They had journeyed through the forest for almost two days before they reached the large, stone castle, where they hoped the ninja were being kept hostage.

Pixal scanned the castle's surroundings, ensuring that there were no dangers, then turned to Borg and Acronix to nod at them, signalling that it was safe.

Borg huffed, which wasn't at all related to Pixal's observation. Since he had lost his chair in the flood, he'd been forced into being carried. By Acronix. The situation had made him very irritated, and possibly even flustered.

"Is this really necessary?" He mumbled.

Acronix smirked and replied, "What? Do you not like being flustered by me?"

"I'm not flustered! I'm angry!"

"That's why your face is so red? Anger?" Acronix's smirk somehow became even more smug as he said this. In reply, Borg nodded, though Pixal wasn't sure whether or not he was telling the truth, as his face had turned the colour of Kai's ninja suit.

"Will you two please shut up?!" Pixal yelled as she knelt behind a large, concealed bush. Acronix followed, clutching Borg tighter to his chest as he knelt beside her, resulting in a startled yelp from the inventor.

Pixal watched Acronix place her father on the ground and then signalled him to her. He shuffled closer to her and together, they started to come up with a plan. She felt slightly bad excluding her father, but he wasn't experienced in missions like this so thought it best to keep battle tactics between her and Acronix. Even if Acronix couldn't remember his battles or any experience he had fighting, he still had the body and mind of a warrior. Whereas Borg... did not. Besides, whilst trapped in Acronix's embrace, he had been fiddling with some sort of electronic device that he claimed would come in handy later and seemed to be messing with it even more now that he had more personal space.

"How do we get inside?" Acronix murmured. Pixal had already had enough time to ponder that herself. In response, she pointed to a window in the far left wall of the castle, that was barely visible if you were looking at the castle from a frontal point of view, and said: "We'll climb in through that window. From there, we'll split up. I'll try and locate the ninja. You'll locate the person who's behind all this."

Acronix gave a nervous gulp, glancing behind his back at Borg as he did. "I have a few worries. First, if we're gonna be climbing into the castle, does that mean that Mr. Sunshine over here–"

"Won't be able to come with?" Pixal finished. "Correct. But I'm pretty sure he assumed as much already. Either way, I am slightly worried about leaving him on his own down here."

"Right. Sure. Second, what if, when we find the ninja, they recognise me and try to kill me like Cyrus did?"

"He didn't try to kill you–"

"No but he sure as hell wanted to. You said I was once an enemy of these ninja, of..." He hesitated, trying to remember the name. "Wu. I'm sure, for that reason, that they won't be too pleased to see me."

Pixal studied him, taking in how he hesitated before saying Wu's name. "Can you still not remember anything? You've seemed to perk up more since when I found you, but why?"

In response, Acronix lowered his head, avoiding her gaze. She gasped; "You have remembered something haven't you?"

Acronix sighed and reluctantly said, "I remember Krux." He coughed before he continued: "I remember how close we were. I remember growing up with him. And..."

"And?" Pixal asked, as Acronix had gone silent.

"And I remember our powers."

That wasn't a good sign. Not only had he remembered the one thing that caused him to turn against the elemental alliance, but he had obviously been keeping this to himself. It was not helping Pixal's wavering trust of him. There was a good chance Acronix had been playing them this entire time, leading them on so he could double-cross them. But it was also a possibility that he had told the truth about his memory loss, but would betray them when he got his memories back anyway. Maybe letting herself trust him had been a mistake.

"Well, we'll unpack that more later. Now, we have to focus on saving the ninja." Pixal said as she shuffled back towards her father.

"Dad." She said, gaining the inventor's attention. He looked up at her. "Me and Acronix are gonna have to sneak in through the window. Are you gonna be okay here on your own?"

Borg hesitated before nodding, then he passed her two little electronic devices. "I'll be okay, but just in case something happens, take these. They're communication devices that will allow all three of us to keep in touch whilst separated." He held up a third before placing it in his ear. Pixal took the other two, passing one of them to Acronix.

She quickly gave her father a hug. "Stay safe. Hide behind these shrubs and try not to let anyone see you."

And soon, her and Acronix were racing towards the back window, scrambling up the wall to where they hoped the ninja were being kept prisoner.

"How did this happen?" Wu shrieked as he flicked through the several scrolls and books layed out before him. Akita and her family had left the hospital, allowing her and Lloyd to fill Wu in about the events in the Never Realm. "I've read about an event like this before. An event that signals the end of the world. But it wasn't supposed to happen now and it wasn't supposed to happen until someone or something made it happen! We would've known about 'that someone or something' long before now!"

"I'm sorry..." Lloyd interrupted. "An event that signals the end of the world?"

Wu sighed. "I know what you're going to say. That I should have warned you about this sooner. But I myself am not certain what this event even is or what the effects of it are going to be."

"The end of the world, apparently... " muttered Kai, who was stood by the door to Wu's room with the rest of the ninja.

Wu looked between the six of them. "I am so sorry I didn't warn you about this sooner. I was looking for signs, you see, but I'm still sick and haven't been able to concentrate recently."

'At least we know that's the truth...' Lloyd thought. Wu had clearly been deteriorating in health over the past few weeks, as evident by his continuously growing beard, dropping eyes and limp whenever he walked, and not one of them, not even Wu himself, could figure out why. It was as though he had developed an illness that had yet to be discovered. It was a terrible omen, just like Lloyd's feeling, just like Lyra, for something worse yet to come.

And here he thought Ninjago was finally at peace.

"The cookies!" Everyone turned as Cole shouted randomly. "The cookies were a sign! Well, not the actual cookies themselves but the disappearances. Whoever's doing this must have something to do with the realms breaking apart because the timings are just too coincidental!"

He was right. He was completely right. And Lloyd knew that because of that, the ninja's most essential mission would be to find whoever's doing this. But he already knew it was Lyra, and the only proof he had was his gut feeling, other than the cookies that she offered him, but he was the only one who saw that.

He had to go after Lyra alone. He couldn't let the other ninja come with him until he had enough proof. Heck, he would've already had the proof if he hadn't been interrupted by Akita's arrival.

In the midst of his thoughts, the others had been discussing how they planned on finding the culprit. Zane had layed out a brilliant plan, involving each of the ninja and the other elemental masters, if they were willing to help, stationed around Ninjago, watching out for anybody out of the ordinary. Whilst they decided who would go where, Lloyd quietly slipped out of the room and made his way around the corner to the cabin where Lyra was being kept.

Lyra, for once and to Lloyd's relief, was there. She was packing her things into her bag, as though she planned on leaving, permanently this time, which Lloyd found peculiar. He watched from the corridor as she threw in clothes, water and...

Yes! Cookies! There was his proof. If only he could get to them whilst Lyra was distracted... Then he'd have the proof he needed to help safe Ninjago, if it was possible.

As Lyra turned to pick something up from her bed, Lloyd quickly ran towards the door, prying it open slightly, ready to slip in–

"Lloyd? What are you doing?" He quickly, as quietly as he could, slammed the door shut and ducked behind the wall so Lyra wouldn't see him, before turning towards the source of the voice.

It startled him when he saw Akita, as though he forgot she was in this realm now. She had been discussing their plan, giving information to the others about the event that destroyed her village when Lloyd had left. She must've finished and decided to leave to get some more rest. Or she noticed him slipping out. A slight blush appeared on his cheeks at the thought of her watching him.

He forced a smile. "Akita! I forgot you were here for a sec! I was just going to check up on Lyra. That's all."

Akita cocked an eyebrow. "Who's Lyra?" She glanced through Lyra's cabin's window as she asked.

"Oh right. You haven't met her yet. You should introduce yourself. Later!" He quickly interrupted himself, realising that Akita introducing herself to Lyra now would put a serious halt on his stealth mission. "Later. She's probably quite tired right now. She's had a long few weeks, like you. You should get some rest now and then introduce yourself later. You'd like her. And bring Kataru! And Alecia! They'd like her too!"

Akita's mouth hung open, as though she wanted to say something but couldn't think what. To be fair, Lloyd hadn't given her much room to say anything.

"Okay." She finally replied, a sad smile appearing on her face. "I will introduce myself... later..." And then she turned and walked back to Wu's room, where the ninja were still discussing their plan.

Lloyd barely had time to feel sorry for how he had treated Akita just now. Because as soon as Akita disappeared, so did Lyra. Down the corridor, towards the courtyard, with her packed bag. So, he finally decided to stick to his plan and follow her.

"We're going to attack Borg Tower." Lyra had said, matter-of-factly. "Not yet. But soon. I want you to start laying out our plan of attack."

Krux nodded, though he had to admit he had some concern. He had never had an affinity for Cyrus Borg. All his talk of technology and how marvellous of an invention it was. It was ridiculous. However, his brother most certainly had an affinity for him.

Acronix had betrayed Krux. And that made him exceptionally angry. Acronix hadn't just been his brother, he had been his best-friend, his comrade, his partner-in-crime. Which is why he still loved him. And why he'd spared that tech-savy imbecile despite his hated for him. If his brother loved him, he deserved to live. Because no matter what, his brother deserved love.

Krux hated how he thought that. He shouldn't just kill Borg, he should kill Acronix himself for what he did. But every fibre of his being told him that it was wrong. That he'd never forgive himself if he did. And he knew it was true.

"Should I... " He hesitated. He already knew Lyra's answer to this question. He'd asked it a million times before. It was because of that that he knew if he asked it, she'd lash out at him.

That was one of the worst parts of actually working for someone: fear and a lack of control. That's why he'd betrayed the Elemental Alliance in the first place. Control time, control everything. If Lyra's power didn't scare him so much, he'd never have considered working for her.

"Should I... try again to recruit Acronix?"

Lyra's sigh did not just expel annoyance, but pure rage. "NO, Krux! I don't care how sentimental you are, I couldn't give less of a damn about that stupid brother of yours. He's a good fighter, yes. But like you, he doesn't have power anymore, so he's worthless to me."

"Does that mean I am worthless to you?" Krux immediately regretted asking, but his pride had gotten the better of him.

Lyra laughed. An evil, heartless laugh. "You should be. But your tactics are incredible. You're one of the only enemies of Wu's who's actually managed to almost defeat him. Emphasis on almost."

"So is Acronix–"

"I SAID NO!" As she screamed, a layer of thick shadow engulfed the room around her, pure pitch-black darkness surrounding her that sent a shiver up Krux's spine, a shiver so cold that it almost made him freeze still. His heart pounded in his chest. Never had he felt fear like this before in his life. He had a horrible sense that he was going to die, making him wish that his brother was by his side...

And suddenly, the darkness dissolved, leaving Krux face-to-face with Lyra who looked happy like a kid at a birthday party.

"I said no." She repeated, much more calmly this time. "Acronix is an admirable warrior, but he is no longer Wu's enemy, which makes him our enemy." She paused, glancing at Krux with disgust. "Make sure your plans for the attack on Borg Tower are completed by the time I next see you."

"I..." Krux tried to speak but his voice was raw and croaky. "I don't know when that will be... "

She smirked. "Oh. You will."

And then she was gone.

Krux didn't care what she said. Didn't care how scared she made him. Acronix was in serious danger and if recruiting him into Lyra's army was the only way to save him, he didn't care if he said no.