OH MY EFFING OVERLORD! 105 reviews in 8 chapters?! You guys are crazy! (And just an fyi, I LOVE crazy! XD) Thanks so much you guys! You all rock! :P Keep on reviewing!

I'm going to try to reduce the swearing because I got a very helpful review saying that it was a but OOC, so I'm going to use less of it. What I will use will be less harsh words :)

The chapter title has a double meaning, btw. Look it up if you need to :D (It's not the meaning about medicine XD)

My exact thoughts before writing this chapter: "Hmm, I need to write more emotional sh*t." XD So here it is, guys. Enjoy :)

Chapter 9: Erosion

(Lloyd's POV)

I pull my green mask over my face, my blond hair whipping around in the wind. I stand at the entrance of Ninjago City. Let me just say that . . . it doesn't look good.

All of the hacked technology is gone. The streets were completely destroyed, littered with broken cars and other electronic devices. Every door and window in sight is closed, blocking the house's occupants from the outside horror. The skies here are dark black, stained with tints of purple and red. It's like a scene from a horror movie.

I know then that I'm not going to be able to just walk right in to the city wearing a ninja suit. It would be waaaay too conspicuous.

Very slowly and quietly I creep up to the nearest door, sticking to the shadows. I knock quietly on the door, and wait. No answer. I travel to the next door, and knock again. The door opens a crack, and someone peeks out.

"Hey, do you-" Before I could even finish my sentence, they slam the door on me. "Well, they were friendly," I mumble to myself. I try door after door, house after house, but to no avail. Doors keep getting slammed in my face. This was useless. I knocked on another door, feeling defeated.

It opens, revealing a woman around 40 with a long stick.

"Who is it?"

"Uh, listen, I just need some help-"

"Who is this? I don't recognize your voice." That's when I see her eyes, blank and white. She's . . . blind.

"Oh, my name's Lloyd, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were blind . . ." I say softly. "It's just . . . really dangerous out there now and I need some sort of jacket or cloak."

"Oh, you poor thing!" the woman cries. "My name's Rita, dear, and I'll gladly help you."

"Thanks-so-much," I say, my relief making the words come out all in one breath.

"Gladly." She reaches for a grey cloak hanging up on a coat rack in front of her, but then she starts groping blindly next to the rack instead.

"I've got it," I smile, grasping the cloak. "Thanks so much for the help. You might've just saved my life."

"Aww, no problem." I leave her house quickly and quietly, slipping the cloak on and pulling the hood over my face. Now I'm completely in disguise. Next stop, Borg Industries. I'm going to make those Nindroids pay.

My foot then slips on a rock, and I fall to the ground. My hood falls from my face, my sweaty blond hair covering my eyes. I hear footsteps near me. My entire body begins to panic as I scramble to my feet, wiping my hair from my eyes.

"Target found." The mechanical voice makes me jump as I turn to face my opponent. There's no point in hiding my identity now; I've already been seen.

"No . . . no!" I gasp, seeing the "robot" in front of me. "No . . . Uncle!"

"Target confirmed as the Golden Ninja: Lloyd Garmadon. Action: Instant Destruction." He swings his black staff at me, his eyes glowing bright red. I gulp.

"There's no way I can hurt you, Uncle!" Unfortunately, this doesn't work. I'm getting a strange sense of déjà vu right now.

I duck his staff again, but somehow he swings it around a second time before I could do anything. It hits me straight in the stomach, sending me to the ground. Crap. His red eyes bore into mine as my entire body shakes.

"No, Uncle! I can't . . . I can't hurt you!" He slams his staff into the ground on my right, and I roll to the left to dodge it. We keep this up, him attempting to hit me and me dodging. I know that I'll tire way before he will, due to him being part robot, but I must continue on.

I slowly rise to my feet, taking blow after blow, feeling more and more exhusted with every hit. Spots dance in front of my eyes as I feel something in my throat. I choke a bit and spit up hot, thick blood. Oh my Overlord . . . I feel like I'm dying . . .

I can feel the brusises being made on my skin, and I can hear the staff hitting ny bones. I feel sick, so, so, sick. If only I could fight back without hurting him.

I fall to the ground, coughing and spitting up more blood onto the pavement. This is the end.

I close my eyes, preparing for the finishing blow. My heart is pouding so fast that it feels as if it'll burst through my chest. My breathing is ragged and unsteady. My body is covered with bruises, and the blood is streaming from my mouth at a steady pace.

I have failed.

I'm sorry, Zane.

(Cole's POV)

I bite down hard on my lip as I crash my pipe into another robot. I'm surrounded by metal, both my enemies and the scrap piled up in this dump. I'm exhausted already, and my arms feel stiff and heavy.

I'm exhausted physically and mentally. I know I've screwed up. I've let my team down. Now that I think about it, I've realized that I'm a total jerkface. I've created such a mess, and I've thrown Jay, Nya, and I right into it. And now Kai and Pixal are going to be wondering what is going on, which is only going to be one more problem to deal with.

I'm really not sure how Kai is going to react to all this. He'll either kill me, Jay, or Nya. Or he'll say, "Not my problem. You sort your own stuff out."

I shove another Nindroid back. Gosh, it would be so much easier if I could just give up . . . The option is surprisingly tempting. I've already failed my team, so what do I have to lose?

I drop my pipe and close my eyes tight. No more failure. I'll just let them capture me, take me away just like the others . . .

"COLE!" Nya's voice cuts through my thoughts, breaking me from my self-inflicted trance.

"Nya!" I shout, backing away from the Nindroids. The samurai tugs on my arm.

"We've got to get out of here. There's too many of them, and only four of us."

"Four? I thought you said Pixal could fight?"

"She can," answers Nya softly. That's when I see the tears glittering in her blue eyes.

"Nya? What is it? What's happened?"

"Forget it, Cole! We've got to go!" With that, she takes off across the junkyard.

"Girls," I mutter to myself, and I than I run after her. I meet Jay and Pixal behind the Walker's trailer. I know there's something deathly wrong by the looks on their faces. Pixal looks like she recently passed out, and black oil stains her white cheeks. If possible, Jay looks even worse than before. I approach him and put a hand on his shoulder. He jumps from my touch and looks deep in my eyes, his tortured gaze boring into my skull. I sigh.

"You okay?"

"Why would you care?" Jay replies bitterly. He turns around, not facing me anymore. "And if it makes you feel any better, no, I'm not okay!"

"What happened?" I ask. Jay whirls around to face me. I spoke wrong, and I knew it the second the words left my lips. Jay practically explodes.

"What happened?! WHAT HAPPENED?! FIRST YOU BEAT ME TO A FRICKING PULP, THAN MY PARENTS EMBARRASS ME, THAN MY HOME IS ATTACKED BY KILLER ROBOTS, THAN THE LOVE OF MY LIFE DUMPS ME, THAN ZANE KIDNAPS KAI AND BREAKS PIXAL'S HEART, AND NOW YOU'RE ASKING ME STUPID QUESTIONS!"

I gasp loudly. "Nya broke up with you?" Again I spoke wrong.

"AND NOW LOOK!" Jay screams. "YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT NYA, NOT ABOUT THE FACT THAT ZANE IS AS EVIL AS HELL AND THAT KAI'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!"

"ZANE'S EVIL?!" I say. "KAI'S GONE!?" My eyes widen. This is only getting worse and worse.

"WERE YOU LISTENING TO ANYTHING THAT I JUST SAID?"

"Yes . . ." I say softly. "Believe it or not, I listen to almost everything you say, Jay. Look, I know I've done wrong, so let's just forget this stupid love triangle and be a team again, okay?"

"Team?" Jay says, an edge to his voice. "What team?" My heart sinks. He's right. It's just me and him left now. I mean, we've got Nya and Pixal but . . . Nya just broke up with Jay and Pixal's had to deal with whatever Zane threw at her.

We are imploding, sinking deeper into the quicksand, falling a thousand miles into oblivion. The bonds we made as a team are failing, close to breaking. The emptiness of so many friends gone hurts more than a knife stabbed into my chest. These people were my brothers; and now they're gone, standing on the same earth as me, but so far away. I was their rock, their solid ground, but I've begun eroding under their feet.

I'm sorry brothers. I'm sorry that I've let you fall.

"Cole?" I turn to look at Jay, who stares right back at me with his bloodshot green eyes. "I hate to ask this, but are YOU okay?"

"No," I sigh softly. "I'm not okay, Jay." It feels so good to finally speak those words, to admit that I'm sitting in my own guilt. "Look, about Nya-"

"I don't wanna hear it."

"I don't love her, okay!?" Jay starts.

"What?!"

"You heard me!" I say, my voice clear and confident. I then lower my voice. "Something's not right about this whole thing, especially with that Perfect Match machine."

"But-but-but-" Jay splutters. For once in his life he has nothing to say.

"Look, Nya's a nice girl, and she's pretty too, but this isn't right. I can't even think of her that way."

"Then why did you beat me up?!" Jay suddenly exclaims.

"I . . ." I sigh. "I thought I liked her back then. Besides, you attacked me, so I defended myself."

"Cole," Jay says slowly, "are you just saying this because you feel bad that Nya broke up with me?"

"No, Jay, I'm not." I look him right in the eyes. "I'm not. And I'm so sorry . . ." I suddenly feel tears in my eyes. I quickly blink them away, trying to conceal my emotion.

"Thanks, but you do know that Nya might still like YOU, right?" Jay says with a sad sigh. "It's no use for me to cry and scream over this anymore. I just . . . I just . . ."

"You just love her," I finish.

"Yeah . . ." Tears start dripping down Jay's cheeks, flowing quickly and steadily. The harder he tries to wipe away the tears the faster they fall, cleaning a path down his filthy cheeks.

"Jay? Cole?" Nya steps over to us, a concerned frown on her face. "What's going on here?" I open my mouth to answer her but Jay speaks instead.

"Nothing," he chokes out, keeping his back turned to Nya.

"Are you . . . crying?" she asks, walking over to him. Jay shakes his head as more tears fall down his cheeks. "It's okay to cry, Jay. It's really okay." Jay nods, not even bothering to stop the tears anymore. Nya then walks over to me. "Cole?"

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong with Jay?"

"Do you actually like me?" I blurt suddenly. The question came out without permission, and I feel ready to kick something. Damn, I really have no filter today.

"What?!" Nya looks really taken aback.

"Just answer the question, I need to know!" I cry desperately. "And be completely honest!"

"Yes, I do," she says. My heart drops, and I swallow hard. I can't let this go on any longer. It's time for the truth.

"I just want you to know that I don't actually-" Before I could finish, Pixal comes rushing over to us.

"The Nindroids are starting to suspect that we're hiding here, we must do something!"

"We need a plan," Nya says, running her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah," croaks Jay, wiping his eyes. "Plans are good." I frown. We're in a pretty bad situation: no techno blades, no vehicles, no distractions. There's four of us: a bloodied and recently dumped ninja, a heartbroken robot, a conflicted samurai, and their shitty leader. We're hidden behind a trailer, completely cornered. There's junk on two of the four sides, and we can't just run through the trailer walls. There's only one option that will work here. It's not a good option, but it should work in the end.

"I think I've got something," I say finally. "Just follow my lead, and don't protest." I cup my hands over my mouth in preparation to yell. "HEY! NINDROIDS! WE'RE BEHIND THE TRAILER!"

"Cole!" gasps Nya. "What are you doing?"

"You're a traitor!" exclaims Jay angrily. "You said all that stuff to make me trust you, didn't you?!" At that moment, the Nindroids appear, blocking our only escape route. I take a step forward as I take a deep breath, preparing for what I'm about to do. This is it. I am ready.

"Nindroids," I say calmly. I look the closest one straight in its artificial eyes.

"We surrender."

How's THAT for a cliffhanger?! Haha, I bet you're all ready to kill me :P There is a reason why this story's second genre is Suspense XD

So what do YOU think? Do you trust Cole, or think he's betraying the others? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the reviews!

~ForeverDreamer12, signing off :P