AN: Sorry I'm late, yesterday was busy.

On that note... I never thought I'd have to say this, but... I'm going on a short hiatus, guys. *cringes cuz I hate the word hiatus* It won't be long; just two weeks. We've almost caught up to all my prewritten chapters in this fic, and I need some time to get my creativity flowing again. On the bright side, I promise this chapter doesn't end in a cliffhanger. ;)

Review Replies
2240713356: Abby knows a lot of depressing things, she's got to have her fun where she can!

SylasPantz: What, you really thought I was going to make things that easy? HAHAHAHA, never.

Megasalamencex: Don't worry, I would never leave my green baby hanging. ^_^ Lol, the only power Abby has is the power of overthinking.

phetiamwantip: It's Cyclondo!

"The tomb is under the ocean," I explained, pointing to a spot on the map that adorned the back of the Scroll of Airjitzu, "So it's somewhere off the coast here. Thing is, I don't remember exactly where. If we want an exact location, we'll still have to get the Sword of Sanctuary from the Cloud Kingdom."

"Which means learning Airjitzu as soon as possible," Cole finished. I sighed.

"Yep."

I glanced at where Jay and Zane were practicing said technique. By some miracle, we had managed to find an abandoned building not too far from Ronin's shop. It was badly dilapidated, with the floorboards rotted through in some places and supports of questionable stability, but it worked for the time being. The boys rock-paper-clamped for who had to watch Ronin's shop first, with Kai drawing the short straw. He pouted and tried to get one of the others to trade with him, but they refused. So while the Fire Ninja was off watching the shop, the others got started on learning Airjitzu.

As it turned out, the technique wasn't as easy as they made it out in the show. It took a couple of tries for the Ninja to figure out how to activate it, and it was taking even longer for them to gain any significant altitude. Still, I trusted they'd be able to figure it out before we had to head to the Cloud Kingdom. They had to.

While they practiced, I focused on trying to figure out the location of the First Spinjitzu Master's tomb. Though I had watched Possession multiple times and had seen the X on the map, it had always been nothing more than a short glimpse. I was fairly sure I could give the Ninja a general location, but nothing specific enough for them to find the tomb on their own.

I felt like a total failure. I had promised the Ninja I'd be able to help them, yet it seemed the timeline was playing out anyway. We were almost exactly in the place I had been trying to avoid; Lloyd possessed, the boys powerless, and all of us trapped in an impossible scavenger hunt. Even worse was that I hadn't even been able to give the Ninja a proper advantage. Because of Lloyd, Morro now knew everything I had told them. The only thing we had going for us was the fact that Nya's powers were developed. She could join the fight instead of having to hang back and train. Still, in comparison to everything else, it felt like a pretty small victory.

A sharp jab to my shoulder snapped me out of my brooding, and I looked up to see Cole was trying to get my attention.

"Are you okay?" he asked, tilting his head in concern, "You seem out of it."

I gave a short burst of mirthless laughter, "Do I look okay? Is anything about this okay? Everything I did to avoid this situation has been for nothing. Morro has Lloyd and is probably on his way here, you guys don't have access to any of your deepstone gear, we can't get in touch with anybody, we're stuck on Stiix, the sketchiest of Sketchvilles, and we only have one chance to get to the Cloud Kingdom through the Blind Man's Eye, not that we can even get to the Wailing Alps right now—"

"Whoa, hey, slow down," the Earth Ninja interrupted, holding up his hands in a gesture for calm, "That sounds like a Jay-worthy spiral right there."

I snorted and rolled my eyes, "Yeah, well, I don't usually. This is just a very unique situation."

"Hey, remember what I told you about Kai and Nya's parents?" he said, "It's not your fault, and we're going to figure this out together."

"But nothing I do is working," I muttered furiously, "I tried to avoid this season, and it still happened. I tried to save Ray and Maya, and they vanished. With my luck, I'm going to lose this stupid teapot," I ripped the artifact from my bag and brandished it in Cole's face, "And trigger the pirate apocalypse too."

Cole raised an eyebrow skeptically, "The pirate apocalypse?"

"It's a real thing!"

The boy gave a small laugh, "Okay, look, I get it; you're scared. But none of this is your fault. Yes," he added as I opened my mouth, "You being here probably changed things; 'butterfly effect' and all that, I know. But you didn't have to purposefully interfere. You could have kept quiet and let things play out the way they were supposed to, but you didn't. You interfered because you wanted to give us a better future. You couldn't have known how things would turn out after that. Sometimes, our actions don't always turn out the way we expect, but at least your heart was in the right place."

I stared at the boy, eyes wide as I slowly processed his little speech. I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened it again. Finally, my brow furrowed as I blurted out, "When the heck did you turn into such a motivational speaker?"

Cole shrugged, a light grin teasing his face, "Comes with practice. Do you know how many times the six of us have had to drag each other out of an emotional pit?"

A noise between a scoff and snort emitted from the back of my throat, "Okay, that's valid."

"Hey, guys!" Jay called, catching our attention, "We're getting a call from the Bounty!"

Cole and I exchanged a look before we both scrambled to our feet and raced over to Zane. The atmosphere was tense as we waited for the Nindroid to answer the call. I wondered fleetingly if someone should have gotten Kai, but we didn't have time. Zane pressed a button in his arm panel, and in a moment, a small, grainy hologram flared to life. A wave of relief washed over me as Sensei Wu flickered into view. He looked ruffled, but relatively unhurt as he said, "Ninja, we have a situation."

"We know, Sensei," Zane said, "When we attempted to summon our elemental dragons, we were unsuccessful. Abby says it is because Morro has taken Lloyd and possessed him."

"That is indeed the case," Wu confirmed grimly.

"Do you know what happened?" Jay asked, "How did Morro escape?"

"Unfortunately, we do not know," the teacher replied, "He broke out of the brig already in possession of Lloyd. My brother and I attempted to stop him, but he escaped. I can only assume he is now on his way to Stiix to retrieve the Scroll of Airjitzu."

"That's what we figured too," I piped up, "We're stuck out here, though. Is there any way for you guys to come pick us up? Or get in touch with Nya?"

Wu nodded, "Luckily, the Bounty sustained minimal damage and is still operational. Garmadon and I are on our way now. Stay alert, Ninja! And beware."

"We will, Sensei," Cole said firmly, "We promise."

Wu dipped his head again, and the hologram flickered out. I sucked in a deep breath, feeling the tension release from my shoulders as I exhaled. That was one problem out of the way. Now all we had to do was lay low until the cavalry arrived.

Beside me, Cole gave a similar relieved sigh, "All right, that makes me feel a little better. Still, it's likely Morro got a head start, so we need to continue keeping any eye out for him, just in case."

"Kai had been on guard for nearly an hour now," Zane noted, "Perhaps it is time for someone to relieve him."

"Not it!" Jay exclaimed immediately, his hand shooting into the air, "I want to keep practicing Cyclondo!"

"Cyclondo?" Zane echoed in confusion.

"He means Airjitzu," I clarified, and Jay blew a raspberry.

"Cyclondo sounds way cooler," he said, waving his hand dismissively.

"You mean way dorkier," Cole retorted, a smirk teasing his face. Jay gave an exaggerated gasp of offense, but before he could scold Cole, I jumped in.

"I can go," I offered. Cole and Zane looked at me in alarm, and Jay laughed. When he caught the look on my face, however, he stopped.

"Oh, you're not joking," the redhead muttered before he cleared his throat, "Uh, no offense, but are sure you can, you know… ninja that well?"

"It's just a stakeout, geez," I replied, rolling my eyes, "I know how to hide and sit still for long periods of time. I'm not as well-known as you guys anyway, so I'll blend in better."

"Morro will recognize you," Zane pointed out.

"So I won't let him see me," I shot back, "Come on, guys, it's just for an hour. I want to help!"

The boys didn't reply immediately as they exchanged skeptical looks. I felt a flare of annoyance at their hesitation, though I had no reason to. I knew they were worried, especially considering my self-defense skills weren't up-to-scratch. But I also wanted to be useful. If feeding them necessary information wasn't going to work, the least I could do was start getting my hands dirty.

After a long pause, Cole sighed, "All right, fine. But one of us is coming with you."

"Fair," I agreed.

"Jay," Cole turned to the redhead, "Since you called 'Not It' first, you get to go with Abby."

"What?!" Jay whined, giving the other boy a disbelieving look, "Come on, I was kidding!"

"If you were kidding, then there's no problem with you going," the Earth Ninja replied with a grin. Jay opened his mouth, but stopped as Cole's words sank in. Finally, he huffed and crossed his arms grumpily.

"Fine," he grumbled. His attitude was so childish that I couldn't help but smile in amusement.

"Thanks for volunteering, Jay," I said sarcastically, elbowing him in the ribs, "So glad you have a good attitude about it too."

"Ah, shut up," he muttered, slapping my hands away, but the corners of his mouth twitched. As the Lightning Ninja went to throw on one of the cloaks we had found in a dumpster, I slid my bag off my shoulder and handed it to Cole.

"Here." I patted the lump that was the teapot, "I don't want to risk it getting stolen. Take care of it, all right?"

He nodded, "You got it."

While this was going on, Zane had gone to poke his head out the door. As Jay walked back over fussing with the cloak, Zane called quietly, "It is clear for now; hurry!"

"See you in a few," I said with a grin before Jay and I dashed for the door, slipping out into the empty street.

AN: *stuffs Cole in a box and sits on the lid* No more screentime for you.

Goodbye for now, friends! Please leave me some nice reviews to come back to!