Note: Didn't expect to be able to post this so soon, so y'all get to enjoy this sooner. Hope you enjoy!

"Lloyd, wake up," Harumi's voice calls as she shakes me gently.

I gasp, uncurling from the fetal position my body had placed itself in. As soon as I pull myself into a sitting position, my stomach growls like a ravenous wolf, clawing at me. I groan, doubling over and clutching my stomach. "Food," I rasp.

Harumi doesn't argue or take offense at my lack of manners. Though I suppose she knows what I am going through, the near depletion of energy, the starvation blazing through my belly. She digs through the knapsack full of supplies and hands me a small loaf of bread. I break it into pieces, trying to keep some manners and devour it. My stomach growls for more, and Harumi hands me another loaf. It quickly joins the other, my hunger less, but still there.

Despite my stomach's protest, I refuse a third. I know if I eat another, I may suffer from stomach cramps if I have to fight or run. Cole's made it exceptionally clear not to stuff yourself during a time of danger, when you might need to suddenly fight or run for your life.

"I'm fine," I grunt, turning my attention to my broken arm. Except it isn't broken anymore. I can move it with ease, no pain, no risk of causing more damage. It feels strong. Good. A smile spreads across my face, my eyes flicking up to Harumi, and I say, "Well, at least it was worth it."

"Perhaps," Harumi says. She helps me to my feet. "I suppose this is where we say goodbye."

"Wait, what? You're leaving?" I ask.

"Of course. It's not safe to stay in one place for too long. We've already pushed our luck here," she replies, handing me the knapsack full of supplies.

"So, you're coming with me?"

"No." She gives a small, almost mournful-sounding laugh. "I'm afraid I've done the best that I can do. In hand-to-hand combat with pure brawn, I would be no help. But if my theory is right, I've given you what you need."

"No, I'm not just going to let you disappear," I say, "I'm not letting you get away."

"I'm not going to 'disappear.' I'm going back to Nigella's; it has supplies and it's more tucked away. I'll be waiting for you, so you better defeat the Overlord quickly, because I don't like to be kept waiting," she retorts.

"You really think I'm going to believe that? After everything you've done?" I demand.

"Well, a fight would alert the Crystal army, and you wouldn't want to risk that, now would you?" Harumi warns. She sighs, adding, "You're just going to have to trust me."

"I'm not sure whether I can trust you or not." I eye her warily, just to make a point.

"Lloyd, I am well aware of what I have done. I want to make it up, to you and to Ninjago. Besides, where will I go? It's not like I can get very far without a vehicle," Harumi assures me, "I will not leave Nigella's. After you defeat the Overlord, you will find me there. I promise."

Her expression, unlike the ones of the princess she had pretended to be, reveals a kind of truth that I cannot deny. She doesn't have the tone she had used when she pretended to care about me, she doesn't have the tone I've come to recognize as the one she uses to deceive others. Her tone is without any kind of layers, leaving it bare and raw. I examine her carefully, looking for a telltale twitch or forced expression. Nothing. I sigh. I'm either about to make a big mistake or I'm not.

"Just go," I say. I close my eyes, turning away from her. I hear her footsteps receding, hear her exit the shop. I turn around, hoping to catch her leaving at the last second, but she's gone. Again.

I know I shouldn't, especially after everything that's happened, but I still hope she'll finally recognize that evil's pointless. And if she doesn't keep her promise, that'll be the last time I'll trust her – and this time, it's true.

I wait ten more minutes before I leave, too. I head in the direction of the last place I saw the Ninja: the newspaper warehouse. Hopefully, they managed to drive back the Crystal Warriors. If not, well, I hope they got everyone to safety.

About thirty minutes later, I am a block away from the warehouse, when I come across a mob of crystal zombies. I press myself against the nearest building, ducking into its alley.

I don't hear them stumbling in my direction, so they probably didn't see me. And I want to keep it that way. So, I peel myself away from the building, looking for a handhold. Further into the alley, I find one of those escape ladders and I pull myself onto it and climb to the roof of the building. I dash across the roof, flipping over the divide between this building and the next. I continue to do this until about five buildings away, a figure climbs onto the building I'm about to jump to and sprints across it, leaping at me. I barely have a chance to defend myself before I'm flung to the floor (well, thrown down against the roof).

I grunt, jumping up into a combat stance, my power gathering into a glowing sphere in both hands, but the sight that fills my eyes causes me to lower my hands, allowing the energy to disperse.

"Kai," I breathe.

"Lloyd. I didn't realize it was you," Kai says. He strides over to me, hugging me close. "Thank goodness you're OK."

"I wasn't until about an hour ago," I reply, breaking away. Seeing the confusion register on his face, I add, "I'll explain later. What happened with the Crystal Warriors?"

"Well, we were fighting them," Kai starts to explain, "And we were, well, we were losing. We were actually this close," he holds up his fingers, showing a space of about a millimeter apart, "To being defeated, and they just fell back. All of them."

"What? Why?" I ask. It doesn't make any sense. Why would the Overlord have them do that if they were that close to bringing down the Ninja? We are the greatest threat to him. Even though he's arrogant enough to assume he will win, he knows that we will continue to resist him.

Kai shrugs, "Beats me. I've never been a tactics person. Probably wants the retreat to make us relax, then surprise us. Like we'll let down our guards. We've been patrolling the block, building up the defenses, evacuating the citizens. We're trying to make it look like the warehouse is our center of operations, although it kinda is."

"I see."

He turns and leads me back to the warehouse, scanning the streets at each new roof. We jump onto the roof of the warehouse, and Kai walks to a skylight covered up from the inside, knocking on it.

"Password?" a voice, Jay's, asks. I can see the kind of mischievous smile that must be on his face as he asks the question and waits for the answer.

"'Fear? Fear isn't a word where I come from,'" Kai recites. Then he adds, "Which is, BTW, the worst password I have ever heard."

"What? It's a good catchphrase," Jay argues, opening the skylight to let Kai in. His face lights up when his eyes fall on me. "Lloyd! You're OK!"

"Yep, and for the record, I think it's a good password," I tell him.

"See?" Jay turns to Kai, sticking his tongue out at him.

Kai sighs and rolls his eyes, before jumping down. Jay lets me through and we join Kai on the main floor of the warehouse. Crates have been pushed against the roller doors, which have been welded shut. Besides the skylights, there is only one way out of the warehouse, a door that Nya stands by.

"Lloyd!" she cries. She looks like she wants to run up and hug me, but glances at the door and says, "Get over here! I can't leave this door until Zane gets back."

I jog over, and once I am close enough, she pulls me into a hug, much like her brother. She pulls away, grinning, and says, "At least you're OK."

"Yeah," I agree, trying to smile back, but it fades off my face. I fold my arms. "No idea about my father, though."

Nya places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure he's fine."

I look up, but end up turning away. "Yeah, probably. Anyway, Kai told me what happened. Was anyone hurt?"

Jay and Kai join us, both of whom are replying, "Not that we know of."

"And Zane and Cole are patrolling the block?"

All three nod.

"Master Wu assigned shifts to us. There are at least two of us patrolling the block at a time, and at least two here in the warehouse. The fifth either gets to rest or help somewhere else," Nya explains. "We are not going to let down our guard if the Overlord wants to surprise us. That's the only explanation we have for the retreat of the Crystal Warriors."

"I hope that's the case," I say.

"So do we, Lloyd, so do we," Kai mutters.

Nya changes the topic before we can fall into silence, and inquires, "So, Lloyd, you need anything? Food?"

I shake my head. "I'm good." I lift the knapsack. "There's a little food in here."

"Where'd you get that?" they all (exactly as expected) ask.

"It's a long story that I don't feel like repeating twice. Maybe after we defeat the Overlord," I say.

"That's the spirit." Nya nods in approval. "Well, Jay, Kai, better get ready for shift change. It's in about five minutes."

Kai sighs, stretching. "Alright, bring it on."

Jay yawns. "I'm so not ready for patrol duties."

"What should I do?" I ask.

"For now, perhaps you should rest," I hear my uncle say, as he joins our circle. "I am glad to see you made it back without injury. Do you know about anything about your father's condition?"

I shake my head. "We were separated."

"I am sure your father is fine," Master Wu assures. "In the meantime, why don't you rest?"

I shake my head. "I'm fine. I'm not going to be able to rest for a while."

"It won't do any good for you to exhaust yourself. At least for the next shift. Then you can help," Kai says.

I look at the circle. Everyone has the same expression, one of concern and pleading. Jay and Nya are nodding their heads and Master Wu is promising to alert me if anything changes. I sigh before relenting.

"Fine," I mutter, "But only after I see that Zane and Cole are OK."

And about six minutes later, they are in the warehouse, asking me all sorts of questions, Zane looking me over for any injuries, Cole sighing in relief. I shrug off their questions, replying with my own assertions of my relief that they're OK. Master Wu asks if they found anything suspicious, to which they both say they didn't see any Crystal Warriors. Zane adds that he finds the absence disturbing, and with that, the briefing is concluded and Jay and Nya head out for their patrol shift. Kai takes guarding the door and Zane is assigned to the skylights. Cole and I head to the back corner, where some cots have been set up.

It takes me about ten minutes to fall asleep, ten minutes of mulling over what I know, and then I am sucked into a dream.

I have no idea how long it's been, but I find myself jumping to my feet as I hear Kai's voice telling me to wake up.

"Don't worry. Master Wu just figured you'd like to help out and go on patrol with me," he says.

"Weren't you just on patrol?"

"Technically, that was my break. I was too restless for anything else," he replies.

I grab his hand as he turns to head out. "Hey, you're going to take the next break, though, right? Or are you going to be a complete hypocrite?"

He laughs and shrugs. "We'll see."

I follow him out of the warehouse before asking if we're splitting up.

"Nah, Nya's taking the other side. I guess she's too geared for rest right now."

"We all are. You still made me," I retort.

"You looked like you were about ready to collapse. What did you think we were going to do?"

I laugh. "I guess."

We don't see anything besides ruined city, wandering crystal zombies, and crystals. So many crystals. I have to admit, the peace is kind of disturbing. Sometimes, we stay on the same roof for five minutes, always one with the best view of the street, and talk as we scan for potential Crystal Warriors doing recon. Usually, it's about strategies to take down the Overlord. I hold back Harumi's theory, not wanting to get into a whole thing about my Oni side. Besides, I'll tell everyone once I figure out how I'm going to accept my Oni side. I may have no idea at the moment, but I know if I keep thinking about it, I'll find it out eventually. Hopefully, before it's too late.

We're about to return to the warehouse when Kai spots something.

"Is that a dragonide?" Kai asks, pointing to the sky in the north.

I squint. It's definitely one of the Overlord's creations, judging by the glowing purple crystals that give it away, and it's flying in our direction – fast. "Looks like it. Run!" I shout.

We sprint as fast as we can to cover, jumping onto another one of those escape ladders and forcing a window open. Unfortunately, there are at least five crystal zombies in the apartment we've ducked into.

"Great," Kai groans.

I spot a closet and point it out to Kai. "Think we can trap them in there?"

"I'll get it open if you get them in it," he tells me.

I look around for anything that I could fashion a makeshift rope out of. I can't touch the zombies or I'll be infected, too. I detect movement in my peripheral vision and spin around to face it and find a curtain billowing. Perfect. I dash for the curtain while Kai sprints for the closet, dodging the zombies. I rip the curtain off the rod attached to the wall, wincing as I rip the whole thing out of the drywall. Oops. I pry the curtain off, twisting it into a rope, and running around the zombies to make them confused and bunch up. "Catch!" I cry to Kai, throwing one end of my makeshift rope to him.

He snatches it and pulls it taut around the zombies, helping me guide them into the closet. The zombies try to lash out at us, but we duck away and pull the curtain tighter to push them back. Then, right at the threshold of the closet, Kai uses his foot to gently thrust them into the closet, dropping the curtain and slamming himself against the door.

"Get something to brace it!" he shouts as the zombies pound against it.

I scan the room, finding a heavy armchair in the corner. I run over, dragging it over as fast as I can. Though I'm not as strong as Cole, I am stronger than most my age, and quite a few that are much older than me. The armchair is heavy and slows me down, but not by much.

Kai shifts enough for me to get it into place, and then helps me completely block the door.

"Maybe put some more stuff to barricade it with," he says.

I nod, walk over to some of the dining table chairs, and drag two over, laying them over the armchair. Kai adds a small side table and announces that it should hold.

"Do you think the dragonide saw us?" I ask.

"Wouldn't it be here by now?" he replies.

"I guess," I say, sitting down and rotating my shoulders. "Maybe we should hide somewhere else, just in case."

"You want to go through that again?" Kai gasps incredulously, "Fine, but you gotta give me a second."

I stand up, brushing dust off my gi, which by now has multiple tears all over, and the knees are practically ruined. I am about to say something, when suddenly, the wall bearing the window through which we had entered the building crumbles and shatters. Dust and debris fly everywhere, and the force throws me back against the wall. I cry out in pain and surprise as a dragonide rises from the pile of wall material at the edge of the new hole. Kai groans from where he lies, right at the feet of the dragonide. The dragonide roars and looks at Kai's semi-conscious form, then back at me. I swear, it seems to grin wickedly, and catching on to what it must be thinking, I cry, "NO!"

I send a blast of green light at its shoulder, knocking it away. It sends a bolt of lightning, one that would infect me just like the touch of the zombies, I jump, but the bolt sends a shock wave when it hits the floor. I am tossed into the wall again, much harder than the first time. My vision goes dark and as I struggle to get to my feet, the dragonide's tail sweeps me into the wall. Now I'm barely hanging to consciousness. I lay on the ground, my head spinning, wheezing. I hear a crash nearby, and I turn my head to it, frowning when I see the blurry outline of the dragonide. Kai has given up clinging to consciousness and lies just two yards away. I try to get to him but collapse, my vision now black.

In my last moments of awareness, I feel being picked up, feel a human arm beside me, and then I am gone.

Welp, I hope you enjoyed it (hehe). Chapter 3 will be coming soon, so in the meantime, have a nice life!