet his kick revealed the bricks were built all the way into the core of the Iron Doom's shoulder, preventing him from going any further with it. With a shout of anger, he ran up further along the Iron Doom, raising his foot and delivering a massive kick to its head.

As the Iron Doom's head recoiled and bent, the machine let out a long groan. Garmadon smirked and readied his weapons, but from behind him, a Vermillion rose up from opening plates. It rushed forward and grappled him from behind, causing Garmadon to fall off balance. As he yelped out in shock, the two were sent flying backwards off the back of the Iron Doom.

"DAD!" Lulloyd shouted, eyeing the warrior he was deadlocked with. He let go of his sword, causing it to fly backwards towards his chest. Lulloyd swung to his side on one foot, grabbing the hilt around and smacking the warrior that now fell towards the deck with his hand in the back of the neck. His hand hooked into its armor casing and swung it back over the deck again.

Lulloyd quickly rushed his way down from the top deck, knocking warriors off the little ladder in the process. As soon as he looked around the ocean for his dad, he could only see bubbles forming up on the surface. Garmadon surfaced for a moment, spitting and punching the warrior on his back, then was dragged back down. Lulloyd tried to rush his way into the water, but two more warriors swarmed him.

His team wasn't doing any better. With the deck splintered, the ninja were fighting on uneven ground and around the large spear stuck into the deck. Nya stabbed a warrior, only for him to grab her spear and take it for himself. Jay shocked two at once, but another grabbed his foot and dragged him to the deck. Kai immediately shot over and saved Jay, but that left his back open. Cole's quick shoulder saved him. Zane had lost his foot and now was retreating out onto the fallen main mast, shooting ice arrows even as the more warriors climbed after him, leaning the master into the water.

The doors to the dojo suddenly flung open, and out came several Vermillion warriors. Lloyd backed out of it, kicking several more warriors back into where he came. He slammed the screens shut and turned around, seeing the rest of the deck under attack. He and Lulloyd made eye contact, at which point Lulloyd leapt down from his perch to him.

"Are… are thse those snake things?!" Lulloyd shouted. Lloyd nodded his head, putting his back to Lulloyd's own.

"Yeah," Lloyd frowned, "The Vermillion are used like that! You gotta keep the snakes from getting into the armor. They don't like being attacked. Don't knock them overboard, knock them down and then drive the snakes into the water."

"Alright, I need to get up to that… Iron Doomy thing and take them out," Lulloyd gained a determined glare, but Lloyd stepped forward and shook his head, "Dad said taking out the commander should be the priority!"

"I know how that thing works, I'll take care of it!" Lloyd pulled his hood down and looked around, then pulled two golden katanas from the walls and sheathed them on his back.

Without waiting, Lloyd shot forward, grabbing the top of the dojo's entrance and swinging himself up. He landed on a piece of deck, then took in a breath and looked up towards the Iron Doom. Lulloyd ran up behind him, both ninja pressing their backs together as they drove the warriors that turned their attention towards them back.

Lloyd formed energy in his fist, driving it hard into a hissing Vermillion. It broke apart. As soon as it had, Lloyd hit the ground in the center of the mass with his fist, blowing all of the snakes back with a small energy sphere. What normally could take out an entire group was now hardly enough for one, but once he had his full power back, he could fix that. The snakes hissed and writhed about, some burned from the impact. He kicked the armor, causing the snakes to scatter randomly.

Lulloyd watched what he'd done, then he shouted, "Zane!" Lulloyd drew his sword up into the head of a warrior, causing the helmet to fly off. Zane turned and fired an ice-laden arrow directly at the warrior's back. Lulloyd knocked him into the air and rapidly sliced him apart with his sword, smacking him down like a fighting game combo. When it fully broke apart, he grabbed the main armor plate and landed on the deck. The arrow froze the main mass of snakes, giving him time to kick the armor away. Zane's eyes flashed, processing the data and then turning towards the others and speaking out onto their comms.

"Nya! Jay!" Lulloyd called out, grabbing two more tiles from the deck and swinging them together, forcing two warriors to bash each other. Nya grinned and shot the two with water. Jay shrieked out as he dodged a sword and shot an arc of lightning into the water stream, electrocuting the two warriors. The snakes burst apart and then quickly spread away.

Cole nodded to Kai, who grinned. Cole threw his boombox into the air and turned the volume up, causing some of the warriors around him to cower in fear. Kai, used to Cole's loud music, light his sword ablaze and ran circles around them, carving his red hot blades into them. The flames grew hot enough to cut clean through the armor, causing them to break apart without the case for them to inhabit.

Lloyd leapt into the air and brought his fist down, punching a warrior into the wood below him. As another attempted to jump onto his back, he spun around and formed a green energy shield. It barely reached over his hand,s however, resulting in the Vermillion nearly stabbing through him. Lulloyd batted it away, and Lloyd dispersed the green energy with a flash.

As soon as his power sparked, however, suddenly a massive red light was shining down upon him. Lloyd shielded his gaze from it, but a feeling of dread filled him as he realized what it meant. Lulloyd took a defensive stance in front of him, legs spread apart forward and back and sword held away from his body.

"LLOYD GARMADON?!" Krux's astonished voice shot over the Iron Doom's head. The bent head turned towards him, shining it gaze onto Lloyd still fighting back to back with Lulloyd, "HOW DARE YOU FOLLOW US!"

Lloyd looked up towards them and called out, "Krux! Acronix! I'll be taking you back to Ninjago and make you pay for all of your crimes! You're coming with me!"

"How did he follow us?!" Krux spat as he turned towards Acronix. The younger twin blinked and slowly shrugged, his expression filled with bewilderment.

"Don't look at me, I can't even explain fully how we jumped dimensions!" Acronix shrugged back. Krux just rolled his eyes and then placed his hands onto his helmet.

Both of them were suddenly rocked as the Iron Doom took hold of its spear in both hands. With no progress being made on deck, the machine pulled the spear upwards from the deck, rocking the entire ship. Leaving a massive hole, the spear leaned up into the air, then it came down hard across the center of the ship. The entire ship heaved, then began to split rapidly down the center along the spear. Pieces of deck went flying up into the air with the impact.

"I'm heading up there!" Lloyd shouted back to Lulloyd, "You wanted to see Spinjitzu, right?" He smiled under his hood and focused.

"NINJAGO!" Lloyd shouted, leaping off of the wooden plank. Shutting his eyes, Lloyd's body danced forward in the air with the first few motions of Spinjitzu. A massive swirling deep green tornado formed around his body, arcing about with energy. At the height of his jump, his spinjitzu dropped, and instead he rapidly formed his body into Airjitzu, firing him up into the air and letting him hover as he leapt up the mast of the ship.

When Lloyd was in front of the Iron Doom's viewport, the ninja shot up one last time with Airjitzu and then stopped, spinning into Spinjitzu. His body drilled straight down and rammed himself directly into the machine. The force of impact caused the Iron Doom to pause, its mass making it not even flinch. Lloyd dropped out of his form, dropping at an angle inside of the viewport and landing between the two chairs.

From the deck below, Lulloyd looked on in awe at the display. He looked forward to find a way up himself, but a trio of Vermillion had materialized once more to fight him. With a sigh of annoyance, he quickly moved to intercept.

"You two should really think about adding some glass there next time!" Back in the Iron Doom, Lloyd drew his twin katanas, rushing forward and stabbing them into the right chair. Acronix leapt up from his seat, holding his Vermillion sword up as he laughed.

"I figured we'd taught you your lesson after we drained you dry, but apparently you're quite the persistent one!" Acronix swung his blade forward, which was caught in the X formed by Lloyd's katanas.

"Ninja never quit!" Lloyd drew his hilts together, then thrust the blades against each other, throwing Acronix's blade back. Acronix swung back forwards by rotating with the momentum, only to be caught by Lloyd's sword again. His other sword went for Acronix's legs, causing him to jump backwards into the air and onto the control panel.

"Don't worry, after we've gotten what we came here for, there won't even be the game for you to quit from!" Acronix grinned, "Get it, because video games? You really took those for granted, you know."

Lloyd didn't respond, instead swinging both swords forward. They smashed the control panels, sending sparks up into the air. Lloyd saw the jagged edge of Acronix's next strike, forcing him to let go of the right blade and swing to the left to avoid it. The impact sent the katana flying off into the bowels of the Iron Doom, much to Acronix's delight.

Lloyd gripped his sword in both hands and gave a heave, freeing it from the panel. Acronix gripped his chair and thrust it forward, causing it to fall over overtop of Lloyd's feet. As Lloyd leapt into the air, Acronix shot forward with a jab. Lloyd gasped and bent backwards to avoid it, only for his back to hit the floor. Acronix was on top of him in a moment, forcing him to roll back and forth to avoid his strikes.

"You get knocked down quite often for a ninja!" Acronix swung downwards, locking blades with Lloyd, "I'm impressed, Wu really has been giving up on your training now, hasn't he?"

"At least… he doesn't talk this much during a fight!" Lloyd used the flat of his hand to hold up the other end of his katana. Seeing his chance, Lloyd kicked Acronix's right foot out, causing him to stumble forward. As soon as Acronix was bent over him, Lloyd drew his legs in and kicked straight up, sending Acronix tumbling over his head and onto the floor behind him.

Lloyd immediately looked towards where his other sword had flown, only to see darkness. Instead, Lloyd brought his katana up and rushed forward, summoning a small elemental blast in his other hand. When he thrust his glowing fist towards Acronix, the Time Twin grabbed his wrist and slid just to the side of it. He pulled Lloyd down with him, then thrust both of them upwards into the air. Forcing Lloyd to drag him upwards, Lloyd was slammed into the wall behind him.

Acronix let go of his wrist, but that was when his blade came back. Lloyd met it with a loud clash and swiped his body forward with a hard kick. Acronix began to back up once more, trading sword blows with him and avoiding each of his kicks and punches. Like his servants, Acronix's body moved like a snake, letting each attack simply slide away from him.

"Is this really all you can do on your own?!" Acronix howled with laughter. He shoved Lloyd back from him with a vicious swipe.

Acronix's laugh was suddenly cut short, however, as he slid to the right with a heave. Four large silver katanas all came crashing into the floor where he originally stood. Garmadon's chest heaved as he pulled himself upwards, brandishing all four blades with a dark growl.

Garmadon fiercely swung his body towards Acronix, making the blades swing towards him. Acronix dodged, but his chair was cut into pieces that slid to the floor. Garmadon leapt into the air and rotated his arms outwards, rolling his swords back and and throwing them against Acronix's guard. The sheer force made Acronix scowl and drop his blade to the floor.

"Krux!" Garmadon shouted, taking note of Acronix's little huff, "Acronix! I believe we have some unfinished business from earlier. You owe me a new flagship, and I'm going to beat it out of you."

Acronix frowned, then lunged towards the viewport. Garmadon threw one of his blades backwards towards Lloyd, then another towards Acronix. The Time Twin barely avoided being impaled, just barely managing to twist to make the flat of the blade hit his gut instead. Garmadon rushed forward, grabbing the hilt and giving a mighty stomp, sending Acronix up into the air with the blade. Garmadon jumped up into the air and leaned backwards, delivering a hard kick that sent Acronix flying backwards into the wall.

"I know about that little time trick now!" Garmadon laughed, "You won't get to your little Time Blades while I'm here!"

Lloyd stepped forward, holding the katana Garmadon had tossed him. Lloyd turned his body to the side and crossed his blades in front of him, readying for battle. Garmadon did the same, yet with all four blades pointed forward and his arms all raised up to the same positions.

"Where's your brother?" Garmadon snorted, "I wanna make sure I get equal pay from both of you."

"He's handling things on his own…" Acronix panted. He extended his arms to the sides. The metal plates on the walls moved backwards, revealing the snakes behind. Two more Vermillion blades were produced, which he took hold of and spun in both hands, "I don't need him to deal with a washed up old warrior."

Garmadon looked to the side at Lloyd, who nodded at him. Both of them slowly paced away from one another in a circle towards each of Acronix's sides.

"Get ready with that spinning ninjitzu thing of yours…" Garmadon huffed.

"Spinjitzu," Lloyd corrected, causing Garmadon to just roll his eyes and sigh.

Acronix didn't wait for either of them. Using his swords, he rushed Lloyd, trying to overpower him with two hard blows. Lloyd countered them, giving Garmadon enough time to strike at Acronix's back. Acronix threw his left blade backwards, catching them just in time. Lloyd swung his katanas at the same time towards Acronix, who then just grinned and slid his left back down. Acronix ducked, causing Garmadon and Lloyd to nearly collide with one another.

"If you're going to fight me two on one…" Acronix laughed, "Then let's maybe even the odds, shall we?" His eyes closed, his helmet glowing with a sickly energy. Then when they opened again, his orbs were flashing with deep blue. With a laugh, he reached up and lifted the helmet from his head, tossing it into the floor.

Acronix leapt to his side to avoid Lloyd's swords, driving his foot into the ground. The metal tiles of his machine fractured, bent… then suddenly turned into bricks. Acronix smirked and dodged Garmadon's follow up, hitting the floor again. Both fighters continued to strike at Acronix, and each time he would hit the floor and break it into more breaks. Finally, Acronix was pushed into the wall, at which point he jumped off it and clashed blades with Garmadon in the air, carrying him back over behind them.

Then Acronix flashed. His body turned into a rectangular blur, in a motion that both Garmadon and Lloyd were stunned to see. The bricks came together rapidly until Acronix had formed a massive shield. He reached out and gripped the small clear bar-adapater on the back, dropping one sword and raising the other as he rushed straight at Lloyd. The shield hit him full on, sending him stumbling backwards.

"Where did you two lowlifes learn Master Building?!" Garmadon spat, countering Acronix's shield with a three armed swipe, "How are you turning the floor into bricks?!"

"Everything in our world can be reduced to bricks… we just didn't know it until our little snakes decided to have a snack!" Acronix laughed, "A little meal and we could see what makes your universe so unique! This is all just one gigantic sandbox made of toys!"

"A snack? It takes years to learn how to Master Build!" Garmadon shouted, "How does eating something do that?"

Acronix didn't answer, instead kicking his shield out towards Garmadon. Garmadon dodged, but that gave Acronix enough time to grab Krux's chair and swing it at him. Garmadon was struck on the head with it, causing him to slump. Acronix threw more bricks into the air and attached them together to form makeshift chains, which he threw around Garmadon like a whip and clicked together hard.

"Now you just sit there and watch," Acronix grinned, "Watch as we show you why it is you failed!"

Lloyd huffed and raised his swords, but Acronix just threw himself over the edge of the Iron Doom and grabbed for the Forward Blade. As soon as Lloyd brought his swords up, Acronix blasted him with it, causing Lloyd to accelerate forward until he hit the control panel. He went down onto the ground with a groan of pain.

Acronix grinned and grabbed Garmadon, hoisting him over and slamming him against the console. Garmadon struggled, but the makeshift chains were too strong. For a moment, he watched the ninja's battle, unsure what Acronix wanted. Then he pointed with the forward blade towards the ship.

Garmadon watched as his son threw another warrior into the air, striking it hard and fast until it broke apart. When he landed, he sensed another warrior about to strike him from behind. Lulloyd turned around towards the warrior, swinging the sword against the helmet. As the helmet only rattled, however, Lulloyd was shocked as he saw something odd about the warrior. That was all he could see before the warrior raised a large shard of crystal up and jammed it up into Lulloyd.

Lulloyd shouted in pain as his body was suddenly alight with the sensation of something being torn from him. His his flashed hard, then the green color of them drained out. Lulloyd's eyes turned a dull gray as he fell forward. The warrior raised the now green glowing crystal up in hand, laughing out in a distinctly non-snake sound.

The other ninja quickly took notice. Zane fired an arrow at him, but the warrior dove forward and held a second crystal in front of him. Kai, closest to him from running at him, was paralyzed as the same sensation overcame him. The warrior grabbed Kai and held him in front to keep Zane from firing. Nya and Cole both ran at him, but the warrior then turned the crystal towards them and paralyzed them as well. The three all fell to the ground, color drained from their eyes as well. The one green crystal and now brown-clear-red flashing crystal were both in hand.

The warrior dodged a lightning bolt from Jay, who saw this and tried to scramble away. He was blocked by more warriors closing in on him, at which point the crystal was jabbed into his back as well. Jay was drained out, falling forward and hitting the deck with a thud. Zane fired more arrows, but the warrior dodged and kicked the mast Zane stood on. As it threatened to fall into the water, Zane was forced to leap back onto the deck. Once he landed, the warrior jabbed him with it as well.

Removing its helmet, the warrior revealed its to be Krux, who turned towards Garmadon and raised the two crystals up in hand. He tucked the multicolor crystal into his clothes underneath the armor, then waved the green crystal in hand. Garmadon looked across to the now downed team, his eyes alight with confusion.

"What… what happened?!" Garmadon shouted, "What did you do to them you snakes?!"

"Your little ninjas here are pretty identical to that of our own, did you know that? That means they must have elemental powers," Acronix smirked, "And those crystals are perfect for sucking it right out of someone. We only need your son's power, but just to be safe, we're taking all of them."

"Elemental powers don't work like that!" Garmadon hissed, "You can't just take them away like that either!"

Acronix didn't respond, instead turning to face Lloyd, "I won't bother to ask how you managed to follow us, but we can ensure that you don't it again!" Acronix grinned.

The floor panels around Lloyd began to open up, snakes appearing up and snapping at him. Lloyd cried out as they snagged his leg, dragging him down and towards the innards of the machine. He tried to swing his swords, but they were useless as they just struck metal.

Garmadon, turning towards him, looked aside and then used his lower arms and stretched them as hard as he could. From under his robes, he produced the glowing Realm Crystal. Without a word, he darkened his gaze and threw the crystal back towards Lloyd, leading it to skid across the floor at him.

Lloyd looked to Acronix, who stared at the crystal and then shouted something at him. Lloyd reached out and grabbed the crystal, shutting his eyes and focusing his energy into it. The action caused Acronix to turn his back from Garmadon. As soon as he had, Garmadon gave a loud cry and broke the chains around him, grabbing Acronix just before he grabbed it.

Throwing Acronix into the console, Garmadon turned to Lloyd and pulled him upwards just in time from being swallowed by the machine. He didn't say anything, just pulled him up and then looked towards the viewport. The two nodded at each other and then ran forward, ready to drive into Acronix. The studden Time Twin had only enough time to see them before he raised his Time Blade in terror.

The two were struck by the blade, sending them up and over the console with their force of running. As they tumbled out into the open air, they passed Krux climbing his way up the arm of the Iron Doom, who laughed at them.

Both fighters hit the deck, both climbing back up as fast as they could. They looked up just in time to see the Iron Doom raising its massive spear once again. All of them onboard watched as the Iron Doom began to raise up into the air, a massive vortex opening in the sky above it. Krux and Acronix both waved from the cockpit, Acronix picking up a magician's hat and then tossing it down towards the deck at them. As soon as it landed, the Iron Doom raised the spear back up into the air and drew it backwards. It heaved it forward, sending it flying down and spearing the center of the ship. Then, with a hard flash, the Iron Doom disappeared into the vortex.

The spear in the center of the ship was right through the previous hole. This time, the spear when all the way down through it, meaning the ship took one water almost immediately. The bounty creaked slightly as the spear leaned towards the left, causing the water to rush forward into its hull. Within seconds, the Destiny's Bounty capsized. The ship creaked hard, then the pins holding its hull together snapped, causing the ship to break into two pieces, railing flying apart as it began to sink into the water.

Lloyd sat on a small piece of rock on shore, staring into a fire that had been lit in front of him. The fire didn't take on the brick-like quality of everything he'd seen so far. He wasn't sure why, but the elements in this world looked nearly the same as his own. It was good enough to start drying him off, at the least.

The other ninja lay around the fire, none of them willing to talk. All of them looked as though they'd just been punched in the gut, and without their powers, Lloyd knew that was a good way to describe it. Lulloyd sat beside him, staring into the flares himself in a similar fashion. Garmadon was with them, but he was standing up with his back to the fire, looking over towards the ocean where the Bounty had sunk.

Lulloyd raised his hands to his face, staring at them. He'd stripped off his ninja suit, leaving him in a casual hoodie and black pants. He was shivering somewhat, but be that from the cold night air or the lack of his power, Lloyd couldn't tell. Lulloyd looked down and stared at his hands, expecting to feel something. But nothing came. The flame flickered with a hard gust of wind.

"Where did they go?" Garmadon huffed out, breaking the silence.

Lloyd held up the Realm Crystal, "Another universe, I bet. I can follow them but… I'm the only one who can, I think."

"They're using Lulloyd's power to fuel their ship, aren't they?" Garmadon grumbled, "That's why they took it. To spite me."

Lloyd nodded his head. Garmadon turned around and looked down at the fire. His eyes reflected the fire in front of him. Then, as though he couldn't stand it, Garmadon shouted and kicked sand overtop of the flames. The flames dulled, but slowly raised back up.

"Can we go after them?" Garmadon growled.

"I can," Lloyd looked up, "But when I tried it with my team, only I was able to go. I think it's because I'm using what little amount of my power I have to power the crystal. So only I have the power to do it."

"Then that means Lulloyd can go, can't he?" Garmadon asked bluntly, "He can go with you if he shares the same power, right?"

"The same power?" Lulloyd looked up, "But, I can't, summon power like Lloyd here, I'm not, you know…"

"It's the green power," Garmadon nodded his head, "I'm sure it's the same in every universe. You two are both the same person, just in different worlds. You should be able to follow him then," Garmadon paused, "Lulloyd, go with him."

"Dad…" Lulloyd stood up, "But, earlier you were…?"

"When you fight alongside someone, you learn quickly who they are. He's like you, Lulloyd. He's on your side," Garmadon shook, "If I'd noticed that sooner then this wouldn't be happening. I made a stupid decision."

"What?" Lloyd stood up, "No, Garmadon, you made the right call. I'm sure, that, my dad would have done the same thing."

Garmadon didn't say anything, instead looking over to the other ninja. None of them were talking or saying anything after everything that happened. To Garmadon, that was pure defeat. To Lulloyd, it was like just with the ultimate weapon. Neither of them liked the feeling.

"Lulloyd, as their leader, I need to take responsibility for this," Garmadon growled hard, "A warlord doesn't lose because of anything but himself. And right now, the only way that you can get your powers back is if you Lloyd and get them back. I can't do it, so I need you to."

"What about mom?" Lulloyd asked quickly, "Would she be okay with this?"

"Your mother is a fierce warrior that understands honor," Garmadon lowered his head, "She will understand. Trust me, Coco is the best at accepting strange things. She fought with me, after all," Garmadon's smile returned somewhat.

Lulloyd turned to Lloyd, then looked over to his team. He slowly muttered, "B-But… I really don't, even know that much about him…"

"You're a ninja, just like me," Lloyd said firmly, "That's enough for us to trust each other."

"...I've never done anything without my team," Lulloyd turned towards the rest of his team, watching their dead faces and slowly shaking his head, "Dad, dad I don't, I don't think I can do this."

"You can Lulloyd!" Garmadon put his hands on Lulloyd's shoulders, "Nobody thinks they can do anything tough. If they did, then there would be no point to battling to achieve what they want. Right now, the universe out there is calling to you. It's calling to you right now to go and see more of it. Do what me and your allies can't do. Something important was taken from you, and you need to go and get it back. Do it for the team, Lulloyd. Something was taken from them too. Go out there not just for yourself, but for them. Do you understand me, son?"

"Y-Yeah…" Lulloyd nodded, "That… that was the speech I needed to hear."

"I know how to bolster the troops," Garmadon smirked, "Go, go tell your team about this and get ready to leave."

Lulloyd nodded, making his way over to his team. Once out of earshot, Garmadon turned to Lloyd and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Get my soldier's powers back," Garmadon ordered, "And get my son's power back. You will come back with both my son, and his powers. If you think of showing your face back here without either of them…" The warlord laughed, "I'll fire up my volcano, just for you."

Over by the group, Lulloyd quelled the massive outburst of responses Garmadon's news had brought them.

"You can't go!" Nya shook her head, "Way too dangerous, plus you don't even know what's out there!"

"This won't be like all the times we fought Garmadon," Cole frowned, "You'll be going into the unknown."

"I do not wish for my friend to leave," Zane shook his head, "My emotional gauges are rising."

"I know, I know!" Lulloyd sighed, "But… but look at what they did to you! Look at all of this! I… I can't just let them leave. I have to go with Lloyd. I have to get them all back. And, I need to stop them before they do anything else."

"But… why can't we go with you?" Jay asked quietly.

"Because, because I can't bring you," Lulloyd sighed, "It, I still have some traces of my power left. I have to use that. That or, or I have something left. But, I can go. I need to go and, I need to fix my mistake."

"Fam," Kai shook his head, "This ain't your fault. You didn't do nothin'. You don't gotta do that for our sake!"

"I have to!" Lulloyd blurted out, "I… I have to! I can't, I need to make this right! I need to! I can't, I have to…" Lulloyd's arm shook, "I'm your leader, and, a leader is responsible for whatever happens to his troops. I need to take responsibility and get it back. And, I need you all to support me in this! I need you all to tell me to go and get it back! Okay?"

The group was silent for a few moments. Lulloyd felt a cold feeling go through his body. After a few moments of this silence, Kai slowly stood up.

"Okay," Kai nodded, "If you think you gotta do this, then we gotta let you do this."

"Bro," Nya frowned, "You know how dangerous this is?"

"We have to," Kai frowned to his sister, "If Lady Iron Dragon came and told you go, would you?"

"I… of course I would," Nya bit her lip.

"By that logic," Zane explained, "Garmadon is telling Lulloyd to do this for his sake. Kai is saying we should allow him to do the same. Because we are friend units."

"Thanks, Zane," Kai turned to Lulloyd, "You go do you, Lulloyd. We'll stay here and keep this all under wraps. K?"

"I…" Lulloyd felt a lump in his throat vanish, "I… thanks, Kai. Thanks guys. Just…" Lulloyd smiled, "...Thanks for always being there for me."

Kai moved forward and pulled Lulloyd into a hug. The rest of the group all followed suit, each making sure they held their friend. Lulloyd felt a stir of emotions inside him well up. He hugged back all he could, and when he broke from them, he almost didn't want to move.

"I promise, I'll come back," Lulloyd smiled, "I… you guys know I keep my promises."

With that, Lulloyd turned around. He took a deep breath, steadying himself. When he made his way back over to Garmadon and Lloyd, he was squashing down a number of feelings inside himself. The urge to cry was at the forefront of them.

"Before you go," Garmadon turned and picked something up. It was an sand-green one-by-three brick with the secret ninja force stamp on it, "Take this."

"My dragon?" Lulloyd asked as he slowly tied it to his back, "Where, did you find that?"

"It washed up from the deck, you dropped it during the battle," Garmadon grinned, "Trust me, next time I won't be letting you get off so easy for that."

Lloyd, not questioning how the dragon fit in a brick that small, stood up and walked over to Lulloyd, holding the Realm Crystal out in hand. Lulloyd looked down towards the ground, then reached out with his own hand and wrapped it around the crystal. As soon as he touched it, the crystal responded by turning a full deep green, pulsating out towards the two of them in tiny waves. Lulloyd looked over to his father again.

"Go get them, Lulloyd," Garmadon grinned, "And if you can, bring them back to me so I can fire them out of my volcano."

"I don't think mom would like that, but, okay," Lulloyd smiled weakly, then turned to Lloyd, "Alright… let's do this."

"Let's do this!" Lloyd drew his hood up, Lulloyd doing the same. Around the two, lights began to flash as their worlds seemed to fade away. As Garmadon and the others watched, the two went in and out of existence, then they faded, leaving behind nothing more than blowing sand in their wake.