Arin was so confused right now.
A few seconds ago Lloyd was shouting at 'Thunderfang' (no idea if it was the dragon that Ras and his team were searching for), and the next, going on all fours, like an animal, he just leapt out of the place he just landed with a fighting shout into the outside.
"Aargh! I'm gonna kill you, you piece of-" Luckily, Lloyd went so fast that the end could not be heard.
The outside was full of mighty roars and certain… phrases, but mostly power clashes, really enormous power clashes. But the inside was full of awkward silence.
That was a really weird first meeting after those months, after he disappeared into thin air and pretty much without a trace.
Arin looked at Kataru and Akita - they were just as confused, if not more. But Akita seemed more scared and disturbed than confused.
Not that he didn't understand why, the OG Ninja visited the Never Realm a lot of years ago and they looked a lot different, especially Lloyd. Arin was sure that she also felt his demeanor change, but she had no idea why.
Arin felt a little bit guilty, because he knew that the reason… Wouldn't be something anyone would want to hear, especially the people that knew the old Lloyd.
Wait… Why… Why was he actually feeling bad for him?
It was Lloyd's decision to turn back on them, to leave them!..
Wasn't it?..
He thought that Akita saw his guilt for a few seconds.
Arin shook his head.
"Get your head back from the clouds, Arin! If it actually is the dragon 'Thunderfang', then I should call the others trough the com. Especially Ras, he will know what to do. Too bad that I'll have to run back to the Bounty." The boy thought to himself, then looked to the side where the siblings were.
"Are you coming? Where I'm going is a lot safer than here." Arin asked.
Kataru was about to come but Akita held his sleeve and said:
"No…It's a lot safer here for us, at least…And a lot safer for him." Akita looked at Arin with full-of-wisdom wolf eyes and the brother just nodded and agreed with his sister.
Arin couldn't understand anything, it probably was a sibling thing, so he just ran out of the tent as fast as he could.
But suddenly an enormous blast went off, someone let out a warrior cry and a roar-in-pain was heard, a really loud one.
Arin covered his ears and closed his eyes.
Only to have his new suit splashed with some kind of purple droopy goo.
"Ew…" Arin shivered just by looking at it, purple did not fit him, but then he wondered, where did the source come from?
He had to look around a bit.
There was a pool of that goo over a huge rock, so he went to check and discovered something…Disturbing.
There was another huge rock, but on top of Thunderfang's shattered jaw, shattered jaw.
How did a giant like that get his jaw broken? How was it bleeding? Why were there huge shattered teeth laying everywhere? Who was it broken by, by what kind of creature? And… Where was Lloyd?
Arin took a step forward and saw Lloyd, all covered in purple, clutching something and putting it in his new pocket, in his new suit. (Where did he get that?)
Lloyd's hair was a lot longer and messier, his gaze, right now, was really bloodthirsty, his eyes glowing a faint green and pink, just like his hands. His new suit was a lot darker, with luxury purple, emerald, black, pine and a hint of rouge, kaitoke, and a lot more equipped. One of the sleeves was absent, for some reason, probably a fashion choice. One hand's palm was bandaged, the other's was glazed with a magenta-fuchsia pink. Everything else was pretty much the same, just like from Zane's video footage, but he appeared to be a lot more tired.
When his ex-sensei looked at him, Arin felt his heart beat fasten. It looked like Lloyd was about to kill him.
But he just blinked a few times and the bloodthirstiness was gone, just like that.
"Uh… Long time no see, Arin." Lloyd's voice was raspy.
"You… Look different…Not that it's a bad thing! Y-Your hair looks cool." Arin tried not getting on the blonde's bad side.
"I know you're lying. But can you blame me? When being chased by an enormous dragon for six months you can't really stop by a hairdresser and say 'Hey can you give me a haircut?' Just the sight of the dragon and the fact that I don't have any money would creep them out-"Lloyd stopped for a moment and looked a bit at his right, where the bushes where.
He was just about to investigate the bushes but a hammer hit him unconscious.
Arin was baffled, but on closer inspection he realized that it was Ras' hammer and immediately calmed down.
"Are you alright, Arin?" Ras, Cole and Wyldfyre came out of the other side of the forest.
"Yeah. I'm OK… What are you going to do with Lloyd and Thunderfang?"
"Lloyd's purpose is still the same, as for Thunderfang… Why do you ask?"
"Because he's still… Here…?" The boy was flabbergasted, the enormous dragon was gone.
"For a giant, he sure moves fast." He thought and saw that the others were watching at him worriedly.
"Uh… Don't worry about it, at least, for now."
Meanwhile, in the bushes:
"What the heck? You completely vanish for a few years, get brought back to being a ghost by an enormous blast, find out the 16 realms have combined, then that the group that beat an entire realm have turned against their little brother for a stupid plan! What a great time to be up!" Morro shout-whispered to himself while still being invisible.