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.

11. Chapter 11

"Just admit you stole everything, give it back, and this can all go home!" Cole's ghostly voice sounded across the grass.

REX and the Bounty were landed opposite one another, guns trained on the other's cockpits. Ronin, a Monty possessed security drone, Harumi, Lloyd and Lulloyd stood in front of REX, while the full ninja team, sans Sensei Wu, stood across from them. The area was a small cleaning amongst the various trees on the outskirts of the jungle that housed Hiroshi's labyrinth, with overgrown trees surrounding them with a thick underbrush. The Bounty had crushed down a number of smaller trees when it landed. REX remained hovering just slightly above the ground, with a ladder extended down. Given the state that the Bounty had been in earlier, it was a miracle they had somehow gotten it flying so quickly.

"Wait, isn't that drone one of ours?" Jay whispered hastily to Morro.

"It's possessed, genius," Monty replied using the robot's voice, "You should know that by now. You have a ghost on your side for crying out loud!"

"Return the drones and the artifacts you stole from us," Zane spoke calmly, "Or else we will be required to take them by force."

"Fellas," Ronin shook his head, "Didn't we just get through one gigantic life-altering adventure together? You know, with Soul Archer and that? Come on, Morro, you should remember that most of all!"

Morro was completely silent. The only sign he heard what Ronin said was his eyes moving to look at Ronin as he talked. When he didn't say anything, Monty let out a sigh and raised his rifle at Morro, the energy charge commencing.

"Why are you guys on his side?" Nya asked pointedly to Lloyd, "Were you just Ronin's agents all along?"

"What? No!" Lloyd shouted indignantly, "We went to Ronin to buy some things and… apparently he didn't tell us the job description he hired us for until it was too late."

"That's just how we roll," Monty aimed down his sights at Morro. Morro slowly raised his hands, charging a green energy shield he sent in front of him. Monty scoffed as he mirrored the action by charging up the jets in the drone's feet.

"Wait!" Harumi shouted, "Do we have to fight? Do you even know what Ronin stole?"

Ronin gave Harumi a harsh groan, but Kai answered, "No?"

"It was only the Serpentine Staffs," Harumi lied, "Really! Nothing of value! The Serpentine tribes are… uhm, Underground now, right? They don't have any need for them anymore. Why can't we just go ahead and let that all go?"

A small bit of silence descended over the two tense groups. Harumi prayed for a moment that perhaps there would be some peaceful resolution to this. There seemed to be a calm still over the potential battlefield as the ninja took what Harumi said to mind.

Then Morro spoke up, shattering hopes for that: "That does not change the fact that he stole from us," Morro stated dryly, "Return what you have stolen, or we will be forced to attack."

Ronin responded to this by drawing two blue pistols from his armor, the barrels extending outwards until they were small hand cannons. In response, the ninja each drew their weapons fully, holding them out towards the group menacingly. Morro, not holding a sword, dropped his shield and instead concentrated energy into his fists, drawing them backwards ready to fire directly at Monty, who adjusted his rifle. Lulloyd, Lloyd and Harumi instinctively drew their hood over their faces.

"I...I think we're going to have the fight…" Lulloyd sighed, "This, feels kinda weird…"

"Don't hurt them!" Lloyd stated firmly, "Just immobilize them if you have to! We can't risk interfering with this world because of this!"

"And it was fine to interfere with mine?" Harumi pointed out with a scoff, "But I agree. Don't use our powers either. We don't want to answer questions we don't have answers for."

"That's not a problem…" Lulloyd sighed, "It's not like my element actually let me fire energy beams like you guys."

A tense standoff fell over the field. Ronin and Monty slowly backed up until they were pressing their arms together. Monty cricked the drone's neck, while Ronin seemed itching to fire his weapons. Aside from their breathing, the tenseness was silent enough to hear the wind blow.

"You three," Morro spoke up, turning his attention to Lloyd, Lulloyd and Harumi, "Whatever business you have with these two, it isn't worth fighting for. If it's money he offered you, then we'll pay it. We do not want to hurt innocents for any reason."

"It's not money he's offering us," Harumi shook her head, "It's the information that Wu wouldn't give us."

Morro paused, and that pause turned into silence. He looked back towards the ship, thinking over what Wu had so angrily rejected them over earlier. Lloyd prayed that perhaps this could be avoided after all. But when Morro turned his head back, that was when the sound of an energy rifle firing shattered that hope.

Monty had released four shots in the span of a few seconds, each flying directly towards Morro. Morro shot his head back around just in time to see them, raising his energy shield and catching them. In response, Jay swung his nunchucks and fired a bolt of electricity at Monty. The security drone raised its left arm, extending a small shield that stuck to its left forearm to catch the lightning. The spark stalled the drone, and Monty cursed through the robot's voice as he forced the drone to move.

Ronin drew his facemask up and fired his guns directly towards Kai, who was shoved out of the way by Zane. The white ninja raised an ice shield in front of him to catch the blasts, the sheer force of the bullets shattering the ice into shards. Ronin fired again, tracking Zane who began to rapidly flip into the air and produce shurikens to counterattack. Ronin drew his guns across his face, the ninja stars embedding themselves hard into the metal guns. Ronin scoffed and threw the guns down, drawing a pair of twin katanas from his back.

"Take them down long enough for us to get away," Ronin turned to Monty.

"Don't let them release their chi!" Monty shouted at Lloyd.

"Their what!?" Lloyd shouted back as he drew his own twin katanas.

Monty didn't answer, and instead he activated the robot's jets in its feet to take to the air. He spun the rifle around a few times, firing wildly down towards Jay and Cole. The two ran for cover. Morro responded by firing off several green energy blasts, which flew directly into the small shield on the robot's arm. The shield began to crack. Monty leveled his rifle back down at Morro again.

"Their CHI!" Monty shouted, "Their animal spirits! Are you stupid or just clueless?!"

As Monty and Morro traded fire, Lloyd saw Harumi without a weapon and instinctually tossed one of his swords to her before rushing forward towards the fray. Harumi stared at the weapon in confusion, but Lloyd was already too far away to give it back. Seeing an opponent moving, Kai's eyes were starting to glow red to attack him. Out of the corner of his eye, Lloyd could visibly see energy around Kai's body beginning to condense. The same thing had happened when Cole did the bear thing earlier. Was that chi?

Lulloyd thought fast and saw a piece of tree sticking out of the ground. He jumped into the air and brought his fist down into it, causing it to turn blue and shatter into bricks. As soon as he saw the part numbers, he rapidly kicked them up into the air and began throwing them hard at Kai.

Kai's focus was broken as a few studs struck him in the shoulders and forehead. When he looked down, he saw what looked like the makings of some sort of bear trap under him. He gathered flame in his feet to blast it away, then the trap sprung shut. When he opened his eyes, however, he realized that there were no spikes. Instead, the bricks were locked around his torso, keeping him him place. Lulloyd ran up and delivered a swift yet soft kick to Kai's torso, sending him falling over.

"Gah!" Kai gripped the bricks and pulled, "What… what are these things?!"

"Kai!" Morro shouted, turning his attention off Monty. Monty narrowed the robotic eye of his drone and turned towards Kai, leveling his blaster straight at him.

Morro saw Monty changing target and darted forward, trying to form a shield over Kai's body. Monty fired off two shots, then rapidly swung his blaster around and fired again. With Morro looking at Kai, he wasn't able to see the rifle blast until it struck his right leg and sent him to the ground with a cry of pain.

Before Monty could fire again, his rifle and feet were covered in ice. Zane had his hands in the air and sent another icy blast that froze the drone's leg and the end of its rifle. Without propulsion, it began to fall down towards the ground. Monty bailed on the body, his green form appearing out of the drone and grabbing its rifle with his hand. He used his wind to guide him through the air by firing off bursts of concentrated air from his hands and feet to dodge Zane's attacks. His body shot back and forth through the skies, spinning about and making hitting him near impossible. When he hit the ground, he smashed the rifle on the ground to free it from the ice and primed it to fire again.

Lulloyd had used the kick off of Kai to send himself spinning into the air to land directly in front of Nya. Nya responded by pointing sais in Lulloyd's face. A swift spin of his curved blade knocked them away. Lulloyd gave an apologetic look at Nya before he locked their weapons together. The two struggled hard, only for Lulloyd to notice Nya's aura starting to flare up as Kai's had. With a nervous glance, he threw his entire body backwards. Nya, not ready for the unexpected change, fell forward. Lulloyd thrust his arms back to catch the ground, then did a backflip to bring his feet up to kick Nya backwards. When he landed, he spun his sword behind him.

Ronin, meanwhile, ha swung his katanas down towards Cole, who swung his scythe hard enough to knock them both out of his hands. Ronin gave a grimace and reached into his belt again to draw a much smaller gun, which he fired directly at Cole's chest. Cole swung his body to the right and then brought his scythe over his head at Ronin. Ronin swung his body aside and then dropped to the ground, kicking out with his leg to connect with Cole's hip. Cole hardly even blinked before Ronin just chuckled and rolled away.

Zane attempted to fire another icy shot at Monty, but he was intercepted by Lloyd hitting Zane's arm with his katana, sending it firing off randomly. His titanium shell meant it did little harm, but it drew his full attention to Lloyd. Lloyd weaved underneath Zane's fired shuriken and turned his sword so he could try to strike Zane's face with the hilt. Zane responded by flash freezing the sword, causing its weight to increase and throw off the strike. Lloyd staggered, giving Zane enough time to kick his left shoulder and send him hurtling away.

Harumi ran forward, doing her best not to fire off any energy blasts. Jay was the only opponent left for her. Jay shouted at Zane for nearly freezing him with Lloyd's misdirected blast. He looked to Harumi and spun his nunchucks, preparing to shock Harumi to her knees. Having the sword meant she had some protection, but her skill with one wasn't as advanced as the others. Harumi tried to swing the sword towards Jay, but the blade's strike missed horribly. Her face lit up with embarrassment as she formed a small Rhotatae disc with her hand, using it to try to punch Jay. Jay's nimble feet saved him from that. Harumi tried to swing again, but the sword missed its mark again.

Morro, who now was on the ground near where Ronin and Cole were still grappling, looked down to see a hole had been blasted in his uniform from the rifle blast. He steeled his gaze and pulled himself up onto his feet, feeling an intense pain as he put weight on his leg. He trembled as Monty landed in front of him, who reached down and drew twin tasers from underneath his armor.

Morro growled and formed energy in his hands, swinging wildly at Monty. Monty slid between the strikes and grabbed Morro's right arm in his elbow, holding it still while he drove a taser into it. Morro shouted in pain as the current shot up through his body. His other hand tried to strike into Monty, but it went right through him. Monty just rolled his eyes and drew his taser back, then jabbed Morro right in his abdomen. Morro again shouted and kicked off with his leg, separating him from the current and Monty.

Ronin shot his head towards Monty and shouted, "Kid! Switch!" Monty shot his head to the side and flung his tasers towards Ronin, and in turn Ronin flung his pistol towards Monty. The two caught each others weapons, Ronin swinging a taser into Cole's hand to force him to drop his scythe, while Monty fired his gun towards Morro, who dodged by dropping to the ground.

Monty wasn't about to let up on Morro. He reached into his armor to draw out another pistol, then spun the pistols in hand and began firing rapidly. Morro formed shields to block the bullets, only for a burst of wind to knock him backwards. Monty rushed forward and shot one arm forward, putting the gun to Morro's shoulder. Just as Monty fired, Morro fired energy from his arm, making the bullet only graze the skin. Without missing a beat, Monty raised the other pistol to fire more at Morro. Soon, both were out of bullets, and Monty spat angrily. He reached down to his belt, ejecting the clips and reloading them with two more on his belt in one single motion.

The bullets from Monty's missed shots struck the Bounty where Nya had landed. She took a few steps towards Morro, but Lulloyd shot forward with blinding speed and blocked her path. Sighing, she launched forward and clashed blades again with him. Lulloyd saw her aura start to burn again. Quickly, he leapt backwards away from Nya to shock her and, right when he hit the ground, he leapt off his back foot and flung his sword to send her up into the air. Right as her feet left the ground, Lulloyd leapt up into the air and rapidly began to slice his blade back and force across her guard.

"NINJAGO!" Lulloyd shouted as he knocked Nya higher and higher into the air with every strike. As his hit combo against Nya continued to increase, her guard faltered until finally her blades flew off away from her. He finally reached the apex of his strikes and grabbed her arm, throwing her towards a tree. Right before Nya struck it, Lulloyd struck the tree when he hit the ground, causing it to turn to bricks. Nya continued through the air, only to find herself stopped suddenly with vine-like whips wrapped around her body.

"Sorry about that," Lulloyd apologized with a sigh, "But you need to go join your brother."

"FFFFFFIIIIYYAAAA!" Lulloyd winced as Kai's massive yell overtook the battlefield.

Kai stood in up, the bricks around him broken. His hair was waving in the air like it was being carried in an updraft. His eyes were glowing a deep orange, and his skin had seemingly turned into a deep grey hue. He opened his mouth and released a massive string of flames.

"I told you not to let them use their chi!" Monty shouted in anger as he shot his gaze to Ronin, "You want to deal with this?!"

Ronin, seeing the development, dodged a powerful fist from Cole and grabbed his shoulder, swinging around his back and running straight for Kai. As Cole was left confused, Ronin drew out a massive string with some strange rock on the end, spinning it over his head and swinging it out until it hit Kai's shoulder. Kai looked down at it, grinned, and then causally reached up and gripped it with his hand. It burned to a crisp.

"Oh, awesome…" Ronin drew his arms up in front of his face as Kai launched forward, his speed slowed but more than enough to cover the distance between him and Ronin. Kai simply swung his fist with enough force that it cracked and broke apart the body armor across Ronin's arm. Ronin looked momentarily stunned before he just sighed, "...and gotta replace that too now, thanks, Kai!"

Kai's voice now had an almost ethereal enhancement as he grinned, "You shouldn't have challenged the Salamander!"

Lloyd had been keeping Zane at bay. Seeing Harumi still swinging and failing to hit Jay, he watched Jay spin his nunchucks and prepare a hard blast. He attempted to turn, but Zane had another pair of shurikens in hand. Lloyd surmised his surroundings and thought of a plan.

"Harumi!" Lloyd shouted, "Think fast!"

Harumi turned just in time to see Lloyd leaping in front of her. She saw Zane's arm being pulled back and dropped to the ground just as Zane threw his shuriken. Jay let loose his lightning and Zane his ninja star at the same time, both flying through the air.

Zane's eyes widened as a strike of lightning surged through his systems. He let out a string of incoherent mumbles as he fell over,, his systems on the fritz. Jay shrieked in shock girlishly as he narrowly missed the shuriken. Harumi took advantage of this momentary lapse to send a Rhotatae disc right into his chest, sending Jay to the ground. Both ninja groaned out as they hit the ground. Beside Harumi, Lloyd hit the ground from an Airjiztu tornado. The two turned to make light of Ronin and Monty's status.

Cole, having figured out Ronin was now vulnerable from attacking Kai, was now converging on Ronin. Ronin slowly backed up as he stared at the empowered Kai, feeling the heat radiating off of him. Cole, shaking his hand, took the chance to pick his scythe up.

"Give up, Ronin!" Cole stated plainly, "It's two against one!"

"You know, I just realized something," Ronin stated seemingly obliviously, "When I tased you earlier, shouldn't that have just passed right through you?"

"Huh?" Cole paused, "Gah, I keep forgetting not to make my body corporeaaaaaaaalll!"

Ronin slammed his shoulder into Cole, forcing him to stumble backwards. Cole, forgetting that his body had a variable density, was keeping himself still solid enough to strike. Kai opened his mouth again and burned the ground around Ronin, who rolled out of the way. Ronin got up and put his back to a tree, only for Kai's fire to nearly burn him again. Ronin flung a dagger towards Kai, but it hit his skin and bounced off like it was nothing.

"Nothing pierces my fire!" Kai grinned, "Now come on, show me what you got!"

"Kid!" Ronin shouted, "Need a little help!"

Monty turned to see Ronin fleeing from Kai's assault. He looked to Morro, now suffering from two bullet wounds and tired. Without hesitation, Monty raised his hands and sent a massive vortex of wind that knocked Morro down to the ground and slammed him down again for good measure. Monty quickly raced up and put his foot on Morro's chest, then grabbed Morro's right arm and spat.

"Stay down!" Monty pulled hard, causing Morro to let out a strangled scream as a soft 'crack' filled the air. Monty let Morro drop back to the ground as he turned and sent a massive vortex directly into Kai.

Kai's new skin seemingly increased his weight, as the wind hardly made him flinch. Instead, he turned towards Monty and sprayed fire towards the vortex, making the two elemental powers meet. Monty dropped his vortex and rushed forward, letting the fire consume him. Kai stopped burning in sheer confusion, only to see an unharmed ghost swinging his fist to strike Kai right across his jaw.

Kai looked confused until Monty simply stated, "Fireproof armor. Also, I'm a GHOST!" Monty grabbed Kai's head and slammed it down into his knee, stunning him. Ronin, seeing his chance, rushed up directly behind Kai and drove his tasers right into Kai's neck.

Kai's orange began to fade as Ronin turned the power up on the tasers. Kai bellowed fire up into the air until he began to wobble heavily, and then the glow in his eyes faded. His skin turned back to normal, and for a brief moment, an oversized fiery salamander could be seen in the air before it, too, faded. Kai hit the ground hard.

Just before Monty and do anything else, a blast of water suddenly skirted his face. Monty's eyes bulged as his wind blasted him backwards on pure instinct. His breath picked up in terror as he traced the source towards Nya, who had wiggled in her bonds to point her hands at Monty. Monty formed two massive vortexes around his hands as Ronin's eyes narrowed.

"Woah, Woah, WOAH!" Ronin shouted, "Sister! Cool it with the lethals!"

"You were about to kill Kai!" Nya shoutted. Ronin responded by walking over slowly towards Nya.

"No, I don't kill. Not worth having to deal with the vendettas," Ronin stated calmly, "And you guys, well, you're ninja. You should know a thing or two about not killing anyone. So…"

As Ronin reached Nya, he suddenly delivered a hard kick right to her face. The impact was hard enough that her bonds completely broke, reforming the tree from its bricks behind her. Nya's head shot backwards as Ronin grabbed her and slammed her up against the reformed tree. He turned the energy to its highest setting, then pointed a taser right against Nya's chest.

"...If you're willing to let me make an exception too, how about I send you to the Departed Realm before you can send Monty there, hmm?"

Jay, who had slowly gotten up after his attack, blinked and gulped, "W-Wait, is… is he serious?"

"As a heart attack!" Ronin laughed darkly, "You want one?"

"RONIN!" Lloyd shouted, "That's enough!"

Ronin looked deep into Nya's eyes. As he readied his trigger, Nya stared at him with a confused mixture of terror and shock. Ronin slowly let his scowl fall away as he let the arm holding his weapon drop. He looked to Nya and stepped off of her and walked over to Monty.

"So… we'll be going now," Ronin stated calmly, "If you want to follow us, fine. I mean, heh, you guys know where we live after all."

"Don't follow us," Monty stated coldly, "Unless you're ready to get reminded just how serious we are about our threats."

Morro, cradling his arm, shot leg and grazed shoulder on the ground, looked up towards them. He looked across the battlefield, seeing the state his team was in. The pain of his wounds was enough to cause him to flinch hard, ending in him hissing as he shook his head.

"Good… alright, we're out now!" Ronin called out, "Let's go, Lloyd."

Harumi and Lulloyd looked to one another, then to Lloyd. Lloyd slowly walked after Ronin as he and Monty hopped back into the cargo section of REX. He reached his hand out for Harumi and Lulloyd to hoist themselves up. Neither of them could see a smile on Lloyd's face.

The door to the compartment shut, and REX's engines fired up automatically. Monty looked up and let out a strange whistle, one that had six notes and ended in a chirp. REX started to fly on a preset course. Given their earlier destination, Lloyd could assume this was likely a way to get REX to head back to Stixx without the cockpit.

The second that the ship was flying smoothly, leaving the Bounty behind, Monty looked to the three. He walked forward, sliding into another of the drones that they'd stolen. The robot stood up and walked over to them. He stopped right in front of Lulloyd. Lulloyd stared at it in confusion, unsure what he was looking out. Then, Monty raised its first and clocked Lulloyd hard right in the jaw, sending him flying backwards into a crate.

"Hey!" Lloyd shouted, only to receive a strike of his own. The force was enough to send searing pain into his face, along with the added pain of striking another crate. Harumi was given just enough time to raise her arm up to block her strike. Instead, the robot's other arm struck her in the gut, making her fall to her knees on the floor.

"I said, very clearly I might add, NOT to let them use their Chi!" Monty shouted through the voice of the robot, "Why weren't you watching Kai?!"

Lulloyd groaned and rolled over on the crate, lifting his arms up to place his hands on his face. At the same time, Lloyd gripped the wall and waited for his jawline to get over the worst of the throbbing pain for him to be able to respond.

"What the heck, Monty?!" Lloyd groaned, "We're all okay, aren't we?!"

"I'm with the kid on this one," Ronin stated with his arms crossed, "You guys should know the only way to stop someone from using chi is either tire them out or knock 'em out. You just left Kai lying there. You know what could have happened if Nya struck Monty here?"

"We… don't know anything… about chi!" Harumi wheezed out, glaring death eyes at Monty, "Have you two really not questioned where we came from, why one of us doesn't have moving elbows or knees, or why we're all three wearing green ninja suits?!"

Ronin and Monty looked to each other. They both shrugged simultaneously.

"We've met weirder people," Monty shrugged, "We said earlier we assumed Lulloyd was cursed. We've seen some weird curses before."

"Plus we weren't just going to ask," Ronin added, "The kid is the rude one, and he'd only ask if he actually was interested." Monty gave a huff.

Once all three were back on their feet, Lloyd and Lulloyd rubbing their jaws, Harumi seemed to take charge of talking. She shook her head to what Ronin said.

"Okay, well we don't know what chi is," Harumi reaffirmed, "We're not from around here. At all. Never heard of chi in our lives. So we don't even know what to watch for!"

Monty gave Harumi a glare, then just shook his head and turned around. He walked up to the wall of REX and suddenly a green circle formed on the wall of the ship. The robot drone dropped to the floor, and REX jerked for a moment before the shell over the cargo area started to rescind, and instead large rails moved upwards to keep the cargo in place. A small screen above the door to the cockpit showed Monty's face.

"We're not being followed," Monty reported, "Also, you need to fix REX's left engine. It's only outputting at 80% right now."

"That was the engine you let hit that cliff last time," Ronin scoffed, "You'll have to be the one to fix that."

"Firstly, you tried to take manual control when I was possessing REX. That gap was more than big enough if you hadn't tried to get involved!" Monty hissed, "Secondly, kinda hard to fix anything when you keep REX underwater."

"You were the one that kept taking REX out without my permission!" Ronin shot back, "Besides, your little windy thing can call her up whenever you need her anyways. All you have to do ask for me to turn her on."

"Right, like I'm going to ask for you to please let me take the car out tonight, Ronin!" Monty growled, "I'm older than you, you know."

"From what you said, you ain't been dead for that long, kid," Ronin chuckled, "Just focus on steering REX, I'll handle these guys."

"Oh yes, thank you for allowing me to steer the ship," Monty retorted before he disappeared from the screen, Ronin rubbed his hands together and turned towards the three.

"Alright!" Ronin grinned, "I'll go ahead and count my little lesson here as part of your payment for your help back there. You all really know nothing about chi?"

"Nothing," Lloyd stepped forward, "We'd love to learn, though." Harumi looked at Lloyd in annoyance.

Ronin nodded his head. He walked over to one of the crates and sat down on top of it. He brought one foot to rest on the crate so he could lean up against his knee. He gestured for the three to come closer, at which point he held out the hand he had gestured with.

Around Ronin's hand, a faint gray aura began to flow, just like the others had seen on Kai. It covered only his hand, but as they watched, light refracted off of it, showing it getting denser and thicker. Ronin let them stare at it for a few moments, then he spoke.

"Alright, that's aura. Pretty simple. Just pure energy. You release it and control at will," Ronin paused, "You guys really sure you don't know anything about all this? This is pretty basic stuff here."

"Not from around here," Harumi stated again, "Just explain."

"Uhm… and, thanks for teaching us!" Lulloyd added, "We appreciate it."

"Eh, I just like teaching, is there something wrong with that?" Ronin smirked, "My father was a pretty good teacher, taught all sorts of kids about-"

"If he starts going on about his father don't listen to him," Monty's voice echoed from the screen, "He likes teaching people things so they do it the right way, his own words."

"Thanks for that interruption, Monty," Ronin scoffed, "I won't go into the specifics of aura. It's just energy, everyone has it. You release it. Well, the thing is, your aura is directly linked to some sort of animal ancestor. According to myths, the First Chi Master created everyone from animals he populated this place with, so that's why we all have them. It's all passed down too. You usually take after the parent that you share the same gender with. Son gets his father's chi, daughter their mother's chi, but that's not always the case. Two kids will usually have both chi. But I'm getting ahead of myself here."

Ronin let his aura condense until his hand underneath it looked somewhat murky, "You form up enough aura, well you can summon your ancestral animal. You ever see that?"

"Uh… Cole kinda summoned a big bear for a half second?" Lulloyd recalled, "Then it just like, poofed into him."

"Yeah, we'll get into that," Ronin grinned, "But yeah, you form up enough aura, you can convert that aura into your ancestor. I like to look at it as basically making a big energy body for it to slip into. It'll do whatever you tell it to, and basically it'll act as your personal guardian. Now, let it get hurt too much and it'll dissipate. You can heal it by pouring more aura into it. Following me so far?"

"One question," Harumi raised her hand, "What is your animal?"

"Oh I don't tend to use mine," Ronin shrugged, "Seems pointless to me. But anyways, what you saw Cole and Kai do, well that's way more advanced. You gotta be tough to handle that. It has some really long name, the layman just calls it Chi Fusion. Basically, you summon your animal, then you force its spirit into your body."

"You can fuse with your animal ancestor?" Lloyd clarified. Ronin nodded.

"It does different things based on the person. For example, you guys asw Kai's chi makes his skin super hard like rocks, really hard to thrust a sword into. Thankfully it conducts electricity well enough," Ronin chuckled, "Usually the ability relates to the animal. Some people can grow extra limbs or stuff. I knew this one girl that had a scorpion chi, she could make this big stinger tail grow from her back. It was really hard to fight, let me tell you... "

"We're not going into the story between you and Runje!" Monty shouted from the screen, "I told you she just wanted to get that necklace we'd just bought."

"Hey, Monty, why not just focus on flying instead of making me look bad," Ronin sighed, "Might make me consider not getting you out of REX."

Monty didn't answer. Instead, REX jolted to its left, making Ronin slide slightly and grip his crate for support. REX then leaned upwards, causing the crate to slide. Ronin crawled on top of the crate to avoid getting squished completely by another crate he was sliding towards. He looked up to REX and growled.

"You done there, kid?" Ronin growled in annoyance. REX righted itself in response.

"Good," Ronin sighed, "Anyways, it's pretty useful. Course, Monty tells me you can't use elemental powers when all fused up. I mean, I don't have any. He does. Never actually seen Monty's chi myself."

"You're partners… and you've never seen that?" Lloyd raised his eyebrow. Ronin shrugged again.

"You know everything there is to know about your two friends here?" Ronin countered. Lloyd fell silent.

"The thing about aura is that you can manifest it whenever you want," Ronin shook his head, "So again, you either gotta tire 'em out or knock 'em out to stop them from using it. Nice thing is that staying fused takes a lot of energy, so most of the time, if you can hold out five minutes, the average person will drop to the floor. I know the Ninja's average is about ten minutes due to training with it for years and years. Sort of a really odd number, though."

Lloyd, Harumi, and Lulloyd took stock of what they were hearing. Harumi gestured towards Lloyd, pointing back towards the crates nearby. Ronin, seeing this motion, just waved his hands for them to go and talk.

"What is it, Harumi?" Lloyd asked. Harumi gave him an annoyed glare and spoke.

"I'm noticing a pattern here…" Harumi lifted her hand up and formed a disc, "Your world has Spinjitzu, Lulloyd, you have Master Building, I have Rhotatae, and now this place has chi. And we each have our own version of the First whatever Master. I think this fits in with a principle I read about."

"Uh, that book about multiverse theory?" Lulloyd asked.

"Glad you remembered," Harumi nodded her head, "It's an offshoot of the idea of the Butterfly Effect. Essentially, any change, no matter how small, can create a completely different universe. For example, there is one universe where I talk to you guys right now about this, and then another universe where we talked about, I dunno, frogs or whatever. Or a universe where the universe is a frog. But each universe that you've visited so far, Lloyd, it's all been something unique."

"Uh… unique how?" Lloyd asked.

"Isn't that obvious? None of the worlds you've visited have Spinjitzu. Every universe the Time Twins visit and we follow them too, no matter how similar to yours, still is fundamentally different!" Harumi explained, "You've not just gone to a universe where, like, you were never born."

Lloyd shuddered a bit, "I'm starting to think that this is that universe…"

"So...is there a reason you're telling us all this?" Lulloyd quiered.

"I was thinking about this and… I'm trying to figure out the rules as to what universes we're jumping into. Since we're jumping on the Green Power, that has to be a universal constant, or some derivative of it. But perhaps the Twins can't jump into worlds that have certain constants in them, like the fact they haven't-"

"Whatever you three are talking about, you're really bad at keeping your voices down," Monty spoke up and interrupted Harumi, "You might wanna work on that."

"Thank you, Monty!" Harumi shouted exasperatedly, "Glad you pointed that out!"

"I'm just helpful like that. Speaking of helpful, Ronin wasn't finished," Monty continued.

Ronin smirked, "Well, it was only really one other thing, but thanks, Kid."

The three turned towards Ronin, who waved his hand at them, "This isn't about chi, I just needed the reminder. Monty said something about finding a connection to this Lloyd guy you're looking for. I'm assuming he's probably some relative of yours, eh?"

Lloyd realized Ronin was looking at him, "Huh? Oh, yeah, he is! But, you know, we've never met him."

"Well, when we get back to Stixx, ask Monty about it," Ronin chuckled, "He'll go ahead and fulfill our end of the deal. It'll be at least an hour before we get there, so hang tight," Ronin leaned his head back against the crate, "We'll be back home soon enough."

---

"I still don't see how anybody can actually call this place home…" Lulloyd muttered as REX sank below the waves behind Ronin's rebuilt shop.

"Doesn't your dad live in a volcano?" Lloyd asked.

"It's, actually really well done inside. He's basically turned it into a big mansion-army-base hybrid thing," Lulloyd grimaced, "He, made us move in when he saw how small the apartment was."

The damp and ocean-ridden breeze of Stixx cut through the air as Ronin and Monty walked away from the dock. The still rebuilding and broken down city behind them stood in the air, looking just as seedy and dilapidated as it had when they left. Stixx, despite being destroyed mere months earlier, never changed in that regard.

"It's the perfect place for Ronin to live," Lloyd muttered, "Let's just get that information Monty has on Lloyd and get out of here."

The two agreed with silent nods. The three walked after the duo, entering Ronin's shop once again. Ronin walked over to the middle of the floor and smirked at the three of them as he tapped in a code seemingly at random into the floorboards. Suddenly, the floor retracted away to reveal a metal vault. Ronin gestured over to Monty, who was lifting the crates they stole up with his wind powers.

"Before you ask," Ronin noted Harumi's glance, "The code changes every night, and trust me, even if you could open this, we'd get you before you left. 'Sides, I'm sure I can trust you at this point, right?"

"We're moving the vault tonight," Monty huffed, "He's too trusting."

"I keep you around, don't I?" Ronin snarked back. Monty just rolled his eyes.

Once the spoils of their battle were stored, Monty dropped a drone body into the vault and sealed it. With the other drone, he slowly stepped up into the body and walked it up behind the counter. Once it was in place behind it, he stepped back out of the drone, causing it to lock up in an upright position. He moved over and pulled what looked like a bag of harpoons in front of the drone and slung it so it mostly covered the body. After that, he walked back up to the same place the three had met him the first time, slumped against the counter, and yawned.

"Heya, I'm going out drinking!" Ronin smirked, "How about it, Monty?"

"Pass," Monty waved his hand, "I'm not in the mood."

"Hmm… what about you three?" Ronin turned towards them, "I'll buy the first few, how about that?"

"Uh… I'm only, sixteen…" Lulloyd rubbed the back of his neck.

"I've never actually had alcohol before… but if it's anything like all the teas Wu makes, I'll pass," Lloyd added.

"I'd prefer not to," Harumi shook her head, "Alcohol really isn't my thing."

"Well, I'm sure I can get some of the dock guys to go out with me then," Ronin waved his hand, "Don't wait up for me, I might be gone awhile. A fight really takes a lot out of you!"

"Bye," Monty stated without much emotion. Ronin just grinned at him and walked out the door.

Without Ronin in the room, suddenly his shop became rather dark and dreary. Monty didn't even look at the group as he began to use some wind to move dust around on the table in front of him to form shapes. He looked up towards the three for a few seconds, then he sighed. He turned away from them and began to seemingly randomly adjust things on the walls, bringing some items forward and pushing others back.

"You three still here?" Monty turned, "What, you not have a place to stay? You're not the first guys to try to bum around here, you know."

"Actually," Harumi tried to smile, "Ronin said you had some information on Lloyd for us."

"Yep," Monty replied. After he failed to continue, Harumi's smile dropped.

"Uh.. what's, the info?" Lulloyd asked curiously.

"The information is worth a bit more than the job we just pulled," Monty shook his head, "I'm docking your pay for nearly getting me sent to the Departed Realm by letting Kai get his chi up like that."

"What?" Lulloyd frowned, "But, that, wasn't our deal!"

"What is it that fools say in this situation?" Monty shrugged, "Oh, wait, you just said it. Seems like now I should say 'The deal has changed.'"

Harumi's eyebrow looked ready to explode off her forehead, "We just fought the ninja, and you're telling us that you won't even!"

"Relax," Monty turned, "Listen, as much as you screwed up, I'm in a good mood right now. So, I'm going to offer another little mission for you guys. You do that, I'll not only tell you about Lloyd, I'll show you to him."

"Wait, really?!" Lloyd exclaimed, then narrowed his eyes, "Are you lying to us?"

"Nope," Monty shook his head, "Totally serious here. I'll lead you right to him. Heck, I'll even introduce you. But, I need you to get me something."

The three stared at Monty with a mixture of hopeful, confused and angry eyes. Monty walked over and pulled something out of a small container under the desk. He sat down an image on the counter, an image of symbols that were imprinted into what looked like some sort of dirt. Lloyd instantly saw what they were about.

"I want this," Monty pointed to the second image, "The Sword of Sanctuary."

"The Sword of Sanctuary?" Lloyd asked ludicrously, "As in, the one that predicts your opponent's next move?"

"Well there isn't any other sword that does that," Monty scoffed, "It's up in Cloud Kingdom. The ninja took it back there after Soul Archer was defeated. Ronin tried to swipe it, didn't work. So now, they have it, and I want it."

"Why?" Harumi growled, "It's not even that powerful a weapon!"

"Because Morro was the one that took it away from me," Monty growled back, "And I can't stand to see him get something I don't. So, I want it. You get it for me, I'll get you to Lloyd. Deal?"

Lloyd was about to say something, but Harumi pulled him aside. Harumi stared at Lloyd for a moment before she sighed and turned over to look at Lulloyd.

"I don't want anything to do with Monty anymore," Harumi groaned, "First we have to fight the ninja, now we need to break into Cloud Kingdom? That Realm doesn't allow visitors anymore! At least, not where I'm from. How are we even going to get in there?"

"I mean… do we have a choice?" Lulloyd shook his head, "We're stuck here, we don't know where this Lloyd might be, and Morro is the Green Ninja. Can we really not go and try to get Morro to come with us?"

"Wu kicked us out, Lloyd is our next best hope!" Lloyd affirmed, "Listen, we find Lloyd, we can figure out what's wrong with Wu, and then we can help track down the Twins!"

The three turned to Monty, who had just gone back to sitting on the counter again. He caught their look and just went back to blowing around dust.

"I don't like this," Lloyd tried to affirm to Harumi, "But, just, we can't sit here and do nothing, We need to get to the Twins as fast as possible. We can't trust Ronin and Monty to help us. We need to find Lloyd, find out what's up with Wu, and then get going!"

Harumi and Lulloyd didn't look very sure. Lloyd could feel it himself. He didn't like this, having to steal more things. Yet they were running out of time here, and they needed to follow the clear path. Even if that path wasn't one they wanted, it was the one they needed to follow.

"You swear you know where Lloyd is?" Lloyd asked Monty with his eyebrow raised. Monty put his hands up in the air and then nodded.

"Of course I do," Monty groaned, "Look, I know every square inch of Ninjago by now, and pretty much everyone who lives in it. I know exactly where to find Lloyd."

"And you want the Sword of Sanctuary, that's it?" Lloyd affirmed.

"That's it," Monty nodded, "Just get me that sword, I'll give you what you want."

"Then… we have a deal," Lloyd extended his hand, "No changes, nothing else. We give you that sword, that's it."

After taking a moment to stare at his hand, Monty shrugged and extended his arm, "Good luck then, Lloyd," Monty shook his hand with a firm grip, "You'll probably need it."

Once Lloyd let go, he turned to the others and gestured towards the door. As the two fell in step behind him, suddenly Lulloyd cried out. He rubbed the back of his head as he caught a bag of coins that Monty had just chucked at him.

"That pays you back for dinner," Monty cracked his neck, "Should get you a place to stay for the night too. Might recommend getting out of Stiix. There's a good ferry that leaves in about fifteen minutes that'll take you down towards the coast, should hook you up into Ninjago City if you follow it along. Ferry is free most of the way."

"Thanks," Lulloyd grimaced, "We, uh, appreciate it."

Lulloyd's comment was ignored. With that, Monty made his way back into the shop and slumped down against the counter. He extended his hand and used wind to start making things on the wall dance and move about while he looked at them, making him sigh a bit. After a little bit of that, he yawned and then turned around to make his way back into the rooms behind the main shop.

Harumi, Lloyd, and Lulloyd walked out of the shop, closing the doors behind them. As they made their way down along the bridges towards the ferry Monty had pointed out, Lloyd sighed and then stretched his arms out.

"Alright, guys," Lloyd stated with a groan, "Let's go get that sword."

---

Author's Note: And so we have our fight! I'd say this one was a particularly hard learning experience for me. I learned a lot about general fight flow. I studied a bunch of anime, actually, when writing it. Likewise, we have our next power system!

So, a bit of an explanation on the name: yes, some of you may see the connections to Legends of Chima. I can't say that is entirely unintentional. I never liked Chima's story, characters, or anything outside of the sets. I didn't get hard into the sets for lack of money, but the ones I did get -namely the smaller ones- were good. I wanted to create a power system for this world... and before I knew what I was doing, I realized I'd unconsciously drawn upon Chima. However, I instead opted to simply change the system to be more distinct rather than come up with something new, as I already planned a key event around the chi system. So, I wanted to address this!