Didn't mean to make you confused! Sorry!
XxXxXxXxXx
Mistaké lead the way towards an abandoned house. She opens the door to reveal William, Chantal, and Rainn sitting on the floor of the living room. Nya beams as her face brightens.
"Will!" She races inside, as he stands up.
"Nya!" He falls the floor when she tackles him in a death grip hug. Chantal and Rainn laugh as they watch him fall to the floor.
Eleanor, who recovered from fainting, smiled as she grabs Dareth's arm and yanks him to the side, so he doesn't get trampled on when Chantal races forwards and tackles Lloyd, sending him backwards into the now closed door.
"Rainn!" Eleanor smiled, walking over to her friend. "You're ok!"
"Thanks to Mistaké." Rainn nods with a smile.
"Now." Mistaké looked around the room. "We have a new shelter and a warm fire. It's late."
"But in the morning, you'll answer questions. Right?" Lloyd asked her.
"Of course Master Garmadon." She nods. "Of course."
XxXxXxXxX
That night. Skylor is sitting by the fire as she watched it dance. From the floor, Eleanor is sitting up and leaning looking at her ring, she had long ago abandoned wearing the gloves, she turns to see Skylor and moves over to the red head.
"Kai never did ask you out, did he?" She asked, making Skylor shake her head as she continues to watch the flames inside the fireplace.
Eleanor shook her head. "I'm sorry, I thought he would've done that by now."
Skylor shrugged. "It's no one's fault."
Eleanor bits her lower lip as she looks towards a sleeping Dareth, then turns to look at Skylor. "Dareth once made up a girlfriend to make Gayle Gossip jealous." She smiles. "But Dareth being Dareth, ratted himself out when Gayle challenged to meet her."
Skylor smirks. "I bet that was fun." She sighs as she continues to watch the flames. "What do you think Kai is doing?" She asks softly. "Is he ok, is he hurt? The fire calms me, makes me think of Kai."
"It's been, what? A month now, maybe two?" Eleanor turns to look at a sleeping Lloyd, who's half on a couch as he's also half off. "It's so hard to keep track without a proper calendar." She sighs, and looks at her ring again. "I keep thinking about Cole's reaction to me having his baby."
"You're going to be his wife, he'll be ecstatic."
Eleanor looks down at her stomach and places both hands there.
XxXxXxXxXx
The following morning. Everyone had just finished eating as they all sat in the middle of the room, and Skylor is creating a fire in the fireplace. "Alright." Lloyd said, while looking at Mistaké. "We've all had our fill. Now, are you gonna tell us how you turned into a rat?"
Mistaké slurps down her tea, then sits down her cup. "The rat is easy! How about this?" She moves her hands across her face, moving them back as she transforms into Wu, making everyone gasp. "Not to shabby for an old woman." She transforms back to herself and giggles as the others are still all shocked.
"You're an Oni!" Lloyd exclaimed.
"But we were told that Oni are dangerous and all they want to do is destroy!" Dareth said.
"We are." Mistaké said. "You don't want me on your bad side."
"How did you get here?" Nya asked. "When."-
"During the time of legend." Lloyd cuts in as Mistaké takes another drink of her tea. "When she crossed over in pursuit of the First Spinjitzu Master. When he fled the Realm of Oni and Dragon."
"Hmm." She hummed. "You listen well, Master Garmadon. Since your grandfather was born of both worlds, our mission was to follow him into this realm and turn him to our side! Or destroy him." Everyone looked at her concerned. "But he wouldn't serve. And I fell in love with this world he created. My fellow Oni wanted to complete our mission, but I turned on them, and I have helped the First Spinjitzu Master ever since. Did you ever wonder how Master Wu and Garmadon have lived so long? It is our Oni blood."
"How have you kept this secret for so long?" Skylor asked.
"Transformation is a powerful ability."
Lloyd looked away. "But if I'm part Oni, why can't I do that?"
"Transform?" Mistaké looks at him. "Transform? You've been doing it all your life! From a bratty child to the destined Green Ninja and now to our great leader of The Resistance. But to endure your father, you must transform again."
Lloyd turns to look at her. "Into what?"
"There is but one final step for you, young Master. Have faith. You will figure it out."
XxXxXxXxXx
In the First Realm, the stranded Ninja drive towards the Oni land. "It's a dead end!" Cole exclaimed as they see a line of skulls on spikes like a border. Cole and Wu jump over a ravine, before Faith joins them, followed by the others. They all have their weapons at the ready. "So these Oni. If they're shapeshifters, how do we know when we see one?" Jay asks Kai. "I mean, how do we even know one isn't already pretending to be one of us?"
"Oh, zip it, Jay." Kai said, annoyed as he pushes the blue Ninja to the side.
They start moving forward, till Cole spots a huge shadow. "Oni!" He yelled, Kai throws a fireball at it, only for the flames to reveal it's a statue of an archway.
"It's a statue." Kai frowned.
Zane points ahead. "A gate."
"To an Oni stronghold." Faith said as she moved towards it, and very carefully opens the gate. "But it's open."
"Um, should we be walking toward it?" Jay asked, starting to get spooked. "I really thought we'd be walking the other way." Faith turns to glare at him. "Zip it. Duly noted."
They head inside.
XxXxXxXxXx
Cole and Jay lite torches as they all look around.
"One thing you forgot to tell us about Oni." Kai said. "They're slobs too." He said as they look down the hall where there's no roof and the columns are covered with vines.
"Where is everyone?" Cole asked.
"Wherever they are, they haven't lived here for centuries." Zane answered.
Faith soon gets very angry. "That liar!" She yells, making the Ninja look at her confused. "All this time, he lied to us. It was just a story, made up!"
"Uh, what are you talking about?" Kai asked.
"Iron Baron! He made us believe this was Oni land! No one has ever seen once because look around! They're all gone!"
"But where did they go?" Jay asked.
"Argh!" Faith yells.
"He used fear to control you." Kai told her.
"He wasn't enslaving Dragons. He was enslaving us!" Faith yells. "How could I have been so stupid?" She whips around to face the Ninja. "Is any of it true? Is there even the Dragon Armor?" She demands.
Cole grabs Wu's shoulder. "I think she's asking you."
Wu hesitates. "I ... I don't know." He confesses.
"Don't know?! Don't know?!" She grabs his shoulders and shakes him. "Do you know how much I sacrificed to help you? If we can't get out of here and Iron Baron finds me, he-he'll." She pushes him back and he stumbles back into Jay and Zane. "Argh!" Faith throws her arms in the air. "Why did you tell me you knew where it was?" She demands.
Wu backs away from the Ninja. "My father told me in a dream I must have faith." He explained as his back hit the wall behind him. "Then we found you. I still believe we will find it, even if you don't."
Faith grabs a fist full of his shirt with her left hand, and prepares to punch him with her right fist, but she turns and shoves him back and angrily takes her anger out on the gate.
The Ninja walk over to Wu. "I know that was hard to do, but it's better to admit the truth than carry on a lie." Cole told him.
"Even if we never get home, the least we can do is raise you up to be the person you raised us to be." Jay added.
"It's a shame about the armor." Kai said. "I was starting to believe in it myself."
Zane nods. "We all were."
Wu turns to look at the gate, and his eyes grow. "Look." He breathed, pointing.
"Ah, sad, really." Jay said with a shake of his head as they watch Faith continued to hit the gate. "She has a lot of pent-up issues to resolve. That's what can happen when you're born in a cruel world."
Wu shook his head. "Not her." He walks up to the gate.
"No, no, no!"
Wu turns to her. "Do you mind?" He asks, pushing her to the side as he closes the gate. Revealing a map, surprising all of them.
"The Dragon Armor." Kai breathed, noting the dragon on the lower part of the map.
"It's in the nest of the Firstbourne." Cole said.
"It's." Faith backed away to stand with the Ninja. "Real."
"We have faith." Wu smiles. "Now we have a map." He turns to them. "I told you."
XxXxXxXxXxXx
Back in Ninjago, and in the abandon house. Dareth hurries in. "They're here!" He gasped, causing Lloyd to stand up from the couch. "And they brought Harumi!"
"We need to leave." Nya said as Skylor stood up.
"I'll pack our things." She starts to walk out of the living room.
"No!" Lloyd stopped her, and everyone looks at him confused. "No more running. It's time to change things up."
Mistaké simply sips her tea. "And what were you thinking?"
XxXxXxXxXxX
After a long hunt, and in an alley, Harumi runs along till she stops and looks around. She passes someone who's wearing a straw hat.
"Those who cannot change, cannot change anything."
Harumi quickly turns to see the man wearing the straw hat lift his head to reveal Lloyd.
"Lloyd." She straightens up, eyes cold. "You speak of change, but look what you've become. Nothing but a beggar in rags."
Lloyd pushed himself off the crate he was leaning on, to walk up to her. "You took my friends from me, so I took yours." The Resistance surround Harumi.
"Who's the beggar now?" Nya asks, William takes off his cloak and walks up to Harumi and throws it over her head.