"May I speak with you all for one moment?" A startlingly familiar voice stopped the group in their tracks.
The Acronix of this strange world stood in the middle of the hallway, having stepped out from a hallway to place himself between Mage and Skylar bounding ahead and the four dimensional visitors. Lloyd felt a tightness in his chest for a few moments only partially relaxed as he confirmed this Acronix was the one they'd encountered before. While the man had a smile on his face, his intentional step and firm posture made clear he wanted something from them. Skylar put ah and on Mage's shoulder to stop him from walking without even realizing it.
"Why?" Monty narrowed his gaze, "You heard the plan. If you have questions, ask later."
"Because I have other questions, ones that may not sound as important, but to me they are," Acronix shook his head, "I just need a moment. Can you spare that?"
Lloyd and Harumi shared a look. Even if the evidence pointed to this man not being the twin they were chasing, it was still uncanny talking to him like this. Regardless of his curvy body, tanned skin and young looking complexion said otherwise, he was still uncannily similar to their enemy. Lulloyd wasn't as offput, but was looking on as neutrally as he could.
"Fine," Monty yawned, "Make it quick then."
"This… other Acronix and Krux," Acronix shifted his feet forward, "If they are real as you claim them to be… what are they like?"
"Evil," Lloyd stated without hesitation, "Their plan in my world was to go back in time and completely change everything. They were defeated them after they turned on the Elemental Alliance. After that, they had their powers stripped from them and sent into the Time Vortex, and they jumped in after them. They emerged forty years later, and then went about building something called the Iron Doom to go back to the past and stop their defeat from happening. They were lost to time trying. Only, they reappeared again. They discovered how to jump other universes, and here we are."
"That… certainly is not a sane course of action," Acronix noted, "They sound like… well, madmen, if I'm being honest. What sort of thing possessed them to try to alter history itself? Did they not realize that would destroy their own existence?"
"I don't think they cared, at all," Lulloyd shook his head, "I don't know the full story, but, I've fought them. They don't look like they think things through other than their own plans. They're willing to wreck time and other universes, just to be on top."
"Hrm… well, I can assure you I am nothing like them," Acronix shook his head, "I, for one, respect that time is as dangerous to touch as a raging fire with bare hands. Attempting to toy with it like that is about as dangerous as it comes."
"I agree!" Mage perked from behind Acronix, "He taught me everything I know about time! Trust me, he's the last person that would ever even consider something like time travel. Right, 'Nix?"
"Of course, Lloyd," Acronix chuckled, "You're a very good student."
"Mind if we ask a question?" Harumi crossed her arms, "In the meeting, you said everyone already knows what happened to your brother. Where is he?"
"Krux?" Acronix blinked, then with a crestfallen gaze he sighed, "Right, you claim not to be from the World. I suppose you should know," He took a small breath, "The short of it is that he was persuaded by Chen to join the war against my decision and led his followers into battle, committed a terrible act, and was imprisoned by our dragon for his crimes. The long of it is a bit more… complicated."
"We have time to listen," Harumi offered, "Can we perhaps make this a bit of an information exchange? We need to know more about this place. We can answer what you want to know. We should probably start with Chen."
"You… well then. You truly haven't been around here for any amount of time," Acronix brushed some hair from his face, "Very well. Come with me to my chambers. You might have a lot you want to discuss with me. You come too, Lloyd, Skylar," Acronix paused, "...You said your name was Lloyd as well, correct? Do you have some sort of title you would prefer?"
"They're calling me Mage!" Mage beamed, "Use that!"
"Mage? As in… magic?" Acronix shook his head, "Elemental powers aren't magic, Mage."
"Well dragons harnessed the magic of nature to give us these powers, so in a way, it is!" Mage smirked, "That's what Skys calls it. It's her nickname."
"Glad to know that I was apparently given the honor of naming people," Skylar chuckled, "Now I just have to come up with a clever name for my future cities and I'm all set. I'm invited too?"
"Of course," Acronix nodded, "You are as much apart of this story as any other."
With that, Mage, Skylar and Acronix led the group towards one of the many hallways they'd passed on their initial sneak around. Once there, Acronix reached out with his hand towards a door with a strange symbol on it. Around his right hand, a translucent clock made of light formed, and two hands on it twisted around until they both pointed down. The clock turned green, and when Acronix pressed his fingers against the symbol, the symbol turned green as well. With a heave, the door opened.
"Green?" Lloyd leaned in, "Did, you lock your door with forward time powers?"
"After the last attempt on my life in this very building, I have had to take precautions," Acronix explained to the confused onlookers, "This door will only respond to forward time energy, and only in quantities enough for myself, Mage or Skylar to produce. It has allowed me to sleep somewhat more soundly at night."
"I uh, should point out that's probably not enough," Lulloyd spoke up, "If someone's trying to attack you, it's better to have a decoy and then, be somewhere else in the building you can be alerted later," When Monty gave him a ludicrous look, Lulloyd sighed, "My dad, okay?"
"The Raiders determined that both my life and Mage's were important enough to take out," Acronix gestured for them to enter, "I will consider your advice. They have not attempted to attack again. Thankfully, we are both light sleepers now."
The inside of the room they ushered themselves into looked relatively normal compared to the door. It reminded the group of a hotel room of sorts, constructed without windows and electricity, of course. A large banner of green and blue hung on the wall, and a stand had armor painted in the same colors on it, a set which had the same curves and flair as the guards they'd seen back in the Time Tribe if looking of a far higher quality. Acronix gestured towards the single bed for them to sit as they entered. Monty stood by the bed while the others sat. Mage an Skylar moved to one wall, Skylar stretching herself out against it as she did.
"You should know I am indeed not the one you are seeking," Acronix narrowed his eyes as he caught Lloyd looking to the door, "Before we begin, that is. You shouldn't let people see your judgement of them in your eyes." Lloyd looked away in slight shame.
"It's uhm… it's not you specifically," Lulloyd spoke up, "It's more that, we've all nearly been murdered by, our Acronix? And, well, you're like, you look like him but with like, that weird way your body is constructed."
"Weird, huh?" Skylar scoffed, "You all look like something someone in the Form tribe made up as some weird art expression. You're all so… round and yellow."
"That's just how coming from other worlds goes," Lloyd frowned, "We're all not used to seeing anyone with your bodies outside of...uh," He thought of a comparable word, "Entertainment."
"Before we begin," Harumi looked over, "We need a way to refer to the Acronix here," Harumi waved her hand, "Since we might have to see them in the same place at some point."
"We'll call him," Monty pointed to the Acronix in front of them, "Acronix Prime."
"Wait, Acronix'?" Lloyd asked curiously. "...Why?"
"Ever heard of a derivative? The Acronix we're chasing came from your world. So let's say he's the Acronix we all think about. Therefore, this one here is an offshoot of that, a derivative. So therefore, Acronix'."
"Wait, Monty, you… know calculus?" Harumi blinked.
"Don't sound so shocked," Monty turned to her inhumanly fast, "I have nothing to do all day in that shop. So, when I eventually got bored of restocking, I decided to study. You'd be surprised how well reading old battle strategy, calculus and history books will do you for a mercenary. Maybe don't question my intelligence and I won't yours." Harumi was left stunned and unable to form a proper response.
"Calculus?" Mage cocked his head, "It sounds like they're talking about counting things."
"The only thing you need to know how to count are the number of bad guys on your tail," Skylar rolled her eyes, "If it's more than zero, you should rethink your day."
"We'll call you Acronix', that way if we see the evil Acronix, we can distinguish you two, got it?" Monty crossed his arms, "And no, it's not an insult to be a derivative, if anything you're the good Acronix."
Acronix', newly christened, slowly sighed, "I can see why your companion appears to be so speechless around you. I suppose it would be best for you all to ask what you want first," Acronix' waved his hands, "But first, I suppose you are asking about the war."
"Yes," Lloyd nodded as he took a seat, "What was the war about?"
"Simply put… nothing, and everything," Acronix' chuckled, "In truth, it was all the fault of one man and his daughter. Chen showed up one day to each Tribe, and manipulated us all. He exploited faults in the system of all of our Tribes, and that was enough to make us all on edge." Skylar's expression fell sharply into a frown, her body tensing against the wall.
"Just… Chen?" Harumi shook her head, "There's no way. Surely all of you noticed that he was doing this, right?"
Acronix' paused, "You have noticed we all live in our separate tribes, yes? That's not something we decided for ourselves. When the dragons came down and granted our ancestors all our powers, they rested where they felt would be best. Dragons, being solitary creatures by nature, spread the tribes across the land. It was not until at least a hundred years after the tribes were started that full contact between them all was commonplace. And because of that, each tribe was set in their own ways before we had ever met each other."
"But, even my dad couldn't go and do all that…" Lulloyd muttered, "How, did he do it?"
"He did what anyone would do," Skylar grumbled, "Make everyone think they came up with the idea first. Word doesn't travel fast around here. He had plenty of time to tell everyone what he wanted them to hear."
"The tribes have always been a complex web of alliances and conflicts," Acronix' frowned, "If one could see that, it would be easy to tug at a string and then step back to let the rest unravel. One of the first things Chen did was go after the Water and Nature Tribes. They'd always shared close relations due to the fact the Water Tribe is the only tribe equipped enough to deliver goods at sea. However, it was the Metal Tribe that supplied the goods for the Water Tribe to even build their elaborate structures. A threat by the Metal Tribe to break contact with the Nature Tribe, followed by staging false raids against the Fire Tribe by said Metal Tribe to take them out early. From there, allies had to either be picked, or fall apart."
"And by the time you all had proof he'd done it, it was too late?" Harumi rubbed her chin, "But… why? Why would he want to do that?"
"Skylar," Mage said, some of his usual enthusiasm gone, "It's, all about Skylar, really," Mage sighed, "Erm… Skylar, you mind if I take this one?"
"Go ahead," Skylar grimaced, "I'll see how much you get right."
"So… you counted nineteen tribes in there, right?" Mage smiled sadly, "Well, until the war, we thought there were only eighteen. Amber has the power to mimic other abilities. They can use whatever ability the person they mimic can use. It's strong if you pick the right person. And, well.. See, the problem is that…'' Mage trailed off, "That kinda, scared the other tribes. A really long time ago. It turned into a complete…"
"Genocide," Skylar stated bluntly, "All of them. Long time ago. My mom was there when it happened. Bunch of people from all the tribes found her and used an elemental seal to keep her locked away for centuries. When she woke up… her people were a myth. And, after she had Skylar with Chen she…. Died," Skylar gripped her fist, "Sorry. Really hard to hear that, but I know that these two won't say it."
"Oh…" Lulloyd looked aside, "I… oh. We didn't even realize that… oh."
"I hate how stupidly simple my dad's plan was," Skylar groaned, "The title of Dragon Lord isn't just some arbitrary one we've give Mage. If you combine all the elements together, you can control the elemental dragons. The dragons that watch over the tribes. Like, all of them. No questions asked. They'll do it. Even if that order is to wipe out everyone," She grimaced, "That whole war, all that you've probably heard about? That was my dad having fun while getting me to mimic as many elements as I could. Turns out, you don't need to actually be the Dragon Lord to do it, just have all the powers when you call them."
"I remember the day that he did it," Acronix' spoke revently, "I was fighting for my life. The final battle of the war was between at least one member of all tribes, south of this Summit. I was leading my men into battle. Atop a mountain overlooking the field, him and Skylar fought. I only saw a flash of gold as he shone brighter than the sun itself. I watched him rise into the air like some sort of god. And then, the roar of all the dragons was coming from all around us. The dragons surrounded him and carried him up into the skies, just like I imagine the First Elemental Master would have looked. And with a thunderous voice, he declared that the war would be over, and he would be the one to make it so."
"Gold?" Harumi perked up, "So it seems some form of the Green Power exists here."
"Wait, you, you can call, an entire dragon army down, whenever you want?" Lulloyd asked.
"Yep!" Mage affirmed, some mirth returning.
"...I'm, not gonna lie, that's honestly really awesome," Lulloyd smiled widely, "Kinda terrifying but, also like, really awesome. I'd love to have that power."
"I'm sure you got your own powers, looking like that!" Mage beamed, "Oh, what powers do you all have? I saw that discy thing you did, Harumi!"
"Later," Monty wanted to keep this conversation moving, "Are you serious? Chen was going to plunge the world into war and wipe them out? What point did he have to that?"
"I don't know," Skylar looked away, "I spent all those years being told how my family… was gone. My mother was swept away in a river when I was too young to meet her. My dad claimed to be doing all this for me. The thing is… I don't know if he actually thought that or not." As her words faded out, Mage reached up to gently wrap her in a hug.
"Perhaps it may be time for a new topic," Acronix' grimaced, "You've learned from us. We need ot learn from you. What I want to know, is why would this other Acronix want our world? Why is he here? Why is he doing this, at all?"
"They believe they're owed power," Lloyd, glad to get away from this subject, began, "They think that since they control time, they should rule over everyone. When we stopped them in my world, they only took that as a sign they had to do it to someone else. They want to show that no matter what, they are the most powerful. And that means they're willing to do, well, anything."
"...That's all?" Acronix' blinked, "You're telling me two murders are here, trying to destroy all that I have worked to build, all that we have ever created… because they believe they're the strongest, and that's it?"
"In our worlds, each element is only held by one person, in their case two," Harumi explained, "And that means they automatically felt that they were stronger than everyone. When they were forced into an event called the Serpentine Wars, they were shown how powerless the world could truly be. When they won, they must have seen it as some sort of… divine right. And then to see their element was stronger than everyone else, it was all they needed to turn on them and claim power."
"That's… it then…" Acronix' reached forward and placed his forehead in his hands, "My people are going to tear themselves apart at the seams, because two brats think they have the right to even call themselves the Time Twins?"
"No," Monty pointed out, "Because you're going to stop them."
"That's assuming your little plan here works at all," Acronix' pointed out, "You may have the trust of the Summit in alliance, but your abilities have yet to be tested. You have failed to stop this other Acronix before, and that is a worrying fact for me to swallow. Either you all are incompetent, or they are simply a powerful force to be reckoned with. Sadly, I believe either can be true right now."
Lloyd started to speak, but Monty stood up, "Well then," Monty shrugged, "You got anything to ask us?"
"One more thing, but I am sure I will think of more," Acronix' narrowed his eyes, "How dangerous are these two?"
"Very," Harumi stated without hesitation, "They're already murdered my friend, threatened to kill many more, and have shown themselves willing to do whatever it takes to win."
"I see…" Acronix' snickered, "I was like that, once. Before I became a true leader, I spent all my days sparing with my brother. We became so strong fighting against each other, it was a transformative experience. But it was only the first stage. True power is only half of the raw ability that one has, I've learned. To lead, to truly show power, the people require to believe in, you have to be able to restrain that power. To show only the force that is required, that is what I believe power is. I grew to understand that. If they haven't, they will fall to it."
Skylar suddenly pressed a hand to her head, her eyes flashing purple,"Hey, they're starting the meeting back up here soon, you guys might want to come along. Might wanna get moving too, G-Man wants to talk to you guys. We don't want any unforeseen consequences by being late."
"Let's get to it," Lloyd stood up and turned to the group, "Come on guys, we have a universe to save, and some Twins to stop."
If one had asked Lulloyd about Monty, the words to describe him would have gone in the following order: rude, abrasive, combative, and cool. Normally, he wouldn't have been spending so much time thinking of Monty like that, but at the moment, his brain was completely scrambled to think of anything else.
Eight hours. It's been eight hours since they'd restarted their meeting. It'd been so long guards were continually leaving the room to bring food and water to the leaders present. Lulloyd had taken a seat only ten minutes in out of the sheer amount of information being thrown about the room. As it turned out, having nineteen leaders, Mage, Garmadon, and his group there all continually talking, shouting, grumbling, and correcting each other was incredibly hard to follow.
Harumi looked rather worse for wear. While Lloyd was fielding the conversation as best he could with Garmadon's help -a fact which was a bit hard to comprehend for Lulloyd since he acted nothing like his dad- Harumi had been asking for reports after reports of everything that had been happening. She was continually typing things into her watch to try and make sense of the attacks by plotting them over the map she had. Upon seeing the random spread after hours of compilation, the look in her eyes could have made even the sanest of men duck out in , meanwhile, was working to get the leaders to give them both more information and agree on little things like housing the soldiers for the new force.
Instead of finding a pattern, Lloyd and Harumi began to look through the data and discuss what tribes were being put under the most attack and strain. They were continually asking this to other tribes as well to get their input, ending in more squabbles. That had been where Lulloyd had gotten so swamped and overwhelmed with information he'd decided to sit back and listen. He got some of the more general points over time, but his focus wasn't on listening, and had fallen far more so to looking towards the only person in the room that wasn't talking and just sitting back to watch the chaos.
While everyone was arguing and formulating the goals and tactics, Monty was casually playing about with his guns. Or at least, that was what it looked like to Lulloyd. He wasn't sure what Monty was doing, and the way he was spinning and rolling them about in his hands reminded Lulloyd of seeing his dad preparing for combat. That is to say, seeing his dad coming up with new and crazy moves to try.
Watching Monty gave Lulloyd something to do. He didn't know much about strategy, and what he did know came from experience that probably wouldn't relate. He wanted to voice opinions, but he wouldn't even know where to start. Rather than risking making a fool of himself, he just went quiet. Following the conversation was hard… but eventually, he heard the room quiet down. Living with someone like his dad meant he'd learned that sitting back, and being quiet was usually for the best.
"Then it is decided," Garmadon finally stepped forward, "We will provide four days for a selection process. At that time, all tribes will provide their two representatives for this united force. Are there any questions?"
The room, likely just as exhausted as Lloyd and Harumi looked, agreed. Garmadon called the group off, and with that most moved to retire to their rooms. Mage told them there were open rooms on the third floor where they could sleep, and so the two left to escape. Mage, somehow looking full of energy, had taken to talking to him quickly as Lulloyd left the room.
"That was boring, wasn't it?" Mage yawned, linking his hand and leaving his head against them, "I swore I was gonna pass out there. This is why my dad handles all the proceedings."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Lulloyd yawned, "It's a lot to take in."
"Well it's all over now, so let's talk!" Mage beamed, "Go on, throw me a question!"
"So… uh, what do you like to do for fun?" Lulloyd asked.
"Fun?" Mage paused, "Hrm… I like to see what I can pull off with my powers! Like, okay, listen to this: what if I jumped off a really high tower and then like, used water while I'm in the air to form a big massive waterslide to like, then go flying into the air and see if Firstbourne could catch me before I hit the water?!"
"Uh… that sounds kinda… dangerous," Lulloyd pointed out, "Like, what if she doesn't?"
"Well then I'll hit the water and be okay! I can use gravity pretty well! See?" Mage reached out with one hand, his eyes turning copper as he lifted off the ground..
"Do you really like… know every element..?" Lulloyd asked in curiosity, "And how well?"
"I know every element at least a little bit! I'm no master though," Mage rolled his eyes, "The ones I learned first at the ones I have the most skill in. Some are kinda tricky. But I've learned as much as I need to."
"And… time?" Lulloyd pointed to Mage's left arm, "Acronix used like, a weird clock thing, can you..?"
"Hrm? Of course!" Mage raised the indicated arm, showing off the Time Matrix on it, "I'm best at using forward, but I can use slow okay too! I don't really know how to use pause or reverse though… those were Krux's powers and uh, Acronix doesn't want me training on my own."
"Is it, hard, knowing that you have to use all those elements?" Lulloyd asked, "Like, uh, back home I have to do tests and, if I have to know how to do a lot of stuff it's hard to do it all."
"I mean, kinda," Mage shrugged, "But I get to use them a lot. Using an element is sorta like breathing; it's really easy to do! But it's about finding cool ways to use it. Like, I could just freeze the air around someone, but if that person is using fire, then maybe I should use smoke and evaporate around them until I can land a hit! Or, or, maybe I should use gravity and then take them on in the air! It's sorta like one big puzzle and you gotta do what's gonna work the best."
"Then, you must be really smart," Lulloyd chuckled, "I kinda know what you mean about that. Like, not saying that I'm like, really smart or anything! Just that, I know that whole puzzle thing."
"Hrm?" Mage asked, "How?"
"Uh… well, you know Harumi could do that disc thing?" Lulloyd asked, "I can do something called Master Building. It's all about breaking things apart and rebuilding them in cool ways."
It was that one line that had sentenced him to hours of having Mage revel in delight as he watched Lulloyd rebuilding various items around the entire Summit. Lulloyd had started explaining how it worked and how he had to get in his head an image of what he wanted almost instantly, but Mage had been so taken with the idea he'd wanted Lulloyd to demonstrate and demonstrate.
"Do a dragon!" Mage ordered happily, "Now a mountain! A bed! Chair! Waterfall! Cart!"
"I uh, don't have the parts for those," Lulloyd sighed, knee deep in bricks from Mage's entire room broken down, "I can, uh, try the dragon and mountain though. And I broke down your bed and chairs to do this so, I'd just be building them back?"
"Make BIGGER ones then!" Mage clapped his hands, "This is so cool, so so cool!"
When it was over, Lulloyd had ended up collapsing and sleeping for a long while.
"Again!" Lloyd ordered, "You need to be able to do this perfectly every time! The Vermillion won't give you time to rest!"
Lloyd stood on his platform overlooking the training area, watching as the gathered soldiers of each tribe took their stances. Mage spread his hands out and called upon earth, his eyes turning brown, reforming soldiers out of the makeshift armor they'd quickly fashioned using some of Karlof's metal workers. The sand of the area pulled and formed the shapes in the armor, simulating the actual warriors.
A female soldier in light green armor hissed and raised one arm, causing acid to bubble up through her skin. She flung it into the sand in front of her, causing it to hiss and burn. As the sand began to crumble, her partner -a male Fire Tribe member- shot his hands out and loosed flames into the armor. The sand burst, and the man quickly grabbed the main breastplate and heated his hands up. As the metal began to melt, he let it begin to droop before tossing it aside.
"Good work, Varia, Dume," Lloyd nodded his head to them. Varia, the Poison Tribe soldier, smirked at him and turned back to her work.
Around the room, more pairings did the same. A 'warrior' was blown apart by water and then the armor electrified by lightning. A woman closed her eyes as her entire body lit up like a flashbang, giving time for her female Speed Tribe member to leap forward and do laps around the soldier and yank the armor off piece by piece. A soldier was frozen solid and then the armor ripped in half by metal, shattering the ice in every direction. Another was blasted by sound waves and rattled as plants sprouted from the ground to surround the armor in thorns. Similar demonstrations took place all around the room.
Lloyd walked back and picked up several more sets of armor and spun into Spinjitzu, stopping at the edge of his platform and sending them flying out to the sets of armor that were destroyed in the training. A few attendants carefully extracted the already broken bits to go and reforge for later.
"You're pretty good at this," Skylar smirked, carrying in another box of armor for Lloyd, "When did you learn how to command like that?"
"A few months ago, actually," Lloyd smiled awkwardly, "Had to step up and learn how to lead a Resistance, and well, training isn't hard when you've been doing it for years," Lloyd paused, "Speaking of which, where have you been?"
"Training," Skylar shrugged, "Decided to practice using Earth out there. Raising mountains is harder than it looks."
"Oh, I know," Lloyd replied casually, "Do you want to switch with Mage?"
"Nah, I'm good!" Mage beamed, "This is basically stamina training for me, so I shouldn't switch just yet!"
Lloyd looked over the group of soldiers. Just as promised, there were a total of thirty-six of them, a pretty diverse group of both men and women of different ages as well. Seeing so many elements in one place was overwhelming at first, but it was no different from the initial wave of terror stepping into the Tournament of Elements had been. Once he'd gotten over the first few jitters, it'd been simple enough to acclimate to.
"Think they'll be ready?" Skylar crossed her arms, "Not like they had that much time to train."
"It seems the fact there was almost a war means most of them are already trained,," Lloyd pointed out, "So it was just about adjusting how they fight. Mage was the one who started pairing up elements though. I wouldn't have thought of some of these."
"Oh, he knows a lot more than you think," Skylar chuckled, "You haven't seen him in action yet, but he's a fast thinker. He beat me senseless, after all."
"So, is that what you actually look like?" A male voice Lloyd oddly recognized caught his attention.
"Alacr?" Lloyd asked. The refined individual from the Speed Tribe walked forward, Nubit in tow.
"So it is you. I knew something was off about you," Alacr raised an eyebrow, his tone firm, "I didn't realize that you weren't even from our world."
"Oh, uhm… well, we had to move without raising attention," Lloyd answered, feeling very put on the spot, "And, well you were willing to help transport us and-"
"And so you lied to us," Alacr narrowed his eyes, then he sighed and put a hand on his sword, "Well, I guess it doesn't matter right now. Where's Skylar?"
"Right here!" Skylar leapt up from behind Lloyd, "Alacr! You bring Ray too?"
"Of course we did," Nubit rolled her eyes, "We brought the whole caravan, they're waiting over the next ridge."
"You called them?" Lloyd asked. Skylar turned and grinned.
"Course I did, they're the only guys that are willing to come all the way out to the Amber Tribe to supply me with goods," Skylar crossed her arms, "I actually joined their group for a little bit, while my dad was doing some of his things. They can throw down."
"She called us here as part of your plan," Nubit explained, "We're going to join her squad."
"We weren't deciding the squads yet," Lloyd protested, "We've only decided that you and Mage were leading squads."
"Well, I heard you were picking one for me, so I sent out a message to them," Skylar walked up and suddenly fell backwards, using Alacr as a sighing backrest, "They've all got lots of experience and they know me. So they're on my team. We were looking for a few more soldiers, weren't we?"
"Yes, but, you can't just…" Lloyd sighed, "You know what? If you trust them, good. They're yours."
"Sir!" A male Smoke Tribe guard, identifiable through the markings on his armor, stepped into the side entrance to the training area, "Harumi has called for a meeting!"
"Gotcha," Lloyd turned to Mage, "Come on, Mage, you should be there."
"Okay!" Mage closed his eyes, focusing and letting the sand harden into clay through pressure. He sighed and wiped his brow before happily padding his way to Lloyd.
"Guess that means me too," Skylar chuckled, stretching her back out and bending backwards until she was nearly horizontal before lifting back up, "Let's get moving."
Ignoring Skylar's either apparent lack of spine or flexibility to a level Lloyd didn't want to consider at the moment, Lloyd led the two out of the training area. The area had been erected just outside the Summit building and covered by a makeshift roof. The exit they used was one of the smaller entrances to the building that led to the outer hallway. Harumi had set up a war room on the third floor in the dead center, so the group found their way to stairs and made their way up. Mage, complaining about stairs, opted to summon gravity to simply float up the stairwell. Not to be outdone, Skylar summoned wind in her feet to launch herself up and grab his arm to drag him down, ending in them both hitting the third floor entrance and chuckling as Lloyd arrived.
Once the group had made their way to the room, they were greeted by an already full room. Monty, Harumi, Lulloyd, Garmadon, Acronix' (currently just Acronix given context), and Shade stood in the makeshift war room. Shade had been volunteered to help oversee the war room process and train the individual soldiers alongside Lloyd, Mage and Skylar. The nine of them stood roughly in a circle around the map. Lloyd did his best not to look too much at Garmadon; after experiencing the situation of meeting alternate versions of people, he'd found it useful to just not think about the strange connection he still felt towards them.
"Good, you guys finally made it," Monty yawned and straightened himself up, "Then let's get this meeting started. Harumi, where do we need to direct our forces?"
Harumi unfurled a massive map, spanning the entirety of a rectangular table as long as she was tall. The map was a blown up version of the map of the world, which currently was unnamed as they had found. The tribes simply called it The World when referring to it given it was unexplored outside the borders. With such a large map, it was easy to see the scope of the world, even if the distance looked almost smaller like this.
"Okay, after doing research on everything I could find," Harumi tapped her watch, pulling up a hologram that she projected onto the map in front of them, "The tribes that are most at risk are these."
Shade eyed the map, "So, the Metal, Time, Nature, Sound, Water and Smoke tribes, then?" He shook his head, "I was hoping you'd be a lot more precise here."
"It's pretty simple," Harumi pointed her curved hand -a sight Mage still stared at like it was an apparition- down towards the tribes in question, "They all are important to the main trading routes. Specifically, the Water Tribe controls all the shipping by water, and the Sound Tribe is where the main road ends. The rest of them have some important junctions on them. The only outlier is the Form Tribe, which lies right on the split of the trade routes, oddly."
Shade pointed his gray finger towards the junction, "Most of their territory is all plains and forests. Raiders attack in areas they can get a good foothold on. They favor areas where they can attack and force people out into the open, rather than starting in the open."
"That's a numbers thing," Lloyd pointed out, "They clearly have a lot of snakes. But if they showed all their main force, it'd alert people before they started. Once they get you in the open, I think they're trying to just run you down."
"Just like they did with the caravan," Harumi affirmed, "Which means we can't cover every tribe at once."
"The Metal Tribe," Acronix pointed, "They supply metal to build the new lines and our new construction. If they get taken out, they'll cripple our ability to build. That would be a priority to protect, yes?"
"Exactly," Harumi pointed herself, "The Water Tribe is harder to attack but if we lose them it could stifle our ability to transport our goods over the water. We can't risk them falling. But since they're connected by bridge to the mainland, it limits their options to attack."
"So," Garmadon stepped forward, "What do you plan to do, now that you know where people are needed the most?"
"Harumi and I came up with a plan," Lloyd stepped forward, Harumi nodding to let him take over, "We upped the number of soldiers we pulled in closer to a hundred. We're going to split that force into three sections, and put them into squads. With those squads, we can cover up to three tribes at once."
"And, who are you wanting to lead these squads?" Shade asked pointedly.
"Mage, Skylar and… we haven't picked a third," Lloyd admitted.
"You're not going yourselves?" Garmadon asked, "We have form users here. It would be simple to disguise you to look like any usual soldier."
"We don't want our identities getting leaked to these Raiders, even if we take precautions," Harumi admitted, "We want to, but part of this is making it so it's you guys who are fighting back. I know you still don't believe that it's another version of the Twins that are doing this, but it's true. They'll take revenge if they find out we're here."
"Then in that case, I will take one of these 'squads' you're making," Acronix stepped forward, causing all eyes to turn to him, "It's important that we have three. If your objection is that I am a leader of my tribe, Mage is of higher status than I am. I know these lands better than you, and I am more than able to lead."
"That would send a bad message," Shade countered, "Wasn't it because your brother tried to enter the war that all of your issues started?"
Acronix's eyes darkened for a moment, "Do not make me prove to you I am not my brother, nor these 'other Twins' that they speak of. If Mage is going to risk his life, I will risk mine. Teran will watch over my tribe in my absence."
"Is that wise?" Garmadon asked, "You should be there to help your people."
"These tensions will only boil over if these Raiders aren't dealt with," Acronix pointed out, "It's only for the best I deal with these raiders in my own way."
"Just let him lead the squad," Monty, sitting in the corner admiring his reflection in the SoS, called out, "What do you have to lose?"
"Thank you, ghost," Acronix turned away from him, "I assume that you plan to put us into a certain region of tribes, and rotate our forces based on any recent attacks?"
"Yes… exactly that," Lloyd blinked at Acronix having seen his whole strategy, "We'll split the regions up and handle them like that. The point is for you to be mobile. You move where you need to, make your own decisions. Don't let the Raiders figure you out. Strike them down and then vanish. Be like them, but better."
"Are you certain that my son should be leading one of these squads?" Garmadon asked, "He is a symbol of this world's peace. If he were to fall, then-"
"I can handle myself, dad!" Mage pouted, "You know me. I fought Skylar, everyone saw it! You've been training me almost every day to the point I collapse, I can handle this."
"You are partaking in something different from a war, this is an operation where no help will come to you," Garmadon began, "You must understand that."
"I know it sounds dangerous," Harumi pointed out, "But Mage here needs to be on this mission because he's a symbol. If the Raiders see that he's partaking in the attacks, they'll pull focus from attacking the tribes. They tried to kill him once when he wasn't looking. Well… now he'll be looking with both eyes."
"I'm doing this, dad," Mage stated firmly, "I know you care about me, and I'll be as careful as I can. I can't sit by and let the peace that I worked so hard to create just, fall apart like this! These Raiders need to go away so all the tribes can stop worrying so much about them they can't work together. That's what's important now!"
"..." Garmadon went deep into thought, looking with the concern of the parent and the torn nature of his position to Mage in this world, "Very well. If you believe you are ready, there is no need for you to stay behind. Remember restraint though, son," Garmadon turned to Mage, "You may have to fight battles of simple endurance. You must conserve power. Both of you should only use what power if needed. We cannot have you collapsing."
"I'll keep the little guy safe," Skylar wrapped an arm around Mage's side, "He ain't going anywhere with me there."
"What about transport?" Lulloyd asked, "How are we going to, get them where they need to go?"
"I called some of my trader friends, and they can supply us with some of their carts to help transport the squads," Skylar smirked pointedly.
"Good," Garmadon nodded, "When do you believe we will begin this operation?"
"We'll start sending the troops out tomorrow morning," Harumi looked up, "All three of you will go with them. We'll send them to the tribes that get attacked most first. From there, it'll be up to you to handle it. If you don't have any attacks, pull back to the Summit so they don't see you staying in the region."
"Let's hope your gambit pays off then," Shade nodded, "I will remain here to oversee any operations that need doing."
"I will remain behind as well, in case they decide to attack the Summit," Garmadon nodded, "It is unlikely, but a possibility nonetheless."
"Then let's get to it," Lloyd leaned over the table, "Let's get the soldiers ready to leave in the morning. We're going to take back this universe, starting tomorrow."
Night had already descended on the path leading to the Smoke Tribe. The tribe was special, having their village located in what used to be a volcanic crater on the edge of the Fire Tribe's lava lands. Because of the existence of underground lava streams, the entire area was perpetually shrouded in mist from the lakes around the crater that seemed to eternally boil while the ground was riddled with sinkholes due to the volcanic underground flows. The path to the tribe was connected directly to the largest road, and unlike many tribes, was visible just from the path without any divergence. Several stations lay along the path, providing protection for those that walked past.
Only two carts did on that night. With the news of the Raiders, the two merchants had wanted to stay the night in the Nature Tribe, but upon hearing one of their associates had failed to make it on time they had been forced to check on them. After failing to find them before night fell, the two were hurrying to the Smoke Tribe for protection.
A long clanking sound began to sound from the rocks around the two. The two merchants dropped their carts and quickly fumbled around to draw their weapons. Using their carts as cover, they quickly leapt behind them, looking around anxiously for them. One merchant slowly lit a flame in his hand and launched it off towards the source of the sound to try to see the source. The other inhaled, ready to disappear into the shadows.
"There!" The fire merchant gasped as shadows began to form all around them. Several of those strange bikes everyone had heard about rolled up the road, surrounding the group. It was too late for them to get in their carts and make a break for it. The merchants went back to back, gulping as they readied themselves for battle.
"Is this it…?" The other merchant, a pale man of the Shadow Tribe gulped, "Is there where we…?"
"Don't think like that," The fire merchant growled, "Just… just get ready to fight! We can do this!"
From the darkness around them, two of the figures lunged towards the cart. The shadow merchant shut his eyes, disappearing into the shadows of his cart. The fire merchant threw a flame over the cart, striking one of them dead on the chest. The figure almost seemed to laugh and brandish a sword, bearing down on him. The fire merchant tried to pull away, but he tripped over the rocky ground, falling down. As his weapon went flying, he summoned fire in his fists, even as his eyes stared towards the figure barreling towards him with terror.
Suddenly, the warrior stopped dead in his tracks. Its body began to rumble and vibrate, rattling like something inside it was squirming. With a loud cry, the entire warrior suddenly crumbled to the ground. The fire merchant stared in terror as something began to rush away from it. Then, without warning, the armor it had been wearing was lifted up into the air and began to crumple violently inward on itself until it was nothing more than a wad on the ground.
More warriors began to rush towards the two carts. The shadow merchant appeared beside the fire merchant and pulled him to his feet, trying to rush the two away from the group. They rounded the cart, coming face to face with a warrior. Before it could attack, however, the entire area went white. The two shouted and covered their eyes in pain.
Something pulled them away. The two at first struggled, but when the force squeezed their arm, they realized it wasn't a warrior. When the two were able to see, they were standing on the side of the path. The two looked up to see the one that was pulling them was none other than…
"You?" The fire merchant asked, "Are you…. Are you Lady Skylar? What are you doing here?"
Skylar smirked and pointed to the path. The two watched, seeing that the burst of light had come from a Light Tribe user. The user closed their eyes, and suddenly they began to refract and split into three others. The four rushed forward, followed by what the merchants guessed was the Metal Tribe user. As the warriors were completely blindsided by the suddenly duplication in enemies and swung blindly at nothing, the warriors once more vibrated as a man placed his hands on his temple, causing them to collapse to the ground. The armor was either crushed by the metal user, or flashes of lightning stunned the snakes.
"We're taking back our homes!" Skylar grinned, "Get going to the Smoke Tribe, we'll handle it from here." The two obediently stood up and rushed away. Skylar inhaled and beamed as she pulled rocks from the surrounding area to surround her arms like gloves before leaping down into the battle below.