"So… after all this time, you've found your way back here," Garmadon gave a toothy grin, "I guess you could almost call this… inevitable."

"Let's not drag this out," Over frowned, "We don't have time to dawdle."

The Destiny's Bounty, in all her brick-built glory, floated lazily atop the realistic waters of Ninjago City. In the distance, the Volcano shone, spewing out a trickle of lava that several men worked to patch up with plates before it could hit the water. The ship had sailed around the coastline, meaning that only the tallest of the skyscrapers of the city peaked up from behind the tall lush and grassy mountains.

Lined up in front of the Garmadon atop the Bounty, almost as though they were generals out for inspection, each of the universal travelers watched Lulloyd's father as he paced back and forth. He held his massive warlord staff behind him, spinning it around in his hands as he did. The sight of him bending forward to seemingly a right angle just to emulate bending over as he walked brought a strange sense of vertigo to all but Lulloyd, who currently put his hand on his face and sighed.

"We need, help, dad," Lulloyd looked to the side, "We really need your help."

"Bought time too!" Garmadon snapped upright, "What, you think that I haven't noticed you guys? You got the firepower but you can't break through a siege if you were given an entire army to do it with!"

"Do you intend to imply that we have been inefficient in our methods?" Over stepped forward.

"I don't know, do you fight as well as you hear, copycat?" Garmadon spun on a stud to face him.

"N-Not right now!" Lulloyd quickly leapt between them, "P-Please, not right now?"

Garmadon gave a long snort, the smoke that came from his painted on nostrils looking more like steam that came right from the volcano rather than from a breathing man. Then again, as Lloyd looked this Garmadon over, he looked more and more silly with each passing moment. Then again, knowing he had an entire army at his command along with that seemingly gargantuan warlord staff he so casually spun about, Lloyd didn't intend to mess with him.

"He's totally ripping off my look, Lulloyd," Garmadon growled, "We've found a faker!"

"Faker? I think you're the fake around here. You're comparing yourself to me?" Over laughed, "You're not even good enough to be my fake-"

"I'll make you eat those words!" Garmadon shouted, brandishing his staff and flying right at Over head on.

"Shadow Control!" Over hissed out. Garmadon's staff was caught against a blade of shadow from under his foot.

"You're fast… must be using that power of yours to match me!" Garmadon laughed, forcing his strength against the shadowy tendril.

With a hard slash of his blade, Lulloyd shot forward, spinning his body around and knocking both his father and Over apart. He landed right there between them, panting slightly as he did. He looked first to Over, then stared down his father.

"Don't… don't!" Lulloyd grimaced, "Especially not that! Just, don't, don't say that ever again and don't keep picking at each other!"

Over and Garmadon stared each other down for a long while, taking in the sight of each other. Over let the shadows around him swirl and pulse, while Garmadon held his staff behind him ready to fling forward and attack at any moment.

"Let's get something straight, then," Garmadon stuck one hand forward, "If you want my help, then you're gonna get it. And don't you worry, I have all the irons in the volcano. All of them. And if I'm gonna pull them out, then we're gonna go make ourselves a plan that's gonna make those guys' heads spin right off their bodies! You hear me?!"

Harumi stepped forward before anyone else could comment, "Yes, we understand. We humbly ask for your help, Master Garmadon."

"Master?" Garmadon blinked, "Oh, oh no no no! Heh, maybe of war, but you're talking about Wu," Garmadon blew a raspberry, "I'm nothing like that straight arrow goody two shoes."

"And yet only one of you had to be regurgitated from a cat's stomach," Over commented. Lulloyd immediately felt a pang of annoyance at telling them that story.

"Oh, don't you think you can get away with that one!" Garmadon leapt forward, putting his face less than an inch from Over's own, "And let's be clear, which one of us has escaped by forcing a kaiju to relinquish his hold on you, huh, huh?!"

Mage quickly grabbed hold of Over, while Lulloyd did the same for his father. The two pulled them apart, yet all the while Garmadon refused to tear his gaze off of Over. When they were sufficiently spread apart, the men turned away from each other.

"That was really petty!" Mage gasped out, "Over, you shouldn't mess with him!"

"Dad, please, he's actually really strong and I think he could lift the volcano if he tried!" Lulloyd shuddered, "Don't make him upset."

"Fine," Over sighed, "I suppose it was necessary to come here, we best not waste this chance."

Slowly, Garmadon and Over moved back to their respective places. Lloyd could already feel a slight twinge in him at the fact they had already been waiting so long just to get started. Harumi gave an apologetic smile to him, sensing it herself all the same. Shockingly, Monty hadn't said a word, simply leaning on his sword with the tip of it planted firmly between two studs for balance. His small black half-cape flapped with the breeze, a noise that was just loud enough to cut into what anyone was saying. Mage put his hands at his sides, straightening his back as though actually ready for inspection.

"Alright!" Garmadon grinned, "It looks like we're going to have to get down to business here!" Garmadon slammed his staff into the floor, "So! From what I understand, you want to take down an enemy that has seemingly infinitely more men than you do, a stronger forward operating base, access to many battlefields, and has the most advanced troops you could hope to fight?" Garmadon pointed his staff suddenly at Lloyd, "Is that right?!"

"Y-Yes?" Lloyd blinked.

"More confidence!" Garmadon pointed at Mage, "What are the enemies' strengths?"

"Sir!" Mage put his hand against his chest, "They can move around faster than we can and have a lot of firepower!"

"Love the enthusiasm, but that's vague!" Garmadon pointed at Over, "Your turn!"

"Our enemies have crafted an environment that allows them to cultivate an infinite number of troops, while at the same time having three operatives that have sported power that is comparable to our own," Over nodded, "Likewise, they have maintained an adequate distance of information-"

"Bah, way too detailed!" Garmadon rolled his eyes, "Come on, you guys should know this!"

"They…. They have the upper hand, because they think they can win?" Lulloyd asked.

"CORRECT!" Garmadon thrust his staff into the air, "Good one there, Lulloyd, make sure your other generals get a chance to chime in. Now then!" Garmadon smirked, "What do we have that they don't?!" His staff pointed to Mage.

"Dragons!" Mage chirped.

"Access to the darkness shunned by the creator himself," Over nodded.

"Relentless determination in the face of overwhelming odds?" Harumi offered.

"I would've said Spinjitzu but, Ophiod has that one," Lloyd shook his head.

"I'm dead," Monty stated bluntly.

"Wrong, all of you, pretty sure that last one isn't even a good thing!" Garmadon rolled his eyes, "You have me! Your fearless general! One who has mastered the ancient ninja and warlord arts to fully harness the power of the shark!"

"I am so relieved," Over sighed.

"Glad to hear it!" Garmadon grinned, "Now, with that in mind, I'm already thinking of a big plan! A huge one! One that's about to erupt out of my head here and give us all the greatest chance of victory ever!"

Garmadon shut his eyes, "Oh yes, here we go! Alright, come on baby, come on! I know it! It's coming now! And it's about to come right-"

"Sir!" A shark army general, wearing a massive octopus headset, crawled up the side of the Bounty, "I have a report to-"

With a slam of his staff, Garmadon sent out a cracking noise that seemed to cross the entire ocean itself. With a small turn of his head, Garmadon glared malice-filled orbs of red lava at the general. Said general immediately froze up, dropping his clipboard and then immediately yelping as he scrambled not to drop it in the water.

"I said we were not to be distrubed," Garmadon growled out, "And you interrupted me formulating my plan! What is so important as to interrupt me, general?"

"N-N-NOTHING SIR!" The octopus put his hand on his face to snorkel as he threw himself back into the ocean, swimming away as quickly as he could.

"Good…. Now, back to this!" Garmadon smirked, "I'm thinking… I am thinking of the best plan that we can ever have. It's right there, in my mind, and-"

"Noise detected," The small grate to below deck popped open behind to reveal the white hair of Zane, "Is there a disturbance that requires my help?"

"I said stay below deck!" Garmadon shouted, "All of Lulloyd's friends, stay down!" Zane blinked and slid back down a moment later, letting Garmadon focus again, "Ah, alright. Now then. Plan! Yes, okay. Third time's the charm! Plan to save all of your worlds at once. It's-"

"I brought snacks!"

Before anyone could react, Garmadon spun around and flung his staff out like a javelin towards the voice. The figure leapt into the air, spinning twice and landing on the opposite hand and foot. The staff struck the side of the bounty and ripped out several bricks, scattering them into the water and causing the entire upper deck to creak and lean forward. The figure spun around and threw one of the broken bricks out, hitting the staff and sending it spinning through the air into her hand, slamming it down with another massive crack.

"... I'm sorry honey," Coco raised her head, eyes shut and a hard grin on her face, speaking very strained and very slowly, "Looks like I caught you at a bad time. I'm just going to go throw these snacks in the fridge for later. I'll take this heavy thing with me too."

"Oh no," Garmadon quickly shouted and leapt towards her, "Wait, magma muffin! I didn't know it was you! I was just getting a plan! You know how I am when I come up with plans! You can't stop the brilliance until it's all finished!"

"Oh I'm sure," Coco opened her eyes slightly, "Which means I'm sure you really don't need this little thing now, don't you?" She hefted the staff up, "After all, you seem so eager to get rid of it."

"Wait, I need that staff for warlording!" Garmadon shouted, "Please, honey, give it back! I won't throw it at you again! Even if I think you're as hot as scorched earth when you dodge like that!"

"Welllll…" Coco fully opened her eyes, "I suppose since Lulloyd has his friends over again, I can make an exception," Coco tossed the thing at him, "But throw it again and you won't see any custom molded weapons again.

Garmadon caught the thing and almost instantly sheathed it on his back, "Yeah, yeah, yeah! No worries about that, my war maiden! You won't have to worry about that again!"

"Mhm… I'll just leave these here," Coco sat down a large red and white box, "Drinks are in the right side of the cooler, snacks in the left. I'll leave you all to figure out your big master plan!"

Garmadon waved happily to his wife as she left, then slowly lowered his head and let out a war-weary sigh. When he turned back to the rest of the group, they were all staring at the sight that had just unfolded with a massive amount of confusion and amusement. Over, in particular, had a rather coy grin on his lips. Letting out a huff as he realized the error, Garmadon groaned out and turned his head.

"Someone grab those snacks, we're going somewhere we can be alone," Garmadon groaned, "And hopefully, this time we can really come up with a plan."

Slowly, all of the assembled dimensional travelers took their seats. The room they were in had a door that was now sealed with three different locks, a massive chain, and a large chunk of rock just for good measure. Garmadon took his stance in front of a massive mouth shaped in his image, a flow of lava inside it illuminating him against the backdrop. To one side, the wall was filled with massive weapons and trophies of conquests, while to the other showed a massive window that looked over the large bay inside the volcano. The rows of seats were staggered, each chair sitting over a large trans-orange light underneath them. In the seat at the very front was Lulloyd. Behind him sat Mage, Over, Lloyd and Harumi. Monty leaned up against the wall beside all of them, watching with a passive disinterest.

"So… let's finally do this and do it right," Garmadon took a deep breath, "No distractions… no one to stop us. Everyone got their snacks, we all good on snacks? Everyone hydrated?"

"Uh… yeah," Lloyd nodded, holding up a small cookie tile and eating it. He'd long since grown used with the way food in this world looked like plastic. He held up a small clear bottle to sip some water. Monty looked at Garmadon for a moment, but said nothing.

"Alright… so," Garmadon inhaled, "The good news is, I have a plan." There was a long silence.

"...So…" Lulloyd waved his arms, "What's…. The plan, dad?"

"I'm glad you asked, son!" Garmadon snapped upright, leaping to the ceiling and pulling a massive screen down from the ceiling. A projector started up from the back of the room, putting a massive slide up that read FOOL-PROOF PLAN TO UTTERLY CONQUER THOSE STUPID DUMB TWINS WHO LOOK BUTTS AND WILL ALWAYS BE STUPID DUMB BUTTS!

"What a clever sounding plan," Over nodded, "Truly, we are looking upon the pages of our future history at this very moment."

"Aren't my lab guys great?!" Garmadon laughed, "They made this whole thing in like ten minutes! In fact they're making it right now!" Garmadon walked over and picked up a wand piece, then smacked it hard against the screen. The project flipped slides.

"STEP ONE!" Garmadon pointed to text that mirrored his words, "We set up a massive battle where we meet them head on!"

"Wait a minute," Lloyd frowned, "We tried that, and we only just now recovered from that!"

"That's why that's step one," Garmadon scoffed, "Hear that, General Number Son? He's already forgetting the first rule of plans! Always know every step before you ask questions!"

"Uh… right," Lulloyd shrunk a bit in his seat.

"From what General Number Son has reported, these Twins think you're all scattered around and have absolutely no chance of beating them!" Garmadon bowed his body, "And that is going to be their mistake! They've completely forgotten who they're fighting."

"But, we've lost to them," Mage leaned forward, "A lot. What does doing one big fight give us?"

"Something we can finally take back in… STEP TWO!" Garmadon hit the screen to turn the slide, "We make an army of our OWN!"

The screen showed a massive picture of a shark about to drag the Iron Doom underwater. Garmadon stepped forward and grinned, "You all have done well on your own. If you were my field operatives, you'd have been given a long leave a long time ago. It's time for you to start figuring out how to put together something that can rival what all those stupid time cheating Twins have!"

"Dad… they have," Lulloyd gulped, "They have, an entire world of, just snakes. Not even your army would be able to fight that!"

"You underestimate the quality of my men!" Garmadon languished, "...But I will give in that yes, at this moment we do lack numbers. And numbers will be the biggest factor here! Which is why… STEP THREE!"

Garmadon hit the screen to turn to a slide of the six of them with sharks crudely pasted behind them, "We're going to use all of the connections each of you have to your own worlds! You're each going to bring together everyone that you can think of to fight for your cause!"

"... Everyone?" Harumi asked. Sensing that he'd hit a sore spot, Garmadon gave her a sympathetic look.

"We'll get to that," Garmadon gave her a pause, "The rest of you should be able to raise something, right?"

"My world is gone too," Over sighed, "In case you have already forgotten."

"Then you'll just have to take from the others!" Garmadon huffed out, "Let's finish the plan before we start poking holes!"

"... Is that so?" Over paused, "... Yes, I believe I can do that," Over turned to Lloyd, "Lloyd, does your world still possess the Dark Matter on the Dark Island?"

"I, think so?" Lloyd blinked, "I actually don't know, something happened with Clouse but, I guess we should still have it?"

"Then that will be all I need," Over nodded, "Continue."

"Didn't need your permission," Garmadon grumbled, "But fine! That leads us nicely into… STEP FUH FUH FUH FOUR!"

Garmadon flipped the screen to show another image of sharks circling the Iron Doom, "We take all of your forces, and we use them as one giant distraction!"

"Distraction?" Lulloyd asked, "For… what?"

"It's like those video games you play, Lulloyd!" Garmadon grinned, "We use the army as a distraction, and you all sneak in and take out the commanders to win the battle!"

Monty, after being silent all this time, finally spoke up, "You want us to raise an army out of everyone we can find in our worlds, to use them as a distraction so we can fight the Twins?"

"Yes, that's the plan," Garmadon grunted back to him.

"I should never have doubted you," Monty rolled his eyes, "Wow, this plan is so amazing, I could never have come up with it myself. It's so great I almost wonder if it's even possible that I heard it at all!"

"... He's mocking me, right?" Garmadon asked with a huff, "Tell me he's mocking me."

"Of course I'm mocking you," Monty growled, "Your plan won't work."

"Oh?" Garmadon narrowed his gaze, "And why's that?"

"Because you haven't even accounted for the fact that Prime, Ophiod and Oni are going to stop us from ever going that far," Monty hissed, "Let's ignore that we have no way to get our friends into another world. And ignore the idea that we could actually put together an army that could hold off the Vermillion. And just hope that the Twins would actually stop their armies if we took them down. But if you haven't noticed, the reason we're in this mess is because of those three messing up every attempt we've made in fighting them. So just walking up to their front door and hoping they don't try to stop us is pretty wishful at best."

Garmadon was silent for a long moment. The others looked up to him, expecting him to have some sort of counter to what was being said. Instead, Garmadon turned around, looking at the screen and the image he had up of getting to devour the Twins like that. He took his moment to slowly growl out, letting the gears in his head spin.

"Alright… so perhaps we should account for that," Garmadon turned back around slowly, "Alright! Plan is back on! We defeat each of them before you get to the Twins."

"Okay," Monty stepped forward, "And how do you intend to do that?"

"We use the army that we raise!" Garmadon smirked smugly, "Simple as that."

"Right, the army that's going to be occupied with holding off several hundred thousand Vermillion at any given moment," Monty sighed, "You're really thinking big picture here."

Lloyd lowered his head in thought. Even if he still felt like Monty was being rude, he brought up a good point. The issue was indeed them fighting the Twins, so engaging them directly was the best way to draw them out. But right now, the others were at their most dangerous. With Prime unraveling in his anger, Ophiod so brazenly attacked Over and Mage out in the open, and Oni moving on his own to try to drive them apart, they were becoming more and more of a threat.

There was a good amount of the plan here that made sense to him. But there was even more of it that left him with unanswered questions. He looked up, seeing Monty and Garmadon still staring each other down. For a long moment, he wondered if this was all worth it, and if there was really a chance here at actually pulling this off.

Lloyd was stirred by something touching his hand. He turned to see Harumi leaning over, holding his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. Lloyd looked into her eyes, seeing that same fear reflected in her own orbs. If this was going to be their shot, they had to make it count. And therefore, they had to work at it. Harumi raised her head and cleared her throat.

"We need to go through this in more detail," Harumi nodded, "I think this is a good framework, but the finer details… that's what we've been missing."

"Details, right!" Garmadon grinned, "Looks like it's true what they say. Girls really are better at details than boys!"

"There's one issue here that we have to address," Harumi sat up, "If we engage the Twins, we need some way of making them unable to escape. Every time we've fought them, they've just run away when we get close to victory. We have to do something about that."

"If they are operating in the way the Iron Doom worked, they must have some sort of core inside the Iron Demise," Over nodded, "If we remove the core, then we will trap them in both the world they are in, and in the present."

"Which means we have to get it taken down fast," Lloyd nodded, "Or else they'll disappear and we'll just be stuck with Vermillion and nothing else."

"Hrmmmmmm…" Garmadon nodded, "Do you have anything that can take it down? A weapon, some kind of dues ex device, a man on the inside, double agent?"

"Man on the inside?" Lulloyd looked up, "Y-Yeah, we do."

"Morro?' Monty frowned, "What makes you think he can figure out how to turn that core off?"

"Morro said they took his power, they must be using it to power the Iron Demise," Harumi pointed out, "If that's true, then if Morro can take his power back, the machine won't be able to travel universes."

"That implies Morro can determine how to disable the core, retrieve his power, stop them from trying to travel in time, and do so without the Twins turning the entire Iron Demise against him," Over added.

"That's easy," Lloyd nodded, "As long as we can keep at least one Time Blade away from the core, then they'll be trapped in the present."

"Which means someone is going to have to focus on keeping the Twins occupied the entire time…" Harumi muttered, "What will stop the Twins from just using time travel to destroy our army the moment they land?"

"Because," Over leaned forward, "They are arrogant."

"Psst, we all know that!" Garmadon waved his hand, "How does that help us?"

"The Twins are living a life that is now paradoxical," Over nodded his head, "They have inserted themselves into Harumi's timeline, and by changing it, they have changed their own past. The Iron Demise was built to sustain paradoxes such as they. However, I hazard the reason we have not been affected is our own footprint on that world is minimal compared to that Harumi left. Simply put, the paradox in our own timelines is small."

"How does that make them arrogant?" Monty followed up.

"Because they have not done the same to each and every one of us," Over frowned, "And instead allow their operatives to run about and harass us at their leisure. If they were serious about wiping us from their plan, they would have. They have identified us as nothing to fear… and therefore, we have everything to gain."

"So… you think the Twins will stay and fight you simply out of arrogance?" Garmadon scoffed, "Not a bad guess there, took you long enough to get there." Over's eye twitched.

"How do we get the Twins to even fight us like that in the first place?" Lulloyd asked, "Like, do we just, tell them that we want to fight…?"

"We make them a message," Mage nodded, "Chen used a tactic like this one. The Twins came from Lloyd's world, right?" Mage leaned forward, "Lloyd writes them a message telling them to come and take over the world they still haven't managed to by force. And then Morro advises them to crush them with their army rather than just erasing the world. And if it works… we can make them come to us."

"Wait, Chen used that tactic?" Lloyd asked, "When?"

"Uh, the Fire Tribe and Smoke Tribe," Mage paused, "Kai and Ash used to have some really bad blood. Living close to each other and all that. Chen faked a message from Kai to Ash, and had Skylar get in with them to advise Ash to attack, then… uh… you know."

There was a small silence from Lloyd. It was little reminders like that about Mage's entire journey having been about stopping an entire war that made Lloyd remember why Mage had been able to come with them in the first place. He'd seen the horrors of wars just as much as the rest of them had.

"So," Monty waved his hand, "We make a message to tell the Twins to go and attack Lloyd's world, lure them in and then Morro keeps them from leaving? And then we slam an army made up of all our friends and allies into the Vermillion, hope we can finally take down Prime and the others, and then defeat the Twins before they can overwhelm everyone?"

"That sounds correct," Over nodded, "What is wrong with that gambit?"

"I don't like relying on Morro," Monty frowned, "What's saying he isn't really on the Twins' payroll for real, and is just pretending to hate them for his own sake?"

"Do you have another way of taking the core down, Monty?" Over asked.

"No, and I didn't think I had to have one," Monty growled out, "I just know Morro better than all of you, and I don't know if we should trust him!"

"Right now, we don't have a better option," Lloyd turned to face Monty, "Do you have anything better, Monty? We can't keep making it up as we go along."

"..." Monty remained silent.

"Then it's settled!" Garmadon laughed, "Looks like that takes care of that. Now then, let's get down to one last matter of business here…"

Garmadon turned around and began to pace back and forward, "During this battle, we'll have to have some good leaders out there! Lulloyd will lead the Shark Army, and you'll each lead-"

"Wait, wait!" Lulloyd went wide eyed, "W-What?"

"I was saying you'll each lead whoever you bring to battle," Garmadon answered him, "And once we get a good idea of who we're bringing, we'll start-"

"No!" Lulloyd gasped out, "I-I can't, I can't lead the army! W-What are you talking about, dad?"

"What, you're General Number Son!" Garmadon scoffed, "I think that's plenty enough to lead any army! Honestly I probably need you to go start making your own."

"N-No, no I'm no, t-that's just something you call me!" Lulloyd gulped, "I-I can't. Y-You can't make me…"

"We can talk about this later, son," Garmadon hissed out the side of his mouth, then raised his voice, "Who do you think you can each bring?"

The room was silent for a long while, each of them thinking long and hard about what they needed to do. Lulloyd looked frozen to his seat, trembling slightly as he thought about what he was being asked to do. One by one, they each began to figure out what they could do.

"As I said, I simply need access to Dark Matter," Over lowered his head, "With that alone, I have already sealed this battle's future."

"If… if this is as big as we think it is, I can convince the Dragons to fight for me," Mage nodded his head, "And… if we can help them, I may be able to bring people from the Tribes."

"... Ronin," Monty grunted out, "Ronin will help us. Not sure what good he can do. And… I'll see who else I can scrounge up."

"My friends will help," Lloyd nodded, "And I might be able to get some of the Elemental Masters too. And Borg should help us too. And…. I'll ask everyone I know."

"And now," Garmadon nodded, "That leads us to how we're going to fix her world."

"What?" Harumi raised her head, "What did you say?"

"I said we're going to fix your world!" Garmadon huffed, "What, you thought we'd just leave it like that? From what Lulloyd told me, looks like doing that is gonna be big."

Haurmi's eyes were wide with confusion. Of all of them, not one of them had actually so openly promised her a fix to her problems. As she looked around, she tried her hardest to piece together what she was meant to say. When her words failed her, she simply took a long and deep breath, trying to calm herself and stave off the hope Garmadon's declaration gave her.

"But… but it can't be fixed," Harumi looked down, "We can't go back and undo what happened to it and… and even if we could, what would we fix?"

"We just undo what they did to your timeline!" Garmadon scoffed, "Look, I know that guy with the buzzy screwdriver says that time is like, some stupid big ball and whatever but it's pretty linear if you just think about the one timeline. And don't listen to any big green guys saying changing the past doesn't change things. Ugh, everyone wants to make time travel so hard!"

"But…" Harumi whispered.

"I can't tell you how to fix it, but I think you should go to the guys that helped you out first, cause, someone had to have saved you from what happened," Garmadon rolled his hands, "And that's what this is all about, right? We're going to win this battle, fix everything that's broken, and get back what we lost!" Garmadon grinned, "And trust me, we're gonna get it!"

Harumi stared at Garmadon for a long while, her eyes widened and her body trembling. After a few moments, she slowly sniffed. Garmadon blinked as he watched her slowly begin to tremble, her hands dig into her legs, and then begin to cry.

"W-Woah, uh, you're leaking, uh…" Garmadon blinked, "Are, you alright?"

"I'm… I'm fine…" Harumi shook her head, "It's just… that's. That's the first time someone… that's the first thing that… I just, I had to hear it and… and you know I…" Harumi smiled even as she choked down a breath, "I-I just. I'm so happy. I'm so happy to hear that…"

With another long tremble, Harumi leaned forward and pressed her hands into her face to try to wipe away her tears. Realizing what was happening, Garmadon leaned forward and put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a small rub and blinking a bit.

"Hey, it's alright," Garmadon closed his eyes, "We all think we can't win sometimes. And sometimes you just have to have someone that looks you in the eye and says 'I'm going to jump in that volcano, and I'm going to make it back out!' And you know what?" Garmadon grinned, "None of those other guys ever made it back."

Harumi looked at Garmadon for a long while, trying to put together how she was meant to react to all of this. And as she forced her emotions down, she just nodded her head a few times. Then a few more times. And soon she was just nodding over and over again to keep herself from getting emotional all over again.

"If we are looking for allies," Mage spoke up, hoping to distract Harumi, "Then maybe we should go speak to Ophiod's mom!"

"Uh, who what now?" Garmadon blinked.

"Queen Aspheera… that is a dangerous game that you would be playing," Over mused, "What makes you think she would take up arms against her own son?"

"Well… she asked us to keep him safe," Mage leaned forward, "At the very least we should tell her our plan. It isn't fair to her to have her son be part of some huge battle and… not know that he might get hurt."

Lloyd thought about that for a moment. He'd been fighting Ophiod for so long, he forgot who exactly he was. From what Mage and Lulloyd had told him, he was more or less just like them, just one that had a lot more going on with him. Seeing his reaction to Skales had been a wake up call, but even then he'd gone and just split Over like that. Even if he didn't know it would kill him, the fact Ophiod had done that was enough for him to question Ophiod.

"... Well," Lloyd looked down, "It isn't like we shouldn't at least try."

"Hrmm, that's a rather dangerous gambit… but I suppose we have no choice," Over sighed, "If we do not, we risk adding Serpentine to the battlefield. And that would only complicate the morality of fighting them the way that we are."

"Hrmm, I can see your strategy there," Garmadon nodded his head, "Alright! I think then it's a good idea to go and split up! Go and really get ahold of this. Make sure we cover every angle. By the time we're done, they won't know what hit them."

"I should be the one to speak to Aspheera," Mage his hand on his chest, "She knows me and I don't know if she'd be alright with anyone else showing up."

"In that case," Over nodded, "Lulloyd, you should go with-"

"Nah, he's staying here," Garmadon rotated his head, "He needs his training on how to lead the army. You don't just wake up and know how to direct battle tactics!"

"I-I'm still not really so sure about-" Lulloyd was cut off.

"If we're going to undo what happen to her," Monty pointed his elbow at Harumi, "We gotta talk to the guy that's keeping her from taking an express trip to nowhere."

"Acronix'?" Harumi asked.

"No, his evil snake-obsessed Twin, yes the good one," Monty rubbed his eyes.

"Hrmm…" Garmadon blinked sagely, "Then talk to whoever that guy is. And let's figure this out now before it gets all complicated."

"Indeed," Over stood up, "We will work towards that goal immediately, then. Our priority now is carrying out this plan."

"Then let's get to it!" Garmadon grinned, "Oh this is gonna be good, I know it! Come on, Lulloyd," Garmadon laughed, "Let's go tell your mother."

Lulloyd, still unsure about what he was told, stood up as he was told, slowly sauntering forward to stand beside his father. As the two of them began to walk off, Lloyd turned to the others in the room and nodded his head.

If everything went according to plan, then they were about to make their biggest gambit yet. Raising an army from everyone they knew to help them fight Ophiod, Prime and Oni while holding off the Vermillion. Using Morro to deactivate the Iron Demise until they could get close enough to fight the Twins. And waging one last war against the Twins. Not to mention fixing Harumi's timeline at the same time. It was all both incredibly simple, and infinitely complex.

"We have our plan," Lloyd nodded, "Mage, you go talk to Aspheera. Harumi, Monty, Over, you come with me. We'll talk to Acronix' and see what we can do," Lloyd inhaled, "It's time to get serious about stopping these Twins once, and for all."

Author's Note:

And thus, the endgame is revealed…

Fun fact: this chapter was actually originally meant to be for before the Iron Demise arrived, specifically before Over went grimdark. However, I ended up finding it fit far better here. I also originally meant for that previous chapter to lead into my endgame, but this changed rapidly once I finally extended the story. I also conceived of this chapter entirely for the jokes I made at the start. No I've not played that game, just know the scenes.

Once again, I give amazing props to hwompy for my favorite piece of art I've seen thus far! I please ask you all look at the link and give them a follow, they honestly deserve it!

post/656060057547669504/kowaretee-iruu-no-kowareetee-iru-yooo-i-was