As dusk began, Lloyd moved the mech forward along the path while Akita, in her wolf form, sat on the left hand before stopping. Lloyd starts to look around before sighing, out of disbelief. Akita soon reverts to her human form and turns to him. "What is it?" She asked.
"I hate to break it to you, but I can't seem to find which direction we are going in, again." He replied.
Akita soon sighed. "Well, as long as we try to get our bearings, how about another story about your friends? Didn't you say your friend actually died once, but came back?"
"Yeah. There was actually this-" Screeching was heard as they both look up to see Tilika, in her animal form, circling around in front of them. "There's the falcon again."
"It can't be..."
"What?"
Akita soon realised something. "Tilika."
"The elder's daughter?"
"Yes. I cannot believe that she finally has found her animal form. I think she is guiding us to the castle."
"Okay, hold on." He moves the mech forward.
Within minutes, Lloyd soon stopped the mech by a cliff and they see Tilika fly towards the Ice Castle, which was past a frozen lake with ice pillars. "There it is."
"What are we waiting for?"
"It's gonna be dark soon. We'll have a better chance crossing the glacier by daylight." Akita nods and turns to the castle.
"I hope Tilika is doing the right thing by guiding us here."
Later that night, the mech was crouched down while Lloyd and Akita were around the heat lamp. "When you have rescued your friend, Zane, what will you do?"
"Go back to Ninjago, if there's a way. What about you?"
"I do not know." She leans back a little to look at the sky. "The forest is my home."
"Maybe you can come with us."
"Do you have Formlings in Ninjago?"
Lloyd soon frowned. "No."
"Then I would be alone there, too."
"You wouldn't be alone. You'd be with us. We have a really cool monastery. Video games, a hot tub. Uh, there's just these chickens you have to watch out for." Akita soon chuckles. "And my friend, Cirrus, she is about to have a baby."
"What about you?"
"Me?"
"Do you have someone you care about back in Ninjago? Other than Harumi?"
"No, not really."
Further away, Boreal was flying toward the castle.
Back by the campsite, Akita moved her head to the side. "What about Gewuji?"
"Oh, we're just fine being friends." Akita soon started to sniff around curiously. "What is it?"
They soon stand up. "Something is coming." She transforms into her animal form. Lloyd runs towards the mech while Akita stayed where she was. The hatch to the mech's seat opens up and Lloyd gets in before pressing a button to close it and then another to bring the controls close to him before pressing a few on it to activate the mech. Boreal's roar makes them both look up before Lloyd has the mech rise up and turn left to see it heading in their direction.
Lloyd quickly moves the mech to hide underneath a slope as Boreal passes by, making him sigh in relief, only for it to turn back around. Lloyd gasped the moment it came towards him and Akita, who growls before Lloyd presses a few buttons to reactivate the mech and moves a lever back to have the mech raise its shield and activate the rotating blade. "Akita, get behind me!" He charges forward before stopping when Boreal breaths out ice towards and the mech raises its shield to deflect the attack, making Boreal squeal before it goes around, turns back around and breathes out ice while moving around the mech as it moves in its direction as the ice trail started to come in closer to trapping the mech. "No!" The has ice soon completely entrapped the mech underneath giant pillars as Akita started to bark at Boreal, who drops down to confront her. While still trapped inside the mech as alarms were went off, Lloyd slams the controls in anger. "Come on, come on!" Akita charges at Boreal, who breathes out ice, but she manages to pass underneath it before turning around and growls as Boreal turned back around. Soon, the mech breaks free from the ice and grabs hold of Boreal before it turned around and throws it over the mech onto the ground. But as it slid, Boreal strikes the mech with its tail while getting up and starts to ascend before the mech grabs hold of its leg which soon froze to it and was dragged along as it flew up. "No! Not good, not good!"
"Warning, hull integrity at 40%." The mech's computer said. Boreal soon started to descend, moving along some mountains to try and shake the mech off of its leg. "30%." Akita runs after Boreal as it was still moving along the mountains. "20%. Warning, warning, hull integrity, 10%."
Lloyd slammed the console in anger. "I can count down to my own impending doom, thank you." He sarcastically spoke before wide eyeing when Boreal charges at a cliff wall and shuts his eyes. The ice around the mech's hand had started to crack as Boreal moved about, making the mech hit some ice pillars before quickly pulling up, breaking the mech free from its leg and sending it crashing into the cliff, immediately breaking apart. The console shuts down as Lloyd slowly came out of the wreckage, but falls and lands in the snow. Boreal soon circles around to come at Lloyd as he struggles to look before it lands in front of him and started to approach him. Before Boreal could even attack him, Akita charges towards it, running up its tail and along its back until she reached the head and forced it down. Boreal soon shook her off, sending her crashing into the cliff and lands in the wreck. "Akita!" He groaned as he struggles to try and get up while looking at Boreal, who turned back to him and was about to attack again.
In the corridor of the Ice Castle, Vex looks at Lloyd through Boreal's point of view by his ice shard. "No." He said. "Bring him to the Ice Emperor."
Outside, Boreal hears what Vex had told it before moving towards Lloyd as he moves back before grabbing hold of him by its leg talon and flies away. Akita reverts back to her human form, looks up at Boreal as it left and sighed out of failure before whimpering as she grabbed hold of her chest.
Boreal flies across the sky as Lloyd struggled to stay awake until it reached the entrance to the castle where Vex, Prinz and Tilika, in her human form, were. Boreal soon threw Lloyd down in front of them. "Pick him up." Prinz and Tilika head towards Lloyd before grabbing hold of him by his arms and pull him up. Vex moves towards Lloyd before putting his hand under his jaw to raise it so he could look closely at him before they soon take him inside.
In the throne room, Grimfax and stands by the stairs to the Ice Emperor's throne where he was currently seated in before Vex, Prinz and Tilika come in with the commander and soldier still dragging Lloyd. The Ice Emperor opens his eyes to look down upon them before Prinz and Tilika drop Lloyd in front of him and back away as he was regaining consciousness, groaning in pain as he did so and tried to look, but his vision was a little distorted. "My emperor, behold, the stranger in green."
The Ice Emperor breaks free from being bound in ice, stands up and walks down the stairs to get a closer look at Lloyd, who looked up to see him. He looked at the sceptre before suddenly noticing a scroll inside it. He then turned to the Ice Emperor's face. Despite the distorted face and eyebrows, Lloyd recognised the eyes. "Zane? I... I don't understand." He stands up. "How the hell is this possible?"
"What did you call me?" The Ice Emperor asked a little curious. Apparently, not remembering his real name.
"Zane. Your name is Zane Julien. Don't you remember?" Prinz and Tilika hold their spears out toward him.
"Step back." Vex said. "You are addressing the Ice Emperor."
"I came here for you, Zane. I came to bring you home."
"This is my home." The Ice Emperor said.
"No, Ninjago is your home."
"Nin... jago?"
Lloyd puts his hands on the spears, trying to move them out of the way. "Think, Zane. Try to remember." Prinz and Tilika force him back. "We were all together. We were fighting Aspheera and... and she banished you with her staff."
"Don't listen to him." Vex said to the Ice Emperor. "He lies."
"It's the truth!" He tries to move forward, but Prinz and Tilika hold him back and he puts his hands on their spears. "Zane, you have to remember something. Or someone. Master Dragon Wu, or P.I.X.A.L., or... or... Blake?"
"Who?" The Ice Emperor asked, a little curious.
"Blake, P.I.X.A.L.'s brother, the Silver Ninja, Master of Wind. The one who rebuilt you when your original body was destroyed, defeating the Overlord. Remember him? Or even Cirrus? You know? Pregnant Cloudian, Blake's girlfriend. She's about to have a baby. Remember?"
The Ice Emperor thinks for a bit before looking at Lloyd. "No."
"He seeks to deceive you." Vex said to the Ice Emperor. "To confuse you. Let me deal with him, my lord."
The Ice Emperor looks at Vex for a bit before turning back to Lloyd, who looks at his sceptre, recognising it was the naginata holding the second Forbidden Spinjitzu scroll. "You were holding the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu when it happened." He said. "It... it must have corrupted you somehow. How long have you been here, Zane? How long have you been holding that?"
"Many decades." The Ice Emperor replied.
"Decades?" Lloyd soon sighed. "Time must be different here. I don't understand how, but... but, Zane, the scroll has corrupted you, corrupted your power. You have to put it down." He tries to move forward, but Prinz and Tilika hold him back with their spears.
"He seeks the sceptre." Vex said.
"Don't listen to him, Zane. This isn't you. You're a good person. You're my friend. You have to trust me. Put it down."
"See? He desires it for himself. Seize him!" Prinz and Tilika start to march toward him, spears raised.
"No!" Lloyd ducks down to avoid Tilika's strike before jumping to roll forward, and turned around as they charge at him. Lloyd jumps to spin backwards and kick Prinz down before turning to kick Grimfax down. He then turned to grab hold of Tilika's spear before spinning around until she lets go of it, and flies back. He throws the spear aside, somersaulting over Vex, who tries to grab him, and tries to come at the Ice Emperor, who holds his hand out to fire a blast of Ice at him, knocking him out.
Vex, Prinz and Tilika quickly get up to surround him as soon as he landed with a a few more guards before Vex turned to the Ice Emperor. "Behold his treachery. One moment, he speaks of friendship, and the next, he tries to steal your sceptre. Allow me to destroy him, my lord."
The Ice Emperor looks at Lloyd briefly. "Lock him in the dungeon." He said.
"But, my lord-"
"You heard me!" The Ice Emperor slams his sceptre in anger.
Vex was a little surprised before turning to the guards. "You heard the emperor. To the dungeon with him." Prinz and a guard drag Lloyd away as the Ice Emperor, Vex, Grimfax, Tilika and the remaining guards look on with Vex angered at the action while Grimfax and Tilika look at each other, a little curious at what Lloyd had said about the Ice Emperor.
The Ice Emperor soon comes up to Vex. "Someone must've guided him here. Who was it?"
Vex then smirked, turned to Tilika and points at her. "She did!"
"What?" She asked.
"You have unlocked your animal form the day the emperor reclaimed his throne."
"What, that's not true, my emperor. I pledge myself to you when you first took the throne."
"Silence!" The Ice Emperor yelled before turning to the remaining guard. "Lock her in the dungeon."
The guard comes up behind her and grabs her while Vex takes her spear out of her hand and the guard starts to drag her away. "No! You can't trust Vex, my lord! He lies! He deceives! The stranger in green is telling the truth about you!" The Ice Emperor simply looked on before turning to briefly look at Vex.
(A/N: Although I was surprised to see Zane truly was the Ice Emperor, I already had a feeling he was. I hate doing fighting moments, trying to think of them in my head, and recreating what you watch. Anyway, this story will be on hold so that I can keep it episode orientated at best)