Lloyd knew ninja were supposed to be stealthy, but creaky doors didn't let him. It was as he tiptoed through the lobby that he bumped into Jay.
"Are you leaving again?" Jay asked. He blocked the outside exit, and Lloyd wouldn't be able to outrun him, even if he tried.
Lloyd looked down at Jay, which still weirded him out. He took a moment to choose his words carefully, so they didn't come out sounding childish. "Yes, I am. How did you know I was up?"
Jay shrugged with a grin. "Sensitive hearing. It's a blessing. And a curse. But come on, it feels like you just got back, and tomorrow is the first day of school! Don't you want to support us?"
Actually, the school opening was one of the hundreds of reasons Lloyd wanted to go on another meditation trip. So many kids, being so childish. It made Lloyd jealous, and it made him want to break down and act natural, but he couldn't. Not since the stupid tea made him look older and the ninja had assumed he was older on the inside as well. The others saw him as a leader they could look up to for wisdom and strength, but the act was tiring and got old fast, so he would go on trips to unwind and act his age.
Lloyd gripped the backpack on his shoulder. "I'll just distract the kids with how awesome I am. I'm sure you'll handle it great."
Jay put on some puppy eyes. "Please? You were like, half of our advertising hooks."
Lloyd pressed both hands to his forehead as a migraine crashed into him. He thought about pushing Jay over to escape, but refused, and the pain continued to spike.
Jay's voice pierced through the darkness. "Hey, are you ok?"
Lloyd felt a hand on his shoulder, but he quickly batted it away. "Get out of my way or I'll make you!"
Jay put both hands up in surrender and backed away. "Woah, ok. I'm sorry."
The headache faded as fast as it had come, and was replaced by a happy, satisfied feeling and a rush of adrenaline that encouraged Lloyd to carry through with his threat even though Jay was already out of the way. He tried to push it down as he ran out of the building. The second he was outside, he summoned his golden dragon and took off.
Once he was sure he was out of earshot, he screamed in frustration.
Another thing Lloyd didn't dare tell the others: He inherited the effects of the Great Devourer's venom from his father.
When Lloyd's body was young, the effects couldn't be noticed. It slowly became stronger, but Lloyd was evil for most of that time, so it never mattered. Once the tomorrow's tea made him grow, the power spiked. Thankfully, with the stone army, his father, and the Overlord causing trouble, he'd barely had time to stop and think. But now the Overlord was defeated, and everything was ok. Except for Lloyd. It was stupid.
The only one who knew about Lloyd's problem was his dad. He knew what the venom did, and noticed very quickly. It was so scary. Lloyd didn't want anybody else to know about it.
Lloyd flew to Ninjago City. The first thing he noticed on the skyline was the skeleton of a huge tower being built over where the Overlord's fortress used to be. The unfinished building reminded Lloyd of his treehouse. Lloyd wanted to rebuild that, but he didn't have an army of snakes to help him.
Lloyd landed a good distance away from the city. Whenever he landed in the city a huge crowd would form and he would be stuck in the middle shaking hands and talking to the press for hours. It was awful.
Lloyd unzipped his backpack and pulled out a black hoodie. Until a couple months ago, a smaller version of it was the only thing he wore. He still felt more comfortable and at home in it, like he was still his small self, and it was also to hide his gi. The gold made him too noticeable.
He zipped up the hoodie and pulled the hood around his face, then walked towards the city. The buildings got taller and closer together, and soon he was in the heart of Ninjago.
On his way, Lloyd passed five kids playing keep away with a ball, one of Lloyd's favorite games that he hadn't played in forever. He forgot about his act and ran towards them. "Oh! Oh! Hey, can I play?"
All the kids froze and looked at Lloyd. Lloyd noticed they looked scared.
Finally, one spoke up. "My mommy told me not to talk to strangers." The others nodded in agreement, and then they all ran off.
Lloyd groaned. If he made it obvious he was the golden ninja, they would have begged to play with him. But the golden ninja wasn't what Lloyd wanted to be, and deep down he had never been.
Lloyd walked into Mother Doomsday's shop with his head down.
"Say, what's with that sour mood, kid?" Mother Doomsday asked from his counter across the room.
Lloyd went up to the counter and threw his arms across it. "There's a lot going on."
Once Lloyd was kicked out of Darkley's, Mother Doomsday was the closest he had to family. He was also the only person to wonder about Lloyd's age inside, and Lloyd could never lie to him. Besides his father, Doomsday was the only one who knew how old he really felt.
Mother Doomsday reached under the counter and pulled up a bag of candy. "Things would be easier if you told people what you're going through. They can help."
Lloyd grabbed the bag eagerly. The two had this conversation almost every time, and it was starting to annoy Lloyd, which wasn't a good thing. "I can't! Everyone looks up to me, expects me to be strong. If they start worrying about me more than focusing on their jobs, everything will fall apart!"
Doomsday just gave him a strange look Lloyd couldn't describe. After a moment of that look, Doomsday got up and started walking through the aisles of comics. "I think you should check out "Chronicles of Kata Tui" next. The characters look weird, but they're still relatable."
"Sure." Lloyd followed him to the shelves and looked at the cover. He was trying to get back into comic books, but they all made him mad. After the hero won, they got what had wanted and were happy. Lloyd won, but his life had never been worse. It wasn't fair.
Doomsday handed Lloyd the first issue. As always, Lloyd pulled out some money. As always, Doomsday pushed it away. "You're a hero, Lloyd. You saved Ninjago. This is the least I can do."
Lloyd didn't feel like a hero, but he never pushed it. Helping people made Doomsday feel happier than anything else could.
After some more small talk, Doomsday told Lloyd he had to close up shop. Lloyd left, summoned his dragon, and took off towards his father's monastery.
It wasn't long after Lloyd landed that his parents came running out to meet him. Lloyd let his mother hug him, even though it was uncomfortable. She didn't seem like his mom. More like a stranger he met just months ago.
Lloyd's father hugged him next, which made him feel small and happy again for a brief moment.
Misako smiled. "What brings you back so soon, son?"
Lloyd looked down at his feet. "I need to talk with dad about something."
Misako nodded. "I see. I hope you can figure it out." She hurried out of the room with a worried glance over her shoulder. Lloyd tried to ignore it. She couldn't possibly care about him.
Dad studied Lloyd's face. "The conditions are getting worse, aren't they?"
Lloyd sighed. "I almost hurt Jay."
"Let's go out to the balcony." Garmadon started walking, but still looked back at Lloyd while he talked. "The thing to focus on is the almost. You resisted the venom's suggestions, and you can continue to do so."
Lloyd followed his dad. "But I didn't resist it. I just yelled and threatened him instead. And he was so shocked and scared-"
"Ha! Jay, shocked. That's a good one, son."
Lloyd looked down at his feet. The pun was accidental. "I can't keep doing this. There has to be a way to get rid of it. It isn't fair!"
The two stepped out onto the balcony. The cold night somehow calmed Lloyd down.
His father put both hands on the detailed railing. "There was only one thing that helped me resist the venom in every circumstance. The venom never directly affects your will. It punishes you when you do something good or refuse to do something bad, and rewards you for doing evil, but in the end your choices are still yours. It is always possible to fight against it, although it is the hardest thing I have ever done." He took a shaky breath and closed his eyes.
Lloyd became aware of how hard it was for his father to talk about his past. Lloyd could understand. Just thinking about the pain made him want to curl up, and it wasn't even at full strength yet.
Garmadon continued. "The solution is love. I love you and... Misako so much I would rather endure the worse endless torment imaginable than see you two come to any harm."
"Do you really still love Misako?"
Garmadon gave a small smile and ruffled Lloyd's hair. "I do, but time has grown a gap between us. It is natural for a widow to move on and find someone else, and I was in the underworld, never meant to return, for years. She moved on from grieving, and now she has to undo it all."
Lloyd looked up at the stars. He couldn't even have a family. Nothing was fair. "I don't think I love anyone that much."
"Are you sure?"
"The ninja used to be so mean to me, and now I have to be serious around them and they look up to me. We're not on equal grounds. I can't tell them anything. I don't even want to be a ninja! And Sensei Wu is so focused on being my sensei, he's never felt like an uncle. He's all riddles and secrets and training. I only met Misako a few months ago, and I haven't really forgiven her for abandoning me. Sometimes I wonder how much she actually cares about me. And you-" Pain covered Lloyd's entire body in the amount of time it would take to turn off the lights in a room. He screamed and collapsed to his knees. Tears welled up uncontrollably in his eyes. It felt like his blood was boiling. He was faintly aware of his shoulders being shaken and his name being called, but it felt distant.
It was all Garmadon's fault. He was the reason Lloyd had the venom in the first place, and yet Garmadon lived peacefully while Lloyd was tortured. It wasn't fair. Garmadon needed to suffer, too. He needed to pay.
Lloyd found Garmadon's neck through the nearly blinding pain. The old man's yells stopped, replaced by a mouth opening and closing silently.
The pain left. Lloyd got to his feet as strength pulsed through him. Garmadon tried to unclamp Lloyd's hands, but Lloyd wouldn't give.
Lloyd was filled with joy, watching Garmadon suffer like he deserved. The old man was weak, but Lloyd was so much stronger. A grin n spread across his face as he watched his father's eyes roll back into his head.
Father... his father...
Lloyd somehow released his grip and stumbled back, in horror, for his father's safety, and because the pain was returning to punish him. Garmadon collapsed to the floor, gasping.
Lloyd continued to back away. "I-I'm sorry, I-"
"It's ok, son," His father wheezed. "I understand. It's ok."
"No! Nothing is ok!" Lloyd screamed. He formed a ball of golden energy between his hands and managed to direct it at a tree below them. A little of the pain left as the tree crumbled, but it was still unbearable. The only way to make it disappear would be to hurt his father again. "I have to go."
"Wait, this isn't something you can run from! You need help!"
But Lloyd had already summoned his dragon and was taking off. He struggled to focus and steer though the pain screaming at him to go back and finish the old man. He made it to the top of the mountain behind the monastery, but before he could land, the dragon disappeared and he tumbled over the rocks. He could barely feel the injuries on top of everything else. He crawled into the cave his father gave him to meditate in, went to the far corner, curled up, and refused to move. Eventually the pain and tears exhausted him so much, he fell asleep.
Lloyd woke up to the sun slanting through the cave entrance and burning through his eyelids. He was still exhausted, and ached all over. A spring trickled from the entrance of the cave through a stone gutter the water had worn over time. It was just slow enough to see a reflection clearly.
He washed the makeup off his hands and face, shocked as always by how much paler he had become. He sat there and stared at his reflection for a while. He was beat up from his fall, but he had looked worse before. Besides that, he looked dead tired and depressed, just like how he was feeling. He looked into his own eyes. His father had told him that the venom was at its strongest when his eyes glowed red. Right now, Lloyd's eyes were clear, but he was scared of that changing.
Eventually Lloyd got up, put his backpack in a hole, and covered it with a rock to keep it safe. He took his candy, comic book, and dictionary and sat outside the cave in the sun. He tried not to think about last night.
First, he read the dictionary until he couldn't stand it anymore. It was covered in sticky notes marking words he heard the ninja say. Most of them were from Zane. Hopefully the research would help him feel as old as he looked. After he was sick of the big words, he read the comic book. As usual it didn't interest him. It all felt fake after everything he had gone through.
Then he did what his father had suggested, meditation. While he was alone, Lloyd had to resolve as many problems as possible. That way when he was around people he could harm he would be calmer, and the venom would have less to use against him. Unfortunately, this meant thinking about the night before.
Lloyd took a deep breath. He would never dream of hurting his father, but that's what he did, and even worse, he had enjoyed it. Lloyd would never be at peace with that, so what was the point of meditating in the first place? He wasn't even sure if he could look at his father ever again. He felt like hiding in his cave for forever, where he couldn't hurt anyone. It wasn't like he cared about them and wanted to spend time with them anyways. He had been forced to.
More pain poured over him and he screamed. The venom didn't like the idea of hiding. It wanted him to go out and destroy.
Lloyd took one step outside, then stopped. He had to see if he could fight off the venom, to give him a bit of hope.
Lloyd slowly backed away from the cave mouth, every step bringing pain until he could barely stand. Then he realized that as long as he stayed in that cave, the pain would increase, even if he stayed forever. He released a beam of golden energy at the cave wall in frustration. Scorch marks screeched up the wall. The destruction was enough to turn the pain to thrill. He continued to aim wildly or not at all, yelling and screaming out his anger. He didn't want it to stop.
Lloyd's ringtone startled him into stopping. The pain slammed back into him and he fell to his hands and knees. He gritted his teeth and crawled over to the hole that held his backpack. The rock covering it was completely scorched and smoking. He removed it and was relieved to see the bag was safe. He took a deep breath, unsuccessfully tried to push back the pain, and answered the phone. "What is it?"
Cole's voice came through. "Woah, are you ok? You sound hurt."
Lloyd pressed his free hand to his screaming head. "I'm fine! Just spit it out, what do you want?"
Cole was silent for a moment. "Some people were protesting the construction of Borg Tower, but it turned into a riot. They've set up explosives to topple the structure, but it's so huge, if it comes down it could cause a lot of damage. The police are trying to calm it down but they've called for backup."
"Why can't you do it?"
"Well, we're busy at school. These kids are out of control! But-"
"Fine! I'll go!" Lloyd hung up. He smashed the phone against the floor and took advantage of the painless moment to run outside and summon his dragon.
The pain was back sooner than he had hoped. He barely managed to make it to Ninjago City. As he flew low around the construction site, cheering started below. The noise broke the little concentration Lloyd had, and he dropped roughly to the ground on his hands and knees.
The cheering stopped, and he became aware of every person staring at him. The rioters, the police, the passerby. He wasn't wearing any makeup, and he still had his black hoodie on over his gi. Everyone saw an inhumanly pale, beaten, exhausted, obviously pained teenager in black.
Lloyd shot to his feet and backed away, pushing back tears from the pain and shame. "Stop- stop looking at me like that!"
A few people near the front switched to studying the ground, but Lloyd could still feel thousands of eyes haunting him and confirming one of his many fears. People were scared of him.
"I said stop!" Lloyd yelled. He started to build up a ball of golden energy. The crowd began to scream and scatter. Lloyd aimed his hands at one of the rioters.
A shadow passed over Lloyd's head. The ultradragon landed, carrying his father, Sensei Wu, Kai, Jay, Zane, and Cole.
Lloyd's father climbed down the second it was safe, and started running towards Lloyd. "Son! You're stronger than this!"
Lloyd looked down at the orb floating between his hands. Just thinking about calling it off made him stagger. Actually doing it would hurt too much, but he didn't want to hurt anybody. Without really thinking, he turned around and released the attack into Borg Tower.
There was a boom so loud Lloyd felt the sound more than heard it. A wall of heat and flame threw him back. All he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears as the construction site crumbled. It seemed to be in slow motion. As story upon story collapsed, debris and dust billowed out and began a domino effect with nearby buildings. The bombs the rioters had set up must have gone off.
Lloyd laid there and watched the sickeningly satisfying scene. Soon he could hear screaming and sirens. He slowly got to his feet, in awe of how much destruction there was. He had done all of this to the great city. He felt powerful, but also horrible.
Lloyd watched the ninja run towards him, then stop several feet away. They stared at him, and Lloyd stared back, until Jay spoke up. "What happened? You look terrible!"
That ticked Lloyd off. He angled a beam of energy towards Jay, but everyone jumped out of the way in time.
Despite the now rough terrain, Cole rolled right back to his feet. "Can someone tell me what the heck is going on?"
Lloyd's father helped Jay to his feet, then glanced for a moment at Lloyd. "He inherited the effects of the Great Devourer's venom, and it is influencing him to do evil."
Wu walked up to the others. "Why didn't you tell us this before?"
"I wasn't aware of how strong the venom was."
Lloyd gritted his teeth. "You're talking like I'm not even here!" He put his hands out to form another beam, but Zane flicked his wrist, and a wall of ice sprouted up between Lloyd and the others. Lloyd turned to go around it, only to find he was completely enclosed in a frozen box. The ice crackled as it slowly grew thicker.
Kai's voice was muffled. "Zane, what are you doing?"
Zane kept his eyes fixed on Lloyd. "He's being affected by the venom. We must treat him as we did Garmadon when he was the same."
"But he isn't just another Garmadon," Kai snapped. "He's our leader and our friend!"
Lloyd's reflection in the ice caught his attention. A thin layer of dirt from the explosion covered him from head to toe, and his eyes glowed bright red. He looked terrifying. First he tried to back away from his reflection, but his back bumped against more ice. In every direction he looked, a monster stared back.
Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut as his heart plunged to his shoes. If he could fight the venom previously, it was pointless now. The venom was at full strength, and would be for the rest of his life. He was tired of being in so much pain all the time. He wanted it to stop. Why did everyone expect him to fight it back? He wasn't strong. He was just a little kid. It wasn't fair.
Lloyd slowly opened his eyes, but avoided looking at the ninja and himself. Fighting against himself would give him nothing but torture forever. He couldn't be happy like that, and would never win. If he gave in, all of it would stop. He would be doing bad things, but it would be easier to get used to than the pain. There was a time where he enjoyed being evil before. No matter how he looked at it, quitting seemed like the only way to ever be happy.
Zane was still arguing. "Kai, would you please use logic for once in your life?"
"Would you care about something for once?" Kai snapped.
Zane faltered, making it obvious Kai's jab hurt a lot. The ice around Lloyd stopped growing.
It was the perfect moment to take advantage of. Lloyd formed an energy orb in his hands, then expanded it to his size. Ice shards shot out in every direction. Before anyone else could react, Lloyd aimed a laser beam at Zane. The impact sent the white ninja flying though a partially collapsed building behind him. The unsound structure collapsed further with a billow of dust.
The ninja stared at the building in shock, then Cole started running towards it. "I'll go help Zane!" He called over his shoulder. "You two try to calm Lloyd down!"
Kai and Jay turned to face Lloyd. He finally wasn't hurting anymore. It was such a relief, he found himself laughing. At first it scared him, but he pushed that away and focused on the strength the venom rewarded him with.
Jay's voice shook. "Uh, Kai? I think I missed the punchline."
Kai placed a reassuring hand on Jay's shoulder, then stepped forward. "Lloyd, snap out of it! We're your friends."
"No you aren't!" Lloyd snapped, his laughing cut short. "The only time when everything was ok was when I was on my own. Before that, everyone at Darkley's picked on me. After that, you ninja dragged me into your mess, and I got old, and I had to fight my own dad, and be your leader with all of this responsibility..." Lloyd clenched his fists and tried to stop shaking. He was already starting to hurt again. "I'm done with taking care of other people! I've let myself be tortured for months just so you guys can goof around like you always do! But not anymore. I'm going to start taking care of myself, just like I did before I found those stupid snakes!" Lloyd shot a beam of energy at Kai and Jay, but they rolled behind a huge rock where Garmadon and Wu were hiding.
"Holy monologue!" Jay gasped. "That is definitely the same venom Garmadon had."
"This is bad," Garmadon muttered.
Kai frowned. "That was already pretty obvious,"
"This is no time for attitude, Kai! Yours has done enough damage already," Garmadon snapped.
Kai lowered his head.
Sensei Garmadon sighed, then continued. "Lloyd has hit rock bottom. He has given up of fighting the venom and fully embraces it. Instead of punishing him with overwhelming pain that could slow him down, he's being rewarded with energy."
Sensei Wu nodded. "When Garmadon reached that point, the only thing I could do to stop him was banishing him to the underworld."
"How the heck do we do that?" Jay asked.
"You are not sending my son to the underworld!" Garmadon roared.
Jay threw his hands in the air. "Oh ok then, I guess we'll die!"
"That's a great idea," Lloyd said from on top of the rock they were hiding behind. Now he had a height advantage, and there was nowhere they could run in time to avoid a blast. They tried anyway, and it was entertaining to watch them scramble around as he charged up a beam.
Lloyd noticed Cole next to him out of the corner of his eye, but it was too late.
Cole screamed in anger and swung both arms into Lloyd's chest, who went flying off the rock. He tumbled across the ground, out of breath and head roaring. He could barely even register his father trying to help him to his feet. Cole's super strength was nothing to mess with.
"What were you thinking?" Sensei Garmadon yelled.
Cole stomped towards Lloyd. He was shaking, and once he got closer Lloyd could see tears in his eyes. "You- you killed Zane! I pulled him out of the wreck but he was too damaged and now he's gone!"
The news brought Lloyd back to full consciousness again, and he was able to stand on his own. Kai and Jay stared at him in complete shock, but Lloyd tried to ignore it. He pushed down the feeling of guilt and focused on the energy flowing through him, replacing the pain. This was a good thing. It had to be. Zane was a removed burden from his life. "Good riddance!" He managed to say. "It's Kai's fault he faltered anyways. If the jerk hadn't hurt his feelings, he would have seen my attack coming!"
"How dare you!" Kai lit his fists on fire and charged.
Lloyd's father stepped in front of him, which forced Kai to stop. Garmadon put his hands on Kai's shoulders. "You need to help him, not fight him. Please don't let him turn into me!"
Lloyd kicked his father onto the ground. "Stop fighting my battle for me like I'm some baby! I am the ultimate spinjitzu master! I can do anything, and I don't need anyone."
Garmadon stared up at Lloyd with fear in his eyes that silenced his voice.
With Garmadon out of the way, there was nothing holding Kai back. He reignited his fists and went for Lloyd's jaw. Lloyd simply stepped out of the way. The venom was giving him so much clarity. Everything felt right somehow, even the things that shouldn't.
Cole ran up to help Kai flank Lloyd, while Jay shot lightning from long distance. Their years of fighting together was showing. Lloyd had never seen them so angry before. They weren't doing the usual friendly training spar. This time, it was actually a challenge for Lloyd. Between the three of them, he could barely defend himself, let alone counter strike. He needed an advantage.
Lloyd looked behind him. The broken Borg Tower had collapsed into a strange, spikey pyramid of ruin. It looked even more dangerous than that treehouse he had built. The terrain inside would break the ninja apart, and it had places to hide. Lloyd wasn't sure if it was him being smart, or the venom. He launched into the air and summoned his golden dragon. The ninja tossed elements at him, but he was able to hear them all coming and swerve.
He landed carefully on top of the rubble, then dropped down in. Inside, light beamed though in triangles and slivers, He wandered through the metal web for a while, until he came across two huge beams sticking into the air because they were leaning on each other at the perfect angle. It was a miracle they had fallen against each other like that, and that it hadn't collapsed yet. He could tell the tiniest nudge could make them fall. It was a perfect trap. He hid himself and waited for the ninja to come along. He wondered for a second if he should stop and ask for forgiveness, if he could ever be strong enough to fight against the venom. But just the thought made him feel like a huge nail was being hammered between his eyes. It was sad how weak he was, but he couldn't live with that pain anymore.
Jay's voice sounded up ahead. "I'm not sure if we can take him, guys. We couldn't even beat him in training when we had Zane!"
"We don't have to defeat him," Cole said, "Just knock him out. After that, we can put him in some vengestone and try to figure out what to do."
"So let me get this straight," Jay said, "He's still our friend and we do want to help him?"
"Of course we are!" Kai snapped.
Jay stepped into view. He was walking right under the trap beams. "Woah, woah, that's what I thought to. I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. Calm down, hot rod."
Lloyd had always considered his life to be the worst luck possible. Yet here he was, his prey just happening to walk right where he needed them to. Before he had been trying to be good, and now he was doing what he wanted and everything was ok.
Kai and Cole followed Jay under the trap. Lloyd shot a beam of energy at the three, barely even charged to give them as little time to react as possible. Cole and Kai still somehow managed to dodge it, but Jay, who was closer, had no hope. He screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor as the golden light passed through him. The shot continued like Jay didn't exist and hit the metal beam behind it, knocking the structure out of its cautious balance. Jay was unresponsive as the trap came crashing down.
"No!" Cole put up his arms and braced himself to hold it up. The impact and weight sent him to his knees. It looked like he was just barely strong enough to lift it. "J-jay!" His voice was strained. "You have to move!" His arms started to shake.
Jay might have shivered, but it was such a small movement, Lloyd could have imagined it.
Kai yelled in rage and launched himself at Lloyd. Lloyd stepped aside and let the ninja barrel past. Kai got so sloppy when he was emotional. It was actually slightly entertaining. Kai turned around and ran at Lloyd a second time. Lloyd ducked, but instead of running past like before, Kai stayed close and swung again. Lloyd barely managed to avoid it, and they went back to the pattern of Kai on offense and Lloyd so busy on defense he couldn't strike back.
"This can't be you!" Kai yelled while he slashed. "You would never do stuff like this! It must be mind control, or possession, or- or something!"
Lloyd wished Kai could be right, but he wasn't. This was all Lloyd's doing, with his own free will.
Kai got a lucky strike in and sliced his sword across Lloyd's left arm. Lloyd recoiled out of habit, but then realized it didn't hurt much compared to what he had gone through before. The combat was getting boring, though. He watched Kai's sloppy pattern for a moment, then grabbed the hilt of his sword, twisted it out of his hands, and drove it into his chest.
Kai gasped and fell to his knees. Lloyd turned around and shot a beam at Cole, who screamed and lost his battle with the beam. Lloyd couldn't watch as the metal came down, but he heard Cole's screams cut short. Jay, for once, was also silent.
"No," Kai groaned, his breathing small.
Lloyd turned to look at him. "If it's any consolation, this is the best I've ever felt in my life. Thanks for helping."
"I don't believe you," Kai said through clenched teeth. "You aren't a monster. Killing them must hurt you, and you won't be able to live with yourself."
Lloyd shrugged. Kai was right, killing people did make him feel awful. But those feeling were much easier to bury and live with than the venom's punishments. Lloyd pulled out the sword to open the wound, so Kai would die faster. Then he turned around to leave the ruins.
As Lloyd stepped out of the tower ruins, something roared across the sky. He looked up to see Nya's Samurai X mech beginning to land. It touched down a couple feet away from him, blowing up dust as it slowed its descent.
"I don't want to hurt you, Lloyd!" Nya called from the safety of her mech.
Lloyd laughed. "Oh really? Guess whose blood is on this sword?"
Nya was silent, but the mech raised its own huge sword in preparation to fight.
"Let's just say his suit is definitely a deeper shade of red than before. Oh yeah, The other three are dead, too."
"Stand down!" Nya yelled. Her voice was shaking, although Lloyd couldn't tell if it was from fear or anger. Either worked.
"Naw. Now get out of that mech and fight me like a girl!" Lloyd fired a beam at the mech. Nya flipped out of it just in time as the contraption burst into flame and fell apart. She pulled out her own normal sized sword and ran at Lloyd, although her armor slowed her down considerably. Lloyd held up his own sword to block and the two swords rang as they met.
"I can't believe you've given up like this!" Nya screamed. Lloyd wished he could see her face through her mask, so he could see her suffer.
Nya wouldn't back off, even though everyone else had failed trying to fight him."Your father was the worst guy in Ninjago, but now look at him! Things can change, and in a good way, kid. In fact, you were the one who cleansed him! You probably could have fixed yourself a long time ago!"
Lloyd dropped his sword in shock. Undefended, Nya drove her sword right through him. She gasped, panicked, and pulled her sword back out as she backed away. "No! Why didn't you defend? I didn't want to hurt you!"
Lloyd curled into a ball and closed his eyes. At least the wound didn't hurt much. The clarity of the venom was gone. Everything was fading. How could he have been so dumb...
Nya continued to back away. Wu walked up to her. "Nya-"
Nya spun to look at him. "No! Nothing you could say can make this better!" She wiped her eyes and walked down the destroyed street slowly, head low and blood-stained sword trailing in the dirt.
Garmadon rushed over to his limp son and clutched him tight to his chest, tears streaming down his face. In a shaky voice, he started to sing an old lullaby for his little boy.