Author's Note: Hello everyone. First of all, I want to apologize for the lengthy time between updates. I totally planned on releasing this chapter last week, but after starting my job as a camp counselor, I suddenly had way less free time than I had originally thought… I hope that you enjoy this chapter! It takes place right after the other two and covers another moment that I feel is important in contributing to upcoming events.

Replies to reviews:

JoyoftheStorm: Oh, thank you! I'm so glad you liked this! Lloyd is definitely a cinnamon roll who is far to precious for this world! I would gladly stand by you to face the overlord… I love your suggestions so much! Feel free to offer as many as you like – I have no real limits set for this story, so they just might get used. I promise, I will keep writing, the updates might be a bit slow, though. Any chance of seeing an update to 5 Times Kai Hid An Injury anytime soon? I love your work…

RandomDragon2.0: I'm glad you liked this story! Thank you so much for reviewing! I have ton's of ideas, as well as a few friends with some great ideas, so there will definitely be a lot more stories eventually. I just have to find the time to upload them.

CHEESEPUFF fg: Thank you! Lloyd is totally deserving of all the hugs! He really does go through so much, but his ability to keep going is such an important part of who he is. I think that the support of his fellow ninja when he first arrived is a contributing factor to that. He does still need comfort sometimes, which is important to remember.

ThePowerOfOats: Oh my goodness! You almost cried? Wow! I'll take that as a compliment! Thank you so much! Yeah, it's not easy to find fics that deal with Nya and Lloyd before the green ninja story arc. I'm glad you think I'm going about it well.

Bob: Thank you! I love many of the fanfics on this website, but I also think that the bonding and family aspect of the team is a lot less common that action and adventure. Those moments can be just as important, so I try to incorporate them as best I can.

Determined Artist: Thank you for reviewing. Is it just me or was that whole dog fight kind of ridiculous. I'm actually quite relieved that it's over.

Nya watched as Lloyd eyed the plate of cookies on the kitchen table longingly. She had hoped that the promise of sugar would serve as a way of motivating the boy to eat more. Instead, it seemed only to serve as a distraction. It had been impossible to miss the way Lloyd scarfed down food as if it might be taken away at any moment, the way his clothes hung loosely from his frame. Living off of candy and garbage for several weeks had not been to Lloyd's advantage - and Nya planned to fix that.

"Lloyd, we've talked about this. I'm not gonna let you have any of those cookies until you've eaten that sandwich." Lloyd sighed. Over the past few days, after the incident with the teapot, he had noticed a change in the way the residents of the Destiny's Bounty treated him. Uncle Wu had shown him where the extra teapots were kept and read to him each night before bed. Even the ninja, who had been quite against his presence to begin with, had been noticeably friendlier toward him. Although Lloyd appreciated the attention - to an extent - he was starting to get a little tired of the sudden change of lifestyle he was experiencing.

"Are you sure I can just have one? I promise I'll still eat...Please? "

"Look. I told you - you could have a cookie later, and you will, but you can't live off of junk food alone. It's not healthy. You need real food." Lloyd rolled his eyes but stuffed a chunk of sandwich into his mouth.

"Happy?"

"It's a start. The sooner you finish the sandwich, the sooner you can have a cookie." knowing Nya was right, he continued eating. Satisfied, Nya turned back to the papers she had been poring over. Soon, she was lost in thought, lunch forgotten. Lloyd leaned over to get a better look.

"What're those?" he asked. Nya glanced at him.

"Oh. Uh. This one," she held up a paper, "is a map of Ninjago. And these other papers are mostly just lists of the most recent sightings of the serpentine. Now that Pythor has the map with the locations of the Serpentine tombs, we have to figure out how to stop him." Lloyd nodded, feeling a little ashamed.

" I'm hoping that I can find some sort of pattern in the sightings that will give me a clue to what he's got planned. " having finished his sandwich, Lloyd reached for a cookie, then asked,

" Can I help? I mean, it's kinda my fault Pythor has the map in the first place. "

" Sure. Why not?" Nya handed him one of the papers.

" You read off the locations and I'll mark them on the map. Some of the names are kinda hard to pronounce, so let me know if you're not sure... Who knows, if we make a ton of progress, I might be able steal some candy from the boys' stash or something – you probably shouldn't tell them I said that…"

/

The duo worked like that for several hours, waiting for the ninja to return from another venture to confront a group of Serpentine spotted in a nearby town. Perhaps they were getting close to a breakthrough, but they wouldn't find out anytime soon. The sound of beeping coming from the direction of the control room interrupted their work.

"Sounds like we have some sort of message coming in. I better go check it out." Nya said, rushing out of the kitchen and into the control room. For a moment, Lloyd hesitated. Then, he followed her, stopping in the hallway when he heard Nya conversing with Kai's voice over the speakers.

" No. Don't move him. Too risky. That might make it worse. Has Zane evaluated his injuries? We need to know what we're up against." Lloyd couldn't make out the muffled response. What was going on? Had one of the ninja been hurt?

"OK. Have him do that. He should be able to keep things under control for now. I'll have the Bounty there as soon as I can to pick you guys up. Try to stay calm. Love you!" Nya said before cutting off communication with her brother. She made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob. That wasn't a good sign. In the time Lloyd had spent with her, Nya had never even come close to crying.

"Nya," he called softly. She didn't seem to hear. Lloyd walked closer and called her name again, louder. This time, she turned around, still dazed.

"There was an accident while the guys were out fighting off serpentine a little while ago. Jay's gone down. It sounds bad... I... We..." she took a deep breath.

"We need to get the Bounty over there and get him some medical care..."

"Nya. Tell me what you need me to do. How can I help?" Lloyd found himself asking, wanting to be there for the person who had comforted him so many times before. Nya finally snapped to action, giving Lloyd orders as she began steering the Bounty towards its destination.

"Lloyd. Listen carefully. I need you to grab some extra sheets and some of those boards we keep in the store room for repairs. We're probably gonna have to make a stretcher to transport Jay with. They might be a little heavy for you, but I need to stay here and drive, otherwise I'd help." Lloyd dashed off to find the aforementioned items. The boards were heavy. Lloyd struggled to carry them, but his desire to help the people who had given him a home outweighed the aching of his arms. He returned to the control room just as Nya landed the flying ship. She grabbed the boards as they wordlessly raced above deck.

Below, they could Cole frantically waving and shouting at them. The world seemed to slow down around them as Lloyd followed his friend off of the ship. He had never seen the ninja of earth look so distressed. As they drew closer, he noticed the wild look in Kai's eyes, the way Zane paced back and forth. And then, he caught a glimpse of Jay lying on the ground, face covered with blood - and immediately wished he'd stayed back the bounty. That was one nasty gash he had on his forehead. Was it normal for there to be so much blood? Lloyd's vision became blurry at the sight, and he felt himself sway. Thankfully, Nya noticed as the small boy beside her froze in horror. Knowing he could not handle the scene for much longer, she turned to him.

"There's a first aid kit in the training room. It's on the bottom that cupboard where we keep the sparring supplies. Can you grab it and meet us in the control room?" Lloyd looked at her gratefully before taking off again.

/

Kai stood outside of the control room, annoyed that his sister had banned him from helping further with Jay's care. It was his fault this had happened. He should have been paying more attention to his team mates – they were supposed to look out for each other. Maybe then he could've prevented Jay from being thrown into that wall. And none of them would be in this situation – Jay with his bloody head wound, and the rest of the ninja having to bear witness to the unfortunate event. Nya and Zane wouldn't be in the other room attempting to fix this mess. Kai wouldn't have been freaking out to the point that he was asked to leave – a decision that had taken Nya less than 5 minutes to make. Where was Lloyd? They would make a lot more progress once they had the first aid kit.

Kai's inner dialog was ended when Lloyd finally appeared. He held his hand out to take the kit.

"Here, kid. I'll take this in. You don't need to see Jay like this." the boy looked at him uncertainly.

"But I -" Kai sighed, remembering what Nya had told him about his trust issues. Lloyd might be a pain, but he was still just a child - and one who had experienced enough trauma already.

"Look. I saw how you responded to the situation earlier. You're not gonna be able to deal with this right now. Give me that first aid kit. You can wait out here." Lloyd relented, handing Kai the kit, still a little unsure. Kai slipped quietly into the control room. Inside, things were much the same as when he had departed. Jay was situated on a couch against one wall. Nya and Zane spoke in hushed tones while applying pressure to the wound on Jay's head. His sister looked up when she heard the door shut behind him.

"Oh, good. I was hoping that first aid kit would show up soon." Kai walked over to her and set the first aid kit down.

"So…How bad…?"

"He definitely needs stitches. We're hopeful that it isn't as bad as it looks." Came the response. Kai nodded.

"I know you said earlier that I was stressing you out too much, but is there anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"I'd still prefer that you leave those of us with first aid training alone while we handle this. I already sent Cole to find Sensei, so hopefully they'll be back in a little while. Right now, it would be much more helpful if you could go keep an eye on Lloyd. Maybe go play some video games with him or something?" Kai wanted to protest, but the look on Nya's face told him that would be a bad idea. He had already had one conversation with his sister about his (and the other ninja's) relationship with Lloyd. While he had been shocked to discover that the small boy had attempted to run away, Kai wasn't certain he wanted to spend that much quality time with him. The two had never really seen eye to eye. Still, Nya was right. Lloyd needed someone to watch over him.

"Fine. As long as you come get me as soon as you find out more." He commented, heading for the door.

"Of course." Nya told him, already digging through the first aid kit. "Now, there should be a medical scanner and needle in here somewhere..."

Knowing that the conversation was now over, Kai exited the control room. Lloyd was just outside the door, sitting on the floor. Waiting. He was clearly worried about the blue ninja's health. Something that Kai would not have expected of him a week ago. The too small, pale boy before him had certainly changed since coming to live with them.

"Hey. It looks like the others are gonna be busy for awhile. What do you say to a round or two of Fist to Face?" Kai asked. Lloyd's face brightened slightly.

"Really? You're sure you want to play with me?"

"Might as well. There's not a whole lot else I can do right now. Nya and Zane won't let me help them, so…" He shrugged and pulled Lloyd to his feet. The two made their way to the TV room. Kai turned on the TV and plugged in the gaming system.

"I hope you're prepared to lose, cause you're playing with a master." He said as the main menu appeared in the screen.

'You're on!" Lloyd replied.

Some time later, as the two bonded over video games, Cole appeared, ready to give them an update. If he noticed the way they laughed together, attempting to shove each other off the couch while arguing over who had technically won the last round, he didn't mention it.

"Hey guys. Nya and Zane wanted me to let you know that they were able to complete Jay's stitches without any problems. They're pretty sure he has a concussion, so he'll be out of commission for a few days, but that's better than we had previously thought. He's resting now – Nya's orders." Kai and Lloyd glanced at each other, almost disappointed to be interrupted.

"Good. It's a relief to know that he'll be ok. Not that I was worried or anything…" Kai said eventually. He tossed his controller aside.

"I think I'm gonna go check in with the others and make sure they don't need anything," Kai looked over his shoulder at Lloyd, "You' coming?"

/

Nya sat curled up on her chair, scribbled furiously in a sketchbook. After what had happened today, she knew she needed to find a way to protect her little family more effectively. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before someone received more than a concussion. That was not something she was prepared to live with. Which was why she was currently working on a project that would provide backup in the event of future run ins with the serpentine. She had to get this right. There was no other option. Not unless she wanted to risk becoming an only child - or worse. In order for it to work, however, she'd have to keep it a secret. There was no telling what the others would do if they found out about her plan. Suddenly, the sound of the door opening forced Nya to look up from her work.

"Hi Nya. Kai said you were gonna be up for awhile, so I decided to bring you a snack." Lloyd declared, holding out a plate of cookies.

"Hey. Yeah, Jay's got a concussion, which means that someone has to wake him up every few hours and make sure he's okay. I offered to take first watch." Nya reached for a cookie.

"Not that I'm complaining, but you seriously couldn't find something more healthy than cookies to bring me?"

"Well... Kai told me I wasn't allowed to use the stove or the microwave, and this was the only thing I could find that didn't need to be heated up. I guess he thought I'd burn the ship down or something."

"Eh. Probably a good call. Come sit." She said, patting the chair next to her.

"What are you drawing? Is it some sort of robot? " Lloyd asked, catching sight of the sketch pad. Nya shut it quickly before responding.

"Just an idea for a project I'm working on. It might help keep all of us a little safer. But I'm not really ready to share it quite yet. I don't even know if it's going to work."

"Nya, I don't think you have anything to worry about. You're super smart about stuff like this. You'll figure it out." The way Lloyd looked at her as he said that made her heart melt. This child was far too innocent for everything life had thrown at him.

"Thanks. That means a lot. Now gimme some more of those cookies." He giggled but did as he was told. By the time Nya finally sent him to bed, the entire plate of cookies had long since been devoured. Lloyd gushed over how cool Kai was and how he'd finally managed to beat him during a round of Fist to Face. Nya shared embarrassing stories about her brother, making both of them laugh long into the night. It was a wonder they didn't wake Jay. She was glad to see that the child was beginning to grow closer to the others, but as Lloyd's yawns grew more obvious, Nya knew she needed to end their fun. Sending him off to sleep, she got back to work on her project. Now, what color would be best for the suit? Red, perhaps?

Thank you for reading this chapter, even though it took forever for me to complete. I hope you all enjoyed Kai's cameo. It wasn't planned, but he just kinda wrote himself into the story… I really felt like maybe Nya's origins as Samurai X needed to be explored more fully, so the end segment was inspired by that thought. Also, the season 9 aired today. I feel conflicted. It was amazing (Nya had some great moments and child Wu is super adorable), but at the same time, certain plot points almost seemed too easy/soon… I was already planning an alternate season 9 story anyway, so…As always, feel free to leave constructive feedback!

-GwenBrightly