Review Replies:

Guest: Haha, sorry. I do the same thing too XXD And yes, I'm planning a sequel.

LucyBrick123: I take great pride in making you choke on your drink. Thanks!

Isabella camovic: As said before, I'm not certain when the story will finish. It could very well go into the thirties. It's just that we're nearing the end where it was in my notes, which, may I remind you, are not as detailed as the actual story. Also, how was I supposed to make this chapter all about Echo? I'm sorry to say he won't be coming in again for a little while, but he should be coming back in either next chapter or the one after that (again, never certain).

Ebony umbreon: Seamus' daughter was very... young. She would call him Carrot because she thought he looked like one because of his green streaked hair. Also, yeah, pretty much.

Chapter Twenty-Four:

Deranged

His mouth was dry. In the way that one could only achieve by sleeping with it wide open. It was the first thing he registered, and he ran his tongue along the sides of his mouth in an attempt to regain his saliva, before the ringing in his ears and the pulsing throb of his head took over.

He groaned, grimacing. He kept his eyes shut, afraid to open them encase he was assaulted by unpleasant light. He moved to massage his temple, hoping to relieve himself of the pain, but his arms wouldn't move. It was as though they were glued to his sides.

"Oh, look," the mocking voice pierced through his skull, hardly audible over the ringing in his ears, "The all-powerful Green Ninja has awoken."

Fingertips lightly brushed against the flesh of his cheek, colder than ice, sending a shudder up his spine.

"Don't you touch him!"

The fingers came to stop. Then, with a small chuckled, they retreated, and Lloyd began to breathe again. He hadn't even realised he'd stopped.

"Lloyd? Lloyd, are you alright?"

He tried to answer, but all that came out was another groan. He tried to open his eyes, wanting to see what was happening, but they quickly fell closed again when his head spiked, his fears having been realised. Wherever he was, it was bright.

"It appears," said the mocking voice, "That the Master of Power has a... headache. You must regret keeping your concussion from them, no?"

"Concussion?" that was Cole. What was he doing here?

A sigh. Someone else, with a mechanical ring to their voice. "I knew it."

Taking a steadying breath, Lloyd forced his eyes open, but he was hardly able to see through the blurriness of his own vision. Someone was standing in front of him, surrounded by a green hue. Someone he knew. It took him a moment to recognise who it was.

"Clouse," Lloyd sighed, his voice hoarse, the ringing in his ears slowly dulling, "Of course."

"Aren't you glad to see me?" asked Clouse, a smirk dancing on his lips. He didn't wait for an answer. "You've gotten yourself into quite the pickle, haven't you?"

"Lloyd," the voice was desperate and relieved at the same time. He turned his head slowly, locking eyes with Jay, who was tied up to a pole a little ways to his right, "Lloyd, are you okay?"

He blinked slowly, wishing he could raise his hand to rub his forehead, "Yeah," he croaked, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He took a better look at his surroundings. They were in a large room- no, a hall. Like an entrance hall in a mansion. Doors branched off to gods knows where, and ladders vanished into the darkness far above them, propped against the walls. Vengestone chains kept Lloyd's arms at his sides, rattling and clanking against each other with every move he made.

Black Rags surrounded them, taunting grins and snickers beneath their ragged shawls. Some were perched on the ladders, others tables or chairs or on top of each other. One hung upside down from a low beam, giggling and pointing and singing something in their unknown language. A taunting song.

The only word Lloyd could think of to describe the scenario was deranged.

They all looked deranged.

Jay and Cole were tied up to poles to his right, said poles having been bolted to the wall. Nya and Zane were in the same position, except to his left. Lloyd's back was pressed against a fourth pole, but he wasn't tied to it, leaving him sitting on in a puddle on the floor. He wondered if that was on purpose.

"You certainly won't be fine for long," said Clouse, clasping his ghostly hands behind his back, "Soren will be sure of that."

Lloyd looked from Jay and Cole to Zane and Nya, eyes wide. Then he turned back to Clouse and, with as much venom as he could muster (which wasn't all that much, considering his condition), said, "Where's Seamus?"

Clouse gave an annoying giggle, the type that only one with a voice like his could create, looking far too pleased. "I see he's hit a sore spot."

"What?" said Jay, beginning to struggle against his bonds, "What did you do with Seamus?!"

Clouse made an odd sound, something between a giggle and a chuckle. Lloyd's hands clenched into fists, energy crackling beneath his skin, but unable to manifest into anything useful. His glare hardened.

"Oh, of course, you four wouldn't know," Clouse made that odd noise again, ghostly grin showing off perfect teeth, "You weren't there, after all."

Cole frowned, "What are you talking about?"

"Lloyd?" said Nya, "What's he talking about? What's happened to Seamus?"

Teeth gritted, Lloyd didn't answer, just closed his eyes. Jay stopped struggling, looking at his younger brother with wide eyes.

"Lloyd?"

"Yes, Lloyd," his eyes snapped open, widening to three times their size. The snickering Black Rags fell deathly silent, some even shrinking away. The hall was filled with the tip tap of boots against stone, and then a small yelp as they kicked a Black Rag that had come to close, sending them scrambling towards the shadows.

If there was one word that Lloyd could use to describe the man that stopped in front of him, it was grizzly. His grey-streaked crimson hair was frizzy and matted, stubble covering his jaw and chin. He was tall, impressively so, leaving Lloyd grimacing as he was forced to tilt his head all the way back to look him in the face. His hands, scarred and worn, with only seven fingers.

"Why don't you tell them?" said the man, as though asking what he was doing on the weekend. Lloyd didn't answer, mostly because his brain was having trouble registering what was happening.

However, the man seemed uncaring for the silence that had descended it, for he simply smiled. "My apologies. I never introduced myself," he held out a hand, as though Lloyd's weren't tied to his sides, "My name is Soren Jerhys."

Lloyd stared at the hand outstretched towards him, then raised his eyes to give the man a blank stare. Mockery gleamed in his eyes, smile still in place. Then, without a word, he dropped his arm back to his side.

"Of course," said Soren, rocking on the balls of his feet, "I already know who you are. Everyone knows who you are, Garmadon."

Lloyd's lips pressed into a thin line. He was never called by his surname, for obvious reasons. "That's my father's name."

"In Japan," said Soren, conversationally, "Calling someone by their first name is a sign of close friendship," his smile had, at some point, turned into a smirk, "But I'm sure we'll get to that level at some point, Garmadon."

It was unnerving, being called that. Lloyd bit his tongue.

"Stop pestering them, Jerhys."

Lloyd froze. Something terrible churned in the pit of his stomach.

"Seamus!" Jay exclaimed, a smile lighting his face, "You're okay!"

Seamus hardly glanced at him. His face, which had previously been quite kind, was an unyielding mask. He stopped beside Soren, arms crossing over his chest, tapping his finger against his elbow impatiently.

Slowly, Jay's smile fell, "Seamus?"

The traitor didn't answer, as though Jay hadn't spoken at all, as though they weren't even there. His gaze was solely on Soren, impatient and annoyed.

"I held up by end of the deal," he said, "Now you hold up yours."

Zane looked from Seamus to Soren, then to Lloyd and back again. Realisation dawned in his electric blue eyes, and then a look of pure rage took over his face.

"You bastard!" he yelled, causing his siblings to gape at him, "You did this!"

"Hm," said Clouse, surprised, "It can swear."

"Don't call him an 'it'!" snapped Nya, her eyes a venomous glare.

"Why do you want it anyway, Carrot?" asked Soren, ignoring her. A terribly held back laugh stopped Seamus from answering and, as one, a thousand pair of eyes turned to look at Jay.

The lightning ninja's cheeks were puffed up, face slightly red. His shoulders shook with each suppressed laugh, but it didn't last long. He burst out into a fight of laughter, whooping and howling as though the funniest joke in the world had just been presented to him on a silver platter. Seamus and Soren looked at each other, then back at Jay.

"Y-Your name," Jay said between bursts of laughter, "I-Is C-Carrot?"

Seamus scowled, as Jay burst into another fit, doubling over, vengestone chains rattling against each other. After a long moment, he put his head back against the pole, a grin on his face, panting as he struggled to regain his breath, small giggles escaping every now and then.

Soren raised an eyebrow, "You done?"

Jay gave another little giggle, "Probably not."

Seamus rolled his eyes, "Ignore the idiot. My reasons are my own."

The grizzly man looked at him for a moment, Jay once again struggling to hold in his laughter, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'Carrot.' Soren glanced at the blue ninja without turning his head, and then gave Seamus a little nod.

It was with that nod that Seamus Dewer stripped away, his flesh from his bone, replaced by an entirely different person. The true Seamus Dewer, instead of the man that Lloyd had started to consider a friend. Instead of the man that he had pitied, he saw Carrot.

From his pocket, Carrot pulled out something shiny. For a moment, Lloyd thought it was a knife.

Then, in four quick strides, he was standing in front of Jay, who was still grinning. The ice cream scooper glinted in the torchlight as Carrot raised it, Zane's electric blue eyes flashing with what Lloyd recognised to be him contacting someone.

Lloyd saw Jay's face contort in confusion upon realising what was in Carrot's hand. He opened his mouth to say something, something Lloyd would never know. The Black Rags began to jitter excitedly, like an audience at a football game.

Jay's screams bounced off the walls as Carrot forced the ice cream scooper into his eye socket.

Kai lay on the couch, bored out of his mind. There was nothing interesting on the TV at this time of day, and the documentary he'd reluctantly put on was terribly dull.

Misako had long since gone out to assist with the aftermath of the blackout, and Wu had left for the store to get a certain type of tea that would 'make him feel like he was being caressed by the wind.' Kai, having some experience with a certain master of wind, did not find the thought all that pleasing.

Then the alarm started blaring and he fell off the couch.

With a few nasty swear words that would have earned him a whack over the head had Wu or Misako been present, Kai struggled to his feet, a hiss of breath slipping past clenched teeth as his legs burned and wobbled.

Stumbling like a toddler walking for the first time, Kai made his way to the bridge. His bandaged legs trembled and throbbed, scabs splitting and staining the previously white bandages with spots of red. The blare of the alarms was all he could hear, and was beginning to give him a headache.

He tripped, and his hand slammed into the bridge's control panel, thankfully switching off the alarm. Grimacing and muttering a few more swear words as his body tingled in protest, Kai forced himself to stand up, putting most of his weight on the control panel and squinting as the screen showed him a map of Ninjago.

A white dot flashed above the location of Stiix. Breath coming out in short gasps, Kai fumbled with his phone, hastily downloading the tracer. He looked left, then right, then down at his injured, pyjama-clad body.

Kai closed his eyes. Took a deep breath. Let it out slowly.

Opening his eyes, straightening as best he could without falling over, Kai began to make his way towards the cellar.

He was going to help this time.

Welp. This isn't gonna go down well.

Oh, look.

Jay's a pirate now.

How fun.