"DARETH!" Harumi shouted with glee as soon as Lulloyd's mechdragon landed in front of the large building.
Lloyd, Harumi, Lulloyd and Monty disembarked from the cockpit, the dragon rapidly returning to brick form as it did so. While at first the group had elected that taking the Mechdragon would draw too much attention, Monty had overruled them, stating that the people of Ninjago wouldn't be anywhere near as afraid of things like the dragon as they thought they would be. Sure enough, the people around them didn't pay mind to the dragon outside of a few pictures on their phones.
"If someone asks, they'll just say it's a balloon float or some rich guy's expensive toy," Monty grumbled, "People only care about weird things when they are directly impacted by it."
Monty was loaded up with enough guns that the group wondered how he was moving. On his back he had two rifles and a shotgun, the three straps holding them crossed by the strap the Sword of Sanctuary was slotted into. Under each of his armor panels he claimed to have one pistol each. Strapped to the back of his legs he had even more pistols, that would go off when he channeled wind down his legs to pull the trigger. On both hips he had what looked like hand cannons. For ammo, he carried with him a massive bag packed with it, enough boxes inside to likely shoot out every single pane of glass on a skyscraper. For once, he wore no cape.
"Should you really be… you know, walking around with all those?" Lloyd had pointed out as they landed from the dragon, "...I mean, it's, weird enough to see a ghost, but to see one that's packing as well…"
"You said we're just going to Dareth and then into wherever this next universe is," Monty pointed out, "Nobody is going to see me."
"Dareth runs a class for kids, Monty!" Lloyd argued, "At least put everything you don't have hidden in the bag?"
With a groan that Lloyd swore could break glass, Monty slotted all of his guns minus the ones strapped to the backs of his legs and under his armor in the bag. Monty intentionally swung the bag out to nearly hit Lloyd when he put it on. The SoS remained firmly on his back. At first, the group had protested him bringing it, but Monty had been firm on taking the sword.
"Look," Monty crossed his arms when they asked, "Those Twins are going to be trying to kill us. I'm bringing the one thing that might be able to save all your butts the next time they get ready to turn you into a headless corpse. You stole it for me, and that means it's mine now. I decide what gets done with it. Plus, I'll be dead again before those Cloud Kingdom guys get it back."
Despite their reservations about it, they had all agreed trying to force the hand of the one that would be responsible for ferrying them wasn't wise. Instead, the group had made their way to Nya's lab and collected the shards of the Realm Crystal while Monty got ready. While at first Harumi hadn't said why, she promised to explain when they arrived.
While at first the group also wanted to tell the Ninja they were leaving, Monty had vehemently shut that prospect down. Instead, Harumi had recorded a message and left it for Nya that would play the next time she entered the cave. It wasn't much, but it was all they could do while abiding by Monty's demands.
Before the group could even catch up, Harumi had raced inside the building to go and greet Dareth again. Lulloyd picked up his mechdragon, now free of all of the extra editions he'd given it which returned the brick to its original size. Lloyd could have almost sworn Lulloyd looked relieved his dragon was back to normal.
"How'd you think of this, Lulloyd?" Lloyd asked as they followed Harumi, "I mean, Dareth was, you know, not as important to you as he was to us."
"I uh, I noticed after like, we both met him in Harumi's world that, we knew Dareth. When I saw that he was here too I kinda noticed a pattern," Lulloyd smiled, "Like, twice is a coincidence, three is a pattern, you know? That makes four like, a guarantee? Like, if we're four for four then, he's probably in the next world too.'
"Dareth?" Monty scoffed, "Look, I don't dislike the guy, but I find it hard to believe he's important enough to be in every world."
"Without Dareth, we wouldn't have even lived through the Final Battle," Lloyd pointed out firmly, "Don't talk bad about him like that."
Once the three were inside, the three saw Harumi eagerly chatting with Dareth. The building looked empty for now, and Lloyd looked up to the schedule on the wall to confirm they were between classes. It would make this far easier to do than he'd initially planned.
"You need to use my back room?" Dareth asked curiously, "Well, so long as you're not doing anything bad in there, go for it."
"We'd never do anything bad to you or your studio, Dareth!" Harumi eagerly pointed out, "We just wanna use it for a few minutes, okay?"
"No problems, young lady!" Dareth gave her an exaggerated bow, "And, hey, if you know any friends with kids, could you point them my way? My seven'o'clock class has been a little thin lately. I know some of those kids can only come then, so, you know."
"I'm sure if you asked the ninja, they'd be happy to promote for you, Dareth," Harumi smiled to him, "You're way more important to them than you think you are."
"Really? The ninja?" Dareth paused, "You know, that isn't a bad idea at all. Thanks, Harumi!"
"Anytime!" Harumi beamed to him, then gestured for the others to follow her.
The three moved as she directed. Monty caught Dareth staring at him, to which Monty simply ignored it and kept walking. The three entered the waiting room they'd used before while waiting for Lulloyd, and once inside Harumi opened her palm to show four shards of the Realm Crystal. They each were long and jagged, and shone brightly in her hand.
"Alright, so the first thing we should do is charge these with our green power. Since Montty doesn't have it now, you and I need to, Lloyd," Harumi extended her hand towards him.
Lloyd took Harumi's hand, clasping the shards between them. Both of them charged a ball of green power around them. Lloyd felt a wide smile on his face being able to use it once again. The ball grew in size between them, before suddenly rapidly inverting in on itself. The two felt a massive vibration in their hands. When they both opened their palms, the shards had taken on the green glow.
"Okay, now, everyone take one, and whatever you do, don't lose them," Harumi patted her right pocket, "I only have three more, so we can't afford to lose these. Don't let anyone know we're using these, especially the Time Twins, got it?"
"Just shove yours down your shirt," Monty pointed out, "Nobody would be willing to check them on you."
Harumi gave him a glare. The three each took a shard. Lloyd elected to slide his shard down along the inside of his gi, poking the ends into the threads to keep it from sliding out. Lulloyd did the same. Monty shrugged with his, and opened up one of the plates of armor and stuck in inside next to a ghostly pistol.
"Now, if my working theory is correct, Monty's chi will act like the Realm Crystal's energies that we used to punch open the hole to follow them," Harumi mused, "The fact we all have a piece means that we should all get pulled along with him, like how we all held on before to use it. Monty, I don't know exactly how this will work, but-"
"Wait," Lloyd stopped her, "I thought you had to have the Green Power to travel?"
"Had is the working theory now," Harumi admitted, "I'm betting right now as long as someone has or had the power, we should be able to travel. Or that's what I'm hoping."
"Just leave this to me," Monty muttered, "You three should be honored. You're the only people that will ever get to see my chi. Don't you dare go telling anyone else. I'm counting that as a violation of our pact on the glave, got it?"
The three nodded. Monty slowly inhaled, and a golden aura began to flare up around him. It began to pulse around him, like flames dancing on fireplace glass. Monty's eyes opened, and the aura shot up from him, colheasing on his back. From it, a dragon head roared, and the serpent-like beast came forth. The dragon looked nearly identical to that Wu had produced, almost regal in the way that it protectively wrapped around Monty's body. The create was incredibly long and elegant, with no wings but a smooth, glistening set of golden scales.
"Okay, now what?" Monty mumbled, "I look stupid just sitting here with it out like this."
"Now close your eyes, and focus," Harumi instructed him, "When we traveled, we poured out energies into the crystal and then let ourselves drift until we found it. You should be able to do that same thing."
"Drift?" Monty scoffed, "I don't think so. I'm going to try something."
Before the three could ask what he meant, Monty pulled his shard out and threw it in the air. His dragon shot its face up, catching it in its mouth. Once the dragon had hold of it, the green power inside began to spark rapidly. The shards the three held all resonated with it. Just as they all felt it, the dragon shot its gaze to the wall beside them and shot straight for it.
When the dragon hit the wall, its body began to rapidly spin. Lloyd recognized it as the same motion that the dragons from the First Realm had been doing when he saw them breaking back into Ninjago. It's body rapidly twisted, and the wall in front of it began to glow. Monty inhaled and willed the beast to continue. The wall began to glow a deep green, as if it were metal heating up. With one last burst of light, the dragon shot straight through the wall and disappeared. As its tail disappeared, Monty's shard shot backwards from it, and Monty caught it in hand and replaced it inside his armor.
The four were now staring at a hole the dragon had left in the wall. Or rather, that the dragon had left on the wall. It was like a projection on the surface, a dark portal beyond which was completely black, and just looking at it, Harumi, Lloyd and Lulloyd all recognized it as the void space between dimensions. The dragon wasn't present inside the void, but the hole that it had opened was glowing gold just like the dragon's body.
"There," Monty shrugged, "Portal."
"That's… how did… what?!" Harumi looked to the wall, then to Monty, then to the wall again, "How did you even?!"
"It's a trick I used once with an explosive charge," Monty shrugged, "They took all but one of my guns, and I flipped the charge into the air like a coin so as to not look super suspicious. I shot the charge into a wall and it blew open a hole for our escape. Figured it might work the same way."
"Then, do we even need the shards?" Lloyd looked down to the spot he'd stuck his, "If Monty's chi can do that?"
"Let's see," Harumi sat her shard down on the ground and walked over to the portal. She reached out to try to push inside, but her hand hit the wall instead. Her hand went right through the portal, indeed like a projection. When she walked over and grabbed the shard, her hand didn't go through the portal, but into it. She pulled back and nodded her head.
"There's that," Monty frowned, "But now we need to ask the question: what's on the other side?"
"We'll find out in a moment," Lloyd declared, "Let's get going."
"Agreed," Harumi nodded her head, "Let's go get those Twins!"
Monty simply shrugged. Lulloyd nervously raised his hands up in affirmation. Lloyd stepped forward towards the portal, "Monty, you go last, We don't want the portal to close on us. Alright?"
Monty just nodded. Lloyd stared into the void. On the other side of their destination, they would find the Twins. The chase was back on, and they were behind. They had to go and stop them, at any cost. With one last look back to the world behind them, Lloyd stepped into the void. The familiar feeling of traveling once more shot over him. Lloyd felt as though he was falling, and his body seemed to have no weight.
But this time… something was different. It was as if he now knew where he was falling. He wasn't sure how he knew that was what he felt, but he was certain that was what it was. And as he tumbled his way through the nothingness, he felt as though for once he wasn't randomly falling. The ride was slightly longer than before, but not enough to worry Lloyd that they weren't making their destination. It simply felt as though they were traveling further than they had for any of the worlds. The further the group fell, the more Lloyd felt that he was going somewhere in particular. The entire process for him was maybe twenty seconds, as opposed to the usual ten.
The light once more opened in front of them, and Lloyd this time saw a portal open in front of him. Rather than falling out of the portal, he stepped out at the same pace he walked inside. Sunlight poured over him as he stood on what felt like rocks. One by one, the others stepped out behind him. Monty indeed was last to exit, and once he had, the portal behind them crackled and then closed up. The portal had appeared on some sort of rock face, and combining that with the ground, Lloyd guessed from his first sight they were in the mountains.
"That felt… different," Lloyd muttered, "Like… I dunno. It didn't feel as… chaotic as it did before?"
"I felt it too," Harumi mused, "...I think with Monty's chi, we might actually be able to control our destination. Or, at the very least we can set it before we go inside."
"Wait," Lulloyd still looked somewhat sick from the travel, though he held it down surprisingly well, "You're saying, we can go where we want to now? Then… we can do something the Time Twins can't?"
"We'd obviously have to test it, but at the very least, I bet we can go to any universe we've been to before," Harumi guessed, "Which means now we don't have to worry about getting home!"
"How about I test that then?" Monty stated. He raised his hand and, far faster than before, his dragon chi shot up from his arm and struck the wall. Once more, the portal opened up, "Who wants to be the test subject?"
"You and I go, Monty," Lloyd ordered, "We don't know if you can hold the portal open on one side, so it should be safe."
"Let's all go," Harumi looked to Lloyd, "No offense, but I don't want to be stuck here too."
"Alright," Lloyd pointed to the portal, "Let's do it."
Before the group entered the portal, Lloyd slowly willed for them to go to Monty's world again. When he stepped into the void, he felt his course changing. He willed his path to go back to Monty's world, and suddenly he felt his path going in reverse. Within the same period of time, a portal opened up and he stepped out into Dareth's back room.
"It worked!" Harumi shrieked as she stepped out, "Monty, see if you can keep it open, let's go to Lloyd's world!"
"Sure, would you like me to get you a drink while you wait in the limo as well?" Monty rolled his eyes, but held the portal open nonetheless.
Once more, the group willed that they would go to Lloyd's world. Their path in the void seemed to jerk violently to the left, and was only three seconds before the portal opened up again. Sure enough, the group filed out into the familiar small training room of Dareth's Mojo Dojo.
"Is this is?" Harumi asked as they stepped out.
"Hold on," Lloyd walked over to the window, opening it up. Sure enough, Borg Tower had the same scars and construction equipment around it from the Colossus' rampage, "Yes!"
"We can get back home now?" Lulloyd let out a long sigh, "That's… I feel kinda relieved. I… was starting to worry, we'd never see my dad again."
"We now know we aren't limited to just following the Twins anymore," Lloyd stated with a smile, "Alright Monty, one last time, let's go back to that new world we visited!"
"Great," Monty yawned, "One more trip, coming up, sir."
The portal opened on the wall, and the four filed in. The trip to the new world they had seen was even longer than from Monty's world, nearly thirty seconds before they arrived. When they did, they emerged at the same rock face they had before. The four stepped out and the portal closed, leaving them standing in the new world.
"Now we can see where it is the Twins went,," Harumi smiled, "...Wherever 'it' is, I mean."
"Uh… guys…" Lulloyd pointed out in front of him, "You… should see this."
The three turned to where Lulloyd was pointing. The mountainside that the group had emerged on seemed to be overlooking a massive building built into the side of the mountain. Simply by the rules thus far, they guessed that it was likely Grand Sensei Dareth's Dojo or some equivalent. They were right in front of what looked like a hot springs, with stairs leading up to the springs from the building down below. It was not the building itself that worried them, however.
"It… looks like we're in a cartoon…" Lloyd whispered.
"Yeah," Lulloyd looked around, "I… uh, guess I know what it was like when you first hopped into my world now."
"To be fair, I only saw a few seconds of it before your dad's shark nearly crushed me," Lloyd pointed out.
"He's, still learning to be mindful of pedestrians," Lulloyd muttered sheepishly.
"Guys… this looks like an anime," Harumi walked over to one of the rocks nearby and ran her hand over it, "It looks like we're in a hand drawn anime. I think we're in a world like Lulloyd's, something that's completely new!"
"Anime?" Monty narrowed his eyes, "You guys can't be serious."
"Either way, our first step should be the same: let's go find this universe's Lloyd, figure out what happened, and find out where the Time Twins are," Lloyd turned, "Any objections?"
The group all shook their heads, sans Monty who didn't say anything, "Good," Lloyd turned, "Then let's go!"
Lloyd made his way down the stone path that led to the pool that the two had landed by. As he walked, it seemed that despite the fact that the terrain looked smooth and animated, it still functioned like normal terrain. It didn't feel like the bricks in Lulloyd's world. The group were halfway down the stairs when Lloyd stopped, causing the rest to stop. Monty stepped forward through Harumi for a moment before backing up, much to her chagrin.
"Lulloyd, see if you can still Master Build here," Lloyd pointed to the rocks lining their path.
Lulloyd didn't question the order. Instead, he turned and reared his hand back and struck the rocks. For a few moments, nothing seemed to happen, then the familiar blue glow surrounded them and they turned into bricks. Lulloyd looked to his hand and slapped pieces together randomly. He nodded to Lloyd and struck them again, turning them back into normal objects.
"It seems that we all retain our abilities in other worlds," Harumi mused, "Maybe since we've been in the void between worlds, we don't lose our powers when we move?"
"But, the rules change," Lulloyd pointed out, "Like, when I built stuff back home it just stayed built. If I build something and take it apart, everything kinda, goes back to where it was before. Kinda like, if you pull something uphill and let it go it all, slides back down."
"It must be a law of universal travel then," Harumi thought, "If one of our abilities is tied into the world itself, then if another world doesn't support it, the world will always restore itself."
"Fenwick said that us going into other worlds punches holes into the shell between a universe and the void," Lloyd continued her thought, "Maybe, each universe tries to restore itself? If we try to rip too many holes that's where the problem comes in."
"I don't know how you would test for that," Harumi shook her head, "But it makes enough sense. If we minimize our impact on each world, we won't have to worry about it causing the worlds to start breaking apart. It does make the sense if a world tries to heal itself."
"Well that's all great to hear," Monty pointed to the building, "Can we get going?"
Lloyd and Harumi silently agreed by continuing on. Soon, the four of them reached what looked like a back door. Upon opening it, the group was met with the smell of burning incense and flowers. They entered into what looked like a beauty spa, with several massage tables and hallways that looked like they led off to various areas. Upon seeing the tables, however, the group felt something… off.
"Uh… those shapes look… weird…" Lulloyd pointed out, "Are people… shaped differently here?"
"Let's find out," Lloyd made his way forward through the room to a set of double doors. Throwing them open, their answer was shown to them.
The doors opened up into what looked like a main lobby in a massive hotel. The entire place was filled with several people milling about, looking as though they were heading off to their own rooms. The people looked relatively normal, except something about them that made the entire group feel very, very awkward.
"Guys…" Lulloyd gulped, "What's, up with their skin?"
"It's… not yellow…" Lloyd muttered.
"They have… fingers," Harumi gestured to everyone's hands, "I thought that was just a stylistic thing in anime…"
"They're pretty round," Monty shrugged, "Yeah, it looks like we just stepped into an anime. Awesome. Tell me if someone starts asking for their big brother, that's our cue to leave as fast as we can."
"I doubt someone is going to be asking us or mistaking us for their Onii-chan," Lulloyd pointed out. Monty stared him down for a long few moments before scoffing and shaking his head, "It… looks like we're at least, around the same height as everyone."
"We stick out too much," Lloyd quickly looked around, "We shouldn't let ourselves get seen."
The group nodded. Lulloyd, Lloyd and Harumi drew up their hoods, quickly racing their way behind several moving carts and bags to make their way around the room towards the entrance. Monty turned invisible, leaving only his gun bag he was carrying visible. Lulloyd, already carrying his mechdragon brick, took the bag so as to allow Monty to remain totally invisible. It seemed the SoS was able to turn invisible with him.
As they slunk their way out of the building, they caught sight of Dareth working the check in counter. Sure enough, he looked exactly like the Dareth they all knew, sans fingers and a non-yellow skin tone. He was happily chatting with someone at the counter, directing them to one of the rooms after handing her a key. The group found a large grove of plants nearby to duck into once outside.
"Dareth runs a hotel?" Lloyd muttered as they pried open a window to slide out of the building.
"This doesn't look like a high class inn," Monty pointed out, his voice coming from thin air, "My guess is this is probably a place for travelers. Look at the people."
Lloyd and the others did as Monty asked. Several people that were entering indeed looked less like clients for a hotel and more like travelers with their thick coats, large bags and weaponry. The people looked normal for the most part, but something about them seemed strange to Lloyd. He couldn't put his finger on it, but they felt strange.
"If this is like an anime, then we can't go out in the open like the other worlds," Harumi pointed out as they climbed their way up the roof of the inn, "Otherwise we'll just draw attention to ourselves."
"But… how are we gonna find stuff if we gotta, you know, hide?" Lulloyd frowned, "I mean, we don't even know where we are."
"I'll find someone to possess," Monty stated casually. The group remained deep in thought for a few moments, almost ignoring Monty's comment. When it occurred to them what he'd just said, Lloyd's brow knitted together.
"No," Lloyd stated firmly, "We're not doing that."
"Why?" Monty appeared from thin air beside Lloyd, "I'm not going to hurt them. In fact if I find someone asleep and return their body they'll think it's all a dream."
"Because you can't just, possess people!" Lloyd protested, "When Morro was using me, it was awful. I couldn't do anything! It was like watching a movie play out in front of you, but you're in the movie and you can't change what's going on. The few times I managed to take control, it was even worse."
"Look, you three clearly don't have experience in gathering recon like I do," Monty sighed, "I go into that inn, I find someone asleep, I slip in. I look through their things, get our bearings, and maybe get us information we can use. These people look like travelers, and it's always the people that wander that know the most."
"I don't know," Harumi frowned, "If you do that and they wake up, it could cause a panic."
"I've done this way more times than you all think," Monty growled, "Most people don't like a ghost randomly coming into town. It's easier to possess someone and use them until Ronin and I got what we needed and move on. Do you all have a better idea?"
Lloyd looked down. The inn seemed to be situated on a path leading up a mountain. The path was massive, and looked like some sort of massive traveling destination. One side curled up towards a mountain range off in the distance, while the other eventually went down to a massive field that stretched on for miles. Several carriages being pulled by large beasts were moving up and down the path.
"Look," Harumi pointed to a large set of carriages that were parked in a circle, "They look like a caravan. We might get some information from them."
"Let's try it," Lloyd affirmed, "Let's go."
Monty disappeared again, still leaving Lulloyd with the burden of his bag. As they approached the caravan through the plants, several carts going up the road rumbled nearby. Monty made his face visible and made a shushing motion, then he leapt forward and towards one of the carriages. He jumped inside, leaving the group to wait for a long few moments. A small box fell out the back seconds later. A gust of wind blew the box into the plants by the building before one could notice it. The group made their way to it, where Monty showed it was filled with clothes.
"Disguises," Monty told them calmly, "Get dressed."
It looked as though this was indeed traveler's gear. Lloyd bit down his protest they were stealing from someone as he slid on a large red cloak. Harumi tried at first to put on gloves, but given they didn't have fingers, it looked strange and didn't fit. In the end, all three had on cloaks of varying colors. Just to be safe, Lloyd tore a piece of fabric off and wrapped it around his mouth in a facemask to hide as much of his skin as possible.
Now disguised, the three stood up and walked more casually towards the caravan. As they approached, Lloyd noticed everyone was wearing clothes that were of wildly different colors. Red, orange, icy blue, deep greens, navy blue, and all in various states of armor. There were maybe fifteen people in total, and none looked like they were from the same place.
As they approached, a woman that wore what could generously be called two strips of fabric around her hips and chest along with shoulder armor somewhat like leather pauldrons stood up. On her back, she had a massive three pronged spear. Her hair was a beautiful blonde and flowed almost all the way down her back. Somehow, it wasn't in her face. Just standing up as they approached caused her body to jiggle, much to all of their -minus Monty- embarrassment.
"Hey!" The woman smirked, "What are you three up to?" She crossed her arms under her chest, making Lulloyd turn his head away.
"We're travelers," Lloyd spoke up, raising his head slightly, "We're trying to make our way home…." Monty, invisible, whispered something in his ear from behind, "We'd… like… to maybe hitch a ride with you."
"Oh? Well, where are you heading?" The woman leaned forward, her cleavage exposed, "We might be able to help you out if we're going in the same direction. Which Tribe you getting to?"
"Tribe…?" Lloyd blinked. Harumi perked up hearing that.
"Yeah, tribe," The woman chuckled, "We're on our way to the Time Tribe, if you're down that way we can maybe help out."
"We're from the… Green Tribe," Harumi replied in a guess for the right answer.
"...The Nature Tribe?" The woman blinked, "That's out of our way. If that's where you're heading, that's too bad."
"Oh!" Lulloyd jerked up like he'd been poked, "Oh, no, she's from the Nature Tribe, we're traveling to meet, some, relatives we have in the… which one again?"
"We're on our way to the Earth Tribe," The woman raised her eyebrow, "Only ones around there are the Time Tribe and Mind Tribe. Well, and that new Amber Tribe place they're talking about, whatever that is."
"You said Time Tribe, right?" Lloyd asked, then cleared his throat, "Is… there someone named Acronix there?"
"Acronix?" A large man stood up,"You must truly be lost. Of course there is, he's the leader of the Time Tribe."
The man that stood up was wearing a beautiful set of white robes. As he moved, the way the robes shifted showed there was a great weight to them. The robes parted like a cape behind his legs, while the top part looked almost like some sort of suit. He wore gray gloves with red paintings on the back of them. His hair was a fiery orange and cut in a styled and elegant cut against his forehead. On his hip, he had a massive sword in his holster. With the way he carried himself upright and straight, he almost looked like some sort of knight.
That news was enough for the group to go silent. Lloyd's mind was racing trying to process what that meant, while Lulloyd was trying to stave of Monty's fierce whispering to him about what to say. Harumi was likewise stunned into silence, her analytical mind going off the charts. Lloyd was the first one to break out and step forward.
"How much to take us to the Time Tribe?" Lloyd asked, "We have money."
"Woah, I was talking about trading some supplies, do we look like an escort service?" The woman raised an eyebrow "We're traders. Well, those of us that are brave enough to keep going with all those Raiders coming after us. Especially at night."
"Not us, though," The man placed a hand on his sword, "Less people traveling at night means they won't expect us to try it. We all made sure to pick up some training before we started this business."
"We don't have much room with all our supplies," The woman frowned, "You'll have to pay us a lot if you honestly want us to-"
Lulloyd suddenly pushed his hands forward, revealing a large bag of coins in his hand. The man eyed Lulloyd and took the bag, opening it up and looking side. Lloyd could see it was half full with Ninjago credits.
"...Is this gold?" The woman pulled a coin out, "...By the dragons it is!"
"...Apologies if we came off cold to you," The man reached his hand forward, "My name's Alacr of the Speed Tribe. My companion is Nubit of the Metal Tribe. What are your names?"
"I'm Lulloyd," Lulloyd stepped forward, "That's Lloyd and she's Harumi."
"Lloyd?" Nubit blinked, "Isn't that the Dragon Lord's name?"
"Uhm… our parents were big fans of the Dragon Lord," Lloyd smiled gently. That made the two traders, for some reason, burst out laughing.
"Yeah, I'm sure they are," Alacr grinned, "Considering he's been the Dragon Lord for all of what, five or so months now?"
"Well the battle was in the spring, now it's fall so… yeah, that sounds right," Nubit sheathed her spear, "Don't lie to us, it isn't good for you."
"We were serious about our names," Lulloyd affirmed, "So, when can we get going?"
"Hrm… we were planning on leaving in a few hours… but it couldn't hurt to get some traveling done before it's totally dark," Nubit turned, "Tell you what, you guys can take our ride, we'll get the rest of us ready. Give us twenty minutes and we'll be on our way, it's the one right behind us," She hefted the coins and smirked.
"We normally have four of us," Alacr bowed his head, "Dorian is currently resting from a wound in our last crossing. Ray is over by the fire-" Alacr pointed to a slightly rounded man with white ponytailed hair in dark navy blue plate armor with a strangely jagged sword on his hip, "-and the rest of us here are traders of other groups. We're traveling together to increase our chances."
"Thank you," Harumi bowed slightly, then reached out under her cloak and took hold of her companions. The three made their way into the camp, where a large fire was being tended to by about five others, all in various states of dress, armoring and hairstyles. The carriage was large and have a massive cover overtop of it in a tent-like fashion, and with a heave from around the back, the group boarded it. Nubit and Alacr watched them go before moving to get the rest of the others ready to go. The carriage was filled with boxes, with just enough room for them all.
"I thought you didn't like that nickname," Lloyd pointed out, "You introduced us pretty fast."
Lulloyd threw his cloak down, "I don't like the nickname, but, from now I need to be the one to introduce myself. It feels a little easier to stomach if I'm the one telling people. Got it?"
"No problems here," Harumi shook her head.
Monty appeared beside the two of them, gesturing to the bag, "Guns, give them here."
"Okay," Lulloyd handed it over, "You, didn't need to be whispering in my ear like that."
"Clearly, none of you know how to lie your way into getting information," Monty shook his head, "The Green Tribe? Really? You should have realized this place isn't like our own worlds. They run on elemental tribes."
"I noticed," Harumi pulled her hood down, "I don't even need my watch to know this place's signature is probably wildly different than any of us, even you, Lulloyd. And I'm sure if there's an Earth and Nature tribe, all of the elements here are a tribe."
"So they're tribes that are centered around elements… but apparently Acronix is in this world already," Lloyd pointed out, "But Nubit didn't act like it was something bad. Are the Twins doing something different?"
"I don't know how, considering they have to look like us and have the Iron Doom," Harumi frowned, "It could very well be a counterpart. For now, we'll get to the Time Tribe, and figure that out. We can gather information about this place while we're there. That's our working plan."
"We're getting ready to head out here soon," Alacr's voice came from the front of the carriage, "You all going to be okay back there?"
Lulloyd threw his hood back up and Monty momentarily vanished. The three all nodded, to which Alacr smiled warmly to then and then bowed his head. He walked around the carriage and took his seat on a lip in the front, taking the reins to the creature in the front.
"What is that…?" Lloyd muttered, pointing to the creature.
"I think it's called a horse," Lulloyd smiled gently, "We have them back in my universe."
Nubit took a spot beside Alacr, looking back to the group to ensure they were situated. With a slap of the reins, the carriage lurched forward. The two guided their carriage out to the main road and towards the mountain range, with the four other carriages of the caravan soon falling in line behind them. Soon, they were rolling along the path.
"We're moving kinda fast…" Harumi muttered. Alacr turned around and nodded.
"If we don't make good time, we'll fall prey to those Raiders," He explained, "We're taking a risk moving at night, so we shouldn't add to it."
As the carriages got moving in earnest, Monty found a spot in the corner of the tarp-like material and some boxes to reappear and begin rooting through his bag. For safety, he made sure Lulloyd was beside him in case either of the two looked back towards them. Lloyd and Harumi kept their hoods up, doing their best to remain hidden while they got moving.
"Uh… Monty?" Lulloyd pointed, "Is… this, all guns? Did you… bring capes too?"
"Of course I did," Monty scoffed, "There's no such thing as a one-cape-fits-all situation. I wanted to wait until we got to the new universe to pick the one out I was going to wear."
Lloyd and Harumi looked and, sure enough, the bag was only filled halfway with firearms and ammo. Just a quick count revealed at least ten capes. Monty began to shift through the various types, muttering and shaking his head as he went through them. When he finally settled on one, he pulled out a cape that looked closer to a cloak. It was a deep green, like him, and was invertable to show black on the other side. Monty turned the black side out and clasped it around his chest. Unlike his normal clothes, the cape didn't turn green like the rest of him. It had a hood that was currently down.
"Uh… so, what's the deal with, you know?" Lulloyd pointed to the cape, "You uh, have to take the SoS off when you phase and stuff."
"Ronin probably mentioned this, but if a ghost wears something long enough, it becomes apart of them," Monty pulled off one of his body armor pieces, showing they were indeed ghostly by phasing them through a box, "Though once I take them off, after a certain amount of time they turn back to normal. Clothes take maybe a day to turn ghost-like. Weapons take at least a week. And if I drop the weapon, the timer resets," Monty shook his head, "All the guns I have on me I have attached to the body armor so they don't fall right through me. The only things that won't ever stop being a ghost object are the clothes I died in. And bullets turn solid the second I fire."
"Oh," Lulloyd nodded, "Yeah that uh, makes sense."
"Good," Monty rummaged a bit more inside his bag, "You all should get some rest for now. I'll wake you up if you're about to get skewered."
While protesting would be easy, what Monty said was right. Slowly, all three found themselves resting once more. While they did, the caravan continued on its way. It was several hours into the journey that the group were able to rest, only for the caravan to suddenly lurch hard. As soon as it did, the group were startled up from their sleep, while Monety had disappeared again.
"What's going on?" Harumi called out.
"Raiders!" Nubit shouted, "You said our reports were good!"
"I did!" Alacr protested, turning back to the group in the carriage, "Stay down, we'll handle this!"
"Where are they?" Lloyd stood up, only for the carriage to rock him back down.
"They're all around us!" The driver of the carriage behind them shouted, "We're going to-"
Suddenly, the carriage behind them lurched and the driver shouted in terror as the horse went wild, bolting away. Lloyd saw a bike shrouded in darkness had just ripped apart the back wheel. Alacr's eyes widened as soon as he saw it.
"RAY!" Alacr shouted, then his body became a white streak as he shot forward straight through the carriage past the group. As soon as he reached the edge of the carriage, he leapt straight off the carriage and into the air. He drew his sword, and the group saw the sword plunge into the collapsing carriage for him to get a handle on. He pulled himself up with the handle, then reached out and grbbed hold of Ray. The carriage creaked and began to careen onto its side. Alacr, without a moment to lose, leapt up into the air and shot forward with speed again, drawing his sword from the carriage. The two landed on the ground, and in another white flash they were forward and had vaulted back into the group's carriage.
"W-Was… was that…?" Lloyd blinked.
"Are, are you the Master of Speed?" Harumi asked as Alacr deposited Ray down onto his feet, who gave his ally a small nod of thanks and drew a strange bolt-shaped sword.
"The Master of…?" Alacr blinked, "Are you talking about Griffin Turner?"
"But, you were using speed!" Lloyd protested.
Their carriage rocked violently. Ray ran a hand through his scruffy hair, causing his hand to crackle with static electricity. He put that hand on the hilt of his sword, the electricity rapidly arcing up through it. He shouted and thrust it forward, sending a bolt that struck the bike that had destroyed his carriage. The explosion as it hit the surface momentarily blackened the air.
"Did you get him?" Alacr held his broadsword out, only to grimace as he saw the bike was still coming.
Now that Lloyd could see more of the bikes, he noticed that they were all triangular in shape, and had wheels in the center that were rapidly spinning. He'd seen those bikes before, somewhere. Three of them moved directly behind them. Behind the bikes, the other carriages which had thankfully not been taken out by the broken carriage, were forced to slow down or run into them.
"They're cutting us off from the group?" Nubit tssked, "Alacr, what do we do? They're in front of us too!"
Alacr's grip on his sword tightened as he turned, "Can any of your fight?! We normally wouldn't ask, but, well I'd prefer to get to the Time Tribe in one piece!"
Lloyd and Lulloyd looked to each other. They hadn't known about the Green Power… was it wise to show that they had it? Given the severity of the situation, it was perhaps worth it, but even then it could be something bad. Their hesitation made Alacr turn his head away with a strained smile.
"I can," Harumi stood up, drawing her cloak around her tighter, "I… I can use Wind."
"Wind Tribe? Great, do you have a weapon?" Alacr demanded.
Harumi let part of her cloak part, and both of her comrades blinked in confusion as she held the SoS. Alacr gave it a long look and then turned around, "Flashy, but it'll do. We need to get back to the group so we can stop and make a defense. They won't attack us when we-"
"I'll handle it," Harumi raised her eyes, and for a brief second, Lloyd and Lulloyd saw a flash of green in them. Harumi thrust her hands behind her, blasting wind from her hands that made her cloak violently blast up. She shot from the carriage and, once she was in the air, she spun in the air to point her feet down, blasting wind from that to flip up and land on the carriage top. The fabric sagged underfoot as she thrust the SoS behind her.
"Get… get out of me, Monty!" Harumi strained, the sound of the carriage too loud for the others to hear.
"You want to die?" Monty's voice rang from her lips, "You're the logical choice here, just relax and let me handle this. I've done this more than you know."
Harumi fought Monty's possession for a few seconds, but now that she was on top she could see the fact their carriage was rapidly pulling ahead of the others. There were 5 bikes around them, three behind and two in front, forcing them to run at their pace. The strange design was odd to both of them, and the people that were driving them sat far back on the bike. They were in armor, and the darkness made it impossible to see them.
"Let's do this," Monty declared from Harumi's mouth, raising the SoS up. Almost immediately, two of the pursuers behind the carriage raised crossbows, firing arrows at him. Monty spun Harumi's body around, gathering up wind in her right foot and blasting the bolts off wildly. When he finished his spin, he was facing away from the bikes. He held the SoS in front of him, then leapt into the air and spun around as he did. He brought the SoS in a downward strike, a large crack coming from its tip. A vertical slice of wind hit the middle of the three pursuers. The wind split off in both directions, striking the two on either side and sending them veering wildly off the path.
More crossbow bolts came from the drivers in front wildly firing at him. As they moved to reload, A flash of lightning shot from the carriage and struck them both, the metal of their armor connecting them in the air and shocking them. Monty didn't bother shouting thanks, instead looking into the SoS's reflection. He saw the one still behind them veering to dodge a wind strike.
"Nubit," Monty stated calmly to their driver, "When you see the one behind us swerve, slow us down."
"What?" Nubit shouted back. Monty noticed that her entire body had turned metal, likely to avoid the crossbow attacks.
Monty didn't follow up to her. Instead, he thrust Harumi's palm out. A single gust of wind shot out and, just as expected, the bike veered off to the right. Nubit, seeing this, took a breath and then pulled back on the reins. Their horse rapidly slowed down, causing them to fly away from the two bikes still in front of them. The dodging bike was forced to veer further off to the right, and that was when Monty made Harumi leap off the carriage as they passed by it.
When Harumi landed, Monty thrust the SoS out, striking the driver. The armored man went flying off, and Monty flipped Harumi off of the bike and onto the ground as the bike slowed down. As soon as she landed, the two bikes in front had already turned around and come for them. Monty raced Harumi directly in their path, pushing her arms forward and sucking air towards him. The effect was delayed until the bikes were close, when suddenly they both flipped forward from the wind sucking in the opposite direction of their wheels turning. The bikes crashed, and Monty turned his attention back towards the carriage.
Monty put Harumi's hands on the ground and gathered more wind in her feet. He could feel her body was already getting exhausted from this much elemental use in such a short amount of time, but he wasn't ready to give up. When he let the wind loose, the two went soaring up in the sky. The ground rapidly rotated position in Harumi's eyes as the two spun about within the sky. When they were far above the ground for comfort, Monty sent the two soaring straight down towards the other carriages. He rapidly counted four total, one on each 'side' of the caravan.
Suddenly, the bike that was in front of the carriages was shot to the side. Alacr had leapt from the carriage and run across the ground, slicing the one in front of the other carriages and sending it flying off to the side. When he stopped he was off the road and had his sword out. He leaned up and sheathed the sword just as the bike careened off into the side of the road. He looked up to Monty soaring in the air and nodded.
As the other carriages went past Alacr, Monty landed Harumi down on top of the middle of the row of carriages. He wildly slashed the SoS, each one sending a slice of air towards the other bikes. As the bikes were attacked, he ran forward along the carriages until he finally had reached the last one. When he stopped, he let his momentum carry the SoS in one last slice to strike the last bike.
Seeing their attack was clearly going badly, the Raiders finally pulled off their attack. The three remaining bikes drew back, letting the group go without issue. They raced their way until they had fallen in line behind the carriage Lloyd and Lulloyd remained in. Monty turned his head to the side to see Alacr's hand gripping the tarp to pull himself up. Monty just stared at him as Alacr dragged himself up.
"That…. That was incredible!" Alacr panted, "You're, you're from the Wind Tribe? The Men of the Sky really is a fitting name!"
"It was nothing," Monty spoke through Harumi, "It gave me a good chance to shake off the rust at least."
"Heh… heh… well, we'll get to the Time Tribe in no time now!" Alacr grinned, "Allow me to give you my thanks!"
"You weren't half bad yourself," Monty turned Harumi around, "You didn't get in my way."
"You seemed a lot nicer back at Dareth's inn," Alacr laughed, "Well, let's get off the top of this thing! It's windy up here, isn't it?"
Monty didn't make Harumi laugh. Alacr smirked at his own bad joke as the two rode the carriages towards their destination. As they rode away, Monty watched each of the bikes he'd taken out, and more importantly, the completely empty sets of armor within them. He stared each of them down in confused interest until they had long passed into the horizon as they sped ahead into the unfamiliar world.
"Thank you again," Lloyd affirmed as Lulloyd and Harumi disembarked Nubit's carriage with the gun bag.
"We should be thanking you!" Nubit laughed, "Normally we'd have had to stop and make our stand, but you… I mean, you took almost all of them out yourself!"
"No need to thank me," Harumi, still possessed by Monty, stated firmly, "We needed your carriage, after all."
"Well," Alacr leapt back up into the carriage, "If you follow this path up the mountain, you'll reach the Time Tribe. We'd take you further, but the horses are exhausted. We're going to make camp off the path here."
"It's okay," Lulloyd spoke up, "I'm used to having to walk back home."
"Here," Alacr reached into his pocket, tossing something to Harumi. Harumi caught it and quickly pulled it under her cloak to hide her hands, "I want you to have that."
Monty made Harumi look down at the object. It was a pin, showing two bands of what looked like speed crossing in an X and looping around in a circle. Harumi looked up, and Alacr had his had on his chest.
"I may not look it, but I just so happen to be Griffin Turner's nephew," Alacr chuckled, "That pin is something everyone in the Speed Tribe elite units wear. If you ever swing by the Speed Tribe, show that to the guards and they'll get you a place to stay. Just tell them Alacr sent them."
"What's someone in line for succession doing as a trader?" Harumi asked. Alacr blinked in confusion.
"Is that how they do it in the Wind Tribe?" Alacr shrugged, "Our dragon is the one that picks the new leaders. All the candidates get selected by the dragon and then she has them show off their powers. She picks the one that she wants to be our leader. Griffin was picked last. I mean, it's not unheard of for family to succeed like that but I have no more claim to the Tribe than any other guard. I wanted to travel, so I became a trader. As simple as that."
"I see," Monty made Harumi pocket the pin, "We'll let you know if we ever are around there. Thanks."
"No, thank you again!" Nubit waved her hand, then slapped the horse's reins. Slowly, the carriages trotted off the path and down towards a valley. As soon as they were out of sight, Harumi gasped and fell forward onto her hands and knees as Monty stepped backwards out of her.
"Did you have to stay inside me that long?!" Harumi spat, heaving hard as her face glistened with sweat, "Was that at all necessary?!"
"None of you were making a decision," Monty shrugged, "My gun bag, do you have it?"
"Uh, yeah, I do!" Lulloyd hefted it up, "It's, really heavy. Do you think you cou-"
"Good," Monty turned to Lloyd, "Before you say anything, I saved the day, Harumi is fine, and I did what I needed to do. Don't even start with that whole bit with possession. I'm not in the mood to hear it and you don't have an argument to stand on. Let's get to the Time Tribe."
"You don't get to just!" Lloyd stepped forward, but Harumi raised her hand up. She slowly climbed up to her feet, turning her gaze to Monty. She threw her hood back and waved up to him. When she stopped, she was right in front of him.
"No more of that," Harumi heaved, "Not doing that again. Unless I tell you to, don't."
"Unless you're clearly about to die, then sure, I can work with that," Monty stated without his expression shifting, "We should get going."
Harumi nodded, turning and gesturing for them to follow. Lloyd gave Monty another look before he fell into pace behind her. Lulloyd followed suit, and Monty took up the rear. He sheathed the SoS back on his back and walked with them. The path didn't look too long, and as they walked, they could see what looked like a city in the distance.
"Those Raiders," Lloyd turned, "Does anyone else think what I'm thinking?"
"That they're Vermillion?" Harumi pointed out, "That's what it looks like. Those bikes clearly were leaps in technology above what people have here."
"They look kinda like the tanks they used back when we first encountered them," Lloyd nodded, "But the armor is different. It's full body, you can't even see the snakes."
"That's probably intentional," Monty shrugged, "Don't want people to know they're snakes."
"If we could get our hands on some of it, we can check for the blacksmith stamp," Lloyd pointed out, "Kai said his dad put his stamp on each helmet. If they just added armor on top of it, that mark will point it out."
"Uhm… are we going to talk about the fact… they all had powers?" Lulloyd brought up. The city was rapidly growing, a massive circular wall stretching out around it now that they were closer.
"Yeah… everyone has powers here," Lloyd looked down to his hands, "Alacr was speed, Nubit was metal, Ray was lightning… there really is a tribe here for every element."
"Every tribe except for you three," Monty yawned, "Which means Lloyd here must be really special. They called him the Dragon Lord."
"Which means we should talk to him first," Harumi pointed out, "Our priority should be the same as with you, Monty. Find Lloyd, get his help, and find the Twins."
"If Acronix is here, we can do that last bit first," Lloyd turned forward, "I don't know how he started ruling a tribe in three months, but it's clearly important we get him now."
The group fell into a bit of a lapse of silence out of exhaustion, sans for the ghost that didn't get exhausted anymore. For almost a half hour, they padded their way up the path in the darkness, their way lit by strange lamps with spheres of light glowing inside. Soon, their path took them high up enough the plains they'd been riding across looked tiny.
The place that was the Time Tribe stood in front of them. A large settlement, looking large enough to be a city, was inside of a massive wall of metal that surrounded the city, painted in sections of either red, green, blue or orange. Massive metals gates stood at the path's end, large enough to let carriages inside. From beyond the wall, they could see massive stone buildings, set up in rows. From the way that the lamps of light sphere were set up, it looked like pre-industrialization Ninjago City.
The group drew up their hoods as they moved off to the side of the path. They waited patiently, watching the gates. The gates opened, allowing a group of people to leave. One of the guards raised his hand, his palm red and caused the leader of the group to freeze for a moment. The guards inspected each of them, then let them all through. After the group left, the gates closed again.
"They're checking people… probably for Raiders…" Lloyd grimaced, "Well, I guess we weren't going to just walk in."
"We do we do?" Harumi asked. Monty sat up to speak, only for her glance to make him roll his eyes and lean back again.
"I'm sure we can scale that wall, right?" Lloyd pointed, "Shouldn't be too hard. Let's do that and then find a place to stay. Somewhere that doesn't ask too many questions. Monty, you still have money?" Monty nodded.
"Good," Lloyd smiled, "Let's go."
Lloyd stood up, crawling around the path towards a section of wall the guards weren't watching. As his friends fell in line behind him, they approached an orange section. They were just beyond the line of sight of the guards. Lloyd slowly focused, then an Airjitzu tornado formed around him. The updraft shot him up the wall, letting him land on the top. Harumi let her hands down and fired off silent beams of green power, taking her up. Monty waited patiently.
Lulloyd, not seeing a good way up with the gun bag, looked around. Seeing nearby rocks, he struck them and master built them into a small makeshift stairwell. When he stepped on them, however, his foot slipped, and his body was sent sliding down a step. He froze, the sound echoing through the air. Before he could move, he heard someone walking towards them.
"Who goes there?!" The guard nearby shouted, "Show yourself, Raiders!"
Author's Note:
Because why wouldn't anime be a universal constant?
Thank you all again for taking time to read my story. This arc, specifically starting with this chapter, was extensively rewritten. This chapter was scrapped after they arrived and rewritten, twice. I'm far more proud of this arc now than I was before, and I hope you all continue to enjoy!
I am currently working on another chapter of Universal Deviations, so keep your eyes open for that! I would very much appreciate it if you took the time to read the chapters I have already up.
Stay safe and healthy everyone, and Ninja-GO!