"How are you planning on getting back to your place without them catching us?" Mage asked as the group stood ready at the front of a new portal by Monty.
"Well…" Harumi held up the scale that she still had from Ophiod, "I'm hoping that this works."
"You said that would keep them from seeing us from going into their worlds," Lloyd pointed out, "How is this going to keep us from seeing us going to your world?"
"Well, the fact they didn't attack him and Monty when they went to his world means they weren't able to detect him… or didn't try," Harumi paused, "So, maybe they're scanning us with that mech's systems somehow to see if we enter in? The whole diverging wavelength stuff I explained to you all."
"Are we gambling here once again, then?" Over asked. Harumi's smile fell.
"If they catch us, then they catch us," Harumi looked down towards the ground, "This core has to be the key to us making transporters. I've been thinking through everything I possibly can with this. I think I know what we can do this time."
"Then let's just go," Monty pointed forward, "If they show up, we'll fight them. Stop whining about it and just do it."
"You guys go ahead," Lulloyd gestured to the brick-built city behind them, "If they show up here, I'll keep them busy."
"In that case," Over turned to Mage, "We will stay behind as well. The two of us are the only ones with the firepower to truly take on Invictus. If he were to catch the three of you, it would be easier to slip away with just yourselves. Bring yourselves back right away if you can, Monty."
Monty scoffed at Over, but agreed to the idea. Mage himself took a step back, a nervous look in his eyes but seeing the logic enough to agree. Harumi gave a small inhale, steeling herself. With Monty's words, she stepped forward holding the stolen core into the portal. Lloyd followed after her, holding his breath as he entered. Monty followed last, leaving their three comrades to watch as the portal shut and ferried them off to another world.
When Harumi stepped back out of the portal, she was inside of the apartment that she was used to calling home. She was also standing in one that had a massive hole blown in the exterior wall, where Invictus had no doubt taken Dareth from. Because of this, the sounds of the outside world were ringing rather loudly in the normally quiet living room, and a large sheet had been put up until they could get someone out here to fix it. Harumi, however, wasn't focused on the sheet, but more so if someone was going to show up from it.
Once the three had fully emerged, Lloyd immediately ran over to the nearest couch, throwing his back to it and looking at the sheet with one hand on his katana hilt. Harumi did the same, getting down beside him and charging up a Rhotatae disc in her hands. Monty simply waited where he'd emerged, one hand on the hilt of the SoS and instead just waiting to see what would happen. The three waited for a rather long time, listening in for the sound of someone coming to attack.
"Harumi?" Instead, the voice that greeted them was a rather startled Carnelian, standing in the middle of the living room and watching the three with shock.
"Carn!" Harumi gave one more cursory glance towards the direction of potential danger, then jumped up and rushed over to Carnelian, tossing the core into Lloyd's arms. She threw her arms around her, giving her a long and tight hug. Carnelian instantly reciprocated, holding her tightly and squeezing with enough to make Harumi exhale just to endure it.
"You're back!" Carnelian smiled warmly, leaning back from the hug to plant a warm kiss on Harumi's cheek, "We were so worried about you! Are you okay? Did those two guys get you?!"
"No, not right now," Harumi's smile faltered for a moment, "We, figured out more about them. We stole something that might make us not have to hide from them anymore," She gestured to the large piece of metal that Lloyd held, "But, I'm, I'm sorry I had to leave like that. It was, I know that I'd just come back and-"
Carnelian silenced Harumi with a small peck on her lips, "Hey, I get it. Those guys were pretty scary. I kinda wish I could've gone with you but… you know how it is. You wanted to think of our safety first before anything, right?"
"Y-Yeah," Harumi admitted with a blush, "Did… they come after you guys?"
"Yeah… some snake guy roughed up some of us," Carnelian frowned, "I wasn't there, else I would've helped. He hurt Yuka and Karlon pretty bad. They're okay now but, well."
"He took down Yuka?" Harumi shuddered, "I'm, kinda impressed."
"She's resting up back at our base," Carnelian explained, "Just got out of the hospital. They're lal okay but, I can see now why you guys were running from them. They were both really strong in their own way."
"You guys have a base?" Monty asked with a somewhat snarky eye roll.
"It's not really a base, it's just a building that we rent out so we can have a place to hang out and, you know, talk about things," Harumi pointed out, "We should go and see them. I have a lab in there where I can start figuring out how this thing works."
"Is that big mech thing coming after you guys?" Carnelian asked, "We tried to figure out something to defend against them but, we've never really seen anything like that. Most of the guys we're used to don't really make big huge machines like that."
"It's not really something we know much about either," Harumi admitted, "But we've seen what his world looks like. It's, not that good. I'll tell you about all of it on the way over."
"We need to call a taxi?" Lloyd asked. Carnelian shook her head.
"I can drive," Harumi shook her head, "Dareth's car should be around here."
"It's out front," Carnelian paused, "We moved Dareth to our safe house outside the city for now. Didn't want them to come after him after what happened last time. Sorry he wasn't here to see you."
"It's okay," Harumi shook her head, "We have things we need to do for now. I'd rather that he'd be safe than anything."
"Glad to hear it," Carn tossed Harumi a pair of keys from the nearby counter, "Let's ride."
Harumi's "base" as Monty has now termed it, was a small penthouse suite on the very top of a small building towards the outskirts of the city. The building itself was much smaller than the others, barely breaking fifty stories, and Harumi told them they owned the top four floors. The building below them had been in the process of being renovated and was eternally stuck in that state, so they were the only people that happened to live there. Therefore, all that Harumi would show them inside of the building was built by each of them.
The first floor -fourth from the top of the building- was a makeshift garage area, with a wall they had converted into a sliding hanger door. The inside was left to be pure concrete, and aside from a small bench with various tools Lloyd both did and didn't recognize to work on cars, there wasn't much to the space. Once they exited, they walked into the second floor -the third from the top- which was clearly the lab space that Harumi had mentioned. The entire area was filled with massive bits of Borg branded technology, with scrap metal scattered all over the place. The entire room was separated from the stairs by a wall of glass, meaning Lloyd only got a glimpse of it before they entered the third floor.
Said third floor -second from the top- was a massive kitchen and gaming space combined together. The kitchen was set up into the corner, with a large fridge and several devices Lloyd could assume were meant to be an oven, sink, stove and range. Everything had the distinct Borg logo on it, making Lloyd wonder just how far out Borg had branched by now. The 'gaming' area doubled as a lounge, with a large circular couch wrapped around a large screen mounted on the wall that had to be at least five feet wide and three tall. Two smaller screens were mounted beside it as well. The walls were decorated with various posters, many of them for Forte's concerts. Lloyd could also see one of Forte's keytars in the corner, propped up against a speaker.
Finally, the fourth floor -the top of the building- had a roof that sloped down and created an almost triangular room. It was set up to mainly just have several couches and chairs placed at random, with a large table that had various bits of wrappers and drink cans on top of it. More posters for Forte's concerts had been plastered on the walls until they were too small to contain them. The roof was entirely glass, but it appeared the panels either dimmed or flipped since currently the roof was a solid red. When the four of them stepped into said fourth floor, there were three people currently inside.
Forte was sitting in a chair, running her fingers over her keys and biting her tongue as she experimented with a new scale to try out. Mizuko was laying on one of the couches, currently asleep with several bandages across her body and wrapped in several blankets. The third was one that Lloyd didn't recognize, wearing a massive set of white robes that covered most of her arms and legs. She had her hood down, letting messy orange locks spill out. One the left side of her face was a strange mechanical eyemask that seemed built into her head, reaching from her eye, part of her left cheek and back to the beginning of her ear. She looked the most beat up of them but wasn't wearing any bandages, more so just looked somewhat sick.
"Yuka?" Harumi asked. The girl turned to see Harumi, groaning out as she stood up and walked her way over to her.
"Hey, Harumi, haven't seen you in awhile," Yuka grimaced as she used the chair for balance nearby, "...Sorry, we're not in the best shape. A snake guy did some weird magic stuff and we all kinda got hit by it."
"I'm pretty sure he drained you of your energy in some way," Carnelian cocked her hips, "Which means you weren't paying enough attention."
"It wasn't our fault they could just pull something like that!" Yuka protested, her mask eye zooming in on Carnelian, "My computer here couldn't figure out a counter strategy fast enough."
"Your... computer?" Lloyd asked. Harumi turned and blinked.
"Oh, that's right, you haven't met Yuka," Harumi waved her hand for Lloyd to step forward, "Lloyd, this is Yuka. Yuka, this is Lloyd. Yuka was apart of the first gen augmentation programs. She's from the monk cities up north," Harumi leaned in and whispered, "Her dad is Gravis."
"Yeah I was raised by dad to be a monk, they wanted me to be a sage like him, didn't work out," Yuka shrugged, explaining the robes she wore, "Lost my eye when I first found my powers when I was really young," Yuka pointed at the device on her head, "And after that, I went and volunteered. This thing is pretty useful but when I turn it on it… kinda takes control of me. It was really early tech. If you see me smacking this thing, don't get too worried about it."
"Uh… sure, that makes sense," Lloyd answered, only half sure of what he'd just heard from her, "Well, you said you fought the snake guy? That was Ophiod, right?"
"That sounds right, he might have said his name once or twice… I was focused on a lot of other things," Yuka rubbed her head, "I know he was pretty strong. He had this staff thing he was using a lot. I've not seen someone who uses magic like that. Not been around for a little while now."
"Right," Lloyd nodded, "I'm sorry you guys had to face him like that. He's a lot stronger than he looks." Lloyd also noted the staff with the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu was even more important than he thought, "Was anyone really hurt?"
"Mizuko got us help pretty quickly," Yuka pointed out, "So we're good. Mizuko is just sick from some food she ate earlier today. She's gonna be out like that for awhile." Mizuko let out a pained groan from the couch.
"Hey, Harumi, tell me how this sounds," Forte played a long scale, ending in a diminished chord.
"I'm not sure I like the end there," Harumi pointed out, "What's it for?"
"Trying to write a new song to stop thinking about things," Forte groaned, "I got my butt handed to me and now I'm all out of inspiration! I have a new tour coming up this month and I need to get ready for it. I wanted to have a new song to debut for it but at this rate I won't have time to get it recorded and edited before I do!"
"Just do the single version of your last songs," Harumi pointed out, "Don't make it a big deal. If you haven't announced you're making a new song, don't worry about it."
"But those songs are only good when it's Five Element Time, not just me!" Forte lamented, "I know you're out doing your thing and I respect that, but we really need to schedule another tour!"
"Five Element Time?" Lloyd asked Harumi, "Are you her manager?"
Forte opened her mouth to speak, but Harumi cut her off, "Y-Yeah, something like that! You know what, I'm going to get down to the lab. I wanna get started on this right away. You two are welcome to stay up here!"
"Not like we had another option," Monty sighed. Harumi gave Forte a long look, causing her to pause but say nothing more.
Harumi went and disappeared underneath the stairs, hurrying her way into the lab. At the same time, Lloyd took a seat beside Yuka. The girl turned towards him with a small grin and leaned back, letting her robes splay out. Lloyd looked her up and down for a few moments, which made her give him a wink. That alone flustered him enough that he turned his eyes away in slight shame, which seemed to just amuse her even more.
"So uh, I remember that you guys rebuilt the Monastery, didn't you say that was your base?" Lloyd asked as he tried to get comfortable. In the background, Forte went about trying out her scale once more, scowling at the result.
"We did," Carnelian spun around on one foot as she stretched her back out, "And we do! This place is just what we call our 'base.' That place is the Monastery. We found this place in the middle of a renovation and brought up what we could. Pretty sweet, to be honest."
"Yeah, it's a great place," Yuka stretched her back out, "Way better than what I normally live in. This place actually has things like running water."
"You really live that kind of monk lifestyle?" Monty asked, leaning against the wall.
"Yeah, it's not like what you think, though," Yuka shook her head, "My dad is really into it all. He pretty much commits to the whole thing. I sneak out here when I can. I'm not really cut out for it. We're actually not supposed to fight and, well," Yuka used gravity to levitate three large nails into her hand, holding them up so they shone, "I'm really good at that stuff."
"It took you how long to pull those things out?" Carnelian rolled her eyes, "This is why you should be like me, no weapons, no problem."
"Yeah, but you also can't really do anything if you can't touch us," Yuka smirked back at Carnelian, "So maybe you should rethink your whole thing. I told you, if you start using a whip or something you'd be ten times better."
"I'm not sure Harms would appreciate me using a whip," Carnelian shrugged, "I'm pretty sure I'd have more luck with a sword than anything."
"Like mother like daughter, I guess," Yuka turned towards Monty, "So, what's the deal with all… that?"
"If you can't tell it just by looking at me, I think that mask thing isn't working," Monty growled.
"How does it work?" Lloyd asked. Yuka looked up for a moment, as though thinking, Then, much to Lloyd's surprise, Yuka smacked herself in the left side of the head.
"Analyzing," Yuka's voice went completely monotone as the robotic eye zoomed in on Monty, "Scanning, analysis indicates a non-living entity. Physical appearance matches the description of ghosts from the now-defunct Cursed Realm. Currently attempting to determine origin-" Yuka gave herself a large smack on the head again, causing her to groan and grimace as she raised her head again.
"Just like that," Yuka tapped the implant, back to her normal voice, "It's useful, but you know. It sucks that it kinda just yanks me around like that."
"Wow," Monty yawned, "Aren't you all just nice walking tropes, huh? I'm going to get something to drink."
"Can you even drink water?" Carnelian asked.
"You all look like adults, what do you think I'm going to get?" Monty scowled at her. Carnelian intentionally held her tongue as Monty stalked out of the room, leaving Yuka and Lloyd to both just write off the interaction.
"He's really just one big bundle of fun," Carnelian assessed, turning to Lloyd, "Why do you keep him around?"
"He's normally not that confrontational," Lloyd pointed out, "Something's just up with him lately. He's probably going to deal with something."
"Hope it's getting a better attitude," Yuka threw her head back, causing it to crack and make her let out a pleasured sigh, "Ahhh… Hey, Lloyd, you mind if we ask you something?"
Lloyd perked up in surprise. Carnelian moved around to sit down on the edge of the nearby table, while Yuka sat upright even more and turned to look at , too, sat up, putting her keytar aside to focus rather intently on him. Lloyd suddenly felt a weird pressure from the three of them.
"Harumi has been gone for awhile, and when she finally comes back, she just disappears with you guys again," Carnelian began, "Now, I'm not saying what you're doing isn't important. We've seen what happened when we tried to fight them."
"And we all trust her, of course," Forte leaned in, "Harumi's one of the strongest girls we've ever seen. But, well…"
"What we all wanna know, like, all the team," Yuka continued, "Is she gonna be safe?"
"Safe?" Lloyd echoed, "I, don't want to lie to you guys. We're doing up against some dangerous people. We all have each other's back though, so, I guess she's safe."
"You guess?" Carnelian frowned, her energy going irked, "Lloyd. I know that you're not her dad, but she looks up to you. I can tell by how she looks at you. You're taking her places we can't imagine. You say you're watching each other's backs, but that ghost guy doesn't sound like he is. I'm going to ask you again: is Harumi safe?"
Lloyd took his time in thinking of that answer. Harumi, looked up to him? Why? He was younger than she was, he hadn't done all the things she had, and she'd done a better job with what he had done, frankly. What exactly was it that she was so attached to with him? Carnelian's glare was echoed by Yuka and Forte. The looks they gave him weren't angry, but ones that Lloyd had recognized before. They were looks his own team had given before. These three were some of Harumi's closest friends, or ones that at least cared for her.
"I'll be watching her back," Lloyd told the three of them confidently, "She means a lot to you guys. I wouldn't do anything to let her get hurt. I promise you that she'll be safe." At Lloyd's words, the three softened their expressions. While Carnelian remained a bit firm in her glance, she softened slowly and sighed and leaned back.
"That's enough for me," Forte turned towards Carnelian.
"Okay… thanks," Carnelian looks wistfully at the stairs Harumi had disappeared down, "I just… I miss her, you know? I love her and… she's going off and doing things I can't help her with. And the last time I couldn't help her…" Carnelian gripped one of her fists, "...I almost lost her. I don't want to lose her, Lloyd. None of us do."
"You won't have to," Lloyd affirmed, "I won't let that happen."
There was a long moment of silence, then the others went back to what they were doing. Forte picked her keytar back up and went back to her song. Yuka began idly tossing a nail up and down in the air.
"Where'd your ghost friend go?" Yuka asked.
"He's, kinda known to disappear like that lately," Lloyd pointed out, "It's fine. Let's just relax for now. I'm sure he's got a reason."
Two floors down, Monty was angrily grumbling to himself. There was nothing in the fridge that he could actually drink and survive. How a group of young adults that at least looked old enough to drink didn't have anything here alcoholic was beyond him. He'd considered going back up to the others, but he had nothing he wanted to say to them. Instead, he decided to go and try to pester Harumi a bit and see if she would direct him somewhere he could buy something from. Or steal. Whichever came easier.
Monty saw there was a keypad to get into the lab area, one which he simply planted the SoS down, possessed, and forced to open up. He stepped inside with his sword and took the chance to look around the place. The lab itself was rather cluttered, and it looked more like a storage room turned into a part garage (not counting the one they'd entered in from). There were computers on the wall that were made entirely of a pane of glass and holographic keypad, while various machines or tools were scattered about. There didn't seem to be anything that didn't either have a hologram, laser or glossy Borg-labeled casing on it. Monty stepped through a large board that had several bits of machinery stuck to the bottom, charred from something.
When Monty came to a large board pinned up with various sheets of paper, many of which were just small reminder notes of jibberish or sheet music, he stopped. On the other side, Harumi was standing in front of a white security drone Nindroid. She had the back of his head open and was digging around inside of the thing. Monty was surprised they still used those things given how easy they were to take out. But what he was more interested in was what Harumi was doing with it.
"Please work…" Harumi whispered to herself, holding up a small black chip in her hand, "Please… please don't let him just be lying to me…"
Monty wanted to interrupt her… but didn't. He stood just out of Harumi's sight, wanting to know what was going on. Harumi moved to plug the chip into the back of the Nindroid's head, causing its eyes to flicker. She plugged in a chord into the open area, then ran back over to a laptop and began to rapidly type in something on the screen. Her hands flew over the keys, throwing together bits of code and trying to run something. Each time, the code wouldn't run and came up with some sort of error. Harumi bit her lip and kept typing.
"Come on… come on!" Harumi shook her head, scrolling across the lines she was seeing, "Please… come back to me… you wouldn't give me something that wouldn't work!"
Harumi hit a button, executing what she had written. The Nindroid's body jerked upright, the chord plugged in being jerked out. The eyes flashed under the white hood several times. Harumi raced over and held the head up, staring into it and shaking it a few times, even if its weight meant she did little.
"Olive! Olive it's, it's me! It's Harumi!" Harumi gasped, "Please, please talk to me! Please!"
"Ha...ru...mi…" The Nindroid droned out, "Recon….ca… tterns…" The Nindroid jerked a few more times, causing Harumi to back off. Monty put his hand on the SoS, ready to lash out and destroy what was going on with it. The Nidroid gave a few more jerks, then it went limp.
"N-No, no no no!" Harumi wailed, grabbing hold of it and shaking it, "Olive! Please! This is the only thing I can think that would work with your chip1 I'm sorry I didn't figure this out sooner! I-I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! Please-"
"Vocal patterns reconfigured," The Nindroid droned out in a very female and very familiar voice for Harumi, "Memory restoration complete," The Nindroid looked at Harumi, "Hello, Harumi. You do not need to say my name again. I am Olive, Offspring Living in A-"
"OLIVE!" Harumi shouted, throwing her arms around the Nindroid. Olive remained stiff for a few moments as Harumi hugged her as tightly as her arms would allow her. Olive looked down at her, then slowly wrapped her own arms around Harumi. Harumi began to gasp as she tried to restrain her emotions, failing to do so rather loudly.
"I'm here, Harumi," Olive spoke quietly, "You discovered the use of my chip. I am sorry that I did that to you. I did not want for the Twins to obtain my memories, should they use me for some purpose. I… did what I was able to in those last moments. I made a copy of my memories and operating code and-"
"I-It's okay, I don't, Olive I'm…" Harumi sniffed and hugged her tighter, "I-I didn't, I should have figured this out faster. I-I'm here, I-I'm really here. I-It's not been that long. I-I, I can't wait, the others, they'll…" Tears began to cascade down the back of Olive's body, "You're back…"
"I am back, Harumi," Olive hugged Harumi again, "I will make sure that what happened does not happen again. I will need to customize my body to mimic my earlier appearance, though."
"Later…" Harumi sniffed, "P-Please, later. I, right now I really just want to… I need to tell myself that I really have you back."
"I am back," Olive responded. Harumi gave a small laugh strained by her falling tears.
As Harumi hugged her now returned friend, Monty stared at the display with an expression he wasn't sure he could describe. For some reason, his hand tightened on the grip of the SoS. He saw the way that harumi embraced her friend, the way that Olive just held onto her while she cried and let out her tears. And for some reason, the display stirred a feeling in him he didn't like. He turned away from the display, keeping his head down as he left to go and find something else to do, and to figure out his own emotions.
Harumi took several moments to cry herself out against Olive, who stood there and held her the entire time. When Harumi finally let go, she sniffed and wiped the tears from her face and smiled warmly at Olive. She walked over to the workbench, showing the laptop with the now frozen code and the stolen core on top of it. Olive walked over and inspected the object, prompting Harumi to explain after a few more sniffs.
"I, uhm, I took that from another world," Harumi explained, "I was going to figure out how to turn it into devices that can let us travel to any point in another universe instantly. Without, having to have an anchor point to go to directly. Do… you think you can help me out?"
"I believe I am capable of this," Olive nodded, "Shall we get to work then, Harumi?"
"Y-Yeah," Harumi smiled warmly at her reborn friend, "We should."
"OLIVVVVEEEEEEE!" Forte squealed as she threw her arms around the Nindroid. Yuka rushed over and threw herself around the other shoulder, leaving only her front for Carnelian to take. The three shared their hug with their reborn friend, embracing the cold metal with the warmth of friendship.
"How, I, but we saw you?" Carnelian began to ask, only to just keep hugging on.
"The device I gave Harumi was disguised to contain what she needed to restore my programming," Olive explained amongst the hugging, "Harumi was able to figure out how to do it."
"Harumi, I can't believe you did this!" Yuka leaned back from Olive just to take her in, "Ren told me when we got here and, I mean, I didn't even think that… I mean!"
"It's so good to have you back, Olive!" Forte squealed.
"I am happy to be back, Olive informed them, "But thank Harumi for her good deed. She is the one that has brought me back."
All but instantly, the hug pile was centered around Harumi. The girl had been carrying several devices in her arms, and when hugged she scrambled to not drop them. The love of her friends suddenly hugging on her like this ,though, was enough to make her blush and looked down.
"I-It's not, really me you should thank… Olive was the one smart enough to do this…" Harumi smiles gently, "It's… I'm just, glad I was able to bring her back."
"That's why she's in charge," Yuka smirked, "Humble and always pulling off miracles like this."
"I-I uhm… I just…" Harumi nodded her head, "Maybe, maybe it was a miracle. I don't know. I just… it was someone else who figured out about the chip. But, I-I made sure I did this, before I left again. I… I'm just glad I have her back."
The three girls continued to hug Harumi for several minutes, then finally relented to pull back and let her walk forward. Harumi stepped towards where Lloyd and Monty were waiting for her, both watching the scene in front of them with Interest. Harumi smiled sheepishly at them, then lifted up what looked like six wristbands. They were all made of the slick metal of the core Harumi had taken, and had a small band of light yellow in them that glowed and pulsed across the length. There was a small keypad on them that folded up from the top.
"S-So, Olive and I did it," Harumi coughed, "I mean. We figured it out. These things should take the place of Monty having to make us portal. They charge up with our Green Power, so as long as we keep them charged, we should be fine. And, well, I uploaded all the data I've taken from my watch with all the worlds we've been to, so I have some locations already programmed in."
"You really figured out how to achieve dimensional travel in just a few hours?" Monty took hold of a band, clipping it onto his arm, "Aren't you just special?"
"I've been drawing up plans for this ever since I got the idea!" Harumi protested, "And, it wasn't really me. Olive was the one that was able to run the calculations and actually help me make the things. I just provided the theory and the basic code for the thing."
"I mean… this is still amazing, Harumi," Lloyd put on his own band, "So, how do they work?"
"When you get into another world, these will scan and determine what coordinates to use. These will take us to the anchor point -Dareth's place- and then wherever we put in without us having to actually go to his place. It's like taking a layover flight to get to our destination, now we just have a direct one there. You still have planes like that in your time, right?"
"Uh… yeah," Lloyd affirmed, "Keep going."
"I programmed in all the places we've been," Harumi waved her hand, "Ronin's place, the Summit, this place and the Monastery, Borg Tower for you Lloyd, the Volcano for Lulloyd, anywhere important. When you want to teleport, just use the menu and find what you want. And we can add places by inputting their relative coordinates sto the anchor point."
"It's a drop down menu," Monty sighed, "I'm sure even Mage can figure it out."
"So, we should try them out, right?" Lloyd looked down, "Are they safe?"
"Uh… they haven't been tested, but!" Harumi smiled, "It should be as safe as using Monty's portals! We can test it out by going to get the others! I also made sure to build in some tech from my watch with wavelengths of the scale and metal we have. This should also give us camouflage now too."
"Great, who's ready to get lost in the void?" Monty set his watch for the Volcano.
"Are you leaving again, Harumi?" Forte asked. Harumi turned around, her smile turning to sadness.
"Don't worry about us," Carnelian put her hands on her hips, a smile on her face, "You go and do what you need to. Go save the world, Harms. We all knew you weren't staying around for awhile."
"Girls…" Harumi gulped, then shook her head, "Thank you. I'll remember that. Alright, Lloyd, Monty. Let's get ready to test the first case of completely independant universal travel."
Harumi held her hand over each of their bands, charging them with her green power. The three began to glow from the yellow band, casting a glow over their arms. The three all set their bands for the Volcano, then looked at one another. A moment of hesitation filled Lloyd, but he brought his hand down on the button to start the travel regardless.
Under their feet, a crackling sound formed. A portal shot out from their bands, making a small one around their feet. With a small sizzle, the portals fully opened. Lloyd and Harumi were immediately sucked inside. Monty looked down, sighed, and then floated into it. Forte, Carnelian, Yuka and the reborn Olive watched as the three portals crackled for a few more seconds, then slowly began to turn off. Just like that, the three were gone, and off in the multiverse again.
In the courtyard of the recently refurbished Monastery of Spinjitzu, Kai paced across the newly placed stones. With how long Lloyd had been gone, they'd managed to actually finish this project with him. Buckets of paint they had ordered to paint the wall with murals were left untouched and stacked as the other four ninja jumped around various training gear. Kai paced around the large spinning centerpiece, getting close enough that a wooden dummy came and clipped his arm, causing him to groan and grip his shoulder in pain.
"Kai…" Nya leapt away from the pillars of the obstacle course, "I know you're worried about Lloyd, but I'm sure he's safe. Pixal said she saw him the other day! He has to be okay."
"She saw him with a bunch of freaks and a freaking mech shooting at him!" Kai protested, "How am I supposed to remain calm with that in my head? Huh?! Tell me how I'm supposed to calm down!"
"There is no use worrying, Kai," Zane struck a post with shurikens in hand, "Whatever Lloyd is doing, I'm sure that he is doing it for a reason. I have reviewed Pixal's footage, he escaped before he was hurt."
"Yeah, Kai, lighten up," Jay held his nunchucks out, "Sure, he's been gone for months, and sure, he hasn't' really said anything and, they did kinda blow up a whole street going for him…" Jay trailed off, "B-But that doesn't mean he isn't okay!"
"Realllll helpful there, Jay," Cole leapt down from the sliding door into the main Monastery and thumped Jay on the back, "Kai, we can't do anything here. It isn't worth wasting energy on something we can't change. Let's just focus on training like Master Wu said."
"But…" Kai gestured to the Monastery doors, "You never know when Lloyd is just going to suddenly break right through those doors and say he needs our help!"
The two large rebuilt doors to the Monastery suddenly flew open with a massive burst of wind. The Ninja all jumped up, grabbing their weapons at the entrance. The air outside darkened into a mist, making it hard to see anything. From the stairs behind them, a figure slowly began to walk forward. The ninja all tensed as the darkness seemed to envelop the Monastery itself, causing the light of the sun to dim and their tension to rise.
From the doors, a figure as black as night emerged. His four arms held onto a large and powerful staff, with sickly looking blades on each end. His hair billowed in the wind he created. He looked down at the ninja with his massive purple pupiless eyes. Just the sight of him filled the ninja with terror. They looked on as the figure took a single step forward, causing the wind in the monastery to blast out like a bomb. Cole stumbled on his feet, only making Kai's body tense even further.
"W-Who are you?!" Jay shouted, his voice cracking.
"Someone that has been looking for you," The figure grinned menacingly, "And is very interested to see how this world has progressed without him."
The ninja readied for a fight. The figure raised his staff, readying it for an attack. The ninja all braced themselves, knowing just that motion might blow them down.
"Over! Stop!" The ninja were shocked as Lloyd suddenly ran right in front of the dark figure, putting his hands up, "What are you doing?! Are you trying to get them to attack you?!"
"Lloyd?!" Kai shouted, "What the?!"
"Hmmph," Over sighed, "I wanted to see if they were as bold as I remembered them being," Over swung his staff, causing the darkness to fade and the sunlight to fill the courtyard again, "Apparently, that is not the case."
"Woah, are these your friends?" Mage hopped around from behind Over and put his hands behind his back, "They look… well like the leaders! Just like you said they would!"
"Not impressive," Monty sighed, he himself floating in from over the top of the wall to the Monastery, "They look just like mine. Just dumber, somehow."
"Don't be like that, Monty…" Lulloyd sighed as he walked through the gates, "You don't have to work to make the worst first impression every time you meet someone."
"Lloyd!" Kai shouted again, "Who are all these people?!"
"I saw them in Monty's world so, sadly it's not as exciting right now for me," Harumi sighed, "Why did you rebuild the Monastery?"
"Guys, let me introduce you before you start going off!" Lloyd threw his arms up, "Ugh! Alright, let me introduce you guys!"
The dimensional travelers all lined up neatly behind Lloyd, while his team remained with weapons drawn in front of him. Lloyd turned to Over, giving him a hard look. Slowly, Over sighed and his staff reverted to Dark Matter, sinking into his body again. With his weapon gone, Lloyd turned back to face his ninja team and put on the best smile he could. The look of confusion on their faces was enough to make him, for a moment, wonder how this was going to go.
"Guys, these are, friends that I made while I was going after the Twins," Lloyd gestured to each of them, "This is Harumi, Lulloyd, Mage, Over and Monty. And, well, you all already know who they are."
"Yep!" Mage chuckled, "Pretty hard to miss."
"But, who are they?" Cole asked with a suspicious glance at Over. Over's shining eyes reflected that stare back onto Cole, who stiffened up.
"Uhm… they're… uhm, they protect their worlds…" Lloyd stated cautiously, feeling Monty's glare on the back of his neck, "They're, kinda like me, kinda, not."
The two groups of five each took time in appraising each other. Harumi smiled warmly at them, waving her hand. Lulloyd gave an awkward smile and mirrored Harumi's energy. Monty sighed and played around with one of his guns, spinning it in his hand. Mage looked ready to burst with energy himself, rocking back and forth on his heels. Over stood menacingly, his pose never reverted from an authoritative, powerful aura.
"...Wait," Jay perked up, "You all thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yep," Cole relaxed his body and stood up, "I'm almost impressed."
"What?" Lloyd asked, looking between them in confusion.
"You've been gone for a few months and you've already replaced us!" Kai pointed at Lloyd, "You've even got a whole team together!"
"What?!" Lloyd mirrored his earlier question, "I didn't replace you! The Twins messed with their worlds and they came with me! I wasn't trying to make a team!"
"You say that," Jay crossed his arms, "But you've even got our composition down! You know, five guys, one girl," Jay turned to Nya, "A very lovely girl!"
"Why thank you, Jay," Nya looked over to Harumi with a playful smirk, "So, you're who he got to replace me?"
"Oh, I'm not your replacement," Harumi smiled back, "I'm nowhere near as amazing as Aunt Nya." Nya blinked in confusion, but Harumi just kept smiling.
"Alright, fess up!" Jay pointed into the group, "Who did you get to replace me, huh?! I'm the good looking wise-cracking amazingly-talented ninja! Come on, which one of you is it?"
"Annoying no matter where we go," Monty growled, catching his gun in his hand and holding it up for them to see, "And please, I've seen you fight. You're mediocre at best."
"Hey!" Cole stepped forward, pushing Jay aside, "Only I get to make fun of Jay like that! Who do you think you are… ghostie?"
"Better than you in almost every way," Monty responded, "And if you count life as a bad thing, every possible way."
"Monty, please just, not right now?" Lulloyd stepped forward, "Uh, hey, I'm Lulloyd. Uh, yeah I know the body thing. I come from a world that's pretty different from this one. It's made of bricks and stuff."
"Huh?" Kai turned to Lulloyd, "Oh, yeah you really don't look normal. Sorry, I was, kinda staring at the dark elephant in the room."
"How subtle of you," Over coldly replied, "I suppose tact is something you learn with age."
"A preliminary analysis suggests that he is infused with the energy that temporarily corrupted Ninjago during the Overlord's invasion," Zane responded, "I believe that he is part Overlord."
"Not part," The Overlord grinned from their shared body, "We're one in the same, white one."
Hearing the voice of the Overlord come out clearly like that brought the energy of the encounter to a large stiffening halt. Lloyd jumped in front of Over again before his friends moved to attack him.
"Woah, I know he's, he's not what you would expect but, he's gone through a lot, okay?" Lloyd frowned, "He's… he's the one that's gotten hurt most by the Twins right now. He's on our side right now. I know he's not, what you expected but don't attack him. He's just trying to provoke you for a reason I don't get."
"We do not need your-" The Overlord began to speak, only for Overlloyd's voice to cut in, "Yes… hurt. The Twins have destroyed my world. That is the situation in which we have come here for."
"Destroyed?" The ninja all asked in unison. Over opened his mouth to speak, only for the doors to the Monastery to open up with a very irate Wu inside.
"Ninja, is silence not one of your skills?" Wu began, "Your training has interrupted my…"
Wu laid eyes on the sight in front of him. Several beings that all vaguely resembled Lloyd, standing behind him, all of them something he couldn't wrap his mind around. He brought his gaze to Lloyd, who gave a sheepish look back at him. Wu then let out a long sigh.
"I… will wait inside," Wu stepped back into the Monastery, "Lloyd can explain this when he is ready." With that, the door mysteriously shut and Wu quickly walked back to his meditation room.
"Oh, look, we scared off Wu," Monty chuckled, "Looks like even he can be taught some things."
"I better go talk to him," Lloyd turned to look to the others, "Uh… you guys finished rebuilding the Monastery. Did you make a place you can take them?"
"You want to let them inside?" Kai asked, looking for a brief moment at Monty and Over.
"They're helping me save a bunch of worlds, so, yeah," Lloyd frowned at Kai, "So yeah. Uh… which room is Wu's?"
"Go down the hall, take a left, first door on the right," Zane told him. Lloyd smiled at them, then stepped through the Monastery doors. As soon as his face was hidden, he let out a long sigh of exhaustion and padded his way in the Monastery after his likely frazzled Master. This left his friends with his newly made friends, who all stood in anticipation.
"Well uh… come on in, I guess," Cole jumped up to the door and gestured to it, "We'll get you something to eat and, stuff. You all, do eat things, right?"
"...Please tell me he wasn't a ghost at one point," Monty scowled at Cole, "Otherwise he's got no excuse not to know the answer to that question."
"...Let's just take them inside, "Nya frowned.
"I'm ready for it!" Mage beamed. The others gave him a small look, then helped to guide the group inside.
"Something isn't right," Ophiod paced back and forth inside of the cockpit of Invictus, his tail sliding across the hexagonal tiles as he did.
"Something is never right," Skales rolled his eyes, leaning back against the bubble-shaped wall, "What are you referring to this time?"
"We haven't been able to track them," Ophiod shook his head, "We don't know where they are. The longer that they evade us, the more we risk them getting away!"
"They aren't going to travel to other worlds," Skales narrowed his gaze, "You worry too much."
"How can I not worry?" Ophiod turned to Skales, "Do you know what we have to lose if this mission does not succeed? We have put everything on the line here. I cannot return home unless it is with-"
"Ophiod," Skales hopped upright, walking over and gently taking hold of Ophiod's hand, "A true Serpentine knows that prey is never truly lost unless you give up the hunt. You are a strong Serpentine. I know you will continue to do as you know is right," Skales nodded his head, "They are simply being craftier than before. Which means we will rise up to face that challenge."
"That…" Ophiod paused in his pacing, taking a moment to look to Skales holding his hand and slowly letting a smile creep onto his normally stoic face, "You are right."
"Of course I am," Skales scoffed, "Now, where is the loud one?"
No sooner had Skales asked that question, the door to the cockpit opened. Ophiod turned, ready to say a greeting to Prime. The moment he saw Prime, however, the look he had on his face was one of pure, unfiltered rage.
"Where?" Prime spat.
"Your machine has not found them," Ophiod frowned at him, picking up on the situation quickly, "I would guess they are where we left them."
"Then let's find them, now," Prime growled, all but leaping across the space and slamming his hand to the glass to cause the mech to activate, "Wherever they are."
"And how do you plan to do that?" Skales frowned, "Your 'tracking device' stopped working after we met with that dark being."
"It doesn't matter!" Prime shouted, causing the cockpit to flare up in a brilliant blue light, "They can only be in one of eight places, right? Right!? We'll search all of them! Right now! Right NOW!"
"Why?" Ophiod frowned, "What has you so angered?"
"Because they've crossed a line," Prime snarled, his eyes reflecting the blue glow of his mech, "They crossed a line that I won't let them think of crossing again."