"How did they find out?!" Garmadon growled, trying to hold the door so that the mob couldn't get in.

"I don't know," Wu replied, who was packing up as much needed supplies as possible and stuffing it into two backpacks.

Currently, they were both in a small apartment room, where they lived with Garmadon's wife, Misako, their son, Lloyd, and Wu's adopted son, Morro. Misako had gone out shopping with Lloyd, and so she wasn't home. Wu was grateful for that. Morro, on the other hand, had already stormed off when he found out that Wu and Garmadon were half breeds. Wu felt a fresh pain in his chest thinking of it, remembering Morro's shocked, betrayed look. Morro had only lived with them for five months, but he already felt like family to Wu.

Wu hurriedly zipped up the two backpacks, finished, and slung one of them onto his back—the tan one. The other one—which was black—he tossed to Garmadon, who effortlessly caught it.

"Let's go," Wu said, climbing out the window and then grabbing onto the drainage pipe. Garmadon quickly followed him, the door collapsing off its hinges from the weight being pressed against it. Wu and Garmadon scurried up the pipe to the roof. Down below, police officers were surrounding the building, demanding that Wu and Garmadon come out with their hands up and also trying to hold back the mob; they were failing on the latter.

Wu and Garmadon jumped to the next building over, rolling on their shoulders to ease the fall, and then continued jumping building to building. The police and the mob were soon chasing after them, and some of the braver people in the mob started chasing them along the rooftops, too.

"We can't shake them!" Garmadon cried in alarm, panting in panic.

"We have to," Wu said, but even he knew that this could only end badly. Still, he was very thankful that Lloyd and Misako had not been home. Lloyd was only five. If they had been there, then Wu and Garmadon would have been severely slowed down, and there would have been a greater chance of injury, especially to Lloyd. He just hoped that Lloyd and Misako were safe where they were, and that they hadn't been found out about, too.

Wu had feared that this would happen. The people feared half breeds—people who were part oni or dragon or both—and so if they caught one, then the half breed would either be imprisoned, or executed. Being imprisoned rarely happened. The people seemed to prefer that they be executed instead.

Thousands of years ago, Garmadon and Wu's father often visited the humans. He had been the only hybrid ever to be allowed into the city. When Garmadon and Wu's father died, they had been forced to keep their identity a secret, to avoid being executed. Since Wu and Garmadon were part oni, they had very long life spans. Their father had died about a thousand years ago. The people still remembered him, but they had forgotten that he had had two sons. The people did not remember Wu and Garmadon, which had worked in their favor. They had been able to live in the city for decades without being found out—until now. They had finally been discovered.

One of the people in the mob that was chasing them on the rooftops threw a pocket knife at Garmadon, barely missing. Garmadon growled in annoyance.

Suddenly, the line of buildings they had been jumping across ended at a road. Garmadon and Wu skidded to a halt, eyes widening. A few cars that had been driving on it slammed on their brakes as two police cars rounded the bend, trying to box them in.

They both looked around wildly, trying to find an escape route.

"There!" Garmadon barked, already heading for a fire escape leading off of the building they were currently on and into an alleyway. Wu followed him.

The police and the mob quickly followed once they realized where they were heading.

Wu and Garmadon, once on the ground, sprinted for their lives, zigzagging through alleyways and sometimes even through other buildings trying to get out of the city before they were caught.

Garmadon suddenly skidded to a halt. They had run into a dead end.

"No…" Garmadon whispered in despair. They both turned around, hearing the mob and police officers catching up to them.

"We're so close to the edge of the city," Wu declared. "We can't give up now."

The mob came into view, howling that they be executed. The police officers followed close behind.

Wu and Garmadon got into fighting stances, and the mob immediately attacked them. Wu and Garmadon, being seasoned warriors, fought them off fairly easily, but they were severely outnumbered. And once the police joined in, they were quickly being overwhelmed.

One of the mob members had a dagger, and he thrust it into Wu's side. Wu gasped in pain, suddenly feeling a cold sensation in his side that soon became an overwhelming fiery pain, and collapsed, clutching his wound with his hand. Garmadon immediately was at his side, fighting off the mob with double the desperation.

"Back off!" Garmadon howled, sounding enraged.

Wu was losing a lot of blood, fast. He blinked, trying to stay conscious, but sleep finally took him. Wu knew that if he blacked out, then it might all be over, but he simply didn't have a choice in the matter.

Garmadon glanced down at his brother, seeing blood pooling out and onto the ground, and Wu's pale face. He had blacked out from loss of blood. Garmadon was suddenly filled with rage, rage that these people had hurt Wu just because they assumed that because they were half breeds meant that they were savage monsters. Well, he would show them savage! He lit up his hands with his destructive power, sending a flickering, purple glow around the alley. The mobs' eyes widened in alarm, but they were too late to do anything. Garmadon blasted them back with so much force that some of them flew through walls, police included. Garmadon, seeing his chance, slung Wu over his shoulder and ran back down the alleyway, making turn after turn. He could feel Wu's blood seeping into his shirt, but right now he just had to get him out of here before they were both executed.

Finally, he saw the city wall coming into view. He quietly sighed in relief, and quickly climbed over it, landing with a thud on the ground. From there, he sprinted off across the small meadow, headed for the trees on the other side—the Outcast. He heard bullets being shot at him, and felt some of them whip past him, but none hit him or Wu.

The Outcast was where all of the half breeds lived. It was a very dangerous place, as the half breeds had no laws there, and they just stole from each other and killed each other without a second thought.

Garmadon continued to run through the trees for a few more minutes, not sure if the humans would follow him in or not. Glancing back, he saw that he was alone. Panting, he gently set Wu down. His clothes were soaked with blood. Garmadon hurriedly got out the medical supplies from his pack, and started treating him. He's losing too much blood! Garmadon thought in panic, fearing that he would lose his brother as he pressed some cloth to Wu's side, trying to stop the bleeding.

Misako had been at a grocery store with Lloyd, wandering down an aisle, Lloyd holding her hand. They were currently looking for cereal. Lloyd kept on pointing to the sugary cereals, asking Misako to buy them. Lloyd had the same sweet tooth as his father, Misako fondly thought.

As they were headed past the technology area where there were five wide screen TV's set up so that viewers could see the screen's quality, playing the news, Lloyd suddenly jerked on her hand, pointing to the screens.

"Daddy!" Lloyd gasped, eyes wide.

Misako looked at the screen that Lloyd was pointing at. Her eyes widened when she saw Garmadon and Wu trapped in a dead end, surrounded by a mob and a bunch of police officers. They were fighting them off valiantly, but Misako saw through their defenses. They were tiring, and they were deeply outnumbered.

Her heart clenched in fear, and she tugged Lloyd closer to her.

"These two half breeds were discovered hiding out in our city, and police are now trying to arrest them," a reporter said.

A picture of a dark green apartment came on, paint peeling off of it. Then the screen went back to Wu and Garmadon, who were still fighting in the alleyway.

Suddenly, she saw a guy with a dagger behind Wu. She wanted to warn him, but was unable to, forced to watch as Wu got stabbed and collapsed to the ground.

"Uncle Wu?" Lloyd whimpered.

Misako, remembering that Lloyd was still with her, took him away from the TV. She hurriedly left her cart somewhere, and then got out of there as fast as she could.

She took Lloyd through alleyways, not sure if her son and her were discovered too or not.

"Is uncle Wu okay?" Lloyd asked, looking to his mother and breaking the silence.

Misako swallowed the lump in her throat, remembering the blood that had immediately started pouring out of the wound. She didn't answer, as she herself wasn't sure.

Lloyd frowned, confused by her silence. He knew that something was terribly wrong, but he wasn't sure what.

Misako knew that one day this would happen, but she hadn't anticipated it happening so soon. She knew where Garmadon and Wu would be if they had made it out—in the Outcast. She knew that she couldn't just leave, though. The Ninjago City army would be guarding the walls around the city with eyes like a hawk. She couldn't leave yet. She had to wait until it got dark.

She pulled Lloyd behind a large dumpster that was sitting in some random alleyway, and sat down. She wasn't sure where she was, but that didn't really matter, as long as they were safe for the moment.

Lloyd whimpered, still confused on what was happening. Misako felt tears threatening to spill, but she held them back for Lloyd's sake. He was scared enough as it was. She pulled her son closer, hoping that her husband and Wu had made it out.

That night, Misako woke Lloyd up and took him to the city walls. She didn't see any sign of the army, and so she had Lloyd cling to her back so that she could climb the wall. Once on the top, she swiftly leapt down, landing softly. She set Lloyd down, and together they ran across the meadow to the safety of the trees.

The Outcast… she thought glumly. She had not wanted Lloyd to have to live here, running for his life everyday. She wanted him to have a normal life. But, that obviously wasn't going to happen. She sighed, resigned to her fate.

Five minutes in, and her hands were already clammy. Her heart raced, and her breathing felt quicker than usual. She swallowed, knowing how dangerous the Outcast could be. At any moment they could be attacked. Lloyd, sensing her fear, squeezed her hand tighter.

A few minutes later, and she heard rustling to her left. She whipped her head around, breathing picking up and her heart skipping a few beats. She squeezed Lloyd's hand, placing him between her and the noise.

"Misako?" she heard a familiar voice ask. Misako sighed in relief, feeling like crying.

"Yes, it's me," she replied, a lump in her throat.

Garmadon stepped out from the tall bushes beside them. "You're alright," Garmadon sighed in relief.

Misako nodded, using her free arm to hug Garmadon. Garmadon returned the gesture.

"How's Wu?" Misako asked, letting go.

Garmadon's gaze darkened, looking worried. "I don't know. He got stabbed. It's… it's pretty bad…" Garmadon looked away.

Misako frowned in worry.

Garmadon looked back up at her, gesturing for her to follow him.

Misako obliged, still holding Lloyd's hand tightly.

"Daddy? Where are we going?" Lloyd asked quietly.

"You'll see," Garmadon answered.

Soon, they came upon a small cave. Garmadon led them in, and Misako gasped quietly at the sight of Wu. He had blood covering his side, and he looked very pale.

"I had to give him stitches, and he lost a lot of blood," Garmadon murmured. "I'm not sure if he'll make it through the night."

Misako sighed. "All we can do now is hope, and wait…" She turned to Lloyd, telling him to get some sleep.

Lloyd gave her a confused look. "We're sleeping here?"

"Yes, honey, now go to sleep," Misako replied.

"But why? Can't we go home and sleep?"

Misako gazed at him sadly, not knowing how to make him understand. "We can't go home."

"Why?"

She glanced at Garmadon, then back at Lloyd. "Because… You know we're different, right? You, your father, and uncle?"

"Different?"

"Yes. You three are part oni, dragon, and human: half breeds. That makes you different. And… the people of Ninjago City don't like half breeds."

"Why?"

Misako shook her head dismally. "No one really knows why. It started a long time ago… But that's why we can't go back."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

"So, we're going to live here now?"

Misako nodded.

Lloyd looked around, frowning. "But what about all of our stuff?"

"We brought as much as we could, and only the essentials," Garmadon replied.

"Did you bring Draggo?"

Garmadon smiled, then pulled out Lloyd's stuffed green dragon from his backpack. He gave it to Lloyd, who smiled gratefully.

Lloyd hugged his dragon, then looked around again, realizing that someone was missing. "Where's Morro?"

Misako looked at Garmadon questioningly.

Garmadon frowned. "He… left."

"Left?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah. He's still in the city."

"Oh." Lloyd dropped the matter and lied down, going to sleep.

Misako and Garmadon exchanged a glance, then Misako went to sleep, too. Garmadon stayed up to keep an eye on Wu.

Two weeks later, Garmadon and Misako had managed to build a very small cabin. Wu, thankfully, was almost healed.

"Ooh, a butterfly!" Lloyd said, pointing to said yellow butterfly.

"Yes, that is a swallowtail butterfly," Wu said, smiling. He and Lloyd were outside of the small cabin, and Wu was sitting on a nearby boulder, resting his side. He was babysitting Lloyd while his brother and Misako had gone out to scrounge for food. His side still hurt a little, but he was doing much better now. The first three days, they hadn't known if Wu would live or not. But, he survived, probably because of his dragon blood—dragons were known for healing more quickly than oni and humans, including being able to survive heavy blood loss—which was what got them into this mess.

Garmadon and Misako returned then, Garmadon carrying the black backpack over his shoulder.

"Everything go alright here?" Misako asked.

Wu nodded. "Yes, it's actually quite a nice day. Did you find food?"

"Yup!" Garmadon cheerfully replied. "We found a bush full of blueberries!"

"Ooh!" Lloyd cheered, running over to them.

Garmadon happily gave Lloyd some blueberries to sample.

"Yummy!" Lloyd grinned.

Garmadon stole some blueberries for himself, then gave some to Wu.

Wu happily accepted them.

Misako rolled her eyes, knowing that they should probably save them for later, but she too grabbed some of the berries.

"How's your side?" Garmadon asked Wu.

Wu waved him off, saying, "Fine, fine."

Garmadon frowned at his attitude, but didn't press him.

Ten years later, they had a medium sized cabin that they had built. They had managed to fight off other half breeds, and the cabin had served them well. Wu was now fully healed.

Misako had home schooled Lloyd for his whole life, since she was apprehensive to send him to school. Even if the people of the city didn't know about his half breed heritage, she still hadn't wanted to risk it. But, there was only so much that she could teach him. Wu, Garmadon, and Misako had all agreed that it was for the best if Lloyd went to Ninjago City to go to school. Misako just desperately hoped that Lloyd would be alright. After all, half breeds were executed if they were caught in human, oni, or dragon land.