I feel rather guilty for the consistently long periods of time between updates, but my life has very suddenly gotten very busy. As my penance, I present this giant chapter.

I appreciate anyone who is following this story and reading my work even though you have to wait a while for a new chapter sometimes. Luckily, summer is the lighter season with my job, so maybe I'll be able to backlog a good number of chapters so as to get on a more regular update schedule.

One "housekeeping" thing before we move forward. There's a fair bit of violence in this story, and it's going to get more intense from here. It's already rated T, but just to be on the safe side I'm going to go ahead and put out a warning for violence and character death that covers the rest of the story.

That stuff out of the way, enjoy the chapter and thanks for being here!

DARKNESS IN CHIMA

Part Three: The Next Phase

Chapter VI

County Road 16; West Autauga County
Earth
Sunday June 16, 2019…

As the sun rose in the country, a young woman stirred and wondered if she'd made a mistake the day prior. She went over it again in her head a few times.

What was I thinking, she thought.

She got out of bed with a huff, quickly got dressed, and borrowed her mother's car, speeding to the heart of the Billingsley community.

She arrived at a house and walked past it, going into the building just past it. To her surprise, it was silent. The Hut was usually bustling with activity, especially in the morning.

Come to think of it, she thought, the sun hasn't been up long; shouldn't they still be doing their exercises? Where is everybody?

She exited the Hut and saw Sharon, mother of the Green Ninja, walking out of the house and into the back yard.

"Anna?" she squinted. "I thought I heard something out here. It's early, is everything alright?"

Anna squirmed; this might be awkward.

"Hey, Mrs. Sharon," Anna said. "I was hoping I could talk to Mack. We kind of had a fight yesterday, and I said some things I didn't really mean. I'd like to talk to him and make it right, but… where is everybody?"

Sharon blinked. "Wait, he hasn't talked to you?"

"It was… a big fight," Anna sighed.

"Well," Sharon said, "I'm not sure exactly what's going on—maybe I don't want to know—but Mack came in the house yesterday and said he and the Guardians were gonna be away for a while, in another realm again. Didn't want to worry me with the details."

Anna's heart sank to the ground. She was right, but she wished she had been wrong.

"Are you okay?" Sharon asked. "It's not like you two to fight, and it's really not like Mack to keep you in the dark."

Anna swallowed. She refused to cry in front of Sharon, a woman she respected and admired. "You know, I don't think I should really talk about what's going on between me and Mack until we've figured it out."

"I understand," Sharon smiled. "Let me know if I can do anything to help."

With that, Anna went back home, tears streaming down her face for much of the rest of the day.

Lion Palace
Chima
The same moment…

While the sun had risen on the Earth, in was still the middle of the night in Chima. The night's quiet was shattered by a terrible, blood-curdling scream echoing through the halls of the Lion Palace.

The scream woke Laval (and everyone else), and he rose from his bed and made his way downstairs in the direction of the scream. His weapon was drawn, and he was ready for whatever he would find.

Laval reached the floor where the military officers' quarters were located and heard a commotion down the hall. He went in that direction and saw a crowd around Laterus's quarters. Laval could just see his father through the murmuring crowd, trying to keep everyone quiet.

Laval pushed through the crowd and saw Laterus, who looked like a ghost, alerting Lagravis to Laval's presence. Lagravis quickly moved to block his son's view into the room.

"Dad? Laterus?" Laval tried to keep the unease out of his voice. "What's going on?"

"We'll talk about it later," Lagravis quickly replied. "Just go back to bed, Laval."

Laval squinted—it wasn't like his father to hide things. "Come on, don't be weird. Let me through."

"Don't go in there, son," Lagravis said, struggling against the strength of the younger lion. "Don't go in there!"

Laval pushed into the room enough to see what the commotion was about, and Lagravis changed his grip from one of restraint to a comforting embrace as his son fell to his knees.

"Worriz," Laval barely whispered upon the sight of one of his dear friends.

In the middle of Laterus's quarters was the leader of the Wolf Tribe; he was shaved, hogtied, and most tragically, totally and utterly stripped of his honor and dignity. Every inch of his exposed, pink skin was covered by cuts and burns. He was very clearly dead.

"NOOOO!" Laval cried out, Lagravis now struggling to keep his son from clawing his own face in shock.

The Guardians rounded the hallway as Laval released a roar of profound grief. The crowd let them pass and they all saw the horrifying scene.

"My God…" Mack quietly exclaimed.

Laval had calmed to the point that Lagravis felt it was safe to let go of him. Laval remained there on his knees, staring into space.

"I'm glad you're here, Guardians," the elder lion said. "I summoned Eris and rest of the Fellowship of Chi; they'll be on their way here by now. I must inform the wolves immediately. I'm afraid our long night has gotten even longer…"

"Some of us should go with you," Mack suggested. "There's no telling how they'll react."

Lagravis nodded. "Good idea; but Mack, you should stay here for Laval. He seems to trust you, and he will need support until the Fellowship arrives—hopefully within a couple of hours."

"Okay, I'll stay," Mack agreed.

"We'll go," Kai offered, pointing to himself and Lloyd.

Lagravis and Mack both approved, and the former turned to Laterus.

"Laterus, are you alright?" Lagravis asked, planting a firm hand on the chief of the guard's shoulder.

"I'll be fine, my lord. With your permission, I will await your return in the map room."

Lagravis gave a slight smile. "Yes, I will debrief you as soon as I return."

He then turned to the rest of the crowd in the hallway. "Everyone else, be on alert. It's not an accident that Worriz's body just turned up in our palace. Be ready for anything."

A dozen scorpion scouts, walked up to a random cave. At least, it appeared to be a random cave; but no cave is random if Crawler scouts are walking up to it.

Commander Skaan—leader of Scorm's scouts—bent to look into the cave and saw a smooth stone door with the sigil of the Lion Tribe on it.

"This is the place," Skaan informed the scouts. "Scorm says the passage will be open any—"

The scout commander was interrupted by the sound of stone scraping against stone as the door slowly opened.

A nasty, cruel grin spread itself across Skaan's face. He turned to his men and addressed them, saying, "Come on, let's make this trek worth it."

"Just the sight of one dead lion would make it worth it to me," a particularly rough-looking scorpion scout sneered.

Skaan simply nodded and led the scouts through the tunnel, which was only big enough to fit one scout through at a time. Marching soldiers through a small escape tunnel would typically be considered foolish—even suicidal; why would any strategist purposely bottleneck an already small force when advancing into the heart of enemy territory?

Except that the lions—though on edge due to the planted wolf corpse in the Chief of the Guard's quarters—had no idea that so fierce an attack was coming so soon.

"Listen," Lagravis addressed his entourage as they approached the Wolf Tribe's territory, "I know we're all worried about how the wolves will react to Worriz's death—"

"I wouldn't say I'm worried," Kai interjected. "I know they're gonna wig out. I'm ready for it."

Lagravis sighed. "I was going to say, the wolves will take the news better if we are less emotional about it. So, everyone, try to keep calm. Don't react when they… wig out."

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Lloyd said, elbowing Kai. "You have this cultured leader talking like—well, you."

"Enough," Lagravis chided gently. "We'll be in earshot soon. Quiet is best while approaching, especially with the news we bring tonight."

A few minutes later, the group took the last turn and the wolf territory was before them. They approached the same pair of guards that the patrol group encountered earlier that evening.

"You people again?" one of the wolf guards called out. "We told you—"

"Worriz is dead," Lagravis said flatly, his face neutral with a healthy hint of sorrow.

The wolf guards stood in stunned silence.

"He… he killed our leader," the same wolf who called out said, in shock.

Lagravis raised an eyebrow. "He?"

"The shadow," the guard growled. "He took Worriz and ordered us to seal off our territory and tell you nothing, lest he kill Worriz. But now, it doesn't matter."

"We don't know much," the other wolf said, "but what we do know we will tell you."

Mack helped some of the lion guards organize a party to search the palace for security breaches and then went out to the palace courtyard, looking for Laval, whom he found by the courtyard's central statue of the Legend Lion, patron beast of the Lion Tribe. The statue was made of gleaming bronze and was up on a pedestal in the middle of a white marble fountain.

The Green Ninja walked up to the young lion prince, who did not react to his presence.

"Laval," Mack said plainly but with some warmth.

Laval sighed and leaned forward on the fountain. "I came out here for some quiet."

"We don't have to talk," Mack shrugged. "Your dad asked me to stay with you."

Laval nodded slowly, his face blank. He and Mack stood in silence for almost a minute before either said more. It was Laval who broke the long silence.

"I don't understand. Why did they have to—" Laval hesitated, trying to keep his voice from breaking up. "Why Worriz?"

Mack considered his answer carefully. There was no consoling him after he watched Danny die from injuries he sustained in the Battle of the Sea of Sand seven months ago. Perhaps the cold hard truth was the better move in this situation.

"Maybe after we defeat the Outland Tribes, we'll understand," Mack offered, imitating Laval's stance of leaning over the edge of the fountain. "Rarely do we see the big picture while it's still unfolding."

Laval squinted. "Is that supposed to be comforting?"

Mack allowed himself to let out a small chuckle. "No. But it's the truth. And besides, who's to say you will be comforted when or if you finally understand the fullness of the Outlanders' schemes?"

Laval huffed and turned away from Mack and the fountain. Mack then put a firm hand on the back of Laval's shoulder.

"Laval," he said warmly but still with authority, as always. "The truth is there to give us a foundation and remind us that the world is bigger than ourselves. It's not there to comfort us, that's what our friends are for. And to that end, I'll say this: I never met Worriz, but I know from everything I've heard that he was a great leader and a great friend. I know you're grieving, as you should, but you can make sure his death isn't in vain by keeping your head and leading your people and your friends into whatever comes next."

Laval turned to face Mack again. A single tear streamed down his face. "Whatever comes next…"

"Yes," Mack nodded.

Laval closed his eyes for a long moment, and another tear escaped. It would be the last one he shed tonight. When Laval opened his eyes, his face was determined.

"You're right. And so was my dad. A body showing up in the palace isn't a coincidence; we need to be ready for—"

Laval was interrupted by loud bangs and rumbling as several bats dropped explosives on the city walls, knocking out the gates.

"We're under attack," Laval gasped as scorpion and bat footsoldiers poured into the city from where the main gates used to be.

"Go rally your men and the other Guardians," Mack said, all warmth gone as his face became that of a warrior. "I'll hold them off."

"By yourself?"

The Super Bolt materialized in Mack's hand. "Yeah," he said plainly, walking calmly toward the approaching hordes.

Laval remembered the battle in the swamps and knew Mack could hold his own until he brought backup. He ran as fast as he could into the Lion Temple.

The Outland warriors hesitated when they reached the palace courtyard and a single man walked toward them. All of the soldiers had heard rumors of a green-clad warrior who incapacitated several of their number in the swamps. But there were many more of them today, and they would not back down until their mission was completed.

"Charge!" one of the soldiers shouted to encourage his peers, and the army rushed the Green Ninja all at once.

Mack allowed the hordes to descend on him before attacking, but once he attacked, it was clear the army was out of their element. As Mack focused his power, scorpions and bats were hurled about by gusts of wind, washed away by tides of water, crushed by boulders that flew up from the ground, scorched by jets of flame, encased in cages of ice, and struck down by bolts of lightning from the sky.

Any soldier who managed to breach the whirlwind of elemental horror was immediately incapacitated by blows from the Super Bolt, which Mack swung and spun about himself in a graceful warrior's dance.

By the time Laval returned from the palace with the rest of the Guardians and almost the entire lion army (who were all already awake because of the drama that transpired an hour before), more than fifty Outlanders were already strewn out wounded—some dead—on the ground. The sight gave the lions confidence in the alien warriors of whose motivations they had been weary up to that point.

Little did they know that by rushing to defend the palace, they had ensured the success of the Outlanders' mission.

Almost as soon as the rest of the ninja and the lion army joined the fight, more bats appeared and all bats present grabbed up the scorpions and retreated, bombing the temple and city walls as they flew away, leaving nearly a hundred Outlanders either dead or too injured to flee.

When the fighting was over, Laval settled the troops and ordered medics summoned to tend to the wounded of both sides.

As the Guardians gathered together, Morro and Zee embraced, as during the fighting Zee had a close call with one of the scorpions who would have run her through with his tail had he not taken a last-minute spear to the face from Morro. As adrenaline wore off, Zee felt the gravity of having almost been killed and let out a quick couple of sobs with her face against Morro's chest. The tears burned the ghost, but he would bear it so that he could comfort the person he cared for most.

"It's okay," Morro whispered. "I got you."

"I know," Zee said so softly one could barely tell she's spoken at all.

Morro gave Zee a squeeze and they separated. Zee then quickly collected herself and joined the forming circle of Guardians.

"What the heck was that all about?" Jay cried out.

"Well," Cole speculated, "I guess since they completed their 'training' against the crocs, they decided they would take a run at the lions."

Just then, Laval walked up to the circle of Guardians.

"They must not have heard," he said with a smug face, "this city was built with the sole purpose of protecting the Chi that falls from Mount Cavora into our temple."

As if on cue, Laterus came sprinting out of the palace and waving his arms frantically.

"Laval! Come quick!"

"Laterus," Laval grabbed the chief of his guard by the shoulders. "Calm down, what's the matter?"

Laterus took a deep breath. "I was up in the map room waiting for your father to return and debrief me when I heard a commotion."

"We were attacked by the Outland Tribes," Laval explained. "Don't worry, we sent them packing."

"You don't understand, my prince. My path took me through the temple and the Chi chamber, and… well, just come look."

Laval was filled with fear, as were the Guardians who also heard Laterus's words. The group immediately rushed into the palace, going deeper to reach the temple. When they finally reached the Chi chamber, they were met with a horrifying sight.

The Chi pool—the place where the source of power for the Tribes of Chima was gathered—was empty.

The wolf guards took their guests into the city and, after announcing Worriz's death to the tribe (who reacted much less hysterically than anyone expected; perhaps they expected this outcome), they explained that the Scorpion and Bat Tribes are being led by a mysterious shadow warrior. This shadow snatched Worriz that afternoon after appearing out of nowhere, announced that he came to change the nature of Chima's power, ordered the wolves to shut out the other tribes—threatening to kill Worriz if they did not comply—and disappeared again.

Lloyd had a bad feeling deep in his stomach. This kind of talk of a mysterious shadowy figure sounded all too familiar after the enemies he and the rest of the ninja had faced over the years. Kai sensed his anxiety and comforted Lloyd by putting a firm hand on the younger warrior's shoulder.

"I am so very sorry for the Wolf Tribe's loss," Lagravis expressed his condolences to the wolf guards.

"We appreciate your sympathy, Lagravis," the first guard said in a somber voice, "but do not mourn Worriz. We will not."

The group looked surprised, but Kai thought he understood for some reason.

"You'll celebrate that he's one with the Ancestors," Kai said. "Watching over you."

The wolf guards looked at each other and smiled.

"The red one gets it," the second wolf guard extended a paw, which Kai firmly grasped.

"I like to think the same of my parents," Kai explained. "It's easier to go on when—" Kai hesitated for just a moment— "when they're not quite as far away."

Having said all that needed to be said, the lions—and Kai and Lloyd—departed the wolf territory to return to the Lion Temple, totally oblivious to what awaited them when they arrived.

In the Chi chamber, Laval stared blankly into the Chi pool.

"Th—they…" the prince of the Lion Tribe stuttered, "they took it all. Every last Chi…"

"We'll have to cancel tomorrow's race," Laterus growled, seeming more frustrated than stunned. "Mount Cavora will not be able to replenish this pool overnight."

Laval nodded. "You get the word out. The other Fellowship representatives will be arriving any minute now, and I'll need to tell them everything that's happened."

"How did they get into this chamber?" Mack asked, feeling that staying on task was the best way to prevent even more panic breaking out in the lions' city. "You have to go through the palace to get into the temple, and nobody got past us in that courtyard to even make it into the palace."

"Yeah, no way anyone was getting past Mack out there," Pete said. "That was almost scary."

Mack ignored Pete's comment, but he knew that the Ice Guardian was right about the power he displayed during the courtyard battle. He knew he did what needed to be done, but he wondered about the consequences of allowing himself that much power. Would it be easier because of that in the future to abuse his power should a pretext arise?

Laterus snapped Mack back to reality with a startling observation. "There are a few secret emergency evacuation tunnels that could theoretically be used to get into the temple from outside, but only a lion could know about those tunnels."

"Wait, are you saying…" Laval hesitated, speaking softly now, "that one of our own let them in?"

"It's the only explanation," Laterus shook his head. "Most of the warriors were outside fighting, but there were the guards in here, the scholars, and dozens of other lions throughout the palace. Any of the higher-ranking of those groups would have a ring like this—" Laterus showed a ring on his finger, "—with the Sigil of the Lion Tribe affixed, that grants access to the tunnels."

"If there really is a traitor in your ranks," Mack said with an air of urgency, "we need to quickly figure out who it is—but without letting them know we're onto them, so we can hopefully catch them making their next move and stop them before this whole thing gets even worse."

"Agreed," Laval nodded. "I'll let my father know when he returns, and he'll be able to keep an eye on the elders and scholars."

"As chief of your guard, the military officers trust and respect me," Laterus suggested. "I will use that to keep a close eye on them."

Laval started to feel more confident about the situation now that plans were forming. "Good. Let's go ahead and reinforce the city guards with soldiers to defend the most damaged parts of the wall."

"Mack," Cole spoke up, "we should also take shifts patrolling so they can send more guards to those weak points."

"Just what I was thinking," Mack agreed with the Earth Guardian. He turned to Laval for confirmation. "Laval?"

"Yes, great idea," the lion prince also agreed. "My guards are assessing the damage to the walls and palace right now. When the report is in, we'll assign those shifts. Until then, can you guys get out there and help clean up?"

"Of course," Mack gave a nod of respect. "Guardians, let's do it."

As the Guardians were leaving the temple, they ran into Lagravis who was coming in, a stunned look on his face. A heavy silence descended as Lagravis approached the Chi pool and stared blankly into it for all of a minute.

"Oh good," Jay blurted out to break the silence. "Lloyd and Kai are back; we can put them to work too."

The Guardians, sensing that the lions needed the room, quickly left the temple and went through the palace and out into the courtyard to help clean up the aftermath of the Crawler attack.

"What happened?" Lagravis asked blankly, not removing his eyes from the Chi pool.

"They attacked us, Dad," Laval replied softly. "They stole all our Chi and totally crippled our defenses."

"I can see that," Lagravis finally lifted his eyes to look at his son. There was a pride in his eyes. "But I am glad to see you are handling it. Might we speak in private?"

"What shall we do, Lagravis?" Laterus asked.

Lagravis turned to Laval and then back to Laterus. "Laval was here," the king said, "and I was not. So, it's his orders you'll take here, not mine."

Laval smiled, then he gave Laterus his orders. "Get that damage report, then assign squads of soldiers shifts at the weakest points in our defenses. And no one comes or goes from the city except the Fellowship of Chi members until we've secured the breaches in the walls."

Laterus nodded firmly. "I will see that done as soon as I have the damage report. In the meantime, I'll work out patrol patterns and shifts for the Guardians."

"Thank you, Laterus," Laval and his chief guard firmly grasped hands.

"Shall we?" Laval asked his father.

In the courtyard, Guardians helped the cleanup effort wherever they could. With their help, it looked like the cleanup would be done within the hour.

Nya, Kai, and Kasey helped tend to the wounded lions while everyone else cleaned up debris and helped repair structures that weren't beyond salvage.

Mack and Lloyd had finished clearing debris from the section of the city wall previously occupied by the main gates before the Outland army knocked them down. As the lions worked to put up some temporary gates, Lloyd noticed that Mack seemed distant, and he thought he knew why.

The Green Ninja was a theatrical person and was known to use his power to intimidate in order to prevent major confrontations, or even to show off from time to time; but Mack did not like to actually use his great power to harm others, even his enemies. He made a clear distinction between those two uses of power, and everyone who fought with him respected him for it.

Everyone saw Mack mourning in response to losing Danny in the Battle of the Sea of Sand, but only Lloyd, Morro, and Zee knew about the deep grief in Mack's soul over unleashing his power to destroy Rikayla as the sun set on that day. Even his girlfriend Anna and his other close friends didn't know the depth to which killing Rikayla affected the Green Ninja.

"Mack," Lloyd ventured tenderly, "we've been fighting together for a while now, and I've seen a lot of stuff before you came along, but what you did against those Outland fighters… I've never seen anything like it. We should talk about it, right?"

Mack took a deep breath and sighed. "Please tell me you're not about to praise the senseless killing I did back there. I knew I had to hold them off while Laval brought backup, whatever it took…" Mack closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. "But I wish it didn't take all that killing."

"I wasn't gonna praise it," Lloyd replied. "I actually wanted to ask if you were alright. That was a lot of power you threw out, and I know you don't like to use it like that, even though we both know you did the right thing."

After a moment, the Green Ninja said softly, with a hesitation that was uncharacteristic for him, "Lloyd… do you ever feel that we're too powerful? That what we carry is too much to be entrusted to any person?"

"Sometimes. But we use our power for good. To protect those who can't protect themselves. Isn't that the whole point of who we are—Guardians?"

"Yes, it is," Mack nodded. "But I fear that my power is growing to a point where it might do more harm than good."

Lloyd considered his response carefully; he knew this was a sensitive topic for Mack. "I think your suspicion of your power is exactly why you're the right person to wield it. You're gonna use it to do what's necessary every time, even when it's ugly. That's why we trust you to lead us."

Mack nodded slowly, but he did not reply. He instead returned to a state of deep thought, which had become more and more common in the last few months, especially in the two days since the Guardians came to Chima.

Lloyd could tell talking about the courtyard battle and Mack's conflict over the depth of his power helped a little bit, but he could also tell that there was more that Mack wasn't telling him. It wasn't that Mack was repressed or untrusting, but sometimes he simply forgot that he was surrounded by people ready listen to him any time he needs to talk.

Sometimes, he just needed a little push to encourage him to open up.

"Mack," Lloyd said softly but firmly, "there's something else bothering you, isn't there?"

Mack gave the Golden Ninja a look that silently acknowledged Lloyd's suspicion.

"It's the dreams," Mack admitted. "The dreams I've been having for months that I now know was a call to Chima. They've started coming while I'm awake now, including while I was… decimating the Outlanders. And nothing about the dream has changed."

Lloyd frowned. "Nothing has changed? What does that mean?"

Lloyd feared the answer, and so did the Green Ninja according to the expression on his face.

"We answered the call, but we must be missing something," Mack said darkly. "And I'm afraid by the time I find out what that is, it might be too late."

Lloyd felt a heaviness in his stomach. As brave as he tried to be every day, there were things that scared him. The uncertainty of one of the most powerful people he knew was absolutely one of those things.

Laval spoke about the night's events with his father in his quarters. First, Laval told Lagravis all that had happened with regard to the attack on the city and the swiping of the Chi from the temple, including the possibility that the raid on the Chi may have been made possible by a traitor in the Lion Tribe opening a secret tunnel for the intruders, a possibility that Lagravis found very disturbing. He also made sure to mention Mack's incredible display of power in the courtyard as he singlehandedly took out dozens of Crawlers.

When Laval was finished, Lagravis explained what he had learned from the wolves.

"It makes sense that they would hold the Wolf Tribe to ransom," Laval reasoned when Lagravis had finished telling his story. "The wolves are the closet tribe to the city; we definitely would've called them for help if they hadn't been so weird last night, and the Crawlers would've been too outnumbered, not to mention trapped, for their diversion to hold up long enough for the scouts to raid the Chi."

"Exactly," Lagravis concurred with Laval's assessment. "We assumed it was Scorm in charge, but he hasn't shown himself clever enough to orchestrate all of this. The Outland Tribes are taking orders from this new shadowy character. If we can root out the traitor in our midst, we might be able to discover who it is the Outlanders are following."

At that time, Laterus appeared in the doorway to Laval's quarters. "Pardon me, my lords," Laterus said quickly. "Laval, the Fellowship has arrived."

Laval felt a rush of much-needed happiness at the idea of seeing his friends. "Thank you, Laterus."

The chief of the prince's guard dismissed himself, and as Laval moved to follow him out, Lagravis stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Son," Lagravis said, his voice low, "are you okay?"

"No," Laval replied plainly.

Lagravis tightened his lips. "I know. You had no time to grieve, and I'm sorry. But I want you to know that you did a fine job handling the crisis while I was gone."

"Really?" Laval asked, bordering on exasperated. "Our city is vulnerable and they have our Chi. Any moment they can literally just walk through the wall and attack us again."

"Yes, but that isn't your doing," Lagravis asserted, both warmly and firmly. "While I was out of the city, you rallied our forces to repel the enemy, and you redeployed our men to fill the gaps in our defenses—which is exactly what I would have done. And you handled all this while the palace was in chaos and you yourself were in grief and shock."

Laval did not reply, but Lagravis could see on his face that his words had something of a calming effect on his son.

After a moment, Lagravis continued, "Things are bad, but not as bad as they could be, thanks to your leadership in my absence."

Laval finally smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

Father and son embraced for a moment.

"Now," Lagravis said, all business again, "let's go brief your friends and introduce them to the Guardians, and then we all must rest before we plan our next move."

Lagravis and Laval proceeded out to the courtyard to meet the Fellowship of Chi. After greeting them, the former retired for the night (or, more accurately, for the remaining couple of hours before sunrise).

Laval informed his dear friends of everything that had happened in the last few hours. The Fellowship spent a few moments mourning Worriz and comforting each other. Once everyone had some time to process the loss, Laval rounded up the Guardians to make formal introductions.

Mack, Kasey, Pete, Jay, and Morro went to speak with the Spider Tribe while the others accompanied Laval, Li'ella, Laterus, and Eris to check on the tribes after the attack on the crocodiles, so they had yet to meet the Fellowship. Laval introduced them to Gorzan of the Gorilla Tribe, Rogan of the Rhinoceros Tribe, and Bladvic of the Bear Tribe (of course, all the Guardians had already been introduced by Laval to Eris and Cragger, and to Razar when the Bat Tribe attacked the ravens earlier).

Laterus came by after a minutes to give the Guardians their patrol shifts. The shifts would had alternating teams of two and three patrolling for three hours at a time with nine hours between shifts. Morro and Cole were on the first shift, since everyone was exhausted and the two ghost ninja did not have the same urgent need for rest as their peers.

By the time all this was said and done, the courtyard had been cleaned up enough that it seemed acceptable to leave it for the night and finally get some rest. All knew that detective work would ensue first thing the next morning.