Chapter 9: Rebellion

I bit my lip. "You think he's okay?" I asked the others.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Nya answered, but her face was pinched with worry. It'd been way too long, and there was nothing we could do but wait.

"What if—" Jay stuttered. "What if Garmadon can't help Lloyd? What if Lloyd has that ghost stuck inside him forever? What if Lloyd is never friend's with us again?"

"Not a chance."

I gasped. "Lloyd?"

He was leaning on Garmadon and looked absolutely exhausted, but he had a weak grin on his face. I couldn't believe it.

"You're back," Cole said.

"Yeah," Lloyd said. "It wasn't easy. I don't think I would've made it if wasn't for Dad." He gave Garmadon a grin.

"Anything for you, L-loyd," he replied. "I love you so much."

"It is good to see you again," Zane said.

"We missed you so much, buddy," Jay cried.

I couldn't speak. Lloyd had been gone for so long, and I had tried so hard to get him back and now that it finally happened…I didn't know what do. I ran forward and grabbed him. I had to make sure this was real and he wouldn't disappear.

"Kai, I can't breathe," Lloyd groaned.

I quickly let go. "Sorry, it's just— I was so worried."

"Yeah, all he's done is talk about you. Lloyd this, Lloyd that," Nya teased.

Lloyd chuckled, and soon everyone laughing. Even Garmadon cracked a smile.

"Hey," I protested. "You guys worried too."

"Yeah, but this was all your idea," Cole said.

"Really?" Lloyd asked.

"Well, I did promise to look after you," I replied sheepishly.

Lloyd smiled. "Thank you."

"It was nothing," I said, flashing him a cocky grin. Lloyd was my friend, but more than that, he was like my little brother; it was really no problem.

"Nothing?" Jay scoffed, and he almost went on a rant, but thankfully Lloyd cut him off.

"No, really. Thank you," Lloyd insisted. "I— I'm really sorry for how I treated you guys." His green eyes watered, and I immediately put my hand on his shoulder and pulled him into another hug.

"Hey, we all knew you couldn't help it," I reassured him.

Everyone nodded. "Yeah," Cole said. "Don't worry about it."

"You were not in control of your own actions," Zane added.

"But— you guys didn't talk to me for weeks. I thought I really hurt you guys."

My heart stopped. While we built our hideout for the resistance, Lloyd thought we abandoned him? I squeezed him tighter.

"No, Lloyd," I said. "We're friends. Nothing will ever change that."

"We don't blame you," Nya added.

Lloyd sniffed. "You are guys are the best friends I could ever ask for."

I grinned, and when I was sure Lloyd was all right, I finally let go.

"So what'd I miss while I was…you know?" Lloyd asked.

"Let me tell you," Jay began, and he launched into a long rant about his detention, our resistance, and then our fight with Chen.

"Wait, you actually fought Chen?" Lloyd asked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, it was close, but we made it out okay," I said.

"Okay? I broke my ankle!" Jay complained.

"Mostly okay," I corrected. "But now we're kind of outlaws. If Chen finds us, we're pretty much dead."

"Yikes," Lloyd said.

"So we were hoping you could recruit people for us," Cole said. "We can't set foot in the school, but you can."

Lloyd blinked, trying to take it all in.

"You don't have to," Nya said quickly. "We can always find another way—"

"No, it's fine," Lloyd interrupted. "I'll do it."

I grinned. "Thanks, Lloyd. Just tell them if they want to end Chen's tyranny to come here, at Garmadon's place. We'll have our first meeting in a week, at midnight."

"Just be careful," Garmadon broke in. "Don't let Chen or Clouse catch you. I don't want you to get hurt again." He had stayed quiet for most of the conversation, a shadow in the background. If it weren't for his hand on Lloyd's shoulder I wouldn't have known he was there.

"I will," Lloyd promised. Then after a moment he sighed. "I guess I should probably go back now."

I didn't want Lloyd to be alone, not again, but I knew he was right. I nodded, not trusting my voice. Lloyd pushed himself off the cot and took a deep breath before finally heading toward the door.

"Good luck!" Jay called. "Don't get stuck in detention with Clouse. Oh! And watch out for his giant snake!"

Lloyd froze. "What?"

I glared at Jay, and then looked back at Lloyd. "You'll be fine," I told him. "If you need us, send an owl. Outlaws or not, we'll still come for you."

"We got your back," Cole added.

"Absolutely," Nya said. Zane and Jay nodded.

"I will," Lloyd replied, and then he kept walking.

"Goodbye," I called as he pushed the door open. Lloyd flashed me a smile, and then he was gone. I swallowed.

"Be safe," I whispered.

—

Turns out I was worried for nothing. The week went by without incident. Lloyd sent us an owl, but it was only to let us know that he had managed to recruit a couple people, including some of the teachers, and whether we had anyone we knew who might want to join.

Meanwhile, Zane and Garmadon cast layers of spell protection on the hut to hide it from unfriendly eyes. The rest of us began to plan what we would do at the meeting. Cole wanted to make snacks, but we quickly learned that he could not cook. I was stuck on the toilet for almost an hour after eating one of his 'delicacies'. Mine weren't much better and I almost set the entire hut on fire. Most of the stuff I made at home was cooked in a microwave, and Nya's repertoire consisted of ramen noodles and rice. Once again, Zane had us all beat. Not only was he an amazing wizard, he was also a brilliant chef.

With that out of the way, I wanted to teach everyone some basic skills so we were all on the same page, but Nya pointed out that so far a lot of members were teachers. So instead, I decided to make a poll of magical talents/abilities so we could come up with a solid plan. Lastly, we would have a giant brainstorming session so we could get rid of Chen and Clouse with the least amount of causalities.

"But we'll have Zane make more of those cakes, right?" Cole asked licking his fingers, having just finished one.

Jay sighed, and Nya giggled. "Yes, Cole," I reassured him. "We'll make more cakes."

"Good. Cause I'm starving."

"You just ate," Jay pointed out.

Cole just shrugged. "I'm a growing teenager. I need as much food as I can get."

"I don't think that's how that works," Nya said.

"Shh," I whispered in her ear. "Don't crush his dreams." Zane came back inside, having cast every last defensive spell he could think of.

"Perfect timing!" Cole cried. "Can you make more chocolate cakes, and some of that noodle dish you made last night? And some more dip? The chips don't taste nearly as good without it."

"Of course," Zane replied, being the good, innocent friend he was. But every time he finished one thing, we would eat it all down to the last crumb, so we had to keep baking all the way till midnight in order to have enough food for the meeting.

"Teenagers," Garmadon muttered, shaking his head at our antics.

I was wiping flour off my hands when Lloyd burst through the door. "I almost couldn't find you guys," he said. "You did a great job with those spells."

"Thank you," Zane replied.

Lloyd glanced out the door. "You can come in." Nuero, Hutchins, and Mistaké walked into the hut.

"None of you were followed?" Garmadon asked.

They all shook their heads.

"You sure?"

"I am a master of Legilimency, I would know if someone followed us," Nuero said. I quickly jotted that down on my magical abilities paper. That would definitely be useful. Lloyd darted off to help more people find our secret meeting place, leaving me alone with the teachers.

"Well," I said. "Welcome to the Resistance. Tea and food is over there. If you have any special skills that can help us out, write them here." I held up the parchment in my hand.

Nuero took the parchment and added Transfiguration under his list of skills. And it turned out Professor Hutchins was an accomplished swordsman. Mistaké was a registered animagus and a potions master. I grinned. Already off to a good start.

More and more people began to trickle into Garmadon's hut. Some of them I recognized, like Pixal, Zane's girlfriend, Cyrus Borg, and some others from my classes. Others looked to the same age as Lloyd, and some, like Karlof and Bolobo were in their seventh year. Finally, Lloyd slipped in and closed the door behind him.

"Is that everyone?" I asked.

"Yep," Lloyd replied.

Perfect. I didn't think Garmadon's hut could hold anymore. I glanced around the room. Almost everyone was gathered around the kitchen standing in little cliques. The adults were all drinking tea, while most of the boys hung around the buffet. I took a deep breath. Time to rally everyone together with a dramatic, inspiring speech. I glanced down at the abilities sheet. It was almost full; it was just a matter of putting it all together.

A hand squeezed my shoulder, shocking me out of my thoughts. I glanced over and Nya gave me a reassuring smile.

"You've got this, bro," she said.

I tried to smile back, to find that confidence I had just a few hours ago, but so much depended on this meeting. The fate of the entire school and all of its students rested on my shoulders.

"We are right behind you," Zane reassured, having finally escaped the kitchen. My other friends noticed I was struggling and formed a huddle around me.

"Thanks, Zane, but I don't know if I can say the right words. What if they don't listen? What'll happen to the school?"

"You'll convince them, you care about this more than anyone," Jay pointed out.

I took another deep breath and shook out my hands. Adrenaline was rushing a hundred miles an hour, making it hard to think straight.

"This is your idea," Cole said, "Now you just got to sell it."

I looked at all the strangers in the room. "Yeah…that's the hard part."

"It's now or never, Kai. Just get up there," Nya said and she gave me a little shove.

"We'll bail you out if things go wrong," Cole called.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Ignore him," Nya said. "Focus on putting your feelings into words and you'll do fine."

Jay gave me a thumbs up. "Good luck," he whispered loudly. I smiled and turned around.

"Hello." I waited a moment, but nobody turned around. I cleared my throat. Nothing. "Attention!"

Some heads glanced up. I guess that was as good as it was going to get.

"LISTEN UP!" Garmadon bellowed. Now everyone was paying attention, but they all were glaring at the former warlord. "Go ahead," he said to me, and then all of their angry faces turned to me.

Great. Just great. "Hello," I began again. "Thank you for coming to the Resistance meeting. Really appreciate it."

I swallowed and glanced across the sea of faces. Someone coughed. I continued. "So, now we're going to start brainstorming how to get rid of Chen and Clouse. If you could gather around over here, that'd be great."

Some people muttered, but they began to mosey over to where I was standing. I waited for everyone to quiet down before continuing. Right now I sounded really awkward, I needed to step it up a notch. "We've got a really wide variety of talent and skill level. I believe with the right plan we can do this."

"But what about the trapdoors?" Someone asked.

"Can we really defeat two full grown wizards?"

"What if we fail?"

A question I had asked myself many times, but I had to be strong. I had to inspire them or we really wouldn't succeed. I lifted my chin. "We will not fail." Everyone noticed the change in my voice and fell silent.

"I've done some research," and I lifted my parchment to prove it, "and all of you have incredible talents. We have an animagus, two androids, a herbologist, and masters of several different types of magic, including Legilimency, transfiguration, potions, and electronics. Not to mention a bunch of people who have magical artifacts, like an invisibility cloak. Together we can defeat Chen and Clouse."

The group cheered, and I grinned. There we go. "We know that Chen's office is at the top of the Takai Tower and our goal is to make sure he leaves our school for good. Anyone got any ideas?"

One of the kids, I think his name's Brad, spoke up. "We throw his own tricks back at him, and prank him until he goes away."

Well… not quite sure about that, but I flashed him a smile anyways. "Okay, a good start, but we kind of need Chen to go away permanently. What else?"

"We shove him down the mountain!" Someone in back yelled.

I winced. "Isn't that a bit violent?"

The person paused. "We make him surrender the school, then we shove him down the mountain."

"How about surrender or we'll send him down the mountain," I corrected.

"Okay."

Phew. "Okay, so far, we prank Chen. Send him down trapdoors; pull some other pranks, plus intimidation tactics. Then we start making demands, and if he doesn't—"

"We shove him down the mountain!"

"Sure," I said. "Anything else?"

"Why don't we just capture Chen and Clouse and send them away for good?" Griffin asked.

"We could, but Chen's office is full of traps. The whole floor drops out square by square, and then there are the spikes and giant blades all over the place. That doesn't even cover Clouse and Chen's magical ability."

The student frowned. "What about the kid with the invisibility cloak? Couldn't he do it?"

"Uh, I don't know, maybe?" The kid in question, who called himself Paleman, looked really uncomfortable. He probably didn't like to draw attention to himself, which would explain why he wore large sunglasses and a fedora that hid most of his face. "I-I mean, I'll do it, I just, um—"

"You don't have to go," I told him. "We'll start with intimidation, and if that doesn't work, we'll make a plan to break into Chen's office." Paleman nodded gratefully.

"Sound good?" I asked. Everyone murmured their general assent.

"Cool. Don't tell anyone about this unless you're absolutely sure you can trust them. And be careful when sabotaging Chen and Clouse, we don't want to get caught. But even if things seem to get worse, don't give up," I looked each person in the eye. "Remember, the Resistance never quits!"

Lloyd picked up the chant, and then Nya, and Jay and Cole, and before I knew it the whole room was shouting, "THE RESISTANCE NEVER QUITS!"

I smiled and looked at the wide variety of students coming together to stop Chen and Clouse. They wouldn't know what hit them.

AN: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and the follows and favorites! Specials thanks for JBomb127 and NaninaDaPanda!