"You mean…" Zane whispered in disbelief. Slowly, Lloyd nodded his head.
Zane looked down towards the floor, his pupils shrinking. The two sat in the middle of Dareth's apartment, sitting on the couch together. His home was far larger than that of the Dojo Lloyd knew of, and sitting now in front of them made the space feel far too massive for its own good. Dareth sat in a large recliner across from the two of them, his expression falling again. He looked over towards a small hallway that led to a few bedrooms.
"I… can't believe it," Dareth mumbled, "Why would someone want to do that to her?"
"Those two want to take over everything," Lulloyd, who sat on the floor, sighed, "It doesn't matter to them who they have to step on to get to that."
Zane didn't respond. Lloyd reached out and tried to take his hand, but Zane pulled away. The android took in a deep breath that came out as a shuddering sigh. His curled his hands into fists and his entire body shook as the information processed to him. His expression seemed to melt into something unreadable, making Lloyd's heart race even harder.
"I'm… keeping updates on what happened," Lloyd bit his lip, "I'll let you know if they find anything. They might actually be able to find her."
Lloyd was lying. After the battle, they had found scattered parts of the Iron Doom down the cliffside, and even a massive crater where is landed. Yet aside from the disturbing sight of hundreds of dead and squashed snakes, there was no sign of the actual mech itself. It was as though it had completely vanished. The earpiece that Lloyd still had in was directly linked to all of the other masters as they searched for it everywhere they could think of looking.
"Olive was not like me…or her mother... " Zane shook his head, "She was part human. Even if they did find her, we cannot simply reconstruct her body. She… she is gone."
Dareth stood up, "I need to check on Harumi…" He turned towards the hallway and slowly walked into it. He went to knock on a door that had been shut at the end of it, slowly sighing as he opened it up with a key and stepped inside.
"We have to stop them…" Lulloyd muttered, "They were going to kill my dad, and… and they actually did to Olive. They were going to eat Harumi too. We can't let them just, get away with it!"
"We can't do anything right now," Lloyd sighed, "We don't even know where they are."
Suddenly, Zane stood up. He simply stood there for several minutes, as if he had seen something and now it had vanished beyond his sight. He looked around the room, then he made his way over towards the door. Small trickles of tears were starting to run down his face, even as his eyes looked completely normal. He stood in front of the door for even longer, staring into the wooden grains without moving.
"I need to tell Pixel what happened," He declared solemnly, "Do not wait up for me, please. I… thank you for telling me this information. I can… understand how difficult this was for you. It seems Lloyd's heart was still pure, even at such a young age."
Before either of the two could stop him, Zane had closed the door behind him. Lulloyd looked away awkwardly as Lloyd gripped his fists and struck the chair under him. It groaned out in frustration as he did so.
"Hey…" Dareth stepped back into the room, "You two want anything? I got water, juice, a bunch of soda, and if you want something else feel free to raid the kitchen. I'm just grabbing some stuff here for Harumi…"
"Is… is Harumi okay?" Lulloyd asked quietly. Dareth turned towards him and frowned before he spoke.
"To be honest… I don't know. I haven't seen her this upset since… well…" Dareth cleared his throat, "Don't worry, Uncle Dareth will help her through this!" He forced a smile onto his face and pulled a few items from the fridge before rushing over towards Harumi's room.
An awkward silence descended upon the room. Lulloyd wanted to take Dareth up on that offer, but Lloyd's downcast face made him reconsider. After a few awkward moments of staring at the table in front of them, Lulloyd put a smile on his face and tapped the table.
"So, I uh, actually found out how I can master build in universes like yours," Lulloyd motioned to the table. He took off the few implements on top, then he brought his fist down onto the table. After a second, it turned blue and then for a split second turned into a component structure made of the same bricks that Lloyd had seen in his world. A second later and it shattered into the pieces making up that build.
"It turns out that, like, if I focus my mind into it, then I can turn things into bricks," Lulloyd lifted up a tile, "And, from what I saw, if I break apart what I've built before I build something else, then they all attract together and turn back into whatever I broke them apart of. Like, here..."
Lulloyd turned into the rectangular blur and quickly began to reassemble the table. Since he was just building something random, he made two stick figures out of the plates and tiles so that the two figures were holding hands. He stood it up awkwardly and smiled to Lloyd as he used his hand to make one of them wave.
Lloyd's look was somewhat distant, but he smiled regardless, "I'm glad you figured that out. It'll help us when we find them again."
"Oh… right, find them again…" Lulloyd struck the build with his fist, causing it to break apart. The blue glow surrounded the bricks and then Dareth's table was back in its fully non-brick form. Lulloyd replaced the adornment on top and looked away again.
Lloyd was deep in thought. Not counting when he'd gotten his power taken, that was the two's third battle with the time twins. The first one he hadn't even partaken in, but Garmadon had nearly taken them out. The second and third had both been disasters. Their mech ran on snake power, and if what they had found inside of the museum said anything, that army was constantly replenishing itself. If they wanted to take the twins out, they had to do it in one big push.
The twins had been powerful before, but if they were able to gain powers by devouring people, then that was even worse. After the battle, Lloyd had concluded that if the Vermillion devoured someone unique to that universe, than they would gain powers. If one looked at Master Building and Rhotatae as analogues for Spinjitzu, then it would explain how the twins could gain that power. Did the Vermillion also gain that power as well?
"Harumi!" Dareth's voice rang out from the hallway, "Harumi, I think we need to talk a little more about this!"
"I don't have anything to talk about to anyone but him," Harumi shouted in response as she made her way out to the living room. When she stood in front of the two, both of them winced. Harumi's eyes were red and puffy from crying, and her clothes obviously hadn't been changed. The look of rage in her eyes, however, was what made the two want to cower away.
"Get out," Harumi stated firmly, "Get out of here and never come back."
"What?" Lloyd stood up, "Harumi, we can't do that. We still need to look for the Twins."
"I'm handling that," Harumi shook her head, "We don't need you. You've made all this worse. Get out and let us handle this."
"They… kinda stole out powers…" Lulloyd frowned, "I would really like to leave but, we kinda need those back."
"Then we'll get them back. And then we'll never have to see each other again!" Harumi declared angrily, "LEAVE!"
"We're not leaving!" Lloyd raised his voice, "We're here to help! Listen, I'm sorry for what happened to Olive but-"
"Oh, you're SORRY?!" Harumi's hands began to glow with power, "You brought those two to this place because you weren't able to stop them! You dragged HIM along with you cause you couldn't fix your own mistake! Then you ruin my book signing, you look exactly like my dad, and now I've lost both my childhood home AND my best friend! And that's all in just ONE DAY!" Harumi's temper was fuming, "You should be SORRY that you weren't even able to stop those two from messing up our worlds! You should be SORRY that you couldn't STOP THEM FROM MURDERING OLIVE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!"
"HARUMI!" Dareth's shout came from behind her. The man laid his hands on her shoulder and gently gripped them, "I think you need to calm down."
Harumi's face contorted in anger for a few moments. The balls of green energy she was forming slowly sparkled out as she seemed to go limp in Dareth's grasp. Tears started to pour down her face, irritating the already reddened skin as she shook her head. Her hair fell out of its bun and cascaded over her face, hiding it from the two.
"Just leave... " Harumi mumbled, "My dad's dead and now Olive is too… you've done enough…"
Lloyd was stunned. He thought of something, anything he could say to her. Nothing formed from his mouth. Lulloyd slowly stood up and walked over towards the door, picking up his mech dragon brick and placing it on his back. He looked to Lloyd for a few moments.
"Okay," Lloyd stated sadly, "We'll go. I'm… I'm sorry that I didn't prevent this when I had the chance."
All he got from Harumi was a whine. Dareth looked to the two sadly, but didn't have anything to say that could help them. He just gave them an apologetic look as he slowly moved to take Harumi back towards her room. She didn't budge and instead stood there, motionless.
Slowly, Lulloyd and Lloyd walked towards the door. The cold air of the city blew away the warmth of Dareth's apartment all at once. Once outside, the two were met with the sight of hundreds of cars flying by. Likely none of them knew of what was happening or had happened. Lulloyd sighed sadly, looking back towards the door as it closed on them. The two stood outside for a few seconds, letting the sounds and sights fly by them.
Wordlessly, Lloyd made his way down the stairs. Dareth's apartment was in a large building that housed hundreds of the things. As it were, the city was set up with a series of fifteen 'layers,' with each layer being the walkways and catwalks that they'd taken an elevator to earlier. Each layer was every ten stories. Dareth's apartment was near the fourteenth layer, meaning that the night sky was within view. The stairs they took lined the entire building, and were designed to stop at every layer to allow for the residents to go on with their days.
"Think, uh, we should take my dragon somewhere?" Lulloyd tapped the brick on his back, "Might help?"
"I don't exactly think that thing is street legal, plus we don't even know what the rules of the road are here…" Lloyd paused, "Do, you know how to drive?"
"Yeah, I mean, kinda?" Lulloyd looked up, "Uhh… I kinda learned how to having to fight my dad about, every few days, but he also made an effort to teach me when we were going to the Temple of Fragile Foundations, so I'm pretty sure I can at least, fake it."
As the two continued to ascend stairs, with Lulloyd using the railing to more or less hop each one given his leg constraints, Lloyd paused and then shook his head, "Better not. I don't think people would understand what the bricks are anyways."
"Oh… right…" Lulloyd frowned, "Sorry, I, keep forgetting that you guys, didn't live in a world where you pretty much took anything apart when you needed to."
Lloyd didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't. Lulloyd's expression fell slightly without conversation. Once the two were at the nearest layer, Lloyd simply picked the direction going away from the apartments and started walking, Lulloyd followed slowly, staying quiet. A few times, he tried to open his mouth to think of something to say. Then he saw Lloyd wasn't even looking at him and then he silenced himself.
Lloyd's mind wasn't focusing so much on the destination as much the beginning. Specifically, Harumi. In the span of a day, he'd met his daughter, learned that it had been with the person that he watched… and then he had a hand in getting her best friend killed. It was no wonder to him that she didn't want to see him. He fully understood why it was that she told them to leave, and he didn't even have a good argument for it.
But at the same time… that was his daughter. When he thought about it, it wasn't the fact that it was his daughter. It was the fact that her mother was her. His fist tightened just thinking about her. Manipulating him, then trying to kill him over and over again, wealsing her way into getting Garmadon to call her 'daughter' and then it being his plan that led to… that led to that. He couldn't even process the image in his mind. He couldn't process a lot of things as of late. But the eyes that Harumi had under her hair when she yelled at the two to leave, they reminded him too much of the last time he saw his Harumi's own.
The city loomed in front of them. Lloyd walked over to a small slice of railing and leaned against it. Both above and below him, hovercars were flying by with almost no noise. It reminded him of when Borg had completely transformed Ninjago City after his battle with the Overlord. Even if he'd been out on tours, he'd gotten the chance to ride in a few of them before the city outlawed them after the Golden Master incident.
Was this what Ninjago would have become, had he finished the Overlord off properly? Even if the other ninja joked that Borg shouldn't have built a tower right on the spot, it wasn't Borg that failed to completely destroy him. In this world, he didn't even face the Overlord. So that meant no Golden Master, or at least, that would have happened far later. Was this the place that would have resulted, had he not made such a massive mistake?
Lloyd looked down. He looked down to the hundreds of people worming their way among the layers. He'd never expected there to be so many Serpentine. Almost one in every five people he saw had scales. Did the races now exist in harmony too because he hadn't messed up in this place? The sight of a Hypnobrai walking side by side with humans, with none of them covering their eyes, it was a sight that he hadn't known he needed to see until now. And from what Zane said, he even still opened the tombs in this world. What would Garmadon think of all this?
"What do you think of dad?" Lloyd asked without thinking, "Garmadon, I mean."
"Huh?" Lulloyd, who'd been simply rocking back and forth on his feet to kill time, turned his attention to Lloyd, "Like… what do I think of him?"
"Well… yeah," Lloyd shrugged, "I mean… it sounds like he wasn't there for a big part of your life either. Or at least, he wasn't, like a father to you."
"I… I don't really know how I feel about him…" Lulloyd sighed, "When I was a kid, I, I always hated him. All the other kids would pick at me and make fun of me. They'd steal my stuff and then beat me up because they all knew I was related to the guy that kept breaking down the city all the time. In the early days, Wu was the one that protected us. I couldn't do anything. I mean, my mom tried to help me beat up the bullies but, it never ended well. And I ended up hating my dad. I hated him for not being there, I hated him for being… for being him, you know?"
Lloyd just nodded his head. He'd felt that way a few times. Specifically on the Dark Island, when all Wu and Misako told him was that he had to kill his father to prevent what could happen. He grew to hate his father not because he had to, but because he hated the fact that his father couldn't have been anyone else to prevent them having to fight.
"And… then I got older, and the older I got I felt, lonely. I still hated him. I still didn't want anything to do with him. But… but then, I started seeing all the other kids learning stuff with their dads and, how my mom was bending over backwards for me, and I felt, sad. Sad that, I couldn't share anything with my dad. Like, I just, wanted to be able to come home and tell him about my day. That was it. Just someone to talk to that wasn't my mom or the ninja or Wu. And… and then, then we ended up having to work together to stop my mistake.
"Suddenly, all I felt about him just got twisted up. I realized, I admired him. He never had any bullies, never had any doubts about himself, never had to train for weeks to learn how to swing a sword the right way. He was just, incredible. But he was still my dad. He was still Garamdon, the Warlord. For a while, I was so hurt when I realized that. He'd never be the dad that I wanted growing up. It took awhile, but now… now, I realize that I think he's the dad that I need. Or, the dad that I never knew I needed. I still get upset thinking about the fact it took me until I was grown up to get to know him well… but, I also don't think I would want to trade him in. He's not the best dad but, he's mine. Does, that all make sense?"
"Yeah," Lloyd smiled, "I think it does. I kinda feel the same way."
Lulloyd blushed slightly, realizing just how long he'd ended up rambling. He straightened his torso up to then lean up against the railing to look to Lloyd directly.
"So… what now?" Lulloyd asked awkwardly, "Do… we, uh, go and find a place to sleep?"
"I'm not sure…" Lloyd responded, "I'm… still kinda processing everything that happened earlier I think I still have some money, maybe I can get us a hotel room somewhere. We just gotta figure out where exactly the hotel is."
"I think I could rebuild my dragon to work as a little house," Lulloyd gestured to his brick, "If we can find somewhere to set it up then I'm sure that will work."
Lloyd weighed his options. They didn't know the city well, so the dragon wasn't a bad idea. That required them finding somewhere to put it though, which looped back to the first problem at hand. A map could help them. Sadly, this wasn't the type of tourist town that had maps nearly every three blocks. And he was certain Harumi wouldn't appreciate them going back for directions. In fact… what way had they came from, again?
Before the two could say anything else, a beeping from Lloyd's earpiece he'd all but forgotten about startled them. Slowly, Lloyd reached up and pressed it, awkwardly giving a little, "Hello?"
"Hey," A voice that Lloyd knew too well came off on the other end, "Where are you guys? You need a place to stay?"
"Kai?" Lloyd gasped, "You're… wait, how'd you?"
"Dareth called me earlier," Kai's gruff voice chuckled, "Here, just head up to the top of Dareth's place, I'll come pick you up. Cole and Jay will be here soon too. They all kinda wanna see you."
"Wait, wait, Dareth called you?" Lloyd blinked, "What'd he tell you?"
There was a bit of a sad sigh on the other end, "Well, pretty much all we needed to know. That you're with someone else and you're both from other worlds where things happened way differently. I kinda wanna hear it all in person."
"Uhm… sure, yeah, sure thing!" Lloyd smiled awkwardly, "I appreciate that, uh... Kai."
"And I appreciate that you uh… Lloyd," Kai sniggered, "The others can't wait to see you."
Kai dropped off the line. Lloyd slowly turned to Lulloyd and gave a little smile.
"Wait!" Lloyd quickly hit the earpiece again, "We, uh, don't know where we are! We kinda, wandered off."
After a few seconds, Kai got back on, "Yeah, I can see that. That comm has tracking built into it. Just stay right there, we'll swing by and pick you up."
"Yeah, thanks Kai!" Lloyd sighed in relief and then turned to Lulloyd, "I think we just got us a place to stay."
As Lloyd and Lulloyd stepped out of the automated taxi that had picked them up and into the sliding doors to a rather beautiful penthouse, Lloyd slowly raised his eyebrow.
"You didn't tell us you were bringing friends, Kai…"
Kai slowly gave a small grin and leaned up against Skylar. The two looked far, far older than Lloyd had last seen them. Kai's hair was the biggest thing Lloyd noticed: it was no longer spiky, and instead was slicked backwards against his head to have the spikes come out the back. He was wearing a robe that looked akin to something like that of Masser Wu's robes black robes, yet instead with red as the accent color and a unique set of symbols along it. Beside him stood Skylar, whom, aside from her hair having a tad bit of orange now at the roots, looked somewhat unchanged.
"Well you know me," Kai chuckled, "Master of surprises."
Behind Kai, the massive living area of the house was filled with people Lloyd had never seen. All of them looked to be around Harumi's age. When Lloyd looked closer, he realized that he could see Carnelian, Souma, Karlon, Mizuko and Raiden in the group. It only took him a few moments to quickly catch on.
"Why'd you bring the Elemental Masters here?" Lloyd asked in confusion.
"'Cause they asked to meet you," Kai's smile fell, "And, uh, a few of them didn't believe what Harumi said was true. So, I brought them here. Plus, you know, they usually have a bunch of get togethers like this. Last time it was at Jay's place, this time it was our turn."
As soon as the two stepped past Kai and Skylar, Carnelian jumped to her feet. She walked over briskly and planted herself in front of Lloyd, a wide grin on her face.
"Heya!" She beamed and extended her arm, "I think we met at that battle, but I'm Carnelian, Master of Fire!"
"Oh," Lulloyd stepped forward and extended his hand, "My Kai back home can make fire, I'm L-"
Suddenly, a tall and thin girl wearing dark black clothes and sporting closely cut purple hair swatted Carnelian's hand out of the air. Her complexion was stern and toned. Her clothes were nearly skintight, and seemed to shimmer in the light when she moved. From that alone, it was easy to see while she was a bit short on height, she had a fair bit of muscle. She turned to Lulloyd and grimaced.
"Excuse her, please," The girl spoke in a thick heavy accent that made her bled into her words, "She tries that trick with everyone. She's not fire."
"And don't listen to Ren here!" Carnelian tried to extend her hand again, "I'm the Master of Fire!"
Lloyd raised his eyebrow, "Let me guess, you're Amber?"
Carnelian's face twitched slightly. She removed her hand and stepped backwards. Lloyd could hear her muttering 'worth a shot…'
"As she mentioned," Ren bowed her head, "I am Ren, Master of Form, Deputy of the Elemental Alliance. I have heard that your intervention saved the group from death. I thank you for keeping my friends safe."
"It was nothing!" Lulloyd got out instantly, "Just helping out where we can! That's what it means to be ninja!"
"I'm glad someone holds that perspective," Ren nodded her head, "Come, introductions are in order."
Lloyd and Lulloyd both had their hands taken by Ren -Carnelian snorted in response to that- and dragged forward into the room. Almost instantly, Souma was in front of them. Quickly, he dropped down to his hands and knees in front of them and shook his head.
"Thank you so much for your help!" Souma trembled, "I, I was certain that we were going to be facing our ends. As… as unfortunate as outcome that was, please, accept my thanks!"
"Of course," Lloyd nodded, "It was the right thing to do. He must have fought bravely to have lasted that long."
"If I can do anything for you," Souma's tone suddenly dropped into a serious one, "I will not hesitate to help. Anything, please."
"Well… I do have one question. You were using wind back there, weren't you?" Lloyd asked curiously, "Can I ask something?"
"Yes!" Souma smiled warmly, "Anything."
"What's your relationship with Morro?" Lloyd asked with his eyebrow raised.
Almost instantly, Souma's smile fell. He looked down and let out a small sigh, his expression downtrodden. Carnelian and Ren gave Lloyd a harsh look, one that Lloyd didn't understand.
"Morro is my uncle," Souma explained coldly, "Well, half-uncle. My grandfather had sons and daughters all over Ninjao. When Morro… perished, as soon as I was old enough, his power passed onto me. I never Morro a day in my life, nor my parents."
"I-I'm sorry," Lloyd shook his hands, "I didn't mean to touch on something so personal…"
"He got asked that a lot once the whole situation with Morro was published…" Ren sighed, "He would prefer to distance himself from the public image of Morro, if you would."
Lulloyd suddenly had two people flanking him on either side. One of them was a Hypnobrai, one that sported the large cobra-like head frills with a light yellow going through his torso and the traditional deep red eyes. The other was a Venomari that appeared to be one of the lower ranks, though unlike many he had all four eyes that were an unusually bright blue.
"My name is Somnam, Massster of Mind," The Hypnobrai smiled widely, "It'sss nice to meet you."
"Mine is Viperia," The Venomari's voice gave away a female body, "Viper for short. Massster of Poison. I know, it's a bit cliche that we Serpentine get the powers that match our tribe. We were on our way to join the battle but got a bit sssidetracked."
"Uhm…" Lulloyd blinked, "Uhm… I don't have uhm… snake people back home."
"You don't have Serpentine?" Somnan blinked, cocking his head. He and Viperia looked to one another, and then they grinned.
As Lulloyd suddenly found himself being dragged away by the two of them, Lloyd walked up to Mizuko and Raiden. Raiden was covered in bandages, but aside form an eye being covered, he seemed to be up and about on his feet without issue. He smiled warmly and nodded to Lloyd.
"You've been a wonderful help," Raiden beamed, "I was personally a little worried about what would happen to me if you hadn't, you know…"
"Truly," Mizuko beamed, "So… you're Lloyd?!" Suddenly Mizuko was in front of Lloyd, speaking faster than Lloyd could follow, "Where'd you come from? What's it like where you live? What was that dragon you were riding? What's going on with your hair? Oh, no wait, who made your ninja outfit? Who's your friend? Why do you carry two swords like that, aren't katanas supposed to be two handed weapons?!"
"...Yes," Lloyd used his answer to when he met an adoring fan. Mizuko blinked at him, then she shrugged and bounced away.
"Karlon want to say hello!" Suddenly, Lloyd was caught up in a hug from behind that certainly broke at least something of his, "Green one good ally!"
"Wheeze t-thank you Karlon!" Lloyd gasped out, "C-Can't… breathe…!"
Karlon slowly let go of Lloyd, who crumpled to his knees before he got up. Lloyd looked to Ren still standing behind him, who currently was humming a little tune to herself.
"Are these all you all have right now?" Lloyd asked Ren, "I think… I don't see Sound, Speed, Nature, Light, Earth, Gravity or Smoke."
"You know a lot about Elemental Powers," Ren stated simply "Currently, we do not know where the Master of Earth, Speed and Nature are. Not all powers translate to the next generation so linearly. The Master of Light, Tynda, is currently at home protecting her own family from the elements, while Fang, the Master of Smoke, doesn't join us if it isn't an emergency. Issac is our Master of Gravity and he is… otherwise busy. As for the Master of Sound…"
Suddenly, there was a massive rumble that went through the entire room. Kai and Skylar both cringed as a beautiful and slender woman stood holding a microphone. In her hands she had what looked to be a fusion of piano and guitar, and she hit another note to send another blast through the room. Lloyd flinched and covered his ears as her scratchy voice came in through the mic.
"HEY! NEW GUY!" The girl waved her hand. Her hair was an electric pink, currently grown out and drawn in front of her face to cover her right eye. She wore what Lloyd could only describe as… well, a sparkly leotard. She hit another note, "WANNA HEAR A SONG THAT I'M WORKING ON?!"
"Forte!" Ren shouted, "We're INDOORS!"
"WHAT? OHHHHH!" The girl lowered her voice, yet it was still incredibly loud, "How's this?!"
"Better…" Ren huffed, "Lloyd, that's Forte. Or, that's her stage name. She would have made the battle… but currently she had a concert."
"Hey, I didn't know that those Twins would attack right in the middle of my performance!" Forte leapt from the stage, did a somersault in midair, and then landed in front of Lloyd with her keytar held outstretched like a blade. She leaned up and blew the hair from her face and pursed her lips together, "I can't exactly just up and leave in the middle of my song!"
"Yes, but you have quite enough time to write them, now don't you?" Ren scoffed.
"What's that's supposed to mean?!" Forte pouted. Ren just shook her head.
Lloyd wasn't even sure where his eyes were supposed to go. Her brilliant pink hair made it hard to focus on anything that wasn't it. Her outfit had a massive set of frills at the hip, making it almost look like a ballerina outfit that had been doused in glitter and sequins. Her voice seemed naturally loud, a stark contrast from Jacob's soft spoken nature when Lloyd had met him on Chen's Island.
"So, you're a singer?" Lloyd blinked. Ren smacked her forehead as suddenly Forte's entire body seemed to spring into motion.
"Why yes I AAAAMMMMMM!" Forte drew a long riff out on her keytar to emphasize her words, "I'm Forte, and I'm the head singer of my little band I've called the Masters of Song! Cause, you know, MAster of SOUND!" Her voice was nearly enough to make Lloyd duck for cover.
"Forte!" Ren shook her head, "Please, could you go ten seconds without-"
It was at this point that the sound of two Serpentine laughing filled the room. Lulloyd was now on a small kitchen table with the two on either side of him. Lulloyd was rubbing his hand across the table softly as though he was embarrassed about something.
"S-Sharks aren't that silly…" He muttered. Somnam just threw his head back and laughed.
"Your father drivesss around in a ssshark mech! That's hilarious!" Somnam hit the table with his hand, "Tell usss more!"
"Uhm… well, he defeated Master Wu with a bunch of butterflies, and, he's pretty good with mechs too. He had his entire army all themed after sea life. Like, the uhm, Jelly Sub division," Lulloyd paused, "Uhm… maybe you have a point at laughing there."
"We have to know more!" Viperia leaned forward and tapped Lulloyd's back, "How'd you defeat him?"
Ren cast Somnam a harsh glare. The Serpentine stared at her for a moment before his tongue darted out of his mouth for a brief second. This caused Ren to freeze slightly in anger, then just slowly shake her head and mumble something under her breath.
"Somnam has a bad habit of reading minds when greeting someone," Ren muttered, "...in fact most of us all have some bad habits with that sort of thing. We're not exactly a uniform group."
"But we're AWESOMEEEEEEEE!" Forte strummed her keytar again, "Just like this new song I'm working on! Everything is Awesome! Everything is cool-"
Forte suddenly found her keytar out of her hands. It was held in midair seemingly by nothing. Then, the form of a young man wearing what looked like a suit that had gone through a drier filled with knives appeared. He wore his hair backwards and drawn into what looked like braids. His face was filled with anger, and he brought his knee up to the keytar.
"I'm confiscating this from your, Forte," The man spat, "We're not going to listen to another one of your insipid songs!"
"Wait," Lulloyd blinked, "I think I actually heard that one before."
"But Uuummmmmbbbbrraaaaa!" Forte pouted, "You can't just take my stuff! I had that thing personalized, you know!"
"I know, and that's why I'm not breaking it," Umbra put it on his back and then vanished. Both he and keytar vanished as Forte stamped her foot on the ground in anger.
"You can't hide from me Umbra!" Forte brought her hands to her mouth and started to hum, "You know I can find you with sound waves!"
As Forte seemingly started to run off doing nothing, Ren slowly took Lloyd over to a small hallway. The hallway led deeper into Kai's house, and Ren stood in the entrance to it. She slowly rubbed her eyes and looked Lloyd deep in his own.
"Well, you've seen most of us now," The girl groaned, "Now, I need you to answer a few questions for me."
"What sort of questions?" Lloyd looked back to the group that had seemed to now swarm around Lulloyd to listen to his tales of his father's attempted conquests.
"As Harumi's deputy, the fact I wasn't there means that I need to get exactly what happened," Ren frowned deeply, "Tell me… what happened to Olive?"
Lloyd had expected this question. With the group seemingly happy and cheerful, he half wondered now what exactly they even knew about what happened. So Lloyd explained everything as best he could, relating everything he could about the realm crystal, the Iron Doom, and ultimately what happened with Olive. As soon as he finished, Ren was clutching her fists tightly.
"I...I see, thank you for telling me…" Ren sighed deeply, her eyes closing for a long few seconds before she looked to Lloyd again, "Listen… the others that weren't there don't know about what happened to Olive yet. I specifically asked those at the battle not to tell. They think Harumi was injured and is recovering. They don't need to see her like this. Promise me you won't tell them about this until Harumi gets better, alright?"
"Alright… I don't know if I like lying to them though," Lloyd shook his head, "If you all are a team, then you should trust each other, right?"
"Yes… but you don't know what happened when Harumi's father died," Ren looked away, "I've known Harumi since she was a child. When she broke down… Lloyd, you don't need to know what she was like. It took Dareth almost four weeks to get her to even leave her room, and even then she refused to speak to anyone until Dareth bribed her for it. We came close to losing her completely after the Overlord and… right now, seeing you and then this, I fear that we may be getting closer to that same place again."
"So, you don't want the others to see her like this, right?" Lloyd mused. Ren solemnly nodded.
Lloyd wasn't sure what else to say. For a few moments, he tried to formulate the exact words to use, but he understood Ren's logic too well. So after a few attempts, he turned and walked away. It was at this point that he spotted Kai in the kitchen.
"Kai..?" Lloyd blinked, "You cook?"
"Hmm?" Kai turned around, stirring around a massive pan of rice and several vegetables sprinkled in, "Yeah, do I not cook in your universe?"
"Uh… you've never cooked for us. We always let Zane do that," Lloyd mused, "You're… uhm, taking that whole 'other universe' thing pretty well there."
"Well, I've dealt with a lot of crazy things before, and that involved going to a bunch of Realms too," Kai chuckled, "Trust me, you're probably the least strange thing about it all."
"I meant the whole 'I'm dead' part of that," Lloyd stated bluntly. Kai didn't even flinch as he poured in some sort of sauce into the pan.
"Yeah, you are," Kai sighed, "It's not that I'm not confused to see you back here, Lloyd. But I spent years learning that I couldn't do anything to stop what happened to you. Lloyd made the choice to go up there for Harumi, and he paid the price. It was his decision. And… well, I've already come to terms with the fact that you're not him. So that kinda helps."
Lloyd slowly nodded his head. He moved into the kitchen and started to help clear away any mess on the counters. As he did so, he leaned over to talk to Kai discreetly.
"Do you know if anyone found anything on the Iron Doom?" Lloyd muttered. Kai looked to him and then shook his head.
"No, nothing. Not even a single trace of it," Kai sighed, "We even saw where it fell, but there was nothing else. It's like the thing fell and then it just… just vanished. We have no idea what we're dealing with here."
"Then that means they probably already jumped to the next universe…" Lloyd muttered, "Lulloyd and I need to get going after them. I'm getting Lulloyd and we'll leave ASAP."
"Woah, woah, woah there tiger!" Kai leaned over and put his hand on Lloyd's shoulder reaching for his realm crystal, "Come on, you just fought a massive battle and from Zane told me, you've had a rough day. Take a few minutes to sit down and relax."
"I need to get after them!" Lloyd countered. Kai just shook his head again.
"Just stay until the end of the night and get some sleep first," Kai smirked, "Even if it's just a few hours. You and your friend can't go running around all day without rest. You just got here, at least spend the night."
"But…"
"Lloyd," Kai sighed, "The group right now could use some entertainment. Just go out and have some fun with them, okay? You won't catch that machine if you're too tired to move. Just, relax a little bit. A little positivity won't hurt, and if the Twins are as damaged as you say, then a few hours won't give them any more an advantage then you chasing them down would."
Lloyd wanted to say something that would deny Kai that, but he had no idea what exactly he could say to do so. He slowly sighed and nodded his head. Kai just gave a victory smirk and gestured back out towards the crowd.
"Alright, Lulloyd…" Forte and Somnam were leaning into Lulloyd's face and speaking in perfect time, "Why don't you go ahead and play a game with us then?"
"Uh… game?" Lulloyd chuckled nervously, "S-Sure, let's do it."
Ren had entered the room again, and while she looked ready to jump in, Umbra appeared in front of her and shook his head. He was smirking slightly. Lulloyd was sat down at a table directly across from Somnam, who leaned forward as his eyes began to glow.
"Alright, Lulloyd. No mortal can resist the gaze of a hypnobrai. However!" Forte leaned on Somnam's shoulders, "A few can resist only one eye of one! So, Somnam here is gonna try to hypnotize you, and if he does, then you'll have to tell a secret!"
"And… uh, what happens if I don't…?" Lulloyd leaned forward curiously.
"Then Somnam will share one of his!" Forte giggled, "It's just a simple game, we've all done it!" The rest of the room looked to one another and then either nodded or shrugged. Lulloyd didn't look as convinced. After seeing Forte's hopeful expression, however, he nodded.
"Sure thing," Lloyd chuckled, "Why not?"
"Then… go!" Forte hit her fist on the table, startling Lulloyd. True to her word, Somnam closed one eye and leaned his head to the right to stare into Lulloyd. Lulloyd felt his body start to go numb as the strange hypnotic circles within the eye seemed to start emanating outwards to wrap around him. He shook his head a few times, but his gaze seemed to be permanently affixed to it.
"Jussst let go, and let you mind be free…" Somnman giggled, "Free… to me!"
It wasn't too long until Lulloyd was under. A redness overtook Lulloyd's pupils, and his body fully locked up. Somnam sighed and looked over to Forte, shaking his head. Forte just shrugged and snapped her fingers.
"I used to find my sword too heavy and so I spent weeks making a perfect replica from styrofoam to make Wu think I was way better than I already was… and it actually worked..." Lulloyd spoke drone-like. The color faded from his eyes as he blinked, "Uhm… what?"
"Hmm… not that embarrassing. Kinda cute, honestly!" Forte grinned, "Sorry Lulloyd, you'll have to work on your staring for now! But good attempt!" Forte walked over and smiled warmly at him. She succeeded in making Lulloyd blush and twist his head away.
Lloyd smirked slightly. He remembered playing dumb games with Zane to see how long each of them could last under his titanium grip, or bet on how far Cole could throw a bolder when they laced it down with ice or lava. The very sight of it all brought a small calm to his heart. Not enough to wipe away the memories, but enough to relax him for now.
"Heh, I'll try that!" Lloyd walked over and nudged Lulloyd up from the seat. Forte whooped and quickly grinned, leaning over the table and hitting her fist down on it.
"Alright then… go!" Forte beamed. Once more, Somnam's gaze began to emanate out from his eyes.
Lloyd looked down to an empty can on the table. Slowly, he slid the can over in his hand and tilted it upwards so Somnam could see himself. Somnam's gaze widened for a sparse moment before the first reflection hit his eyes, putting him fully under his own trance. Smirking, Lloyd snapped his fingers.
"When I wasss little I wanted to be a constrictai ssso bad I would twist scrap metal and put it on my head to try and dig through rock. I tried to jump into a rock one day and hit my head ssso hard I was sssinging ssstupid songs all day…" Somnam shook his head and then grinned, "Oh… very clever…"
The entire room laughed, and Forte walked over and bounced up on the spot, "How'd you do that?!"
"Let's just say I've spent a bit of time around Serpentine,," Lloyd coyly answered, "You should pull Viperia's tail when you get the chance."
Almost instantly, Viperia across the room moved her hands to quickly cover her tail. The room laughed again as Raiden rushed out to get the room drinks.
"Anyone hungry?" Kai called out. Quickly, half the room rushed over into the kitchen. Lloyd, not knowing why, ended up at the back of the queue line that formed for the dish Kai had been cooking. After he took a long bite into it, his eyes widened.
"Woah! Kai!" Lloyd got out between bites, "This is, really good! Where'd you learn to cook like this?"
Kai grinned, "Oh, I've always known. Nya would eat a lot when we were younger, so I learned to make a lot of food. And plus…" Kai flipped a cooking spoon into the air a few times and then caught it, "Well, clientele would be more likely to buy from the old shop if you fed them first. A good meal will get you going a long way."
Lloyd smiled and nodded to that statement. Already, he had the idea in his head to ask Kai if he'd be willing to cook for them back home. Normally Zane or Cole did all the cooking, but if Kai could make this much food and make it all taste this good then he had to wonder what he could do with just a small dish!
Home. Lloyd's appetite faltered as he thought about that. He had to stop the Time Twins to get the rest of his elemental power back just to be able to get home. The Time Twins had outwitted him over and over again. Now they'd taken the life of someone here, and they now had two abilities that he was still figuring out himself. He already felt his mood start to drop.
"Lloyd," Raiden appeared in front of him. Lloyd looked up slightly to see a smiling, warm face looking down at him. Now that he was up close, Lloyd could see what almost looked like Jay with different hair and a bit deeper voice.
"Oh, Raiden, heya," Lloyd put his bowl aside, "There really isn't any need to thank me again, it's no not like we did much to help anyways."
"I just saw your face and figured you were wondering why we were having a party right after a battle," Raiden mused, "Granted, the others aren't in the know about everything just yet."
"It… is kinda strange," Lloyd admitted, "Why?"
"Well…" Raiden sat down beside Lloyd and ran his hand through his hair, "It was Mizuko's idea originally. I may have gotten my father's dashing good looks," He winked to Lloyd, "But she got his energy. Not literally, of course, that would be me again. Whenever we have a battle, in order to recharge ourselves -no pun intended," His hands sparked a bit while he chuckled, "We get together. My father's ninja were more than happy to host us. For every negative we have, there can be a positive. It will help when we have to break the news to them all."
"It's my fault…" Lloyd sighed, looking away, "I'm the reason those two were here in the first place. I… I was trying to stop them before they even got here."
"Hmm…" Raiden paused, then reached out and put his hand on Lloyd's shoulder. When Lloyd looked over, Raiden pulled Lloyd back upright and then shook his head.
"I've found playing the blame game won't do much for you," Raiden sighed, "Trust me, I have done that in the past with this team. I'm not the strongest here, but that doesn't mean I can't fight. So what if an enemy slips through because I'm not strong enough? My team is here to support me. You have yourself a good friend there in Lulloyd it seems," Raiden looked ot Lulloyd, now chatting away happily with Mizuko, "A single man can carry a single man's weight, yet a strong ally can carry the weight of ten men."
"That's… helpful," Lloyd felt like he was talking to Wu, "But, it doesn't help that I still feel guilty about what happened."
"And it's for that reason that you will improve," Raiden smiled at him, still holding Lloyd's shoulder, "Guilt over failure will build you up if you direct that energy in the right places. Work hard to improve yourself, and you'll find you can do a lot of amazing things."
Lloyd slowly felt his head moving up and down to what Raiden was saying, "You know," Lloyd spoke without thinking, "You should pretty wise for someone so young."
"I've taken my family and friend's lessons to heart," Raiden chuckled, "Well, I'm going to go and mingle. I haven't seen some of these friends for months. You're an ally, so feel free to mingle to your heart's content."
With that, Raiden stood up. He squeezed Lloyd's shoulder for a few moments, then made his way off into the crowd. Raiden walked up to Souma and leaned up against his shoulder. Souma turned around and rolled his eyes at him, pushing him off. Suddenly, Souma jerked upwards like he'd been shocked, and Raiden's hand on his lower back appeared to be the case.
"I think Raiden has taken an interest in you," Umbra appeared behind Lloyd and chuckled, "If you know what I mean."
Lloyd blinked and turned around to Ren, "Uhm… yeah, he seemed to be easy to talk to, if that's what you mean."
Umbra rolled his eyes and just smirked before he disappeared again. After seeing that Paleman had done the same thing, now Lloyd wondered if the element of light made people want to simply stay cloaked all the time.
Lloyd looked out to the crowd. Forte was swinging with Viperia to a song playing off of someone's phone, while Lulloyd had broken apart a vase and started to demonstrate master building to an incredibly stunned Mizuko. From his recoil, Lloyd could only imagine Mizuko was barraging him with questions. Souma and Raiden had sat down together and were leaning on one another while chatting away with Ren. Somnam was still eating more of Kai's food. Carnelian had found her mother and the two were walking away into the hallway. Karlon was leaning up against the wall with his helmet over his eyes, looking half asleep. All this left Lloyd sitting alone.
Part of him still wanted to grab Lulloyd and rush out against the Time Twins again. If they truly were limping away, completely defeated, then they could get his power back and leave. Even if they didn't have any leads right now, sitting around would give the twins more time to get up on their feet and get back to their plans, whatever they were. Yet another part of him saw the party in front of him, and he felt a compulsion to see more about the universe that resulted from his… death.
That morbid thought somewhat decreased his desire to participate. Yet as Raiden gave him a little grin and Kai pushed him up from his chair, Lloyd found himself unable to resist. Slowly, he nudged himself forward into the group, readying himself.
"Alright, let's break out the games!" Souma cheered. Lloyd sat down in front of a table as a smile crept over his face.
It'd been nearly four hours until Lloyd and Lulloyd would get that promise of sleep Kai had given them. Forte and Somnam were quick on their feet with finding new and interesting games for them to play. What they had all thought was a game of four player world building had turned into an intense team competition with minigames and puzzles to determine who could build their world first. Lulloyd had proven himself incredibly fast with catching and throwing things around, muttering something about his dad ensuring to teach him the former.
From there, Umbra suggested they start with charades. That had only lasted three rounds before a rule was created that each time a team used a word, the next team couldn't guess a word starting with the letter the last word had said. The person doing the charades would have to change everything on the fly to work with it. After 'Cat' had somehow turned into 'Raging Road Racers' Souma had declared the game boring and declared they'd all create a mini tournament with other board games in the home.
Throughout all the fun, Lloyd had found himself smiling. Yet each time he got into the game, looking over to see Ren's face or to see Mizuko stutter when talking about the battle, it all reminded him of what Raiden told him. This was all just a cover up to make certain that they were all in high spirits when they had to tell them about Olive. As much as the group was having fun, Lloyd's mind was elsewhere.
Skylar had prepared a guest room for Lloyd and Lulloyd. Most of the others either lived in the city or were staying with others, so it left just the two of them left at the home when all was said and done.
"Now don't you two even think about leaving in the morning!" Skylar had warned them, "I'll head down to the noodle shop bright and early to make you some food for the road."
It was for this reason Lloyd had only taken a six hour rest before getting out of bed. As he stood up, he looked around the room. It was rather spacious, with two small beds in place surrounded by ornate wooden shelves filled with books and various knicknacks. Lloyd recognized some of the items on them from his own adventures, namely things like an Anacondrai cultist helmet. Now he was wondering how the confrontation with Chen had happened in this world after what happened with Garmadon, or at least the finer details.
But he didn't take time to think. Instead, he slid out of bed and pulled his ninja suit back on. After he set the sword holder in place, he walked over and began to nudge Lulloyd.
"Wake up," Lloyd hissed, "Lulloyd, wake up!"
"...can't fire me out of a volcano, dad… mom… kick your butt…"
"Lulloyd!"
"Mmghnnhn…" Lulloyd slowly leaned up in bed, rotating until he was sitting up on his legs. He turned his head to look to Lloyd, and more importantly, to the window. Seeing there was no sunlight coming from inside of it, he slowly yawned.
"What time is it..?" Lulloyd asked.
"Early. You've slept for six hours. Come on," Lloyd stood up, "We're going."
"What?" Lulloyd slowly got up and rubbed his face, "Why now?"
"I need to test to see if the Time Twins are somewhere else. And if they are…" Lloyd shook his head, "Us being here got someone killed and now Harumi is upset at us. I appreciate what Kai did for us, but we need to go and track the Twins down as soon as possible. We've just given their snakes six hours to build themselves back up. We need to see if they've left."
"Left? As in, this universe?" Lulloyd raise his eyebrow, "How could we even tell?"
Slowly, Lloyd removed the Realm Crystal from his suit. The green glowing gemstone shone in the low light, giving off a pale light onto the floor, "The Twins took your power just like your team's, right? When I first jumped into your world, I was just following the feeling of my energy. So, if we both focus, we should be able to find them again."
While Lulloyd didn't understand, the way Lloyd was holding the crystal made it clear. Slowly, he reached out and put his hand on the crystal. Lloyd muttered a thanks to him before closing his eyes. Lulloyd did the same.
Slowly, the world around them felt hazy. Lulloyd recalled the feeling from his first jump into this place. He let his mind focus and drift along with Lloyd's. Slowly, the world around them felt even more incorporeal. Despite this, a tug formed. Lulloyd felt something directly behind him. A strange tug that pulled at him, like the invisible hand of a child.
The world around them faded back suddenly as Lloyd placed the crystal back into his pocket. Lulloyd shook his head and slowly sighed as he tried to process what all that was.
"That proves it," Lloyd sighed, "They jumped universes again. I bet once they hit the ground, they opened another portal with whatever snakes they had left and fled. That's why the team didn't find anything."
"So, we should go after them?" Lulloyd bit his lip, "Shouldn't we tell the others we're doing that first?"
"It's better if we disappear," Lloyd sighed, "They were nice to us last night, but when we have to start answering more questions, then it'll look like us being here got Olive killed. I don't want them to think that. I left a note here for Kai. He'll tell them that we got a lead on the Twins and left. We'll pop back in this universe and deliver them proof that we did it."
"Can you even go back to this universe?" Lulloyd asked slowly. Lloyd didn't answer right away.
"Come on, let's go," Lloyd started to move, but then Lulloyd grabbed his arm.
"Lloyd, I don't like the idea of just up and vanishing…" Lulloyd shook his head, "What's wrong?"
Lloyd slowly trembled. He looked to Lulloyd, then groaned, "It's… it's this universe. This place is… it's perfect. All because I didn't get the golden power. This entire universe is so much better than mine. Serpentine aren't living underground, the world is so much bigger and, Harumi exists. I… her mother in my world, she, she died in front of me. Because I was stupid. It was my actions that…" He trembled, his fist tightening, "I'm… I don't belong here, Lulloyd. And neither do you. I don't want to stay here."
"Why?" Lulloyd looked down, "I… like it here. I'm not saying we don't have to get going but, why like this?"
"Because it's better this way," Lloyd sighed, "We just appeared here. Now we'll disappear. That way, I don't have to mess up Harumi's life anymore than I already have."
Lulloyd was silent. He needed to go after his elemental power. Lloyd wanted to go now. It wasn't that he didn't want to leave, but just vanishing like this? It felt wrong to him. But the hurt in Lloyd's voice as he spoke… it was enough to make him reconsider. Enough to make him wonder what truly happened to Harumi's mother in Lloyd's world. So he just slowly nodded. He grabbed his dragon brick as the two moved together.
Lloyd didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled Lulloyd towards the door. Being ninja, it wasn't hard for them to open said door silently and flip their way along the ceiling to the doors. Before the two exited the house, they gave one last look back at the room last night they'd shared so happily. Then Lloyd opened the door and flipped out.
Rather than say where they were going, Lloyd instead ran over to the stairwell that would lead them to the next layer. Once they'd slid their way down onto the layer, they darted parallel to the house in order not to be spotted. After the house had slid into the distance away from them, Lloyd slowed down.
The two had ended up on the middle of one of the concrete walkways. Large purple and blue neon signs lined the walls beside them. Trashcans were overflowing, and small automatic sweepers were moving trash into the cans. The morning light of dawn wasn't up yet, making the city still feel like it was almost midnight. They stood at the entrance to an alleyway between two skyrises.
"We'll make our way back to that statue, and then we'll leave," Lloyd declared, "I think it has something to do with where we're ending up."
"Probably because it's an anchor point."
Both of the ninja froze solid. Lulloyd pulled his mechdragon brick off his back, readying it for a weapon. After a few moments of the two tensely standing off, a figure dropped in front of them.
Harumi looked up at them as she pulled her ninja hood off to show her face, "I did some reading on multiverse theory and dimensional travels. I downloaded about a thousand books onto my watch here too," She held up a massive watch with a screen far more like a phone.
"Harumi?!" Lloyd sputtered, "How'd, you?"
"When I was younger and I would go to bed," Harumi sighed, "You, my father," She hissed, "He would sneak out of the house trying not to wake up and go and hang out with the ninja. I started to follow him, and so he would get better at it. Honestly, after years of trying to out sneak him… you were pretty predictable."
"But… why here?" Lulloyd asked, "And, anchor point?"
"When you were telling Zane about your travels, you mentioned you appeared at a statue in both these worlds," Harumi explained, "I don't know much about the topic, but I'm guessing that those statues are serving as an anchor point for you to enter a new universe."
"You, spent all last night reading up on this?" Lloyd asked, then shook his head, "No, wait, why are you here?"
"Because I'm going with you," Harumi stated.
Lloyd and Lulloyd were stunned for a moment. After a few minutes, they both looked to one another to see if the other could piece it together. Harumi stopped them from talking by holding something up in her hand.
"Olive gave this to me right before I agreed to go with the Twins," She held up a small little black disc, "But it doesn't work with anything. Nothing. I can't figure out what to do with it. There might be another universe that can figure it out. That, and I want to take those two down for what they did to Olive."
"But… last night you were… you know?" Lulloyd fumbled out. Harumi gave him a cold glare.
"Last night I was upset, yeah. But right now, I've decided I'm not going to lock up like I did with my dad. I'm going to go out there and do something about it," Harumi looked to Lloyd, "I'm going with you."
"I, thought you hated us?" Lloyd quiered.
"I do," Harumi threw back coldly, "Right now, I want nothing to do with either of you. But right now, you're my ride, and you know more about the Time Twins than I do. So, show me the Realm Crystal."
Lloyd felt like a knife had been driven into his chest at Harumi's words. Despite the cold feeling creeping over him, he slowly pulled the crystal back out from his pocket and passed it to Harumi. The girl held it in her hands for a few moments before she slowly nodded her head.
"You said they stole your elemental power?" Harumi muttered, "What's in this thing then?"
"Whatever I had left," Lloyd sighed, "Wu knocked me away before they got all of it. What's in there is all that I had left, aside from what I can make with my hands."
Harumi rotated the Crystal up, down and around. She peered into it, then she held it up to her watch. It scanned over the Crystal, then it suddenly scanned both Lulloyd and Lloyd. As she read what was on screen, she nodded her head like she'd read something interesting.
"Well, how are you following them?" Harumi asked curiously, "How'd you even get here?"
"I don't fully know…" Lloyd pursed his lips together, "I just, focused into the Realm Crystal, and then I felt my elemental power somewhere. I just let myself get drawn to it. And I appeared wherever they were."
Harumi nodded, "That sounds like something I read. Each universe that's created will have different energy. Energy naturally wants to change forms, and it doesn't like it when you pull energy away. That's why universal travel is so difficult. Whenever you try to jump, the energy that makes up you is still clinging onto the energy in your own universe. Like trying to pull a rock from under a pile of them."
The two looked confused, so Harumi went on, "However, if the Time Twins have your power and are in another universe, then that creates an anchor. Your energy is being drawn back towards itself. It has a clear path, so it makes a clean jump. Likewise, you'll leave residual energy in a universe you visit, so you can get back to that universe easily."
"So… our powers are acting as a magnet to draw us into another world?" Lulloyd asked. Harumi nodded her head.
"Then how does the Realm Crystal fit into all this?" Lloyd asked.
"Honestly, I have no idea. I guess it's just acting like a battery. But, your element comes from the First Rhotatae Master, who created worlds just with his bare hands. So, my guess is that your element is connected to the universe itself."
"Like how Wu said that Life is connected to everything around me…" Lulloyd mused.
"So I think the Realm Crystal is just acting as a controlling force," Harumi tossed the Crystal back, "It's just guiding you. It was already made to hop realms, to pumping energy into it to make it go across universes wouldn't be too hard."
"But what about the Time Twins?" Lulloyd asked. The three fell silent for a second.
"...The Vermillion!" Lloyd shouted, "All those snakes are connected to a hive mind! Think about it. The Realm Crystal gives us a clear path to follow because it was made that way. Those two have all those snakes all using their brains to calculate a path. If our powers can open holes in the universe, then the snakes calculate the path…" Lloyd nodded, "That's why they won't abandon the Iron Doom! They need it for transport!"
Harumi slowly nodded, "Alright. Now, show me how you all jumped into this place."
Lloyd's brief moment of triumph was cut short as Harumi reminded him of why she was here. Lloyd looked up and then slowly shook his head.
"No," Lloyd frowned, "I'm not letting you come with us."
"What?" Harumi blinked, "What? You're not letting me come with you? Did I hear that right?"
"Yes," Lloyd affirmed, "You're not coming."
Harumi's hands started to fizzle with her element, "Who said you get to decide whether or not I get to come?"
"It's too dangerous, it's bad enough I have to take Lulloyd with me!" Lloyd frowned, "You saw what they did to Olive!"
Harumi's eyes turned dark. Lulloyd felt the pressure in the air rise. He slowly took a few steps backwards, putting his back against a walkway that otherwise would lead to a several thousand foot drop to the ground. Maybe a layer below, if he was lucky.
"My friend today was murdered," Harumi snapped, "You don't get to tell me whether or not I can come! They murdered Olive and nearly killed my team! I'm not letting you leave without me!"
"And what happens if you get hurt?!" Lloyd raised his voice, "What happens if the Twins hurt you in some random universe! They've been willing to kill!"
"Then I'll take that risk!" Harumi shouted, "I've taken that risk over and over again! I take that risk every time I go to fight! You did too from what I heard! So don't you sit here and tell me that I can't do this!"
"G-Guys…" Lulloyd tried to assuage the situation, "Listen, we can just talk about this, okay?" He suddenly regretted not letting his mom teach him conflict resolution.
The two stared each other down for several seconds. Harumi's gaze was filled with grief, sorrow, maliace, hatred and anger all rolled into one inferno between her pupils. Lloyd's were determined and steely, knowing what could happen to her and not wanting to think about what could happen to her.
"Your world is perfect," Lloyd attempted to argue, "You can't leave it."
"My world has never been perfect," Harumi growled, "I held my father in my arms and watched him bleed out in front of me. I channeled my grandfather's spirit and burned through all of it to use the Golden Weapons to blast the Overlord with all I had. And then I had to sit through both their funerals, all the while knowing that if I had just stepped up, if I had just taken this suit and done what needed to be done, they'd both still be here. My world has never been perfect."
Lloyd didn't have an answer to that. Feeling victorious, Harumi walked over and showed Lulloyd her watch. She held it up to his ear, then to Lloyd's ear. When she held it up to her own, all their comms gave an audible beep before showing up on the watch's screen.
"There, now our channels are us and only us. As long as you're in signal of this watch, which is about half of Ninjago, you'll be fine. It makes its own signal too." Harumi explained. She didn't look at Lloyd the entire explanation.
"Good…" Lloyd felt defeated. He slowly looked to Harumi and muttered, "What was that about an anchor point?"
"I'll explain once we get to the next universe," Harumi waved away the question, "Now, how do you do it?"
Lloyd held the Crystal up in the air and charged it with his power again. He held it out to them. Lulloyd and Harumi both took hold of it. As they stood there, Lulloyd looked to Harumi, then to Lloyd.
"Uhm… wait a minute," Lulloyd asked, "Can, she even jump?"
Harumi narrowed her eyes, "It should be possible. You two held the green power or at least some of it. So clearly you can jump if you have it, and I do. So, I think I can."
Without waiting for their answer, Harumi sent a blast of green power into the crystal. The crystal shook and then with a little flash inside of its depths, it turned completely solid green. Harumi looked at it with confusion as Lloyd just shrugged.
"Well if that's what we need to do, then let's go…" Lloyd looked to Harumi, "I still don't think it's safe for you to come."
"And I don't think it's safe for you to worry about me," Harumi snapped back, "Come on, let's do this."
With a small sigh, Lloyd focused. The world around them melted away. Lulloyd instructed Harumi to shut her eyes. Slowly, the ground under them faded, and instead, the depths of the void surrounded them. The tug on their bodies emanated once again, and soon the three were off into the depths of wherever the crystal was to take them.